Solution for player death early in a session

[Kafana]

I tend to avoid killing players if we're in the first hour of the session. Sure, if a PC gets killed, the player could go home, or start thinking of different character concepts and researching the books while we play, but what I wanted to try is to have several creatures prepared that the player can take control of within 20 minutes of his character death.

Namely, I'd like to have 1 or even 2 interesting, level appropriate creatures on hand if it happens that a PC dies in the first half of the session.

Now, I need creatures which could be able to join a party and stay with them for a while without having the desire to kill or betray them, at least not for a few in game days. I realize that this is D&D and that pretty much anything from a talking bacteria to a sentient planet can find a reason to ally with the players, but I need something that isn't too cheesy. The other requirement is that it's interesting to play, that it has some abilities that perhaps regular PCs can't posses, or at least are underutilized or overlooked frequently.

My party in question is level 5, so anything between level 4 and 6 might do, but I think that this might be a general problem, so really anything you can think of that might be interesting to play should be written. We could even make a list so that DMs around the globe could pull something out. Obviously the creatures should be as generic as can be regarding where they can be found - an interesting creature that only lives on the elemental plane of fire and can't survive anywhere else isn't really a good fit.

[Gemini476]

How often do your players hire hirelings to help carry the loot and act as meatshields and whatever? Because that's the classic method.

Also, the convenient in-dungeon prison with a somewhat skilled prisoner who is willing to help the PCs in exchange for help getting out and maybe the use of the dead character's equipment.

For some monsters that they could play as for a while... I dunno. How murderhobo-y are your players? Would they kill some obviously non-hostile monsters who are also exploring the dungeon or whatever?

[sideswipe]

have them meet 2 npc's

one is a large orc with a greatsword
and the other is a small venerable kobold with a bag of books that include a spellbook and books on cerebramancy.

have the dead player pick one to control
if they choose the obvious kobold, he is the hireling for carrying the books for the strength caster high op orc gish with lost tradition.

oh you wanted a NON **** move.....
well as a player, i usually have 3-4 characters ready to play at any time, i have built more than i can count and played less than half.

[SVentura77]

I'm on board with the generlly mundane monster class.

Have a kobold or a gnoll or an orc prepped. Have each one be an archetype (caster/rogue/fighter).

Build a decent character of each archetype to match. It may not be perfect, but I think imperfections make fun characters.

~S~

[DM Nate]

I personally won't kill my PCs ever, but balance the apparent "safety net" with more use of ability damage, curses, and level drains.

[sideswipe]

I personally won't kill my PCs ever, but balance the apparent "safety net" with more use of ability damage, curses, and level drains.

i have found that this is an extremely bad way to play in my experience, as a player can usually (after a tantrum) be fine with a death of their level 10 character and either bring him back or another character. whereas if he permanently gains 4-5 negative levels, a curse, and his big abilities are drained permanently..... i think i might actually physically attack you if i was that player. since he is now level 5-6 in a level 10 party and if he retires his now pointless mutant he has to bring in a level 4-5! new character by RAW..... the assumed (don't let there be more that 2ish levels between the top guy and bottom guy is only a guideline, you are following the rules and this player now never comes back.

and a death in a fantasy setting is normal. very normal, and helps with immersion. if they are fighting a group of ogres, and one knocks the mage down on his back and can easily finish off the mage who has killed 3 of his friends whilst the rest keep the party busy.... and he walks over to get slaughtered by the fighter instead of taking revenge.... i would feel like you were taking pity on my for no reason. and it would ruin my experience.

[ace rooster]

This is a good use for planar binding/ally. A convenient scroll of lesser planar binding from a demonologist, CL3, can get them access to it. The outsider quite possibly does want revenge on the party, but can be bound to play nice. Charm monster can also do something similar.

Depending on how well they roleplay, how about a bear? Not awakened, or any smarter than a regular bear (though fox's cunning can make is smart as an average hill giant), just a plain old bear, with all the maimage that comes with it. It might get old quickly, but is something I have wanted to try for a while.

For wierd value, how about an intelligent item with summon monster as an ability? How about if it stores a soul, and allows cheaper ressurection if touched to a body within 5 rounds. That permits it to be non intelligent most of the time, and lets the character be themselves in the item if they die.

One thing to note is that you can make a character much more specialised than a PC would usually be. You would almost never get a seige engineer specialist as a PC, as they simply cannot be versitile enough. The captain of a cart mounted ballista crew could be fun to play though, in the right situation.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

[sideswipe]

This is a good use for planar binding/ally. A convenient scroll of lesser planar binding from a demonologist, CL3, can get them access to it. The outsider quite possibly does want revenge on the party, but can be bound to play nice. Charm monster can also do something similar.

Depending on how well they roleplay, how about a bear? Not awakened, or any smarter than a regular bear (though fox's cunning can make is smart as an average hill giant), just a plain old bear, with all the maimage that comes with it. It might get old quickly, but is something I have wanted to try for a while.

For wierd value, how about an intelligent item with summon monster as an ability? How about if it stores a soul, and allows cheaper ressurection if touched to a body within 5 rounds. That permits it to be non intelligent most of the time, and lets the character be themselves in the item if they die.

One thing to note is that you can make a character much more specialised than a PC would usually be. You would almost never get a seige engineer specialist as a PC, as they simply cannot be versitile enough. The captain of a cart mounted ballista crew could be fun to play though, in the right situation.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

cheap resurrection is carrying around a scroll/wand/(potion?) or being able to cast..................
GENTLE REPOSE!
wait what?
if you gentle repose someone in the same round they die, then you can get a revivify instead of a raise dead. at least a quarter of the price, no level loss, and if you find a psion first it costs only a small teaspoon of experience and some gold for his troubles!

never leave home without it.

[JusticeZero]

I tend to try to skew things more toward a JRPGish sort've death aesthetic, using 'downed, not gibbed' type houserules to turn a downed character into a matter of medical extraction or at least "It's okay, we've got them on the run" instead of "Roll a new character". Deaths door gets far too slim in a standard ruleset. I'd much rather people have to patch up the fallen than throw out backstory and plots.

[Sian]

I'm of the opinion that while being a killer DM is bad (unless playing Paranoia or its explicitly accepted to be a very deathly campaign), saving the players from death at all time for any cost leaves them unable to form strong strategies and play their characters to their best, but rather running around picking the least optimal way to go into combat.

both extermes (to much death <-> no death) are rather boring IMO

[Twilightwyrm]

The Grey Render from the MMI is practically made for this. The creature is a giant bruiser, but is noted as randomly taking up the protection of certain individuals, or groups of individuals. So, if you feel a player has died too early in the session, the Grey Render catches wind of this and comes to protect its remaining charges.

[DM Nate]

i have found that this is an extremely bad way to play in my experience, as a player can usually (after a tantrum) be fine with a death of their level 10 character and either bring him back or another character. whereas if he permanently gains 4-5 negative levels, a curse, and his big abilities are drained permanently..... i think i might actually physically attack you if i was that player. since he is now level 5-6 in a level 10 party and if he retires his now pointless mutant he has to bring in a level 4-5! new character by RAW..... the assumed (don't let there be more that 2ish levels between the top guy and bottom guy is only a guideline, you are following the rules and this player now never comes back.

and a death in a fantasy setting is normal. very normal, and helps with immersion. if they are fighting a group of ogres, and one knocks the mage down on his back and can easily finish off the mage who has killed 3 of his friends whilst the rest keep the party busy.... and he walks over to get slaughtered by the fighter instead of taking revenge.... i would feel like you were taking pity on my for no reason. and it would ruin my experience.

I think I disagree with pretty much everything you've said here.

For one, I never do RAW, or even RAI. I do RA-I-think-would-be-best.

A character would never gain everything that you've stated, all at once. If you've seen that in a game, that's even worse DM'ing than off'ing their character. In my case, it would be a single level drain, curse, etc. with a side-quest for them to restore it. I.e. prove to me and the party that they can play in a manner more intelligent than whatever got them in that mess to begin with.

And death of a PC in a fantasy setting is very, very abnormal...if you go by literature, at any rate. (I'm not counting Game of Thrones here.) Even when they do die, pivotal characters frequently come back, unless they've completed a visible character arc. In D&D, on the other hand, all the groups I've been in play their characters from ten feet away, if they're likely to die permanently in the next few sessions. It's not conducive to roleplaying one's character if they get ousted frequently.

In my groups, I've found the happy balance to be rewarding players who invest in their characters and lightly punishing those who don't (without ever removing their agency or ability to get back in the groove).

[Troacctid]

For my part, I'd just use more forgiving death rules, like the ones from 4th or 5th edition.