Should I let my character be instantly killed?

[LH Almeida]

So, I'm running a game, and my Halfling got bitten by a T-Rex kind of monster. Problem it's just the beginning of the final part of the adventure. He suffered 56,points, having only 39. I didn't want him to be killed right now, but I still want him to be punished. Should some days off unconsciousness do it? Or should I accept fate and let him be done?

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Are you the DM? Or are you the player? What system is this for?

 

[LH Almeida]

Are you the DM? Or are you the player? What system is this for?

I'm the DM, the system is a Brazilian one called Tormenta RPG, it's based on D20, but I added some spices of Pathfinder to it.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Okay. That's kind of a tough situation.

If you let the character die, then you have to find some way to introduce a new character into the story, right before the final part of the adventure. If you don't let the character die, then you're telling the players that their actions don't matter because you won't let them fail.

You could ask the player if he knows what kind of character he wants to make to replace the halfling. If he does, then great, and you can work on integrating that character into the story. (Maybe start the character with less equipment, or one level lower, so there's still some penalty for failure.) There are lots of games and stories that introduce a new character for the last chapter, so that's not too weird.

The only cases where I would recommend fudging the outcome, to let the character live, is if it was absolutely vital to the plot (if he's the Chosen One, and the game is over if he dies), or if the it's a new player who didn't know that final death was possible (and it was just bad luck or a critical hit that killed the character, and the player wasn't doing something dumb to cause the death).

 

[LH Almeida]

Okay. That's kind of a tough situation.





If you let the character die, then you have to find some way to introduce a new character into the story, right before the final part of the adventure. If you don't let the character die, then you're telling the players that their actions don't matter because you won't let them fail.





You could ask the player if he knows what kind of character he wants to make to replace the halfling. If he does, then great, and you can work on integrating that character into the story. (Maybe start the character with less equipment, or one level lower, so there's still some penalty for failure.) There are lots of games and stories that introduce a new character for the last chapter, so that's not too weird.





The only cases where I would recommend fudging the outcome, to let the character live, is if it was absolutely vital to the plot (if he's the Chosen One, and the game is over if he dies), or if the it's a new player who didn't know that final death was possible (and it was just bad luck or a critical hit that killed the character, and the player wasn't doing something dumb to cause the death).

He didn't have a chance. The dice rolls killed him, he had to succeed in three tests before three failures to escape, and he rolled 2 and 1 in the last two rolls.



They are in an island, 10 days away from the nearest city. I am thinking about letting him unconscious for 1d4+2 days and to punish him with 10% of his XP and half his action points.



That way, the punishment still hits him hard, but we can keep up with the adventure. There's no way they will survive without the rogue to detect the traps.

Edit: I didn't inform them of the damage. He's currently badly damaged and unconscious, it's a PbF campaign, so I still have some time to decide what to do

 

[Morrus]

"Punishing" players is not really the aim of a game.

 

[LH Almeida]

"Punishing" players is not really the aim of a game.

My idea is not to punish for punishment, but because I still think he should be penalized for not dying.

Edit: I love my characters and my players, and we've been together in this PbF for over a year. I don't want any of them to die.

 

[Morrus]

My idea is not to punish for punishment, but because I still think he should be penalized for not dying.

Ah. You said "punish".

I used to inflict dying penalties. I don't now. Losing your character is penalty enough, but forcing your friend to play at a disadvantage as well is not my personal idea of fun.

 

[Wicht]

If by the rules he should be dead, you could have him instead be at death's door, and then introduce a brief side adventure for the other players to heal him via some strange herb, mystical potion, or one time spell that is locked within some nearby ruins. Or some such...

 

[LH Almeida]

Ah. You said "punish".



I used to inflict dying penalties. I don't now. Losing your character is penalty enough, but forcing your friend to play at a disadvantage as well is not my personal idea of fun.

He won't be as harmed tbh, because he is a level ahead of his peers because of last adventure, where he took a different path from everybody else and did a mission by himself, so he got 5000 XP more, so cutting him 10% of his almost 30k will cut him back to level 7, the same as everybody else.