D&D General PC Death: How do You Handle It?

generic · Jul 22, 2019

So, I may be odd in thinking this, but, even though I don't explicitly try to kill off PCs, I almost never rescue them. I expect the PCs to save each other, and I don't fudge damage rolls. Interestingly, at my table, this works. The PCs are very invested in keeping each other alive, and were able to pool their party resources: expending a significant fraction of their gold, selling items, and offering services, in order to resurrect a fellow party member at 4th level. This crippled them financially, and consigned them to service tasks which took away some of their vital time (the campaign is "on a clock"). But, because the PCs know that death is not something that I will either try to deal to them (except as an enemy) nor save them from (except as a friendly NPC, and this is uncommon), they are heavily invested in keeping each other alive, while pursuing their goals.

I have noticed that many DMs seem to think of letting PCs die as a sort of OSR-style attitude of gaming, but this is not the case at my table.

For example, PCs are meant to be durable, long-lasting characters who mature throughout the game, but I rarely "pull the punches".

In my game, three out of five players are on their second character, and two are on their first.

This has resulted in a table where the players can have as much fun as they want with their characters, but also encourages them to be careful. My players know that I am not antagonistic toward them, and actually (secretly) root for them to conquer the cults of Norgu Balok and Atropus in the end, but they are keenly aware that I won't fudge rolls to help them survive. At my table, at least, this has led to a sense of verisimilitude (in terms of being careful) that strikes the correct balance between OSR ridiculousness and hero-style 4e games.

So, my question is this, how do you handle PCs dying? Do you prevent PCs from dying?, do you have them come back as ghosts? Or does something else happen when PCs are on the brink of death?

iserith · Jul 22, 2019

How PC death is handled varies by campaign with me.

In most of my campaigns and adventures, it's run as normal. If you die, you die, and the standard methods of bringing your back are available. In these campaigns, I encourage the players to have a backup PC at the ready so they can tap in a new characters (one that has already been "written in") and continue playing. My main concern here is that the player gets to participate in the game after a PC dies. Having a backup character at the ready deals with D&D's iteration problem when the PCs don't have ready access to raise dead or the like.

In my current campaign, however, which is billed as a sort of "serial hero" pulp action concept set in Eberron, PC death is taken off the table unless the player decides the character dies. In a situation in which the PC is killed (which has happened twice in this campaign so far, in 17 sessions), the PC is considered "taken out." Her is she may no longer participate in this scene, but comes back in the next scene a bit worse for wear, essentially bearing the penalty as if he or she were raised from the dead. The player describes the circumstances that caused the PC to be taken out based on what is unfolding. The first PC taken out in this campaign, for example, was a warforged who was taken down with a big critical hit. His chassis completely fell apart, requiring a subsequent montage scene of the party's wizard (an artificer type guy) to weld him back together. Later, that wizard was taken out by a living fireball spell that he himself accidentally created in the Mournland. The heat effectively knocked him out of the fight, but he came back in the next scene with no eyebrows and a substantial penalty he had to carry forward for the remainder of the adventure.

So, overall, my advice is: Don't limit yourself on how you handle death. Change it up as it suits the campaign concept.

Michael Silverbane · Jul 22, 2019

it is pretty rare, though not vanishingly so, that a player controlled character will die when I am running a game.

I always try to keep in mind a couple of things in regards to the death of a player controlled character while running...

1. Do the players know and accept that there is a chance that their characters can die?

Not all players want the possibility of character death to be on the table, or consider that it is likely. This is a conversation that I occasionally revisit with my players so that they know it can happen.

2. Is there something for the player to do while his character is out of play?

It is one thing for a character to be taken out of play, they are imaginary and, in the end, not all that important. The player, however, is a real person, and I don't want them sitting around the table with nothing to do (or worse, feeling like they should leave). I always like to be sure that there are other things that the player can do until his character can be revived or replaced. This may be taking over play of a handy NPC aligned with the other player controlled characters' interests or taking over play of an opposing force of creatures or coming up with a plan of action for an NPC that is not yet known of by the players (i.e. generate new adventures for the players).

jasper · Jul 22, 2019

If they die, they die. Skully has 55 names on him. I roll out in the open and most of the time don't play favorites. Occasionally I will split the attacks over a couple of pcs to be nice. Being nice depends on my mood, new player, etc.
PC death should be covered in session 0 and revisited before each session. But I hate Captain Kirk campaigns.

Sacrosanct · Jul 22, 2019

The DM was originally called and referred to as the referee. That’s how I play it. If a PC does die, and if the players choose to not explore raising options, then I do try to get the players new PC into the game as quickly as possible. That’s about one of the only times I’ll make adjustments to my living world and place the new PC into the game directly (the lone survivor of a precious party the current party stumbles upon, a prisoner the current party rescuers, etc)

77IM · Jul 22, 2019

I talk a big game about TPKs looming evilly over the party... but, when it comes time to actually kill a character, I'm a big softy. I don't fudge rolls or anything; I just interpret the situation and the rules in the way that most favors the PCs. Like, I find myself getting lenient about things like action economy and carrying capacity and who is aware of what.

Except for that one time I killed the whole party using cone of cold. That was awesome.

S'mon · Jul 22, 2019

I handle it like the OP - I don't 'save' the PCs (unless I think I screwed up my GMing somehow), I run a fairly status quo world, but I like continuing characters with plenty of investment. Of the three campaigns I'm running currently:

1. Princes of the Apocalypse lvl 1-6 had a first session death to stirges which I felt was unfair, so I let the Life Cleric do an emergency blood transfusion.
2. Runelords of the Shattered Star lvl 1-20 has had a fair number of deaths & a couple perma deaths, but only because the player didn't want resurrection. Recently Quillax the Druid died after going 1-20 with no deaths, but she was raised soon after.
3. Primeval Thule lvl 1-11 has no raise dead and has had two PCs die, but they were both players on their first & only session; none of the core group have lost a PC. The Barbarian player speaks wistfully of missing low level when they nearly died every session!

billd91 · Jul 22, 2019

How do I handle PC deaths? Is this before or after I climb up on the table to dance my Jig of Triumph?

generic · Jul 22, 2019

billd91 said:
How do I handle PC deaths? Is this before or after I climb up on the table to dance my Jig of Triumph?

Pathfinder Subscriber? I see that you're a man of taste.

Just let me pull out my Occultist/Medium/Bloodrager/Skald/Paladin who deals 9,999,999,999 damage per round to the table.

Then, after you kill him, you can dance your jig of triumph.

Oofta · Jul 22, 2019

Death is pretty rare in my campaigns. Not because I use kid gloves, but because I view campaigns as cooperative story telling. Death ends a story.

In some cases the player wants that story to end anyway, so dead is dead. On the other hand death is normally pretty close to permanent in my game because of thematic reasons and how death works. Basically, in most cases there's a very short period of time before a PC has moved on to their final destination and once there it's almost impossible to come back.

As others have stated, I discuss this with my group during a session 0. I don't want to eliminate a sense of risk for people that enjoy it.