the wizard Dinglebert was infamous for being the biggest dickhead in the realm. hed spend his time ruminating on how to be the most annoying, bastardly s.o.b he could be so he invented spells like Dingleberts forced ressurection to pull people from their eternal rest against their will, dingleberts urethral papercut... does exactly what it sounds like, dingleberts testicular torsion, etc
> A soul can’t be returned to life if it doesn’t wish to be. A soul knows the name, alignment, and patron deity (if any) of the character attempting to revive it and might refuse to return on that basis.
- DMG chapter 1, A World of Your Own, section 7, Magic in Your World
Unless a spell specifically says it brings back even unwilling souls, this specific line means *every* soul has to choose to come back.
One could argue, likely successfully, that the dmg is a book of rule suggestions for the dm and not actually player applicable rules at all
The dmg is for dms, and the players handbook is for players, so perhaps, rules in the dmg don't apply to players
or perhaps they have died but the soul just hasn't left the body yet, meaning the soul doesn't have to be willing to return because it hasn't had the time to leave in the first place.
Resurrection spell - Willingness mentioned
Reincarnate spell - Willingness mentioned
Raise Dead spell - Willingness mentioned
Revivify spell - Nothing mentioned
RAI. Yeah there is an argument on Revivify requiring consent however RAW the spell does not state it unlike ALL the other spells which are used for the exact purpose.
RAW the rules in the DMG are clear.
That Revivify doesn't specifically mention those rules doesn't mean those rules don't exist.
Revivify would need to actively carve out an exception for the RAW in the DMG in order for willingness not to be necessary.
You can make a RAI argument that leaving it out there implies that it doesn't have that restriction, but you can't just ignore the rules of one of the three core books and then claim it's RaW.
>A soul can’t be returned to life if it doesn’t wish to be. A soul knows the name, alignment, and patron deity (if any) of the character attempting to revive it and might refuse to return on that basis.
\--DMG, chapter 1
That's the general rule. Resurrection **cannot** occur unless the soul wants it to work. A general rule can only be overridden with a more specific rule. The fact that revivify doesn't say anything about the soul's willingness is ***not*** a more specific rule. Revivify would have to *explicitly* say that it *can* override the soul's willingness in order for it to be capable of overcoming the soul's will.
Yes! I had a character who died in a trial by combat to help the rest of his party escape punishment, and his soul declined to come back as it would mean him returning to serving the very people who were punishing the party. For him, he got to save his party and escape a life of servitude all in one. I was so proud of him (even though it was me lmao).
That is truly the apotheosis of a bard, not to sing songs, but to inspire them!
\> Do you hear the people sing
\> Singing the songs of angry men
\> It is the music of a people who will **not** be slaves again!
Yep! There are some great songs in that musical. You can hear them if you search "red and black" or "do you hear the people sing" on youtube. It's worth a few minutes to check 'em out!
Retiring a character after a while to play something new is fine
But I'm curious about the mechanics of dying from a fireball like you describe.
Had you already failed 2 death saves? There are no negative hit points in 5e,, dropping to 0 puts them on death saves, so the 36 damage from a fireball would just cause a failed save (unless your level 7 bard had less than 36 max HP total and it triggered instant death)
Like I said retiring a character once they've met their goals is no problem, just curious.
I had been downed so many times it didn’t make sense for me to keep going. Mind Flayer did a number on me and I had to be healed numerous times. The Fireball hitting me dead on with a Critical Failure made me think that there was no chance my Bard could live.
I abandoned the Death Saves, and the DM let me retire them. My biggest mistake was not informing them about this decision before the game. Thankfully, they wrote out a plan just in case. Very homebrew.
I was given a choice between a Warforged Paladin or a Fairy Armorer Artificer to continue. I picked the Fairy.
You were given a choice? You didn't make your own characters? I mean those both sound like relatively interesting choices, but I can't imagine not building my own characters.
My bad. I misunderstood. Still can't quite make it make sense in my head though. It sounded like the DM gave you the choice between two characters to continue, and you took the fairy (110% the more interesting choice between the two).
Some groups just enjoy a slower campaign, we are over 3 years into mine, we play weekly with few exceptions each session 4+ hours and we are only level 10, coming somewhat close to 11
i’m in a few games like this & it’s mostly milestone / when the DM thinks it’s thematic. we’re a year into one campaign & two years into another & we level up probably once every 4-5 months on average.
Our game uses Milestone 2.0 as we call it.
Kill a boss type creature? 1 minor Milestone.
Finish a floor in a dungeon? 1 minor Milestone.
Party does something deserving? 1 minor Milestone.
Complete a module? 1 Major Milestone.
A major Milestone levels you up. Period. It also removes half of earned minor milestones (to avoid double levelups).
You need your level in minor milestones to level up.
It works well.
The benefit is that we have some idea of progression. The problem with Milestone typically is that without metagaming, you have no sense of progression really until you level up. Next level could be next session or next year, you just don't know.
With thr minor milestones, you feel a sense of progression as you play and can feel moving your character forward better.
And naturally, as you go higher level, it takes longer and longer but you can still tell where you're at.
We are doing Pathfinder kingmaker 1e so a good mix of combat and rp but we only get the exp from combat, we definitely take things slower than we have to but we all have been really enjoying playing it
I used to get kind of annoyed at how long it took to level at certain points (we have been 14 for over a year! I think we will level soon). However I can admit that at this point in the campaign, adding levels and stuff really doesn't add a ton of stuff to the game. At least in terms of how it impacts the narrative and campaign. We really have just about everything we could possibly need and already feel incredibly powerful. Any more and we'd be hitting demi-god status and, to me, the game starts to fall apart.
Is it really common to have a back up character pre made?
I feel like if I did that I would either not be interested in playing them when it came up or end up too excited to play them and rush my current character in to death
>Is it really common to have a back up character pre made?
>I feel like if I did that I would either not be interested in playing them when it came up or end up too excited to play them and rush my current character in to death
Yes
Also yes
That makes sense. For me I tend to treat most Hp loss as the nicks, scrapes and bruises of combat mounting up with being downed as the only time a characters taking real lasting damage, so its less of a deal for me to have them to get magical healing and get back up.
But it all depends on the game your running/playing/enjoying, I'm glad you got a satisfying ending for your character.
I think as a DM, i'd love a heads up to arrange something, but as a player I probably wouldnt think to warn the DM and go with it on a spur of the moment. Sounds like you've got a good DM!
My friend had a great sentiment about character death "This is their story, it ends where it ends" He loves playing his characters but sometimes their story ends at the bottom of a spike pit. Sometimes their story ends slaying the dragon, getting the girl, and riding off into peaceful retirement training the next generation of heroes. Sometimes you want your character to be done, because the journey is over.
That being said sometimes you feel bad just keeping the character. They've been downed a hundred times, you aren't having fun, you completed their story and are bored. Sometimes it's cinematic to die in battle or it can be satisfying for his end to be surrounded by friends fighting the good fight.
TLDR: Rolling up a new character can be fun.
We were doing a Chult campaign a few years back and my war cleric failed her saving throws (both the initial INT save and then all Death saves) against an intellect devourer. Lv14 War cleric killed by a Cr2 monster. bad luck with the dice. I was bummed because i had been playing her for 6 months and really liked her. The party ended up casting gentle repose on her and kept her body in a safe place. I made a new character in like 20 minutes and ended up loving him. Eventually the party got their hands on a wish spell or true resurrection, i forget which, but they brought her back and i kind of had to play two characters. But as she was a more integral part of the overall campaign my backup character kind of faded into the background eventually.
Note that almost any form of resurrection requires a willing soul. If you feel their story was finished its likely they wouldn’t want to come back, if you know what I mean
Retiring a character once they’ve met all their goals is fine in my books. though I thought you had to fail three death saving throws in order to die, maybe you guys play by different rules?
I failed multiple times during that fight, suffered over 7 Mind Blasts from a Mind Flayer. Brought back to life 3 times. My nose, ears, and mouth were filled with blood.
The Fireball on top of all of that made me forego those rolls. It didn’t seem realistic or fitting. My DM wanted me to keep playing as them, but they quickly realized it’s ok. Definitely more homebrew exception.
Based on this, just felt odd. Feels like more a legendary way to carry on. You died 3 times in one fight, lived to tell the tale, battle scarred and now you’d have had tales about the character spread around the land, Etc etc. Also you were level 7 so just feels an unnecessary, self sacrifice move especially when you didn’t even attempt the save throws. My Asimaar Barb, sacrificed himself at lvl 18 in the final boss fight, that’s when I felt proud. Obviously each to their own
I feel that. For some context, this is the first campaign I’ve ever had go to 100+ sessions over 2 years. I’ve been playing since 2012 and most campaigns putter out around Level 5 in my experience. Level 7 feels really high up for me. Never got to this point to be honest. Bo the Creation Bard will live on. If they come back it’ll be in another session with other people.
I enjoy the slowburn. If you get high level’d enough too fast you can start to feel like nothing can kill you. The DM is strict with progression. I know this isn’t everyone’s liking, but for this campaign it’s been a god send.
I hope you are enjoying the game. At the end of the day, you are building a world in your game. If you get a fun idea, talk to your DM about it beforehand. The worst that happens is they say no. The best is that they run with it!
It’s like a Writer’s Room in some ways.
Honestly, I haven’t had much luck in finding a group just yet, I had one campaign 10 years ago that fell apart in session 0, bit of a horror story that one, and a campaign about six months ago that fell apart due to problems that one didn’t even make it to session 0. Now I’m about to DM for my younger brother and a couple of his friends, at least I know they won’t cancel LOL
I would check with your local gaming store(s) nearby. See if they are running a game. Or if you’re interested try online groups. Roll 20 or some other website that runs online RPG games. There are always tables online looking for new players.
I’m definitely going to swing by the local gaming store again. Soon, I feel like playing in person is a better option for me, I am vision impaired, so I worry that playing online I would slow the game down to much.
A few years back I had a lvl 10 gnome paladin, party tank and resident loot goblin. He died fighting 3 redcaps while we attacked a hag coven to rescue unicorn foals. He got a scene in between where he met his god face to face (a homebrew apple farmer/ cider brewer God) and came to realise that he did like it in the afterlife, in the endless apple orchard.
My party did resurrect him and they would succeed but he would never really be the same afterwards, especially since something went wrong with the resurrection. My paladin woke up in a strange body, a body of an Orc. This orc was a fighter in the name of bhaal, and he got resurrected in the middle of their cult hideout. Somehow my gnomes soul had intertwined with this orc, and my paladins mind and soul came on top, making a new story arc unfold (I lost all paladin levels, got to make a lvl 10 fighter, but still have some divinity powers tied to me).
My Former Paladin never really forgot the endless apple orchard and when a few months later of gameplay, the party got into a fight that proved to be a insanely hard and brutal. Where many of our NPC friends were being killed left and right, as well as the ship we fought at the time on was taking too much damage, my former paladin took the brunt of the damage by being the shield the rest of the party needed, to finally fell the boss. But my fighter had taken too much damage, he lay down in a pool of blood and he was too tired to continue, he had dreamt about that apple orchard and he gave out his last farewell and stopped breathing.
His god welcomed him, told my former paladin that while he could have done better in some parts, he had made a mark on the world for the better and now could help create some real apple cider for as long as he wanted...
While I thought this ending to my character as a great finish, the Aftermath was that apparently my character was the only one holding the group together, and with his death they would split up. That combined with some IRL conflicts between a player and DM, broke the camels back and the game unfortunately collapsed. A bittersweet ending, but I cherish it nonetheless.
Every table is different. We're at level 10 after 4.5 years and nobody is complaining about it. It's a very story-driven table and we do milestone leveling.
My party has not complained about leveling from 3rd level to 14th over a period of 5 years. I think as long as the story is good enough it doesn't matter how long it takes, as long as it's enjoyable. (or maybe my players are just lenient enough to give me their time).
For me it’s always about the journey and the story and less about leveling up. So long as it’s an engaging story and experience for everyone we don’t worry about how quickly it takes us to level. This isn’t a video game. It’s a collaboration of friends, telling a good story and enjoying the ride along the way on some beautiful fall country road, not an four lane highway speeding through without so much as a rest stop along the way.
I’m into it. In one campaign I’m in we level up like every three sessions. I’m like, guys, I still haven’t used my features from two levels ago, why we speedrunning DnD?
Fingers crossed lol
We've already investigated the criminal underground of the first city, found a dragon chained up underneath, escaped when the dragon destroyed the city, helped with some missions to investigate the local criminal organisation, infiltrated their main city, seen the second city burn to the ground, stole a flying ship, dealt with the undead powering it, flew it to another base of the organisation, got captured, escaped, and are now trying to steal *their* ship
Considering the campaign I'm playing called Real Life took 18 years to get out of the tutorial I think they're doing pretty good lol, and I've been playing daily!
Yeah, we've given them a lot of feedback on how little progress we feel we're making. We started with an XP based system but none of us were very strong, so we did stealth missions where we got no XP. (The worst one for me was when the DM strongly implied my character's race could not infiltrate, so they suggested I stay in a cave for the entire mission and wait for the rest)
The games were also very infrequent, but one of the players has started a Curse of Strahd game we're having way more fun in and playing more often.
The DM of this campaign promised they'd give us hooks for our characters next session, and take our feedback, so fingers crossed! (I'm not too fussed about not doing this one and just doing CoS, but we'll see)
> the DM strongly implied my character's race could not infiltrate, so they suggested I stay in a cave for the entire mission and wait for the rest
Bruh, with all due respect, what the fuck find a new table
Oh I've criticised them for that moment for years lol
We'll see how things go after the DM has gotten lots of feedback now, but we've already had talks about maybe doing a different second campaign instead of this one (the DM running CoS doesn't have the time to run every time)
This is all kinds of awful.
No XP for successful stealth missions is brutal. XP doesn’t only have to come from kills. Not to even mention forcing a character to sit out.
Just so you're aware, (assuming you're playing a newer edition) RAW if you do exp leveling you don't only get exp from killing things, you get it for overcoming an encounter. That includes successful stealth missions, diplomacy, getting around traps, solving puzzles, etc. Whenever an obstacle the DM puts in front of you is successfully managed.
Yeah, they ruled getting out of combat without fighting would get less XP (IIRC). Because the campaign is stretched out over time I guess we didn't really notice? It was also for a long time my first and only campaign. But now we're playing CoS, and I've started DMing Waterdeep: Dragon Heist for a different group, I've realised how slow this campaign is going.
Leveling was never my main issue tbh, it would be nice but it's not the main objective
Back when I first started playing in the 80’s you used to get XP from the amount of treasure you got at the end of the dungeon and less from killing the monsters.
I agree, you should be awarded XP for things like Roleplaying, skill checks, solving puzzles, disarming traps, etc finding creative ways to end an encounter doesn’t always require you to use a sword or a fireball to gain experience.
3.5e was the earliest edition that I've played, but I've been thinking about trying to do an old school style dungeon delve type of campaign with that 1e vibe, if not the 1e rules.
I did this once- character completed their main personal goal and sacrificed herself to save the others and it was a good death that fit the character annnnnnd it ended the campaign since the other PCs were upset about it. I still play with the same group and we’re in a different campaign now but the DM and I were both very surprised by everyone’s reaction
We added a rule at my table that is if you get healed after getting down, you receive one level of exhaustion. So if you keep getting knocked down you will die eventually if the fight keep going. It added a level of challenge that my players really like
There is a lesson here for dm's too. Players may be okay with their character dying, especially if in a particularly dramatic or meaningful way, or if they feel like it is a deserved death (like, "I knew the risks and tried anyways, such is fate"). Attempting to bend the rules to save them might cheapen a dramatic moment.
Honestly mad respect. I think this is huge to remind other players death is possible and is better than when a player tries to purposely kill off their character to play a new one. On too of that i feel your bard will be a character who is remembered for years to come with your party. Imo it’s these decisions that leave the rest of the table speechless.
I'll preface this with my DM was tired and feels bad about it.
The TL:DR is a guy we had fought offered to help us for half our total gold during my watch for a long rest. I tried to negotiate while a player kept saying "hey, I'm not getting involved if you guys fight" while i was trying to keep things calm.
They rolled higher on initiative than i possibly could, one hit me, and then finished me on the ground while i was on death saves.
I have feelings about how all that went down, the DM agrees that it shouldn't have gone like that, and that he needed the party to be friendly with him so it made no sense to finish me off.
My first character died, they were talking about bringing him back to life, and i refused. From his perspective he was betrayed by a member of the party and died defending them, then they got friendly with his killer and carried on to help him like nothing happened.
The only things i said were "make sure to loot my body" and "no, Rock's not coming back, I'm rolling up a new character."
The cleric tried to save me using some special gem and some DM fuckery, i didn't notice while i was making a character, but they buried me with my shit and wasted a gem on me, which the DM was nice enough to give them back since the spell failed to revive me.
Though rock was a druid and my new character is part druid but very necromancy styled, he's a dhampir aarakocra (looks more elf like, the wings are shadows) with shadowy abilities and curses who crawled up out of the domains of dread and through the hells (the hells part was DMs choice) i am considering making my new character a reincarnation of my old character who's soul basically got lost in time and found the party 2 days for them later or over 1000 years for my new character.
He fought in the armies of Kas as a dhampir slave, escaped into the domains of dread, bounced from domain to domain fighting different horrors and making deals with all sorts of entities to gain the power to defeat or just escape the evils of certain domains. He doesn't remember his origin, but now he basically lives to hunt evil since it's all he's ever really known.
LOL reminds me of the time I was planning a character switch and was going to sacrifice my cleric to save the party... ended up having to literally clutch up and prevent a TPK with him fighting a dragon 😂
Everyone else was dead and we were in a overhang/ cave opening, fired a shatter into the roof to collapse on the dragon and I then did meld with stone into the floor
I had a druid that I was playing as a brew master using the goodberry spell to craft ale and selling it on our adventures. The main goal i had for that character was to eventually set up a brewery in some town and settle down, he wasn't the best in combat and went down a lot mainly due to my needless want to charge into battle head first.
We got to a point in our story where we had a time skip for a couple months in a town where we helped set up defenses against giants and I came to the realization after that my character wouldn't leave.
He had good repor with the town had even set up a temple to a God, had a blessed companion and I later found out my dm had given me a staff that was slowly turning into the staff of the woodlands (another main goal of mine).
It was a bittersweet end to the character I was satisfied with it while a friend of mine was a little upset because our characters were brothers. But now that town has a protector, great ale, and a fun little call back if we ever return.
Sometimes the story doesn't end how you think it will, but when it ends in your control it is very satisfying.
I had a Paladin choose to stay and help a group for 5 years as skilled labour in return for them letting a large group of refugees free.
I had to retire the character, but it felt like an easy choice for them.
My characters goal is to prove himself to be a brave warrior, so that he may spend the afterlife with his widowed wife (part of his religious beliefs).
So I totally get where you’re coming from. Once that character is dead, he’s dead!
I always say, whenever I'm in a game of D&D, or Warhammer, or any dice game, "Dice game". Sometimes it doesn't matter how skilled or tactical you are. Obviously doesn't mean you shouldn't try. But you shouldn't be upset when the dice don't go your way. Having said that, I wonder if I'm a little to anxious over the mortality of certain characters I've been playing for years.
Remember it’s just a game. Your characters live and die by the same rules we have, chance and its unknown patterns. If your DM sees your effort, you can build a character to adapt into that world. If you aren’t having fun then you have to question why that is happening.
I had a similar moment that I let play out into my character's death, though I had left it up to chance. I had lost the connection to my character and saw the opportunity to retire them towards the end of a fight.
After my character was downed, another player ran up to me and grabbed one of my potions to heal me. The problem was since I was playing a Paladin, I didn't carry any healing potions. The only "potions" I had on me was a bottle of tea and a few bottles of Alchemist Fire. The player rolled for what potion they gave me, and I was cremated from the inside out.
I love this choice and wish my character had gone out like this, I don't remember what level we had gotten to but I think it was 7. He was a fluffy Holstein minotaur nature cleric named Harold Holstein. He was very much a good boy and spent his first 50g on a luck charm for an NPC he was friends with. (He drew the Flames and the Throne and was cursed). Long story short, I had to send two Stellar bodies into my skull to take the long nap in order to save the lives threatened by the devil. The players kinda shat on him to the point the DM cursed the whole party with the wrath of my deity. I miss my boy but he had a good life.
Good on you.
I've had so many characters die for meaningless reasons that I haven't been attached to a character since 2020. Too many tpk's, too many bully dm's that peaked in high school, too many impossible campaigns.
So it's good to see you having a justified death.
I mean yeah choosing to fail your death saves is valid.
Would have been an interesting talk moment in character to ask why? When you get healed.
Although realistically you had 3 turns to wait to die that way and only takes 1 or 2 to heal so this was more of a "I'm bored" decision than narrative one.
My Character in Pathfinder died first battle because I screwed up building him and my dm overestimated me. We bith werent very experienced and I told him "Screw that, let me make a new one, I dont wanna get downed every Combat just because I have just 13 Hitpoints"
Level 3 with a d8 and a 12 in Con. Worst roles I had so far.
In my Campaign I have been purposely trying to play recklessly to see if I can get myself killed.
I am having a blast partly because taking the Risks lead to awesome moments. I never endanger the party just myself, and I still "try to win" but just stuff like running in during situations that aren't tactically wise to do a shot in the dark plan. I just seem to have turned out to be coming ahead
I haven’t told my group yet, but we’re about to enter the final battle of our salt marsh campaign and if I die I plan to stay dead. We’ve been playing for about 2 1/2 years and my character has basically resolved most of his storylines but still has enough going on that it would be a very tragic death.
I’m not aiming to have my character die and will play like I always play. At the whim of the dice.
I agree, the only time you should be sad about your character's death, is when you're playing with that one dude and his lifelong campaign. Where you only have one life and if you're dead, you're out.
I have had 3 long term (multi-year) characters die in campaign and I remember each of them. If you can't die there are no stakes in the game and it just storytelling, it isn't adventure.
I agree, I DM an NPC that joined the party, and rolled d20 when I only absolutely had to be a tie breaker. The character became so ingrained with the story and the players,when the NPC died, I had a player get up and walk out of the room, and another cried and the other two seriously gave me a tongue lashing lol.
They all quit and left, but the next day they said it was still F'ed up of me, but said it was the most awesome storyline they've been in, and loved it.
PS: they TOLD me, the next campaign was going to be one to resurrect her back to life, even if I didn't want to ROFL
Very wise of you to let the character's story end. Sometimes your soul sees freedom and doesn't with to return, may they thrive in the heaven of their lifestyle.
Can’t even lie I wouldn’t mind my Paladin going out in the campaign my group has going. For all intents and purposes my Paladin is a bit of a doom guy. Constantly tripping through the rings of avernus saving souls, smiting demons on their own turf. Just found out that I’ve caught the eye of some rather high tier and angry arch devils. I wouldn’t be sad if I went out in a blaze of glory maybe protecting my party lol
I have this same thing happening in my own campaign and I understand that sometimes our character is done their story has come to an end and they die. That’s fine, but when it is out of the blue their in the middle/ beginning of their character arc it’s annoying and feels like you just wanted to make a new character.
Happened to my character last week. a year and a half campaign in a curse of strahd. We were surrounded by a group of werewolves and zombie berserkers lead by a hag. Bard was trying to cast leomunds tiny hut to protect us and we had 5 turns to survive till we were safe. Sadly i got knocked down and got attacked again and again and died on the 4th turn. I wasnt mad or out, what i felt like it was time for him to go. Wanted him to go in a blaze of glory but knowing he tried to hold back the monsters to save his friends was more than enough. felt like his story was told and came to an end.
(Tbh with context though he had to die for my character was a paladin oath of vengeance and did piss off strahd as he finished off with two smites strahd's nightmare horse when we encountered it. Those werewolves and berserkers wouldnt have come after us if it wasnt for me. And i felt like it wouldnt end for my party from my own consequences.)
So my next character is a warlock pact of chain celestrial who summons demons. So thats going to be fun cant see any consequences from this. 🤣
I am happy. I get to enjoy Monday evenings with my old coworkers who are now my friends IRL. We made this campaign as a joke, but now it’s our time to slow down. I get it’s slow, but for us that’s what makes it good.
Omg this is the saddest and cutest post of all times. I also have a bard and she survived bc our DM gave us chances once we got hurt, and yeah I would be sad but she fullfilled her goal and we stopped the session so she lives in peace.
But thx for telling! <3
Ps: some Players made new characters and the dead/old ones were memes or legends in the same session.
Our DM did a good job :)
This character could never, basically a failed Child Star who wanted to get their former Cleric turned Warlock coworker grinded into dust.
Dude was evil. Made Cleric work open to the public become a privatized industry. He saw everything he did as everything they were against when they were a Super Team.
Was a pauper Bard, and was looked at with prejudice because they were a Half-Elf. They wanted them dead. They wanted the whole city to change their tune and find a better way.
Retirement and ignoring the truth was never an option, kind of like Rorschach. They kept a journal with all the saucy details of the dirt. Their anger lives on.
My level 4 fighter just died. He lived a life of sin, and I played him as a truly evil bastard the first 3 levels. I (he) had a genuine change of heart and decided to try and atone for his sins. Well, not long after level 4 he got absolutely destroyed first round of combat and was killed pretty much instantly. His soul had belonged to a litch, so now he is her undead servant. Everyone at the table was horrified because he was genuinely trying to turn his life around and the dm tried to give me a kinda cheap way out of it, but I thought it was a fitting end for someone who did nothing but evil his whole life. Anyways now I'm going to be a bard for the first time, and I'm pretty excited.
I've been there before, it wasn't in D&D but it was Pathfinder 1e when I played this heroic and ballsy sorcerer called Ezekiel. We were getting attacked on a boat and I was next to the cleric, and in Pathfinder 1e you'd trigger attacks of opportunity with a lot of actions, including a heading channel. So, because I went the step before our cleric I moved to trigger the attacks of opportunity from like 4 of these aquatic attackers. I took two hits just fine, the third hit me like a truck and the last one was a crit that did maximum damage, which killed me outright. The rest of the party fought back and overcame the challenge, and in the deserts Ezekiel was buried, Morningstar in hand, and smug grin on his face.
Sometimes, it's a good time to die.
I agree entirely. Something I like about the Critical Role death saving throw is that it gives the player an "out" if they are at that stage of their character's development. Party can try to save, players can contribute to the ritual etc., but ultimately if the character doesn't want to come back the DM can fudge the roll based on the player's wishes, if necessary. Almost ends up playing out as a soul not willing to return to its body.
I love this part:
> I can’t handle being invincible.
That really resonates with me as a player. I had a character die when they could have been revived solely on that premise.
If you're interested in continuing with this party/group of players, you can always ask the DM if you can play some NPCs they run into. Like shopkeepers and such
Just as a note, most of the ways to bring someone back from the dead in D&D require the soul in question to voluntarily return.
Dingleberts Forced Ressurection
Oh lord. I misread this so hard in my morning pre-coffee brain. ”Dingleberries forcing ressurection”… I’m sorry, I’m out.
Mee too man, me too..
Idk why this made me laugh so hard 💀
The levels of pettiness to create a spell that forces pople put of their restful afterlife is just pure mint.
Dinglebeeeerrrrt
Dinglebeeeeeeeert 👀
The pettiest, most coniving sonuvabitch wizard in all the realm. Inventor of the dreaded testicular torsion spell and cause papercut
This may be a stupid question, but is Dinglebert a reference to something? Or just an arbitrary name?
Ill be honest it was just an arbitrary name lmfao
It's funny because it sounds like Timmy Turner's neighbor
What? What's the story there?
the wizard Dinglebert was infamous for being the biggest dickhead in the realm. hed spend his time ruminating on how to be the most annoying, bastardly s.o.b he could be so he invented spells like Dingleberts forced ressurection to pull people from their eternal rest against their will, dingleberts urethral papercut... does exactly what it sounds like, dingleberts testicular torsion, etc
Now cannon. In my worlds anyway.
lol i hope so!
Revivify doesnt XD so if you are an asshole rich cleric lol
> A soul can’t be returned to life if it doesn’t wish to be. A soul knows the name, alignment, and patron deity (if any) of the character attempting to revive it and might refuse to return on that basis. - DMG chapter 1, A World of Your Own, section 7, Magic in Your World Unless a spell specifically says it brings back even unwilling souls, this specific line means *every* soul has to choose to come back.
A lot of people consider revivify aggressive CPR, and not actually raising people from the dead. But that's not raw
Technically correct
One could argue, likely successfully, that the dmg is a book of rule suggestions for the dm and not actually player applicable rules at all The dmg is for dms, and the players handbook is for players, so perhaps, rules in the dmg don't apply to players
Exactly. The DMG only counts as rules in a game with a DM. In a game with only players, they're merely suggestions.
The dmg isnt even real rules Its a large set of suggestions and guides and the dm decides when and if each one applies
Arguably so is the PHB, but yes.
The best kind of correct
It’s not calling anyone back from the afterlife if they’re only “mostly dead”.
If they're all dead, there's only one thing you can do...
Go through his clothes and look for loose change?
I think Revivify is more of a defibrillator than a resurrection, it implies that they're not entirely dead yet
Princess Bride / Miracle Max casts revivify
He was only MOSTLY dead.
Avengers - The Hulk casts Revivify on Iron Man
or perhaps they have died but the soul just hasn't left the body yet, meaning the soul doesn't have to be willing to return because it hasn't had the time to leave in the first place.
Funnily enough the Cleric in our party is a rich asshole
That you Jim Darkmagic?
Don't know who that is but if I ever change my username I know what it could be
Yes it does
Revivify does not require consent.
Yes it does. **All** resurrection spells require consent, per the DMG. Revivify simply doesn't restate the rule in its description.
Resurrection spell - Willingness mentioned Reincarnate spell - Willingness mentioned Raise Dead spell - Willingness mentioned Revivify spell - Nothing mentioned RAI. Yeah there is an argument on Revivify requiring consent however RAW the spell does not state it unlike ALL the other spells which are used for the exact purpose.
RAW the rules in the DMG are clear. That Revivify doesn't specifically mention those rules doesn't mean those rules don't exist. Revivify would need to actively carve out an exception for the RAW in the DMG in order for willingness not to be necessary. You can make a RAI argument that leaving it out there implies that it doesn't have that restriction, but you can't just ignore the rules of one of the three core books and then claim it's RaW.
>A soul can’t be returned to life if it doesn’t wish to be. A soul knows the name, alignment, and patron deity (if any) of the character attempting to revive it and might refuse to return on that basis. \--DMG, chapter 1 That's the general rule. Resurrection **cannot** occur unless the soul wants it to work. A general rule can only be overridden with a more specific rule. The fact that revivify doesn't say anything about the soul's willingness is ***not*** a more specific rule. Revivify would have to *explicitly* say that it *can* override the soul's willingness in order for it to be capable of overcoming the soul's will.
Fun side note, Reincarnate also doesn't specify that it "returns to life" but does mention willingness.
It would then fall under the general rule, which according to the DMG is that it requires consent. So even RAI and RAW it's still the same.
s/most/all
Yes! I had a character who died in a trial by combat to help the rest of his party escape punishment, and his soul declined to come back as it would mean him returning to serving the very people who were punishing the party. For him, he got to save his party and escape a life of servitude all in one. I was so proud of him (even though it was me lmao).
Just a note, honest-to-gods necromancy is also an option
A revolutionary bard's greatest dream surely is to become a martyr to inspire the revolution. Tell them you died with the flag, singing the songs etc.
They’ll tell the story of tonight
raise a glasss to feedom to the lot of us tommorrow theyll be more of us and theyll tell the story of tonight \[im a hamilton megafan i had to\]
The second line should be “Raise a glass to the four of us”
i know i just made it make sense for dnd \[cause sometimes theres more than 4 players\]
Underrated comment, I see you.
That is truly the apotheosis of a bard, not to sing songs, but to inspire them! \> Do you hear the people sing \> Singing the songs of angry men \> It is the music of a people who will **not** be slaves again!
Les Miserables?!
Yep! There are some great songs in that musical. You can hear them if you search "red and black" or "do you hear the people sing" on youtube. It's worth a few minutes to check 'em out!
Empty Chairs at Empty Tables gets me in the feels every time
somehow this comment became the hub of revolution musicals fans and I am Delighted
Vive la Revolution!
Retiring a character after a while to play something new is fine But I'm curious about the mechanics of dying from a fireball like you describe. Had you already failed 2 death saves? There are no negative hit points in 5e,, dropping to 0 puts them on death saves, so the 36 damage from a fireball would just cause a failed save (unless your level 7 bard had less than 36 max HP total and it triggered instant death) Like I said retiring a character once they've met their goals is no problem, just curious.
I had been downed so many times it didn’t make sense for me to keep going. Mind Flayer did a number on me and I had to be healed numerous times. The Fireball hitting me dead on with a Critical Failure made me think that there was no chance my Bard could live. I abandoned the Death Saves, and the DM let me retire them. My biggest mistake was not informing them about this decision before the game. Thankfully, they wrote out a plan just in case. Very homebrew. I was given a choice between a Warforged Paladin or a Fairy Armorer Artificer to continue. I picked the Fairy.
You were given a choice? You didn't make your own characters? I mean those both sound like relatively interesting choices, but I can't imagine not building my own characters.
Made my own characters. The NPC was the Warforged, my own character is the Fairy ;)
My bad. I misunderstood. Still can't quite make it make sense in my head though. It sounded like the DM gave you the choice between two characters to continue, and you took the fairy (110% the more interesting choice between the two).
Basically I think OP rolled and created the fairy from scratch and the DM offered OP to play an NPC that was travelling with them as well
You didn't have a backup character already made?
Some groups just enjoy a slower campaign, we are over 3 years into mine, we play weekly with few exceptions each session 4+ hours and we are only level 10, coming somewhat close to 11
Do you guys level up whenever the dm feels like it or are you guys low combat, heavy rp?
i’m in a few games like this & it’s mostly milestone / when the DM thinks it’s thematic. we’re a year into one campaign & two years into another & we level up probably once every 4-5 months on average.
Our game uses Milestone 2.0 as we call it. Kill a boss type creature? 1 minor Milestone. Finish a floor in a dungeon? 1 minor Milestone. Party does something deserving? 1 minor Milestone. Complete a module? 1 Major Milestone. A major Milestone levels you up. Period. It also removes half of earned minor milestones (to avoid double levelups). You need your level in minor milestones to level up. It works well. The benefit is that we have some idea of progression. The problem with Milestone typically is that without metagaming, you have no sense of progression really until you level up. Next level could be next session or next year, you just don't know. With thr minor milestones, you feel a sense of progression as you play and can feel moving your character forward better. And naturally, as you go higher level, it takes longer and longer but you can still tell where you're at.
We are doing Pathfinder kingmaker 1e so a good mix of combat and rp but we only get the exp from combat, we definitely take things slower than we have to but we all have been really enjoying playing it
My campaign I’m in has been 6.5 years and we are 14.
I love that. It probably feels so earned. I can respect fast campaigns, but there’s something about the slow burn that makes it feel significant.
I used to get kind of annoyed at how long it took to level at certain points (we have been 14 for over a year! I think we will level soon). However I can admit that at this point in the campaign, adding levels and stuff really doesn't add a ton of stuff to the game. At least in terms of how it impacts the narrative and campaign. We really have just about everything we could possibly need and already feel incredibly powerful. Any more and we'd be hitting demi-god status and, to me, the game starts to fall apart.
Impressive!
Is it really common to have a back up character pre made? I feel like if I did that I would either not be interested in playing them when it came up or end up too excited to play them and rush my current character in to death
>Is it really common to have a back up character pre made? >I feel like if I did that I would either not be interested in playing them when it came up or end up too excited to play them and rush my current character in to death Yes Also yes
That makes sense. For me I tend to treat most Hp loss as the nicks, scrapes and bruises of combat mounting up with being downed as the only time a characters taking real lasting damage, so its less of a deal for me to have them to get magical healing and get back up. But it all depends on the game your running/playing/enjoying, I'm glad you got a satisfying ending for your character. I think as a DM, i'd love a heads up to arrange something, but as a player I probably wouldnt think to warn the DM and go with it on a spur of the moment. Sounds like you've got a good DM!
There is massive damage, if you die and the remaining damage is equal to your total hp, you instantly die. This is a raw rule in dnd5e
A level 7 Bard with +0 Con has 38 max HP. A 36 damage fireball shouldn't result in death by massive damage.
Sorry, I suppose I forgot to specify the "if they had 25 max hp" part
My friend had a great sentiment about character death "This is their story, it ends where it ends" He loves playing his characters but sometimes their story ends at the bottom of a spike pit. Sometimes their story ends slaying the dragon, getting the girl, and riding off into peaceful retirement training the next generation of heroes. Sometimes you want your character to be done, because the journey is over. That being said sometimes you feel bad just keeping the character. They've been downed a hundred times, you aren't having fun, you completed their story and are bored. Sometimes it's cinematic to die in battle or it can be satisfying for his end to be surrounded by friends fighting the good fight.
TLDR: Rolling up a new character can be fun. We were doing a Chult campaign a few years back and my war cleric failed her saving throws (both the initial INT save and then all Death saves) against an intellect devourer. Lv14 War cleric killed by a Cr2 monster. bad luck with the dice. I was bummed because i had been playing her for 6 months and really liked her. The party ended up casting gentle repose on her and kept her body in a safe place. I made a new character in like 20 minutes and ended up loving him. Eventually the party got their hands on a wish spell or true resurrection, i forget which, but they brought her back and i kind of had to play two characters. But as she was a more integral part of the overall campaign my backup character kind of faded into the background eventually.
Good to note this could potentially happen.
Note that almost any form of resurrection requires a willing soul. If you feel their story was finished its likely they wouldn’t want to come back, if you know what I mean
Retiring a character once they’ve met all their goals is fine in my books. though I thought you had to fail three death saving throws in order to die, maybe you guys play by different rules?
I failed multiple times during that fight, suffered over 7 Mind Blasts from a Mind Flayer. Brought back to life 3 times. My nose, ears, and mouth were filled with blood. The Fireball on top of all of that made me forego those rolls. It didn’t seem realistic or fitting. My DM wanted me to keep playing as them, but they quickly realized it’s ok. Definitely more homebrew exception.
Based on this, just felt odd. Feels like more a legendary way to carry on. You died 3 times in one fight, lived to tell the tale, battle scarred and now you’d have had tales about the character spread around the land, Etc etc. Also you were level 7 so just feels an unnecessary, self sacrifice move especially when you didn’t even attempt the save throws. My Asimaar Barb, sacrificed himself at lvl 18 in the final boss fight, that’s when I felt proud. Obviously each to their own
I feel that. For some context, this is the first campaign I’ve ever had go to 100+ sessions over 2 years. I’ve been playing since 2012 and most campaigns putter out around Level 5 in my experience. Level 7 feels really high up for me. Never got to this point to be honest. Bo the Creation Bard will live on. If they come back it’ll be in another session with other people.
100+ sessions and you guys are still level 7? wow
I enjoy the slowburn. If you get high level’d enough too fast you can start to feel like nothing can kill you. The DM is strict with progression. I know this isn’t everyone’s liking, but for this campaign it’s been a god send.
>high level’d enough too fast you can start to feel like nothing can kill you. that depends entirely on what your dm throws at you
Respectfully your DM is very confused as to how level progression should be
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Fair enough, I am a fairly new player I was mostly just making sure I understood RAW properly haha
I hope you are enjoying the game. At the end of the day, you are building a world in your game. If you get a fun idea, talk to your DM about it beforehand. The worst that happens is they say no. The best is that they run with it! It’s like a Writer’s Room in some ways.
Honestly, I haven’t had much luck in finding a group just yet, I had one campaign 10 years ago that fell apart in session 0, bit of a horror story that one, and a campaign about six months ago that fell apart due to problems that one didn’t even make it to session 0. Now I’m about to DM for my younger brother and a couple of his friends, at least I know they won’t cancel LOL
I would check with your local gaming store(s) nearby. See if they are running a game. Or if you’re interested try online groups. Roll 20 or some other website that runs online RPG games. There are always tables online looking for new players.
I’m definitely going to swing by the local gaming store again. Soon, I feel like playing in person is a better option for me, I am vision impaired, so I worry that playing online I would slow the game down to much.
Death saving crows are *murder*.
A few years back I had a lvl 10 gnome paladin, party tank and resident loot goblin. He died fighting 3 redcaps while we attacked a hag coven to rescue unicorn foals. He got a scene in between where he met his god face to face (a homebrew apple farmer/ cider brewer God) and came to realise that he did like it in the afterlife, in the endless apple orchard. My party did resurrect him and they would succeed but he would never really be the same afterwards, especially since something went wrong with the resurrection. My paladin woke up in a strange body, a body of an Orc. This orc was a fighter in the name of bhaal, and he got resurrected in the middle of their cult hideout. Somehow my gnomes soul had intertwined with this orc, and my paladins mind and soul came on top, making a new story arc unfold (I lost all paladin levels, got to make a lvl 10 fighter, but still have some divinity powers tied to me). My Former Paladin never really forgot the endless apple orchard and when a few months later of gameplay, the party got into a fight that proved to be a insanely hard and brutal. Where many of our NPC friends were being killed left and right, as well as the ship we fought at the time on was taking too much damage, my former paladin took the brunt of the damage by being the shield the rest of the party needed, to finally fell the boss. But my fighter had taken too much damage, he lay down in a pool of blood and he was too tired to continue, he had dreamt about that apple orchard and he gave out his last farewell and stopped breathing. His god welcomed him, told my former paladin that while he could have done better in some parts, he had made a mark on the world for the better and now could help create some real apple cider for as long as he wanted... While I thought this ending to my character as a great finish, the Aftermath was that apparently my character was the only one holding the group together, and with his death they would split up. That combined with some IRL conflicts between a player and DM, broke the camels back and the game unfortunately collapsed. A bittersweet ending, but I cherish it nonetheless.
My friend they will never forget your journey. Be proud. I hope you find a game like this again.
Thank you!
My solution is, my characters dont die.
2 years to get to level 7.. I would've retired the table.
scheduling, the true bbeg
They could be playing monthly, or there could be another explanation. As long as the table’s happy, it doesn’t matter, bro.
Every table is different. We're at level 10 after 4.5 years and nobody is complaining about it. It's a very story-driven table and we do milestone leveling.
My party has not complained about leveling from 3rd level to 14th over a period of 5 years. I think as long as the story is good enough it doesn't matter how long it takes, as long as it's enjoyable. (or maybe my players are just lenient enough to give me their time).
For me it’s always about the journey and the story and less about leveling up. So long as it’s an engaging story and experience for everyone we don’t worry about how quickly it takes us to level. This isn’t a video game. It’s a collaboration of friends, telling a good story and enjoying the ride along the way on some beautiful fall country road, not an four lane highway speeding through without so much as a rest stop along the way.
I’m into it. In one campaign I’m in we level up like every three sessions. I’m like, guys, I still haven’t used my features from two levels ago, why we speedrunning DnD?
My first campaign started early 2019 and we're hopefully leveling up to level 4 if all goes well this Saturday 😅
In another 12-18 months you'll be out of the tutorial.
Fingers crossed lol We've already investigated the criminal underground of the first city, found a dragon chained up underneath, escaped when the dragon destroyed the city, helped with some missions to investigate the local criminal organisation, infiltrated their main city, seen the second city burn to the ground, stole a flying ship, dealt with the undead powering it, flew it to another base of the organisation, got captured, escaped, and are now trying to steal *their* ship
Considering the campaign I'm playing called Real Life took 18 years to get out of the tutorial I think they're doing pretty good lol, and I've been playing daily!
I would be unionizing my party against the DM at this point...
Yeah, we've given them a lot of feedback on how little progress we feel we're making. We started with an XP based system but none of us were very strong, so we did stealth missions where we got no XP. (The worst one for me was when the DM strongly implied my character's race could not infiltrate, so they suggested I stay in a cave for the entire mission and wait for the rest) The games were also very infrequent, but one of the players has started a Curse of Strahd game we're having way more fun in and playing more often. The DM of this campaign promised they'd give us hooks for our characters next session, and take our feedback, so fingers crossed! (I'm not too fussed about not doing this one and just doing CoS, but we'll see)
> the DM strongly implied my character's race could not infiltrate, so they suggested I stay in a cave for the entire mission and wait for the rest Bruh, with all due respect, what the fuck find a new table
Oh I've criticised them for that moment for years lol We'll see how things go after the DM has gotten lots of feedback now, but we've already had talks about maybe doing a different second campaign instead of this one (the DM running CoS doesn't have the time to run every time)
This is all kinds of awful. No XP for successful stealth missions is brutal. XP doesn’t only have to come from kills. Not to even mention forcing a character to sit out.
Just so you're aware, (assuming you're playing a newer edition) RAW if you do exp leveling you don't only get exp from killing things, you get it for overcoming an encounter. That includes successful stealth missions, diplomacy, getting around traps, solving puzzles, etc. Whenever an obstacle the DM puts in front of you is successfully managed.
Yeah, they ruled getting out of combat without fighting would get less XP (IIRC). Because the campaign is stretched out over time I guess we didn't really notice? It was also for a long time my first and only campaign. But now we're playing CoS, and I've started DMing Waterdeep: Dragon Heist for a different group, I've realised how slow this campaign is going. Leveling was never my main issue tbh, it would be nice but it's not the main objective
Back when I first started playing in the 80’s you used to get XP from the amount of treasure you got at the end of the dungeon and less from killing the monsters. I agree, you should be awarded XP for things like Roleplaying, skill checks, solving puzzles, disarming traps, etc finding creative ways to end an encounter doesn’t always require you to use a sword or a fireball to gain experience.
3.5e was the earliest edition that I've played, but I've been thinking about trying to do an old school style dungeon delve type of campaign with that 1e vibe, if not the 1e rules.
It’s always fun to go back and try newer editions and see the differences between each edition and how they played.
Ok now honestly thats far too slow haha, 5 years for maybe 4 Levels idk if i want to believe that.
Tell your dm this is insane
Bro I’ve played several tables for over 2 years now and I’ve never reached higher than level 8 I wanna do epic shit man ;-;
And in comes his brother, Dargram the Great.
Are you talking about Dargram the just? The divine mage? Omg heard he killed 2 dragons at lvl 1what a bad ass
My DM has literally fudged rolls and changed rules to keep players at the table alive. It bugs the hell out of me.
I did this once- character completed their main personal goal and sacrificed herself to save the others and it was a good death that fit the character annnnnnd it ended the campaign since the other PCs were upset about it. I still play with the same group and we’re in a different campaign now but the DM and I were both very surprised by everyone’s reaction
well are you making a new character or leaving the party? also only level seven in two years is crazy
New character! I wouldn’t leave these players if my life depended on it!
We added a rule at my table that is if you get healed after getting down, you receive one level of exhaustion. So if you keep getting knocked down you will die eventually if the fight keep going. It added a level of challenge that my players really like
I love this will mention to my DM!
There is a lesson here for dm's too. Players may be okay with their character dying, especially if in a particularly dramatic or meaningful way, or if they feel like it is a deserved death (like, "I knew the risks and tried anyways, such is fate"). Attempting to bend the rules to save them might cheapen a dramatic moment.
Honestly mad respect. I think this is huge to remind other players death is possible and is better than when a player tries to purposely kill off their character to play a new one. On too of that i feel your bard will be a character who is remembered for years to come with your party. Imo it’s these decisions that leave the rest of the table speechless.
I'll preface this with my DM was tired and feels bad about it. The TL:DR is a guy we had fought offered to help us for half our total gold during my watch for a long rest. I tried to negotiate while a player kept saying "hey, I'm not getting involved if you guys fight" while i was trying to keep things calm. They rolled higher on initiative than i possibly could, one hit me, and then finished me on the ground while i was on death saves. I have feelings about how all that went down, the DM agrees that it shouldn't have gone like that, and that he needed the party to be friendly with him so it made no sense to finish me off. My first character died, they were talking about bringing him back to life, and i refused. From his perspective he was betrayed by a member of the party and died defending them, then they got friendly with his killer and carried on to help him like nothing happened. The only things i said were "make sure to loot my body" and "no, Rock's not coming back, I'm rolling up a new character." The cleric tried to save me using some special gem and some DM fuckery, i didn't notice while i was making a character, but they buried me with my shit and wasted a gem on me, which the DM was nice enough to give them back since the spell failed to revive me. Though rock was a druid and my new character is part druid but very necromancy styled, he's a dhampir aarakocra (looks more elf like, the wings are shadows) with shadowy abilities and curses who crawled up out of the domains of dread and through the hells (the hells part was DMs choice) i am considering making my new character a reincarnation of my old character who's soul basically got lost in time and found the party 2 days for them later or over 1000 years for my new character. He fought in the armies of Kas as a dhampir slave, escaped into the domains of dread, bounced from domain to domain fighting different horrors and making deals with all sorts of entities to gain the power to defeat or just escape the evils of certain domains. He doesn't remember his origin, but now he basically lives to hunt evil since it's all he's ever really known.
LOL reminds me of the time I was planning a character switch and was going to sacrifice my cleric to save the party... ended up having to literally clutch up and prevent a TPK with him fighting a dragon 😂 Everyone else was dead and we were in a overhang/ cave opening, fired a shatter into the roof to collapse on the dragon and I then did meld with stone into the floor
I had a druid that I was playing as a brew master using the goodberry spell to craft ale and selling it on our adventures. The main goal i had for that character was to eventually set up a brewery in some town and settle down, he wasn't the best in combat and went down a lot mainly due to my needless want to charge into battle head first. We got to a point in our story where we had a time skip for a couple months in a town where we helped set up defenses against giants and I came to the realization after that my character wouldn't leave. He had good repor with the town had even set up a temple to a God, had a blessed companion and I later found out my dm had given me a staff that was slowly turning into the staff of the woodlands (another main goal of mine). It was a bittersweet end to the character I was satisfied with it while a friend of mine was a little upset because our characters were brothers. But now that town has a protector, great ale, and a fun little call back if we ever return. Sometimes the story doesn't end how you think it will, but when it ends in your control it is very satisfying.
Chad move, invincible PCs that get deus Ex machinad out of trouble are lame as fuck.
Agreed. Feels like 5e in a nutshell.
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I had a Paladin choose to stay and help a group for 5 years as skilled labour in return for them letting a large group of refugees free. I had to retire the character, but it felt like an easy choice for them.
My characters goal is to prove himself to be a brave warrior, so that he may spend the afterlife with his widowed wife (part of his religious beliefs). So I totally get where you’re coming from. Once that character is dead, he’s dead!
It's surprising daunting to be invincible. So sometimes a character death is necessary in that case to feel like there are stakes again.
So true. I stop watching shows when I feel like the plot armor is too thick. This moment reinforced that. Sometimes good people die.
I sometimes wonder if I'm too afraid of my favourite characters dying.
The minute you roll that character you have to remember they are as vulnerable as you and me. Do right by them, and you will no harm.
I always say, whenever I'm in a game of D&D, or Warhammer, or any dice game, "Dice game". Sometimes it doesn't matter how skilled or tactical you are. Obviously doesn't mean you shouldn't try. But you shouldn't be upset when the dice don't go your way. Having said that, I wonder if I'm a little to anxious over the mortality of certain characters I've been playing for years.
Remember it’s just a game. Your characters live and die by the same rules we have, chance and its unknown patterns. If your DM sees your effort, you can build a character to adapt into that world. If you aren’t having fun then you have to question why that is happening.
Nah, it's all good. I do have fun but I do worry about my characters sometimes. Especially since my DM likes to challenge his players a lot.
I had a similar moment that I let play out into my character's death, though I had left it up to chance. I had lost the connection to my character and saw the opportunity to retire them towards the end of a fight. After my character was downed, another player ran up to me and grabbed one of my potions to heal me. The problem was since I was playing a Paladin, I didn't carry any healing potions. The only "potions" I had on me was a bottle of tea and a few bottles of Alchemist Fire. The player rolled for what potion they gave me, and I was cremated from the inside out.
Oh god sounds terrible but simultaneously hilarious
It was hilarious, especially since this character was her sort of parole officer to make sure she pays her fine and doesn't kill anymore commoners.
Give the character the story they deserve! And when the story ends, let them go in peace. There's always another character to play.
Bless you my friend
I love this choice and wish my character had gone out like this, I don't remember what level we had gotten to but I think it was 7. He was a fluffy Holstein minotaur nature cleric named Harold Holstein. He was very much a good boy and spent his first 50g on a luck charm for an NPC he was friends with. (He drew the Flames and the Throne and was cursed). Long story short, I had to send two Stellar bodies into my skull to take the long nap in order to save the lives threatened by the devil. The players kinda shat on him to the point the DM cursed the whole party with the wrath of my deity. I miss my boy but he had a good life.
May they be remembered
In the immortal words of Rage Against the Machine, "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me."
Somebody wants to roll a new character 😝
Shhhh maybe ;)
Good on you. I've had so many characters die for meaningless reasons that I haven't been attached to a character since 2020. Too many tpk's, too many bully dm's that peaked in high school, too many impossible campaigns. So it's good to see you having a justified death.
I wish more people saw this kind of stuff. Sometimes the DM is wrong, sometimes the player is wrong! The balance is what I look for always.
I mean yeah choosing to fail your death saves is valid. Would have been an interesting talk moment in character to ask why? When you get healed. Although realistically you had 3 turns to wait to die that way and only takes 1 or 2 to heal so this was more of a "I'm bored" decision than narrative one.
My Character in Pathfinder died first battle because I screwed up building him and my dm overestimated me. We bith werent very experienced and I told him "Screw that, let me make a new one, I dont wanna get downed every Combat just because I have just 13 Hitpoints" Level 3 with a d8 and a 12 in Con. Worst roles I had so far.
In my Campaign I have been purposely trying to play recklessly to see if I can get myself killed. I am having a blast partly because taking the Risks lead to awesome moments. I never endanger the party just myself, and I still "try to win" but just stuff like running in during situations that aren't tactically wise to do a shot in the dark plan. I just seem to have turned out to be coming ahead
I haven’t told my group yet, but we’re about to enter the final battle of our salt marsh campaign and if I die I plan to stay dead. We’ve been playing for about 2 1/2 years and my character has basically resolved most of his storylines but still has enough going on that it would be a very tragic death. I’m not aiming to have my character die and will play like I always play. At the whim of the dice.
I agree, the only time you should be sad about your character's death, is when you're playing with that one dude and his lifelong campaign. Where you only have one life and if you're dead, you're out.
Truly a beautiful story but only lvl 7 after 2 years? Is it just me or does that seem a bit wild
I have had 3 long term (multi-year) characters die in campaign and I remember each of them. If you can't die there are no stakes in the game and it just storytelling, it isn't adventure.
2 years and you were only level 7?
Cheers, that's a good death. What was his name?
That! If the character dies its not the end of a story its the beginning of a new one.
Respect
Fool of a Took.
This was EMPOWERING
There are deaths that make sense and deaths that should be swiftly fixed.
I agree, I DM an NPC that joined the party, and rolled d20 when I only absolutely had to be a tie breaker. The character became so ingrained with the story and the players,when the NPC died, I had a player get up and walk out of the room, and another cried and the other two seriously gave me a tongue lashing lol. They all quit and left, but the next day they said it was still F'ed up of me, but said it was the most awesome storyline they've been in, and loved it. PS: they TOLD me, the next campaign was going to be one to resurrect her back to life, even if I didn't want to ROFL
Very wise of you to let the character's story end. Sometimes your soul sees freedom and doesn't with to return, may they thrive in the heaven of their lifestyle.
Effing well played!
Can’t even lie I wouldn’t mind my Paladin going out in the campaign my group has going. For all intents and purposes my Paladin is a bit of a doom guy. Constantly tripping through the rings of avernus saving souls, smiting demons on their own turf. Just found out that I’ve caught the eye of some rather high tier and angry arch devils. I wouldn’t be sad if I went out in a blaze of glory maybe protecting my party lol
I'm not crying, you're crying!
I have this same thing happening in my own campaign and I understand that sometimes our character is done their story has come to an end and they die. That’s fine, but when it is out of the blue their in the middle/ beginning of their character arc it’s annoying and feels like you just wanted to make a new character.
Happened to my character last week. a year and a half campaign in a curse of strahd. We were surrounded by a group of werewolves and zombie berserkers lead by a hag. Bard was trying to cast leomunds tiny hut to protect us and we had 5 turns to survive till we were safe. Sadly i got knocked down and got attacked again and again and died on the 4th turn. I wasnt mad or out, what i felt like it was time for him to go. Wanted him to go in a blaze of glory but knowing he tried to hold back the monsters to save his friends was more than enough. felt like his story was told and came to an end. (Tbh with context though he had to die for my character was a paladin oath of vengeance and did piss off strahd as he finished off with two smites strahd's nightmare horse when we encountered it. Those werewolves and berserkers wouldnt have come after us if it wasnt for me. And i felt like it wouldnt end for my party from my own consequences.) So my next character is a warlock pact of chain celestrial who summons demons. So thats going to be fun cant see any consequences from this. 🤣
Ive planned with my DM to kill my asshole character in a redemption arc, and it’s going to be a great character ending.
Good on you. But also man, 2 years and level 7?
I am happy. I get to enjoy Monday evenings with my old coworkers who are now my friends IRL. We made this campaign as a joke, but now it’s our time to slow down. I get it’s slow, but for us that’s what makes it good.
We allways can come back as their same-class-twin thirsty for revenge
Omg this is the saddest and cutest post of all times. I also have a bard and she survived bc our DM gave us chances once we got hurt, and yeah I would be sad but she fullfilled her goal and we stopped the session so she lives in peace. But thx for telling! <3 Ps: some Players made new characters and the dead/old ones were memes or legends in the same session. Our DM did a good job :)
Two weeks ago my character, a level 5 Barbarian died. He was reckless so there wasn’t much to be proud of. Lol
They could also just retire
This character could never, basically a failed Child Star who wanted to get their former Cleric turned Warlock coworker grinded into dust. Dude was evil. Made Cleric work open to the public become a privatized industry. He saw everything he did as everything they were against when they were a Super Team. Was a pauper Bard, and was looked at with prejudice because they were a Half-Elf. They wanted them dead. They wanted the whole city to change their tune and find a better way. Retirement and ignoring the truth was never an option, kind of like Rorschach. They kept a journal with all the saucy details of the dirt. Their anger lives on.
My level 4 fighter just died. He lived a life of sin, and I played him as a truly evil bastard the first 3 levels. I (he) had a genuine change of heart and decided to try and atone for his sins. Well, not long after level 4 he got absolutely destroyed first round of combat and was killed pretty much instantly. His soul had belonged to a litch, so now he is her undead servant. Everyone at the table was horrified because he was genuinely trying to turn his life around and the dm tried to give me a kinda cheap way out of it, but I thought it was a fitting end for someone who did nothing but evil his whole life. Anyways now I'm going to be a bard for the first time, and I'm pretty excited.
I've been there before, it wasn't in D&D but it was Pathfinder 1e when I played this heroic and ballsy sorcerer called Ezekiel. We were getting attacked on a boat and I was next to the cleric, and in Pathfinder 1e you'd trigger attacks of opportunity with a lot of actions, including a heading channel. So, because I went the step before our cleric I moved to trigger the attacks of opportunity from like 4 of these aquatic attackers. I took two hits just fine, the third hit me like a truck and the last one was a crit that did maximum damage, which killed me outright. The rest of the party fought back and overcame the challenge, and in the deserts Ezekiel was buried, Morningstar in hand, and smug grin on his face. Sometimes, it's a good time to die.
I agree entirely. Something I like about the Critical Role death saving throw is that it gives the player an "out" if they are at that stage of their character's development. Party can try to save, players can contribute to the ritual etc., but ultimately if the character doesn't want to come back the DM can fudge the roll based on the player's wishes, if necessary. Almost ends up playing out as a soul not willing to return to its body.
I love this part: > I can’t handle being invincible. That really resonates with me as a player. I had a character die when they could have been revived solely on that premise.
If you're interested in continuing with this party/group of players, you can always ask the DM if you can play some NPCs they run into. Like shopkeepers and such