Enter New Character! Roll Intiative! Start Rolling New Character!

[Orsen]

Seasons Greetings All!
My group got together for a session yesterday that was unfortunately cut short after the first encounter due to myself (the DM) falling ill but more importantly, two characters dying in the first encounter of the adventure.
We had a party of six but we stopped the session to allow them to create new characters and then make up a reason that was at least slightly plausible for why two new people were meeting up with the four other PC's at a haunted mansion.
My question to you is how do you handle such events in your group? Does the whole group pause while the player rolls a new character? My group is mid optimization (as in we all know how to make effective characters, but we avoid/don't know much cheese) so it doesn't take too long to have a playable character ready.
Just curious in case such an event should happen again.

[DigoDragon]

Since the session is paused, it sounds like a fine time for the two players to roll new characters and jump back in.

In general though, if my group finds itself with a few cold bodies in the party mid-adventure, they often discuss a tactical retreat to hire on some extra hands. Usually that's my cue to help them back out so that the players with the dead characters get a chance to quickly get back into the game.

And I do try to work out some way that the players can make that momentary pause to replace their dead comrades without the bad guys just sitting arond waiting for their return (Maybe the BBEG gets impatient and sens some minions to follow the party back to see what's going on).

[SowZ]

Personally, I always have a reserve character. As far as if I'm DMing? It depends. The players will have the option of controlling an NPC who is already relevant for the remainder of the session. Otherwise... Is the player experienced enough to make a character by themself? If so, I encourage them to make a character quickly. Since they may feel rushed, if the character is not fully complete or a bit illegal I won't care so much. We'll tweak it later. The player can also make changes to their build since they were rushed. If they need help? I take 10 minute breaks on the hour anyway. We can skip our break. It usually turns out that player deaths happen near the end of a session for me, anyway.

[Skorj]

It depends a lot on the game and player expectations. For a "normal" campaign, I try to present the characters with some way to get raised even at low level - just for a price other than diamonds. I ususally run sandbox campaigns, so in-character ways to guide the characters towards the content are always handy, and owing some church payment-in-kind for raising a couple of party members is a good one. Mostly though, it seems pointless to re-roll low level characters after death, so I want to have an out (that won't feel like a freebie to the players).

However, I've also played in campaigns where every player was required to have one backup character ready to go at all times, and two at the start of the session, with many party deaths per night of gaming the norm. Those are great too, but only because everything is planned around the need to constantly introduce new characters, so it's not disruptive.

[Badgerish]

Q: What was the hook for the original party getting together?


Could the new PCs be friends/allies of the surviving PCs? Who turn up because they heard the PCs where in town.

As this is a haunted house, the new PCs could be heroic adventurers/treasure hunters and stuck in a room there, which can only be opened from the outside.



A story about rolling new characters during the game:
D&D 4ed in LFR, lvl 1-4 , playing a SPEC-series adventure, which means a simple (but large) dungeon crawl.

The Hook was that this Eldarin city had magical wards to protect it from demons and other monsters, but these wards need to be turned off for 1 day a year, so the city hires additional guards/adventurers for this time.

Thus, getting reinforcements seems pretty possible.

The party (5PCs) are guarding an area, when they are reassigned to help with a giant ant attack and a missing child, thus they head into the dungeon.

The 1st fight goes well, a couple of people bloodied.

The 2nd fight... well Anhkegs are nasty things just by the numbers and they have 2 powers that encourage attacking downed foes so we had 2 dead PCs and 2 dying PCs by the middle of the fight.

When the 1st death happened, I asked the player to make a new character, who would be another adventurer or Eldarin assigned to help. Same when the 2nd death happened.

By the end of the fight, 1 more PC had died and 1 more was dying (one of the reinforcements!)

The catharsis when the Ankheg died though, that was incredible! (when it was about 2 hits from dying, I announced through it's actions that it would try and flee by tunneling away. This REALLY motivated the players )

[Kol Korran]

some players in my group (myself included) are more or less experienced, but it often takes us quite a bit to create a new character... mostly to get the concept and personality right, and make sure the feats and the like reflect it.

so if someone dies, they often either sit the session back, watching the game or take control of an NPC (most prefer not to do so). however, most times if the characters are of a high enough level, they try to raise the dead. (we often get attached to the characters and go through quite a bit to do so).

as for reason to add new characters? we try to find one. DM and players work for it together...

[Orsen]

Sniping quotes all over:

Personally, I always have a reserve character. The players will have the option of controlling an NPC who is already relevant for the remainder of the session. Since they may feel rushed, if the character is not fully complete or a bit illegal I won't care so much. We'll tweak it later. The player can also make changes to their build since they were rushed. If they need help? I take 10 minute breaks on the hour anyway. We can skip our break. It usually turns out that player deaths happen near the end of a session for me, anyway.

Unfortunately there were no NPCs to take over, and most everyone in my group can throw something together quickly enough, even if it's not perfect. I like the NPC idea, now that I think of it, there is one relevant to the campaign that could show up. As a group we have a similar rule about having a back up ready but since many players had just started playing there back ups not many had another back ready to go yet.

I try to present the characters with some way to get raised even at low level
However, I've also played in campaigns where every player was required to have one backup character ready to go at all times, and two at the start of the session, with many party deaths per night of gaming the norm. Those are great too, but only because everything is planned around the need to constantly introduce new characters, so it's not disruptive.

I like the idea of a way to get raised! The local church does owe the party a favor or two as well. Especially since these one PC saw 1 session and one encounter of play and the other saw one encounter of play.

Q: What was the hook for the original party getting together?

Well, it's the Rise of The Runelords, chapter two, the Skinsaw Murders if that helps you. If not, then the PC's are following a trail of evidence from murders in a small town that lead them to a long empty manor. One of the PC's (the only one still alive/with the party since the start) has been mentioned in several notes at the scene of the murders as well.

If someone dies, they often either sit the session back, watching the game or take control of an NPC (most prefer not to do so). however, most times if the characters are of a high enough level, they try to raise the dead. (we often get attached to the characters and go through quite a bit to do so).

Both deaths occurred right of the get go, so I didn't want to see the players left out. The party is level 4 so they don't have personal access to raise dead or the like. I'm keen on the NPC idea that was also mentioned above. It's something I'll have to keep in mind.

[El Dorado]

It varies with our group. At low levels, the game will continue while the player throws something together, and then the new character will get introduced (you find a prisoner, you run into the survivor of another adventuring group, etc.). At higher levels, we might break or we'll adjust what we're doing mid-adventure and take steps to get him or her back.

[Delvin Darkwood]

Often times at very low levels, everyone else will keep going, the killed player will roll up a new character, and often end up inserting them self.

Example: A thief, Crow, had just been murder by his friend due to a fumble gone wrong. He rolled up a cleric in the mean time. The players were captured and were breaking out of a prison mine. While they made there way into the mines themselves, the killed player addressed me in character and said "Excuse me, i cant use this pick axe. It is against my religion." I rolled with it, had the task master beat him, the players notice and break him free.