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D&D 4E Is character death acceptable in 4e? If so, how often?
- Thread starter DrSpunj
- Start date
Obryn
Hero
Well, we had the first character death in many months last night. The party's level 10 barbarian bit it during the second-to-last encounter in Pyramid of Shadows.
For starters, the party had only one of their Leaders. He couldn't make it that night, and they chose not to use his character.
Second, the party grouped up in a hallway, trying to lure the enemies into a narrow hallway where only one of the big melee guys could fight at once. Decent strategy, if it werent for the pair of flameskulls, both of which blew up the party real good.
Third, the Barbarian just kept getting targeted. After all, he was the only one actually in the room while everyone else made a fighting retreat.
And basically he dropped once, failed two death saves, got back up, killed a flameskull, and then got grabbed by a bone hand and failed his third death save.
It was not a stellar night to be him.
-O
For starters, the party had only one of their Leaders. He couldn't make it that night, and they chose not to use his character.
Second, the party grouped up in a hallway, trying to lure the enemies into a narrow hallway where only one of the big melee guys could fight at once. Decent strategy, if it werent for the pair of flameskulls, both of which blew up the party real good.
Third, the Barbarian just kept getting targeted. After all, he was the only one actually in the room while everyone else made a fighting retreat.
And basically he dropped once, failed two death saves, got back up, killed a flameskull, and then got grabbed by a bone hand and failed his third death save.
It was not a stellar night to be him.
-O
keterys
First Post
While he didn't really get all that close to death, our barbarian last night at least showed off one way to do so. He charged past the front line of boneshard skeletons to get at some skeletal archers far in the back, at which point a Lacedon came up from the murky water it was hiding in to attack him from behind.
An attack from everything in the back later, he drops to 0. Pretty safe, but the dwarf party healer was 16 squares and 3 boneshard skeletons away, including one next to him. By the time he got to him, the healer was at like 13 hp and had to double move just to get within range 5 to take a minor to get the heal off.
No actual chance of death, but certainly a glaring enough threat that the party felt anxious
An attack from everything in the back later, he drops to 0. Pretty safe, but the dwarf party healer was 16 squares and 3 boneshard skeletons away, including one next to him. By the time he got to him, the healer was at like 13 hp and had to double move just to get within range 5 to take a minor to get the heal off.
No actual chance of death, but certainly a glaring enough threat that the party felt anxious
I think the ammount of deaths is related to the type of campaign your running. I have had two major campaigns that I have run in the past few years. One has had relatively few deaths but has been more the parties epic adventure and their discoveries. The other campaign has been more a brutal campign with a lot of party deaths. The players knew that the world was going be brutal going into it though.
I think the players hps going to zero and then getting healed is a rule that needs to be changed. I think it creates a little game of. I have 12 hps so it is better to get knocked down and then healed from there then healed now.
I think the players hps going to zero and then getting healed is a rule that needs to be changed. I think it creates a little game of. I have 12 hps so it is better to get knocked down and then healed from there then healed now.
Obryn
Hero
I think this might be a trend for Barbarians. They might have sacks of HPs, but they need to be in the thick of things to do damage. And they make a real purty target.
The barbarian dropped in both fights last night, actually. The other time, he got mauled by three tomb guardians who could crit on 19-20 due to a room feature.
They may have had less than a 50% chance to hit with each attack, but twelve attacks a round for two rounds is ... a lot. A whole lot. Especially when 10% of the attacks are crits.
-O
The barbarian dropped in both fights last night, actually. The other time, he got mauled by three tomb guardians who could crit on 19-20 due to a room feature.
They may have had less than a 50% chance to hit with each attack, but twelve attacks a round for two rounds is ... a lot. A whole lot. Especially when 10% of the attacks are crits.
-O
Jack Colby
First Post
Death should happen as often as the PCs get into a situation where it happens to them. Why coddle? Why build your games so a death or TPK will "ruin" it? If they die, they die. Time for new PCs. It's not like 4E isn't already very, very kind in the way of helping PCs recognize they are in trouble and letting them pull out. And there are several ways for them to get out of tight situations. If they win the day by the skin of their teeth, so much the better! If someone falls and can't be returned to life, that's not only a memorable encounter, but them's the breaks!
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