D&D General Poll: Have You Lost a Character to Ghouls.

[Celebrim]

Serriet of the Chain, hexblade warlock, killed by a pack of ghouls and gnolls in the Abyss.

Now that is a particularly classy way to go.

 

[Wiseblood]

Not my character but a Cleric/Barbarian named Brock was killed by ghouls. After that I carried Brock’s magical axe naming it Brock’s Last Stand. Until it was destroyed in a fight with a remorhaz.
His bad luck didn’t end with his death.

 

[toucanbuzz]

Not only is it logical, it’s the kinder option. Maybe not for the PC they eat, but if you do have your ghouls ignore paralyzed PCs in favor of attacking active ones, a TPK becomes significantly more likely. I speak from experience.

Good point, though I'm very sure my players weren't praising my generous nature at that point....Still, it made for a better game. If my ghouls had acted "un-ghoul-like," my players likely would've cried foul. No threat of death = no thrill. And ghouls, despite a DC10 save, can provide that thrill. In my game, a failed death save + ghoul auto-crit (2 failed death saves) = quick death.

 

[Charlaquin]

It's not only how paralysis changed & coup de gras got removed but also the difference of -5v rs
-anything but maxhp+1 then fail 3 death saves before someone does healing word or something swung the dial over to supermanesque leels of durability.

I don’t mind the degree of PC durability in 5e, personally. What does bother me a little bit is the fact that, unless monsters attack downed enemies, the players can casually wait for their ally to fail two death saves and then pop them up with a healing word. A downed ally should be a state of emergency, rather than “it’s cool guys, It’ll take a couple turns before I’m in serious danger.” One way to resolve this is of course to have monsters attack downed characters. Another is to roll death saves behind the screen and keep the total secret, though this requires a lot of trust from the players.

 

[Lanefan]

Ghouls are one of the classic freakishly scary low level monsters. If you haven't been paralyzed by a ghoul and torn apart by a feasting pack, are you really playing D&D?

I mean, it's in the example of play, for crying out loud!

Aside from intraparty conflict deaths does any one single cause of death come even close? Ghouls are like the soldier ants of D&D.

Over the long term in our games the greatest cause of character death is "own party", which along with accidental or intentional PvP also includes self-inflicted deaths e.g. dying via getting caught in the fireball you just cast.

After that it's "other adventurers", a catch-all including enemy parties, levelled BBEGs e.g. the stereotypical wizard-in-the-tower, pirates, bandits, assassinations, and so forth.

Then come Giants, then Dragons, then traps, then Demons; with a large drop-off between each.

Ghouls-Ghasts are a surprisingly long way down the list.

 

[tetrasodium]

I don’t mind the degree of PC durability in 5e, personally. What does bother me a little bit is the fact that, unless monsters attack downed enemies, the players can casually wait for their ally to fail two death saves and then pop them up with a healing word. A downed ally should be a state of emergency, rather than “it’s cool guys, It’ll take a couple turns before I’m in serious danger.” One way to resolve this is of course to have monsters attack downed characters. Another is to roll death saves behind the screen and keep the total secret, though this requires a lot of trust from the players.

Yea even being within one or two hits of zero used to be scary because of how dangerous -5 is, but in 5e it's like deciding if you really need to heal/rez Leroy any time soon in a 20 person (mmo)raid after he did something stupid while simultaniously having zero stress over the fact that he did something stupid
-.

 

[Celebrim]

Leading causes of death in D&D:

1) Ghouls
2) Intraparty violence
3) Becoming separated from the party
4) Running into traps while fleeing from ghouls when separated from the party
5) Forgetting to kite oozes
6) Hold Person
7) Fireball
8) Pushing the Big Red Button
9) Random monsters no player in the group recognizes that wouldn't even be dangerous if the party didn't panic.
10) BBEG's, dragons, and other epic encounters.

 

[Ancalagon]

I can't recall, but I do know one of the most harrowing gaming session was a long running battle against ghouls. Incredibly tense, and we came close to disaster more than once.

 

[Helldritch]

Leading causes of death in D&D:

1) Ghouls
2) Intraparty violence
3) Becoming separated from the party
4) Running into traps while fleeing from ghouls when separated from the party
5) Forgetting to kite oozes
6) Hold Person
7) Fireball
8) Pushing the Big Red Button
9) Random monsters no player in the group recognizes that wouldn't even be dangerous if the party didn't panic.
10) BBEG's, dragons, and other epic encounters.

Great Post!
But you forgot.
11) Party destroyed by a dominated PC...
And the famous #12
Just one more room boys...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Do ghasts count?

Yeah...but that’s more of a vampire shtick.