What should I do?

[jangartharn1]

Hey guys. The question I have come to ask us what should I do? Lately in one of the campaigns in in Ive suffered 4 character deaths. They may be out of sheer crappy luck or something like that. But I feel that every time I make a character my dm seems to somehow find a monster that is going to wreck them. Case and point this session that just wrapped up we the party were sent to stop this "monster" that was killing people on the roads. The character I was playing was a bard. So pretty much to sum it up the monster was a cat folk assassin that murdered my bard with a death attack then made a break and escaped. So I'm wondering is it how I build my character or is it just poor luck? Because I do know my dm is not trying to kill me on purpose. But it just happens a lot. So what should I do?

[flappeercraft]

Its probably a bit of both or maybe the DM is just going a bit too harsh

[Gildedragon]

Run more often?
Play a sniper sort of character shooting at enemies from FAR away

Oh the assassin
Hmmm ask the DM if you can return as a ghost (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a)

How have the other deaths happened? Solo or party play?

[DarkOne-Rob]

Without more information it is hard to know. Have any other PCs been killed, or just yours? How did your other three PCs die? Is your relationship with the DM tense or problematic? How did you build your PCs? Etc...

They said, death attacks are pretty annoying as a player (similar to coup de gras, IMO). It may be necessary to talk to your DM outside the context of the game if they have a problem with you.

Give us more info and good luck!

[Yahzi]

So what should I do?
Fight less, think more.

I'm guessing you put on your bard clothes and went charging down the road, looking for trouble. But Bards have disguise.

What if you had disguised yourself as an old blind beggar and observed the road first. Or rented a wagon, filled it with hay, and pretended to be just another farmer. Or better, hired a farmer to drive the wagon and hide in the hay. Basically, anything other that putting a sign on your head that said "Adventurer! Kill me first!"

Your DM will either hate it or love it. But you will find the game a lot more enjoyable if you interact with the world, rather than just walking to the next monster fight.

[jangartharn1]

Alright I'll explain a bit more about my characters deaths. So I'll start with my first character. My first character was a half giant barbarian. Cause of death was he was murdered by a hill giant. My half giant was killed by a hill giant nebulae my dm thought my character was a bit too op. I'll admit that's the only time my dm intentionally murdered me. But he talked to me ahead of time and said "well I've been noticing that your character has been wrecking everything I send at him so just to warn you he may die." I was upset but I was thankful he warned me instead of just murdering him instantly.

[jangartharn1]

The second was a gnome paladin. After my giants death I wanted to play something that would be super op. This poor guy died from failing his reflex and falling down 100 or so feet into a nasty spike pit. So this character death was because of bad luck.

[jangartharn1]

The third was a human monk. This character died from a boss fight that I felt countered him a bit too much. We were fighting a fighter who had monkey grip and was using a large spear and would just attack you from 5 feet away then use his movement action to step out of danger. Then do that all over again when we tried to close in to hit him. I'll admit I shouldn't have been that close but he landed one shot. That shot critted and I was wasted.

[jangartharn1]

And finally is the bard. I'll explain more on his death. So we were going down the road and we had our pally and figher in front ready to attack if the assassin showed himself and our battle turtle cleric with huge ac in the back ready to attack if he ambushed us and I sat happily in the middle with the parties monk. The problem was that the cat folk was super duper patient. So we wandered the road trying to draw him out for 12 in game hours. We finally decided it was useless and started to head back to town. Then that's when it happened. The cat folk somehow snuck up to me in the middle of the group and got me in the middle of the group with his death attack and didn't reveal himself. To be honest I understand if my dm maybe wants to keep this cat folk around as maybe a reoccurring villain. But I wish he had at least given me a chance to roll a spot to see him. After he murdered me I asked why I or somebody else in the group couldn't roll a spot to try and see him. My dm replied with "no matter what you rolled unless it was a Nat 20 then you wouldn't be able to see him."

[Sir Chuckles]

Yeah, this sounds like targeted attacks against your characters rather than accidents, even the trap. The whole "No one could beat this without a Nat20!" is a massive red flag to me, point to a Killer DM. But since you're the one being consistently killed...
Perhaps you should tell your DM that you feel like you're being targeted, and would like to know if that's the case and, if so, why.

If it's not the case, then play something that's absurdly durable and does nothing else. Become a lump of innocuous flesh that contributes to roleplay. If you still are killed in a way that leaves the rest of the party relatively unharmed, then you are being targeted regardless of whatever the DM claims, and should probably either jump ship or start rolling characters using a random generator of some sort.

[AslanCross]

I think at this point it seems you are being deliberately targeted. How come the catfolk assassin was able to get through the other guys?
Typically I throw an over-CRed challenge at the PCs for boss encounters, but I prefer multiple "hard" monsters in an advantageous situation rather than a single "deadly" monster. It makes for a more fun fight for all of us. If he sends something completely undetectable and overcomes all your precautions, that's a bit much.

You might want to ask the DM why he keeps going after you. Nicely and calmly. Also, you can edit your previous posts instead of quad-posting. Or just hold off on clicking "Post" until you have typed everything.

[Eno Remnant]

There's not much I can add to what everyone else has said, but if the problem is bad rolls/Killer DM, I do have a build that might let you get your own back a little.

Basically, you go Dragonfire Adept, and then at level 10 go Exemplar. Somewhere in the mix, get a couple of Swordsage levels and focus on Diamond Mind maneuvers.

What this does is create a character who doesn't need to roll for attacks, can take 10 on skill checks, and doesn't have to roll the first save of each type, each encounter. This more or less eliminates a lot of the luck from the game, so if you keep getting killed after that it's a case of your DM specifically trying to end you, or at least of exceptionally bad luck outside of rolls.

Should that be the case, become a Wizard and buy a pair or Ring Gates. Stand two miles away from the fighting, with your familiar holding one of the gates alongside the party, and nuke your enemies from there. Can't get killed if you're not even in long range.

[Âmesang]

"…when suddenly the wizard suffered a fatal heart attack!"

[KillianHawkeye]

Should that be the case, become a Wizard and buy a pair or Ring Gates. Stand two miles away from the fighting, with your familiar holding one of the gates alongside the party, and nuke your enemies from there. Can't get killed if you're not even in long range.

I think this is a bad idea, because while you're focusing on casting spells through the gate something will just sneak up on you and then you'll be alone and get killed.



Before giving the OP build advice, though, I think we should know what level his group is currently playing at. It's all well and good to give somebody a build with 10 levels of class X and 5 levels of prestige class Y, but if his characters are all dying at levels 3 to 5 he won't be able to use that information.

[ComaVision]

Sounds like a pretty inexperienced DM, since he thought Half-Giant was OP. It sounds like nobody in the group knows the rules that well either. It's pretty simple for an Assassin to have invisibility but there should've been listen checks required to sneak up to you. That and it sounds like the Assassin escaped before anyone could react which seems to suggest either he escaped without an initiative roll or fudged the roll so he could get the character away. Any chance you remember what you rolled on your Fort save?

It sounds like you have some stuff that needs to be talked out with the DM. There's no point in giving you any build advice if the DM isn't adhering too closely to the rules anyway. Also, he should probably chill a bit with the save-or-dies in an inexperienced group.

[Necromancy]

I've played this variant before. I think it's called "rocks fall, only your character dies"

If you watch really closely, you will see your DM flipping you the bird behind his screen while he fudge rolls a couple natural 20s in a row.

Jokes aside, this behavior stems from one or more sources

1) DM secretly hates you, or likes you least anyway

2) DM dislikes your play style (optimizer, RP, etc)

3) DM feels you're the least likely to complain if he feels like going Game of Thrones on the PCs

4) DM feels like your character is a bit disruptive for his game and hits the "Try Again" button


I'm sure there's many more but you get the idea. It's already a given to me that this DM isn't going to work out, but here's a suggestion for you if you want to try.

Make a character using the DMs favorite class, build style, level of optimization, sexual preference, etc. Basically if your killer DM had a girlfriend and made her a character, this is what your character should be.

If he kills you off he hates you. Leave

If you live this time, he's a control freak douchebag but you can work with that

If he tries to RP with you erotically..... Dealers choice...

[nintendoh]

If he tries to RP with you erotically..... Dealers choice...

Hahahahahahaha

Stay you'll get free magic items. Like the rod of lordly might.

[Geddy2112]

You are being outright targeted. The paladin could have just really been bad dice, and the monk is a bit more suspicious but it is possible. However, since the DM admitted they targeted your half giant, and the assassin being a clear cut example of "lightning bolt from a clear sky hits just you" it is pretty clear the other two incidents were targeting you as well.

If other players are losing characters frequently then they are just a killer DM. Otherwise, talk to them and ask them why-but honestly you will probably have to leave the game unless you don't mind the DM offing your characters every couple of sessions.

[jangartharn1]

Sounds like a pretty inexperienced DM, since he thought Half-Giant was OP. It sounds like nobody in the group knows the rules that well either. It's pretty simple for an Assassin to have invisibility but there should've been listen checks required to sneak up to you. That and it sounds like the Assassin escaped before anyone could react which seems to suggest either he escaped without an initiative roll or fudged the roll so he could get the character away. Any chance you remember what you rolled on your Fort save?

It sounds like you have some stuff that needs to be talked out with the DM. There's no point in giving you any build advice if the DM isn't adhering too closely to the rules anyway. Also, he should probably chill a bit with the save-or-dies in an inexperienced group.

I didn't roll very well on the fort save. I only rolled a 7. So I wasn't making that save. But I'll admit I do feel like I'm being targeted a lot. No matter how many times I think "it's just dice." The more I realize that my dm has sent some intense crap against me.

[Chronikoce]

Has anyone else had a single character die yet?

Also refusing to let you guys make spot or listen checks is bull. Even if success required a 20 that's still a 5% chance per character to notice him and if your character had noticed him I'm pretty sure that means death attack fails because you'd obviously label him a threat.

As for what to do. Honestly this sounds like an out of game problem where you need to discuss with the DM the situation. Letting him know that you're not sure what to do because everything you make gets killed and it's hard for you to have fun after losing characters left and right.

The upside is maybe he is just inexperienced and doesn't realize the problem and will correct it. Though I personally think it's more likely that he either enjoys killing PC's or he is trying to make your life in particular difficult to get you to quit the game.

[jangartharn1]

Has anyone else had a single character die yet?

Also refusing to let you guys make spot or listen checks is bull. Even if success required a 20 that's still a 5% chance per character to notice him and if your character had noticed him I'm pretty sure that means death attack fails because you'd obviously label him a threat.

As for what to do. Honestly this sounds like an out of game problem where you need to discuss with the DM the situation. Letting him know that you're not sure what to do because everything you make gets killed and it's hard for you to have fun after losing characters left and right.

The upside is maybe he is just inexperienced and doesn't realize the problem and will correct it. Though I personally think it's more likely that he either enjoys killing PC's or he is trying to make your life in particular difficult to get you to quit the game.

There has been only one other character death that hasn't been my characters. It was our fighters first character. He was playing a sorcerer and he got wrecked by the spear wielding boss I talked about in the post about my 3rd characters death.

[Necromancy]

Has anyone else had a single character die yet?

Also refusing to let you guys make spot or listen checks is bull. Even if success required a 20 that's still a 5% chance per character to notice him and if your character had noticed him I'm pretty sure that means death attack fails because you'd obviously label him a threat.

I think they were moving which insinuates it was light out. Assassin has to move into the party while studying. They'd have at least 3 spot and listen rolls each to detect the assassin who would have negative modifiers for stealth movement and light. Unlikely success unless you're epic level

Ugh

I just realized something

You were assassinated by your closet furry DMs Mary Sue