Too much incentive to stay dead

[shilsen]

Simple solution - Don't kill PCs. I use an action point/swashbuckling card system that makes PC death almost impossible (emphasis on "almost", since that lets the very rare PC death happen). As long as PCs are still faced with the possibility of defeat in various other forms and still have to suffer the repercussions of failure, there's no loss to the game. Death is only one form of defeat/failure and, IMNSHO, a fairly boring and ineffectual one. If PCs come back easily from the dead then it's not much of a defeat/failure, and if they don't come back from the dead, it's even less of a defeat/failure since the PC who was defeated/failed doesn't suffer its consequences (he's dead, after all, and only the living can truly suffer).

 

[Lanefan]

Um, maybe I'm missing something, but the solution seems fairly obvious.

Change the bit where new PCs start at the same level with wealth according to the DMG wealth by level tables. Make new characters start a level behind and the DM picks their items, not the player.

That should settle that.

Hear, hear...that's how I've done it since day 1. (though the new PC comes in a level under the party average, as the parties are never all the same level once they get going...)

Edit: on reading further, do not be the *least* bit tempted to become any less ruthless when it comes to killing them off.

Lanefan

 

[maggot]

Starting one level behind isn't that much of a penalty. In 3.5, lower level characters earn XP much faster and catch up in no time.

 

[The Green Adam]

I don't allow raise dead in the traditional sense. In my campaign worlds all the spell does is reunite the spirit with the body if the spirit can return from the realms of the afterlife. If a dead character wants to come back to the land of the living, he or she must undertake a side quest through the planes of the dead appropriate to their beliefs and populated by spiritual/metaphoric obstacles from their lives.

PC deaths in most of my campaigns are rare anyway, so when it does happen it's an epic and moving event. If your gonna undo that it better be even more epic and moving.

 

[Nifft]

Um, maybe I'm missing something, but the solution seems fairly obvious.

Change the bit where new PCs start at the same level with wealth according to the DMG wealth by level tables. Make new characters start a level behind and the DM picks their items, not the player.

That should settle that.

Yep yep yep. That's exactly what I do. Still, they don't choose to come back... mostly it's the allure of playing a new character than the reward of getting phat loot, though.

Cheers, -- N

 

[billd91]

I can certainly see some benefit to having the new PC roll half of the level's worth of gear. Organically grown PCs tend to be much less optimized in gear than ones built at higher levels. Most of the PCs in my game have some inefficient bits of gear as hold-overs from previous adventures that they haven't gotten rid of. It seems fair to impose some of that on replacement PCs too.

 

[Glyfair]

Um, maybe I'm missing something, but the solution seems fairly obvious.

Change the bit where new PCs start at the same level with wealth according to the DMG wealth by level tables. Make new characters start a level behind and the DM picks their items, not the player.

I agree with this.

Alternatively, make sure there is a benefit to being involved in the world. If the original PC has contacts, knowledge, or other interplay with the world, abandoning the character becomes an issue.

For an extreme example, if each PC has a piece of a big puzzle (that's not the center of the game), losing that character means the group can't solve the puzzle. Who would choose to stay dead?

 

[GSHamster]

How about characters don't die in battle?

Seriously, whenever a PC gets dropped to zero or less, just leave them on death's door. Maybe say that if they reach -10 or lower, you can't use magic to heal them and they have to recover naturally.

Then only kill PCs in a total party wipe, or for dramatic effect.

This may not be realistic, but in my opinion, is no less realistic than Raise Dead.

 

[hong]

How about characters don't die in battle?

Seriously, whenever a PC gets dropped to zero or less, just leave them on death's door. Maybe say that if they reach -10 or lower, you can't use magic to heal them and they have to recover naturally.

Then only kill PCs in a total party wipe, or for dramatic effect.

This may not be realistic, but in my opinion, is no less realistic than Raise Dead.

-10 is not much of a buffer. It's very easy to go from marginal +ve hit points to -11 or lower in one hit.

What I'm doing ATM is: if you die, you have the option of reviving at the end of the fight, at -9 hp. Effectively it's like you never died at all. However, a TPK means it's all over.

To keep death a significant factor, have a -2 penalty to all d20 rolls (and AC) for a specified period after being knocked out. Say a week.

Taken from NWN2, where anything short of a TPK is recoverable from.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Biography......sorry, I just had to laugh. I hope you were kidding.

"Please insert two more coins to continue..........." you can't just upload one persons impact from the story into someone new just for convience, if you want that, play a videogame.

Oh yeah? Just watch me!

-Nah, not the impact just the facts. And I do sacrifice a lot of things for convenience. More and more as times go by.