Inconvenient PC death in D&D

[Quasqueton]

How do you handle “inconvenient” (for the game) character deaths in a D&D game?

Like when a PC dies in the first encounter of the adventure (first 15 minutes of the game session).

When a PC dies in a wilderness encounter, far from any civilization.

When a PC dies while the party is deep inside an enemy fortress.

When a PC dies in the middle of an adventure with a tight time schedule.


Does the party immediately pull out of the adventure, or start heading back to civilization to let the Player bring in a new PC?

Does the Player have to just sit around for the rest of the game session (or multiple game sessions) while the rest of the group finishes?

Do you fudge the adventure to have a “prisoner” discovered or a “lost and wandering” character enter the area for the Player?


Quasqueton

 

[J-Buzz]

Thats a good question look forward to seeing the answers.....

I know I have been in the situation as a player getting killed in the first 15mins. Being in a big group at the time I had to sit there for the rest of the 4 hr session and it sucked.

I guess a lot of what you do would depend on the player. If they are rolling up new, you could conviently place them as a prisoner, or a lost/wandering character the party just happens to come across.

If they want to be raised you don't have much choice except that the party goes back to town and deal with the death.

Once I had a player play the bad guy in battle, since he died right before the end battle. Another had them play a NPC that was in the adventure.

 

[Cor Azer]

Generally it gets an ad hoc solution, because it depends on the nature of the inconvenience, the level of the party, and the resources on hand.

I've done everything from the "only thought to be dead", to locating a recently escaped prisoner, to S.O.L. but you got nothing more to play this session (although in that last case, the player usually either spends time making a new character, or I let them run the monsters in successive encounters).

 

[Arnwyn]

Ditto Cor Azer.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Over the years I've tried various solutions, none of them entirely satisfactory.

* Player sits there and creates a new PC while the rest of the group continues the adventure. This has the advantage of giving the player of the dead PC something to do, while still letting him be aware of the plot. It has the disadvantage of being distracting as the player creating the new PC may ask me (the DM) a lot of character creation questions. (Can I take this feat / spell / class / etc.?)

* Player whips out a backup PC and I fudge an introduction. (Prisoner / another adventurer in same dungeon / divine intervention.) In some campaigns I've done this a lot, because I anticipate high lethality.

* Player takes over an NPC or DMPC. This can go horribly wrong if the player either deliberately or inadvetently makes the NPC do something unexpected or contradictory.

* Player helps me control the monsters during the fights. Rarely as much fun for the player as it sounds.

* End the session early so everyone can go home, and the player can make a new PC before the next session. Rarely satisfying but sometimes necessary.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I, personally, have a table rule that we'll bend the laws of physics and believability to get the player back into the game ASAP.

I encourage people to have a back-up character, just in case.

If the PC dies in the first encounter ... the next room happens to be a prison or something of the like where we can introduce a new character.

It's not fun to sit around with nothing to do when you planned 4-6 hours of D&D that day, so I'll always find some way to get them back in.

I also like to have NPCs that could "step up" if, say, a character dies that wants to be raised (so there's no replacement PC needed) but it can't be done within the realm of the game sphere. Even if its something stupid like the pet Pseudodragon or coming across the Ranger 1 they met at first level who just happens to have gained levels along-side and is now a ranger 9 that will come along.

Mostly, I play with the 4th wall being about chair-rail high. We're there to have a fun time playing a game. I don't think pretending it isn't a game, for us to have fun playing, is always conductive to fun. It's 100% worth it to me to have Roy back into the game after 5 minutes with a big flashy TV-Logic Moment even if John gets grumpy because it "strains verisimilitude".

--fje

 

[Kormydigar]

It really depends on what is happening. A character in my campaign died in the session before last. The party was in a mountain pass far from civilization. The party defeated a greater medusa and found several intact statues in the lair. One of those statues was the new PC. If a player wants to create a backup character I will work him/her in during the same session the death occured. If not, then I find an NPC for them to play until the next session.

 

[Quasqueton]

How about an inconvenient crippling? Like, say, the wizard being Intelligence drained down to 5. Or the fighter getting a bunch of negative levels. The barbarian's axe getting sundered (with no backup).

Quasqueton

 

[Dracorat]

In my campaigns, if you die, the party splits an exp loss for you of 100*yourlevel (per person who dies) and then you reappear with the party on the next morning.

Disbelief might increase some, but the PCs like it. It seems to be a good balance.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I hand them 4d6