I’ve been hearing a lot of talk in the DMing community floating around lately about when it is (and isn’t) appropriate as a DM to kill a player character. This is a touchy subject with a lot of gamers, as a player’s character can be a very personal extension of their own personality, and — depending on how much time and effort you spent creating and playing the character — a fairly emotional event.
As a DM, you should not discount this trauma as trivial or inconsequential.
While the 4e rules concerning death and dying in the game are covered in both the Player’s Handbook and the Dungeon Master’s Guide, the effects of a character’s death last far beyond any given session. As a DM, our monsters and creatures die all the time. It’s no big deal for us. That’s what they’re for, after all. We forget that fact from time to time, and I for one have been accustomed to creating monsters with the sole purpose that they are to die. A little morbid perhaps, but when a monster or enemy lives, it only makes it that much sweeter for me. Plus, it sets up an almost guaranteed recurring enemy for the players, so we all win.
But characters die in Dungeons & Dragons, we can’t deny this. It wouldn’t be much of a challenge if there was no consequence for failure. It’s a fact of the game that where there are challenges there will be successes and, therefore, failures. But I think perhaps some of the fault lies in viewing death as failure. Do we automatically assume that death is the end? How many times have the heroes faced ghosts, ghasts, vampires, ghouls, zombies, liches and other supposedly “dead” creatures. If anyone should know better, it’s the heroes.
And then there’s Raise Dead.
You only need a part of the PC’s corpse that’s less than 30 days old. Granted, it’s an 8th level ritual, but if you’ve got the 500 gold and a big enough town, there’s no reason your DM can’t make a cleric available to a low-level party. And don’t forget about Gentle Repose, a 1st level ritual which extends that time period to 150 days. What’s that you say? There’s no high-level cleric in your town? That’s probably because your DM’s being a dick.
Seriously. If the DM controls the world, and all the weather and monsters and people in it, and there isn’t a cleric of sufficient power to cast Raise Dead in your town, it’s because you are dealing with a malevolent being. It’s pretty much my argument against God, too.
So when is it okay to kill a player character?
I’ll be the first to admit that not every player character makes it out of my games alive. Characters have died in my game and been reincarnated (remember the random tables?), and some players have had to leave the game so they went out in a heroic blaze of glory. Some PCs died when they were overwhelmed in the final boss encounter, and some fought their last fight when going up against too many kobolds. But I never did it to be mean, or to “get some payback”, or to flex my power. The DM is all-powerful. No player can deny this — see Rule Zero. As the DM, we don’t need to tell the players who’s boss. If a DM really wants to kill off his party, then a) throw them up against the Tarrasque, and b) be prepared to not have those players come back.
The heart of the matter is that viciously (and needlessly) killing off a player character erodes the inherent trust in a roleplaying game like Dungeons & Dragons. In computer games, we trust that a certain amount of neutrality and balance is built into the game. In D&D, we have to trust the DM to be fair and impartial, and we rely on his (or her) interpretation of the rules.
Now, sometimes, let’s be honest, players do stupid things. Every DM has experienced this. Whether the players are trying to Bluff the gelatinous cube or engaging the drow queen with Diplomacy, tactics just aren’t every player’s strong suit. Every DM has a different threshold for when character stupidity equates to character death, but my point is: If a character’s death serves no purpose, then why do it? And don’t blame the dice. If you want the players to live, they live. Simple enough. If it’s all truly the result of random dice rolls, then what do they need a DM for?
So when do you think it’s okay to kill off a player character?
Steve™
