Do You Kill off your PC's.

[Justin Bacon]

I know a lot of DM's that will fudge the results often or come up with some strange circumstances to keep the PC's alive, but how many of you are cold hearted enough to just let them die.

I've never had a problem killing characters. But I once had a monster destroy some of the party's equipment. That group basically fell apart as a result of the bad blood created as a result. Half of the group doesn't roleplay at all any more. (This same group, however, had endured more than a dozen character deaths.)

 

[Cedric]

If it's my fault...I badly balanced the encounter, oops'd on a rule, inadvertently fed them bad information...etc. Then no, I won't usually kill them. Or, I'll pull that player aside and give them the option...death for their character, or what's behind door number 3, which usually means a new character with something spiffy for their trouble.

However, if the character dies because of just sheer dumb luck or the player makes a mistake, then "Bring out yah Dead."

 

[Lanefan]

Out of curiosity to those who have PC's die with regularity, do you allow rezzes?

Yep, though (using 1e rules) there's a chance of failure, usually meaning perma-death...and a revived character loses a Con. point under most circumstances.

If the party can't cast it in the field, they have to pay someone to do it for them; and in any case there's a cost involved...

Lanefan

 

[Telsar]

I use a house rule that says if the rules say a PC (or even an important NPC) is dead (HP loss, CON loss, failed save-or-die effect), the character instead gains a Flaw (as in what's in Unearthed Arcana), assuming the character's player doesn't prefer to say he's dead. Players try just as hard to avoid the permanent flaw as they do character death, but if they fail, they still get to play their character.

Some players go the extra mile on their characters, writing up backgrounds, drawing portraits, making in-character connections in the game... kind of silly to make all the effort for nothing because of bad die rolls, or even the occasional bad decision. As a player, I wouldn't even bother writing a backround for my character if there was a significant chance of dying.

 

[Templetroll]

A world in which no one dies soon will.

It's not as much fun if there is no real danger to the characters. Just make sure there are options for recovery sometimes, for good reasons. [edit: let me add, I love the -10 before death rule. knocking most of a party down into the negatives is as valid as someone dieing; the players really survived a risky encounter. that is exciting as hell for a game.]

When the world is dangerous and the DM 'cold-hearted', as you put it, there is a great feeling of achievement in survival. It also allows the DM to not need to make NPCs all huge numbers, when the players know that reaching 3rd level is an achievement in your world.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Yes, I let them die.

I've found that when I lose PCs, I lose them in pairs. I've been very sad to see some of them go (as they were great characters) but that sort of thing happens now and then.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

I've been killing mine a lot less frequently of late. They've recently remembered how to surrender.

 

[Keith Robinson]

Hey, I can do a count

In the present campaign (3rd/4th level): 1 death (2 if you include the player who used their fate point to keep them alive).
In the previous campaign (reached 13th level): 22

They tended to die in batches, either through tough encounters or bad decision making (along with the occasional bad GM call). We keep attack/damage rolls in the open, so there's no place for fudging. If the dice rolls go against the players, things can get real nasty. This number also includes a coupler of 'accidental' party deaths caused by an over zealous wizard...

 

[Delta]

I'm old school. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Most adventurers die -- the challenge of D&D to the players is to avoid that while still progressing.

 

[rose4100]

The golden rule is: "No one said you had to sit there and kill every last one." (reference to a mass zombie encounter). Stupidity should be rewarded but i find everyone has a much better time if i narrate the situation which lets them narrowly escape. Much in the same way that a person who escaped death by getting hit with a Mack Truck ends up in the intensive care ward of a hospital for 8 months.