D&D 5E How many PCs have you had die?

[Luz]

She will need a new character sheet with the doppelganger's stats and abilities, but at least it will have all the character's equipment. Since the doppelganger is infiltrating the group (as doppelgangers do) it will want to know as much about the PC as possible in order to take over her life and role. So the player will essentially have to learn about her own character through the other PCs, without them knowing it. Could be epic, especially if they NEVER find out what happened until the end of the campaign.

We will definitely make a character sheet for it, plus the doppleganger already has a head start on the dead PC's personality. When it was "rescued" by the party, the druid (the deceased PC) immediately became it's sworn protector. So the doppleganger (in it's slave disguise) glommed on to her as it's saviour, studying her and using it's read thoughts ability constantly. Since it was with the party for a few days, I'd say it has a decent understanding of the druid's mannerisms and habits.

 

[Morinth]

We will definitely make a character sheet for it, plus the doppleganger already has a head start on the dead PC's personality. When it was "rescued" by the party, the druid (the deceased PC) immediately became it's sworn protector. So the doppleganger (in it's slave disguise) glommed on to her as it's saviour, studying her and using it's read thoughts ability constantly. Since it was with the party for a few days, I'd say it has a decent understanding of the druid's mannerisms and habits.

That's awesome. I wish I was playing in this game.

 

[Maxperson]

Permanent like. Going to zero HP and making death saves don't count.

I've had two so far. An 8th level shadow monk, and a 2nd level fighter. I guess that makes me around a 20% death rate, which is far less than it was in AD&D (my edition I played from 81 to 2012).


*Edit* Sorry if I was unclear. I'm referring to 5e mainly here.

Probably between 20-24 over the last 33 years, at least half of which were in 1e with the same DM.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

Of the top of my head, I'd say about half a dozen PCs have met their end in my 5e games.

Most memorable one was also from our most recent game. I'm running the original Slavelords series on-the-fly (straight up one-for-one conversion). The party is in Slave Pits of the Undercity, which has some dopplegangers in it and one of them infiltrated the party as a slave in need of rescue. Later, with the doppleganger still with them, the party decided to scout ahead while leaving one character alone to protect the "slave" (its a long story as to why this was decided). They even barricaded the exits so that no one could ambush them. With the rest of the party absent, the doppleganger saw his opportunity and attacked the PC, who failed on her Perception to see the attack coming. Combat ensued, and the PC put up a valiant fight, but she was eventually killed (even failing her first three death rolls in a row). The doppleganger dumped her body down a nearby dead-end tunnel, cooked up a cover story, and has now assumed the role of the dead player with the rest of the party - with the player taking control of the doppleganger to complete the ruse. Not sure how long it will take the group to figure it out, as the dead PC was a druid with many abilities the doppleganger can't pull off, but it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

In my first 5e campaign I ran Against the Slave Lords and almost EXACTLY the same thing happened. One PC stayed behind to protect the escaped slave while others went off to scout. The doppleganger killed the PC and the player played the doppleganger for the rest of the session.