We played last week and one of my players made the comment that he hoped the next battle would kill his character so he could roll up another one. The party was successful in the battle and no one died. They were in the desert and came upon an oasis. The player in question went swimming and he doesn't have the swim skill, his rolls were bad and he drowned. He was glad to be able to roll up a new character, but didn't like the way his character died. Should I penalize him for wanting to die just to roll up a new character or not? Any input would be great, we play again tonight.
-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
How do I deal with a player that kills his character on purpose?
- Thread starter LadyDM
- Start date
Thanee
First Post
I would have let him retire the old character (taking with him all the equipment he owned and a fair share of anything in the group treasury, if any) and make a new one with same XP right away. No need to let someone play a character he or she doesn't want to.
Other than that, just let the new character in in the same way you would, if the death happened "normally".
Bye
Thanee
Other than that, just let the new character in in the same way you would, if the death happened "normally".
Bye
Thanee
Vigwyn the Unruly
First Post
My personal opinion: ANY time a character dies, for whatever reason, the new character is created one level lower.
Also, if this player hates his character so much, how about giving him the opportunity to replace it without resorting to such measures?
Also, if this player hates his character so much, how about giving him the opportunity to replace it without resorting to such measures?
Buttercup
Princess of Florin
If one of my players decided they didn't like the character they were playing, I'd let them either retire or kill the unsatisfactory one, as they chose, and roll up a new one. No biggie. It's all about having fun, and if you're stuck with a character you don't like, that isn't what I'd call fun.
Yeah, just let him roll up a new character. It could set a bad precedent for the munchkins who don't like a character because he isn't powerful enough, but there's trouble either way. If the players isn't happy, address in a way that works for both of you and the rest of the group. Otherwise, in my experience, you won't be playing together shortly anyway.
DragonLancer
Adventurer
If the guy isn't happy playing that character just let him retire him, and make a fresh one, with the same XP or the minimum for that level, whichever.
WillieW
First Post
Yep. Just let him retire the character. However, the other players have presumably put in a lot of effort to get their characters to where they are now, so I wouldn't allow the new character to have the same amount of levels or XP, otherwise the whole group will think the dissatisfied guy/gal is receiving favouritism. It should be perfectly permissable to remove a character and start to play another; just not penalty-free.
I offered to let him retire the character, but he said no, he would finish out the campaign they party was in, and 30 minutes later the character was dead and they were a long way from home.
As a standard rule for my players, when a character dies, the new one is created at half the level of the old one. They get whatever basic equipment they want and 1 minor magic item of their choice that fits with the character.
I just want to avoid the player thinking his character isn't strong enough and wanting a new one to build up. It doesn't seem fair to the other players who have evolved their characters as members of a group that have developed a dynamic that has to change just because one player isn't happy that his character doesn't kick (what he feels as enough) butt. The character that died, was the only brother to another party member, so not only did he have another party memeber die, but his brother.
As a standard rule for my players, when a character dies, the new one is created at half the level of the old one. They get whatever basic equipment they want and 1 minor magic item of their choice that fits with the character.
I just want to avoid the player thinking his character isn't strong enough and wanting a new one to build up. It doesn't seem fair to the other players who have evolved their characters as members of a group that have developed a dynamic that has to change just because one player isn't happy that his character doesn't kick (what he feels as enough) butt. The character that died, was the only brother to another party member, so not only did he have another party memeber die, but his brother.
The Shaman
First Post
If a character dies, the new character is one level lower. If a player retires a character, the new character is two levels lower.
I discourage players from dumping characters, but I don't tell them they can't. It's been my experience that a player who dumps a character once will do it over and over again, which can become disruptive for the other players.
Why did this particular player want to kill off his character?
I discourage players from dumping characters, but I don't tell them they can't. It's been my experience that a player who dumps a character once will do it over and over again, which can become disruptive for the other players.
Why did this particular player want to kill off his character?
I've had to deal with this before too and like those times I cannot help but find this behavior to be nothing more than poor spotsmanship by the player.
If he would have taken the time to talk it over with you (as DM), and given you the chance to slide this PC out of game and come into game with another PC more to the player's liking (without damaging the interactive story being played) then I would use the guidelines that you have established for your games (they seem reasonable). However, since the player just had his PC do something that is potentially out-of-character (swimming when the PC has no swim skill) just so that his PC could die and allow him to roll up a new one, I'd have him create a new PC - at first level. There will be some whining, but it also prevents players from getting in the habit of just killing off their PCs because they are not "strong" enough in the player's opinion.
If he would have taken the time to talk it over with you (as DM), and given you the chance to slide this PC out of game and come into game with another PC more to the player's liking (without damaging the interactive story being played) then I would use the guidelines that you have established for your games (they seem reasonable). However, since the player just had his PC do something that is potentially out-of-character (swimming when the PC has no swim skill) just so that his PC could die and allow him to roll up a new one, I'd have him create a new PC - at first level. There will be some whining, but it also prevents players from getting in the habit of just killing off their PCs because they are not "strong" enough in the player's opinion.
Similar Threads
