D&D 5E First 5e Kill this Weekend.

[GuyBoy]

I play Khione, the Ranger in @TheSword 's game and it was a brutal experience, but DM-ed superbly.
We were devastated both in and out of game at the loss of the siren monk, Titus. In game, Khione was emotionally broken; she only has slashing weapons and (in game) did not know about their impact on hydrae; she only just escaped death herself in using zephyr step to grab the body of Leandros, the unconscious barbarian, and only survived due to some poor rolling by the DM. She even returned to the waters later, with invisibility, to try to locate Titus' body but to no avail.
It was pretty dramatic escaping with Leandros, having to share breaths with him underwater so he wouldn't drown. She could not see what went on behind her and the death of her friend.

Out of game, it was an epic battle. We were over-confident and learnt a painful lesson. The Odyssey of the Dragonlords is a great campaign and we will battle on against the Titans. Matt will roll a new character.
Sleep with the Gods, Titus, and fly in the heavens!

 

[iserith]

Anyway, that was the first time I have killed a player in 5e. At first I felt pretty bad about it.

It gets easier.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I play Khione, the Ranger in @TheSword 's game and it was a brutal experience, but DM-ed superbly.

Any DM should be proud of this review!

 

[Stormonu]

I must have bad players. I'm on my 5th or 6th player character death, and have had at least two of my own characters die.

 

[Stalker0]

The fact that the party lost someone and still ran away is actually pretty awesome. As noted above, I generally find 1 person dies or a number do.

 

[beancounter]

You shouldn't feel bad about it. If players make poor tactical decisions, they should occasionally have to deal with the consequences.

And I've noticed that players hate to retreat, as if it's some sort of failure.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Hardcore

When the character dies, the player must be sacrificed. That is just how I roll.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

It’s ok.

it shows choices matter and ups excitement otherwise.

I am not against raise dead when reasonable. If someone was railroaded into a “choice” it’s ok to rethink it.

I like that I can die. And on occasions when I dm smart very motivated opponents I let them know death is possible. Prepare and stay frosty or whomp out but “this is not a drill.”

I have never had a complaint. The only complaints I have seen are related to railroad and railroad with bad outcomes!

one wonderful memory I have is playing D&D with my group 30 years ago—AD&D…we had a deck of many things and were a bandit group of sorts—-non good-aligned murder hobos on a Mission of revenge!

but our charactersbwere drinking and so were we at 2AM!

and those cards got dealt! One. By. One. And some of us died! No complaints just a great story…

before long some of us had to roll up new characters but that was a classic time. It was. Thrill to see who got rich and who got dead. And those who died, really really died!

 

[overgeeked]

That sounds awesome.

 

[Quickleaf]