When Is PC Death Worst?

[MadLordOfMilk]

PC death's capability to irk me is independent of whether I'm the GM or a player

My biggest issue comes up when it seems like there was no way possible to prevent it; that is, if the death can't be attributed to any bad decisions. If you at least could've run away, or avoided the combat, or something entirely different? Sure. If there was no right option, and you just get stuck with dying? I'd feel cheated.

Of course, possibly worse (but not something I've experienced) would be if the GM hammered me non-stop for some intense several-page overly lengthy background then I dropped dead in 5 minutes.

 

[Lanefan]

"Other": permanent (as opposed to raise-able) death only bothers me as DM and-or player when a character has done enough to show some potential but hasn't fulfilled that potential yet.

The death of a one-hit wonder doesn't bother me at any time.

The permanent death of a long-term character whose career has pretty much run its course doesn't bother me.

But sometimes the ones in between are unfortunate.

Lanefan

 

[Remathilis]

I dislike the deaths that could not be avoided.

To that end, I really dislike 1-hit kills of any type. Save-or-die, uberlethal traps, or even monsters who can outright kill in an average blow. I like to give my PCs a chance to assess the situation and either adjust tactics or retreat. I don't like deaths that come out of nowhere, which the latter are all examples off.

As a player, I feel cheated. Its a chump-hit, and I don't like any PC I create to go out like a chump.

As a GM, I want the feeling that a PC's life is (somewhat) meaningful and that he has options in the game. No one likes feeling sucker-punched by a GM.

While sometimes the dice roll that way (a crit kills a PC) the idea that PCs can act (or at least react) to the situation is the key point.

 

[Marx420]

When another player is killed by the newly created undead spawn (happened no less than 3 times in my games). Unless of course the campaign is then revised into an undead only one (happened on one of those kills which blossomed into a full on horrific tpk with players hunting players).

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

To that end, I really dislike 1-hit kills of any type. Save-or-die, uberlethal traps, or even monsters who can outright kill in an average blow. I like to give my PCs a chance to assess the situation and either adjust tactics or retreat. I don't like deaths that come out of nowhere, which the latter are all examples off.

Used right, "save or die" is appropriate sometimes (especially when compared to outright killing a PC), but it's far too often used as a "gotcha! you're dead." moment. In that situation, I totally agree.

 

[Nexilis]

I don't really feel bad when my characters die, it's more second guessing my last few turns to see if I could have done something different somewhere. However I was in a group with rotating GM's that loved seeing players die. They didn't go out of their way to kill people but they kept a scoreboard with everyone's name, the number of times they had a character die and who killed that character. I myself was at the top of the list for characters lost having been at the wrong end of a vorpal sword, failing my save for a beholder's Flesh to Stone eye beam and a few other spectacular deaths.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I voted "as a player when my PC dies".

Now, I've got no objection to dying in the adventure if it was my choice acting heroically (or stupidly) that made it happen.

But the fact is that every PC death I've experienced in 3e and 4e was when I was murdered by a fellow PC.

That's the worst IMO.

No, I'm not playing with those guys any more.

 

[DragonLancer]

As a DM stuff happens. I won't go out of my way to kill a PC but then I won't go tooe asy on them either. If a character dies then it's sad but it happens.

As a player I like to work out the concept and play that concept. I accept character death as part of the every day life of the character (sane people don't so these quests) but I get dissapointed if the character death happened and I didn't have the opportunity to do anything about it.

But character death happens, so I don't worry in general.

 

[Afrodyte]

I generally put a lot of thought and energy behind a PC I create, and when I'm GM I typically expect it of players at my table. So losing a character because of a bad die roll is so . . . boring, mainly because inflicting pain, agony and torment upon the PCs is so much more interesting.

 

[Zhaleskra]

I wholeheartedly agree, though I repudiate the idea that death is the only meaningful form of failure for PCs. That's too simplistic for me.

In general, I don't actually disagree with this. Personally, I find it far less contrived to come up with how to work new PCs in than to come up with yet another way to pull their fat out of the fryer when the rules and/or dice say they died. This is why I like you-know-what-saver points, but I digress.

That said, I mostly dislike death when I'm the GM running a module. Especially when said module requires are certain PC type to survive. In one particular example, has to be LG or LN, and preferably should be in the "good" human culture.