D&D 5E How many PCs have you had die?
- Thread starter Sacrosanct
- Start date
It was bittersweet for the player. Her character's death was very ironic, for her backstory was that she was once a slave and now a crusader for liberating slaves and stamping out slavery (hence her involvement in the Slavelords), only to perish at the hands of one she thought she was saving. She was pretty bummed, and had only a little enthusiasm to run the doppleganger. The session ended shortly thereafter and we play again this week, so I'm hoping the sting of her character death has subsided and she'll embrace the monster role for a little while.That actually sounds really cool. I would love to play a character death like this.
The player had put a lot of thought into her character backstory and honestly, she was only playing accordingly (being sympathetic to a slave). Her character had lots of potential for this campaign and I empathize with that, so I get where you're coming from with regards to character backstory and the effort that goes into it. I appreciate it when players go above and beyond like that. But D&D can be a cruel mistress, kinda like an episode of Game of Thrones. It doesn't care about what the character has done in the past, only that death is a bad dice roll or one wrong decision away. But, like Game of Thrones, there's never a shortage of interesting characters
Morinth
First Post
It was bittersweet for the player. Her character's death was very ironic, for her backstory was that she was once a slave and now a crusader for liberating slaves and stamping out slavery (hence her involvement in the Slavelords), only to perish at the hands of one she thought she was saving. She was pretty bummed, and had only a little enthusiasm to run the doppleganger. The session ended shortly thereafter and we play again this week, so I'm hoping the sting of her character death has subsided and she'll embrace the monster role for a little while.
The player had put a lot of thought into her character backstory and honestly, she was only playing accordingly (being sympathetic to a slave). Her character had lots of potential for this campaign and I empathize with that, so I get where you're coming from with regards to character backstory and the effort that goes into it. I appreciate it when players go above and beyond like that. But D&D can be a cruel mistress, kinda like an episode of Game of Thrones. It doesn't care about what the character has done in the past, only that death is a bad dice roll or one wrong decision away. But, like Game of Thrones, there's never a shortage of interesting characters
Yeah, but see if this happened to me, I would actually think it was a pretty cool way to send off a character. It's like a Fred/Illyria moment. I would just picture the horror the other players would go through when they realized that their friend had died, and they left her body in some cave somewhere, and had been hanging out with a monster for days/weeks/however long. And I'd get to RP an evil minx, which, is pretty second nature to me.
Yeah, while I don't revel in character death, I do love seeing a crafty monster like a doppleganger get used to it's fullest potential. It doesn't happen very often, so I'm hoping the player will be more receptive to the role. Heck, if she really gets into it, she could develop it into a very interesting recurring npc. It's a neutral creature, I see it as an opportunistic murderer and not necessarily something that is just waiting to kill the party in their sleep.
pming
Legend
Hiya!
[MENTION=6825499]Morinth[/MENTION]... ahhhh! That clears up a lot!
Thanks!
I get where you're coming from now...it's not so much as "wasted time" as "wasted potential". Believe it or not, us DM's have the same thing. We can spend hours just enjoying ourselves, writing up NPC's, drawing maps, filling them up with cool monsters, traps, tricks and visuals, sketching out symbols of long dead wizards, etc. Then, when the PC's are in the dungeon, they completely bypass one particular area that you thought was very evocative and cool! ...not wasted time, but wasted potential. Sure, I could use that same 'whatever' in some other dungeon, but to me that almost always feels like a cop-out. Besides, if the PC's decide to revisit that dungeon later, or a new group of PC's happens to wander by the dungeon and notices/finds it...well, I can always use it then!
Thanks for the clearing up. Game on!
^_^
Paul L. Ming
[MENTION=6825499]Morinth[/MENTION]... ahhhh! That clears up a lot!
Thanks!I get where you're coming from now...it's not so much as "wasted time" as "wasted potential". Believe it or not, us DM's have the same thing. We can spend hours just enjoying ourselves, writing up NPC's, drawing maps, filling them up with cool monsters, traps, tricks and visuals, sketching out symbols of long dead wizards, etc. Then, when the PC's are in the dungeon, they completely bypass one particular area that you thought was very evocative and cool! ...not wasted time, but wasted potential. Sure, I could use that same 'whatever' in some other dungeon, but to me that almost always feels like a cop-out. Besides, if the PC's decide to revisit that dungeon later, or a new group of PC's happens to wander by the dungeon and notices/finds it...well, I can always use it then!
Thanks for the clearing up. Game on!
^_^
Paul L. Ming
Yeah, but see if this happened to me, I would actually think it was a pretty cool way to send off a character. It's like a Fred/Illyria moment. I would just picture the horror the other players would go through when they realized that their friend had died, and they left her body in some cave somewhere, and had been hanging out with a monster for days/weeks/however long. And I'd get to RP an evil minx, which, is pretty second nature to me.
Yes its a scenario that should get milked for all its worth. I can't even imagine what the party would do if they happened to go down that tunnel and discover their dead companion D:
All I need to do is persuade my player to have some fun with it.
Morinth
First Post
I think if you explain the potential role-play angle, she could totally run with it. The doppelganger just wants to survive, and maybe it starts to like these people it finds itself with. It wants to belong. It wants to be protected and safe. It will revel in the feeling of belonging with the PCs, but it will get some details wrong, it will miss cues, and it won't remember what the dead PC knew. It will have to fake it, it will have to kite them along and try to explain away all the inconsistencies. It can be fun to create and explain away all those inconsistencies. Serious RP potential, could be a whole new character. And who knows where it can go, depending on how long it takes the PCs to notice.
Those are some great ideas, Morinth, especially of it enjoying its sense of belonging. So suitable for a doppleganger, a creature that has no true identity. I will definitely sit down and talk with my player about it before our next game, this could add a great layer of intrigue.
Morinth
First Post
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.
