Titles a bit clunky. Let's say your general game session is 4 and a half hours. The group gets into combat or perhaps a trap goes off, and a character dies. For whatever reason, the rest of the party is unable to Revivify them. Maybe they don't reach them in time, or maybe the party doesn't have Revivify. So this is going to take Raise Dead, which the party again doesn't have, either due to level or perhaps there's no Cleric. And the nearest method of raising the character is further away than the party can reach in the same session. Even worse, this occurs with 2 hours or more to go. How do you deal with this?
Personally I've been in a group where whenever your character wasn't present, you got kicked out of the room. I highly recommend against this. It leads to distrust, resentment, and absolute boredom. I personally as a DM don't want to inflict that on any of my players. So, just kicking the player out of the house or off the Discord call is not going to happen. The player may leave on their own, but that would then make me feel bad and perhaps guilty, and I shouldn't feel that way because it's a game where the stakes of life and death should be present to make it more exciting. Sometimes there may be an NPC present that I can give control of to the player and that is usually a big help. But a lot of the time that isn't the case as a party that requires NPCs of combat ability can't feel that same level of accomplishment.
So I'm just quizzing people here on how they handle this sort of thing, for better or worse. Along with how long you might have it be before the player can get raised or introduce their new character. Just curious on others experiences and solutions.
I agree that removing the player isn't always an apropriate or optimal choice. One of my players is the father of another of my players, they travel together, kicking one or the other out wouldn't be an appropriate solution to this issue, as niche as this is. As it happens, the son has lost a couple characters. When that happens, he gets to decide if he wants to start rolling dice right there, or pilot the one sidekick that the party has until the party can effect his return from the underworld. The party also has a scroll of Raise Dead, intentionally to be used in this very situation. We may have lost a dwarf or two at one point.
Maybe consider being prepared to drop in a magic item or two, or a place where you might meet up with the new party member. Dungeon crawls are arguably easier to do this with, as there may be a prisoner. Wilderness environments might have a wagon or caravan that was attacked, or is being attacked with the new PC fending for themselves. Cities always have someone in a pub, or running down an alley somwhere. I intend to get the player back into the game within 30 minutes of them falling off the horse, so to speak. Regardless of what in game form they take, I want the player to be playing.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Our group have never sent a player out of the room when their character dies.
Unless the party is high enough or can afford the raise dead then usually it is a case of starting a new character (the party find a prisoner, etc.).
If the party are determined to bring them back, then the player can sit watching, perhaps helping to play some monsters in encounters, but presumably the party would be keen to get the body back to somewhere safe before too long in order to get them back on their feet.
I fully agree with no kicking a player out. In my experience when a player of mine dies, and no res is going to happen, I let them start on a new character and work them in when I can. If the player isn't in the mood I often let them roll for or play the monsters to finish that session. I've also had them just kick back and watch, and enjoy the rest of the session.
If this happens and a player really loves his character I have also decided some God or powerful being gets involved and if the player is willing to strike a deal he comes back from the dead.
If it seems like their character is perma-dead, I'd just have them start rolling their new character there at the table with us, no reason they can't still hang out with us. I get there's a metagaming argument to be made, but the player already has so much out of character knowledge from their previous character that a little more won't hurt.
If the character is being brought back, I don't see why the other characters wouldn't fill them in on everything that happened after they died either, so no reason they can't stick around and maybe roll for the monsters or something and just hang out till then.
Sending someone out of the room when they die sounds un-fun to me.
Another vote against sending them away from the table.
My groups are a big outlier because we are not the normal D&D group as we are usually a small group (1 or 2 players) playing more than one character at a time. So one character dying doesn't always leave someone without something to do. Adding to that my games usually start at level 5 so it's a once in a very long while we lose a character unless it's in an impactful scene, and my players are very good about keeping their revives on hand.
I do like the sidekick/monster suggestions though, and barring those finding a prisoner (new character). Even if the prisoner character is only until they get their old character back.
I've had this happen. Two clerics in the party, one decided not to prepare Revivify because the other had it, and the cleric with Revivify got killed. In the middle of a dungeon. There was no way we would get through the dungeon and take a long rest in the same session, so the dead cleric's player became a spectator and helped me run some of the monsters. He also decided this was a great opportunity to play a new character, so he started that build while he was waiting.
I've also been that sidelined player. Lost my fighter at level 3 in an explosion and there was no Revivify or Raise Dead option. So I just watched as things progressed, cheered on my companions out-of-character, rolled up a druid, and waited until my DM introduced me.
In all my games, however, everyone at the table loves roleplay. So even if we can't be in the scene, we're deeply invested in what's happening and we don't mind waiting until we can rejoin the fun.
For those against just kicking players out of the room, thank you. The group that had that in place had some really clever worlds and DMing, but that house rule or whatever just killed the experience for me. It-s good to know a lot of people agree with my feeling there.
Agreed on making people leave the room. I can't see that ever being called for unless the people in that game were refusing to separate player knowledge from character knowledge, and even then I think there are more productive ways to deal with that behavior.
On character death: a lot of this depends on the player's attachment to their character concept; some players will be content to let a fallen character rest in peace even if they know the DM is amenable to working something out, while others will just turn around and build a carbon copy of their fallen character if no way back from death is possible.
Ultimately, I'd say this is another "know your players" situation. Talk about character death before it happens in game. Know which players would be happy to try out something else and which players might cry when their character fails the final death save. Take some time to think about and talk about solutions that work for both you and your players.
So, I would answer that this is why every player should have one single back up character should their main ever die. That way you can prep a way to bring the new character into the story. Maybe the players find them chained, or bound to a part of the dungeon. Maybe they've been caught in a rope trap. There are options obviously.
The other option I like to give is that the player whose character died, gets to act as the enemy NPCs. So, if there is an encounter coming up or standing in the way of the party GTFO with the character's body let that player take control of some of the monsters the party will have to fight. I've seen this work real well before. A PC died and a horde of Goblins are on their way the player's eyes lit up when after the party had the moment to console their fellow player I handed them six monster stat blocks and said, welcome to 'the other party'. The came and sat next to me and rolled the hits and damage of the enemies. Got to utilise the abilities even of the villain who was commanding the Goblins (a Goliath Barbarian). It's a nice change of pace and certainly if the player isn't ready to take on a new character yet is a brilliant way of keeping them at the table.
Most of the time though, you will want to try and encourage your players to get out and get their comrade's body back to safety to be buried etc. There's a lot of talk that's happened before about character funerals which can be good catharsis for players. Try to encourage that though. Try to encourage getting the players to move their characters out in retreat.
Also, don't feel bad calling the session to a close. Sometimes, keeping the game going is the wrong call. At the very least it's the perfect place to call a break and assess the situation for yourself. What's the best course of action here?
Also, don't feel bad calling the session to a close. Sometimes, keeping the game going is the wrong call. At the very least it's the perfect place to call a break and assess the situation for yourself. What's the best course of action here?
I think this has a lot of merit in the right situation. Obviously not if your group is the type to get upset that their session got cut short, but if the death is a really big moment and everyone is emotional (or heated) it might be the right play.
Also, don't feel bad calling the session to a close. Sometimes, keeping the game going is the wrong call. At the very least it's the perfect place to call a break and assess the situation for yourself. What's the best course of action here?
I think this has a lot of merit in the right situation. Obviously not if your group is the type to get upset that their session got cut short, but if the death is a really big moment and everyone is emotional (or heated) it might be the right play.
If you are DMing a group like that, I'd suggest insisting that they have secondary characters as back-ups.
I would also suggest a one-shot. Have a half-session length one-shot in your back pocket at all times complete with prerolled character sheets. That way you can give the main campaign a rest and they still get a game.
Of course it's also worth asking the players....what would they want to have happen in the event of PC death?
Sending a player away is punishing the player for a character death, which feels doubly bad to losing the character.
Have them start rolling a new character if they want to stay, and usually, I engage the player in an afterlife scene so that they get one final moment of agency before we say goodbye.
I would also suggest a one-shot. Have a half-session length one-shot in your back pocket at all times complete with prerolled character sheets. That way you can give the main campaign a rest and they still get a game.
Really starting to love the way you think lol
I don't know that my regular group would be big on the idea, but it is a good one.
If you make a player go into solitary confinement for the crime of having their PC die then you are just kind of a d**K.
Have the player start making a new PC, you could even take a break after the combat and give them a few places that might be coming up where a new PC would join to think about how to work that into their story.
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Titles a bit clunky. Let's say your general game session is 4 and a half hours. The group gets into combat or perhaps a trap goes off, and a character dies. For whatever reason, the rest of the party is unable to Revivify them. Maybe they don't reach them in time, or maybe the party doesn't have Revivify. So this is going to take Raise Dead, which the party again doesn't have, either due to level or perhaps there's no Cleric. And the nearest method of raising the character is further away than the party can reach in the same session. Even worse, this occurs with 2 hours or more to go. How do you deal with this?
Personally I've been in a group where whenever your character wasn't present, you got kicked out of the room. I highly recommend against this. It leads to distrust, resentment, and absolute boredom. I personally as a DM don't want to inflict that on any of my players. So, just kicking the player out of the house or off the Discord call is not going to happen. The player may leave on their own, but that would then make me feel bad and perhaps guilty, and I shouldn't feel that way because it's a game where the stakes of life and death should be present to make it more exciting. Sometimes there may be an NPC present that I can give control of to the player and that is usually a big help. But a lot of the time that isn't the case as a party that requires NPCs of combat ability can't feel that same level of accomplishment.
So I'm just quizzing people here on how they handle this sort of thing, for better or worse. Along with how long you might have it be before the player can get raised or introduce their new character. Just curious on others experiences and solutions.
I agree that removing the player isn't always an apropriate or optimal choice. One of my players is the father of another of my players, they travel together, kicking one or the other out wouldn't be an appropriate solution to this issue, as niche as this is. As it happens, the son has lost a couple characters. When that happens, he gets to decide if he wants to start rolling dice right there, or pilot the one sidekick that the party has until the party can effect his return from the underworld. The party also has a scroll of Raise Dead, intentionally to be used in this very situation. We may have lost a dwarf or two at one point.
Maybe consider being prepared to drop in a magic item or two, or a place where you might meet up with the new party member. Dungeon crawls are arguably easier to do this with, as there may be a prisoner. Wilderness environments might have a wagon or caravan that was attacked, or is being attacked with the new PC fending for themselves. Cities always have someone in a pub, or running down an alley somwhere. I intend to get the player back into the game within 30 minutes of them falling off the horse, so to speak. Regardless of what in game form they take, I want the player to be playing.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Our group have never sent a player out of the room when their character dies.
Unless the party is high enough or can afford the raise dead then usually it is a case of starting a new character (the party find a prisoner, etc.).
If the party are determined to bring them back, then the player can sit watching, perhaps helping to play some monsters in encounters, but presumably the party would be keen to get the body back to somewhere safe before too long in order to get them back on their feet.
I fully agree with no kicking a player out. In my experience when a player of mine dies, and no res is going to happen, I let them start on a new character and work them in when I can. If the player isn't in the mood I often let them roll for or play the monsters to finish that session. I've also had them just kick back and watch, and enjoy the rest of the session.
If this happens and a player really loves his character I have also decided some God or powerful being gets involved and if the player is willing to strike a deal he comes back from the dead.
If it seems like their character is perma-dead, I'd just have them start rolling their new character there at the table with us, no reason they can't still hang out with us. I get there's a metagaming argument to be made, but the player already has so much out of character knowledge from their previous character that a little more won't hurt.
If the character is being brought back, I don't see why the other characters wouldn't fill them in on everything that happened after they died either, so no reason they can't stick around and maybe roll for the monsters or something and just hang out till then.
Sending someone out of the room when they die sounds un-fun to me.
Another vote against sending them away from the table.
My groups are a big outlier because we are not the normal D&D group as we are usually a small group (1 or 2 players) playing more than one character at a time. So one character dying doesn't always leave someone without something to do. Adding to that my games usually start at level 5 so it's a once in a very long while we lose a character unless it's in an impactful scene, and my players are very good about keeping their revives on hand.
I do like the sidekick/monster suggestions though, and barring those finding a prisoner (new character). Even if the prisoner character is only until they get their old character back.
I've had this happen. Two clerics in the party, one decided not to prepare Revivify because the other had it, and the cleric with Revivify got killed. In the middle of a dungeon. There was no way we would get through the dungeon and take a long rest in the same session, so the dead cleric's player became a spectator and helped me run some of the monsters. He also decided this was a great opportunity to play a new character, so he started that build while he was waiting.
I've also been that sidelined player. Lost my fighter at level 3 in an explosion and there was no Revivify or Raise Dead option. So I just watched as things progressed, cheered on my companions out-of-character, rolled up a druid, and waited until my DM introduced me.
In all my games, however, everyone at the table loves roleplay. So even if we can't be in the scene, we're deeply invested in what's happening and we don't mind waiting until we can rejoin the fun.
For those against just kicking players out of the room, thank you. The group that had that in place had some really clever worlds and DMing, but that house rule or whatever just killed the experience for me. It-s good to know a lot of people agree with my feeling there.
Agreed on making people leave the room. I can't see that ever being called for unless the people in that game were refusing to separate player knowledge from character knowledge, and even then I think there are more productive ways to deal with that behavior.
On character death: a lot of this depends on the player's attachment to their character concept; some players will be content to let a fallen character rest in peace even if they know the DM is amenable to working something out, while others will just turn around and build a carbon copy of their fallen character if no way back from death is possible.
Ultimately, I'd say this is another "know your players" situation. Talk about character death before it happens in game. Know which players would be happy to try out something else and which players might cry when their character fails the final death save. Take some time to think about and talk about solutions that work for both you and your players.
So, I would answer that this is why every player should have one single back up character should their main ever die. That way you can prep a way to bring the new character into the story. Maybe the players find them chained, or bound to a part of the dungeon. Maybe they've been caught in a rope trap. There are options obviously.
The other option I like to give is that the player whose character died, gets to act as the enemy NPCs. So, if there is an encounter coming up or standing in the way of the party GTFO with the character's body let that player take control of some of the monsters the party will have to fight. I've seen this work real well before. A PC died and a horde of Goblins are on their way the player's eyes lit up when after the party had the moment to console their fellow player I handed them six monster stat blocks and said, welcome to 'the other party'. The came and sat next to me and rolled the hits and damage of the enemies. Got to utilise the abilities even of the villain who was commanding the Goblins (a Goliath Barbarian). It's a nice change of pace and certainly if the player isn't ready to take on a new character yet is a brilliant way of keeping them at the table.
Most of the time though, you will want to try and encourage your players to get out and get their comrade's body back to safety to be buried etc. There's a lot of talk that's happened before about character funerals which can be good catharsis for players. Try to encourage that though. Try to encourage getting the players to move their characters out in retreat.
Also, don't feel bad calling the session to a close. Sometimes, keeping the game going is the wrong call. At the very least it's the perfect place to call a break and assess the situation for yourself. What's the best course of action here?
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
I think this has a lot of merit in the right situation. Obviously not if your group is the type to get upset that their session got cut short, but if the death is a really big moment and everyone is emotional (or heated) it might be the right play.
If you are DMing a group like that, I'd suggest insisting that they have secondary characters as back-ups.
I would also suggest a one-shot. Have a half-session length one-shot in your back pocket at all times complete with prerolled character sheets. That way you can give the main campaign a rest and they still get a game.
Of course it's also worth asking the players....what would they want to have happen in the event of PC death?
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
Sending a player away is punishing the player for a character death, which feels doubly bad to losing the character.
Have them start rolling a new character if they want to stay, and usually, I engage the player in an afterlife scene so that they get one final moment of agency before we say goodbye.
Really starting to love the way you think lol
I don't know that my regular group would be big on the idea, but it is a good one.
If you make a player go into solitary confinement for the crime of having their PC die then you are just kind of a d**K.
Have the player start making a new PC, you could even take a break after the combat and give them a few places that might be coming up where a new PC would join to think about how to work that into their story.