D&D 5E Sidelining Players- the Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Poll

[Maxperson]

Most DMs do not want to sideline the players long before a game session ends and players certainly want to avoid being sidelined but I feel it can be a legitimate learning tool. I recently had a player die early and he had to sit out 3 hours of the remainder of the session. Afterwards I assisted him in creating a completely different character which is much better suited for his play style. His game play has flourished since as a result of that initial PC death.

How would that have changed if you had included him another way?

 

[Mercule]

(Somewhat tangential aside: It's really hard to kill off your character in 5e! I've dropped to 0 in our last 4 fights, but between the death saves not going my way (natural 20 when I'm at 2 death saves!), and healing freakin' word, I always get pulled back from the brink.

Oh, it's rough. I had one character, one time, almost buy the farm during PotA. So far, I've been enjoying CoS a lot more (for a variety of reasons), but last Friday was frustrating. They had the monk and ranger scout out

Spoiler

the vineyard

, invisibly. The ranger actually botched a check and ended up alerting all the bad guys in the area to their presence. That means

Spoiler

30 needle blights

on the first round with another

Spoiler

24 twig blights and a druid

coming into play two rounds later. Considering the ranger was my daughter's character, I was feeling bad for about a round and a half. Then it became apparent that, while they weren't going to be able to win, the PCs were in very little real danger just due to movement abilities and ranged attacks. Once they regrouped and the party came in, forewarned, it wasn't long before the writing was on the wall and I narrated the second major movement of the siege ("yeah, yeah, you use the rest of your spells and take the same amount of damage as last time").

It's not that I feel like I need to kill a PC to have fun. Far from it; I tend to fudge when things are really going against the PCs. I just don't like events where it's next to impossible to build dramatic tension. We spent the majority of a session on a battle that didn't really threaten the party. Yes, there are some threats left, but they're minor and well within the abilities of the short-rest characters to handle without breaking a sweat.

 

[TwoSix]

Oh, it's rough. I had one character, one time, almost buy the farm during PotA. So far, I've been enjoying CoS a lot more (for a variety of reasons), but last Friday was frustrating. They had the monk and ranger scout out

Spoiler

the vineyard

, invisibly. The ranger actually botched a check and ended up alerting all the bad guys in the area to their presence. That means

Spoiler

30 needle blights

on the first round with another

Spoiler

24 twig blights and a druid

coming into play two rounds later. Considering the ranger was my daughter's character, I was feeling bad for about a round and a half. Then it became apparent that, while they weren't going to be able to win, the PCs were in very little real danger just due to movement abilities and ranged attacks. Once they regrouped and the party came in, forewarned, it wasn't long before the writing was on the wall and I narrated the second major movement of the siege ("yeah, yeah, you use the rest of your spells and take the same amount of damage as last time").

It's not that I feel like I need to kill a PC to have fun. Far from it; I tend to fudge when things are really going against the PCs. I just don't like events where it's next to impossible to build dramatic tension. We spent the majority of a session on a battle that didn't really threaten the party. Yes, there are some threats left, but they're minor and well within the abilities of the short-rest characters to handle without breaking a sweat.

We've had some dramatic fights in CoS (3 out of 6 PCs down in a fight in Argynvostholt), but it does seem that whether or not the characters die is strongly dependent on the DM choosing to take actions that damage downed characters. Fights are usually decided in the 3-4 rounds it takes for death saves to get dicey.

 

[CydKnight]

How would that have changed if you had included him another way?

How would I know since that's not what I did? I can only speak for what I actually did and experienced.

I will say that we don't all learn the same way so my previous example certainly would not apply to everyone.

 

[iserith]

We've had some dramatic fights in CoS (3 out of 6 PCs down in a fight in Argynvostholt), but it does seem that whether or not the characters die is strongly dependent on the DM choosing to take actions that damage downed characters. Fights are usually decided in the 3-4 rounds it takes for death saves to get dicey.

In my view, character deaths only count toward the DM's kill quota if they die from massive damage.

The trick with that is getting them while they are relatively new.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[JonnyP71]

We played a Hallowe'en one-shot of Ravenloft (the original I6) using 1E rules... the plan was to play the entire adventure in one long extended session, starting about 1pm and finishing around midnight, with a break for takeaway curry.

It all went swimmingly until mid afternoon, when the party Monk got separated from the party by a trap, encountered Strahd while alone, and got charmed. I took the player to one side and told him that his PC was effectively out of the adventure, but that he was now playing Strahd, gave him Strahd's motives, and said he could do what he liked from there....

He told me he would polymorph himself to look like the Monk, and then meet up with the party again at an opportune moment. The player went on to give a masterclass in patience - he sat observing the session for about 3 hours before choosing the right time to re-enter. He then continued with them until they entered the Crypt area, charmed the party Mage, and used him to blow the rest of the group to smithereens.

Great fun was had by all!

Note - one of the most enjoyable aspects of the whole session for me as DM, was that the one shot PCs I gave them all completely forced the players out of their comfort zones (maybe something worthy of a discussion in another thread!). The player who had the Monk is a great actor and improvisor, very jolly and sociable - his Monk had taken a vow of silence. His wife, who enjoys adult humour and bawdy comedy was playing a puritanical priestess. We had one of the quieter players in the role of an outlandish and headstrong Bard, our heroic Paladin-type player was an overweight and cowardly Mage with terrible manners and hygiene, and our socially liberal player was a Cavalier who believed women should not be adventuring. It all combined to be one of the best sessions of gaming imaginable, and the all players excelled themselves!

 

[Draegn]

As part of my session zero I tell the players that in Game of Thrones Arya's quest started out as simply getting home to Winterfell. She was sidelined quite a bit and in the process became a remarkable person. The same can happen to your characters.

 

[Quickleaf]

Yes. But only because the DM has alternatives to keep the player involved.

Maybe a different paradigm would be: "Yes. And the DM and players should work together to devise a way to keep the player involved. What works for one player (running a NPC in the interim) might not work for another (who prefers to remain firmly in their PC's perspective), and that's OK. The key is it involves *both* DM and players. The burden isn't on the DM alone to involve playes."

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Real D&D players have their backup characters ready to go and an entrance plan already in mind.

Hmmmm. There's a thought. You could make the player responsible for his own entrance into the campaign: tell him to interject whenever it's his time. He gets a one-time usage of DM fiat to set up the scenario however he wants (subject to DM veto if it gets too ridiculous, like e.g. falling out of the sky with a treasure horde). If he wants to wait until the party's in trouble and then have his new PC show up as or with the cavalry, that's fine. If he instead wants to be a prisoner in chains whom they rescue, that's okay too.