Is Losing your Turn The Worst That Can Happen

[MGibster]

I have often heard from players they would rather their character die than to lose agency or beloved gear. Losing a turn shouldn't be too difficult though, but if you're playing a game where it takes players forever to take their turns, I can see how it would get frustrating.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Losing a turn isn't a big deal, but simultaneously is worse than having the character die.

so you're saying every effect that causes a player to loose a turn would be better replaced by having them immediately start making death saving throws instead?

 

[KYRON45]

No.
I'm not so fragile that I can't enjoy the game as a spectator. The DM is a player too so if their turn was spent disabling me, it was just my turn to take one for the team.

 

[Lanefan]

This comes up in threads now and again, and recently someone said they would rather their character die than be denies their turn multiple rounds in a row.

Which seems odd, in that one's character dying tends to deny one's turn for somewhat longer than multiple rounds.

Is that a general truth, do you think? Do you think most players think losing their turn in combat is the worst/least fun effect? And do you feel that way as a player? What about as a GM?

It's not fun, but then again not everything in the game is. Is it the outright worst? I don't think so.

The bigger issue is how loudly - if at all - players complain if-when this or other unfun elements arise. In our system we have a lot of non-death effects that can still take a character right out of a combat - paralysis, sleep, confusion, charm/dominate, etc. - and it's fairly common* that someone ends up sitting out (or rolling for the party NPCs) for quite some time in a session.

* - or would be if I forced them to only play one character at a time; I allow two simultaneiously, which gets around 95+% of this problem as if one character's hors de combat there's still the other to run.

 

[payn]

I’m guessing thoughts on this will line up in the strategic plan vs tactical play focus groups. A strategic player is going to say well played and I’ll need to be ready next time. A tactical player will probably see it as Playing with one arm tied behind their back and thus not a fair match.

It’s also resltive. Missing 1-3 min of a 15-20 min fight no biggie. Missing 10-20min of an hour long fight is a bigger deal.

 

[Pedantic]

Really, what is character death but missing a whole bunch of turns?

 

[not-so-newguy]

This comes up in threads now and again, and recently someone said they would rather their character die than be denies their turn multiple rounds in a row.

Is that a general truth, do you think? Do you think most players think losing their turn in combat is the worst/least fun effect? And do you feel that way as a player? What about as a GM?

If it's a combat-heavy session, then yes it can be very frustrating for me because I'm not participating.

I'm having a tough time defining "combat-heavy," but maybe 1/3 of a session or more would be a good estimate.

 

[cranberry]

It's not the worst thing in the world, but it isn't fun.

It happened to me once. My PC beating back the bad guys pretty effectively, so the DM altered the rules mid game so that a spell could reach my PC and knock him overboard. ..and of course there was no way for me to climb back up.

 

[TwoSix]

so you're saying every effect that causes a player to loose a turn would be better replaced by having them immediately start making death saving throws instead?

I like this!

 

[J.Quondam]

Really, what is character death but missing a whole bunch of turns?