DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
We'll never know because they weren't killed.
The story might have been even better if someone had died and not returned (I'm looking at you, Gandalf!), and the others had rallied behind that death to greater heights.
D&D 5E [+] Questions for zero character death players and DMs…
- Thread starter overgeeked
- Start date
The story might have been even better if someone had died and not returned (I'm looking at you, Gandalf!), and the others had rallied behind that death to greater heights.
James Gasik
We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Boromir died!
Vaalingrade
Legend
If someone who mattered died.
payn
Glory to Marik
This is how I roll in DCC games (like the tourney I'm in this weekend). It's all skill play and the characters personality isnt really worth mentioning. When I play adventure paths I dive much more into the character, their place in the setting, and accomplishing their goals. Some folks like one or the other, I do both.
James Gasik
We don't talk about Pun-Pun
Ouch!
JiffyPopTart
Bree-Yark
Or, it just so happens that the character who did die at the end of Act 1 is also the character everyone considers useless...because they died and didn't contribute anymore.We'll never know because they weren't killed.
The story might have been even better if someone had died and not returned (I'm looking at you, Gandalf!), and the others had rallied behind that death to greater heights.
Boromir was put into the story to die. Dude didn't have a chance - Tolkien had it out for him.
DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
True, but I was more referencing the examples in the post I quoted.
Frankly, Boromir was one of my top two favorite characters, along with Eowyn.
Mostly because he was flawed. But also look at the heroism of his acts, and how he inspired the others. Dramatic death certainly has its place in D&D IMO. True "dump luck death" sucks, I agree with that.
In the example I mentioned where one of my player's PC died, it was because he wanted to hold the monster back so others could fall back. Now, that is all well and good, but he attacked instead of acting defensively (like dodging, which in all likelihood would have made the crit a normal-non-lethal hit or a miss entirely).
And with Eowyn, I remember reading Return of the King the first time, and I thought she had actually died in the battle field and cried! And I was relieved later to learn she hadn't.
Flawed, vulnerable characters are the most appealing to me, personally.
James Gasik
We don't talk about Pun-Pun
There was a 90's anime (based on an actual tabletop RPG), Record of Lodoss Wars where, at the end of a major arc, one character died, and another was possessed by an ancient lich (basically). An episode or two later, a pair of mercenaries just happen to show up to join the heroes!
DND_Reborn
The High Aldwin
Or that death inspires others, which is what actually happened in this case.
I've had many PCs die in my games. One of the most memorable was a love story between two elves. When the female died and resurrection failed, the male, along with all the rest of the party, traveled to the Outer Planes to beg Corellon to allow her to return to the mortal realm with her beloved.
Corellon posed a series of challenges or tasks, one for each party member. If they all succeeded, she would be allowed to return. If any failed, she would never enter the mortal realm again.
One by one each PC completed his or her task successfully, until the male elf was the last. He failed. So, instead of returning to the mortal realm without his beloved, he begged Corellon to allow him to remain. Corellon agreed, and so the two lovers bid farewell to the rest of the party, who returned to the mortal realm.
The group played those characters for another 6 months or so before we switched games. It was the end of a 5-year long campaign running from 1st to 15th (roughly, depending on class) level.
Death can be a great and powerful thing in a game and a story.
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