Permanant Character Death

[Dave G]

Our group has an agreement, to not tell the DM how many hit points our characters have left, the DM appreciates it, and when he plays and someone else runs, he does it too.

If there's no risk of death, my ability to have fun decreases dramatically. While I get attached to my characters, I'd rather have to artificially bring in a new one than artificially keep the old one alive.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Well in the game I run there is risk of permanent PC death. I've gotten rid of True Ressurrection, except for Artifacts that can do it or dieties, so you must have a body to raise someone. If you are disintegrated then you are gone forever. If you are dissolved by a Gelatinous Cube then you are gone forever, if you are dropped in lava then you are gone forever.

The group ran into a green dragon at around 5th level, it was a small one, 130 HP if I remember. I gave them a chance to parley with it, to try and escape. They attacked, and everyone was killed but Lorrick who turned invisible and escaped as the dragon ate Dr. Kno the monk, and Throkk the Paladin. They didn't have bodies, and the new group that Lorrick put together was very afraid of fighting the dragon again, like they should be. Much later the new band went back and fought the dragon and drove it off. They recovered the body of Throkk, but Dr. Kno was eaten whole and there was nothing to raise. Throkk was raised but Dr Kno was gone forever. That has been the only permenent PC death.

There have been several other deaths, mostly from pure player stupidity. "Lets battle the elder earth elemental without any kind of protection" , even though Protection from Evil would have prevented it from touching the group as it was an evil elemental. half the party died and I took no pity on them. If you can't figure out basic protection measures after two years of playing 3e then you are SOL.

When the group initially recovered Throkk's body they took him to a city in Veluna. Lorrick had two trolls that he had charmed and they went with them. Lorrick decided to leave the trolls in the care of another party member while they went and had Throkk raised. Well the Ranger couldn't control them and they went on a rampage. When the group got back they decided to let the newly raised Throkk fight it himself so he could get the exp to level. He was killed, and I once again took no pity on him. He was raised again, the second time in 8 hours. That soured me on cheap raise dead. There have been other deaths but no true ressurrection to give them a worry free raise.

Imagine Boromir's death if Aragorn knew he could just pack him up and riase him from the dead. It would have turned one of hte most powerful moments of the trilogy into a joke.

I know I would lose interest if I knew the DM was constantly cheating to keep my own idiocy from killing my PC.

 

[snarfoogle]

I agree with the danger ranger. They're 10th level, they are important and powerful. Have them risen by an evil cleric, then forced to do a big geas as payment.

 

[StumpwaterJack]

I like it when the choice is up to the players.

We have one campaign where the party will pay for a raise dead (the one where you might come back as something interesting) or you can carry enough money for a better version. There's now a hawk and a badger running around the world (former characters of players who prefer not to use resurrection), and a lot of characters with a wad of cash in their sock and clear instructions on how to find it

In our other campaign, the party communes with the dead character to see if he wants to come back. Myself and another player never feel right playing a character again after he's died, so we've both said "no thanks". Other players would rather keep on going.

Our DM realizes that we're all there to have a good time, so he makes things challenging but leaves you an out. Whether you use it is entirely up to you, and no one faults you for your decision.

SJ