When PCs Die When the Player's Not There

[DonTadow]

Oddly enough I had almost the same situation turn up recently in the game I run. Fortunately I have mature players that understand that sometimes bad things hppen to good people and he took it well. As it stood if the mob hadn't scored a critical hit the character would have been merely incapacitated instead of dead. I called the player up the following day and filled him in on his characters heroism (which was in character for the characters established personality) and it's unfortunate results. He took it well, and took advantage of the opportunity to create a new character.

I"m not too sure creating a new character is an opportunity. Techincally couldn't he have created a new character at anytime? I just don't think any player with any type of attachment to his hard built character would take the news so lightly. I'm curious as to if these players had working backgrounds for these characters.

 

[SweeneyTodd]

But some of the things people are posting are making me think that they operate campaign worlds where random death never happens -- when in fact it is the very meat & bones of D&D...

I have two thoughts here.

First, not everybody on the board plays D&D as their primary game. (Hey, this is the general discussion forum.)

Second, regardless of system, deadliness is a stylistic choice. So is realism. If your game's about the thrill and danger of battle and adventure, and simulating that as if it were real, then sure, you're not going to let somebody survive once it's been established in play that they took a fatal axe wound. Even playing "by the book" is a stylistic choice.

I'll use Jack Bauer from the TV show 24 as an example again. If you ran this by-the-book d20 modern, you'd get a very different feel from the show. Jack would have probably been shot dead halfway through the first season, and they'd bring in a new agent, who'd last another season or so, etc. If you wanted to simulate the feel of the show, you'd probably say instead that every time he would have died, something else happened, something that made his life worse. (Left unconscious while his family's kidnapped, his girlfriend's ex-husband taking the fatal bullet for him, etc.) There's no get-out-of-jail-free cards, there are real consequences for failure. They just don't end that character's story.

I think it's great that you have a good feel for the style you want your game to use, and having said that, you've made the right choice if it's one you're comfortable with. Often these kinds of threads are interesting because of the variety of responses you see -- it reminds us how diverse the hobby is.

 

[BOZ]

that happened to me once not long ago - suffice to say, i did not enjoy having the PC i had been playing on and off for 3 years get killed just because i had something important to do that night. the other players understood, so they did what they had to do to get the cash to pay for a resurrection.

it does happen from time to time to other people too. as i just started DMing the other week, suffice to say i feel sympathetic and if it should happen to anyone while i'm running the game, i'll do my best to facilitate a raise/resurrection/reincarnation of one sort or another.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

I would have done option 4):

4) PCs whose player is not present "fade into the background," and nothing bad happens to them in anything short of a TPK.

That's what we do. The only thing we *might* use an absent player's character for is if we need extra healing if he's a cleric...

 

[IronWolf]

that happened to me once not long ago - suffice to say, i did not enjoy having the PC i had been playing on and off for 3 years get killed just because i had something important to do that night. the other players understood, so they did what they had to do to get the cash to pay for a resurrection.

it does happen from time to time to other people too. as i just started DMing the other week, suffice to say i feel sympathetic and if it should happen to anyone while i'm running the game, i'll do my best to facilitate a raise/resurrection/reincarnation of one sort or another.

Having just had a character die while the player was out of town I have to say I agree with this. So far we have always had someone else play the character. It has been working well, the character is kept out of necessary risks (well there was the time the rogue twice tried to pry a gem out of an electified object... ) and they continue to keep pace with the rest of party.

Last night though.... One bad saving throw and 6d6 roll that totaled a 31 and the cleric goes from full HP to -14. We'll see how he takes it, but I figure resurrection or raise dead is an option (Forgotten Realms game ), so if he takes it poorly the remaining members just need to get his body to a temple and we can set things right again.

 

[babomb]

I *do* feel, in retrospect, that I could've done more to keep the PC alive.

Alternately, you killed have kiled on of the other players' characters in addition. That way, it doesn't seem as unfair.

I'm only kidding...mostly.

 

[frankthedm]

I'll use Jack Bauer from the TV show 24 as an example again....If you wanted to simulate the feel of the show, you'd probably say instead that every time he would have died, something else happened, something that made his life worse. (Left unconscious while his family's kidnapped, his girlfriend's ex-husband taking the fatal bullet for him, etc.) There's no get-out-of-jail-free cards, there are real consequences for failure. They just don't end that character's story.

I LIKE that idea a LOT. Instead of being killed, your life just gets worse.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I would just be royally ticked. And the character did NOT die due to bad luck or bad die rolls. He died because of bad decisions by the one controlling the character and the one GMing at the time. There is a world of difference there.


You had already hurt him at least once or twice, with major damage. He was down to 10 hit points or so before that last attack and you had done at least 1 attack that did 12 points of damage. You could have just as easily said he was switching to subdual damage if you had really wanted to take them prisoner.


No, they don't. Random does not equal internal cohesion. Consistant rules and rulings equal internal cohesion. Rolling out in the open like that (and stressing it so much) seems to make it sound more like you wanted to kill his character, but didn't want to take responsibility for it, and are hiding behind the dice rolls.

This about sums up my feeling about it as well. Then Ptolemy came here looking for sympathy. Up until he described the circumstances I had some. Now I am just glad that I don't play in his game. I also suspect that the 'friend' had no real motivation for keeping the character alive.

The Auld Grump

 

[Rasyr]

This about sums up my feeling about it as well. Then Ptolemy came here looking for sympathy. Up until he described the circumstances I had some. Now I am just glad that I don't play in his game. I also suspect that the 'friend' had no real motivation for keeping the character alive.

Nor does Ptolemy apparently want to allow the player to keep the character.

The possession by demon (or something else) that takes over his body while he is asleep is an excellent way to bring the character "back to life" and provide many hours of fun for both himself (thinking up the nasty things that the demon does while the character is napping).

I know that if I were GMing this situation.. The demon would be having a blast....

He would start out cautiously while the players were away from a town. Perhaps pretending to be the character when it is his turn for watch at night. If he had the watch alone, the demon would be rifling their possessions, and perhaps getting rid of small items (or stealing even) that are packed away - nothing noticible at first.

Then once they hit town, the demon would go out and hunt up some poor innocent and have them for dinner. Getting one or two in every town that they stop in. The players would hear rumors about the bizarre deaths the day after they happen, and the deaths would all have some sort of signature traits to them (like the body is shriveled and dessicated).

This would happen in every town that they stop in... Eventually the PCs would realize that something is going on, that this murderer is seemingly everyplace that they are. Perhaps following them...

Perhaps the demon even jumps from PC body to PC body while the players are sleeping...

As to how the demon got in the PC....

One of the Trogs who got killed was the current host of the demon, and realizing that his host was going to die, he jumps into the dead PC and repairs the damage, bringing back to life because it knows that the PC will eventually go to a large town where it will be able to feast on lots of ripe souls...


And to get rid of the demon, the party will first have to figure out what it is (reasearch it), and then realize that the demon is tied to some trinket that they picked up off the dead Trogs, perhaps a ring or amulet or a funny looking coin (which being jumbled in with other coins was not noticed before). They will then have to retrieve that item, and perfom some minor (and easy to accomplish ritual) to force the demon back into the item, which will cause the demon to actually manifest in a physical form so that they can put an end to it once and for all (perhaps the ritual, requiring the item that the demon had been tied to, actually forces it to manifest in physical form). Just killing the host body of the demon won't stop it, as it will jump into some other body.

I would accompany this with nightly Will Saves whenever the party goes to sleep - and just keep track of who the demon is actually in at any given time... hehe

Lots of adventure opportunity there.. plenty of fun for the GM and player both...

 

[Slife]

There was something vaguely similar in the 1e FF. It was an extraplanar being which fed upon bloodshed and attached itself to the strongest being it could find. It effectively acted as granting a +1 bonus, and it switched hosts to whatever had killed its last host. Pretty easy to remove - only took a dispel magic.

Making it a little sinister would be a logical step. It was in the Fiend Folio, after all.