So I had my first PC death tonight... Here's what happened (Long post)

[Clone]

So I had my first PC death tonight after a long session. This is how it went:

So tonight my players invaded a mountain fortress which belonged to followers of a White Dragon, tasked with collecting its eggs for a huge feast a group of giants were having.
The whole session was filled craziness, from avoiding trapped springboards leading to giant frost spiders, dropkicking gnomes in barfights, making contractual deals with a cambion, and summoning a Mummy Lord and its lair with a Magic Bean (those rolls) just as a distraction.

At the climax of the session the level 5 party, an Aarokocra Kensei monk, Half-Orc Storm Herald Barbarian and High Elf Moon Druid, joined forces with a Goliath fighter (champion stat block in Volos) and ventured into the Dragon's lair where it lay in wait with an Evoker Wizard (also Volos).

The party were decked out with magic items, using a Sapphire of Air Elemental summoning, necklace of fireballs with 3 charges, potion of fire giant strength, potion of invisibility, potion of investiture of flame, a ring of cold resist and unique weapons each PC has such as the Half-Orc's Greataxe with the Savage Weapon ability (for 4d12 on crits) and 1d4 elemental damage depending on his pre-set climate (we're using a tweaked version).
The pacts with the cambion also took away the dragon's flight, making it a more manageable fight.

The battle was long, drawn out, epic and on the ropes at times. The Druid went down, then the Monk had to revive her. The Barbarian went down in the face of its breath weapon, only to be downed soon after. The one doing most of the work was the monk, flying around and reviving people, finally attracting the attention of the dragon as it attempts to crawl away on 7HP, unbeknownst to the players, and he stops the barbarian from being breath-weaponed again from range.... by taking a bite.
This knocked him out, 20-30 ft in the air.
He fell and took a death saving throw.
When it came around to his turn, he rolls.... and rolls a 1.
As he died he saw the dragon's head be hit by a lighting javalin from the barbarian, killing it as he faded.

I felt like I'd caused all of this, I'd made the encounter too hard and the like. Even though they never needed to fight the dragon and there was a known clear exit.
I rolled % dice to see if anything would happen via the contract and rolled a 92. Seeing this as enough, I said the contract which was signed provided the chance to bring him back..... But he refused. The NG Monk refused to be brought back to life by a devil and stayed dead.

The entire session was a roller coaster of emotions and my players said they enjoyed the night, the monk player being told that there was a chance for his character to be revived.
There was so much good about it but... I feel like I messed up.
Sure I didn't force my players into anything, and I needed to compensate the Dragon's defenses since it was a super high magic-item party (even the Goliath champion had a flametongue!), even continuing to insists that it was ferocious, killing its previous mate (who's body they found on the way to the mountain) and all of this while also being in it's lair.

My players enjoyed the session, which is whats most important, and I know character death is a part of D&D, but its just so hard to shake the feeling that I messed up while trying to give the first dragon they ever fought in D&D after a year of play memorable that I went overboard.

For those who read this whole blurb, thanks for your time. How was your first PC death as a DM (or even your own character)? How did you deal with it? I'd love to know how people think about this all.

[Sigreid]

You didn't mess up. It sounds like it was a fun session that the players will talk about for a long time. The risk of death is what makes testing yourself against something like that fun.

[Anteros]

You didn't mess up. It sounds like it was a fun session that the players will talk about for a long time. The risk of death is what makes testing yourself against something like that fun.

Agreed. Some players enjoy the idea that their character can die and some don't. As long as the players at your table are having fun, you didn't mess up.

You can also give the party some plot hooks for a quest to bring the dead PC back if that's what the player wants. Maybe the dragon had an item in his horde that can help. Or maybe slaying a dragon has attracted the attention of a powerful benefactor who offers his aid in exchange for a service. Things like that.

The main thing is that you just gauge your player's and make sure they're having fun though. If the player is fine with staying dead, then so be it. Maybe they'd rather roll up a new character than play the old one anyway.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

The way you are asking is a sign you care and try to be the best DM possible.

As long as the players had fun. If the affected player does not seem to like his next character you can think of some way to resurrect his dead player I'm sure.

I always figure challenging battles for superbly equipped low level PC's are swingy. The PC's can do quite a bit of damage but are missing some hit points vs higher level characters.

[Sigreid]

If the party wants to, there should be more than enough treasure in the hoard to rez the monk. Otherwise, the player gets a new adventure.

[Mortis_Elrod]

If i had been the monk player i would have been very very happy with the outcome. Sounds like i was an epic battle for everyone and he died a hero, even better he stuck to his principles when he could have been brought back. If i were you I would be a very happy and proud DM to invoke such great roleplay. You did nothing wrong and you probably did a better job then most DMs would.

Since the players are happy you should be too.

Though if you really feel bad about it, when you make a boss fight lower the boss HP by 7 before you have the PCs encounter it.

[Sariel Vailo]

Lava nasty bit of buisness their.i killed that character man was he mad poor halfling rouge lucky didnt save them.
My first pc death cultists being held off two daggers and a lot of hate

[Whit]

I've been playing since 77 and I still remember my first death. 3 players 2 elves 1 thief. I think human but back in basic elf was a race and class . Anyway end of keep in the borderlands and the thief decided to steal from me and failed I attacked him and he killed me, the other elf attacked him and he was kill d also. Lol. Being kids we made two new elves who were cousins of the ones the thief killed and killed him. The highest levels we played was 3-6 before ad&ad
Anyway back then I had many characters die. A few raised dead a lot more just dead. Also had my first level 19 and 20 th lvl somewhere between 2-3 edition.

Our group went from 3-4 in elementary school to 5-7 in 8-10th and 8-10 in junior senior. Eventually 15 give or take in college to now. Last year a friend in the group carried a magical explosive not in a secure box but strapped to him. Well he didn't save vas fireball and his Tim failed also and he exploded.

He left angry but apologized in email few days later and returned with a new character even though the dm said he would bring back his old one through mysterious means.

People get attached to most of their characters but not all.

What to do. 1. If they die, make sure it's a fair death or epic failure 20/20 or epic sacrafice.
2. Be ready for a possible means to bring the character back.
A. Magic item, B..mysterious entity C. An npc who pops up. D. A church benefactor who will help for that magic item donation.

I would not worry about it. And if you want ask the group what they thought and get input.

[Emay Ecks]

I don't think you messed up at all. This first dragon they fought will definitely be memorable.

I felt super terrible after my first player death as a DM. I killed my younger brother's favorite character he's ever made, a monk with some psionic abilities (namely telekinesis).

The party was incredibly strong and had breezed through the other encounters I threw at them. So when I was about to throw a party of enemy paladins at them (which they had defeated a similar group just a moment before), I had a horrible thought. "What if I put these paladins on griffons?" So I did, and it barely made a difference. The party was still just breezing through, and they quickly killed two of the paladins as they flew in for a dive-by attack.

Then I had a worse thought. "What if I said these paladins had some levels in ranger and could fire bows down from their griffons?" And suddenly the fight went from easy to impossible as the paladins fired sacred arrows from above and could easily out-maneuver the poor ground-based party. So my brother decided to fly up to the paladin/rangers on an injured griffon, jumped off his and onto an enemy griffon. He threw the paladin/ranger off, killing him. Then he jumped onto the next one and did the same thing. As he was about to jump onto the final griffon, he rolled a 2. He fell over 200 feet, the fall instantly killing him (-10 hp... man it was so much easier to kill players in earlier editions).

I felt awful because I knew the only reason he was dead was because I threw balance out the window in the middle of a fight. The campaign fell apart immediately after that. The new character who replaced the monk just wasn't nearly as memorable or fun, so all of us just stopped caring about the campaign without the original roster. My brother was shocked and incredibly angry when it happened, but quickly got over it when he realized it was the coolest death he'd probably ever have. He still teases me about it to this day, but both of us look fondly on that first death.

[Spore]

Yes you are at fault. Like in any good group setting the leader is responsible for any and all actions, reactions, subtractions and redactions of any and all group members. You didn't present a severely injured dragon for them to kill and then showered them in praise. How audacious of you. Neither did you offer them a trivial quest to find the Holy Dragonslayer +6.

And you didn't even railroad them down the most advantageous attack route? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? :smallamused:

Game design nowadays tells you that any and all content has to be beatable. Any dragon has to be able to be slain, every loot chest to be opened. You didn't spend your time designing the dragon hoard for nothing. While this is certainly efficient, it kind of takes the danger and excitement out of battles. If you know that you will always win, if you know the world will be catered to your party, why play in the first place? Some RP focussed groups - such as mine - would say for the story. And that is half true. But I cannot invoke a sense of immersion if the evil Lich Sorcerer King of the Eastern Wastes is some kind of trollop that can be nova'ed 2 turns. Even if this means looking for his phylactery. See the quote in my signature? That was my first (and only) Dragon encounter thus far. I had buffed Protection from Cold on everyone and was thinking: "Hey, this is enough. After all, a dragon could have no perceivable advantage in its lair other than cold damage. Right? RIGHT?!"

Well, the DM allowed me to cast Plane Shift for our entire group to allow us to flee. But not after cutting down our frontline to about 30% of her health in a single turn. It would have looked much different if our arcane caster had shown up to the fight. But it was entirely in character for her not to engage a dragon on its home turf anyway. We didn't win the dragon fight. And this is entirely okay with me. In fact I would have been mad if I had won it by the DM fudging (the dragon had one wing broken anyhow, what more advantage do you want?). We had another more gimmicky dragon fight: A red dragon in a dream sequence that was weak to the fire staff we had just found. And that is fine too. After all, we had no tangible reward from that fight besides more story. And as much as I was complaining about the overpowered villains in my other Pathfinder campaign. At least there was a reason to fear them.

[lunaticfringe]

Sounds awesome. I still get twinges of guilt sometimes when a PC I like goes down. It's part of the game, being affected irl is part of it despite people say.

Does the Monk want to reroll? If he is coming back to the table then you have nothing to be concerned about. They may be taking the opportunity to shift to a support roll or have some Monk fatigue. It happens, no big. Could be purely story based though or even just a Dead is Dead Player (I am one).

If not, don't fret, players leave games. They may have realized this wasn't the table for them but didn't bring it up because everyone else was enjoying themselves. If I am the odd man out, I wait for the opportune time and bow out gracefully. Heroic Character Death is the perfect drop the Mic moment.

[Clone]

Thanks for the responses, guys. Had a long talk over with the players and they all felt that it was a fun night.
The player who's PC died actually took it very well. He was sad, of course, but he decided to use the opportunity to educate the other players to show that characters can actually die.

Up until now, only two PCs have died in my groups' games, both of them being my own.
The first was a Barbarian death at level 3 in Lost Mines of Phandelver, where my DM decided to get his DMPC to fire an explosive arrow beside him and taking away two death saves, for him to die the next turn but be revived in a weird way after the fight by another DMPC, essentially in response to me asking if I could go straight Barbarian rather than the Barbarian/ Warlock he had been prior.
The second was my Wizard in Princes of the Apocalypse, where my Wizard got the only get-out-of-jail-free card my DM (who ironically enough was the Monk player who I killed) by being revived by divine intervention.

Besides these characters, no other PCs have died. So much so that the players hadn't considered the possibility, despite going after a Dragon in its lair. Heck, the Druid tried to chase after a special CR12 frost giant from Volos yet didnt get the fact she'd have been batted over the nearest mountain if she caught up to it.

The player has a new Cleric who he's super pumped to play, so if the revive of the monk fails by this new cleric via scroll of Raise Dead, he'll play the new character.
Otherwise he'll be a background character to exist until either he himself dies, or the monk dies again.

[ImproperJustice]

It sounds like the Monk player had a "good death", and is satisfied witg how his PC met his end.
My advice: Don't spoil it.
Let him jump in next session with a new PC as soon as possible, probably elevated to the same level as the last to honor some good role play on his part.

Then later, have some homage to his character such as meeting a group of Monks who follow the "way of the White Dragon", who emulate the PC and use some sacrificial combat technique. Or perhaps the PC's spirit appears as some guardian presence to aid the PCs against a supernatural threat, as a small gift from the deities of good for his refusal to be ressurected by dark powers, etc...
Give him the gift of the legend of the "White Monk", and I bet they will be pleased.

[Creyzi4j]

I die a lot of times everytime I play. Particularly due to hairbrained ideas like being a half-orc bard who grapples the big creautres the party encounters.

The best part about dying is that u get to create a new character