Do You Kill off your PC's.
- Thread starter Diremede
- Start date
sckeener
First Post
exactly...to quote Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 7Styracosaurus said:
D'Hoffryn said:
I like to make characters work for things.
Here's my most recent twist...quick version is instead of dying I had the players be responsible for saving a villian and gave one a semi-permanent disfiguration.
The long version....I had a really dumb player who just couldn't accept that a bad NPC might do a good deed, no anti-heroes. The plot had the evil NPC sitting on a hot spot waiting for another big bad villian. The plot also had at midnight a rip/hole in the multiverse letting the Far Realm explode into that hot spot...the bad NPC was supposed to be sucked back into the Far Realm. I gave every clue I could with the cluebat that the two pcs (husband and wife players) weren't supposed to be there...but they were determined to watch the bad person who just helpped them (saved their lives) because she was probably up to no good. Eventually the clock ticked away and the rip opened.
So instead of banishing them to the Far Realm as I was going to do to the NPC....I had their watch be successful in that they saved the bad NPC from the Far Realm...and per Dragon magazine #330 because one of the players did some healing in there...I gave one of the players a muttering mouth...I made it 'vile' too so it could only be removed on holy ground.
They considered it a plus since they got a ton of useful plot information from the evil pc....though they really hated the muttering mouth!
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![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
I've killed a character during the current campaign. He got a rez, but it was very clearly a one-time thing. Everyone else has been suitably jumpy since.
I have no intentions of mass slaughters, but if anyone does anything really stupid (there are nearby areas that are CLEARLY too high level for them), I won't save them.
I have no intentions of mass slaughters, but if anyone does anything really stupid (there are nearby areas that are CLEARLY too high level for them), I won't save them.
the Jester
Legend
I kill pcs left and right. I run a very high-lethality game, with a lot of players, and one thing that I have learned is that campaign and story hooks for a pc who dies don't just vanish; the consequences reverberate and spill over at the other pcs.
For instance, if Drendlin the runaway aristocrat pc gets killed, the trackers trying to kidnap her and take her home to her hated father aren't stopping; they're shifting focus to catching the ones responsible for her death (prolly the pcs). Either bringing them to justice- or executing them as bandits.
For instance, if Drendlin the runaway aristocrat pc gets killed, the trackers trying to kidnap her and take her home to her hated father aren't stopping; they're shifting focus to catching the ones responsible for her death (prolly the pcs). Either bringing them to justice- or executing them as bandits.
BlueBlackRed
Explorer
Absolutely.
No risk of death = reduced challenge.
less challenge = less fun
No risk of death = reduced challenge.
less challenge = less fun
Gold Roger
First Post
You could call me the Jolly Reaper. In my current campaign six PC's died before they reached level two and one died at level two. Granted, that game started out as a short term dungeoncrawl that was meant to see many deaths and my players knew that beforehand.
It's not that I enjoy killing PC's, but I find that my games are in many ways can enhanced by occasional PC death.
My normal games still see the occasional death, though I try to keep it down, to not kill of player attachment, investment and campaign continuity, though I never fudge. From mid level on raising becomes available, which means death becomes a temporary setback and retains some danger, but instead of permanently removing a PC, it offers plot hooks.
Personally, I don't think I'd enjoy a game with a DM that's unwilling to kill PC's or pulls punches. Thrilling combats are one of my favorite things and without the danger of dead, combats become boring to me.
It's not that I enjoy killing PC's, but I find that my games are in many ways can enhanced by occasional PC death.
My normal games still see the occasional death, though I try to keep it down, to not kill of player attachment, investment and campaign continuity, though I never fudge. From mid level on raising becomes available, which means death becomes a temporary setback and retains some danger, but instead of permanently removing a PC, it offers plot hooks.
Personally, I don't think I'd enjoy a game with a DM that's unwilling to kill PC's or pulls punches. Thrilling combats are one of my favorite things and without the danger of dead, combats become boring to me.
Wik
First Post
I'm running Savage Tide, and I've made it clear that I will let the dice do the talking. No cutting in on the group's behalf.
So now, the group is always on edge. They know that they can screw up, and even in simple fights (4 PCs vs. a CR 2 construct that didn't have much damage capability, for example) and the group is on the edge of its seat.
I really like this form of play - play the monsters exactly as smart as they should be played (so the construct, for example, just attacked a random foe, whereas the crossbowmen in an earlier combat focused their fire on the only available spellcaster, until the goliath got on board the deck of their ship; then they all tried to kill him).
All this being said, I have cut in once to save a PC's hide. The Goliath was at 2 hit points when he was attacked by a very nasty little critter that knocked him all the way down to -10 hp. I knew that, by the rules, the character was dead for a few reasons - 1) -10 means you're dead, and 2) even if it didn't, the cleric was too far away to reach the character in one round.
So, I pretended that I thought -11 was dead, and -10 was that you were on the VERGE of death (pretending you don't know the rules to help a PC is always okay, if you ask me), and I fudged things a bit by letting the cleric make a check of some sort (Balance/Climb?) to get to the dying goliath in time. Turns out it wasn't necessary, as the goliath stabilized, but still.
So now, the group is always on edge. They know that they can screw up, and even in simple fights (4 PCs vs. a CR 2 construct that didn't have much damage capability, for example) and the group is on the edge of its seat.
I really like this form of play - play the monsters exactly as smart as they should be played (so the construct, for example, just attacked a random foe, whereas the crossbowmen in an earlier combat focused their fire on the only available spellcaster, until the goliath got on board the deck of their ship; then they all tried to kill him).
All this being said, I have cut in once to save a PC's hide. The Goliath was at 2 hit points when he was attacked by a very nasty little critter that knocked him all the way down to -10 hp. I knew that, by the rules, the character was dead for a few reasons - 1) -10 means you're dead, and 2) even if it didn't, the cleric was too far away to reach the character in one round.
So, I pretended that I thought -11 was dead, and -10 was that you were on the VERGE of death (pretending you don't know the rules to help a PC is always okay, if you ask me), and I fudged things a bit by letting the cleric make a check of some sort (Balance/Climb?) to get to the dying goliath in time. Turns out it wasn't necessary, as the goliath stabilized, but still.
Jefe Bergenstein
Legend
Out of curiosity to those who have PC's die with regularity, do you allow rezzes?
In our game, we have the Luck stat, assigned like any other. Each session you have a floating bonus/penalty of twice the luck mod. If its positive, you can use your luck bonus to up to 2 rolls, after you've made them. If its negative, I get to apply it to up to 2 rolls. A character can permantly lose a point of luck to (among other things) survive a round. As characters spend more luck, they tend to suffer more, so its a vicious spiral. When characters reach 0 luck they die. It works out about the same as the standard "Bob's dead, lets drag him to the old Resurrection Barn", but to me at least seems less silly, gets rid of the revolving door of PC's, the question of what to do with the dead guy's gear, etc.
In our game, we have the Luck stat, assigned like any other. Each session you have a floating bonus/penalty of twice the luck mod. If its positive, you can use your luck bonus to up to 2 rolls, after you've made them. If its negative, I get to apply it to up to 2 rolls. A character can permantly lose a point of luck to (among other things) survive a round. As characters spend more luck, they tend to suffer more, so its a vicious spiral. When characters reach 0 luck they die. It works out about the same as the standard "Bob's dead, lets drag him to the old Resurrection Barn", but to me at least seems less silly, gets rid of the revolving door of PC's, the question of what to do with the dead guy's gear, etc.
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