Alternatives for character death

[tribalxgecko]

Always get some great feedback from all of you wonderful folk, so figured I would swing through and get some input.

I am going to be running a game based loosely on Dante's Inferno and Hell in general. Basically the players will awake in Hell and be looking to escape, travelling through the bowels, across Gehenna, and out to the realm of the living once again.

Anyway, as to the point of the post: Being that the characters are in Hell to be tormented, there is no death, just constant resurrection and death again...and again...and again... Basically eternal torment.

I want to use that same concept and theme. So I am looking for ideas on ways to reflect that in the game, without the players simply looking at it as a benefit that they cannot die. Their has to be a cool factor and a drawback. I want them to continue with the same character also. Essentially exploring the challenges and tribulations of the character as they escape their demon captors.

As for the system, I am not 1005 decided yet. But, it will probably D&D 5e since I am most versed in that. The main thing is coming up with a cool idea for character death.

[Koo Rehtorb]

Every time they die, roll on a random table of bad effects. Give them horrible deformities and psychosis. Depending on what suits you you can make them permanent, or have ways to remove them in game play instead.

[Jay R]

When they die, they awaken as slaves or prisoners to be tortured, and must escape again.

[Mith]

Perhaps the party members can always revive as a ritual (gives the member 1HD/2 levels) that can be done by anyone in the party. However, if they all die, they reawaken at the start and have to retrace their steps.

[Jay R]

If they can find magic items, but lose them when they "die", then "death" will be a horrific experience to avoid at all costs.

[J-H]

Make up a set of tables to roll from. This is a 3.5 list, but you get the idea:

-Roll 1d6 to select an ability score; lose 1d4 points permanently. Roll 1d6 to select another ability score; gain 1d2 points permanently.
-Lose 2d4 skill points permanently (select skills to lose points from)
-Randomly roll a flaw (as 3.5 srd). You now have it.
-Suffer a 5' penalty to move speed, permanently
-You now critically fail on a 2 as well as a 1
-Gain 3% ASF, permanently (casters only)
-Instead of rolling once against a miss chance, roll twice and take the worst roll.
-One randomly selected magical item loses +1 of value (or 4 skill points for a skill point item) powering your resurrection

[Traziremus]

What about madness? You could give them some feat-like abilities while at the same time giving them mental defects. Those effects heal once they return to the world of the living, while in hell, purgatory and heaven they will carry those defects with them. I would suggest "erasing" these feats of their sheets when they go from one "plane" to another, lets say madness from hell does not work in the purgatory. Also other than the mechanical aspect it enables some fun role playing situations .

[TheYell]

You might find these interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infern...urnelle_novel)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_in_Hell


I'd combine all of the above in Zones of Hell.

In the first zone, or Circle if you want to get traditional, they start over at 1st level with no items.

In the second zone, they have to roll on a table for lost ability scores, level drain, permanent slowing, etc.

In the third zone, death means a return to the first zone.

In the fourth zone, the dead begin to transform. Every time you die you gain a level of Abyssal sorcerer. Total character level in Hell cannot exceed 20 levels, so, if you are a level 10 rogue and die eleven times in the fourth zone, you are a sorcerer 11 / rogue 9.

In the fifth zone, reincarnation by demonic means requires a conscious contract with Below, causing one step shift in alignment towards CE. CE characters do not want to leave Hell without orders and powers from Below.

[Earthwalker]

The reason your character even has a chance to escape hell is because you have a destiny.

This is represented on your character sheet by a phrase and a number. The higher the number the better but it starts at one.

e.g. "I must escape Hell to once again be with my family"
"I will save my kingdom from the imposter King that took my place"
"I must return to life to save my mercantile house"

When you have points in your destiny you gain abilities.
(Each point allows one re-roll of a dice per encounter)

When you die in Hell your effect the real world and hell shaping it to punish you. This is added to your destiny.

e.g. "I must escape Hell to one again be with my family, but first I should destroy the contract Aborax has made with my son"
"I must escape Hell to save my kingdom from the imposter King that ook my place, but first I should close the portal from hell into my realm."
"I must return to my life to save my mercantile house, but first I need a way to make money from Hell itself"

As long as your destiny has a but you can not use your destiny powers.

Over coming buts and challenges to escape hell increase your destiny score.




That's a very rough model, so far it rewards die (as it allows you to advance your destiny) but perhaps some others can think of a way around that.

[Madokar]

Depending on the game rules you're using, you could make the PCs lose themselves a little bit each time they die. As in, they start taking on aspects of hell and it's denizens. Make them become fiends gradually, over time until they become NPCs that need to be put down.

[Slipperychicken]

Every time they die, roll on a random table of bad effects. Give them horrible deformities and psychosis. Depending on what suits you you can make them permanent, or have ways to remove them in game play instead.

This one can make them think twice about dying.

Spoiler

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Also seconding loss of equipment. You could even make them respawn in the starting area every time (forcing them to go through every previous area again), or at designated checkpoints like in Dark Souls.

[dps]

If they can find magic items, but lose them when they "die", then "death" will be a horrific experience to avoid at all costs.

I'd go with an expanded version of this. Upon "death" characters lose all items they have on them (they might still be able to access items they had stashed somewhere), but don't lose any abilities, skills, etc. They're still themselves, they just don't have all of their stuff.

[kyoryu]

Read this article. While it's not about RPGs (it's about screenwriting), the basic advice still holds.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/why-you-shoul...tent-511712234

[ClintACK]

If they can find magic items, but lose them when they "die", then "death" will be a horrific experience to avoid at all costs.

Ooh. Yes. Even a TPK just means they wake up together in a random location on the same level/in the same region of Hell, but they lose all their equipment.

[Mastikator]

If you really want to be cruel and make them suffer when they die then you should force them to listen to 10 minutes of DM narration when someone dies. The narration is about the horrible torture they have to endure, if anyone stops paying attention for any reason then the timer is reset.

[SethoMarkus]

If you really want to be cruel and make them suffer when they die then you should force them to listen to 10 minutes of DM narration when someone dies. The narration is about the horrible torture they have to endure, if anyone stops paying attention for any reason then the timer is reset.

Hey now, you want to torture the characters, not the players =P

I third/fourth the losing items idea. However, I think it should be done in conjunction with checkpoints. The characters always lose their gear upon death, but still progress forward. If toy had them restart at the beginning each time, I could see it very easily becoming too tedious and boring, losing the players' interests. Unless you randomly generate the map each time, like a rogue-like?

[SirBellias]

My DM in our highly lethal game has the first death for each character instead be something that shatters the character's concept. A stealthy rogue? Slowly petrified from the toes on up. A sleazy Tavern goer fond of playing the viol? Cut off his arm. A cleric of the God of healing and light? Make his only chance to survive giving himself over to a darker God. Good times. Encourages overcoming challenges and adds drama. Probably wouldn't work as well for yours, of you want them to keep coming back, but it's a fine way to play. The losing items thing would probably be more doable for repeat deaths.

[veti]

It's been a while, but as I recall it the souls in the various levels of the Inferno were pretty uncomfortably placed. Blown about by the wind with no way of controlling their own movements, armpit-deep in muck, tied up or pinned down, or simply driven and beaten by devils, etc...

So surely the answer is ready-made for you. When the PCs are "alive", they can move about reasonably freely. When they "die", they get relegated to the position of the local type of lost soul, appropriate to whatever level they happen to be on at the time, and have to be rescued by their friends before they can rejoin the adventure.

[DRD1812]

They're slowly turning into devils themselves. Whenever they die, it represents Hell ripping away a bit more of their humanity. If they don't find their way out in time, they'll become cloven-hoofed, spike-tailed, evil aligned hell spawn, such that when they finally do reach the surface it's as the vanguard of an invading army rather than as escaping prisoners.

[erikun]

Perhaps the characters can't be killed, but they can still be blocked or otherwise inconvenienced. If the PCs are trying to make their way towards some goal, then perhaps 0HP doesn't mean death, but just getting their not-living bodies knocked out and potentially dragged away by the demons. If you have some reason to force the party to remain together - perhaps they were sent to Hell as a group, and for mystical reasons must redeem themselves as a group or remain - then any PC who gets dragged off will force the entire group to go retrieve their body. If several characters get knocked to 0HP, then it becomes a test of the remaining ones to watch over them and make sure they aren't stolen by wandering creatures to waste their time.

Other than that, I could see "death" involving the character's body and soul getting dragged into the ground down into a lower, previous layer of Hell (much the same outcome as above). Other people have mentioned the interesting idea of giving negative aspects upon a death. Or characters could get magic items or "boons" (magic abilities which they can't just trade) which become lost upon death.