D&D 5E When a PC is dead and gone, what options do the players have at your table(s)?

S'mon · Sep 20, 2018

Enevhar Aldarion said:
I do not punish players like that when real life gets in the way of our little fantasy game. The closest to that any groups did that I have ever been in was award half XP for missed sessions, basically awarding them as if they were NPCs for the night.

What's appropriate just depends on the game.

I've used single-party-tally XP in some games, where the PCs are a group doing stuff together
and expectation is every player makes every game if they can. 4e and 3e/PF suit this approach, especially in Adventure Path type play. My 4e Loudwater game ran level 1 to 29 over 5.5 years on a single XP tally, and no one missed out from missing a session.

Individual XP works best with my current open megadungeon 5e campaign, multiple groups, highly variable groups, no expectation that players make any particular session - in fact it's nearly impossible. There it would make no sense to call it a punishment for a PC played on Sunday to not get XP because he wasn't in the Tuesday game or the Saturday game, and XP is an individual reward for successful play.

Lanefan · Sep 20, 2018

Enevhar Aldarion said:
For me, the third and fifth answers are the same thing, since with 5E, everyone stays the same level. Your example of four characters with different levels would not happen to begin with, and would not have in any edition where all the classes use the exact same XP totals to level.

Why not? Not every character gets involved in every xp-granting situation. Hell, not every character comes along on every adventure.

And a range of levels within the party is inevitable over the long run, for the following reasons:

- players cycling characters in and out of parties
- level or xp loss (even were I running a system that in theory didn't have this, I'd put it right back in)
- sudden level or xp gain e.g. from a wish or a DoMT card
- giving out individual xp awards based on who actually participated in the combat/encounter/whatever

And given as 5e supports all of these except perhaps the level loss (and even that can happen with a DoMT) I suggest your statement that level disparity cannot happen in 5e is untrue.

Now, if this were for 1st or 2nd Ed AD&D, a player would get a set number of XP to use, so their new character might be higher level than the old one, if they went from mage to rogue, or a lower level one, if they went the opposite or decided to multiclass.

That's one way to do it, for sure.

What I tend to end up doing is setting a "floor" level (or, sometimes, xp number) which slowly rises as the average party level rises. Right now in my game it'd probably be 6th; and there's always a level range within any given party.

As for what to do on perma-death - until the party gets back to town such that the player can bring in either a new or pre-existing character, that player takes over playing a party NPC of which there's always one or two. Usually. Exceptions happen.

Lanefan

Seramus · Sep 20, 2018

Everyone stays at the same level. More fun for everyone at my table.

delericho · Sep 20, 2018

DM Dave1 said:
This may skew to the "same level" answer as I know many like to maintain parties with everyone at the same level, but thought I'd ask anyway.

Yep, that would be me.

Imagine a party of four PCs: a fifth level fighter, a sixth level rogue, a sixth level cleric, and a seventh level wizard. The rogue dies trying to disarm a devious trap with no hope of being raised/resurrected/reincarnated/etc. Where does that player get to start their new character?

Okay, under this model, I would start the new PC at fifth level - same as the lowest-level surviving PC.

Though one of the things I have been toying with, since 5e seems to handle mixed-level groups better than either 3e or 4e, would be to start the new PC one or to levels lower, but then granting double XP until they catch up. That way death has some meaning, but it's not a permanent handicap.

Tallifer · Sep 20, 2018

My campaigns are run with group experience since we have too many players who cannot make every session. Furthermore I currently have both a 1st level and an 8th level campaign, so anyone who likes the low-level stuff can play in the former. Regular players are not rewarded with XP and higher levels, but rather with more playtime, more involvement in and influence on the story, and often more magical and mundane treasure.

Therefore, a dead character is replaced with a new character of equal level. Although he cna only inherit whatever treasure the party manages to salvage from the corpse and not keep for themselves.

Mercule · Sep 20, 2018

It depends. As a baseline, I voted for "equal to lowest level PC". That includes the departed because it only takes one time of having a player get his character shivved in order to catch up to the leader before I say, "Let's not do that again." You never come out ahead from dying. The most generous is break-even.

Currently, we use milestone advancement, so it'd be "same as everyone else". Do don't have a ton of death, so it's mostly a moot point. I think we've only had three characters buy the farm in 5E (two of which occurred at the same time, causing us to decide that Curse of Strahd might be a bit too sandbox for good health). So, it's not exactly a common issue.

I don't have a real problem with meat grinder campaigns where characters are somewhat disposable. It's not my preference, but it's an occasionally fun diversion. In that case, Go back to 1st level. Do not pass raise dead. Do not collect 200 xp.

Rya.Reisender · Sep 20, 2018

For my games it's:

Roll a new PC at level 3 (assuming other party members already reached level 3); level 1+2 are too squishy for me and seem to be intended more for getting new player introduced into the ruleset, so I allow to skip those

I guess gone means no chance of revival? Because I allow spellcasting services (as specified in AL) too to bring a dead character back to life.

I also apply the AL "catching up" rules:
If you reach level 4 and all other PCs are level 5 or higher, you instantly reach level 5.
If you reach level 10 and all other PCs are level 11 or higher, you instantly reach level 11.
If you reach level 16 and all other PCs are level 17 or higher, you instantly reach level 17.

AkaKageWarrior · Sep 20, 2018

We are always the same level.
Different levels within one party can be fun, but mostly it's somehow annoying and / or frustrating.
So if someone dies, the player will come back with a new character the same level.

Enevhar Aldarion · Sep 20, 2018

S'mon said:
What's appropriate just depends on the game.

I've used single-party-tally XP in some games, where the PCs are a group doing stuff together
and expectation is every player makes every game if they can. 4e and 3e/PF suit this approach, especially in Adventure Path type play. My 4e Loudwater game ran level 1 to 29 over 5.5 years on a single XP tally, and no one missed out from missing a session.

Individual XP works best with my current open megadungeon 5e campaign, multiple groups, highly variable groups, no expectation that players make any particular session - in fact it's nearly impossible. There it would make no sense to call it a punishment for a PC played on Sunday to not get XP because he wasn't in the Tuesday game or the Saturday game, and XP is an individual reward for successful play.

Yes, it depends on the game. And I would guess that most of us here do not have some weird situation like yours and are much more likely to have a single group that is lucky to meet once a week and has the same players each week. So in a normal situation, punishing one of your regular players, who is also probably a good friend, is not nice to do.

S'mon · Sep 20, 2018

Enevhar Aldarion said:
Yes, it depends on the game. And I would guess that most of us here do not have some weird situation like yours and are much more likely to have a single group that is lucky to meet once a week and has the same players each week.

It's really not that weird. You just have to Embrace the Gygax (or Arneson) and Open Your Game Table - https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/38643/roleplaying-games/open-table-manifesto