How many of you have you ever accidentally killed a party member?

[Lord Ipplepop]

I was playing a Paladin (1 ed. rules in the late 70's) and happened to be healiing the party rogue (and, of course, attempting to get him to see the error of his ways). We were beset by a party of orcs as a random encounter. I immediately attempted to jump over the halfling fighter to get to them, and completely fumbled my dex roll. By the time the dust cleared, the halfling was sticking off the end of my sword... and the player was not too amused with the Paladin, or his player lol

 

[diaglo]

i just stoned the party and poisoned the NPC paladin (save vs death... result: dead)

set off a trap. prismatic spray ... DC greater than 24 (since that is what i rolled and failed) but less than 35 (made that one)

 

[Rystil Arden]

The party Wizard in one of my Face to Face games has killed the Azer Cleric many times--in fact, she killed the Azer Cleric for 3 BBEG fights in a row until on the next one the cleric decided not to heal her in hopes that the Azer would survive longer.

First Kill: In a Palace with a spherical room with water all along the edges (Gaussian sphere), the Wizard cast Twinned Electric-Substitution Meteor Swarm and fried the Azer.

Second Kill: The Wizard was turned to stone and then animated as a Stone Golem by the BBEG, killing the Azer Cleric on a crit

Third Kill: The Wizard cast an Empowered Polar Ray on the BBEG, which suffered a 20% chance to strike a random target instead thanks to the BBEG's Chaos special ability. Before anything happened, and before he knew about the Chaos power, the Azer Cleric's player said, "Why did you do that? Cold damage? I'm dead." Sure enough, the 20% was set off, followed by choosing the Azer, hitting his high touch AC (less than a 50% chance), and getting past his Displacement. He died.

Fortunately, he took the feat from Savage Species that lets him explode when he dies

 

[Darkness]

Chopped off his own legs?

Yeah, well... The trap afflicted him with a magical curse that gradually transformed him to stone, bottom to top. As a V:tM vampire, he could have (eventually and with access to a lot of blood) regenerated his legs but he didn't know whether he could ever be transformed back if he let the curse petrify him completely.

 

[Torm]

Playing a LG Wizard named Darboz who used to be prone to casting point blank (2E) Fireballs when things got really desparate, I'm certain I killed a party member at some point - but 'ee got better! (We got 'em Resurrected.) When it came down to allowing a BBG to TPK us, or risking putting ONE member of the party down, the choice seemed obvious.

 

[IronWolf]

My character hasn't died yet, but the party wizard has hit me with three fireballs so far I think and once used a rod of wonder that animated a tree that immediately attacked me (further reinforcing my character's dislike for trees!).

 

[jdrakeh]

As a Paladin in AD&D 2e I have been killed by a player, accidentally. This luckily happened only once, although it has resulted in my intense dislike of 'greek fire' in any edition of D&D.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

[Raising hand guiltily]

Game: 1st Edition AD&D

The Adventure: S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks

The PC: White Lotus, a "Dual Classed" Ftr/Illusionist/Assassin.

The Party: High level mages, fighters, etc.

The means of destruction: Ring of Spell Storing, with a 21st level Delayed Blast Fireball on it.

What Happened: White Lotus & pals were wandering down a passageway when they were confronted by several of the crashed Starship's Security Robots. We had encountered one before, so we knew they were tough. Since it had been a stationary one, we did NOT know they were fast.

Upon seeing the robots appear in the "T" of the passageway, White Lotus acted quickly- he used the Ring, launching the Fireball with maximum delay so the party could get away from the blast that would be shaped by the enclosed space...

We ran. They caught us. The Delayed Blast Fireball erupted. Several PCs were killed. Some Robots weren't.

The blast survivors mopped up the remaining 'bots, then dragged their charred compatriots home.

Oddly enough, White Lotus wasn't killed by the blast, by his fellow survivors...or by anything else in all the years I've played him.

OTOH, that same party has a high level mage who cunningly put another one of my PCs, a female Paladin named Chandralangra, on the wrong side of a Prismatic Sphere with a ticked-off Pyrohydra, so I guess things balance out over time.