Character Eulogies: The Last PC To Die in Your Game

[Duke_]

Most recent character death: I was playing a solo game of Ironsworn. The character swore to take on a monstrosity for a village. I decided to build a pit trap with punji stakes and lure it to where it would fall in and be safely finished off with bows and spears. A whoooole series of bad rolls later, the monstrosity came before the pit was finished, villagers that volunteered to help were scattered, and my PC was monstrosity-chow.

I've had several PC deaths in solo games. I haven't had a character death in a game with other people in years. Decades, if you don't count the mutually arranged heroic death to write out a character.

 

[Thierry-Advent]

I've been scratching my head over this one. I don't recall ever having character death since the gruelling BX dungeons in 1981, a failed save versus poison. I've had multiple DMs and GMs, played 50+ RPGs, it just never happened. Usually the campaign just ends with my character in limbo. I was 85% of the time the DM/GM so that might be the reason. Didn't have that many characters.

 

[corwyn77]

Deadlands

It's been a long time since I've killed a pc. That being said, campaign finales tend to be tuned a bit high so that death is a real possibility. But this one was not my fault in any way.

Winding River, an Indian Brave, gets killed by a Black Magician bounty hunter and then gets knocked off the train they are fighting on. Remarkably, he returns to life( he has become a Harrowed, where an evil spirit possesses the body of a freshly killed notable individual).

A couple of days later, the posse confronts the big bad, the most powerful NPC in the setting, Stone, also a Harrowed. They've dealt with his minions and River has dynamite that he's been carrying for ages and he wants to use it. He runs up to Stone, holds the bundle up, and calls for the group's Huckster (mage) to "light him up" which he hopes will ignite the bundle. It does so and he throws it and hits Stone.

There's good news and bad news; nope, bad news and worst news. See, Stone can only be wounded by bullets that originally killed him or weapons that he has used. Other party members have weapons that apply. So though the dynamite does tremendous damage, it just staggers him. Worst news: he forgot he had a second bundle which is now on fire. It ignites, blowing up and vaporizing River's body.

the next round, one of the party's gunslingers shoots Stone dead in one shot.

 

[Lanefan]

It's been quite some time since a PC died and stayed dead in my game, as they're of a level these days where they've got in-the-field access to revival spells.

Most recent revived-from deaths were a few weeks ago: a small party against a very big dragon. One PC got eaten then spat out then bled to death before anyone could get there, while another got clawed up some then hit by a big ol' breath weapon.

Probably the only way they could have avoided these deaths* would have been either a) to turn down the mission (which they did consider doing) and thus not go against the dragon in the first place or b) to recruit some NPC assistance as distractions and damage-soakers. Talking with it would merely delay the inevitable unless the PCs turned around and left.

And the PCs did try to talk with it, after a fashion. When the dragon got bored of talking (which didn't take long, it wasn't much of a talker) it sent a warning-shot breath weapon, basically the PCs' last opportunity to leave safely; but they charged instead. One of the dead was their Cleric, too, meaning they had to take the corpses to town to get them revived.

* - or others; knowing how much of a punch this dragon packed, I was fairly sure at least one of 'em was gonna die as soon as they decided to charge it, just wasn't sure which one or how many.

 

[Longspeak]

I think the most recent PC death... a tie. Dusty and Tony worked a great bit ill-advised magic to travel back in time. Their arrival created a paradox which killed them pretty much instantly.

The Judges of Ma'at reviewed the case. One of them, taking the persona of their old drill sergeant from the corps, called them numbnuts, and advocated for dissolution. By the boys pointed out the damage was already done, AND their other selves were already presently dead in this moment, so they could come back instead, which led to discussion of further paradox. Finally, the idea of integration was floated, and agreed upon by the Judges as the best way to heal the damage the boys has caused, and to the boys were integrated with their past selves, re-instantiated with their memories intact, and proceeded to get the bad guy who had been such a chore for the last several months that now never happened in a matter of days. They all lived happily ever after.

Until the boys broke the worlds again. But that's another story.

And that, in the words of the serialized incarnation of Hieronymus Karl Friedrich Freiherr Baron von Münchhausen, was but one of many times they died.



Most recent permadeath... Yden was a troubled warlock whose friend had forced him to do some... pretty screwed up stuff. In the end, as his friend was breaking free of his mortal prison (Yden), Yden called upon Silk, the Princess with a Million Eyes, and offered her his friend, knowing she strove for revenge after Yden's friend forced him to murder Eilistraee, and offered his friend to her, knowing what would happen. The Goddess ripped Yden's friend from his mortal frame to carry to her realm where she would visit an eternity of torment on it.

Yden did not survive the separation, but he prevented his friend from walking free, redeeming himself in the end.

Yden is remembered by his childhood friend Rebecca, his only friend who still remembered him as the sweet lad he was before he first met his friend.

 

[zarionofarabel]

My latest campaign, a VtM V5 affair, didn't see any PC deaths. Barley any NPC deaths either, though it was a very political affair so no suprise.

We did have a Mothership one shot about halfway through cause a player had a sick kid and had to cancel. That one very appropriately ended in a TPK when one player (who was a few cocktails in) decided he was tired, and tired of running from the alien monster, so he overloaded the spaceship's fusion core and detonated it. He said something about how nuking it from where he was was more efficient than from orbit.

 

[Gorgon Zee]

[Pendragon] A player's knight was fighting in a bog-standard battle against some northern forces. The players' leader failed their battle check so they were forced to fight against a raging barbarian foe -- after the players had already been dinged up a bit.

Barbarians critted their attack, knocked player down to near dead. Other player knight crit failed first aid. Dead knight.

 

[Mannahnin]

I've had at least two of my PC knights in my current Pendragon game die due to a good crit from a tough enemy. One to unnamed Saxon berserkers in a battle, another to an Unseelie Fachan lord with a great axe.

 

[Cadence]

DMing a group through Castle Amber. One of the characters was taken over by Princess Catherine. I gave the player the option of continuing to run the character and attacking the rest of the party. He polymorphed into a T-rex and ate one of the the two characters of another player. (Only the second character death in around 4 years, now 5, for that game).

 

[Gorgon Zee]

I've had at least two of my PC knights in my current Pendragon game die due to a good crit from a tough enemy. One to unnamed Saxon berserkers in a battle, another to an Unseelie Fachan lord with a great axe.

Yup, Berserkers. Northern ones caused my last knight's death. They are nasty as heck.

If this thread still is active in 3 weeks, I'll update as all my knights bar one will be dead. As will their squires, most of their household, and quite possibly their horses. After 60 session of play, it is time for the battle of Camlann.