PC death early in a combat. What to do?

[NewJeffCT]

I'm running a 3.5E game that is getting fairly high in level now (Two year anniversary of the 1st session is next month). The party is all at level 16 and there are 7 PCs in the party (human Sorcerer, human Rogue-Spellthief, elf Fighter-Paladin, goliath Barbarian, halfling Psion, human Cleric and dwarf Fighter) There is also one elf cohort/apprentice type that is level 12 or 13.

They have a big combat coming up tomorrow night, but I'm worried that the two BBEGs can take out a couple of PCs early in the combat. For example, if evil bad guy one does a "Wail of the Banshee" and two PCs fail their save vs death, the party cleric won't be able to do a "Revivify" on two fallen players - only one. Resurrection is not an option in combat with its 10 minute casting time.

And, I know an option is to not use "Save or Die" spells/powers, but I think to play a really evil and high level bad guy correctly, you kind of need to put that fear into the players.

But, my question is - what does the player do in that situation?
1) Sit there idly and twiddle their thumbs
2) Go home for the night and/or plan out their new character.
3) Run some of the BBEG's minions?
4) Have them run the cohort/apprentice?
5) Create an NPC to tag along that a player can run in the meantime?
6) Other options? Please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[malkav666]

Let them run some of the bad guys

love,

malkav

 

[ExploderWizard]

" Yes, I know a stalker died. Well, it is a combat sport...."

Running one of the BBEG's is great. It gives the player a new toy to play with in the short term without having to play a flunkie for the rest of the PC's.

Let the player know that he/she will get some kind of bonus/goodie to thier replacement PC if the Big Bad performs particularly well. This kind of gives the player some incentive to play the new role to the hilt and pull no punches.

 

[Vorput]

4) Have them run the cohort/apprentice?

Would be how I handle it. You could also offer to let them control any summoned creatures the party makes.

5) Create an NPC to tag along that a player can run in the meantime?

Some sort of monster NPC might be a good idea to. An outsider (like an Angel or elemental [but not a straight elemental] of some kind). You'd have to figure out how they show up in the fight, but running something like an Astral Deva or a Trumpet Archon makes a nice diversion, is a lot of fun to do once in awhile- and will still allow them an opportunity (albeit a lessened one) to make an impact on the battle.

Perhaps the cleric is told to cast Planar ally before the battle or something?

 

[Thanee]

If that happens, you need to give two players something to do, since Revivify cannot prevent the death of even one of them against Wail of the Banshee, BTW.

Bye
Thanee

 

[NewJeffCT]

" Yes, I know a stalker died. Well, it is a combat sport...."

Running one of the BBEG's is great. It gives the player a new toy to play with in the short term without having to play a flunkie for the rest of the PC's.

Let the player know that he/she will get some kind of bonus/goodie to thier replacement PC if the Big Bad performs particularly well. This kind of gives the player some incentive to play the new role to the hilt and pull no punches.

Well, assuming the party cleric is not the one killed, it's kind of in the stages of the campaign where the killed player(s) will get a Resurrection spell cast upon them after the combat.

But, an XP bonus for a good job running the bad guy is a good idea even if the PCs are raised afterwards.

 

[NewJeffCT]

If that happens, you need to give two players something to do, since Revivify cannot prevent the death of even one of them against Wail of the Banshee, BTW.

Bye
Thanee

I don't see anything in the spell description of Revivify that would prevent it from saving one PC if cast on them within one round of death? It says "miraculously restores life to a recently deceased creature" and must be cast within 1 round of the victim's death before the soul completely leaves the body. I think the part about it functioning like Raise Dead applies to poisons, diseases, ability damage, etc?

I could be wrong, however.

 

[Nifft]

Tell the player that she's dead IN REAL LIFE, too.

Point at her and yell at her if the player attracts attention. "Get out, you're dead!"

That'll teach her to play a Rogue.

Cheers, -- N

 

[NewJeffCT]

Tell the player that she's dead IN REAL LIFE, too.

Point at her and yell at her if the player attracts attention. "Get out, you're dead!"

That'll teach her to play a Rogue.

Cheers, -- N

"No, not Blackleaf! I'm going to die!!!"

 

[Umbran]

And, I know an option is to not use "Save or Die" spells/powers, but I think to play a really evil and high level bad guy correctly, you kind of need to put that fear into the players.

You know, there's an option between "Don't use save-or-die" and "use it first thing in the combat". You don't have to use the bad guy's nuke to strike fear into the party. If nothing else, staring with one of the most powerful hits is a bad idea for that, as players will recognize it as a spent resource that isn't coming back again.

In all likelihood, if the bad guys are the right sort of challenge, they don't have a lot of those sorts of abilities. The bad guys are intelligent, right? They are going to be tactically smart about when and where they use those heavy-hitting spells. And right at the start of the fight may not be the best time to use them, especially if the bad guy is thinking about his or her own survival, especially.

So, for example, the evil wizard is going to save Wail of the Banshee for when he's got a couple/few of the party almost on top of him - not at the first shot in the fight, when he doesn't know if he's hit the real dangers or not.