Planning for character death?

[Masada]

I think a few Ref's have found themselves sinking under their game screens staring at the double crit roll that is going to kill a character and thought "uh oh, what do I do now?"

Thus the concept behind this thread is planning for what to do when it happens. It occurs to me that this should be something that is discussed when a player joins the game. "If your character dies, then X happens." Some folks like a hardcore campaign where death is fairly permanent. Some prefer to have a wandering High Priest around every corner waiting to rez some poor sucka. Whatever your game, it is best to have a plan. It will save a lot of hard feelings at the table. My suggestions are...

#1 Fudge it. Knock the PC unconscious and move on.

#2 Wake up in prison. If the whole party wipes or someone gets left behind, have them wake up in prison. This works better if the whole group can adventure together to get out of prison. Have a prison adventure ready. In previous games, I even pointed it out to players as a reminder I was prepared.

#3 Magic. Something weird is going on... you were sure you died, but now you are awake and still living! What a mystery?! Make something up later.

#4 The Raise Dead 24-hour Clinic. Always a classic... pay the fee... restore thee to life. I like to remove a finger from the character... a little reminder and implies there is a limit.

#5 Standby "Cousins". Have each player keep an alternate character that will just happen to be around when the "main" dies. A little forced, but it keeps the player in the session and you don't have to spend a lot of time making a new character.

#6 Play a ghost. The character is now a ghost that can not move far from his/her body and is incorporial. You can dial this in power-wise if you want to keep the character actually playable. I just like the idea of the party having to cart around a body. Perhaps he/she can be raised later. Or perhaps they have to buried in a special graveyard to remain a ghost without travel limits. Obviously, you'd need ghost's as PC's rules up front.

#7 You're dead, but strangely still moving. The PC is undead in some way, but something keeps them in their body and alive. Perhaps things change a little or not at all... perhaps there is a way back to living... perhaps not. Again, you'd have to work out these rules in advance.

#8 If you can find the Elixir of Life before the 7th sun sets... mini-quest to restore the PC... but this usually leaves the player of the dead character out in the cold a bit.

#9 Mortally wounded. The character is gravely wounded. Their only hope is to die in one last blaze of glory. Have them hang on long enough to "defend the pass" or "save the princess" and then tragically expire.

I'd love to hear other ideas...

One more thing though. If you decide to let character really die, make a bit of a show of it. Let it be a grand spectacle worthy of retelling. Make sure players know this is the plan up front. Then double crit your weasely DM guts out.

 

[Rechan]

1) Have them roll a new character. I am very against resurrection. I am also a player who is eager to play a billion different characters, so the death of a character means an opportunity for another.

2) Trip into the land of the dead to retrieve the PC's soul and bring it back. This will result in grim reapers and other servants to the god of the dead hunting down the PC to collect them.

3a) In case of a TPK: The players are resurrected 100 years after their death, because they failed their task and now they need help fixing it.

3b) Play out the result of the PCs failure, have them make new characters who are in the aftermath of the problem.

4) As soon as the battle is over, take the player aside, and run a small scene where he wakes up standing in a boat by a dock during a storm. Standing on the dock is a Mysterious Stranger holding the tether to the boat. The Mysterious Stranger offers him a simple option: "I can return you to life, no wounds, no nothin'. You'll owe me a favor." He will not answer the character's questions as to Who or What, because he's the one offering a sweet deal here. Now watch the players responses as their bud pops up from an obvious fatality. (This is the ace up my sleeve).

 

[Wik]

Yeah, I just kill 'em. I've killed, uh... lemme count... um... seven PCs since 4e started? eight? Lesse here...

(yeah, I do need to count)

1) Tordarr, a Dragonborn Paladin. Killed by the Beast of the Black Hills.
2) Skizz, Kobold Fighter. Killed by the beast of the Black Hills.
3) The Doppleganger Veronica, a Rogue. Killed by the beast of the Black Hills (Yeah, a total party kill)
4) Quarrion, Eladrin Warlock. Killed by Krill, a halfling criminal leader.
5) Tongs, Eladrin Warlord. Killed by Scything blade trap.
6) Hammer, Minotaur Fighter. Killed by the same trap.

Uh, I guess six. the point is, all but two of those PCs remained dead... the last two wound up getting revived from the local healing cult - and then owed a nice hunk of change. Their debts were owed to a halfling businessman who extorted the money out of them - much fun has been had.

I like the "you're dead, you're dead" approach. Reviving is alright, but one of my gaming groups generally avoids it, and embraces the "dead is dead" approach. Lots of fun.

 

[Jack99]

I like the "you're dead, you're dead" approach. Reviving is alright, but one of my gaming groups generally avoids it, and embraces the "dead is dead" approach. Lots of fun.

Precisely how my group feels. I am at 6 dead characters as well, and I suspect that some feel it is a bit low.. go figure..

Either way, when we have a TPK, I usually go by the "roll new characters to fix the issues caused by the old character's failures". About once every 5 years, I pull a magical comeback of some sort, although always with a heavy toll to pay.

 

[Starfox]

Focusing on roles rather than rolls, I loathe death. My games always feature some kind of fate points or other mechanic to keep characters in the story. Not everyone does - I had a character killed in a friends campaign killed about a year ago, and promptly dropped out of the campaign. Actually, I did make a new character, but very quickly lost interest in both the character and the game and dropped out.

In this DMs new campaign, we do have fate points.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

One of my favorite villians said it best:

Kill them all, and feed them to the new recruits.