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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 6522022" data-attributes="member: 97077">On its face and without additional context, it just seemed like the player made a decision that left him separated from the party who didn't come to his aid. Said decision led to his character's death which can happen. How did you telegraph the threat of the CR 2 humanoids? What did the player say were the mistakes you made and why do you agree with his assessment?My suggestion is to choose to believe otherwise when it comes to the separation of player and character knowledge. You can't control it, so it's often better to just not worry about it. When a player in my games suggests that he's going to use fire against a troll having never encountered a troll thus far during play, for example, I just ask the player to establish how his character knows it. In the doing, the character gets fleshed out a bit more.In practice, I recommend telegraphing the real threat the monster poses - the kinds of attacks it might make and whatnot - but also some of its weaknesses. Just enough clues to pique the player's interest to want to find out more (which might call for an ability check) and for him or her to make some decisions based on that information. An example would be "a troll that enters the fight recklessly, smashing walls and beams with its rending claws, heedless of damage it takes in its rampage because its wounds stitch up at a supernatural pace." Then have it more purposefully avoid the flaming brazier or kick it across the room to get it away from the troll. What you've done here is give the players valuable information: It's strong, has dangerous rending claws, regenerative health, and prefers to avoid fire. From there, the players can take action to confirm their ideas about this monster's nature ("I'd like to recall what I know about trolls" -> "Make an Intelligence check..." if it's uncertain whether the character would have such knowledge) or test out their assumptions through trial and error.Death happens in D&D unless you're taking care to change the stakes of a conflict to something other than life and death. The most important thing when it comes to a character dying, in my view, is that the player have a way of getting back into the game as quickly as possible. I typically handle this by asking players to have backup characters ready to go at all times. Before those characters are ever needed, we introduce them in the fiction in some fashion so that when it's time to tap them in, the transition is fast and smooth. I don't want someone sitting outside of the primary mode of participation with the game longer than they want to. This isn't Monopoly.If a character death is a result of some kind of mistake of unfairness, then I would leave it to the players to decide what's best to do. I'll admit the mistake and see how they want to handle it, being open to any reasonable suggestions they might have.</blockquote>

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