Questions tagged [character-death]
For questions about issues related to the in-game death, or threat/fear of death, of a player's character in an RPG.
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How can DMs effectively telegraph specific dangers in D&D?
There are some play-styles of D&D in which the spectre of player-character death is considered a feature of the game rather than a bug. For my own reasons (which aren't the point of the question), ...
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How can I make my PCs flee?
My players never run away or avoid conflict. Ever. I throw them ridiculous encounters, they will stay and fight. If I tell them, "You know you're not gonna make it, just run," they stay and fight and ...
user4000
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How do I not cheapen death, while also respecting my players' time?
I DM for a group of very busy people, for whom the commitment of several hours a week is a real sacrifice: that’s a sizeable chunk of their free time for the week that I’m asking for.
Now,...
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My PCs have a plan that will get them all killed; how and why should I save them?
Related: How do I help my players figure out how to stay alive in a realistically-deadly sandbox campaign?
I am running a sandbox game for a group of players who are used to more traditional ...
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How can I suggest the DM stop trying to kill us?
We have been playing a game for a while now, and while the game itself is quite enjoyable, the only problem is that the DM seems to be aiming to kill us. Sort of.
For example, there have been three ...
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What spells are available to resurrect characters?
What official spells exist that can be used by characters to resurrect their fallen comrades in Dungeons & Dragons? Which classes can cast them and at what level?
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How do I kill a 20th level raging Zealot Barbarian?
At 20th level, the Path of the Zealot barbarian (Xanathar's Guide to Everything, p. 11) can rage indefinitely by virtue of starting a new rage just prior to their initial rage ending. This is ...
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What to do when a player character does something that seems suicidal?
Every now and then a player character does something extremely risky because "it would be fun." What are some good ways to handle this as a GM, for the different styles of play? I like ...
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Handling encounter elements that would realistically cause instant death
Creating an encounter often plays out the same for me: I come up with ideas for making the experience epic, find myself unable to solve the "what if they fail" problem, and then minimize or eliminate ...
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Techniques for allowing character defeat without character death
Character death can be extremely disruptive to an ongoing RPG, particularly in a game where character agendas are the driving force behind the plot. However, for a good story with a sense of conflict ...
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Dealing with "fearless" players
I have some "badass" players in my group who do not fear death, 4 out of 6 to be precise, which causes problems for the rest players as they feel they are always getting dragged into trouble, trying ...
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Can Raise Dead revive a character with zero maximum Hit Points?
So, a character died from Draining Kiss of a succubus and his Max HP is 0. Can he be restored by Raise Dead, or does he need a higher level spell? Or a Greater Restoration cast on his lifeless body ...
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My 5e character isn't very fun. How do I kill them off?
I'm playing an 8th level Valor bard, and she's basically The Load (warning: TVTropes link) at this point- high-combat campaign, so not a lot of charisma stuff to do, and really doesn't have any ...
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How can I quickly get a player back into a session after their character dies? [closed]
As a GM, what kind of techniques could I use to help a player re-join the gaming session after their character dies? I want to avoid any major interruptions to the flow of the adventure. I would also ...
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How to kill a character without making their player too angry
I have been DMing a game for a group of friends. In between two sessions, which ended with them facing a few enemy NPCs, I realized that these intelligent opponents had a very good way to kill one of ...
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