your penalty for character death

[Quickleaf]

What is not so cool is that the DM brings in my replacement character (with no access to raise dead due to a stingy party) at a level and a half lower than the lowest level character (whose player misses 50% of the sessions) and with less gear.

A question for your DM: if your PC were to die again would your next PC then be 3 levels below the rest of the party?

A question for you: what became of your dead PC's gear?

A question for your fellow players: why won't they res your PC?

Now my character has come in with no background or connection to the campaign and is the weakest party member.

Wait...what? The first part of your sentence has no connection to the second part. Why does your new PC have no background or connection to the campaign?

How would you handle it?

It seems like you are the group's main immersive player and enjoy playing heroic characters, whereas most of the other players are more hack n smashers and tend toward a mercenary play style.

Do I have that right?

If so, then that is a different issue than your DM's harsh 1.5 level penalty. You can always ask the DM and group to adopt a different raise dead policy, one without harsh penalties. However, getting an entrenched group to change play styles, IME that's a losing uphill battle.

YMMV.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

Yeah, I'd be miffed, and I'd tell the DM so. Politely. If he doesn't seem to care, I'd either go the revenge character route or just say "Let me know when resurrection becomes an option, and maybe I'll come back to play."

As for how I rule PC death? I make resurrection easy to come by, even if the PCs don't have that ritual. In 4e, resurrected PCs get a minor penalty that evaporates after a few encounters, and that's good enough for me.

 

[Retreater]

Dead PC's gear went to the surviving characters (cleric and wizard). There would not have been enough to sell to pay 7000 gp for raise dead and restoration (to restore negative levels). They (rightly) were unwilling to sell off their own equipment to pay for it.

I have no background or connection because I was persuaded to make a new character in 10 minutes so play could resume. I'm the weakest because I have the least XP and gear.

Unfairly enough the party did have one raise dead scroll and gave it to the barbarian because the adult player threw a tantram. He then decided to bring in a different character anyway. The DM let him come in at full XP and gear (partially due to the whining) but also because there was some penalty for his character's death. (It seems my penalty is a little harsher.)

 

[Kzach]

Whenever a player let's myself and the group down I, as a responsible DM, sit the person in the corner, facing the wall, and deny them access to the Doritos and Mountain Dew for the rest of the session.

 

[Oryan77]

The DM let him come in at full XP and gear (partially due to the whining)

There's your answer. All you need to do is whine and cry about it. I'd even show up at the next game in adult diapers with nothing else on. Hold a giant sucker in your hand to make it dramatic. Once you start whining, the DM is surely to cave in to you. Especially since you did it better than the other guy.

It sounds kinda odd that the players wouldn't even make an attempt to get you raised. Wouldn't even give up a few magic items to get it done? Real tight adventuring group you guys have haha. I've given up entire adventure rewards just to have a fellow PC brought back to life. Wait, maybe their PCs just didn't like yours?

 

[Quickleaf]

Dead PC's gear went to the surviving characters (cleric and wizard). There would not have been enough to sell to pay 7000 gp for raise dead and restoration (to restore negative levels). They (rightly) were unwilling to sell off their own equipment to pay for it.

Was this your group's policy with PC death? That to the survivors go the spoils? I could easily see turning over the dead PC's magic items to the new PC to make up for whatever magic item penalty your DM seems to be imposing.

I have no background or connection because I was persuaded to make a new character in 10 minutes so play could resume.

So come up with something that connects your new PC to the campaign? If you're just soured cause of the situation, ok that's one thing. But making a PC last minute hasn't stopped me from tying the character to the story in the past. Since you invest in your characters thus should be easy for you, especially if there's an entire campaign's worth of lore to draw from.

Unfairly enough the party did have one raise dead scroll and gave it to the barbarian because the adult player threw a tantram. He then decided to bring in a different character anyway. The DM let him come in at full XP and gear (partially due to the whining) but also because there was some penalty for his character's death. (It seems my penalty is a little harsher.)

So the barbarian also died and had planned to use the res scroll, however the player decided to start a new PC instead. This new PC took no XP or gear penalty for some reason, perhaps because the DM assigned some different penalty than docking levels/gear (which he imposed on your replacement PC).

Is the res scroll is still available for your PC to be raised?

Oh, next time you game you might want to bring up the group's social contract around dead/replacement PCs (and retraining while you're at it).

 

[delericho]

I've been playing the game long enough to know this can and does happen. This is the way the dice fell, and I'm fine with it. What is not so cool is that the DM brings in my replacement character (with no access to raise dead due to a stingy party) at a level and a half lower than the lowest level character (whose player misses 50% of the sessions) and with less gear.

Am I right to be a little miffed at this?

Not really. Ideally, you should have discussed the question of character death ahead of time. Assuming yuo have not, speak to your DM, state that you're not happy, and ask him to change his mind. But, ultimately, it's his call.

How would you handle it?

In 3e: I give all PCs the same XP, whether the player is there or not. In fact, whether the character is there or not. I don't believe in penalties for missing sessions. So, all the PCs in my game are at the same level, unless they've spent XP on magic items, spells, or lost it to undead.

New players join the group with a character at the same XP total as everyone else, and equipment per the wealth-by-level tables.

PCs brought in to replace dead PCs start as though a raise dead spell was cast - one level lower than the old PC, and with equipment as per wealth-by-level. However, at high levels, the player can opt to sacrifice starting funds equivalent to the cost of a true resurrection spell to avoid that one-level penalty.

For most games: In games where there is no concept of losing/spending XP, all characters will have the same level/XP total. New PCs therefore enter the game at the same level as everyone else.

 

[Jhaelen]

Well, our group is experienced enough to always make the penalties known before we start playing. In the last two campaign we also had replacement characters ready at all times.

In 3e and 4e the penalties were equivalent to the penalties for having been resurrected, i.e.
in 3e xp were reset to the mid-point of the previous level and in 4e you get a -1 penalty for a couple of milestones.

The DM let him come in at full XP and gear (partially due to the whining) but also because there was some penalty for his character's death. (It seems my penalty is a little harsher.)

That might indeed be a reason to be miffed. Everyone should be treated equally. But it's somewhat difficult to tell withou knowing more about your group and your DM.

 

[S'mon]

Now my character has come in with no background or connection to the campaign and is the weakest party member.

Am I right to be a little miffed at this? How would you handle it?

Well, as a player I get to choose my PC background, right? So I might make him a relative of my heroically deceased PC. Perhaps in your situation I'd make him a fan of the heroically deceased PC, and bug the other PCs by asking questions about his heroic exploits, constantly asking "What would Borg (dead PC's name) do in this situation?" and suchlike.

As DM, depending on the campaign, for 4e I typically bring in new PCs 1 level below the highest level current PC. Otherwise I have all PCs on the same level & XP total, and start new PCs at that level. In some 4e campaigns I award double XP to the lower level PCs so they quickly catch up.

Back in 1e I started new PCs at half the XP of the dead PC; this usually meant starting 1 level lower. Losing 1 level also works in 3e, as long as you keep all PCs within 2 levels, a 3-level range such as 10th-12th.

 

[S'mon]

Dead PC's gear went to the surviving characters (cleric and wizard). There would not have been enough to sell to pay 7000 gp for raise dead and restoration (to restore negative levels). They (rightly) were unwilling to sell off their own equipment to pay for it.

I have no background or connection because I was persuaded to make a new character in 10 minutes so play could resume. I'm the weakest because I have the least XP and gear.

Unfairly enough the party did have one raise dead scroll and gave it to the barbarian because the adult player threw a tantram. He then decided to bring in a different character anyway. The DM let him come in at full XP and gear (partially due to the whining) but also because there was some penalty for his character's death. (It seems my penalty is a little harsher.)

??? Sounds like you need to man up and throw a whiny tantrum of your own, then!