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

[nopantsyet]

i don't know if i'll ever stop feeling bad when a character dies. my players know i play tough encounters. they don't get many "smooth sailing" battles, and when they do, they're usually disappointed. however, it has resulted in a number of deaths over time. they have learned that their long-term survival depends on learning to work together because if it's every man for himself, it will quickly become every man dies alone.

i say good job for challenging your players and not being afraid to accept the roll of the dice, for better or for worse. also, good work with the tactics. nothing puts the fear of god(s?) into players like not knowing what strategy might be employed against them.

 

[Larry Fitz]

Blatant Plug

In Living Imagination's "Twin Crowns" setting one of the big differences from standard AD&D is a system whereby everyone has 5 "gifts" (lives), even first level characters (or even NPC's) if they die will raise in a Shrine or Temple. This negates the need for 'cheesiness' to bring back a character, and it also puts a lock on PC immortality above a certain level (like when the PC's get Raise Dead and Resurrect). As to your specific situation, first I would point out that if you felt mid-way through the encounter that you were being to hard on the PC's you could have either fudged the die rolls or had the bad guys stop using Power Attack (Bad guys should not usually open with Power attack, they should judge whether the enemy is easy enough to hit first, then slowly increase the amount of Power Attack they are using... IMO). If you do fudge die rolls remember to diminish XP as well, otherwise you might just as well give XP to their characters while all of you watch TV or something. This however does not address your current situation. I think the recurring advice to take this PC aside is solid advice, I also concur that their should be someone around who can cast Raise Dead that wants to see the Forest problem cleared up, not too cheesy really. What does concern me is that you did not seem to realize at first that this was a scenario that the PC's should have only had a slim chance of surviving. That only one of them (and presumably the NPC?) died was amazing. Don't feel too bad about killing a PC however, if there is no percieved possibility of character death for the PC's then the fun of the game is greatly diminished. Rewards without risk is not accomplishment, it's a birthday party.

Larry

"Well we all died of course..."
The Pirate Captain Scar when asked what he and his crew did when they faced down Admiral Mandrake and his new warship, The Dreadnaught.

 

[David Argall]

You feel bad about the wrong thing

So a character dies? It has to happen from time to time or where's the thrill of survival. You present no evidence he got a bad deal and so should feel no pain about telling him to create a new PC [Not roll one up. Terrible idea. But that is a different issue.]

But the encounter itself is another story. You make it sound like a little random encounter. But the enemy is several EL up on the party and gets the advantages of night attack, and quite possibly surprise. The party barely survives at all.
After this, whatever they are investigating will either cream them or be a letdown.

Were this a real world, I would just turn on my heel and head straight back to town, hoping to find some big boys I can sell the story to for a few beers. I would assume I was completely outclassed.

 

[Volefisk]

Player Death

eXodus, if you put your players up against these kind of odds ~25% of the time, then both you and your players are prepared for character deaths. My impression is that you felt that THIS particular death wasn't warranted, or that you and/or your player have a genuine need to continue with this character. You started this thread to garner suggestions on how to reverse this outcome. Am I correct?

Bring the character back. Just don't let your players know that you've second guessed yourself, or reconsidered throwing overwhelming force against them. Don't let them think this is a bail out, or they'll never again treat your foes with the gravity and respect they deserve. You are the DM... you should (appear to) be infalliable.

Don't get cheesy and have them run into a cleric capable of ressurection. Don't distract them from your main plot in order to ressurect the character. They're near a magical forest protected by undead, right? Have the PC's corpse wander off at night to join the forest's unholy protectors. Let them follow their friend's animated corpse in some fashion, and have it lead them to the next part of your adventure. THEN present a cleric who can ressurect the character, and have him explain to the group his desire to lift the curse over the forest. If you want the character back right away, you can have the cleric do his thing immediately. If you want to make the ressurection more dramatic, let the player who lost his character play the cleric for awhile... long enough for the PCs to recouver the run-away corpse of their friend.

Make it look like you planned on "temporarily" killing one of their characters to move the story forward. You'll get the deceased character back, your players will become personally motivated to resolve the adventure (ie. ressurect their friend), and because it all looks planned your players will respect your ingenuity and won't come to expect future bail-outs.

<volefisk>

 

[kenjib]

Tangent alert:

In a group I was in a player died and the DM brought him back for the next session as a ghost because he had unfinished business (the thing he was trying to do when he died). The rest of the group met up with him again to finish the job. The dead guy never realized he was dead though. When the job was complete he went on his merry way to the afterlife.

Unfortunately I missed that session but everyone said it was really fun.