D&D General On PC Death

[Reynard]

The poll is tongue in cheek, but I am curious how folks actually feel about their PC dying due to "no one's fault" -- that is, bad luck.

 

[prabe]

"Pull out one of 3,429* character ideas I have that I never thought I'd get a chance to play."


*--approximately

 

[payn]

Other: I use Hero Points to save my characters bacon. No Hero Points left? Welp, I'm really bad at this!

 

[overgeeked]

Should be multiple choice.

Both
"Fine!" ::write "The Second" after the character's name::
"I hated that character anyway!" ::happily roll up new character::

are my choices.

And these are not mutually exclusive.

 

[embee]

"I'm here to avenge my brother's death!"

 

[prabe]

 

[iserith]

Provided the game is presented fairly, players mostly make their own luck by way of their choices so I think blaming it on the dice is a cop out. This is a game about bold adventurers confronting deadly perils. You mitigate luck as much as you can with smart decisions before ever relying on the dice.

 

[Reynard]

One thing I see pretty commonly is players who do not want the chance of essentially random character death. They want it to MEAN something, either in the context of their personal character story, or the larger campaign story. And I get that because a lot of people view TTRPG play as a form of narrative. I don't actually view it that way very often, especially as a player, and I am more interested in seeing what emerges out of play. So unless I feel like something was abjectly unfair, when I lose a PC as a player I find it interesting and then I move on. As a GM, I try not to hinge the campaign on the PCs all surviving...

 

[Dausuul]

As a player: "Ooh, I get to try out [new character idea X]!"
As a DM: "Oh, jeez, now I've got to junk all of that character's connections and story hooks, and work another weird rando into my campaign."

 

[Umbran]

Provided the game is presented fairly, players mostly make their own luck by way of their choices so I think blaming it on the dice is a cop out.

This sounds like it comes from someone who has never been betrayed by their dice.