What happens when a character dies in your campaign?

[jester47]

Occasionally someone does shout BLACKLEAF! NO! at the table, but it ussually goes ignored.

Aaron.

 

[Psion]

Occasionally someone does shout BLACKLEAF! NO! at the table, but it ussually goes ignored.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Dumb down the encounters? What are you talking about?

If the group started at 1st you go back to 1st. I am not responsible for the trouble the players get their characters into. We play FR, and if you think 5th level is a high enough level to take on the Morume Brood, heck go for it! (you will probably die, but who knows...) I LOVE status quo adventureing.

Aaron.

I'm curious to hear the expereince of any players who really played under this model. (I'm not certain I take it seriously when people bring it up) I can't see any advantage to it except for the group feeling leet, but if someone could describe an actual expereince where it worked, I wouldn't hurt myself so much rolling my eyes whenever it comes up.

Kahuna Burger

 

[diaglo]

I can't see any advantage...

serious question before i answer yours. do you play for advantage or do you play for fun?

we played for fun. and as referee in a long campaign (10+ years) i started all characters at 1st lvl. the players and i liked it that way. we had fun that way.

 

[JimAde]

serious question before i answer yours. do you play for advantage or do you play for fun?

we played for fun. and as referee in a long campaign (10+ years) i started all characters at 1st lvl. the players and i liked it that way. we had fun that way.

It seems like the 1st level character (assuming he didn't just die) would run around all day unable to affect the opponents or overcome other challenges. He'd be a glorified torchbearer until the XP system brought him closer to the party level. Unless his area of expertise is something the rest of the party is terrible at (say a 1st level bard in a party of 10th level fighters all with 8 CHA).

How did you address this, or did you just let it happen and the player had fun anyway.

 

[diaglo]

How did you address this, or did you just let it happen and the player had fun anyway.

the higher lvl characters usually looked out for the new guy. they felt responsible for his well being.

we played long term...so it took years in character to gain lvls. heck it took 900 hrs of gaming to achieve a lvl in real time.

so the higher lvl characters were also older. many times they played the relatives of the new guy. or the lord and the new guy a page or squire...etc...

so it was their responsibility to keep him alive. and teach him the skills needed to survive when they past.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

serious question before i answer yours. do you play for advantage or do you play for fun?

we played for fun. and as referee in a long campaign (10+ years) i started all characters at 1st lvl. the players and i liked it that way. we had fun that way.

when I say "no advantage" I mean "no advantage" including the advantage of being any fun. I personally have not enjoyed even mostly unballanced parties, I have a hard time grasping the fun of being almost complete dead weight. So you come up with an excuse to drag the new kid around (though I'm not sure why you'd want to take your favorite nephew into danger) and try to keep him from getting killed. But that doesn't tell me the player's expereince. Have you been the player in question, and what happened. How did it go? (if you've never been the player in question, unfortunately you can't help me on this, and definitly not by taking a general phrase and using it to imply I must be a powergamer if I don't see the point.)

Kahuna Burger

 

[JesterPoet]

New character at lowest level of party members... and starting gold is NPC gold for that level.

 

[Arnwyn]

I'm curious to hear the expereince of any players who really played under this model. (I'm not certain I take it seriously when people bring it up) I can't see any advantage to it except for the group feeling leet, but if someone could describe an actual expereince where it worked, I wouldn't hurt myself so much rolling my eyes whenever it comes up.

You're kidding me. Is this a serious post?

I have certainly played (been a player) under that model (in all 4 editions), and it was/is fun. The "catch-up" XP system of 3.xe is especially conducive to this style of gaming, for those who want to.

(I'm not certain I take it seriously when people bring it up
and
I wouldn't hurt myself so much rolling my eyes whenever it comes up.

Strange reaction.

 

[Bioroid]

I use a Character Tree like that introduced in Dark Sun (AD&D Second Ed.) Four characters in a tree. One for use in play and three that remain in the tree. Any time the Player goes up a level, he can choose ONE of the three remaining characters in his tree to gain a level. It is thought that while the character he is playing currently, the others are out and about in the world doing their thing too. That way, when you lose a character (or simply want to call upon someone else in the tree (which can take anywhere from 1d4 weeks once called to show up), you can bring one of these in its place. Then, when you empty a spot in the tree, you create a new first level character to replace the one just put into play. There should be 1 in play at any given time and 3 others in the tree.