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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ptolemy18" data-source="post: 2355772" data-attributes="member: 24970">You're right that I could've asked the guy who was playing the PC "Maybe you should retreat further...." That could've helped save him. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /> (It's not that he only had TIME to  take a 5-foot step away, that's what he CHOSE to do. Obviously not used to playing archers...) So I was remiss in not suggesting better tactics.As for fading the PC into the background, the night's session literally picked up in the middle of a fight. If the PC had just vanished, the other PCs would have been at a tactical disadvantage. He had to be there to fight.I'm also surprised at how many people have campaigns where they feel it's appropriate for 4th-level PCs to be spontaneously raised from the dead for no apparent reason. :/ In my campaign world, being raised & resurrected is rare.I must say that, as a player, I would be pissed off too if my PC died when I wasn't there. But I would understand it. For the credibility of the game, the players need to feel that their PCs can *ALWAYS* die due to bad luck and bad die rolls. No one is safe -- not PCs, not NPCs. I don't mind playing under this system, either -- it gives me a better feeling of accomplishment when I live.Campaigns where you know you're not going to die, or the DM is going to obviously pull your fate out of the fire, are boring campaigns. When I'm a player in a game, I *like* to know that it's possible for me to die if I'm unlucky or make a bad move. (I'm sure there's people who would disagree with this statement and prefer to roleplay in the "inevitable path towards greater and greater success and glory" style.)I was GONNA have the troglodytes take people prisoner instead of killing them, if they won! But even the TROGLODYTE didn't know that he was going to kill the archer with one blow! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />For the internal cohesion of the game world, some random factors have to be out of even the DM's control. Some things have to be just random. That's why I rolled out in the open -- so even I couldn't be accused of playing favorites.Anyway, now I feel like I'm just justifying myself... I *do* feel, in retrospect, that I could've done more to keep the PC alive. 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... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Jason</blockquote>

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