killed a character tonight, and i feel sort of bad...

[Desdichado]

It didn't come down to a single roll of the die. Didn't you say the player failed 6 consecutive stabilization checks?

Not to mention all the hits that got him to negatives in the first place.

 

[Weeble]

It didn't come down to a single roll of the die. Didn't you say the player failed 6 consecutive stabilization checks?

At a 10% chance to stabilize per round, I wouldn't count these...

 

[Darklone]

Bad Luck

Well. I am also a DM who likes to challenge his players with impossible CR encounters. It's kinda boring to go by the DMG and give them 4 puny encounters every day. No sports.

About the bad luck and the dead player... I would also talk with him. If he wants to go on with the char or make a new one.

As for the encounter... I don't think it was too tough. Enemies came in waves, the players had time to react and engange countermeasures. And sometimes running is not the worst choice.

 

[Bagpuss]

Have you spoken with the player invovled?

My last DM tried to bring my long running Fighter/Rogue back from the dead with divine intervention, without having spoken about it to me first. Personally I was happy with the way my character had died and was looking forward to trying out a new character.

So when Odin came to visit my Thomas in Valhalla, I told him to leave me alone to finish my beer and enjoy the feasting, I'm sure the rest of the party could get on well enough without me. You should have seen the look on the DM's face.

Death is not the end in RPG's its an opportunity.

 

[Black Omega]

I guess part of how tough it was depends on at what point in camp they were attacked. If anyone was out of armor yet, that changes things quite a bit. I plan attacks while in camp carefully because usually a few of the PC's will not be in armor.

The cleric idea is not a bad one, if the player wants to go on with the character. If he has a task and is offering payment and you let the PC's ask if he'll raise their companion as partial or full payment, that works even better since it's less 'This is just here to raise the PC'. Depends on how likely is it the other PC's want him back.

 

[kkoie]

I think you are fine. Yeah it may suck for the player for losing 2 characters, but when you base things on the luck of the roll, that can happen sometimes. As for the encounter itself, I think you did fine.

You know your player/characters capabilities than the others on this board, and obviously they did well since they only lost one character. Those who are saying you were overpowered, I fail to see their point, its within every DMs right to dishout difficult encounters once in a while, its not like you do it every time! If you did, you'd not be posting here with consern over killing a player.

I myself have challenged my players with encounters that were 5 pts above their ave CR all the time. And it would occasionally result in character deaths. But that happens and is part of the game. If the player was REALLY not wanting to lose the character, something can always be done to get the character back.

K Koie

 

[Apok]

Don't worry about it.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, eX. Last night I killed two of my party members and captured another, using just six 2nd level fighters and an ogre. This was a complete shock to me, the players should've wiped the floor with these guys, but the dice just fell my way that night. Things like this happen from time to time, so the best you can do is hope your PC's are smart enough to know when they are outmatched. Even when they aren't really outmatched...

Fortunately, this little predicament has now given me even more leverage with which to torment my players!

I swear, I don't have to do anything, they create their own plot hooks just fine by themselves.

 

[eXodus]

I think you are fine. Yeah it may suck for the player for losing 2 characters, but when you base things on the luck of the roll, that can happen sometimes. As for the encounter itself, I think you did fine.

You know your player/characters capabilities than the others on this board, and obviously they did well since they only lost one character. Those who are saying you were overpowered, I fail to see their point, its within every DMs right to dishout difficult encounters once in a while, its not like you do it every time! If you did, you'd not be posting here with consern over killing a player.

I myself have challenged my players with encounters that were 5 pts above their ave CR all the time. And it would occasionally result in character deaths. But that happens and is part of the game. If the player was REALLY not wanting to lose the character, something can always be done to get the character back.

K Koie

actually, i tend to run a good 25% of the combats as being very challenging. the players hav come to expect a good and hard fight every so often. these guys are smart (for the most part) and tend to do very well against tough encounters. and this one was without a doubt a tough one.

at one point three characters were unconscious, another was webbed and one was taking on a 2nd level fighter, the barbarian, and the cleric. this was the evoker. and because of my rolling three consecutive '1's he survived.

sure, it was a little on the tough side but everyone had a good time, and the rewards were well worth the trouble.

 

[eXodus]

You bastard!!!

thank you for the compliment!

 

[Terwox]

well, if you don't want to really deus ex the situation, you could allow the characters a knowledge religion roll to see if they know of any prominent churches nearby. (I don't know FR geography yet...) and if there are any, they could maybe have to a do a service for/bully a cleric for the life of their ally.

if you wanted to be mean, you could have them roll, and tell them there are no churches nearby.

or, if you and the player wanted to be evil, you could have the party go on a large quest to get him resurrected, only to have the character say to the cleric "nope, this afterlife is just fine, i'm staying right here!" and not come back. in the meantime, you could let the player play a "temporary" character, who would become permanent after that.

ah, evilness.