Fudging Dice and the Fear of Death

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

This depends entirely on the class, quest, and allignment of the PC:

If he/she dies, have their diety bring them back. It's a great story point and give the player a little more drive to fulfill their cause...
(I tend to play a Paladin most often...)

My thoughts! Cheers!

--Lizzy

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

It's ok that you've fudged to keep her alive the last few sessions, but I suggest that some ajustments be made so that there is less need for "DM cheating".

NPCs are, of course, a valid option. Focusing less on combat for XP is also a solution. Those are adjustments that YOU can make.

The player, on the other hand, will have to understand that (if she hasn't already):
- the world is a dangerous place
- being alone in a dangerous place is not that good of an idea
- it is better to flee and fight another day, especially since she is a monk and monks have excellent movement capacities. She can probably outrun and out manoeuvre anyone, if she has a "plan B" prepared. A monk is lawful and wise. They should always be prepared. Encourage the player thusly. Of course, this means that you won't place her to often in situations where the only means of accomplishment is victorious combat.

If you stop fudging and that the character dies because of that, don't hesitate to use the good ol' deus ex machina... once. And have the character be terribly indebted towards whatever hero will have saved her. She'll have to learn! (of course, you say that the player is afraid for her character. There's a good start)

AR

 

[MerakSpielman]

I suggest putting her in a situation where it's obvious she can't succeed by fighting. If two ogres almost killed her, introduce 20 ogres raiding the forest or something. She should instantly realize that they will kill her in an outright fight, and behave accordingly. Make sure you have another way to deal with the problem, though.

Or introduce slavers. They deal subdual damage only. They have "stock" with them consisting of women in cages who have obviously been treated... poorly. I think a female gamer would react strongly to her character being faced with the possiblity of being captured and enslaved, perhaps even more strongly than facing death.

 

[Amaroq]

Subdual is one decent point; ignoring the "negative ten" rule is another. Either way, you do need to be able to have her lose a fight and collapse, unconscious. Depending on what she was fighting, she may wake up ...

a.) Rescued by somebody else
b.) Nursed back to health by her opponents
c.) Tied, gagged, and headed for a stew-pot
d.) In jail or a traditional dungeon
e.) Stripped of all valuables and left for dead on the battlefield
f.) In slavery
.... anything you can think of, really, appropriate to the opponent.

Its fair, as a DM, to have a plan for 'what would these enemies do if they captured a PC', or even 'if they captured all of the PCs'. I typically have such... and was particularly upset when one of my players, outnumbered by pirates on an ice-cold river, dove overboard. In armor.

Sorry, mate, not much I can do for you, there.

For my next campaign world, I'm going to make it very clear that, at least in human-v-human conflict, surrender is considered honorable and places obligations on the acceptee. It'll make 'fight to the death' with monsters even more frightening.

 

[orchid blossom]

Our group currently uses a -10 plus level rule for death. The object is to prevent those monster hits that can take you from 20 hp to -20 that can happen at slightly higher levels. (Character continuity is especially important for the campaign.) For a low level solo adventurer, I might give them -15 to start, then at 6th level start adding one each time she levels.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Our group currently uses a -10 plus level rule for death. The object is to prevent those monster hits that can take you from 20 hp to -20 that can happen at slightly higher levels. (Character continuity is especially important for the campaign.) For a low level solo adventurer, I might give them -15 to start, then at 6th level start adding one each time she levels.

My DM has an alive until you reach -(your con mod)... doesn't do my character a lot of good because her con in 9... (jeez I love the toughness feat!)
But, for those characters that have super-beefy constitutions, it's an excellent house rule.