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So how do you feel about character death?
So in my Eberron game last weekend a couple of pc's closed to mellee with a vampire got drained in the process. They were hurting him only a little(at least compared to what they do to folks without DR). At one point they had both been hit twice and lost 4 levels.that meant one of them was at effectively first level. If he got hit again he was going to be killed and rise as a vampire. he was advised that chances are he would not survive if he kept it up and he withdrew. This has propmpted me to ask if in the small enviroment of a table top game does the death of a character mean that you would stop the campaign or continue with a new character? How about if half the party dies? Does having a tabletop character die bother you? Larp characters are a different critter because you become more involved with them(most of the time). I was wondering what people thought about dead characters in a tabletop.
Note: I would Realy like to here from my players on this as well.
So in my Eberron game last weekend a couple of pc's closed to mellee with a vampire got drained in the process. They were hurting him only a little(at least compared to what they do to folks without DR). At one point they had both been hit twice and lost 4 levels.that meant one of them was at effectively first level. If he got hit again he was going to be killed and rise as a vampire. he was advised that chances are he would not survive if he kept it up and he withdrew. This has propmpted me to ask if in the small enviroment of a table top game does the death of a character mean that you would stop the campaign or continue with a new character? How about if half the party dies? Does having a tabletop character die bother you? Larp characters are a different critter because you become more involved with them(most of the time). I was wondering what people thought about dead characters in a tabletop.
Note: I would Realy like to here from my players on this as well.
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Level loss as a result of PC death frustrates me a great deal. Particularly since death can result from nothing more than one bad roll, given the large number of save-or-die spells in the game. Death shouldn't be a revolving door, necessarily, but the downward spiral of character death resulting in a weaker character who is more likely to die again is just not a great idea. Level loss combined with a very high price tag on raise dead and resurrection is a setup that just has nothing at all to recommend it, from my point of view as both player and GM.
Assuming I was enjoying the campaign as a player, I would keep playing (almost certainly as the same character), but it's still a significant frustration that adds nothing to the game for me.
From: (Anonymous)
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Some games are more harsh and character death is more likely. Cyberpunk and World of darkness come to mind.
Cuthulu games where no one dies seems unlikely as well.
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Your question disturbs me.
Stupid vampires. Stupid damage reduction. Stupid level drain! It upsets me when I can't kill something as fast as I want to... :) But at least we got his sister.
Hmm, I'm not sure how I feel about tabletop character death. Thinking about it, the only time I think I've ever had a character die outside a LARP was in your Cthulu game, and that was practically a guarantee. (Which is why I don't see any point to playing Cthulu, but that's a different issue.)
One note, though - just as it is in a LARP, character death in D&D isn't necessarily the end of the world, right? There are resurrection spells, and though we might have to pay out the nose to get one (what a weird phrase), I had the impression that they aren't that hard to find. Especially last game - we were not far from Flame Keep, there should be a pretty decent chance of finding a high-level cleric or two there.
Ramble ramble ramble...
I think how I'd feel about the death depends on how I feel about the fight where I died, and how I feel about the campaign in general. If I die because of a bunch of bad die rolls, that's annoying, but it happens. If I feel like the fight was stacked against us and we had no chance of winning, and that's why half the party died, I'd probably be a bit more discouraged. As for whether I'd keep playing in the campaign, I would in Eberron, because I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I might play a character who had a vow never to have anything to do with vampires, though. :) Haaates the vampires.
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Re: Your question disturbs me.
I am not planning on killing anyone out of hand. I just know it is possible for people to die in that fight and I would like to see how folks handle that. I am glad people are having fun.
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As for PC death, it annoys me when it happens, but since it tends to happen to me more often than not in games I play, I have grown to accept it.
I see table-topping as an interactive story, and have no problems as a player moving on to a new character in the story when the time for the old character has passed. Losing a level, or even having to play through the game as a new character a level or two behind the rest of the party is annoying, but death should, in some ways, hurt. I am not totally convinced it shouyldn't at least have the very good chance of hurting permanently.
I have very loosely adapted Shieldhaven's death-deck "system" (I put it in quotes as I am uncertain how much it was system, and how much it was DM fiat) with 3 Dragon Ante cards. If you ar einterested, once winter break starts, I can type it up and post it in my journal. It basically represents the raise-dead spells giving the caster a chance to fight Dolurruh for the sould of the living. Sometimes, the soul comes back whole, other times...not so much.
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But back on topic, I'm okay with dying if its my character. And I don't like a 'cheap' rez, it really lessens the impact of death.
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makes me a very survivable back rank fighter. Can I go toe to toe with a vampire? Hell no, but that's what Gareg and Turin are for.
If it does happen that I die, I've actually got a cool concept to try out ready, though I must admit I'd've probably made a more undead-focused character if I'd known anything about the published adventures.
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Tabletop PC death is not much of a problem for the most part. Obviously the person playing the character should be a part of that death as may players have survival instincts for their characters. Beyond that, they are fair meat. I think that death should come at the actions of the PC invovled while they are being played. Death off camrea is really frustrating and I hate it every time it happends in table-tops and in LARPs. You should always give the PC's a chance even if it means they chicken out and back out of the adventure.
On another note; always have a reasonably planned backup character! Its magic as when you do you'll always survive somehow. If you don't, then curtins it may be.
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Shady
Half-Vampire, dealer of Take-it damage.
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Like Shieldhaven, I hate level loss, period. Haaaate. In fact, it is absolutely not possible to ever level down in any of my games (though you cannot voluntarily spend XP below your level threshold, such as when making magic items). Death, removing negative levels, whatever.
A more random system, with Tarot cards that produce various alterations to the character (or something similar) is preferable to me.
Assuming resurrection is possible, i'd probably keep playing the character, though losing a level significantly impacts my enjoyment of a game.