As a DM, how do you handle the death of a PC party member?
by 
forsaken1111
ANSWERS: 20
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I force the human to leave the building and go home. Death isn't to be taken lightly.
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The reason I ask is that I'm DMing a game right now. The players are level 5, and two party members died near the end of the session. The rest of them were victorious. What bothers me is that the two didn't seem bothered at all by the PC's death, they simply pulled out books and began making new characters. Is there any gentle way to discourage this, and make the PC more important to the players? They had played these same characters since level 1.
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I tell them to make a new character if they haven't already. That's basically all you can do.
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one of the things that I have done to encourage players to work harder to keep a character is send them on a side quest to revive the character. A priest offers to revive your comrade for free IF you help him with a little problem he is having. Make it worth thier while too. Throw in some decent loot and a good bit of xp so that the players dont feel like they wasted thier time.
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Immediately re-tool the adventure so that the party NEEDS the dead party members. Give them incentives to arrange for a resurrection, and make them pay through the nose for it in a geas, items, or some combination. The quests should also be rewarding, but the gist is make them want to help the dead members immediately instead of blowing it off. For party members that die, don't care, and roll up another character, make sure they are limited in levels, access to party funds, etc., and make sure they know the limitations before you start playing. This will discourage it, too...
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I'm pretty new to DMing actually. For starters I am readying the how to's of being a dungeon master, by the for dummies people. I've played a lot and heard some interesting stories. One, I feel I just gotta share, it's a story I heard from my long-time dungeon master, from back when he was just a player, or so he claimed, he may have made it up or been fibbing, but this is what he said. DM: You walk into the sorcerers courtyard and see a Gazebo. Ranger: I'm gonna shoot an arrow at it. DM: Dude, it's a gazebo. Ranger: I shoot it. DM: Okay, roll. (Rolls) DM:You hit the gazebo, but nothing happens. Ranger I want to shoot it again. DM: It's a gazebo. Ranger I'll use a fire arrow this time. DM: The gazebo comes to life and eats you. Priest: It can do that? DM: It's a sorcerers gazebo. Dead Ranger: What's a gazebo?
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I giggle like a giddy schoolgirl for a while. In my early DM days, I'd use Green Smoke (a reference to the old TRS-80 computer game Pyramid 2000). The PCs would go through the dead character's pockets, looking for change, as a POUFF of green smoke explodes nearby and the player's replacement would stride forth to take the dead character's place. My players at the time were just looking for a weekend's diversion, not a long-lived campaign so the Green Smoke was a happy expedient to keep the game going. As the players matured, I'd write in backup PCs into the module so that if someone died beyond hope of resurrection, they could get back in the game. Usually, the backup was a prisoner that would be freed soon, a NPC that the party met a while back, or part of the hireling party.
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The last time I killed a PC it was their own fault really. A superior NPC told him to leave, gave him a chance to flee, and yet he delayed. It was sad for all concerned (players and a few NPCs) as the PC had been around a while and become entwined in other events/circumstances in the campaign, but we moved on and introduced his new character a couple of sessions later after a one-on-one to get his new character established.
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It depends. A crappy death can really take the wind out of a character-driven campaign. I try to let the PCs get away with a fair amount of stuff, as long as it moves the plot forward. Otherwise, ressurection quests are lots of fun. I had a character that died, and the group quested to bring him back. In the process, another PC, the dead PCs best friend died and could not be brought back. That was great moment, RPing coming back to life only to find your best friend died to being you back.
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Treat death in DnD as you would in the real world. Don't let them die because "the whole party trips, falls down the hill, breaks their necks and become paraplegic, then drown in the lake at the bottom." Instead you should let them die when they go up against a particularly difficult "boss" character or some other tough encounter. Or you could always incorporate a way to revive that character by giving the party another quest and the dead player a temporary PC to use (maybe as a way to introduce a new class they might want to try out).
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Same thing my uncle did to my ass when I was 9... say sorry that sucks and rip up the character (unless it has sentimental value) and tell him/her to go make a new one
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well like you handle a video game death its not that bad its actually funny sometimes but its not like its going to ruin your relationship
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Death of a PC happens and there really isnt' anything anyone can do if you're playing the correct way. I don't mind death. I've rolled up some of my all time favorite characters because my last character died. Death sort of helps keep the game fresh.
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I would have a Party, get drunk and have a laugh
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I have DM'ing for over 20 years now and what I found is that the death of a PC party member is a good thing. Without danger, your characters are essentially invincible. If they can die, there is a threat and they tend to take encounters more seriously. In the world I am running now, I actually have 2 assistant GM's...we have on average 13 players every week, and the game store we play gives us multiple rooms to play in. My focus is on the bigger story...so, the biggest challenge is figuring out how to introduce new characters but since my group is made up of so many players with varying goals, bringing in new people is not much of a problem. We define their goals and then how they get along with the rest of the group is really up to them. The nice thing about doing it this way is that when players don't get along, it makes my job easier...they often get in their own way (allowing me to slowly unveil the meat of the storyline).
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I would let the reroll a character one level lower the what he or she was and let them ("Appear") to the party. Naturaly I wouldn't alow the same Class and Race. My DM brought my evil paladin/psionic back as an NPC. He also Has I forgivness card per person in which you can undo One bad action per person... You could obtain extras by providing snack-food for everyone.
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Myself, I just let them roll up a new character, since often my characters want to try out a new character, and this gives them a chance. Oddly enough, all three groups I've played with have been pretty much entirely focused on hack-and-slash, so there were no long term story issues with new characters, as my players didn't really care. I, in turn, didn't care either, as I like running H&S campaigns.
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I used to Ghost characters for a certain time. While they couldn't actually touch anything, they could go through walls and stuff. It adds a different aspect to the game. After a while, a magical item would be found and they were bought back to life, minus anything they were carrying. It was up to the other players if they wanted to give hias armour, items and weapons back.
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They're dead. What's to handle? Dead is dead, unless there's someone there to bring them back to life, or another character is willing to take the risk of carrying the body to a place where they can be brought back (UNlikely). Time for buddy boy to roll up a new character, then we'll worry about when and whether to introduce them.
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Well normally, I would try and keep them alive, let them get attached to the character and thus, don't outwardly kill them. However, by between 6th-10th level and up, they should be accruing enough money to get themselves resurrected. Thus, all holds are off. IF they die, it happens. Punish players for being stupid, but don't outwardly be malicious. A common thing my players hear me say is "How many hp have you got left??" If it kills them through no fault of their own, I will most likely leave it at they're unconcious. But occasionally, you want them to die so they don't get lax :). Remember, as a DM, we may be the god of the world, but if the players don't enjoy that world, they won't play. We are there first and foremostly, to tell a story. You can't do that if your players die all the time :).
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