Character Death and New PCs

sircaren · Mar 18, 2003

Back when I ran 1st and 2nd ed AD&D, whenever a PC died, the player created a new PC at 1st level. In several of the groups I've also played in, this seemed to be the norm. The increasing XP requirements just after the mid levels tended to quickly close the gap between the characters, usually after just a few (3-4) adventures. When 3E came out, we dropped this for just losing a level for your next PC. I did this because it seemed the xp requirements didn't have the same curve, so it would take quite a while for a low level PC to 'catch up' so to speak.

IMC I'm wanting to return to the original way of doing things and am wondering if anyone else has a comment on this, or possibly another way of doing things. Does anyone else make PCs start at level 1 in the advent of character death? Is it detrimental to the campaign for too long? Often times such lower level PCs feel useless, and I wouldn't want that to carry on for too long...

Umbran · Mar 18, 2003

sircaren said:
Does anyone else make PCs start at level 1 in the advent of character death?

I don't, and I didn't in 1e or 2e, either. I've generally used one level lower than the party average, one level lower than the departed character, or one level lower than the party's lowest for new PCs.

I find that being too much of a "junior" character ruins the fun in most games, especially if there's heavy action. You sit there unable to contribute much, and the rest fo the party must either protect you or you die. Where's teh fun in that?

Datt · Mar 18, 2003

Nope. We start new characters out at the lowest level of the party.

Of course our party is 14th to 16th level so a 1st level would get wipped out pretty quick.

Emerald · Mar 18, 2003

In the games I play, no one has had to roll up a new character. If a character dies, the rest of the party chips in and gets them raised. Which causes them to come back one level lower than when they died. Under what circumstances do you roll up a new character as opposed to raising your old one?

diaglo · Mar 18, 2003

the higher the level of the PCs, the more (in)famous they become. so why wouldn't a 1st lvl character want to hang out with the "Heroes".

besides, with the EL trend of xp progression. lower level characters who survive an encounter will get more xps. and will soon catch up. secret is surviving.

but if the "Heroes" (higher lvl PCs) are heroes they will do their best to protect the novices. or start to earn a negative reputation.

sircaren · Mar 18, 2003

Under what circumstances do you roll up a new character as opposed to raising your old one?

There is no "chipping in" to raise a dead character. Ressurrection involves the casting cleric's diety petitioning (yes asking - or bargaining) to the dead character's diety (or the god of the dead if he/she didn't have one) to let the soul return to the Prime Material plane. Needless to say, resurrections aren't all that common.

besides, with the EL trend of xp progression. lower level characters who survive an encounter will get more xps. and will soon catch up. secret is surviving.

This is exactly what I've found as well, but it seems that it wouldn't work as well in 3E as the required xp doesn't increase nearly as sharply.

Umbran · Mar 18, 2003

Emerald said:
Under what circumstances do you roll up a new character as opposed to raising your old one?

Well, if you dont' have the body, and don't have True Ressurection on hand, you might have issues...

The other circumstance would be whent eh player wants a new character. Honestly, the question of "At what level do you start new characters?" isn't inexorably linked to character death. You have this question any time a player wants to retire one character and start a new one, or any time you add a new player to your party.

MerakSpielman · Mar 18, 2003

sircaren said:
There is no "chipping in" to raise a dead character. Ressurrection involves the casting cleric's diety petitioning (yes asking - or bargaining) to the dead character's diety (or the god of the dead if he/she didn't have one) to let the soul return to the Prime Material plane. Needless to say, resurrections aren't all that common.

What are you talking about? I can't find any mention of this in the PH. There's a casting time, material components with gp cost, and spell results. There's no chance of failure listed and no mention of the diety only doing it if they feel like it - the soul just has to be willing to return.

Clerics don't even have to have a god in 3e. They can raise dead entirely on the basis of their own personal convictions, no divinity required.

Crothian · Mar 18, 2003

MerakSpielman said:
What are you talking about? I can't find any mention of this in the PH. There's a casting time, material components with gp cost, and spell results. There's no chance of failure listed and no mention of the diety only doing it if they feel like it - the soul just has to be willing to return.

Clerics don't even have to have a god in 3e. They can raise dead entirely on the basis of their own personal convictions, no divinity required.

Obviously, he was talking about his own game which is different from the PHB.

sircaren · Mar 18, 2003

MerakSpielman said:
What are you talking about? I can't find any mention of this in the PH. There's a casting time, material components with gp cost, and spell results. There's no chance of failure listed and no mention of the diety only doing it if they feel like it - the soul just has to be willing to return.

Clerics don't even have to have a god in 3e. They can raise dead entirely on the basis of their own personal convictions, no divinity required.

House Rule. I hate how trivialized the raising of the dead is, always have. If someone died, it's quite possible they died for a reason. It's not impossible, just not all that common. We have a lot of fun that way, sometimes a diety will extract a price from the cleric - a quest of sorts. If the cleric has no diety, the cleric HIMSELF has to petition the diety involved, quite the proposition.