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Dargoth
Great Reader
Australia
4607 Posts |
 Posted - 03 Dec 2005 : 22:46:01
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I have some what of a problem
During the Campaign Im running Ive used the following rules if a character dies.
When a character dies the Player decides whether he wants to have the character raised if he doesnt and decides he wants a new character then the Old character fades away along with all his equipment (This is to stop the players from pillaging the dead characters magical equipment and thus raise theres Wealth above what they should have for there class level) Ussually when a character has died Its been in the middle of a module so in the interests of keeping the game going Ive handed the player a blank character sheet and the given him the DMGs to choose magic items up to the wealth value a character of that levels suppose to have.
I did this to give the Player something to do (Its not alot of fun just sitting there while the rest of the party continues on with the quest)and if he sets the character up then I can contnue DMing the mdoule so the remaining players dont get bored
However this seems to have created its own problems
Players are now choosing not to raise their characters and are just creating new ones, for 2 reasons it seems
1) They dont want to take level loss from the Raise Dead spell
2) There tailoring the magicial equipment and abilities for the new character to fit the module (For example one of my players wants to run a Hunter of the Dead as his replacement character, where doing city of the Spider Queen)
So basicly there seems to be a "disposable character" culture amongst some of the players
My suggested solution is this in the next campaign I run the the players will create their character at 1st level however if there character dies and they choose not to have him raised then they will be assigned a DM generatored character (Ill probably keep a stack of 6-8 handy) with its own background and equipment.
What do my fellow scribes think?
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“I am the King of Rome, and above grammar”
Emperor Sigismund
"Its good to be the King!"
Mel Brooks |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4685 Posts |
Posted - 03 Dec 2005 : 23:09:53
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There was a guideline that new characters had to be two levels lower then existing party level. If you impose something like this the raise dead option looks more useful. Other limits that you might consider is a new character has no magic, just the wealth of a PC. Of course if you have magic item stores they will load up on gold to buy things they can not start with.
DM generator charater can be a problem, a player not liking what they got will have character die very quickly. I think this is one reason D&D got rid of stats rolled in order as oposed to being able to select which stat got which roll.
Make it less atractive for them to generate a new character I believe is the best way to go. Also even if you stay within current system, just add the right to reject certain magical items. What you might per gen is magical equipment lists that breaks down customization by players seeking to min/max. Stick them with a few thousand gold pieces of potions that will take time to use. Give then a +1 and a +2 sword instead of letting them decide to have one sword +3. Adventurers gather things that are not alwalys useable at the moment. Give them 3 rings, they can only use two at any one time. Etc. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Brother Ezra
Learned Scribe
USA
268 Posts |
Posted - 04 Dec 2005 : 03:10:57
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Our group has seen its share of PC deaths over the past two years. I guess I’m lucky in that I have a group of mature players who don’t see a fellow PC’s death as an “all-you-can-take-magical-loot buffet”.
The two types of deaths we have seen are ones where the body is recoverable, and the ones where it isn’t. In cases where the fallen comrade’s corpse could not be recovered (our former party leader who was decapitated by a hezrou demon, the fighter/favored soul of Mystra who was surrounded by a horde of troglodytes), the answer is simple: No body, no loot. Even if a portion of the body is recoverable for True Resurrection, the character is returned, but not the loot.
In cases where the remains (and loot) are recoverable, you can use alignment and or religious beliefs to dissuade the surviving PC’s from looting the body like a pack of hyenas. For the comrades who have fallen and whose bodies have been recovered, our group normally buries, inters or burns the corpse with possessions intact. It gives a quiet dignity to the event, and also allows the PC’s to demonstrate just how neutral good (or whatever good) they really are.
Of course, with neutral or evil characters, it is perfectly natural to take any remaining items of value. In cases like this, the deceased PC’s family might learn of the death, and pursue the party to recover the dead PC’s belongings, which they likely view as their inheritance. Or perhaps the dead PC may have been in debt to certain shady organizations, which are now looking to recoup their loss by claiming the dead PC’s gear. Given enough thought, you can make it clear that you fully intend to make life difficult for any PC that loots a fallen comrade.
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"Suffering is the touchstone of all spiritual growth."
-St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred |
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scererar
Master of Realmslore
USA
1618 Posts |
Posted - 04 Dec 2005 : 05:57:18
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| In my games, if the character could be brought back, fine, but it cost 1 point of con, eventually the character had to go into retirement ot could not be brought back again. if the character could not be or did not want to be brought back, I had a kind of memorial folder made for the character. This helped with hard feelings of me, the bad DM killing off a character. I allowed the player to submit a story of the characters life, pictures, magic items, etc. It was actually very popular and my gaming group actually liked to go back and revisit their old characters. The folder was named gone, but not forgotten. The hall of heroes. I never had any major issues with the dead characters items, major things were off limits, but small items, to remember the character, or if it affected the story line, were allowed. Alot of times, if the character had family, the party would try to get the valuables to the family, which actually allowed for a couple of future generation characters to come about. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 04 Dec 2005 : 06:42:12
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quote:
Originally posted by Kentinal
Make it less atractive for them to generate a new character I believe is the best way to go. Also even if you stay within current system, just add the right to reject certain magical items.
That's what I'd do... Or, rather than say "Spend 100,000 g.p. on magical items" say "You should get 100,000 g.p. of magical items. You pick 50,000 and let me know what it is. I'll pick the other 50,000." Or even better -- roll percentile dice each time, to figure out how much of the magic you pick and how much the player picks (Maybe even roll them twice, and pick the percentage you like best). A player could get lucky and get to make 87% of the choices themselves... or they could get unlucky and only be able to select 17% of the g.p. value.  |
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Dealing with Dead Characters
