D&D General Has anyone ran a level-0 character funnel for 5e?

[Frozen_Heart]

maybe it is a one shot, but it still feels weird to me, alot of the stuff they'd have from species i'd mostly expect to be innate or learnt long before they ever became an adventurer(or rather got thrown impromptu into these circumstances), as well as the fact that this minimal-power classless environment is the perfect place for species traits to shine and be bringing their most impact to the table.

The way I've got it set up the species get their unique abilities and ASI still. Along with a background and equipment from that background. So the species of the character actually has a huge impact on how they play for it. HP is 4+Con modifier.

The starting point buy is insanely low though. 12 points, max 13, min 6. (before species ASI). Also only a single death save, rather than three.

The equipment gained from the characters background becomes really important.

 

[CreamCloud0]

That's the point. In an environment like this "I have a cantrip" makes you a superbeing. These characters are supposed to be weak cannon-fodder. If a race has no weak and powerless commoners, they simply cannot work in this type of scenario.

Generally, when the lights go out in a horror movie, the hapless potential victims do not shout "I have darkvision!"

even if characters a weak cannon fodder i simply do not think they should lack the inherent traits of their species, a dwarf is born with darkvision they don't suddenly gain it when they complete their apprenticeship, and no you don't have the guy who shout's 'i have darkvision' because movies aren't framed like that, but you certainly have that person who is way too overconfident because of some small advantage they have, 'heh, i've got a darkvisionscanner and a fully loaded firebolt cantriprifle, what's that stupid monster going to do to me now [immediately gets mauled because they weren't being cautious]'

 

[Paul Farquhar]

even if characters a weak cannon fodder i simply do not think they should lack the inherent traits of their species, a dwarf is born with darkvision they don't suddenly gain it when they complete their apprenticeship, and no you don't have the guy who shout's 'i have darkvision' because movies aren't framed like that, but you certainly have that person who is way too overconfident because of some small advantage they have, 'heh, i've got a fully loaded firebolt cantriprifle, what's that stupid monster going to do to me now [immediately gets mauled because they weren't being cautious]'

Your typical fantasy dwarven commoner is usually portrayed as much tougher than an average human commoner - indeed this is in 1st edition rules.

As a consequence, in this sort of set up players cannot normally choose to play a dwarf (or everyone plays a dwarf). As I said - players typically do not create characters - the DM allocates them.

 

[jayoungr]

(For those that don't know, a character funnel is where a group of players makes multiple level 0 characters each, and they spend the session dropping like side characters in a bad horror movie).

How do you prevent someone from losing all their characters? I.e., if I make five characters and four of them die, do I have to stop playing before I lose the fifth one too? Or if the fifth one dies, am I rolling up a sixth character?

 

[Tonguez]

maybe it's just me but not having species included in that list is extremely bizzare to me, like, these characters don't suddenly transform into an elf or a dwarf after surviving their first adventure.

ah I should have specified they were all human in that game

 

[Paul Farquhar]

How do you prevent someone from losing all their characters? I.e., if I make five characters and four of them die, do I have to stop playing before I lose the fifth one too? Or if the fifth one dies, am I rolling up a sixth character?

Well, the way I would do it is each player starts with one character, but they are accompanied by a bunch of NPCs. If a PC dies an NPC steps up and becomes that player’s new character. If all the NPCs are used up when a PC dies then that player is out (which will likely mean a TPK).

 

[CreamCloud0]

ah I should have specified they were all human in that game

i did wonder if that was simply the case but given your lack of direct acknowledgement of species in the post and for the topic of the thread in general i thought it was still worthwhile posing the question.

 

[payn]

What is the virtue of a character funnel? Why is it a good thing to do. I must admit I’m perplexed.

It hearkens back to the skill play era of D&D. Where the PC is a mere avatar and the events are meant to challenge the player. It can be a really fun time as its a bit nerving while you navigate the opening adventure with folks running for their lives.

That said, I see less than zero appeal to do this in 5E. If I wanted to play a funnel, id just use DCC they have many single evening modules that are fun.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

How do you prevent someone from losing all their characters? I.e., if I make five characters and four of them die, do I have to stop playing before I lose the fifth one too? Or if the fifth one dies, am I rolling up a sixth character?

It's a risk, but no different from a player potentially losing their character in a regular session.

If a player loses all their characters early on in the one I'm running, I'll tell them to quickly throw a new one together for the group to encounter shortly.

 

[bedir than]

It doesn't take long to make a non-classed character. If someone loses four, they make a fifth.