Quasqueton
First Post
When PCs Self Destruct
Over 3 years ago, there was a Player in my group who decided he didn’t like his character, in the very first game session. But he didn’t bother telling me (the DM), or any other Player. This Player then went about trying to get killed. It wasn’t apparent to me at first (I just thought he was being foolishly brave), and it wasn’t until after the “incident” occurred that I realized how malicious his intentions were.
The Player was trying to get his PC killed and/or trying to destroy my campaign. He talked the other Players into trying “just one more room” (after their resources were depleted), and then lead them all right into a major battle. Ironically/unfortunately, every other PC died before his did. He even had multiple escape routes and was actually already on the periphery of the battle. He ran back into the fight, alone, to take on two opponents already proven to be much too tough for him.
He managed to take down the whole campaign with his self destruction. I no longer game with this Player.
A year ago, there was a Player who completely lost his head due to his personal invulnerability. He had an artifact that prevented undead from harming him (they could not/would not harm it at all). The group encountered a powerful lich and his powerful minions in a situation that wasn’t supposed to be a violent confrontation. The PC was rude and dismissive to the lich.
Eventually, a battle erupted. The undead were seriously smashing the party, but the lich offered a truce. The PC, whom the lich and cohorts couldn’t harm, turned down the offer of truce, twice! The whole party was wiped out, one by one, except for the artifact-protected PC. The undead had to retreat when there were no more targets they could attack.
He managed to take down the whole campaign, but ironically, he survived. The Player apologized for his stupidity, and I still play with this Player. It was not a malicious situation like the first self destruction, but rather was just a Player/PC going insanely stupid, and pushing hard and repeatedly on the SD button. (And technically, it was not a *self* destruction.)
Then in our last game session, there was a Player who turned on the self destruct button after her animal companion was killed. The party had been in a series of wave attacks by the enemy, and the only death among the PCs was the ranger’s horse animal companion – a well loved companion.
At the end of the battles, the party was spent, and wanted to retreat. The ranger decided to run on through the dungeon in wrath. The other PCs ran after, trying to stop her. If not for the enemies falling back before them (a planned action on the part of the enemies, unknown to the PCs), it could quite probably would have turned into a TPK.
The other party members had to actually resort to magic and grappling against the ranger to stop her from going further. (First time I’ve seen a party use hold portal to prevent *themselves* from going through a door.) They promised the ranger that they’d get the horse raised, and began trying to think of ways to get the big, dead horse back to the city (a couple weeks away). I allowed some pretty cheesy ideas to work only because I was trying to help the other Players keep the one Player from self destructing (and possibly taking down the whole campaign).
When a Player/PC starts the self destruct sequence, whether by accident or on purpose, I’ve seen that it often can take a whole campaign down. And it seems that once the sequence is started, it takes a great deal of effort to stop it.
Have you seen examples of PCs going down the self destruction path? I’m not talking about just making a foolish mistake – I’m meaning a Player/PC really pushing hard to get killed.
Quasqueton
Over 3 years ago, there was a Player in my group who decided he didn’t like his character, in the very first game session. But he didn’t bother telling me (the DM), or any other Player. This Player then went about trying to get killed. It wasn’t apparent to me at first (I just thought he was being foolishly brave), and it wasn’t until after the “incident” occurred that I realized how malicious his intentions were.
The Player was trying to get his PC killed and/or trying to destroy my campaign. He talked the other Players into trying “just one more room” (after their resources were depleted), and then lead them all right into a major battle. Ironically/unfortunately, every other PC died before his did. He even had multiple escape routes and was actually already on the periphery of the battle. He ran back into the fight, alone, to take on two opponents already proven to be much too tough for him.
He managed to take down the whole campaign with his self destruction. I no longer game with this Player.
A year ago, there was a Player who completely lost his head due to his personal invulnerability. He had an artifact that prevented undead from harming him (they could not/would not harm it at all). The group encountered a powerful lich and his powerful minions in a situation that wasn’t supposed to be a violent confrontation. The PC was rude and dismissive to the lich.
Eventually, a battle erupted. The undead were seriously smashing the party, but the lich offered a truce. The PC, whom the lich and cohorts couldn’t harm, turned down the offer of truce, twice! The whole party was wiped out, one by one, except for the artifact-protected PC. The undead had to retreat when there were no more targets they could attack.
He managed to take down the whole campaign, but ironically, he survived. The Player apologized for his stupidity, and I still play with this Player. It was not a malicious situation like the first self destruction, but rather was just a Player/PC going insanely stupid, and pushing hard and repeatedly on the SD button. (And technically, it was not a *self* destruction.)
Then in our last game session, there was a Player who turned on the self destruct button after her animal companion was killed. The party had been in a series of wave attacks by the enemy, and the only death among the PCs was the ranger’s horse animal companion – a well loved companion.
At the end of the battles, the party was spent, and wanted to retreat. The ranger decided to run on through the dungeon in wrath. The other PCs ran after, trying to stop her. If not for the enemies falling back before them (a planned action on the part of the enemies, unknown to the PCs), it could quite probably would have turned into a TPK.
The other party members had to actually resort to magic and grappling against the ranger to stop her from going further. (First time I’ve seen a party use hold portal to prevent *themselves* from going through a door.) They promised the ranger that they’d get the horse raised, and began trying to think of ways to get the big, dead horse back to the city (a couple weeks away). I allowed some pretty cheesy ideas to work only because I was trying to help the other Players keep the one Player from self destructing (and possibly taking down the whole campaign).
When a Player/PC starts the self destruct sequence, whether by accident or on purpose, I’ve seen that it often can take a whole campaign down. And it seems that once the sequence is started, it takes a great deal of effort to stop it.
Have you seen examples of PCs going down the self destruction path? I’m not talking about just making a foolish mistake – I’m meaning a Player/PC really pushing hard to get killed.
Quasqueton
