Thoughts on Character Death in RPGs

Turns out I'm really terrible at keeping a running history of games. Time slips away and I just forget to do it. Today's post is something different entirely.

Last night my character died. He hadn't even done any damage in the fight before he was taken out. A lot of people would be rather incensed at this, but I looked at it as an opportunity. This is actually the second character I've had die in this particular campaign. Amusingly both of them were casters and both died to a dragon's breath attack. The thing is, he was the 4th character overall I've played in this campaign.

With 5e I keep coming up with new character concepts that I think are cool so I've always got something in the background to bring out if needed. Unfortunately some character concepts don't work out as well as expected which is why I've ditched two of them. They worked really well for the point we were at in the campaign, but it became harder and harder to roleplay them appropriately as the campaign progressed so they were retired. Character death is just forced retirement in my view.

The character that was killed last night was definitely my favorite yet. Sure he had his flaws, both in RP and in combat, but if he was perfect that would have been boring. I don't blame my fellow players for not saving him, they were all tied up in combats themselves. It really shouldn't have been an issue, but I rolled a 1 on a death save which in 5e results in 2 failed death saves and killed me since I'd already failed one save. My compatriots were far more upset about this than I was, offering to pay to have him resurrected, etc. I appreciated the offer, but honestly I was already working with one of my other character ideas and the current situation was the absolute perfect time to introduce him. He happened to fit into the storyline perfectly.

While there's nothing wrong with liking a character, one really shouldn't get overly attached to them. It limits the player's and the DM's options. If the DM knows that someone going to be really upset if your character dies, then there's never going to be a fight where that might be possible. At the same time as a player you're going to be too scared to make that heroic move that might result in your death, but would be freaking awesome otherwise. That's how I picture last night's death, even though I didn't even try to hit anything, the image of my sorcerer rising up to meet the dragon head on in the sky before being swatted like a bug is awesome and that's what roleplaying is all about. Having awesome stories to tell even if it results in character death.

Look at character death as an opportunity to try something new. Even if you really like the playstyle of a particular class, take it in a different direction. Instead of the big evocation wizard try a conjuration wizard based more around crowd control. If you like to hit things as a fighter, why not try a barbarian and smash things to little pieces as you rage around the battlefield. Even if you reroll what is essentially the same character change his or her personality, feats, or playstyle in order to make him different.

Swords & Glory - First Campaign

Background Info:
The first campaign actually started with the playtest rules for D&D 5e. Characters came and went during this period as we transitioned first to the basic rules and then into the full Player's Handbook. We also had about 9 players at one point, but many have left for one reason or another. Due to this I won't be listing the characters here and I'll just be hitting the highlights of the campaign.

On our way to Wildsgate we were attacked by a goblin raiding force that we soon learned was a large nuisance to the town that the Outriders had been unable to eliminate. We arrived in Wildsgate to find out that the Lord of the land was under a curse and could only be revived when his three family heirlooms were returned to him. A run in with the town Outriders stirred some animosity between us and them. We also learned of an ancient Dwarven stronghold that was no longer in the hands of the Dwarves that still contained some magical Dwarven smithing tools that that local smith wanted us to obtain. We also heard rumors of a clan of cannibals that occasionally raided the countryside.

We first set off to deal with the Dwarven stronghold. On the way there we were attacked by the aforementioned cannibals so we knew there was some truth to that rumor. The stronghold was overrun with undead and had a group of highway men camped out as well. We succeeded in recovering the smithing tools and also recovered one of the missing heirlooms.

Next we decided to deal with the goblin raiding party. This essentially ended with us burning their makeshift town in the mountains to the ground and killing off the goblin vampire lord that was controlling them. In his treasure we found a second of the three missing artifacts.

On our way back to town after our victory over the goblins, we find the town is under attack by a barbarian tribe. We succeed in driving them off, but not before they capture a number of townspeople. We set off the next morning in pursuit. We succeed in rescuing most of the townspeople, but some have been taken into a cave. It is here we meet the spirit of the Blue Bear who tells us that these are his people, and they have been corrupted. He asks us to end the corruption so that his people will go back to their old way of life. We succeed in doing this and in the process find the third artifact.

Throughout these three different quests we had been picking up clues that the Lord's sister who had taken over as regent was not the kind caring soul she portrayed outwardly. her and the outriders met us on the way back into town and attempted to kill us. We succeeded in capturing here and killing or driving off the outriders. We returned the heirlooms to their rightful owner and received our rewards. We then stayed in Wildsgate for a year before a new adventure called us forward.

Blog Restructuring

Well my original theory for this blog didn't pan out due to a number of things, mostly laziness combined with other obligations on my time pushing it to the bottom of my todo list. I've also switched characters in the campaign twice now (the original character was eaten by a dragon) so trying to do what I originally planned no longer makes sense.

In the time since I had this grand idea, I've also started DMing another party through Lost Mines of Phandelver. This has given a different perspective on 5th edition than just being a player did. Moving forward I plan to start summarizing both parties adventures here. In addition, I'll be writing some other more general posts regarding various things D&D. For those interested, the game in which I'm playing will be tagged as Swords&Glory while the game in which I'm DMing will be tagged as ArcaneProfit.

In the Beginning...

I grew up a relatively normal Elven child. The first half century of life went as you might imagine. I did what was expected of me, the normal mischief included. At age 50, the town elders finally began to notice that I was more intelligent than my peers. I, of course, had known this for quite a while, but the crotchety old buggers did not pay any attention. This was because unlike the rabble, when I caused mischief, I was smart enough not to get caught. The unfortunate reality was that this eventually backfired when the rest of the town started realizing that my latest pranks were too intelligently designed to be blamed on any of the less intelligent creatures that inhabited the town.

Alas, I soon after found myself shuffled off to study at the University of Waterdeep. Unbeknownst to the village elders, this had been my plan all along and they had played their part perfectly. I had done that which was expected of me in the village. I had tended the crops and animals as well as the other usual labors one does in a rural area, but I secretly loathed it. Such menial tasks were beneath one of my intellect. However, one does not simply walk into one of the great universities of Faerûn without an invitation. Desperate to be rid of me, the elders began corresponding with those in Waterdeep and I was soon invited to study.

I was told arrival in Waterdeep would be awe inspiring. I, of course, noticed the difference of the urban environment from my home, but it far from awed me. Being in awe of something runs completely contrary to logic. I had known the city existed, and I had known roughly how many people it contained. Most think that a million is a large number. When compared only to the number of people in the world, one million people is not all that many. Counted against grains of sand on a beach or stars in the sky, it is almost minuscule.

I made my way to a moderate inn, determined to learn about the city on my own before being subjected to the University's skewed and political viewpoint. The first thing I learned was that my estimate of the world's proportion of intelligent and imbecilic people in the world were off by a fairly significant amount. Based on my hometown, I had estimated that one out of five hundred people was reasonably intelligent. Since I was the only intelligent person in the town, I should have realized that I didn't have enough information to estimate this accurately. After a few days in Waterdeep, I determined it was closer to about one of out fifty thousand. I also learned quite a bit about social classes in those first few days. In the backwoods of home, one might hear passing references regarding merchants and noblemen. In the city, things were very different. Instead of being on relatively equal social footing with everyone around me, the arrogant bastards in the "upper classes" thought they could look down on me as though I were an animal. I suspect this was due to being secretly in awe of my superior intelligence. Naturally, I did not take very kindly to their presumptions and was quick to advise them of such without mincing my words. Granted, they might not have understood some of the words I used, unintelligent as the louts were, but I believe even they could understand the meaning.

After I had been in the city for a week, I ignored one particular nobleman walking through one of the city's squares flanked by his retinue. The man was obviously in a hurry to get reach his destination and believed it was my responsibility to move out of his way rather than moving five feet to the side to pass me. As I happened to be engaged in a conversation with the local food vendor about the proper price for that night's meal I ignored the nobleman. Instead of simply walking around he decided to stop and began to yell at me.

Should you choose to insult someone, please do them a favor and use proper grammar and pronunciation. It took me forever to realize what this man was saying. Not because used unfamiliar words, but because of the nonsensical order and phrasing he chose. He did not take kindly to my pointing this out. It was either that or it was my rather eloquent recitation of his mother's choice of copulation partners that might have given birth to him. Either way, I soon found myself surrounded by his guards. I do have to give the guards credit. What they lacked in intelligence and imagination, they made up for in sheer physical power. I was soon beaten and bloody and found myself being assisted out of the fountain at the middle of the square by the city guard.

As usually happens when noblemen are involved, the city guard decided the whole thing must have been my fault. Gods forbid that a nobleman having his nose too far up his nether regions be at fault. I was summarily hauled to the local jail and once a physician had determined I would live, was questioned about my identity and purpose in Waterdeep. Fortunately, the University held some political power in the city. After confirming that I was expected, I was released into the care of one of the senior students to be escorted directly to the University where they hoped I would no longer be the city's problem.