Death Came A Knocking
So in last night’s games Reed my not very noble Halfling Wizard (with a little thievery thrown in) died.
Now death in role-playing is to be expected. It would not be much of a game if you knew your character wouldn’t die. So having Reed die was a little entertaining, and at the same time a little meh. However it would be untruthful to say I wasn’t mostly miffed at the nature of the death.
If in 4ed, like we are playing, your character ends up dying and you fail your saving throws, and your cleric can’t get to you to do healing, then that’s the way the cookie crumbles. On the other hand if the DM has an enemy perform a coup-de-grace on the character while they are unconscious to kill them? I do find that a little troubling. It’s not an action I would take as a DM.
To me it removes the dramatic tension of the companions trying to save the character, of rolling to save vs. death. Sure there is an adversarial nature to the DM’s role, but at the same time isn’t the game a joint venture in story telling?
Maybe I’m wrong, I’m a big chap and won’t dwell on it too much (writing it out dudes, writing it out).
Of course what it does do is open up some interesting possibilities. Do I drop in a new character? Or do I do as the DM has suggested and bring back Reed as a Revenant?
The later path opens up some interesting story telling and play action choices. Reed the Halfling Wizard was of dubious moral character, and quite reckless. I can see that Reed the Revenant Wizard would be just a little bit bitter (he probably didn’t like been left behind with no chance of raise death). So maybe now he is fixated on staying alive at all costs, and extending his unnatural existence? How much will the hate burn in the heart, which brought him back as the living undead? Mwhahahahaha
Now death in role-playing is to be expected. It would not be much of a game if you knew your character wouldn’t die. So having Reed die was a little entertaining, and at the same time a little meh. However it would be untruthful to say I wasn’t mostly miffed at the nature of the death.
If in 4ed, like we are playing, your character ends up dying and you fail your saving throws, and your cleric can’t get to you to do healing, then that’s the way the cookie crumbles. On the other hand if the DM has an enemy perform a coup-de-grace on the character while they are unconscious to kill them? I do find that a little troubling. It’s not an action I would take as a DM.
To me it removes the dramatic tension of the companions trying to save the character, of rolling to save vs. death. Sure there is an adversarial nature to the DM’s role, but at the same time isn’t the game a joint venture in story telling?
Maybe I’m wrong, I’m a big chap and won’t dwell on it too much (writing it out dudes, writing it out).
Of course what it does do is open up some interesting possibilities. Do I drop in a new character? Or do I do as the DM has suggested and bring back Reed as a Revenant?
The later path opens up some interesting story telling and play action choices. Reed the Halfling Wizard was of dubious moral character, and quite reckless. I can see that Reed the Revenant Wizard would be just a little bit bitter (he probably didn’t like been left behind with no chance of raise death). So maybe now he is fixated on staying alive at all costs, and extending his unnatural existence? How much will the hate burn in the heart, which brought him back as the living undead? Mwhahahahaha