When PCs Die When the Player's Not There

[Thanee]

As for finishing a running combat, we had to end a session a few times in the past, when combat was still on, which is a bit annoying, but not that bad, if you write up all the important bits.

I also had to leave in the middle of a fight already, where my character was still quite important for the outcome (sorceress providing "missile support")... since my character was out of reach of the baddies by then, the others just continued the combat and had my sorceress cast spells from the back staying securely out of reach for the last couple rounds. She didn't do any fancy stuff, just cast some magic missiles then.

Bye
Thanee

 

[JoeGKushner]

I hate characters disappearing in the middle of an adventure because the player can't make it.

If the player wants a specific person to control his character, or if he wants the character to jump out at an appropriate moment, I can handle both those requests. Characters never just disappear though and sometimes must face terrible consequences.

If the character died while he wasnt' there and it wasn't his fault (couldn't find a good place to stop adventuring for example), I'd probably allow some method to raise the character wit ha few plot lines that would result in "How did he come back?"

 

[BlackSilver]

I collect all the PCs at the end of the session, including gear sheets. Everyone has a back up Player that plays their characters if they can’t show the next weekend. Should a PC die under someone else’s control then that person’s character takes a 25% hit on xps. Its kind of harsh, but it keeps the characters from getting stupid when their Players aren’t around. Also there is no level lose when the dead PC is raised, so the only one that loses is the person that got the character killed.

We have had very few deaths in the last few years so that is something.

 

[jasper]

I've a question for all the group siding with the "if the player isn't there, then the character wanders off." What do you do if it's not feasible in the story?
What is this story? This is a game.



Rasyr…
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, (see below) and the one GMing at the time. … (below me letting some play my pc when I not there) you forgot one decision there rasyr.

Imc the player has choice of the pc disappearing if he is no show. Or allowing another player to run it. Whether choice a. or b. the player has to deal with results, no xp , no magic, or death. Some players choose disappear, some choose death, some chose a proxy. But all my players are mature enough to stick with their choice.

 

[Li Shenron]

(1) Would you have done pretty much as I did?

No. I would not allow an absent player's PC to die.

Usually I would not allow someone to play someone else's PC at all, but if I allowed that for some reason, I would make it clear to everyone that the PC can drop unconscious at most (or even worst, as long as he is recoverable), but not dead.

(2) Would you have assured that the troglodytes *always* preferentially attacked *anyone but* that character, instead of leaving it even partly up to chance, like I did?
(3) Would you have rolled the dice secretly and fudged it? (Instead of rolling out in the open in front of everyone for extra drama, like I did?) (This would be my last choice, since I hate fudging the dice.)

With the above insurance there would be no need to "metagame" the monsters and to not attack the PC or fudge the rolls.

The guy's friend feels a little bad for controlling his friend's PC while he died (he could've run screaming on the previous round, or at least taken more than a 5-foot step), but since I'm the DM I am obviously ultimately to blame. Should I feel guilty?

Well, don't feel guily, just revive the dead PC . After all, it's the friend who played the PC so it should be HIS PC to die (or have whatever cost may be appropriate).

 

[DonTadow]

I've a question for all the group siding with the "if the player isn't there, then the character wanders off." What do you do if it's not feasible in the story?
What is this story? This is a game.



Rasyr…
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, (see below) and the one GMing at the time. … (below me letting some play my pc when I not there) you forgot one decision there rasyr.

Imc the player has choice of the pc disappearing if he is no show. Or allowing another player to run it. Whether choice a. or b. the player has to deal with results, no xp , no magic, or death. Some players choose disappear, some choose death, some chose a proxy. But all my players are mature enough to stick with their choice.

In a game about two months ago I had two players leave suddenly for two sessions (violent sudden sickness). We were already well into the dungeon and them "leaving" was not an option, thus they faded into the background. It was explained in the summary that both had ate some "bad" rations and were suffering from a bad sickness. During the fights they faded into the background. I then rescaled the encounters for the remaining party members.

I don't see what the problem is for a DM to simply fade characters into the background or write them away and then just scale any encounters with the remaining party members. It seems better than risking a character's death for not being there. It feels like the whole "Fun" part of the game is lost allowing an absent player's character to die for the sake of keeping the "realism " of the game. There are a lot of things unrealistic about dungeons and dragons, why would I start adding realism there.

 

[ARandomGod]

I'm glad he took it well. And I hope that he rolls well on the reincarnation/gains some nice bonus XP for his unusual playstyle (to make up for the XP penalty for being raised).

I agree with people who say they think he was hosed. His character really didn't die, because he wasn't there.

I usually play (and prefer) the "fade out" style. You can go to the faded cleric after the fight for healing, but not in combat. The mage can use his utility spells outside of combat, but isn't there otherwise, etcetera.

Some people like to apply an XP penalty for this type of immortality. Some don't. I see both schools of thought and I think that it depends largely on the age of the player (and I know that "age" is somewhat discriminatory, so feel free to think 'psychology). Younger players typically have more time, and are less 'invested' in the game, meaning they're giving up less. Such players respond well to an XP penalty for not being there. It gives them an incentive to show up at the games regularly. Older players are generally already expending a lot of their resources to show up at games, and are more likely to have serious reasons why they can't show up. That type of player is more likely to respond negatively to an XP penatly. They've already been penalized by not being able to show up, why are you punishing them further? Plus, as I said, gaming represents a greater amount of 'free time' resources to the older player, and if he starts getting less powerful for something he can't control (gets behind due to unavoidably missing a few sessions), he's likely to find that he could be spending his free time to better effect elsewhere. In my games I not only have them fade out and get full XP, but I also have a set amount of bonus XP they get for missing that session. Presumably it's for something memorable their character did off screen. (I give about 70% of what a character *could* earn regularly in bonus XP, because I also give bonus XP to players for playstyle. This generally works out to more than a player gets on average).

Plus there's the additional philosophy that if you can bribe someone to stay home with extra XP, I don't want them to show up anyway. He's making the game a better place by not being there!

 

[ARandomGod]

DonTow (last post first page) has what I personally consider an example of the best way to handle the situation. The player is somehow resurrected. Something interesting happened. Possibly partially unexplained. The GM can throw in interesting plot hooks, or give a made up "template" which can range from an innate magic item type effect to something horrific/wonderful or whatever. Add in plot hooks to the effect, and make it into a real 'fantasy' story.

Personally I don't care much for the bland ressurection/reincarnation/true resurrection spells. If a player comes back I like it to be interesting and have a story attached. A story other than "you lose a lot of money and come back less powerful".

Anyhow, you handled it pretty well. Sure, you probably should have done it a little differently, but you made the dramatic roll in front of the other players, the character died... he's dead. Now as long as you make it up to him somehow later it's all good. I do think that as a GM you owe him a little something to make up for this. And if he were being played he almost certainly should have been shooting arrows from far behind anyone else.

Actually, although it's harder, for people who want all PC's to be played, it's best if the GM plays the PC's. After all, he has a sort of 'omniscience' about what really might hurt the player and what isn't really going to. Sure, have the PC open his share of doors, but only those that the GM wants him to. Have him in the front lines some of the time. Noteably those times when the opposition looks harder than it actually is...

 

[ARandomGod]

I've a question for all the group siding with the "if the player isn't there, then the character wanders off." What do you do if it's not feasible in the story?
What is this story? This is a game.

Dwarves. You can always use dwarves. The player without a character falls down an unsuspected hole (excellent dwarven manufacture pit trap), which closes after he falls through. The PC's spend some time trying to reopen the portal, they succeed in time to see the playerless PC bound and gagged being drug into a box, the dwarves and the box disappear, via some spell perhaps DDoor or teleport.

Next game the players find a box. Inside is the character, tied gagged and bound. If asked what happened the character must make a will save DC 25 or become shaken for 2d4+1 rounds, this effect fades after two hours. However the character will never speak of what happened during the time he was away.

You can invent other variations of this theme as required. Of course, you can't do it "often" (unless you always do it to one character... heheheh).

 

[sjmiller]

I am, to say the least, completely agast at the number of DMs here who would kill off an absent player's character! In 25 years of gaming I have never been in a gaming group where this would be tolerated, or even contemplated! I know that if such a thing happened to my character that would be the last time I played with that group. Gaming is, after all, supposed to be fun. That does not sound like fun in the least.

In my current campaign we have some specific rules on attendance and your character. First off, we only game from October to the end of May. The rest of the year is too busy. That being the case, we set up a schedule well in advance, so that all gaming sessions are known and can be scheduled. We only play every other week. This is due to various players wanting to spend time with their children, an activity I hartily encourage. This generally means that attendance is quite high at our games.

If you are not able to to attend a game it is not the end of the world. The player can, if they choose, have their character perform backup duties, generally being "off screen" but with the party. Nothing bad will happen to their character during this time. They can give me acopy of their character and I will run it with the assistance of either another player, or our observer (wife of a player who comes over for the company and the food). Even then, I will not allow the character to die if the player is not there.

If the player decides to not have their character run by someone else, I give them the option of a "make-up" session. This has happened three times so far. For one character, it happened when the party encountered a major magical storm. The character was swept off by the storm, experiencing some very "Alice in Wonderland" encounters, and learned some things about himself and about the grand quest they were starting. His encounters were such that he got the same amount of experience each of the players got that game session. The other two times they players experienced a "dreamlands" encounter, learning about themselves and thier quest, and again earning the experience of those who were there.

I am completely shocked that a Dm would even contemplate killing an absent player's character. Imagine how you would feel if, due to family or work reasons, you could not make it to a game session, only to discover that your character died while you were gone. If it were me I would not only be upset, I would demand an explanation.