Death Penalties

[Storminator]

Game design has moved on from death penalties.

PS

 

[Umbran]

But what is a "CR-appropriate challenge" for a group of say, 3 level 5 clerics and a level 1 fighter and rogue? Even an at-level challenge for a level 1 character runs a risk of killing them.

Hey, I was only talking about how it seemed weird to have to loop back to Hobbiton to find a 1st level character if you wanted one.

Whether you want one, and what you do with them when you have them, is a separate question.

 

[Nellisir]

Hey, I was only talking about how it seemed weird to have to loop back to Hobbiton to find a 1st level character if you wanted one.

When I got tired of rationalizing new characters showing up in a dungeon, we'd have them come out of a box. There was an understanding that no one would ever question the box, or where it went when new characters that you instinctively trusted weren't climbing out of it.

 

[Umbran]

When I got tired of rationalizing new characters showing up in a dungeon, we'd have them come out of a box. There was an understanding that no one would ever question the box, or where it went when new characters that you instinctively trusted weren't climbing out of it.

I luckily never had that problem. Back when I was running long dungeons, the parties usually felt it important to get their fallen compatriots back for a proper burial/cremation/whatever their culture did for the deceased, which gave us an time to insert new PCs.

 

[Nellisir]

I luckily never had that problem. Back when I was running long dungeons, the parties usually felt it important to get their fallen compatriots back for a proper burial/cremation/whatever their culture did for the deceased, which gave us an time to insert new PCs.

My players' characters were usually too busy running from whatever killed the dead character to care about dragging a corpse along. And later, well...monsters are slower on a full stomach, right?

 

[Sunseeker]

My players' characters were usually too busy running from whatever killed the dead character to care about dragging a corpse along. And later, well...monsters are slower on a full stomach, right?

I simply had my players come across some tribe of quasi-intelligent creatures that were holding captive the new player. Someone who was perhaps spelunking or part of a prior adventuring party or just happened to be involved in some magical accident that teleported them to the wrong place at the wrong time.