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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
Is character death acceptable in 4e? If so, how often?
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<blockquote data-quote="jbear" data-source="post: 4820161" data-attributes="member: 75065"><p>I've only had one PC death in the 2 4e capaigns I run. The first was in KotS where I threw in a Kobold Rat Master from Dungeon magazine to the second ambush encounter. I had several players missing from the normal campaign. KotS was on my shelf collecting dust so I whipped it out with some pregens and we played. It was the final battle of the night, and I doubted we would ever play it again, so Ithought I'd turn up the heat. The aura was brutal for lv1 PC's. 3 pc's were down before they took out the ratmaster. They still had a dragon shield (bloodied) and the caster and the artillery up (unscathed). The bard was bloodied and out of healing. Suddenly my NPC Barbarian rolled a 20 and was back in the fight! Not before my wife's sorcerer rolled strike 3... The bard went down but the barbarian and the warlock downed the last 3 kobolds and reached the other 2 PC's and stabilsed them before they struck out (both on their 3rd strike). Very fun exciting stuff. We have actually played twice more at the players request, to my surprise.</p><p> </p><p>In the last session of my normal campaign I used the idea of the Thing in the Portal from the final clash with Kalarel in KotSF (such a shame to have that poster map and never use it) for the climactic scene of my PC's final battle with evil snake-men cultists. I reskinned Kalarel (different name, description and poison damage) and tweaked the minions and Undead caster as all of the monsters/sub-bosses they had killed so far sewn back together for the final battle. </p><p> </p><p>It was an epic battle. The PC's actually landed in the magic circle (used to teletransport through the levels of the temple), so I warned them (many times) about the terrible feeling they had about the writhing black portal. Anyone hit by the thing felt sheer terror as it pulled them closer.</p><p> </p><p>Anyway, the point is, they ignored my warnings and hung around there by the Thing. When they finally annoyed the Snakeman Boss enough he teleported in amongst them and brought the Thing even more to life. I decided that the Thing having Reach 5, would take opportunity attacks for movement and distance attacks within his area.</p><p>The Barbarian had placed himself right in the mouth of the portal. The snakeman charged him and hit giving him ongoing poison damage, and then with a minor action immobilised him... all I had to do was roll 9 or higher with the thing and with the Slide 1 pull him to instant death! I rolled an 8...</p><p> </p><p>That very player had told me after a gaming session that the only thing my DMing lacked was deadliness. The immobilsation power recharged at the beginning of the snakeman's turn, it hit, so he couldn't budge from the black hole of death...</p><p>The Thing rolled a 4...</p><p> </p><p>Incredibly the Immobilisation recharged again (I roll in the open so my players know I'm not cheating). He was stuck there again! The thing rolled a 7!!! Unbelievable. The funny thing was the Snake man kept trying to move back into the circle so the Things Attack would heal him (now in desperate need) but the PC's kept dragging him back put and putting him near the Barbarian, so although immobilised and at death's door literally, he was still dishing out the wallop (especially as he was bloodied and critted with a bloodclaw axe 18+1d12+1d8+1d6... ouch! The boss failed his recharge and the barbarian was loose, free to flee!</p><p> </p><p>How close he had come... before that I hadn't rolled anything under 10 all night. He was very nonchalant about it at the table, but his wife told me that the first thing he said when they got in the car to go home was: 'Oh my God!!! I almost died!!!!!!'</p><p>Very exciting, very fun! </p><p> </p><p>I'm glad he didn't die. He'd just personalised all his power cards and bought himself the new Goliath barbarian mini. But if the dice had rolled the other way, he would have died and it would have been devastating but fine, awesome and glorious at the same time.</p><p> </p><p>I think my players appreciate the sense of severe danger that they have felt over the last few sessions, and i'm sure they willl appreciate a breather over the next couple.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jbear, post: 4820161, member: 75065"] I've only had one PC death in the 2 4e capaigns I run. The first was in KotS where I threw in a Kobold Rat Master from Dungeon magazine to the second ambush encounter. I had several players missing from the normal campaign. KotS was on my shelf collecting dust so I whipped it out with some pregens and we played. It was the final battle of the night, and I doubted we would ever play it again, so Ithought I'd turn up the heat. The aura was brutal for lv1 PC's. 3 pc's were down before they took out the ratmaster. They still had a dragon shield (bloodied) and the caster and the artillery up (unscathed). The bard was bloodied and out of healing. Suddenly my NPC Barbarian rolled a 20 and was back in the fight! Not before my wife's sorcerer rolled strike 3... The bard went down but the barbarian and the warlock downed the last 3 kobolds and reached the other 2 PC's and stabilsed them before they struck out (both on their 3rd strike). Very fun exciting stuff. We have actually played twice more at the players request, to my surprise. In the last session of my normal campaign I used the idea of the Thing in the Portal from the final clash with Kalarel in KotSF (such a shame to have that poster map and never use it) for the climactic scene of my PC's final battle with evil snake-men cultists. I reskinned Kalarel (different name, description and poison damage) and tweaked the minions and Undead caster as all of the monsters/sub-bosses they had killed so far sewn back together for the final battle. It was an epic battle. The PC's actually landed in the magic circle (used to teletransport through the levels of the temple), so I warned them (many times) about the terrible feeling they had about the writhing black portal. Anyone hit by the thing felt sheer terror as it pulled them closer. Anyway, the point is, they ignored my warnings and hung around there by the Thing. When they finally annoyed the Snakeman Boss enough he teleported in amongst them and brought the Thing even more to life. I decided that the Thing having Reach 5, would take opportunity attacks for movement and distance attacks within his area. The Barbarian had placed himself right in the mouth of the portal. The snakeman charged him and hit giving him ongoing poison damage, and then with a minor action immobilised him... all I had to do was roll 9 or higher with the thing and with the Slide 1 pull him to instant death! I rolled an 8... That very player had told me after a gaming session that the only thing my DMing lacked was deadliness. The immobilsation power recharged at the beginning of the snakeman's turn, it hit, so he couldn't budge from the black hole of death... The Thing rolled a 4... Incredibly the Immobilisation recharged again (I roll in the open so my players know I'm not cheating). He was stuck there again! The thing rolled a 7!!! Unbelievable. The funny thing was the Snake man kept trying to move back into the circle so the Things Attack would heal him (now in desperate need) but the PC's kept dragging him back put and putting him near the Barbarian, so although immobilised and at death's door literally, he was still dishing out the wallop (especially as he was bloodied and critted with a bloodclaw axe 18+1d12+1d8+1d6... ouch! The boss failed his recharge and the barbarian was loose, free to flee! How close he had come... before that I hadn't rolled anything under 10 all night. He was very nonchalant about it at the table, but his wife told me that the first thing he said when they got in the car to go home was: 'Oh my God!!! I almost died!!!!!!' Very exciting, very fun! I'm glad he didn't die. He'd just personalised all his power cards and bought himself the new Goliath barbarian mini. But if the dice had rolled the other way, he would have died and it would have been devastating but fine, awesome and glorious at the same time. I think my players appreciate the sense of severe danger that they have felt over the last few sessions, and i'm sure they willl appreciate a breather over the next couple. [/QUOTE]
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Is character death acceptable in 4e? If so, how often?
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