Replacement characters..what level?

[Malcolm]

Ok. Last try. I originally responded and for some reason the browser logged me out...

While the party is levels 1-10 = new PCs come in at 1/2 of the xp of the lowest party member.

When the Entire party is at least level 11 = new PCs come in at 1/2 of the xp of the Highest party member.

In both cases this gives the new PC the chance to survive and at the same time encourages the party members to keep each other alive. As the levels increase in disparity between members the chance of death/combat failure increases greatly.

Sorry this is short and terse.

 

[drothgery]

I don't think I'd let the difference between the highest-level PC and the lowest-level PC be more than three levels outside of an Epic (or nearly Epic) game; keeping the lower-level characters alive and important would be too much work.

 

[Shallown]

I guess playerds in my game are "Punished"/ Even though the character is the same level it is just paper and ink. While everyone else at the same level has lived and breathed in my game. It is not intentional but still true.

Making them lose a level or more doesn't equal losing the depth so it is just salt in the wound in my game.

But alas different people play different games it is what makes RPG's a blast and a pain in the hiney.

Later

 

[David Argall]

Level 1

Start the new PC at level 1.

This gives you a full history of his career.

It avoids any confusion. [Note that average level of the party means that a low level can gain XP by dying.]

The difference in playing time between level below lowest PC and 1st level is frequently small.

Replacements at or near the former XP endanger the campaign by making it distinctly easier to increase total party XP. Eventually the party reaches XP levels too high to be challenged by the game.

 

[Fenes 2]

Re: Level 1

Replacements at or near the former XP endanger the campaign by making it distinctly easier to increase total party XP. Eventually the party reaches XP levels too high to be challenged by the game.

We don't use xp anymore in my two campaigns, just level up from time to time. At the higher levels the rate of advancement usually slows down. F.e., in the one weekly campaign where the PCs are at level 14 I expect the PCs to advance 1, maybe 2 levels this year.

Even if we did use XP, as the DM I control how much is dealt out, so I'd never run into "too much XP to handle" problems. I am no slave to cr/xp-charts.

 

[Emirikol]

Why punish players?

Why do DM's punish players MORE if their character dies?

Now even if a player is deliberately trying to kill his own character or wants to switch, I still can't see why there is a punishment.

What's the deal?

 

[Joseph Elric Smith]

well it is not so much punishment as the cost involved. if death has no sting then we are playing a game of toon, . If death has a cost liek in real life then it adds to the challenge, and make the game all the sweeter. but YMMV.
It is also can be seen as rewarding the survivours, and not punishing the one who died, or it is a case of what is to stop the character from always doing a zerg rush if there is no consequences to his action.
ken

 

[MerakSpielman]

By "punish," I'm meaning enforce the level loss rule if they're raised, and make a replacement character no higher a level than the raised character would have been. Death cannot be dealt with casually, and a loss of one level is the price.

The "punishment" of character death is no more or less than the downsides presented in the rules. If you feel the disadvantages of death in the rules to be too harsh, by all means ignore them.

I just don't feel that a player should be allowed to weasel around the "lose a level" factor of death by choosing to bring in a new character of the same level as the dead one. Heck, they could bring in a "new" character of the same class, take all the items of the dead character, and proceed just like nothing had happened.

 

[The Cardinal]

at the beginning of the lowest level in the party (so, if the remaining PCs are level 7, 7, 8, 8, and 9, you start with 21,000 XP)

 

[Mallus]

if death has no sting then we are playing a game of toon

My feeling is the opposite: If the sting of character death needs to be reinforced through game mechanics {loss of level, abilites, spells, feats etc} then what you're playing is wargame where you get a single unit that you've given a fancy name...

A DM saying they need to strip levels from a replacement character is admitting they're running a game where characters are no more than boardgame pieces {which is fine, if that's what you like.}.