A brief story on what happened . The party(level 5-6) was crossing the Stone Bridge , ran the Fire Giant encounter , and a player lost a character(lvl 6 ) in the encounter. Getting wailed on by a Fire Giant and falling 300+ feet resulted in his character dying . My question/dilemma is this , do I get him to roll a new character equal to the lowest level in the group (Level 4, I believe) or through some role-playing with the Blood Hunter and his Blood Curse of Transfusion ? I do use the in-house rule of permanent Constitution loss( I go by the next lowest modifier stat). Working on tonight's session and I am trying to incorporate what will happen.
Talk to the Player. How do they feel about losing their character?
I assume you mean you're think of reviving the dead character via some narrative justification using the Blood Curse of Transfusion?.
The danger there is that you don't want to "cheapen" Character death. If the Players feel their Characters can't die - then there's no tension. I'm not saying you can't revive the Character - just that it should have signigicant impact on them, if you do. Doesn't mean you need to cripple their stats either ( although dropping Con seems reasonable ), drawbacks and costs can be narrative, or through other mechanics ( animals shun them, they set up detect evil spells now, etc. )
Give the Player the option of coming back - complete with all the negative drawbacks from having died - or rolling a new Character, and see what they want to do..
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If the character isn't coming back, and the player is rolling up a new character, try letting them roll for their level, the roll depending on the level of characters still alive. Say there are 2 level 4s, 2 level 5s, and 1 level 6. Roll a d10 with 1-4 being level 4, 5-8 being level 5, and 9-10 being level 6.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
I definitely don't want to "cheapen or dumb down" character death . I am leaning towards a new character for him . Thank you both for the replies... Now back to prepping for tonight :)
Bringing a character back just to bring them back is weak, in my humble opinion. Talk to the player. How do they fell about you bring them back? Is that character central to the story, if so create a path that makes sense for resurrection/revival, otherwise the game is biased and the players notice.
if the player wants to keep playing that character, then the rest of the party can perform some form of quest to get them resurrected. though if you have someone playing the cleric who has a warped sense of humour, and happens to have a scroll of animate dead, they can always bring them back as a zombie and make them walk back to the temple to get resurrected themself, i can't claim responsibility for creating this method of getting grunts back to temples for res, but i have used it it's hilarious and also comes with the added bonus of having many unintended potential side effects
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
All plans turn into, run into the room waving a sword and see what happens from there, once the first die gets rolled
I definitely don't want to "cheapen or dumb down" character death . I am leaning towards a new character for him . Thank you both for the replies... Now back to prepping for tonight :)
I think that's the right choice. Good luck with your game!
Just a quick update from last night's session . The Cleric cast "Gentle Repose" on the body of the fallen ...... So with some laughs and "Weekend at Bernie's " fun , the remaining party set out to fulfill a quest to bring a dragon a chest . Claugiyliamatar "Old Gnawbones" loves her collection of crystal balls , and the party brought her a new one . The party told her that a member had fallen and she gave them a task. As a reward they were given a Raise Dead scroll . I did implement a drop in Con , sickness etc penalties to the risen party member . And he was ok with it , realizing that death is not to be taken lightly . i may have him from time to time , when rolling to attack or ability check , to roll with disadvantage . Again thank you all for the advice !!
A brief story on what happened .
The party(level 5-6) was crossing the Stone Bridge , ran the Fire Giant encounter , and a player lost a character(lvl 6 ) in the encounter. Getting wailed on by a Fire Giant and falling 300+ feet resulted in his character dying . My question/dilemma is this , do I get him to roll a new character equal to the lowest level in the group (Level 4, I believe) or through some role-playing with the Blood Hunter and his Blood Curse of Transfusion ? I do use the in-house rule of permanent Constitution loss( I go by the next lowest modifier stat). Working on tonight's session and I am trying to incorporate what will happen.
Talk to the Player. How do they feel about losing their character?
I assume you mean you're think of reviving the dead character via some narrative justification using the Blood Curse of Transfusion?.
The danger there is that you don't want to "cheapen" Character death. If the Players feel their Characters can't die - then there's no tension. I'm not saying you can't revive the Character - just that it should have signigicant impact on them, if you do. Doesn't mean you need to cripple their stats either ( although dropping Con seems reasonable ), drawbacks and costs can be narrative, or through other mechanics ( animals shun them, they set up detect evil spells now, etc. )
Give the Player the option of coming back - complete with all the negative drawbacks from having died - or rolling a new Character, and see what they want to do..
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
If the character isn't coming back, and the player is rolling up a new character, try letting them roll for their level, the roll depending on the level of characters still alive. Say there are 2 level 4s, 2 level 5s, and 1 level 6. Roll a d10 with 1-4 being level 4, 5-8 being level 5, and 9-10 being level 6.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
I definitely don't want to "cheapen or dumb down" character death . I am leaning towards a new character for him .
Thank you both for the replies...
Now back to prepping for tonight :)
Bringing a character back just to bring them back is weak, in my humble opinion. Talk to the player. How do they fell about you bring them back? Is that character central to the story, if so create a path that makes sense for resurrection/revival, otherwise the game is biased and the players notice.
if the player wants to keep playing that character, then the rest of the party can perform some form of quest to get them resurrected.
though if you have someone playing the cleric who has a warped sense of humour, and happens to have a scroll of animate dead, they can always bring them back as a zombie and make them walk back to the temple to get resurrected themself,
i can't claim responsibility for creating this method of getting grunts back to temples for res, but i have used it it's hilarious and also comes with the added bonus of having many unintended potential side effects
All plans turn into, run into the room waving a sword and see what happens from there, once the first die gets rolled
I think that's the right choice. Good luck with your game!
Just a quick update from last night's session . The Cleric cast "Gentle Repose" on the body of the fallen ...... So with some laughs and "Weekend at Bernie's " fun , the remaining party set out to fulfill a quest to bring a dragon a chest . Claugiyliamatar "Old Gnawbones" loves her collection of crystal balls , and the party brought her a new one . The party told her that a member had fallen and she gave them a task. As a reward they were given a Raise Dead scroll . I did implement a drop in Con , sickness etc penalties to the risen party member . And he was ok with it , realizing that death is not to be taken lightly . i may have him from time to time , when rolling to attack or ability check , to roll with disadvantage .
Again thank you all for the advice !!
It worked out good. Glad to hear your DM skills were able to save the character, let the party have fun and work with raising the dead.