ThirdWizard said:
He should definitely get gold and xp. He helped in the encounter, didn't he? Even PCs that die get XP from the encounter in which they died. And, its not just about hitting hard.
What happens when the enemy wizard drops a fireball/coldball/lightningball on the wizard PC? If they're equal level, and the PC has a 14 Con, then there's a very good chance he'll die. What about when the disintegrates start flying? What about finger of death and all the other instant kill spells and abilities that monsters have? Illithids sucking out brains and assassins using death attacks.
It's one thing to change your game so that these things don't happen often. It's a whole other thing to change them in your game so they don't exist and then expect that what you've done is the norm for everyone playing the game Dungeons and Dragons. I seriously doubt that is the case.
True, I see your piont. But I don't go for the throat always. When throwing a fireball, or any of the others that you've mentioned, my PC's might miss, use the attack for more drama then outright death. And I dont always use the Kill Spells, I dont load down all of my villians with al lthe spells that would drop everything, they, like every other caster are well rounded. Because if they weren't then, even though they know all the slaying spells, they wouldn't have any protects from the mind bending magic, and so the heroes could just "convince" the bad guy not to do what he was doing. If you load up all of the bad guys, with all of the Slaying Powers, then it becomes apparent that what your playing are not real well rounded foes.
Now, about monsters like the Illithed, I would make it last a few rounds where the creature was trying to suck out the players brains, once again, more dramatic then trying to kill the player. I would bring him to the endge, but not cross it. I tend to use the powerful killing things for background, or scenimatic influences. Like, in the illithed caase, the creature would grab onto the hero, and for a few rounds it would be a strugling match to shake the creature off, it wouldn't just be and outright sucess. And if I wanted to prove how dangerous it was I would use a "red Shirt" npc, who was with the party, to die by this attack first. And, after the brain sucking attack failed ith the first hero, I would play it that the illithed thought they were to strong for it jsut yet, so he would then have to beat on them, and by the time he got around to trying to suck them out again, he would prob be killed. I wouldn't play him like the creature from ALIENS, where all the can do is jump on you in hopes that they get the cord down the throat. An Illithed has much more things it can do, and since its smart, and somewhat of a social monster, it could have levles in classes that make it dangerous without the " I eat your brain in a turn"
I just think, just cause the "I win Spells" are out there, doesn't mean that ONE, every person has it, and TWO, its all they use.
As a side note, I make death a more serious thing in my stories. When a player dies, he's dead. I dont play D&D, unless for a particular reason, like a video game, where the player can reboot or upload from a save. This way, fear of death is kept alive.
I do this by keeping healing spells, and other life saving magic some of the most rare and most powerful things in the world.
I prefere sickness, and lingering wounds, and madness, and other things to put on my players rather than instant death, which, by next game, they could have fixed if somone in the group is a cleric of highenough levels.
But, its everyones game, and how ever the group wishes to play is good for the group.
Game on.
I win!
