Major game issue, need advice.

[KenM]

Well, there was a little more to it the the one combat. The party was Dwarf fighter 8 (me), Elf monk (9 I think), 7th wizard, 9th cleric. Me and the Monk were in the front rank, the bodak was not facing us. The wizard made a roll and relized what it was, told us to get out, go back the way we came. Then we roll initiavite, combat starts. the bodak turns around, Me and the monk have to make saves, the 2 in the back don't, just out of range. Monk and myself make first save. I go last in the round, cleric and monk head out where we came from, wizard casts hold monster or something so bodak can't move.
We all get out to the other room. The wizard says He held it, I ask wizard how long he thinks it will be held for. He says he thinks half a minute or so. I say "no problem" walk back into the room, plan was to do a coup de grace while bodak was held. I have to make 2 more saves, first one I make no problem. I get next to him, then I have to make the second save, thats when I roll the 15 and go down.
The other party members come in, wizard fails his save, goes down. Cleric makes his save. Monk goes in with his eyes closed. They manage to take out the bodak. We get out of there, end of session.

 

[Tewligan]

My Rogue was Resurrected. Paladin didn't want to come back. His Dire Boar mount was Barbequed for dinner that night.

You ate an intelligent creature? Man, that's harsh!

"Oink, oink! Hey guys, how'd the mission go? Where's Sir Belvar? Hey, what are you...SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!"

 

[Trainz]

Last year, my DM of 18 years of RP'ing with him started behaving in a way that kinda pizzed me off. I was getting mad, but I took a deep breath and sent him an e-mail along the lines of:" I like your games, but when you do bla bla bla it ruins the fun for me, and I don't see myself as continuing gaming in your games while being frustrated, so, no hard feelings, but unless we solve this issue, I'm outta here".

We discussed, both put some water in our wine, and everything was fine afterwards. You know, maturity...

 

[Saeviomagy]

G'day

I am reminded of a humorous epitaph:

Tough. But you knew the risks when you took the job.

Regards,

Agback

So your opinion is that if someone overcharges you, that you should just let them?

This isn't something which cannot be undone that we're talking about here - it's an easily reversible decision.

 

[Trainz]

BTW, if your DM doesn't want to give you a hand with HIS mistake, but you still want to play in his games, just drop the issue, create a power-character, like a Min-Maxed Paladin or something.

Personally, I would simply quit, but you might not have that luxury (especially if he and the others are good friends, and there is no other gaming group available...).

 

[nimisgod]

Well, there was a little more to it the the one combat. The party was Dwarf fighter 8 (me), Elf monk (9 I think), 7th wizard, 9th cleric. Me and the Monk were in the front rank, the bodak was not facing us. The wizard made a roll and relized what it was, told us to get out, go back the way we came. Then we roll initiavite, combat starts. the bodak turns around, Me and the monk have to make saves, the 2 in the back don't, just out of range. Monk and myself make first save. I go last in the round, cleric and monk head out where we came from, wizard casts hold monster or something so bodak can't move.
We all get out to the other room. The wizard says He held it, I ask wizard how long he thinks it will be held for. He says he thinks half a minute or so. I say "no problem" walk back into the room, plan was to do a coup de grace while bodak was held. I have to make 2 more saves, first one I make no problem. I get next to him, then I have to make the second save, thats when I roll the 15 and go down.
The other party members come in, wizard fails his save, goes down. Cleric makes his save. Monk goes in with his eyes closed. They manage to take out the bodak. We get out of there, end of session.

Wow.

First of all, a Hold Monster spell doesn't affect Undead. Undead are immune to Mind affecting spells.

Second, you can try to coup de grace a Bodak but Undead are Immune to Critical hits. The best you can do is coup de grace and power attack to your maximum. But you won't get triple damage.

As to the question at hand, I agree with the general consensus. Were I the erring GM, I would probably let the PC come back to life without harm.

Of course, as a GM, I would've remembered the DC of such a harsh ability in the first place so...

 

[Al'Kelhar]

IMC I make players with this attitude face Half-Celestial, Half-Elemental(fire), Half-Golem(clay) Trolls.

So, in the simplistic morality of D&D, your half-celestial trolls are good-aligned, right? Do they preach your players to death, then?

"Hi, I'm from the Church of Fiery Clay Things. We're just in the neighbourhood, talking to people about their problems. Can I interest you in a pamphlet? Oops, sorry about the mud. And the burning bit. And I seem to have ripped it with my claws. And..." [noise of door slamming]

 

[KenM]

Wow.

First of all, a Hold Monster spell doesn't affect Undead. Undead are immune to Mind affecting spells.

Second, you can try to coup de grace a Bodak but Undead are Immune to Critical hits. The best you can do is coup de grace and power attack to your maximum. But you won't get triple damage.

I don't remember the excact spell used to hold the bodak, but it was held. My dwarf does not know this thing is immune to critical hits, we never saw one before. As far as dwarf was concerened, dwarf was warned not to look at it, it looked at me once and it did not effect me. Then I find out its held, so i go up to it to cut the things head off.

 

[takyris]

It sorta sounds like your DM has a slightly shaky grasp of the rules. I'm more inclined to believe that, at this point, than I am to believe that the wizard had "Hold Undead" prepared beforehand. Along with coup-de-gracing the undead and not knowing that you only have to GET the DC, not beat it, not knowing that you can't be Raised when killed by a Death effect... yeah. Not-rules-knowledgeable DM.

That's not to say he's a bad person, or even a bad DM. But if you're all learning the rules, you should probably err on the side of NOT killing somebody.

 

[Arnwyn]

OK, DM is not being dishonest, He admited the mistake, but why should my character lose a level because of it?

You shouldn't. This would be an unreasonable situation in my game.

As a DM, I have instituted a policy that no PC can die due to DM error. Period. If PC death is the result of a DM error, and the error is discovered within 1 session, the dead PC is back to life, as if he/she never died. Metagamy? Heck yes - but we play this as a game, not some weird life-simulation.

I'm not entirely sure what you can do, except discuss (as you have been doing) with your DM about the consequences of *his* mistake, and then maybe come up with a future policy to determine what you guys will do if such an event occurs again (death by DM error).

It sorta sounds like your DM has a slightly shaky grasp of the rules. /SNIP/ ...with coup-de-gracing the undead...

From the posts above, that sounded like a player's shaky grasp of the rules, not the DM's.