1001 leading causes of player death [Archive] - Wizards Community

1001 leading causes of player death [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
LordHawkeye
10-07-06, 05:12 PM 1. Breaking off from the group, particularily breaking off from the group and not telling them. Just all around bad thing to do.

2. Not recognizing your limits. Don't pick fights with the city guard at lv.4, it's not going to be pretty.

3. Not sticking to the plan. If the leader decides things aren't going right and calls it off, don't try your own strategy that you invented on the fly. That only works in the movies.
justdmjeff
10-07-06, 05:20 PM I don't think that I have ever had a player die while playing. Player characters, yes. Never a player.
wonlee76
10-07-06, 05:22 PM 4: Stubborness in tactics (aka the One Trick Pony). Just because your standard method of attack works really effectively in most prior encounters, there will be situations where it will get you killed. (TWF attacking Barbed Devil with melee weapon or attacking bad guy with fireshield up and no protections).

5: Bad Luck: Sometimes the dice are rolling in the DM's favor. Retreating is a good option instead of hoping for next set of dice won't be so lucky.

6: God Syndrome (aka "The DM won't kill us"): Death happens for whatever reason. Just because you're a PC, this does not magically make you immune to death. Insulting gods will result in death. All monsters/encounters may not always be tailored to the group's level. etc. etc.
pierow37
10-07-06, 05:41 PM Not buckling in while teleporting is the leading cause of PC death. It's just a shame what some DM's have to clean off the time/space continuum.
DarthMarasmus
10-07-06, 06:23 PM 8) General stupidity

9) Ignoring the painfully obvious (as in it's busy gnawing your legs off obvious).

10) Dumb tactics ("I detect evil. Ooh, it's something evil! I'm running to kill it!!) or ("Everyone stay bunched up close to the paladin so that the dragon fear won't affect us!").
Aurune
10-07-06, 07:52 PM Level 1 half-orc

1/2 Orc- "Out of My way guys I can take this stupid ogre!"
Player whos character who just got slaughtered a few moments before for runing into the same room as an ogre- "Yeah um, never mind go ahead."
DM- "You scratch the ogre with your greataxe would you like to RLH?"
1/2 Orc- "Ha, never!"
DM- "The ogre crushes your skull..."
Moon-Lancer
10-07-06, 08:00 PM 12: dms that take advice on "whats a dm to do" threads
UndeadMouse
10-07-06, 08:06 PM 13: making the DM mad (goes with 6)
14: not listening to the DM
Forgedwar
10-07-06, 10:34 PM 15. Shooting the group of claoked chanting figures.:D
lears_fool
10-07-06, 11:02 PM 16: Other players ;)
TheWerg
10-07-06, 11:54 PM 17: Pushing your luck. If you're rolling really well that night, it doesn't mean you'll continue to.
18: Roleplaying too well. Spitting in the faces of your ogre captors only makes them angry.
19: Being a coward. Don't PCs ever watch movies? Hiding at the back and sandbagging only ends badly.
21: Badly placed fireballs. 'Nuff said.
(Psi)SeveredHead
10-08-06, 12:00 AM 22. Going into the next encounter with few hit points when you're not forced to.

23. Always doing what friendly high-ranking NPCs say, instead of standing up for yourself. If the emperor tells you to execute his cousin, maybe you should talk him out of it. If your commanding officer (who is not present) told you to fulfill a mission, and a third of the way through you're almost out of hit points, maybe you should err on the side of survival.

24. Doing something moronic like disarming the king's bodyguard of his (undrawn) sword "just because".

25. Continuing to do moronic things like not giving back the sword (hilt first please).
HarlequinHelsing
10-08-06, 01:05 AM 26. Playing a gnome. ;)
Napoleon_the_Clown
10-08-06, 03:34 AM 27. Participating in a game where your character level is about half the CR of the encounters. This was happening with my group, but the issue's been resolved.
nimrodii
10-09-06, 08:08 PM 28. Me (I have seen over 50 characters in a 6 month campaign once) althought in my defence this was partially do to in game stupidity,
Player: I attack the town guard.
Me : What??
Player: I attack the town guard
Me: dude there are like 10 of them around you, and they are my special guards I showed you earlier(think modifed trolls with about 4 lvls in fighter)
Player: I attack the town guard.
it didn't even make it to his Init.
wackywizjr
10-09-06, 11:32 PM 29.
"I'm going to attack the king"
"But your in a room with the King and 25 of his palace guard?!?"
"So..."

Three TPKs in 2 weeks to this one.
xanadu
10-09-06, 11:47 PM 30. "We loot the magic shop."
MaximumPain
10-09-06, 11:52 PM 31. Playing a monk like a tank.
32. No one wants to play a healer type?
33. DM ad-hoc encounters (I roll in the open so its possible to die at almost any time)
34. Caster rolls high for initiative, runs out in front of the party, casts powerful area spell and kills half of the enemy force, then the other half of the enemy force gets to go, “oh look a caster who just killed our friends”
35. Bodaks and other things that have instant death effects.
36. DM: “Ok its your initiative do you charge and attack the enemy”?
PC: “No I go loot the body”!!!
MaximumPain
10-09-06, 11:53 PM 30. "We loot the magic shop."

Exactly!!!:evillaugh
DMDaddy
10-10-06, 12:00 AM 37. OPENING A DOOR.

I've seen more players die just by opening a door. Trapped door. Usually the fighter being in a hurry, or, the player who wants to be first to get action and declares before others have a chance, "I open the door."
DragonDeadite
10-10-06, 12:11 AM 38: "It's just a Kobold!" Almost had one of these yesterday... yeah... a Kobold wizard five levels higher than you is still a friggin wizard with fireball!
sunsilverdragon
10-10-06, 01:49 AM 39) "I leap across the chasm."
Fireclave
10-10-06, 01:58 AM 40) Not bringing enough bags of flour, flasks of oil, and 10-foot poles :P
Raymond_Luxury_Yacht
10-10-06, 09:09 AM 41) According to the WHO, the leading cause for player death is heart disease.
Feriin
10-10-06, 09:26 AM 42) Bad DMs (though this should probably be number 1).
Lunar_Shadow
10-10-06, 09:40 AM 43) Greed .
Rouge(OOC);*Paraphrased*I grab the golden object sitting on a pedastel in the middle of the room. *It was an obvious trap, he didn't even bother to look*

Rest of Party: NO!
Rouge: *Squish*
Trinoya
10-10-06, 10:22 AM 44. Sword Poisoning
45. Arrow Poisoning
46. Magic Poisoning
47. Idiot Poisoning
whdr02
10-10-06, 11:08 AM 48. Tickling a dragon.
49. Gnomish gernades
50. Playing like you can not be killed. (Don't whine when you are :weep: )
dragor_shadowfury
10-10-06, 11:50 AM 51) golems.....
once threw a clay golem at a lvl 13 party, and it TPK'ed them:eek:

52) ethereal ambushers.....
again, an encounter under party lvl, ending in a TPK

53) succubus NPCs in the brothel, or the dungeon, or the back alley, or whatrever other place the PC's might get a chance to be alone with them (on guard duty, in the dungeon example).
the funniest succubus kill was when the half-orc barbarian rapes a succubus pretending to be the newly wed queen to assasinate the king (age 25 of both, old king died in battle).
rudie
10-10-06, 12:02 PM 38: "It's just a Kobold!"

I know this one all to well
BlueBlazer
10-10-06, 12:23 PM 54. Retreatus Interruptus : after failing to put a dint in a big baddie and/or getting smacked for big damage, the PCs decide as a group to retreat, and yet as individuals each uses his/her turn to attack. Usually each and every PC says "we need to get out of here!" on his/her turn, and yet swings instead of fleeing. I can't remember the last TPK when the players didn't see it coming (yet failed to take their own RETREAT! advice).

55. Continuing to explore a dungeon when the Cleric is bone-dry on spells.

56. Eating the remains of a Corrupted Gelatinous Cube (I never got an adequate explanation of why he decided to do that...).
Gottwick
10-10-06, 01:06 PM 57. Not knowing anything about defense -- that's fighting defensively, total defense, withdraw, etc.

58. Overconfidence in your prestige class. People, it's just color text. It's just fluff. Just because your PrC is named "Beholder slayer" doesn't mean you can really slay beholders.
Epicweaver
10-10-06, 02:20 PM 59). Failing to account the impact of a 100ft fall on a level 1 character.

60). Failing to run away in the face of obvious impossible odds.

61). Flipping off the ruling monarch of the war nation.

62). Bad mouthing the party healer.

63). Playing a frenzied berserker.

64). Spurning the female players unwanted advances... Yay poisoning.

65). Calling the DM an ignorant, cheating, noob ******. Yep, that was my bad.

66). Bag of Holding + Portable Hole

67). Greed.... Probably just greed... It leads to lots of stupid decisions... Well, entertaining stupid decisions... but stupid decisions none the less.
Maeamian
10-10-06, 04:38 PM 68) Putting the Gnome in front
bhu
10-10-06, 05:17 PM 70) Dm's
tharivol266
10-10-06, 06:05 PM lack of strategy. all my players in the last game just did their own thing in battle and when say there was undead and the rogue couldnt touch them he got mad at me saying i was targeting him and just spent the combat watching instead of doing anything helpful (flanking bons anyone? that woulda helped)
sunsilverdragon
10-10-06, 06:15 PM 72) Believing that a few levels in the Dragonslayer PrCs can actually slay dragons.
LordTyger
10-10-06, 07:31 PM 73.) Thinking you're better than a dragon.

74.) Arguing this point with said dragon on it's turf.

75.) Not listening when the DM drops TWO big hints that the dragon is prepping his breath weapon.

All three being connected, and actually happened. Travelling through the desert, the two characters came across a Blue Dragon who proclaimed the desert to be his domain, and demanded tribute in exchange for passing through. The elf managed to parley and almost had a deal going, when the other character, an avian noble, decided he would make a point of telling the dragon he's better than it. Negotiations went south from there, and twice I brought up the fact that A) they could smell ozone (the scent that comes from a Blue when gathering energy), and B) they could hear a low humming of crackling energy. The elf's player picked up on this and backed up. The avian continued to argue who was "greater-than-thou".... and finally got a breathful of lightning. Kentucky Fried Character.
Arameas
10-10-06, 07:37 PM 76.) Sending in characters one at a time to an unexplored room.

77.) Having a pscyho wizard who just loves to throw area affect spells on to her team mates. (Not in itself TPK. but once they all dead... the wizard soon follows)
lycanthrope0
10-10-06, 11:29 PM having the enemy spell caster have death knell on him when he dies 10 feat from your spell caster with it on him......

yum 45d8 damage ( stupid framiliar)
GospelofRob
10-10-06, 11:29 PM My personal Favorite,

DM: "You have been poisoned, you have a Con of 1 what do you do?"

PC: "I charge the cleric!"

DM: "You relize that you have less then 8 hitpoints, and I have already killed you twice for less stupid reasons right?"

PC: "But its 5d6! what can live thru that?"

An enemy cleric with an AC24 when you miss.
Kadasbrass
10-10-06, 11:42 PM I alot that has already posted, and will continue to be posted can fit under:

78) Darwin.

30. "We loot the magic shop."

I've done that one before! DM got ****** cause I beat the shop owner who was a mage! Took 5 wizards and two natural 1s in a row on reflex saves to finish me off.

For the record, the campaign was falling apart, and the DM was going cheap on loot and xp (at level 12+, lvl 1 warrior kobolds do not provide xp :waits: ). I at least went down doing what everyone wanted to do. Looting the magic shop and being hired to catch the theif (which was me) that stole the major demi-god/lich releasing artifacts.
tharivol266
10-11-06, 12:11 AM (at level 12+, lvl 1 warrior kobolds do not provide xp :waits: ).
are you saying he should have given you xp when he didnt or the other way around because according to the charts in the dmg starting around lvl 12 (i dont remember exactly and im feeling lazy) cr 1 encounters do not provide xp
Teh_Uber_Kapi
10-11-06, 12:38 AM 79.) Rogues, deciding to wander farther into the dungeon while his companions sleep, so he can get some extra loot. No torch, no darkvision.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
LordHawkeye 10-07-06, 05:12 PM	1. Breaking off from the group, particularily breaking off from the group and not telling them. Just all around bad thing to do. 2. Not recognizing your limits. Don't pick fights with the city guard at lv.4, it's not going to be pretty. 3. Not sticking to the plan. If the leader decides things aren't going right and calls it off, don't try your own strategy that you invented on the fly. That only works in the movies.
justdmjeff 10-07-06, 05:20 PM	I don't think that I have ever had a player die while playing. Player characters, yes. Never a player.
wonlee76 10-07-06, 05:22 PM	4: Stubborness in tactics (aka the One Trick Pony). Just because your standard method of attack works really effectively in most prior encounters, there will be situations where it will get you killed. (TWF attacking Barbed Devil with melee weapon or attacking bad guy with fireshield up and no protections). 5: Bad Luck: Sometimes the dice are rolling in the DM's favor. Retreating is a good option instead of hoping for next set of dice won't be so lucky. 6: God Syndrome (aka "The DM won't kill us"): Death happens for whatever reason. Just because you're a PC, this does not magically make you immune to death. Insulting gods will result in death. All monsters/encounters may not always be tailored to the group's level. etc. etc.
pierow37 10-07-06, 05:41 PM	Not buckling in while teleporting is the leading cause of PC death. It's just a shame what some DM's have to clean off the time/space continuum.
DarthMarasmus 10-07-06, 06:23 PM	8) General stupidity 9) Ignoring the painfully obvious (as in it's busy gnawing your legs off obvious). 10) Dumb tactics ("I detect evil. Ooh, it's something evil! I'm running to kill it!!) or ("Everyone stay bunched up close to the paladin so that the dragon fear won't affect us!").
Aurune 10-07-06, 07:52 PM	Level 1 half-orc 1/2 Orc- "Out of My way guys I can take this stupid ogre!" Player whos character who just got slaughtered a few moments before for runing into the same room as an ogre- "Yeah um, never mind go ahead." DM- "You scratch the ogre with your greataxe would you like to RLH?" 1/2 Orc- "Ha, never!" DM- "The ogre crushes your skull..."
Moon-Lancer 10-07-06, 08:00 PM	12: dms that take advice on "whats a dm to do" threads
UndeadMouse 10-07-06, 08:06 PM	13: making the DM mad (goes with 6) 14: not listening to the DM
Forgedwar 10-07-06, 10:34 PM	15. Shooting the group of claoked chanting figures.:D
lears_fool 10-07-06, 11:02 PM	16: Other players ;)
TheWerg 10-07-06, 11:54 PM	17: Pushing your luck. If you're rolling really well that night, it doesn't mean you'll continue to. 18: Roleplaying too well. Spitting in the faces of your ogre captors only makes them angry. 19: Being a coward. Don't PCs ever watch movies? Hiding at the back and sandbagging only ends badly. 21: Badly placed fireballs. 'Nuff said.
(Psi)SeveredHead 10-08-06, 12:00 AM	22. Going into the next encounter with few hit points when you're not forced to. 23. Always doing what friendly high-ranking NPCs say, instead of standing up for yourself. If the emperor tells you to execute his cousin, maybe you should talk him out of it. If your commanding officer (who is not present) told you to fulfill a mission, and a third of the way through you're almost out of hit points, maybe you should err on the side of survival. 24. Doing something moronic like disarming the king's bodyguard of his (undrawn) sword "just because". 25. Continuing to do moronic things like not giving back the sword (hilt first please).
HarlequinHelsing 10-08-06, 01:05 AM	26. Playing a gnome. ;)
Napoleon_the_Clown 10-08-06, 03:34 AM	27. Participating in a game where your character level is about half the CR of the encounters. This was happening with my group, but the issue's been resolved.
nimrodii 10-09-06, 08:08 PM	28. Me (I have seen over 50 characters in a 6 month campaign once) althought in my defence this was partially do to in game stupidity, Player: I attack the town guard. Me : What?? Player: I attack the town guard Me: dude there are like 10 of them around you, and they are my special guards I showed you earlier(think modifed trolls with about 4 lvls in fighter) Player: I attack the town guard. it didn't even make it to his Init.
wackywizjr 10-09-06, 11:32 PM	29. "I'm going to attack the king" "But your in a room with the King and 25 of his palace guard?!?" "So..." Three TPKs in 2 weeks to this one.
xanadu 10-09-06, 11:47 PM	30. "We loot the magic shop."
MaximumPain 10-09-06, 11:52 PM	31. Playing a monk like a tank. 32. No one wants to play a healer type? 33. DM ad-hoc encounters (I roll in the open so its possible to die at almost any time) 34. Caster rolls high for initiative, runs out in front of the party, casts powerful area spell and kills half of the enemy force, then the other half of the enemy force gets to go, “oh look a caster who just killed our friends” 35. Bodaks and other things that have instant death effects. 36. DM: “Ok its your initiative do you charge and attack the enemy”? PC: “No I go loot the body”!!!
MaximumPain 10-09-06, 11:53 PM	30. "We loot the magic shop." Exactly!!!:evillaugh
DMDaddy 10-10-06, 12:00 AM	37. OPENING A DOOR. I've seen more players die just by opening a door. Trapped door. Usually the fighter being in a hurry, or, the player who wants to be first to get action and declares before others have a chance, "I open the door."
DragonDeadite 10-10-06, 12:11 AM	38: "It's just a Kobold!" Almost had one of these yesterday... yeah... a Kobold wizard five levels higher than you is still a friggin wizard with fireball!
sunsilverdragon 10-10-06, 01:49 AM	39) "I leap across the chasm."
Fireclave 10-10-06, 01:58 AM	40) Not bringing enough bags of flour, flasks of oil, and 10-foot poles :P
Raymond_Luxury_Yacht 10-10-06, 09:09 AM	41) According to the WHO, the leading cause for player death is heart disease.
Feriin 10-10-06, 09:26 AM	42) Bad DMs (though this should probably be number 1).
Lunar_Shadow 10-10-06, 09:40 AM	43) Greed . Rouge(OOC);ParaphrasedI grab the golden object sitting on a pedastel in the middle of the room. It was an obvious trap, he didn't even bother to look Rest of Party: NO! Rouge: Squish
Trinoya 10-10-06, 10:22 AM	44. Sword Poisoning 45. Arrow Poisoning 46. Magic Poisoning 47. Idiot Poisoning
whdr02 10-10-06, 11:08 AM	48. Tickling a dragon. 49. Gnomish gernades 50. Playing like you can not be killed. (Don't whine when you are :weep: )
dragor_shadowfury 10-10-06, 11:50 AM	51) golems..... once threw a clay golem at a lvl 13 party, and it TPK'ed them:eek: 52) ethereal ambushers..... again, an encounter under party lvl, ending in a TPK 53) succubus NPCs in the brothel, or the dungeon, or the back alley, or whatrever other place the PC's might get a chance to be alone with them (on guard duty, in the dungeon example). the funniest succubus kill was when the half-orc barbarian rapes a succubus pretending to be the newly wed queen to assasinate the king (age 25 of both, old king died in battle).
rudie 10-10-06, 12:02 PM	38: "It's just a Kobold!" I know this one all to well
BlueBlazer 10-10-06, 12:23 PM	54. Retreatus Interruptus : after failing to put a dint in a big baddie and/or getting smacked for big damage, the PCs decide as a group to retreat, and yet as individuals each uses his/her turn to attack. Usually each and every PC says "we need to get out of here!" on his/her turn, and yet swings instead of fleeing. I can't remember the last TPK when the players didn't see it coming (yet failed to take their own RETREAT! advice). 55. Continuing to explore a dungeon when the Cleric is bone-dry on spells. 56. Eating the remains of a Corrupted Gelatinous Cube (I never got an adequate explanation of why he decided to do that...).
Gottwick 10-10-06, 01:06 PM	57. Not knowing anything about defense -- that's fighting defensively, total defense, withdraw, etc. 58. Overconfidence in your prestige class. People, it's just color text. It's just fluff. Just because your PrC is named "Beholder slayer" doesn't mean you can really slay beholders.
Epicweaver 10-10-06, 02:20 PM	59). Failing to account the impact of a 100ft fall on a level 1 character. 60). Failing to run away in the face of obvious impossible odds. 61). Flipping off the ruling monarch of the war nation. 62). Bad mouthing the party healer. 63). Playing a frenzied berserker. 64). Spurning the female players unwanted advances... Yay poisoning. 65). Calling the DM an ignorant, cheating, noob ******. Yep, that was my bad. 66). Bag of Holding + Portable Hole 67). Greed.... Probably just greed... It leads to lots of stupid decisions... Well, entertaining stupid decisions... but stupid decisions none the less.
Maeamian 10-10-06, 04:38 PM	68) Putting the Gnome in front
bhu 10-10-06, 05:17 PM	70) Dm's
tharivol266 10-10-06, 06:05 PM	lack of strategy. all my players in the last game just did their own thing in battle and when say there was undead and the rogue couldnt touch them he got mad at me saying i was targeting him and just spent the combat watching instead of doing anything helpful (flanking bons anyone? that woulda helped)
sunsilverdragon 10-10-06, 06:15 PM	72) Believing that a few levels in the Dragonslayer PrCs can actually slay dragons.
LordTyger 10-10-06, 07:31 PM	73.) Thinking you're better than a dragon. 74.) Arguing this point with said dragon on it's turf. 75.) Not listening when the DM drops TWO big hints that the dragon is prepping his breath weapon. All three being connected, and actually happened. Travelling through the desert, the two characters came across a Blue Dragon who proclaimed the desert to be his domain, and demanded tribute in exchange for passing through. The elf managed to parley and almost had a deal going, when the other character, an avian noble, decided he would make a point of telling the dragon he's better than it. Negotiations went south from there, and twice I brought up the fact that A) they could smell ozone (the scent that comes from a Blue when gathering energy), and B) they could hear a low humming of crackling energy. The elf's player picked up on this and backed up. The avian continued to argue who was "greater-than-thou".... and finally got a breathful of lightning. Kentucky Fried Character.
Arameas 10-10-06, 07:37 PM	76.) Sending in characters one at a time to an unexplored room. 77.) Having a pscyho wizard who just loves to throw area affect spells on to her team mates. (Not in itself TPK. but once they all dead... the wizard soon follows)
lycanthrope0 10-10-06, 11:29 PM	having the enemy spell caster have death knell on him when he dies 10 feat from your spell caster with it on him...... yum 45d8 damage ( stupid framiliar)
GospelofRob 10-10-06, 11:29 PM	My personal Favorite, DM: "You have been poisoned, you have a Con of 1 what do you do?" PC: "I charge the cleric!" DM: "You relize that you have less then 8 hitpoints, and I have already killed you twice for less stupid reasons right?" PC: "But its 5d6! what can live thru that?" An enemy cleric with an AC24 when you miss.
Kadasbrass 10-10-06, 11:42 PM	I alot that has already posted, and will continue to be posted can fit under: 78) Darwin. 30. "We loot the magic shop." I've done that one before! DM got ****** cause I beat the shop owner who was a mage! Took 5 wizards and two natural 1s in a row on reflex saves to finish me off. For the record, the campaign was falling apart, and the DM was going cheap on loot and xp (at level 12+, lvl 1 warrior kobolds do not provide xp :waits: ). I at least went down doing what everyone wanted to do. Looting the magic shop and being hired to catch the theif (which was me) that stole the major demi-god/lich releasing artifacts.
tharivol266 10-11-06, 12:11 AM	(at level 12+, lvl 1 warrior kobolds do not provide xp :waits: ). are you saying he should have given you xp when he didnt or the other way around because according to the charts in the dmg starting around lvl 12 (i dont remember exactly and im feeling lazy) cr 1 encounters do not provide xp
Teh_Uber_Kapi 10-11-06, 12:38 AM	79.) Rogues, deciding to wander farther into the dungeon while his companions sleep, so he can get some extra loot. No torch, no darkvision.