I killed someone (in the game)

[Ferret]

The title is fairly inaccurate as I didn't fudge the dice; either way. The Dire weasel rolled a 20 then a 19, the damage was 2d6+6(for a total of 14), this reduced the barbarian to -12.

I feel guilty because it was the players first time and has declined a new character. He wasn't to confident anyway, but I still feel kinda guilty.

 

[Karanov]

As the player was new to D&D (was he?) then I'd say you might have fudged the dice roll in his favor. Not that not fudging it either way was a bad thing.

 

[Talmun]

The title is fairly inaccurate as I didn't fudge the dice; either way. The Dire weasel rolled a 20 then a 19, the damage was 2d6+6(for a total of 14), this reduced the barbarian to -12.

I feel guilty because it was the players first time and has declined a new character. He wasn't to confident anyway, but I still feel kinda guilty.

Hmm, I think I would have been inclined to fudge the dice for the character in this case...I always go a little easy on brand new players, since they rarely understand the rules enough to do what it takes to stay alive (fighting on full-defense and the like).

I assume the character cannot be raised because you didn't mention that as an option...you might have a talk with the player and let him know that he just hit a patch of bad luck, try and get him to give it another shot (and be gentle with him for a while...).

That being said, you shouldn't feel guilty, you did nothing wrong - it's not like you stacked the deck against the party purposely to kill the PC.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Yeah...I'd have fudged the roll a bit to give him a chance. I'm a sucker for newbies.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

I've noticed that many of my new (3.0 or 3.5) players seem overly sensitive to character death. I say overly sensitive since that is part of the game. Heck, Andy Collins said on his website that for his latest campaign he had his players make two characters in case the first one died!

I'm not big on breaking the rules just to try to get someone to play D&D. If I normally fudge die rolls for all players then I would for a new player. I don't, however. I roll my dice where everyone can see them and work hard to make balanced encounters that skilled players can overcome without the need of luck. Bad luck might get them, but I've only seen crits kill two characters unexpectedly in the last three and a half years.

A player that wants to quit due to a character death may also be traumatized by permanent ability drain, level loss, item sundering, and a host of other horrible things that can happen in a game. I don't see how you could fudge things so nothing bad ever happens to a sensitive player. Better to get it over with fast with a quick death, kind of like ripping off a band-aid. That way, they know it is just part of the game and they learn to play better and smarter.

 

[Dareoon Dalandrove]

New players you always have to give them a little bit extra. Especially if this person wasn't one of your close friends. They may think that you don't like them. I remember getting started in a new group. I knew one other player (he hd gotten me into the game) and I was playing an elven ranger (1st addition). With in 5 minutes of my introduction I had been killed by another player! It was the guys house that we were playing in and I wanted to leave right then. I was young sure, but getting killed by a party member in a new campaing, in a new group. It was all new to me and it was lousy.

You didn't have to fudge anything but the damage delt. That way you could have still delt your crit and kept the player alive. It's about building confidence so that they can take it later on.

 

[Ferret]

If I had fudged them they might have thought they were invincible, I have an inkling that he may have just been following one of his friends.

He didn't say he quit but he said he didn't want a new character/being raised. Anyway their in a mine shaft being attacked by dire weasels, so escape isn't to easy.

 

[Talmun]

Better to get it over with fast with a quick death, kind of like ripping off a band-aid. That way, they know it is just part of the game and they learn to play better and smarter.

In general I would agree...but if the player is truly new to the game, or especially if they are new to RPGs; I would be inclined to make sure he was having fun before introducing character loss.

New players tend to look at this game like any other game - something to be won or lost. If you sat down to play your very first game of Monopoly and promptly lost all your money on the first turn, would you play again?

It's important to introduce various elements of the game slowly, D&D is immensely complex compared to just about any other game most people play, it takes a little effort to keep some new players interested at first.

 

[the Jester]

Interesting- I like to be up front and warn newbies they'll prolly die a lot at first, and let the dice fall where they may. If dying will ruin a player's fun, it's better to let them find out about it early on; not everyone has the sort of personality that suits playing in my game. I don't wanna drag out an unpleasant experience for them- let 'em die a couple times, if they stick it out then they're clearly meant to be gamers.

Course, I run a high-fatality game anyhow, so everyone dies a couple times.

 

[francisca]

I've noticed that many of my new (3.0 or 3.5) players seem overly sensitive to character death. I say overly sensitive since that is part of the game. Heck, Andy Collins said on his website that for his latest campaign he had his players make two characters in case the first one died!

I dunno if you are contrasting this phenomena with earlier editions, but I'm going to.

Yes, it seems that 3E players take death a bit harder than players of previous editions. I think it is because creating a character is much more involved than stock 1E/2E/Basic, as there are so many more options. Players who take it real hard tend to be those who have roadmapped their character's feats and classes up to high levels, only to have the their knees swept from beneath them around 5th level.

For those of you who played 2E with the kits and Player's Options (I didn't), did you find that more options made character death harder on you than stock 2E played from the core?