Difference between revisions of "Character deaths"

Latest revision as of 12:52, 7 July 2018

Here We Go I don’t believe in permanent player character death in d&d campaigns. (Source)

There. I said it. Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes the dice are not in our favor and player characters die in game. I certainly won’t stop that from happening by doing something as horrible as fudging rolls or otherwise. However, if one my player characters die, it will never be permanent and I will never make one of my players roll a new character in a campaign. Why? (Source)

Mechanics

Resurrection: If you die, your soul is trapped in the mists. If you are dead 24 hours before being raised, you gain indefinite madness (DMG page 260).

Story-oriented players

Every player has their own style and their own favored kind of d&d game. Personally, I’m in it for the story. I love telling compelling plot lines with fleshed out characters that go through character arcs and grow as people. I tend to collect players and friends that enjoy the same play style. In my games, my players are the main characters in an intricate, epic story and replacing them feels cheap.

What if Harry Potter suddenly died half way through the series and you were forced to follow Neville for the rest of the plot? Neville, though a good character, would never feel like more than a sad replacement. (Source)

Too much seasoning ruins the taste

Secondly, character death can inspire some pretty deep emotions in players. A player’s character isn’t just their favorite person in a T.V. show, they’re extensions of the players themselves. When a player’s character dies, it’s pretty devastating. And while I’m not afraid to push my players and make them feel sad and desperate in game, I don’t want those extreme feelings to extend into their real lives. (Source)

However, I will never under any circumstances, tell my players about this. (Source)

Though I won’t make my players go through the anguish of rerolling a character, I still want them to believe that they might have to if they’re not careful. The fear of losing their characters motivates players something fierce and I still want them to have that ferocity. (Source)

When is character death okay?

When you’re playing without a heavy emphasis on story. (Source)

If you’ve got a group that has more fun gallivanting into d&d worlds to wreck havoc than telling a story, go for it. This can be fun as hell for players and give them the opportunity to just let loose and throw themselves towards a high body count. These kinds of games are usually all about the theatrics, so recycling characters isn’t a big deal. (Source)

I myself have a folder of backup character sheets with fun mixes of races and classes. It’s entertaining to throw those characters together and let them loose on a battlefield, just to see how much damage they can do. But in a long term, serious campaign, these characters are basically useless Mary Sues. (Source)

When the death is planned

Story, story, story. I know I keep saying this and it’s getting repetitive, but I’m going to keep saying it anyway. If a character dying is story relevant, it’s okay. Maybe your players know that in the end of the campaign, someone is going to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Now they have time to plan for that death. It also occurs at the end of the campaign and so gives a nice clean, heroic ending to a particular character. Or perhaps, as the DM, you plan on killing a character, but only for a short while because you have other plans going on. If you can weave the death in a way that it’s not a horrible, unsuspecting blow, then the floor is yours. Build the tragedy and have that tear-jerking session. (Source)

When the death teaches a lesson

Barovia is an iffy place and Curse of Strahd is all about consequences. Having a character die isn't the end of the world if it fits thematically. Sometimes players need that extra motivation to defeat Strahd. Avenging a dead friend is a great motivation. (Source)

If you feel that a player character death fits well at your current place in the campaign, I'd have a chat with the dead player. Ask them how they're doing and how they feel about making their character a martyr for the cause. Explain to them that they've gotten into some bad places and what happened was maybe a consequence of that. In this instance, a permanent death might be warranted. (Source)

Circumventing Death in Barovia

So, you don’t want your player characters to die during Curse of Strahd, but you can’t just deus ex machina everything to keep the story going. Your players will lose their sense of immersion if they sense something’s up. And even though you are the DM, you can’t plan every character death. Unexpected things happen all the time in D&D and someone is bound to die in an encounter along the way. You’ve got to be prepared for that when it happens. Here are some ways to lace death into Curse of Strahd narratively and on the fly. (Source)

Resurrection

Firstly, remember that resurrection is possible in Barovia by means of the Abbott in Kresk. Prior to the party getting to this location, you should have native Barovians drop hints that the Abbott is a powerful man of the Morninglord and is known for creating miracles. Though these rumors are pretty widespread and nondescript, they should be enough to hint to players that there’s a mega holy man in the land. Unfortunately, no one knows the depth of the Abbott’s true corruption. (Source)

The Ghost Effect

I used this in my own game and it went surprisingly well. It allowed my dead player to actually keep playing, even though his character was technically a corpse that the others were rushing off to the Abbott. (Source)

After a character dies, have them come back as a ghost. After all, their soul can’t leave Barovia because of the mists, so even canonically it makes sense. This should be a super eerie experience and you’ll have to narrate the crap out of it. (Source)

I then gave my ghost player the ability to temporarily possess other intelligent creatures, so that he could communicate with the party. He spent most of his dead time in the body of a female barbarian, which was actually pretty funny, before the others got his corpse to the Abbott. If you have a similar situation occur in your game but the party really doesn’t have enough time to reach Kresk before the body decays, getting your dead player a new body via possession is a good way to keep the story going. (Source)

Beast Mode/Dark Power Intervention

I talked about Beast Mode in my previous post that expanded the Dark Powers and their influence over player characters. (Source)

In a nutshell, during their time in Barovia, your players should start attracting the attention of Dark Powers. In my version, I gave each of my players an individualized Dark Power that took a shine to each of them (behind the scenes of course). (Source)

If there comes a time when one of your players are in a pretty dire situation and one happens to die. Like die, die. You can have the Dark Power come to their aid. After all, an evil god probably doesn’t want to loose its chosen plaything. Players can temporarily enter a Beast Mode version of themselves as they’re overwhelmed with the ability of the Dark Power. They can then use their temporary power to crush their enemies before becoming drained again. (Source)

Having the Dark Powers intervene can be a story relevant way to avoid character death in CoS. (Source)

Strahd Intervenes

This could be pretty darn interesting, but also depends heavily on Strahd’s opinion of the party at a given time during the campaign. If Strahd actively hates a character, he won’t care if that character dies. However, if Strahd finds the characters interesting playthings in his lands, he might not want to see them die just yet. (Source)

If death seems imminent for a character, you might just have the dark lord himself arrive on scene. I would play it like Strahd is there to finish off the party on his own. Strahd should toy with your players’ terror, making them feel cornered. And then, at the last possible moment, Strahd turns around and slays the enemy instead. This will show your players just how fickle Strahd is and how very little he cares about the lives of others. And at the same time, you’ve craftily avoided a character death. (Source)

The Dead PC becomes a Vampire

Logistics wise, becoming a Vampire involves dying because a vampire sucked your blehd! So this loophole is a little more specific in circumstances than the others. If a player dies via vampire encounter, have that player get buried. The next night, they arise as a vampire. (Source)

Having a vampire player character has a bunch of baggage to go along with it, of course. You don’t want your players to feel like this is a good thing after all. All power comes with a price. I would recommend fully looking into how you want to handle a vampire player character in your party before doing this. Remember, it would get even more complicated if Strahd is the one that turned the character, since Strahd would then have literal control over the player. (Source)

And that’s how I handle character death in Curse of Strahd. As far as I’m concerned, my player characters are the heroes of this adventure and they’re going to see the entire story through. How they end the campaign will be determined by their actions and decisions, of course, but these are the characters that will make it to the end. (Source)

- Mandy

Original Curse of Strahd expanded death mechanics

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