Inconvenient PC death in D&D

[shilsen]

I dealt with it by removing it completely. PCs get action pts that can turn a killing blow/effect into one that drops them to -9 hp (and stable). Simple.

 

[danzig138]

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?

This one. And he gets started on another character in case they can't raise him. I'll tell him if I think it's going to be a few sessions, so he can take those Sundays off.

 

[Melan]

I give the player a new character sheet. Afterwards, the new character turns up as a prisoner, wanderer or through some other deus ex machina. The dictates of the game come before "story continuity". Given that new PCs in my campaigns always start with minimal equipment (one basic weapon, tools required by class, 1d6*10 gp or equivalent in items), there is no need to get into minutiae.

 

[Janx]

I woul hardly call Quas's examples "inconvenient" deaths. If you're just doing a dungeon crawl and you're PC dies, oh well, make a new one.

If you're on a quest to find out the secret past you can't remember, and you get killed early on by a goblin raiding party, that's inconvenient.

Any death that would derail an adventure or story arc, that ruin anything the DM has been building up to is inconvenient.

If the death is of a PC that can be replaced with another PC easily and the "story continues" then there's no real problem.

Please note, to a player, just about anytime their PC dies is "inconvenient".

 

[Graybeard]

Like many previous posters, I have done much the same concerning PC death during an adventure. If the party is too far away from civilization, the player can take over an NPC for the evening. If there are no NPCs, I have the player help play the monsters. Sometimes, if the player has a backup character ready, I have used the prisoner routine as well. Recently, the party was deep in the mountains, One of the PCs died fighting 2 trolls. I had several thiings planned for this PC so I arranged Divine Intervention. A bolt of lightning came down from above and struck his body. One of the PC clerics went over and noticed he wasn't quite dead yet. Of course, the intervention wasn't from his god so there will be dues to pay and such.

As a player, I've had my character die halfway through a session before. I usually end up playing an NPC for the rest of the time or finish tweaking one of my backup characters.

 

[ThirdWizard]

We drive the cerimonial blade into the player's heart over the crimson alter and then call in the next sacrifice player.

 

[DonTadow]

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

YOu always have good questions quas.

IF a player dies in the middle of an odd place (lets just some it up) Usually the party goes on ahead and finishes whatever they should do, unless the player had special death wishes (burial and such). If its in a dungeon they will usually store his body in a safe place to retrieve it on the way out.

This question really centers around bringing in a new PC. I'd say only about 25 percent of DMs including myself have really a knack for bringing in a new PC. Most parties hand wave a sudden appearance of a PC. Most DMs stick to the usual.

I myself will do one of two things that I picked up from some of the better DMs I've played with.
1. I dont rush in a new pc. It might 3 or 4 weeks until a player's new pc is put into play. This gives me a good time to logically bring in a new pc instead of rushing it. It also gives the players a chance to realize that the pc is really dead. Most of the time I will do this. In the mean time I'll let the player play one of the henchmen or NPCs around.

2. If the pcs have provided me with a backup charachter ahead of time, I will place that character into play as a background character, maybe never mentiong him/her by name but alluding that there may be another around or somesort. Even if the backup character is never played it gives me a logical in for the character.

 

[Fieari]

I've had this happen once. The player's last character had just died at the end of the previous session. He brings in his new character for this session, and has a nicely intricate backstory built up rife with some potential plot hooks. He's introduced to the party, the party accepts him, then combat breaks out as demons invade the town.

Demons win initiative. Demons attack, critical on the first hit, and he goes down.

I felt really bad about the whole thing, but he took it totally in stride. Spent half of the rest of the sessions rolling up his new character, which I inserted right back into the thick of things. The whole group remembers that session fondly. The whole buildup and crash of that one character has become legendary now.

 

[DonTadow]

I once had a DM who had a "greg rule".. It was named after a guy in his game who had two really cool characters die during their first session. They made a rule that says no character can die their first session. Oddly I have adopted hte same rule into my primer and even named it the greg rule and a former player of miine has done the same.

 

[Sunderstone]

This one. And he gets started on another character in case they can't raise him. I'll tell him if I think it's going to be a few sessions, so he can take those Sundays off.

Sorry but this is seriously lame.

DM- "Sorry, you died and itll be awhile before I can use you again, tough break. Take a few weeks off, Ill call you if you are needed again sooner".

Unless you all are gamers that work incredibly busy lives like NASA scientists or something, tossing out a player for a few weeks is a tad harsh.