Either approach would've been fine, so I wouldn't second guess yourself, but I admire the way you handled it. You gave a cost, allowed the party to negotiate that cost, and then put in a potential future story hook that you could exploit (they owe the cleric a favor). That's just nice DMing, right there.
Same for me - I played from 1988 to around 1995 then took a 20 year break and came back in 2015. You created a fantastic hook to get your PC's invested in another story!
In the end it is up to the player for Raise Dead. The spell says the soul has to be willing, so in that case after the spell is cast you would ask the dead pc ādo you want to be raised?ā They can always say no if they want to roll a new character.
Hey if the player would like it, offer them the chance to retire that character. Dying and coming back is a big deal and would take a toll mentally, the character my want to take their second chance and move on from adventuring. If that's the case it's a win-win, party had a heartfelt RP encounter, and a player can complete a character's story (something the majority of our long forgotten characters would dream to happen)
I gave him the option of saying something along the lines of his character is scarred from the death and no longer wishes to tempt fate. He has 2 weeks to decide.
Sorry, jumped to conclusions. Getting a fair amount of people saying that "if it was their game" and about how I took away player agency. Good times.
Basically, they weren't there and I'm new. We all do our best and I didn't want my player to sit there and feel like they had nothing to do
No, I was blamed for allowing the ressurection to go through without consulting the player. The player sat there and didn't say anything but he is also new. Live and learn
Yeah youāre totally fun. I had a death in my very first session. Funny enough, that player dies protecting a Temple of Chanteau. The Priestess felt she (and the town) owed him her life for sacrificing himself and saving the village, so she used ancient divine magic and gave her life to bring back his.
In the moment it felt like the right thing to do, but in hindsight I believe it was a mistake because my party now doesnāt take death seriously anymore because they think Iāll just bail them out. Of course if it does happen I wont, but Iāll feel bad and give them a cost/hard quest to possibly return one of themselves back from the dead. We all make mistakes in the first session and even after 100 sessions. Who the hell cares?!
Weāre not directing a hollywood film, weāre playing games with friends. The entire spirit of the game is make believe and suspending our disbelief. Itās all in good fun and nobody worth playing with will make a big deal out of it.
Well done and have fun with your game!
Checking with player first is always ideal but when you're in doubt it's definitely the right call to present the option of a revival for the party to decide on.
A soul must be willing and able to be returned from the dead. If the player really wants to roll a new character, they can still choose to remain dead and do so.
Yep, but as a new player and a new DM, we overlooked that and I spoke to the player today and apologized for not taking a quick break to discuss what he wanted. New experiences are learning experiences.
Yeah, sounds like there was no vindictiveness to the death, it led to good RP, the players are happy, the world will now seem more lethal and they managed to make a deal for something that is economically out of their reach which you can now use to rope them into another adventure for the Priestess. Good stuff all around I'd say.
Yeah I think you made a good call - the important thing is that the death is a memorable, significant, and resonant moment and it seems like you nailed that. If it happens again and they learn that there will always be a conveniently placed cleric who will always be able to be talked into exactly what the party can afford to raise them then it may begin to cheapen the threat of death but right now I doubt that's what any of your players have taken from this.
You're right to follow their lead on it - after letting it sink in, whether they start to plan how to get a resurrection or start talking about how excited they are for their next character is telling as to what the most fun outcome is for them, which is usually what you want to be erring towards.
I think you made a good call! From your description your players had fun and this event had an impact on them, it was their first encounter with death, next time they may be more cautious. Also, next time if it ever happens, dont be afraid to take a break!! A 15 minute break could give you some time to think how to react to this new development, and give your players time to asses their situation. That way you will be more sure of how to handle it, and not feel like you may have done something wrong. Well done and good luck!!!
Breaks are such an under discussed DM tool. Take 5, think about it, read the players reaction. Decide what to do from there, and if you canāt decide send in a random encounter that will almost definitely be a TPK.
I recently had to end a session mid-combat due to lateness. It was an insane, hours-long fight that was cruising toward toward tpk. People were getting salty. Having two weeks to think about what to do made the difference between angry campaign end and the party barely escaping.
Character deaths happen. Adventuring is dangerous. You did just fine. Althoughā¦next time, you could have the priestess say, for example, āHmm. Thereās an ancient catacomb/mine/temple/whatever just a couple days away that was once known for yielding legendary gems/artifacts/whatever. I need a large flawless diamond for the spell anyway, and I donāt have one - but if you can find one at that location, you can bring it to me and then Iāll be able to resurrect your friend. Until then, let me cast Gentle Reposeā¦ā Using the charactersā motivation to resurrect their companion is a great way to lead them into a fun little side quest!
Thank you! I'm new and we're running a module but I don't think it would be beyond me to throw together a simple dungeon. I could even make up a dmpc for the dead player to run in the interim as I don't want anyone sitting there doing nothing for the major portion of a session.
The issue with this idea is that the dead player will be completely put on the sideline during this quest. They won't be able to roll a new character as their pals are trying to revive them, but they won't be able to participate in the sidequest either since they are still dead.
I'm with you, this is not a great idea. Making the PCs do something for the priest *after* the fact is wonderful, since the player whose character dropped is still involved. I like rewarding character death with story [and suddenly working for this cleric is a great story seed], not punishing the player for rolling poorly by asking them to sit out a whole session.
It sounds like a fine pull for your party. I'd consider having them do a quest as the payment instead of bankrupting them (if they're that low level). They have to get some magic thing or ingredient to help ressurect their party member. Let the dead player roll up a temp character (maybe a follower of the presitess) and do a 1-2 session thing to work to get their friend back.
But if you wanna get the PC back quickly and elongation that process wouldn't have been good for your group then what you did was great. š
Your edit just confirms this community is full of idiots. Idk when we crossed over into the PC death is Bad DMing unless executed flawlessly, but it's a toxic mindset. If death wasnt on the table HP and deaths saves wouldn't be a core mechanic. Unless specified otherwise death should be a blatantly obvious possibility! I know people will yammer about making sure it's done in a narrative manner. But that's not always going to be possible. Unless your egregiously fudging rolls. Ultimately PC death is a huge component of this game. Figuring out how to deal with it as both DMs and players. Don't let people make you think you've done something wrong. Figuring out how your going to rule PC death and how "dangerous" the game you want to run is going to be. Is a process that takes time.
Before you say "This community is full of idiots", maybe note that like, 3 people have said they wouldn't have done what OP did but they were all pretty polite about it. People run their tables differently, and someone saying "I wouldn't have done that, but your table your rules" isn't being an "idiot".
I don't think anybody has said OP is an idiot or a bad DM. A few have said they wouldn't have done what they did, gave some decent reasoning, and were polite about it.
I can't find anyone disrespectfully disagreeing with OP, just a few people saying they would have done it differently or advising against this choice. Which surely is okay and expected when OP asks:
>should I have put the cleric there to offer the service or should I have had them make the harder choice if saying goodbye to a comrade?
I know when I ask a question like this I want opposing view points because they offer valuable insight. Maybe there's been a few deleted comments or something....
I knocked him out because the party split and he ended up grappled by an ankheg. He failed 2 death saves and Nat 1'd one of them.
I think the only critique I'm getting is that I didn't allow the player to choose whether he was rez'd and that I tossed a traveling cleric into the city. Oh well, live and learn
Long ago in the Dark Ages, when you got together with friends to play D&D you always rolled up multiple characters because quite frankly, you knew one or two were not going to make it half way through the campaign.
Player Characters have really evolved over the course of D&D as has the players relationship to their PCs. What used to be a simple avatar has evolved into something way more complex with players really spending time on backstories and such (or not).
If your players are really invested in their characters, then the death of one can add a really profound layer to your game. And that could open up your campaign for a whole other unexpected chapter.
In the end, though, this is a strategic based game and PCs are in constant danger. Its a fact of the game that PC death is a very real possibility and one which I think makes the game a lot of fun.
I think you handed the situation absolutely beautifully!
I don't get why you're downplaying what they offered. The diamond for *raise dead* is 500 gp, and then 7 level-1 scrolls *and* a magic necklace *and* **and** a free favor is a lot. Nothing wrong with that, but it's a substantial payment.
Beyond that (which is really unimportant, you do what you want there, it's no big thing), this is an absolutely 100% perfect resolution.
Who's saying you messed up? I don't see them, and if they're here then fuck 'em. This is the kind of solution I'd expect from a somewhat experienced DM. Maintains the beat of the death, the weight of it, and opens up all sorts of new opportunities via the priestess. To come up with this solution on the fly as a new DM is great.
And character death isn't some huge mistake on your part as the DM. Character death is a natural and somewhat expected part of play, especially at low level (which I'm assuming you are?). It happens. It's a memorable beat in a campaign, creates good drama, and teaches everyone, both the players and their characters, about what to do next time.
Basically I'm being told that I didn't allow the player to choose whether he wanted to come back and that I threw in the "roaming cleric" that want there before.
Plot twist, the module says that there's a temple but that the acolyte is "away". Guess what, she came back. š¤·š¼āāļø
Those people are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Hell, it's not even a mole hill. It's an ant hill. Or like an ant colony started to make a hill, but changed their minds and stopped.
Sure, you should talk to the player about if they want that character to come back or not, regardless of how the rest of the players or characters feel. But it's very obvious from your post that everyone is happy with the situation, so no harm no foul.
You handled the situation like a champ. Take pride in your quick-thinking skills here, and try not to spend too much time over analyzing how the death happened in the first place. It happens.
Player death is an interesting line to walk. On the one hand, the defining feature of ttrpg as opposed to passive media is that a large part of the story is left to random chance. In this case, it seems the dice did indeed do their part. But on the other hand, it's a good bonding and character building moment to have the party give up so much material wealth in order to bring back one of their own. I think in the end, if the players are happy and were engaged in the rp and story, you did a good job as a DM.
I'll always remember my Rogue in Curse of Strahd. The DM heavily altered the start, so we ran House of Lament instead of Death House. This also took place about a day's hike from the outside to the Gates of Barovia.
Party has just left HoL. PC died at HoL. My Rogue, which had taken the Scout Subclass, was able to surmise that >!the dead body was killed by wolves!<, and that a pack of wolves were inbound on our position. I scrambled to climb a tree. Our party's Aasimar Ranger was flying around raining death.
So, my Elf Rogue peaks out from behind his tree blind, fires a shot, then attempts to hide. DM has homebrew rule that states that I must actually try to move before I can stealth. I attempt to hop over to another tree branch, and roll a Natural 1 on my Acrobatics check. I had expertise in acrobatics, but my high number didn't meet the DC.
I fell, on my ass, was knocked prone, and took a decent amount of bludgeoning damage. Spent the rest of my movement standing up. However, this would be the last thing that my character would do. The wolves, having no other targets (Aasimar was flying, the other PCs were in trees), pounced on my poor Rogue, and downed him with pack tactics. Furthermore, they showed no quarter, as I was literally the only available target. Big sad. But, it was memorable.
I think this is a great thing to do for the first PC death with a new group, but not something to have done again. Now they know that death is a very real risk in the game as they've experienced it, but next time there may not be a cleric around to help them.
You did fine :) The players learned that death is possible, yet they found a way to bring back their dead companion. As long as you and the players enjoyed it, you are fine. You didn't screw up
In order to reverse death, there needs to be a significant, possibly permanent cost. Otherwise death means nothing in your world. I think you did a pretty good job for on the spot thinking.
I don't think you screwed up. For some reason redditors like to be harsh. What you did was fair, you didn't just give them a revive and the players got some fun out of the experience.
What I would suggest going forward is to let your players know that this will not always be the case. They got a freebie as it was the first character death and next time the odds may not be in their favor. Maybe even have the cleric die to deny the possibility of her being able to help again.
I think you should have left them for dead. It's quite hard to die in 5e and the system holds their hands to stay alive for most everything, so a traveling cadre of clerics is just breaking immersion. Your table, though. I'd prefer my character remain dead than get a handout. Because next time someone goes down, the next player will be like "Isn't there *something* we can do?"
Personally, I wouldn't have done that. I dislike when DMs create NPCs for the PCs' convenience. What a coincidence, someone just died, and a cleric happened to be passing by! Oh wow, she'll expend her 5th level spell slot and cast this spell at cost. As a player at the table, or the player who died, I would be unhappy at the immersion breaking turn of events.
PCs die, if they canāt or donāt or DMs bend over backwards to correct for the risks of PC life, it cheapens the game IMO. Sometimes it sucks to be a PC. It doesnāt seem like there was anything out of the ordinary you did to cause it (bending rules) so they should move on.
We had a player quit the group but after a few months came back to "cameo" his character as a minor villain. The party accidentally just flat out murdered him and dumped his body in the nearest pit after looting him.
Different deaths mean different things to different people, I guess.
You could have had one npc do it for cheaper, but at worse quality and maybe the character comes back with a handicap or as an undead or something. Depends of the vibe you want your game to have
I had a similar situation that ended up being the catalyst for the entire campaign. You did fine, just keep going with the Cleric that healed them and make the beck and call thing meaningful.
Itās too late now but I always make a player death the end of the session or if they are in a battle the end of the battle, even if it is an early end. This allows you to talk to the player and decide: are you really dead, want to try to be resurrected, make a ādeal with the devilā to make sure your character is brought back to life. If they decide either 1 or 2 they should also be prepared with a new character to play for the new session.
Meh it worked out in the end. I would suggest you have a talk with the group that this was an exceptional lucky experience and that in D&D characters die and they need to be aware of it. Also in our campaign the replacement character is the same level as their last character and level just the same and with the rest of the party. Also if the character dies it is possible the party can keep their stuff if possible.
"The group of 4 split the party" Well that sounds like the players fault if I ever hear it. Lol, but seriously, as they are new players, you did very well here. Your job as a DM is not to beat down your players completely and as new players this may have crushed their spirits, but you offered an easy solution out and gave yourself a nice juicy plot hook too, perfect DM response for new players. The game should punish incompetence yes, but it shouldn't beat the players down for their lunch money and then sleep with their sister, that's just mean. For experienced players this would be too light handed, but for new players, you did great.
So i actually play with a group of seasoned players/ dms and this happened to me recently. My first PC death as a DM. He got downed, monster moved on, he failed his first then rolled a 1 on his second. I attempted to offer him a way out, but he said it takes the idea of consequences away.
Basically if you let your characters think that they can do that, they'll expect it again and maybe not learn as much from splitting their party.
I think making it cost a lot is reasonable but i dont think that, as their first death, you should have offered a resurrection.
So, I remember being a player in a friend's Curse of Strahd campaign. The DM ran House of Lament instead of Death House. It's still dangerous for a low-level party. Well, the party's Paladin went down fighting >!that zombie thing upstairs!<. We then had to >!kill the reanimated Paladin!<, and bury her body.
It really set the tone for the campaign. We learned at that moment how depressing Barovia was. Was this planned by the DM? No. Did it go miles in convincing us what kind of world we were in for? Absolutely.
It comes down to one simple question: What kind of game are you running?
- Are you running a bombastic hack-and-slash where the heroes are invincible?
- Are you running a more horror-themed campaign where the world is dark, and unforgiving?
- Something in-between? If you do this, death has to be relatively constant in its threats. Don't make every combat a terrifying life-or-death situation. However, don't make a fight seem like a cakewalk.
Very well played and the group seems happy. Now the next important question is what does the priestess call on the group for? You could do so much with this, a hard encounter? Something dark? I would throw an ethical encounter at them with her.
I don't if this helps, but if you think you fucked up then you wouldn't believe one of my players died thrice in a single campaign of mine. Thrice. That campaign lasted a couple months max.
I had my first PC death the other day as well. I feel like I screwed up but the players said it was fair.
They were fighting a beholder and the one who died was already at half HP when she got grappled by an eye ray, then I rolled to attack her randomly and it was the disintegration ray. I felt bad and I was speechless and they were too.
It was a good experience though for sure. It won't make me as hesitant to show the realism of death anymore
Take the player aside, ask then if they want their dead character to come back? If so build a BBG that has, used the dead character as a portal/vessel to come back from an ancient imprisonment by the Queen of Dead. Unknown to the other players, the dead body is alive an well, but possessed but the powerful BBG, who Is now building a cult following. The players encounter this cult and eventually their leader who isā¦. TADA very familiar looking, they cannot just kill them but must banish the possessor, at a place the veil is thinnest, to restore the balance and exchange the souls ā¦ returning their long lost friends soul!
I love your decision, youāve opened up some cool potential quest lines while being reasonably forgiving to your new players. Keep up what youāre doing my guy, donāt listen to the neigh-sayers, as long as you and the table are having fun youāre doing it right.
Several Notes:
New group so you did perfectly fine. Having a convenient cleric is perfectly fine. I've seen multiple people stop playing after losing a character especially as new players. Even if the module said nothing of a cleric, I would have put one in the area as a DM for such new players especially given the emotion around the table. It also saves time. Sure the party could spend 10 days scrambling to the nearest big city, but that leaves a person hanging out being bored out of their mind in the meantime. There's plenty of time to run some weird hardcore mode later on. Let the adventurers be heroic and take risks.
In regards to if you overcharged them. Scribing a 1st level scroll by xgte is about 25gp. Copying it into a book that can be reused is 50 gp. Buying the spellbook itself is around 50gp. I'd put the value of just the book between 225gp and 400gp depending if you want to include the cost of the inks, and possibly more depending on the availability of the spells in the area. A common magic item in the DMG is around 100gp. They also put 500gp in coins in. So in exchange for a 500gp diamond and an admittedly very valuable 5th level spell slot the party put in 825gp - 1000gp and a favor. Chauntea is a Neutral Good goddess so a priestess wouldn't go out of her way to overcharge so the value now depends on the spell slot. Best formula I could find in a few seconds is something from an ancient adventurers league post as (Level)\^2Ć10+(Consumed MaterialsĆ2)+(Non-consumed MaterialsĆ0.1). We've already done some of it with the diamond, but 250gp covers the spell slot itself. Of note the formula suggests charging double for the component which makes sense as there would be costs to acquiring a suitable new one. So now we're looking at 825gp-1000gp and a favor vs 750gp-1250gp which honestly seems fair to me depending on the favor as her timing was excellent.
I love the fact you were okay with trading services. It opens up a free plot hook, builds meaningful relationships with NPCs, and it's the type of thing adventurers are there for. It's also a fair service adventurers can offer that most other civilians can't or won't do. Not everything has to be a monetary transaction especially with shop keepers. Just try not to make it a fetch quest on the first one
My last note. I love that they were willing to pitch in a spellbook. If it was the wizard's in the party though I would have had the priestess ask for a bigger favor, and let the wizard keep his book. He's no good to the cleric dead after all.
As they are in a small, backwoods area nearly 5 days from any sort of larger town, I set the prices on most everything a bit higher. Like the real world. I valued the spell at 1500gp. So it looks like I wasn't that far off in my estimate on the fly. Good times! Thanks for the advice!
Edit: also, the wizard decided not to show up and didn't give us a reason. The other players decided he could also "make a sacrifice". Lol
Yeah, that sounds perfect. Maybe the wizard could conveniently leave with the NPC to help with whatever as a convenient way for them to leave without having every departure end in death. Could also fulfill the favor part of the plot if needed as well.
Congrats! Sounds like it was a fair death as a consequence of their actions. Personally I would not have made it so easy for them to resurrect the player, but if all your players (and you) are happy with what happened that's the most important thing.
The success of a session should only be measured by one metric: did everyone have fun?
Sounds like they did PLUS they have a dope D&D story they will probably retell for years to come.
This... seems fair to me. The biggest mistake you made was saying one of your players died. Players and Characters are different. DMs should kill characters with a certain mix of solemn meditation and unrestrained glee.
DMs should never kill players.
I think you handled it very expertly. That being said, I probably won't let them revive from that priestess again until after they have done a few quests for her, but hopefully they won't need to go for that again any time soon.
What you did sounds perfect šš»
I was in shock. I'm thinking I should have asked the player what he wanted first, but I left it up to the rest if his group.
Either approach would've been fine, so I wouldn't second guess yourself, but I admire the way you handled it. You gave a cost, allowed the party to negotiate that cost, and then put in a potential future story hook that you could exploit (they owe the cleric a favor). That's just nice DMing, right there.
Thanks! I'm just someone who has played off and on since 2e and was railroaded into dm'ing. Such is life.
Same for me - I played from 1988 to around 1995 then took a 20 year break and came back in 2015. You created a fantastic hook to get your PC's invested in another story!
smh - players say they hate railroading, but railroad their DM
In the end it is up to the player for Raise Dead. The spell says the soul has to be willing, so in that case after the spell is cast you would ask the dead pc ādo you want to be raised?ā They can always say no if they want to roll a new character.
Hey if the player would like it, offer them the chance to retire that character. Dying and coming back is a big deal and would take a toll mentally, the character my want to take their second chance and move on from adventuring. If that's the case it's a win-win, party had a heartfelt RP encounter, and a player can complete a character's story (something the majority of our long forgotten characters would dream to happen)
This is what he was offered today. š
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I gave him the option of saying something along the lines of his character is scarred from the death and no longer wishes to tempt fate. He has 2 weeks to decide.
Thats what you should do ;) never take the player agency away
If the player doesn't want anything to do with it, all they have to do is announce that their soul isn't willing and the spell will fail.
We know... Now. I understand that I screwed up but as a new DM, shit happens and we learn from it
Huh? When did you screw up? I'm not following
Sorry, jumped to conclusions. Getting a fair amount of people saying that "if it was their game" and about how I took away player agency. Good times. Basically, they weren't there and I'm new. We all do our best and I didn't want my player to sit there and feel like they had nothing to do
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
No, I was blamed for allowing the ressurection to go through without consulting the player. The player sat there and didn't say anything but he is also new. Live and learn
Yeah youāre totally fun. I had a death in my very first session. Funny enough, that player dies protecting a Temple of Chanteau. The Priestess felt she (and the town) owed him her life for sacrificing himself and saving the village, so she used ancient divine magic and gave her life to bring back his. In the moment it felt like the right thing to do, but in hindsight I believe it was a mistake because my party now doesnāt take death seriously anymore because they think Iāll just bail them out. Of course if it does happen I wont, but Iāll feel bad and give them a cost/hard quest to possibly return one of themselves back from the dead. We all make mistakes in the first session and even after 100 sessions. Who the hell cares?! Weāre not directing a hollywood film, weāre playing games with friends. The entire spirit of the game is make believe and suspending our disbelief. Itās all in good fun and nobody worth playing with will make a big deal out of it. Well done and have fun with your game!
Checking with player first is always ideal but when you're in doubt it's definitely the right call to present the option of a revival for the party to decide on.
A soul must be willing and able to be returned from the dead. If the player really wants to roll a new character, they can still choose to remain dead and do so.
Yep, but as a new player and a new DM, we overlooked that and I spoke to the player today and apologized for not taking a quick break to discuss what he wanted. New experiences are learning experiences.
RAW, resurrection only works if the target is willing. They could always say no.
Yeah, sounds like there was no vindictiveness to the death, it led to good RP, the players are happy, the world will now seem more lethal and they managed to make a deal for something that is economically out of their reach which you can now use to rope them into another adventure for the Priestess. Good stuff all around I'd say.
Yeah I think you made a good call - the important thing is that the death is a memorable, significant, and resonant moment and it seems like you nailed that. If it happens again and they learn that there will always be a conveniently placed cleric who will always be able to be talked into exactly what the party can afford to raise them then it may begin to cheapen the threat of death but right now I doubt that's what any of your players have taken from this. You're right to follow their lead on it - after letting it sink in, whether they start to plan how to get a resurrection or start talking about how excited they are for their next character is telling as to what the most fun outcome is for them, which is usually what you want to be erring towards.
Thank you!
Exactly. If deaths donāt matter or are treated flippantly, it very much breaks the immersion of the game. Good on the DM for helping to stop that.
I think you made a good call! From your description your players had fun and this event had an impact on them, it was their first encounter with death, next time they may be more cautious. Also, next time if it ever happens, dont be afraid to take a break!! A 15 minute break could give you some time to think how to react to this new development, and give your players time to asses their situation. That way you will be more sure of how to handle it, and not feel like you may have done something wrong. Well done and good luck!!!
Ooh, good suggestion. I've played a fair bit over the years but am new to dm'ing so advice always helps! Cheers!
Breaks are such an under discussed DM tool. Take 5, think about it, read the players reaction. Decide what to do from there, and if you canāt decide send in a random encounter that will almost definitely be a TPK.
I recently had to end a session mid-combat due to lateness. It was an insane, hours-long fight that was cruising toward toward tpk. People were getting salty. Having two weeks to think about what to do made the difference between angry campaign end and the party barely escaping.
Character deaths happen. Adventuring is dangerous. You did just fine. Althoughā¦next time, you could have the priestess say, for example, āHmm. Thereās an ancient catacomb/mine/temple/whatever just a couple days away that was once known for yielding legendary gems/artifacts/whatever. I need a large flawless diamond for the spell anyway, and I donāt have one - but if you can find one at that location, you can bring it to me and then Iāll be able to resurrect your friend. Until then, let me cast Gentle Reposeā¦ā Using the charactersā motivation to resurrect their companion is a great way to lead them into a fun little side quest!
Thank you! I'm new and we're running a module but I don't think it would be beyond me to throw together a simple dungeon. I could even make up a dmpc for the dead player to run in the interim as I don't want anyone sitting there doing nothing for the major portion of a session.
Ooh, good call! The party will surely need a local guideā¦
The issue with this idea is that the dead player will be completely put on the sideline during this quest. They won't be able to roll a new character as their pals are trying to revive them, but they won't be able to participate in the sidequest either since they are still dead.
I'm with you, this is not a great idea. Making the PCs do something for the priest *after* the fact is wonderful, since the player whose character dropped is still involved. I like rewarding character death with story [and suddenly working for this cleric is a great story seed], not punishing the player for rolling poorly by asking them to sit out a whole session.
The Cleric of Chauntea rents them out to the local Silvanite sect to pay off her gambling debts. Welcome to the ecoterrorism arc, boys.
Classic!
>One of my players died last night. Damn, losing a friend sucks. At least you have all the good mem- Oh, a player *character.* Riiiiightā¦
Yes. Please differentiate. I was quite but briefly sympathetic.
It sounds like a fine pull for your party. I'd consider having them do a quest as the payment instead of bankrupting them (if they're that low level). They have to get some magic thing or ingredient to help ressurect their party member. Let the dead player roll up a temp character (maybe a follower of the presitess) and do a 1-2 session thing to work to get their friend back. But if you wanna get the PC back quickly and elongation that process wouldn't have been good for your group then what you did was great. š
We have 6 players. 3 are iffy sometimes. If I drop one of the core 3 it can be rough for play. But this was a learning experience for all. Thank you!
Yeah, rule #1 as a DM is to do what's right for your group.
Your edit just confirms this community is full of idiots. Idk when we crossed over into the PC death is Bad DMing unless executed flawlessly, but it's a toxic mindset. If death wasnt on the table HP and deaths saves wouldn't be a core mechanic. Unless specified otherwise death should be a blatantly obvious possibility! I know people will yammer about making sure it's done in a narrative manner. But that's not always going to be possible. Unless your egregiously fudging rolls. Ultimately PC death is a huge component of this game. Figuring out how to deal with it as both DMs and players. Don't let people make you think you've done something wrong. Figuring out how your going to rule PC death and how "dangerous" the game you want to run is going to be. Is a process that takes time.
Before you say "This community is full of idiots", maybe note that like, 3 people have said they wouldn't have done what OP did but they were all pretty polite about it. People run their tables differently, and someone saying "I wouldn't have done that, but your table your rules" isn't being an "idiot". I don't think anybody has said OP is an idiot or a bad DM. A few have said they wouldn't have done what they did, gave some decent reasoning, and were polite about it.
I can't find anyone disrespectfully disagreeing with OP, just a few people saying they would have done it differently or advising against this choice. Which surely is okay and expected when OP asks: >should I have put the cleric there to offer the service or should I have had them make the harder choice if saying goodbye to a comrade? I know when I ask a question like this I want opposing view points because they offer valuable insight. Maybe there's been a few deleted comments or something....
I knocked him out because the party split and he ended up grappled by an ankheg. He failed 2 death saves and Nat 1'd one of them. I think the only critique I'm getting is that I didn't allow the player to choose whether he was rez'd and that I tossed a traveling cleric into the city. Oh well, live and learn
Long ago in the Dark Ages, when you got together with friends to play D&D you always rolled up multiple characters because quite frankly, you knew one or two were not going to make it half way through the campaign. Player Characters have really evolved over the course of D&D as has the players relationship to their PCs. What used to be a simple avatar has evolved into something way more complex with players really spending time on backstories and such (or not). If your players are really invested in their characters, then the death of one can add a really profound layer to your game. And that could open up your campaign for a whole other unexpected chapter. In the end, though, this is a strategic based game and PCs are in constant danger. Its a fact of the game that PC death is a very real possibility and one which I think makes the game a lot of fun.
If they promised an unspecified favor to the priestess, then that's always a great segue to a feywild session by making her a fae in disguise.
I think you handed the situation absolutely beautifully! I don't get why you're downplaying what they offered. The diamond for *raise dead* is 500 gp, and then 7 level-1 scrolls *and* a magic necklace *and* **and** a free favor is a lot. Nothing wrong with that, but it's a substantial payment. Beyond that (which is really unimportant, you do what you want there, it's no big thing), this is an absolutely 100% perfect resolution. Who's saying you messed up? I don't see them, and if they're here then fuck 'em. This is the kind of solution I'd expect from a somewhat experienced DM. Maintains the beat of the death, the weight of it, and opens up all sorts of new opportunities via the priestess. To come up with this solution on the fly as a new DM is great. And character death isn't some huge mistake on your part as the DM. Character death is a natural and somewhat expected part of play, especially at low level (which I'm assuming you are?). It happens. It's a memorable beat in a campaign, creates good drama, and teaches everyone, both the players and their characters, about what to do next time.
Basically I'm being told that I didn't allow the player to choose whether he wanted to come back and that I threw in the "roaming cleric" that want there before. Plot twist, the module says that there's a temple but that the acolyte is "away". Guess what, she came back. š¤·š¼āāļø
Those people are making a mountain out of a mole hill. Hell, it's not even a mole hill. It's an ant hill. Or like an ant colony started to make a hill, but changed their minds and stopped. Sure, you should talk to the player about if they want that character to come back or not, regardless of how the rest of the players or characters feel. But it's very obvious from your post that everyone is happy with the situation, so no harm no foul. You handled the situation like a champ. Take pride in your quick-thinking skills here, and try not to spend too much time over analyzing how the death happened in the first place. It happens.
Player death is an interesting line to walk. On the one hand, the defining feature of ttrpg as opposed to passive media is that a large part of the story is left to random chance. In this case, it seems the dice did indeed do their part. But on the other hand, it's a good bonding and character building moment to have the party give up so much material wealth in order to bring back one of their own. I think in the end, if the players are happy and were engaged in the rp and story, you did a good job as a DM.
I remember the characters I've lost much more than the ones who lasted till the end. A characters death can be the stuff of legends years later.
I'll always remember my Rogue in Curse of Strahd. The DM heavily altered the start, so we ran House of Lament instead of Death House. This also took place about a day's hike from the outside to the Gates of Barovia. Party has just left HoL. PC died at HoL. My Rogue, which had taken the Scout Subclass, was able to surmise that >!the dead body was killed by wolves!<, and that a pack of wolves were inbound on our position. I scrambled to climb a tree. Our party's Aasimar Ranger was flying around raining death. So, my Elf Rogue peaks out from behind his tree blind, fires a shot, then attempts to hide. DM has homebrew rule that states that I must actually try to move before I can stealth. I attempt to hop over to another tree branch, and roll a Natural 1 on my Acrobatics check. I had expertise in acrobatics, but my high number didn't meet the DC. I fell, on my ass, was knocked prone, and took a decent amount of bludgeoning damage. Spent the rest of my movement standing up. However, this would be the last thing that my character would do. The wolves, having no other targets (Aasimar was flying, the other PCs were in trees), pounced on my poor Rogue, and downed him with pack tactics. Furthermore, they showed no quarter, as I was literally the only available target. Big sad. But, it was memorable.
Great job!
You handled this really well!
I think this is a great thing to do for the first PC death with a new group, but not something to have done again. Now they know that death is a very real risk in the game as they've experienced it, but next time there may not be a cleric around to help them.
You did fine :) The players learned that death is possible, yet they found a way to bring back their dead companion. As long as you and the players enjoyed it, you are fine. You didn't screw up
In order to reverse death, there needs to be a significant, possibly permanent cost. Otherwise death means nothing in your world. I think you did a pretty good job for on the spot thinking.
If you had fun and the players had fun you did it right. Screw the people criticizing you.
I don't think you screwed up. For some reason redditors like to be harsh. What you did was fair, you didn't just give them a revive and the players got some fun out of the experience. What I would suggest going forward is to let your players know that this will not always be the case. They got a freebie as it was the first character death and next time the odds may not be in their favor. Maybe even have the cleric die to deny the possibility of her being able to help again.
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It's good to know! This is only my 5th or 6th session, so I'm still learning on the fly!
Did you and your players learn from this player's death? If so, good job. Don't take it to heart. You're a good DM, just keep learning. <3
Every day. They all had a blast.
I think you should have left them for dead. It's quite hard to die in 5e and the system holds their hands to stay alive for most everything, so a traveling cadre of clerics is just breaking immersion. Your table, though. I'd prefer my character remain dead than get a handout. Because next time someone goes down, the next player will be like "Isn't there *something* we can do?"
Personally, I wouldn't have done that. I dislike when DMs create NPCs for the PCs' convenience. What a coincidence, someone just died, and a cleric happened to be passing by! Oh wow, she'll expend her 5th level spell slot and cast this spell at cost. As a player at the table, or the player who died, I would be unhappy at the immersion breaking turn of events.
It's all a hindsight thing. I'm new, they're new. We're all figuring it out on the fly, but thanks š
š Just sharing my thoughts. As long as you and your players are happy, it's all good!
PCs die, if they canāt or donāt or DMs bend over backwards to correct for the risks of PC life, it cheapens the game IMO. Sometimes it sucks to be a PC. It doesnāt seem like there was anything out of the ordinary you did to cause it (bending rules) so they should move on.
This story is why I donāt have nat 1s count as two death fails. My party rolls them comically frequently.
We had a player quit the group but after a few months came back to "cameo" his character as a minor villain. The party accidentally just flat out murdered him and dumped his body in the nearest pit after looting him. Different deaths mean different things to different people, I guess.
Player \*Character\* I was very concerned for a bit
You could have had one npc do it for cheaper, but at worse quality and maybe the character comes back with a handicap or as an undead or something. Depends of the vibe you want your game to have
I had a similar situation that ended up being the catalyst for the entire campaign. You did fine, just keep going with the Cleric that healed them and make the beck and call thing meaningful.
Itās too late now but I always make a player death the end of the session or if they are in a battle the end of the battle, even if it is an early end. This allows you to talk to the player and decide: are you really dead, want to try to be resurrected, make a ādeal with the devilā to make sure your character is brought back to life. If they decide either 1 or 2 they should also be prepared with a new character to play for the new session.
Meh it worked out in the end. I would suggest you have a talk with the group that this was an exceptional lucky experience and that in D&D characters die and they need to be aware of it. Also in our campaign the replacement character is the same level as their last character and level just the same and with the rest of the party. Also if the character dies it is possible the party can keep their stuff if possible.
Sounds like you handled this well. Gosh would it be a shame if the priestess ended up being evilā¦
"The group of 4 split the party" Well that sounds like the players fault if I ever hear it. Lol, but seriously, as they are new players, you did very well here. Your job as a DM is not to beat down your players completely and as new players this may have crushed their spirits, but you offered an easy solution out and gave yourself a nice juicy plot hook too, perfect DM response for new players. The game should punish incompetence yes, but it shouldn't beat the players down for their lunch money and then sleep with their sister, that's just mean. For experienced players this would be too light handed, but for new players, you did great.
Was there death a surprise because it was a normal monster not a boss of any kind? He Just got whacked by some Schulb monster?
So i actually play with a group of seasoned players/ dms and this happened to me recently. My first PC death as a DM. He got downed, monster moved on, he failed his first then rolled a 1 on his second. I attempted to offer him a way out, but he said it takes the idea of consequences away. Basically if you let your characters think that they can do that, they'll expect it again and maybe not learn as much from splitting their party. I think making it cost a lot is reasonable but i dont think that, as their first death, you should have offered a resurrection.
You did the right thing. This is D&D, and death isn't necessarily "the end".
So, I remember being a player in a friend's Curse of Strahd campaign. The DM ran House of Lament instead of Death House. It's still dangerous for a low-level party. Well, the party's Paladin went down fighting >!that zombie thing upstairs!<. We then had to >!kill the reanimated Paladin!<, and bury her body. It really set the tone for the campaign. We learned at that moment how depressing Barovia was. Was this planned by the DM? No. Did it go miles in convincing us what kind of world we were in for? Absolutely. It comes down to one simple question: What kind of game are you running? - Are you running a bombastic hack-and-slash where the heroes are invincible? - Are you running a more horror-themed campaign where the world is dark, and unforgiving? - Something in-between? If you do this, death has to be relatively constant in its threats. Don't make every combat a terrifying life-or-death situation. However, don't make a fight seem like a cakewalk.
Very well played and the group seems happy. Now the next important question is what does the priestess call on the group for? You could do so much with this, a hard encounter? Something dark? I would throw an ethical encounter at them with her.
I don't if this helps, but if you think you fucked up then you wouldn't believe one of my players died thrice in a single campaign of mine. Thrice. That campaign lasted a couple months max.
You did well! You gave them a chance and made it depending on a difficult die roll on which the succeeded.
I had my first PC death the other day as well. I feel like I screwed up but the players said it was fair. They were fighting a beholder and the one who died was already at half HP when she got grappled by an eye ray, then I rolled to attack her randomly and it was the disintegration ray. I felt bad and I was speechless and they were too. It was a good experience though for sure. It won't make me as hesitant to show the realism of death anymore
Take the player aside, ask then if they want their dead character to come back? If so build a BBG that has, used the dead character as a portal/vessel to come back from an ancient imprisonment by the Queen of Dead. Unknown to the other players, the dead body is alive an well, but possessed but the powerful BBG, who Is now building a cult following. The players encounter this cult and eventually their leader who isā¦. TADA very familiar looking, they cannot just kill them but must banish the possessor, at a place the veil is thinnest, to restore the balance and exchange the souls ā¦ returning their long lost friends soul!
I love your decision, youāve opened up some cool potential quest lines while being reasonably forgiving to your new players. Keep up what youāre doing my guy, donāt listen to the neigh-sayers, as long as you and the table are having fun youāre doing it right.
Several Notes: New group so you did perfectly fine. Having a convenient cleric is perfectly fine. I've seen multiple people stop playing after losing a character especially as new players. Even if the module said nothing of a cleric, I would have put one in the area as a DM for such new players especially given the emotion around the table. It also saves time. Sure the party could spend 10 days scrambling to the nearest big city, but that leaves a person hanging out being bored out of their mind in the meantime. There's plenty of time to run some weird hardcore mode later on. Let the adventurers be heroic and take risks. In regards to if you overcharged them. Scribing a 1st level scroll by xgte is about 25gp. Copying it into a book that can be reused is 50 gp. Buying the spellbook itself is around 50gp. I'd put the value of just the book between 225gp and 400gp depending if you want to include the cost of the inks, and possibly more depending on the availability of the spells in the area. A common magic item in the DMG is around 100gp. They also put 500gp in coins in. So in exchange for a 500gp diamond and an admittedly very valuable 5th level spell slot the party put in 825gp - 1000gp and a favor. Chauntea is a Neutral Good goddess so a priestess wouldn't go out of her way to overcharge so the value now depends on the spell slot. Best formula I could find in a few seconds is something from an ancient adventurers league post as (Level)\^2Ć10+(Consumed MaterialsĆ2)+(Non-consumed MaterialsĆ0.1). We've already done some of it with the diamond, but 250gp covers the spell slot itself. Of note the formula suggests charging double for the component which makes sense as there would be costs to acquiring a suitable new one. So now we're looking at 825gp-1000gp and a favor vs 750gp-1250gp which honestly seems fair to me depending on the favor as her timing was excellent. I love the fact you were okay with trading services. It opens up a free plot hook, builds meaningful relationships with NPCs, and it's the type of thing adventurers are there for. It's also a fair service adventurers can offer that most other civilians can't or won't do. Not everything has to be a monetary transaction especially with shop keepers. Just try not to make it a fetch quest on the first one My last note. I love that they were willing to pitch in a spellbook. If it was the wizard's in the party though I would have had the priestess ask for a bigger favor, and let the wizard keep his book. He's no good to the cleric dead after all.
As they are in a small, backwoods area nearly 5 days from any sort of larger town, I set the prices on most everything a bit higher. Like the real world. I valued the spell at 1500gp. So it looks like I wasn't that far off in my estimate on the fly. Good times! Thanks for the advice! Edit: also, the wizard decided not to show up and didn't give us a reason. The other players decided he could also "make a sacrifice". Lol
Yeah, that sounds perfect. Maybe the wizard could conveniently leave with the NPC to help with whatever as a convenient way for them to leave without having every departure end in death. Could also fulfill the favor part of the plot if needed as well.
Congrats! Sounds like it was a fair death as a consequence of their actions. Personally I would not have made it so easy for them to resurrect the player, but if all your players (and you) are happy with what happened that's the most important thing.
The success of a session should only be measured by one metric: did everyone have fun? Sounds like they did PLUS they have a dope D&D story they will probably retell for years to come.
This... seems fair to me. The biggest mistake you made was saying one of your players died. Players and Characters are different. DMs should kill characters with a certain mix of solemn meditation and unrestrained glee. DMs should never kill players.
While I agree, there are always THOSE players... Lol
I think you handled it very expertly. That being said, I probably won't let them revive from that priestess again until after they have done a few quests for her, but hopefully they won't need to go for that again any time soon.
I too hope that