DM's: Are you afraid to kill PC's because of how players might react?

[Lanefan]

At the end of each year we give out awards for various things. One of the more coveted ones, and hardest to win, is the "Iron Man"; given to the character who has at that point survived the longest either since its previous death or initial entry...with the proviso that the character has to be active at the time the award is presented. (retirees don't count, but start counting again if they resume adventuring with the retirement time ignored)

Figuring out who the Iron Man is can get messy, with characters frequently cycling in and out of parties and so on; if current conditions hold up for two more weeks this year's Iron Man will be pretty much a tie - there's two characters who died at about the same time a few years ago, and have done about the same amount since - I probably could do a bunch of digging and determine an exact winner, but life's too short...

As a player, I've never been anywhere close to winning this thing...I think I had a character get up to about 10th on the list once...

Lanefan

 

[kigmatzomat]

Huh. IMC I guess the bard would, surprisingly, win that award. He's gone from 1st - 20th level without dying. Until he acquired a wizard cohort around level 12 he had the lowest hit points in the party. The cleric was tied with him but retired at level 18 or 19 in favor of his new scout.

The rogue & fighter died in a Creeping Doom while the cohort wizard was imploded by a goblin cleric & druid team, the halfling ranger was killed by a broodkeeper, the first monk was disemboweled by a troll and the second monk fell to a tendriculous, and another wizard was killed by an antelope stampede.

 

[RFisher]

Also, post if you actually have the following rules in your house rulebook:
1. Replacement character rules (how much x.p. and how much g.p. they start with)
2. Whether or not a dead PC's items are buried with them or if the party gets to loot the body
3. Rules for switching characters without PC death.

When I DM (classic D&D):

1. Half the XP of the previous PC. (For a TPK, though, I might go full XP of previous character.) Gold, as per 1st level characters.

(The half XP thing doesn't work as well with the 3e XP table.)

2. Looting the body is allowed/expected.

3. Nothing specific.

Is it true that people without cut and dried rules in these regards are more likely to be afraid to kill PC's?

No.

 

[CRGreathouse]

1. New characters generally come in 1 level below party level, or 2 levels below if the party level is at least 10.
2. PCs generally have 'wills' or the like; typically most of the possessions go to other PCs.
3. New characters come in 1 or 2 levels below the old character, per #1 (except as character level instead of party level).

 

[JustKim]

Ye's I am afraid of killing any of my PC's becau'se I am afraid of po's'sible negative reaction's. They might make pa's'sive-aggre's'sive forum po'st's highlighting my mi'stake's via hyperbole.


EDIT: By thi's, of cour'se, I mean that the "'" in "PC's" 'should be removed. Thank you for your time.

Fellow soldier in the grammar war, let me introduce you to a succinct comic strip the rest of us have known about for some time.
http://angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif

 

[Starglim]

I dislike killing PCs generally because it's anti-fun for the player and disruptive to progress towards the party's goals.

However, sometimes it's good for the player (wants a new character or a way out of the game and demonstrates it by his actions) and for the storyline (appropriate cost for a bad decision or great victory, or the character is not appropriate or effective for the ongoing game). In that case, I want to use it for everything it's worth.

1. I have allowed new characters at what I judged to be the average party level and a one-level bump for previous excellent play by one person.
2. Magic items get distributed (unless they need to be sold to pay for resurrections). Mundane gear and already-distributed loot buried or sent to the family.
3. I don't think this requires a separate rule. It's not much different to a PC dying and the player choosing not to accept resurrection. When the progress of the campaign allows a new character to join, the old PC leaves (with all his gear, unless he is retiring from adventuring life and wants to pass on some magic items to carry on the good fight) and the player can have a new character as if his character died. All that's just common sense and campaign continuity.

edit: Oh right, four questions:

4. DMs who don't have such rules are less organised. That says nothing one way or the other about whether they fudge in favour of, or against, the PCs.

 

[Warbringer]

1. Replacement character rules (how much x.p. and how much g.p. they start with)
2. Whether or not a dead PC's items are buried with them or if the party gets to loot the body
3. Rules for switching characters without PC death.
jh

1. Same level.
2. if the items are buried the new PC has a full compliment of magic. If they items stay in the party, she has less (maintaing the power level of the group)
3. Of course - a character says she's tired of adventuring and leaves the troupe - why not? Same rules for magic items apply as in character death

 

[Stalker0]

I haven't had a character death in a year and a half of gaming, so now I'm a little worried that if a character did die it be hard to introduce a new one, but I don't worry about a player's reaction.

I do use the AE hero point system, so players can save themselves with hero points.

But lately I've been trying to push the difficulty up a bit, don't want them thinking I'm too soft

 

[Dykstrav]

I absolutely kill PCs. Fear of death is one of the only really strong motivators across the spectrum for characters and their players. There have been times that goblins got lucky with a single crit and dropped the fighter or barbarian at 1st or 2nd level. Such are the perils of adventuring. I generally stick to the 'let the dice fall where they may' school of thought.

Blatantly stupid things usually get characters killed in my games, not my deliberate action. For instance, I've had a player's character that didn't know what acid is, so he quaffed a whole jar sitting on an alchemist's table, assuming that it was some half-completed potion. That player complained about how having a substance that he couldn't identify was unfair until I pointed out that he could have poured a drop or two on the wooden table to see how it reacted with organic material. That got an 'oh' look and the subject was dropped. Then there's the PC that watched five kobolds scamper down into a small hole, got on his hands and knees, and tried to follow them in. He too was honestly surprised when the hole opened up into a larger chamber- lo and behold, five little kobolds stove his skull in with rocks and gouged his eyes with their small daggers. "Huh? Are kobolds really smart enough to think of setting up an ambush? Aren't they rerally stupid besides that whole trapmaking thing?"

I try to match the characters against stuff within their league, I don't go out of my way to kill them unless there's an in-game reason (such as a thief claiming to be an assassin and flipping the bird to the representative the assassin's guild sent to recruit him). If their mouth writes checks that their ass can't cash then they should face those consequences.

 

[Ferret]

I'm not sure who they would react. Are they all killed or just one? Is this going to be regular or not?