[5e] PC Death Thread

[danskmacabre]

My son (14) ran a couple of sessions to try out his DMing skills for the first time.

He ran a little adventure of a Bullywug and giant toads accosting caravans, taking jewels etc..

There were 4 characters in that little adventure and it was nearly a TPK.

On paper it was a balanced encounter. But as it was 1st level characters (which are notoriously fragile) and there were some unlucky die rolls for the characters and my son got about 3 natural 20s in a row for the Toads.

The net result was the Halfling rogue got swallowed by a Giant Toad and died.
The rest badly wounded and ran away.

They did return later and defeated them, but it was too late for the Halfling.

[crkrueger]

I had a player death this weekend in Cragmaw cave.  The elf scout found the chimney in the back of the wolf den and climbed up.  He saw Klarg and Ripper and the two goblins.  The wolf smelled something wrong, so the elf set a grapple hook in the chimney and climbed down to tell the party.  Of course while this was going on, since one of the goblins from the ambush got away, Klarg knew there were humans about, and went snooping around and found the grapnel.  So when the elf went back up Klarg was waiting and hiding.  

Bam!  Brute for 2d8, surprise for 2d6, one shot kill.  Of course it was a first level thief.  In the ensuing brawl, Klarg would have dropped the Barbarian to zero, but Rage resistance saved him and the barbarian, fighter and wizard were able to take them out.

We'll see how it goes from here.

[Doom]

Many close calls, and the "furry" druid has been at 2 failed at least twice now--lots of hp, but crud AC.

Characters are whizzing through levels in Whore of a Dragon Queen...sure hope powers and abilities don't spiral out of control.

[Omega]

The net result was the Halfling rogue got swallowed by a Giant Toad and died.
The rest badly wounded and ran away.

They did return later and defeated them, but it was too late for the Halfling.

We lose more halflings that way... See halfling Jannets fate to giant frog.

[danskmacabre]

We lose more halflings that way... See halfling Jannets fate to giant frog.

Heh, a bit later when I was running Temple of elemental Evil" at the Moathouse.
There were some Giant frogs out the front.
There's a Halfling Monk in the party, and sure enough, he got swallowed too..
For a few rounds the frog was hopping around attacking the rest of the party with the Halfling inside it's belly.

He didn't die though, as the fighter in the party finished off the Frog that swallowed him.
I DID rule that as the fighter was chopping at a Giant frog with a Halfling in it, any damage over what the Frog had in HPs, transferred to damage to the Halfling, but it wasn't that bad and it's better than getting digested by a Giant frog.  

[Iosue]

Straight up death in the first episode of HotDQ.  My fighter was taken down to 0 hp by kobolds/cultists. Failed first death save.  Rolled a 1 on my second. The end.

[jhkim]

Just tonight I lost my first PC in The Lost Mines of Phandelver, along with another fighter - both of us 4th level.

We were short our cleric for the session, and came upon what looked like a drow and two bugbears. We thought we could take them and closed, but then four giant spiders popped out. We barely got any further actions in at that point, since we were overwhelmed with webbing, and were both cut down.

Our wizard cut and ran to get away, but the fight wasn't even close.

I was a little annoyed, because it seemed like there wasn't even any warning about the giant spiders. Up until that encounter, all of our fights had gone pretty smoothly - except against a small dragon where we just got lucky.

[Natty Bodak]

One bit of good luck & timing kept my group from a TPK along the stream entrance in Phandelver at 1st level.  50% of the party was making death saves by the second round, but luck got everyone out of the cave alive.

Has anyone given much consideration to re-entry of players of dead PCs?  At lowest level it seems like having people come in at 0 xp is good for us.  But we're thinking about having new PCs come in at the bottom of each level tier beyond that.  The xp curve seems different enough from 1e, so I'm we're not really sure yet.

[Omega]

Good question. Lots and lots of ways to go about it.

Personally Im leaning to having the new character come in at the same level as the rest of the group simply for ease of bookkeeping. And on the reasoning that someone showing up late in the adventure could reasonably be assumed to be there by dint of experience. Just like NPCs oft show up at levels comprable to the group.

The other option is to start them off at level 1 and let them catch up eventually due to the curve in EXP needed. The drawback is keeping the new guy or gal alive long enough to level up. And this is the main reason I am leaning to new characters at the same level as group. The sheer lethality of encounters means that the replacement can die right out the gate.
Of course if they live... well... boom - huge chunk of exp could advance them two levels or so.

The group is likely to vote for replacements at same level if only because they wont be keen on safeguarding the new kid every step of the way in an allready hazardous system. Have not yet really broached the subject with them yet. Been waiting to see how far they actually get before someone kicks off as that will change the dynamics.

[Natty Bodak]

Good question. Lots and lots of ways to go about it.

Personally Im leaning to having the new character come in at the same level as the rest of the group simply for ease of bookkeeping. And on the reasoning that someone showing up late in the adventure could reasonably be assumed to be there by dint of experience. Just like NPCs oft show up at levels comprable to the group.

The other option is to start them off at level 1 and let them catch up eventually due to the curve in EXP needed. The drawback is keeping the new guy or gal alive long enough to level up. And this is the main reason I am leaning to new characters at the same level as group. The sheer lethality of encounters means that the replacement can die right out the gate.
Of course if they live... well... boom - huge chunk of exp could advance them two levels or so.

The group is likely to vote for replacements at same level if only because they wont be keen on safeguarding the new kid every step of the way in an allready hazardous system. Have not yet really broached the subject with them yet. Been waiting to see how far they actually get before someone kicks off as that will change the dynamics.

I think that starting at the same level works if there's not non-death related xp drift. By and large my groups tend to be individual xp trackers so occasional absences or the like can lead to that drift.  

But, still I think you could do as you propose by setting the incoming PC xp to match the lowest in the party. It could lead to erosion of party strength, but adventuring is tough bid'ness.

[iandimitri]

I have had dead characters start one level under the average party level and at 0 xp.

[Omega]

I have had dead characters start one level under the average party level and at 0 xp.

I read that as 0 hp...

Well that sure would save alot of paperwork...

[Natty Bodak]

I read that as 0 hp...

Well that sure would save alot of paperwork...

That's pretty hard core.

[jeff37923]

No deaths yet, but have had a party member make his Death Save just in time....

[Sacrosanct]

Just had another one in my campaign.  From rot grubs nonetheless

The player had never heard of them before.  At first I thought he would have avoided them because he rooted through the pile of garbage with his sword.  When I said he sees giant maggots squirming about, he said he picked one up to show the half orc rogue.

Oops.  

And while I was explaining to him what was happening as the grub was making its way up his arm, he refused to cut it away because "as a dual wielding fighter, what good is it to have only one arm?"

Well, he found out that being dead is worse lol