I want to know how people handle character death, especially during the middle of a session. For me, if I know that people could die, I keep spare character sheets for everyone, like when I introduced the deck of many more things. One of them drew the void card (although the one shot was drawing to an end) and I had a spare for him. But sadly, for the context they where in the house of cards dungeon in the book of many things, and he couldn't be saved since one of my players took his soul and ran away. But anyways to the point, how do you handle a character's death?
Long story short, I don't. I haven't killed a character in .. maybe 20 years or more. But I've made plans. I have this whole thing about how a character can fight his or her way back from death. This replaces death saves btw, so the character doesn't really die.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Just roll up a new character? In games I play/dm in it’s not too big a deal. Well, it can be for other characters who may rp their feelings about it, but for the players, we just make a new one. Most folks who’ve been playing for any length of time have a couple dozen character concepts floating around in their head, they just make one of those, then they and the DM contrive an excuse for why the new person is there.
Our table has modified the way we calculate character death. We use 2 x character level plus con bonus below zero hit points = death (no saves). Makes it more exciting as there is a real possibility of characters dying. We tend to have a character death every 2-3 game sessions. DM gives out several ways to bring them back from dead (scrolls, spell, local high level cleric) but they do suffer penalties when raised. It is always player choice to bring back the character or make a new one regardless of the spell. Narrative is something like "Character you see your long dead relatives and friends waiting across the bridge waving to you. Then you feel a tug pulling you back to your old life. Do you cross the bridge or return to your current life?"
Look, it sucks to have a dead character. We can all agree on that. But if a character dies, I let them die. I might give the other characters options after death, but if the character wants to be dead, the character is dead. (That's why it sucks to be a lawful wizard with high wisdom who has made peace with death!)
I can handle PC death in many different ways during the session, depending on many factors;
Can it be revived?
Is there an NPC or absent PC that can be played meanwhile?
Is making another character desired?
Is introducing a new PC possible?
Is the player want to stay or leave before the end?
As much as i hate to make a player sit out during a session, depending where the party is, what the player want to do, it can go many ways but at the very base, a PC is dead story-wise until something changes that.
I want to know how people handle character death, especially during the middle of a session. For me, if I know that people could die, I keep spare character sheets for everyone, like when I introduced the deck of many more things. One of them drew the void card (although the one shot was drawing to an end) and I had a spare for him. But sadly, for the context they where in the house of cards dungeon in the book of many things, and he couldn't be saved since one of my players took his soul and ran away. But anyways to the point, how do you handle a character's death?
X.R. Balzan.
Long story short, I don't. I haven't killed a character in .. maybe 20 years or more. But I've made plans. I have this whole thing about how a character can fight his or her way back from death. This replaces death saves btw, so the character doesn't really die.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Probably badly.
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Just roll up a new character? In games I play/dm in it’s not too big a deal. Well, it can be for other characters who may rp their feelings about it, but for the players, we just make a new one.
Most folks who’ve been playing for any length of time have a couple dozen character concepts floating around in their head, they just make one of those, then they and the DM contrive an excuse for why the new person is there.
Our table has modified the way we calculate character death. We use 2 x character level plus con bonus below zero hit points = death (no saves). Makes it more exciting as there is a real possibility of characters dying. We tend to have a character death every 2-3 game sessions. DM gives out several ways to bring them back from dead (scrolls, spell, local high level cleric) but they do suffer penalties when raised. It is always player choice to bring back the character or make a new one regardless of the spell. Narrative is something like "Character you see your long dead relatives and friends waiting across the bridge waving to you. Then you feel a tug pulling you back to your old life. Do you cross the bridge or return to your current life?"
Look, it sucks to have a dead character. We can all agree on that. But if a character dies, I let them die. I might give the other characters options after death, but if the character wants to be dead, the character is dead. (That's why it sucks to be a lawful wizard with high wisdom who has made peace with death!)
I can handle PC death in many different ways during the session, depending on many factors;
Can it be revived?
Is there an NPC or absent PC that can be played meanwhile?
Is making another character desired?
Is introducing a new PC possible?
Is the player want to stay or leave before the end?
As much as i hate to make a player sit out during a session, depending where the party is, what the player want to do, it can go many ways but at the very base, a PC is dead story-wise until something changes that.
I LET THEM HAVE SOME PART IN DESCRIBING THEIR DEATH (WITHIN REASON) THEN HELP THEM SWIFTLY GET A NEW CHARACTER SORTED FOR NEXT SESSION.