D&D 5E Why penalize returning from death?

[Maxperson]

Again, a general foundation in a broad subject of risk v reward cartot v stick does not domehow turn into proven fact that a specific carrot and stick has impact on changing behavior of a concrete discrete and extrene result.

People on the whole tend to eat more ice cream when its hot as a truth - does not mean a heat wave drives almost all people to extremes of ice cream gorging.

Just like removal of death tax does not drive almost all players to video game resave play that they did not do before.

Your example is too narrow. Change "eat more ice cream" to "try and cool off" and you'll have a more accurate analogy. And yes, a heat wave drives almost all people to try and cool off.

 

[Maxperson]

Yeah, that sort of thing is why every DM has a smackdown hammer in her toolbox and has to be willing to occasionally use it...

We had a guy try that in one of the games we played in. When is character died, our PCs said, "We're not lawyers and nobody is going to know that he died way out here in the middle of nowhere.", and then we divided up his stuff. The player wasn't happy, but he got the point.

 

[jasper]

In 1e and 2e getting to 9th level and thus having access to Raise Dead in the field was a big deal.... Not really.
How many modules had handy clerics which could have Raise Dead in their slots. And the scrolls of Raise Dead. And the wacky Rod of Resurrection. Let see Bob pc is an elf so that 4 charge, a fighter that is 2 charges. Bob whining but I start out as human till the druid raised me as elf....
In my xp it was around 8 to 9 months of play when people started hitting 9th. Of course I did some or all of the following xp for not killing monsters, gp to xp, role playing xp, module finished xp, and occasionally Bob just go up a level. I could back then roll up and kit out a 9th cleric in 5 minutes, and a fighter in 3. Of those were cookie cutter clones characters.
So the argument of the boils down to 2 extremes.
1. Jasper should not die because of story reasons. AKA He a star of the show. See Dallas and JR
2. Death is always on the line. AKA. Jasper has asked for more money so he will NOT be returning next season. See STNG Tasha Yar. or various other shows.

 

[5ekyu]

I think the real question here is:

Whom is death a consequence for, the player or the character?

Or the other players.

"Yay, we get saddled with a furst level teammate. We would not in a million years have decided to add a first level NPC character to our group, but billy died and gm says start at first cuz it make better roleplaying choices so now we alk take a first level guy in..."

Yeah, how about the better decisiin being "no, sorry dm, we dont plan on recruiting a first level character so you send billy home cuz you know, roleplaying, consequences, etc."



Sent from my VS995 using EN World mobile app

 

[Maxperson]

Or the other players.

"Yay, we get saddled with a furst level teammate. We would not in a million years have decided to add a first level NPC character to our group, but billy died and gm says start at first cuz it make better roleplaying choices so now we alk take a first level guy in..."

Yeah, how about the better decisiin being "no, sorry dm, we dont plan on recruiting a first level character so you send billy home cuz you know, roleplaying, consequences, etc."

That's why I start new PCs out at the same level. My players wanted it to be 2 levels lower than the rest of the party, but then I pointed out how that just penalized them and they were like, "Ohhhhh!" and then agreed with me. What I don't allows is Grog the First, Grog the Second, Grog the Third, etc. and the PC inheritance bull. Not that I have to do that with my current players. They all have many different character concepts that they want to try out, so none of the new PCs are similar to the ones that die.

 

[jasper]

If you not playing Adventure League I see no problem with a player starting a x level pc. If a rule exists against in the PHB or DMG please give the page number.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[iserith]

Or the other players.

"Yay, we get saddled with a furst level teammate. We would not in a million years have decided to add a first level NPC character to our group, but billy died and gm says start at first cuz it make better roleplaying choices so now we alk take a first level guy in..."

The multiple character solution I use also addresses this because the backup character probably has a few levels under his or her belt. But even if the character is 1st level, all it means is the difficulty goes up a bit for a short time. It often plays out like the newbie adventurer being put through the ringer and coming out the other end a capable adventurer. It's honestly a lot of fun in my view to play a much lower-level adventurers among higher-level characters. It's another kind of challenge.

 

[billd91]

If you not playing Adventure League I see no problem with a player starting a x level pc. If a rule exists against in the PHB or DMG please give the page number.

I don't see a problem with it either, but some do. And I can see some of the arguments. It's hard to feel that getting to level 10 was an accomplishment when you started at level 8, compared to level 1. It's a bit like claiming you hit a triple when you actually started on second base.

 

[5ekyu]

The multiple character solution I use also addresses this because the backup character probably has a few levels under his or her belt. But even if the character is 1st level, all it means is the difficulty goes up a bit for a short time. It often plays out like the newbie adventurer being put through the ringer and coming out the other end a capable adventurer. It's honestly a lot of fun in my view to play a much lower-level adventurers among higher-level characters. It's another kind of challenge.

If its so much fun, can we assume your parties routinely pick up first level npcs to tag along? That way this picking up of a new rookie PC fits right in with how they usually do things?

Sent from my VS995 using EN World mobile app