When PCs Die When the Player's Not There

[Crothian]

Which is exactly why I don't do this.

It's retarded.

That's right it is when the players act that way. That is why you game with people that you trust and who will treat your character as they treat their own. A little trust between players goes a long way.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

I have a huge group, so every player who doesn't show up is a blessing (unless I had a major encounter planned for ten or eleven and only five or six show :\ ). I usually end sessions in places where PCs have an excuse to be 'doing something else,' but failing that they just fade into the background.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

You'er player is taking being hosed pretty dosh gone well.

Really, he got hosed. Big Time. Unless he was playing a Order of the Bow Initiate, he had no business shooting arrows into melee with guys with big, nasty 2 handed weapons. Not as bad as bringing a knife to a grenade fight. But close.

1. Does the Player normally do such stupid things? IF so, maybe the guest 'controller' was doing good. But, if I was playing that character & found out I died that way while I was gone. I'd be making me a CE Assassin & be somebody better start watching out.

2. Why'd he miss the game. I had to miss my Wednesday game (I'm the DM, so it's different) as my Sister was having her first child. Pretty good reason. I know a lot of DM's of the 'You miss a session, tough luck school'. I avoid them. Gaming's not #1 in my life, my wife & family are & always will be, I'll never be able to put the Game above all else. I'll try my best to be there, but things happen. I expect the same from my players.

3. His character never died. HE didn't roll the dice. HE didn't state his character's actions. He died without being able to do a thing about it.

4. That said, if let someone else play his character. Ummm, refer to the stupid part above. When playing I refuse to run another PC's character if they can't make it, as a string of low rolls & I might have to say "Remeber Bob, here are the ashes the remain of his corpse".

5. I prefer the fade into the background. If I have to use your character, I do it in a cut-scene third person sort of way where they do the bare minimum to move the plot/adventure along.

 

[Elric]

There is a solution! Hold a session secretly one night. Don't invite any of the players. If none of them are there, well, you can play their characters.

Along the way, a mysterious uber-beast shows up. They try to fight it and die horribly to bad luck/ 18-20 x3 threat ranges.

Maybe next time they'll remember to show up and can avoid a TPK.

 

[Asmo]

Never equip monsters with greataxes when you´re dm:ing a low lvl party

Asmo

 

[DonTadow]

Which is exactly why I don't do this.

It's retarded.

Yes, I know Bob the Fighter's usually more than average selfish, won't open a door until after Tommy the Lock (the only person he really trusts) checks it, and doesn't have the personal initiative to build the freakin' fire without being repeatedly asked, but suddenly, today, he's volunteering for all sorts of tasks, spending money like water, and pushing Tommy out of the way at each door.

Yeah, that makes sense - I'd be asking for some Sense Motive checks for mental domination, myself.

I prefer to live in the real world, where real life things - extra required work hours, sick kids, etc. - occasionally intrude. And, frankly, I'd have to be a much bigger bastard than I am to say to someone, "Hey, Bob, I'm sorry Suzanne got sick and you had to spend all last Saturday in the ER. Welcome back, though - oh, and your character gave away all his magic items and then died mysteriously. Feel free to make a new one, though."

As a teen, I could see this being ok. YOu have the time to play every week and there's not much reason (other than girls) why you shouldn't miss a session. But once you're an adult and you get into more mature groups and campaigns in which we're all struggling to meet and organize a game around our families. Punishing players (which is what you're doing) for missing a session or two becomes silly. I havn't had all my players at a session in three months and Im fine with it.

What you're doing seems cruel. If you have players with attendance problems you talk to them, you don't use their characters as cannon fodder.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I have to admit, I'm surprised by how many people have told me I should have fudged it, or (even stranger, IMHO) retroactively changed my decision. Isn't one of the appeals of D&D that the ULTIMATE IMPARTIAL CRUELTY OF THE DICE should be superior above all else?!???!! \

I'm going to take that statement as written (despite the winky face), because you seem to support it in other posts.

No, the dice are not superior to all else. The enjoyment of the players, and the DM's judgment as to what will make the best game, are superior to all else. The dice are a tool.

I don't want the DM fudging to keep my character alive under normal circumstances, nor will I fudge to do so when I'm DMing. The key is under normal circumstances. If a PC death is going to ruin the fun of the game--because a player is absent, for instance--yeah, you damn well better believe I'll fudge. Similarly, I'll tweak the dice results--both for and against the players, in equal measure--if I realize that a specific outcome would be just really damned cool for dramatic/character-development/story* purposes. I don't do it often, but yeah, I do it.

That's why I never roll my dice in front of the players, unless it's something particularly cool and dramatic and I want to heighten the effect. (I.e. if the necromancer makes this save, he's going to escape, but if he fails, the PC's spell will likely kill him.)

*(I'm sure someone who doesn't know me will accuse me of railroading, since I included "story" in this list. Kindly don't. I've been DMing long enough, with enough feedback from players, that I know the difference between railroading and making sure the PCs enjoy the story while still making their own choices and deciding--to a point--their own fate.)

 

[Mouseferatu]

And for the record, unless you had a specific policy spelled out in advance, I'd agree that the player got shafted. Frankly, he should have been allowed to come back as the same character with no delay. He died through the stupidity of another player while he wasn't even there; that's hardly enjoyable gaming, even if he did take it well. And frankly, there's always a way to justify the character not dying. Hell, maybe he doesn't know why he's still alive. Make it a plot point.

 

[Palantir]

Players' Option

We've got a really good group... the players trust each other, and we addressed this issue in one of our very first sessions. Our group decided that the absent player has a choice. They can a) choose to allow another player to play their PC, earn full XPs for the session, but run the risk of death and dismemberment the same as any other PC, or b) they find a convenient excuse for the PC to leave the group temporarily or "fade into the background"... no risk of death, but no XPs either.

I wouldn't think it's fair to the other (present) PCs for an absent player's PC to earn experience while not being subjected to the risks, thus no XP for the absent PC who chooses b).

If the absent player is going to be upset that his PC ran the risk of dying for the chance to gain XPs, and "failed his save", so to speak, then perhaps the absent player ought to take a deep breath, realize that it's just a game, and roll a new PC. It was a gamble that, this time around, just didn't work.

--Palantir

 

[DonTadow]

And for the record, unless you had a specific policy spelled out in advance, I'd agree that the player got shafted. Frankly, he should have been allowed to come back as the same character with no delay. He died through the stupidity of another player while he wasn't even there; that's hardly enjoyable gaming, even if he did take it well. And frankly, there's always a way to justify the character not dying. Hell, maybe he doesn't know why he's still alive. Make it a plot point.

One night, as a player, I was in a group and we were fighting the "big bad". I rolled three 1s in a row on several saves including a will save that allowed me to be confused. I went through 10 rounds of battle (the entire battle) never controlling my character. On the fifth confusion roll my small halfling stumbled into a large giant with a spiked chain. He beat me to an inch of my life. I started to think I lucked up when I rolled a confusion roll to run away. I run and the direction I run through the door the enemies came out of. I"m told to roll another Will save, I roll a 1, I died (for the second time in two sessions) from a dicentegate spell. It was the worst bout of luck. This is where I commend the DM decision making. This was not some PC coddlin DM. This guy was one of those by the number Dms but he knew how to keep his campaign fun.

After session he called me up and told me how upset he was about what happenedand how he realized it wasn't my fault. He hadn't seen that much bad luck in some time and that wasn't how he planned it. I had a backup character ready to go, but he insisted that I wait a bit. Thursday he calls me and tells me to bring my character but adjust my xp to the beginning of the current level. Two sessions go buy and no real say so on how I came back only that i had. During the third session after death he sends me a 8 page pdf explaining how a powerful dying demi god granted me life in return for patronage. She also gave me hidden memories that my character had long sought for.

My Point. Sometimes you got to reach out of your monatony of dice rolls and books for the sake of the fun of the game for all the players. I probably felt like your player. Sure i'm ok with it. But we all know that I would RATHER have been playing the character who died. We all know that your player would have more fun playing his character.