What do you think of dying at level 1?

[Imp]

Run two at once, or generate two and keep one as a backup/ substitute? The latter is my policy. Backgrounds are 1 paragraph max (minimum: place of origin), define a couple of personality traits, and let 1st level be the backstory.

 

[robberbaron]

Sounds to me like your Scout player doesn't do a lot of cooperative gaming.

Maybe all it needs is to have a group chat to discuss what your gaming expectations are - nothing heavy, just some friends and a couple of beers (no idea how old you guys are but I'm sure beer features somewhere).

 

[delericho]

I have found that the game is better if PCs can die, and better still if they can die due to the vagiaries of chance. Yeah, it sucks to lose a character to a random crit, but it would suck more if the DM fudged so that that random crit just happened to only do 2 points of damage.

For that reason, I advise my players to keep their characters' backgrounds fairly simple and iconic until they've got a few levels under their belts. Once they've got a few levels under their belts, and are a bit less vulnerable to outrageous fortune, the player can commit to a background with some confidence.

However, I also advise players not to write a detailed background unless they will enjoy doing so, in the same way that I advise DMs not to bother with a hugely detailed setting unless they'll find that enjoyable in its own right. For the DM, it is likely that the PCs just won't care that the third Emperor of the Celestial Empire gave his daughter a fine set of plates as a wedding gift - they'll only care how much they can get for them. For the player, the dice won't care that Sovelis has a secret phobia of the colour purple following a childhood encounter with a worm... they'll still hit him with with greataxe crit.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You can always tell who read the post and who just read the title.

 

[delericho]

You can always tell who read the post and who just read the title.

Quite. But it was a very long post.

 

[kenmarable]

As for the general question - when I had my PC take a dirt nap in the first Shackled City adventure, it actually was cool because it let break out Ghostwalk and that redefined the direction of the character.

In fact, I think in all my campaigns, if a character died and returned in some manner, it was usually a life altering event. Like the thief we had (technically "rogue", but she was definitely a sneaky thief) found religion after being raised and was completely different in personality.

As for your situation, I'd say you have every reason for the raised ninja and the warlock to confront the scout (in game) and say "Hey, pull your own weight and help the team, or you are out of here." I can see the actual PCs in that situation doing just that. Might be easier confrontation (but no more subtle) than talking to the player out of character.

 

[Technik4]

As for your situation, I'd say you have every reason for the raised ninja and the warlock to confront the scout (in game) and say "Hey, pull your own weight and help the team, or you are out of here." I can see the actual PCs in that situation doing just that. Might be easier confrontation (but no more subtle) than talking to the player out of character.

I guess that's the root of the problem. But if we all play our characters right and the scout says "Fine, I'm out of here" then where does that leave the group? And even if he started a new character, I doubt he would play any differently (meaning, generally very protective of his hp, non-agressive, and trying to out-tactician the enemy NPCs to avoid getting hit every fight).

The warlock and I were talking and are convinced that he hasn't always been this craven, but that his overall cheese factor has gone up in the past few months. For instance, while he was flanking with my character, he asked the DM if he could tumble in a circle and then attack to get his skirmish damage (and the flanking bonus). Stuff like that just kills the immersion factor of being in a big battle (as does bringing up kiting - something I've never heard of before this group in a d&d game).

At the end of the day, I think we're gonna have to talk to him out of game. The problem may be his inability to confront his rationalizations about his actions which he thinks are basically flawless (though he may concede he should have drawn his bow sooner).

My only hope is we can get up to 5 players so one player's actions don't have as large of an impact.

 

[SavageRobby]

I even mentioned that it would be nice to play a game where all the characters weren't divisive and constantly more concerned with themselves than the party, but it must have fallen on deaf ears.

I broke up a game I was DMing because too many of the characters were built too individualistically, and they simply weren't group-oriented enough (at least enough for me as a DM, and about half the other players). It can be hugely frustrating if you're one of the players (or the DM) that has to deal with one of the divisive ones.

But it was very instructive, and from then on my DM mandate to the players has been to create PCs that will get along. Metagame a bit if you have to, but the goal is to create an adventuring group, not spend half of every session trying to railroad a bunch of individuals. Opposing agendas can be an occasional element (see: Jayne Cobb for a great example), but it loses its luster really quickly.


Personally, I won't put up with it as a player. "We're here to have fun" is the motto, and if I ain't having fun, there isn't a point to being there. If there is a person whose definition of fun is diametrically opposed to mine, then I just simply don't need to be there. Easy peasy.

 

[kenmarable]

My only hope is we can get up to 5 players so one player's actions don't have as large of an impact.

That would be good. If there's enough of you that things aren't outright deadly with the scout basically doing nothing, then the rest of you make sure to have fun in glorious combat while the scout tumbles around and cowers hoping nobody hits him.

Or, if you want to be pretty direct, just direct the player to this thread for a little read.

 

[JustinM]

I just killed a 1st-level PC in my campaign. First session, even. The tank got his block knocked off by an ogre with a greatclub. One hit, straight to exactly -10. I didn't mean to do it, but I hate it when other DMs fudge, so I didn't, either.

The player could have had a legitimate gripe or two, actually. There was a ninja in front of him who succeeded on tumble and hide checks to move behind the tank; otherwise it would have been her. Also, he was slightly injured already and had asked the cleric for healing, but she abstained because she didn't have much in the way of spells left.

So, long story short, his death was entirely preventable, but he took it really well, accepting it as a part of the game (and, indeed, an inevitability given that character's personality...but he thought it'd be his own fault).

The best part is that it's added some subtext to the game: the ninja who bailed in the first round of combat was the tank's cousin. She is now enraged and will plot the demise of any remotely evil thing in her path for some time to come. Luckily for the group, it didn't occur to her character that the cleric could have also prevented the situation, or that could have gotten ugly pretty quick.