Character Death in the Age of Worms [Archive] - Wizards Community

Character Death in the Age of Worms [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Bloodofgods
03-27-08, 04:22 AM WARNING AGE OF WORMS CAMPAIGN SPOILERS

My group is playing in the age of worms campaign, and we have just finished the part of the campaign where we have the very first match in the gladiatorial matches. One of the characters in my group is a Evil assassin who, in short, is a bit of a jerk. He managed to **** off the other contestants so much that all 3 groups teamed up on our group.

Long story short our group of
1. Level 9 Elf Druid
2. Level 9 Human Assassin/Rogue
3. Level 9 Scout (Actually a power house character/Improved skirmish FTW!)
4. Level 9 Barbarian.

The level 9 Barbarian was 3 hit. Critical blow for 39 damage followed by a 2nd for 38 followed by a 3rd for 29 put him well under and death.

The scout was also killed, and the assassin rogue was utterly destroyed.

the druid of course survived (Honestly, not much can kill a druid) and now since I am the DM I am having a bit of a problem..

I don't like the idea of letting players just roll new characters, because it completely gets rid of the penalty of dying, and in the age of worms a priest high enough to cast rejuvenation spells is hard to come by, let alone inexpensive.

So what is the alternatives that we have? Reincarnation is not a favorite spell of mine, since it often makes non playable characters, which then die and need to be remade anyways.

So am I going to have to bite the bullet on this one and allow them to make new characters and roleplay it somehow.. Keep in mind that this group needs to be up and ready for the next gladiatorial match in less than two days.

Thanks to whoever reads and I welcome all suggestions =)

Long live the Druid, and the many many mistakes and broken abilities that it allows (I'm talking about you Mr. Legendary Ape wielding a staff)
Bloodofgods
03-27-08, 04:25 AM I do however know that the average roll of a player in this particular battle was around a 7, and I critical more than 5 separate times.

In short, I was rolling rolls that should never ever happen, and our level Pc's would of had a hard time beating an ogre with their roles and damage.

Keeping that in mind I am thinking about letting them re roll, or even throwing in a campaign twist in which allows them to live.
Dunsel
03-27-08, 04:13 PM Basically, this breaks down to two options: 1) bring the old pcs back 2) roll up new pcs. Since rolling up new pcs is a gimme, I will concentrate on bringing back the pcs to life.

1) You could use the old "I brought you back from death, now you owe me." routine.
2) Spontaneous life. PCs thought dead are alive and conscious (1 hp).
3) Old friend helps them out after their bodies are dumped outside the city.
4) They are only "mostly dead". :cool: OK, maybe not.
5) Dallas episode, It was a dream.
6) Clones (sans equipment of course)

I think you get the idea.

Since you are loathe to kill off the PCs, I would suggest keeping track of their hit points on your side of the DM screen (you do have a DM screen right?), rolling behind said DM screen, dealing out less damage, and/or hitting less if they appear to be in trouble. This way you can knock them down below 10 hit points, make it a good battle, but still keep them alive.

And yes I know, there are DMs who will disagree with this option but the OP seems streesed by the PC deaths.
Cartigan
03-27-08, 04:28 PM They were all aced by one? Might as well just let them pull up new characters since it was a TPK only held off by a Druid (of course). Have it RPd so there are people that know what happened and feel it was unfair so decided to join up, or some equally absurd nonsense.
StevenO
03-27-08, 05:37 PM A gladatorial arena seems like it would be a great place to just introduce new PCs. Have the slain PCs make new characters (one level lower than before to reflect their "reincarnated" status) and approach the survivor to join their group. These new PCs were another one of the competing groups who lost a member and now need a replacement with the surviving Druid looking like the perfect new recruit. This may kill some of the player's history but is a perfectly logical way to introduce new PCs into the story. Who knows, may this group was working on a parallel adventure when the first PCs were killed and now it turns out they were all working on the same thing.
Bloodofgods
04-03-08, 03:09 PM A gladatorial arena seems like it would be a great place to just introduce new PCs. Have the slain PCs make new characters (one level lower than before to reflect their "reincarnated" status) and approach the survivor to join their group. These new PCs were another one of the competing groups who lost a member and now need a replacement with the surviving Druid looking like the perfect new recruit. This may kill some of the player's history but is a perfectly logical way to introduce new PCs into the story. Who knows, may this group was working on a parallel adventure when the first PCs were killed and now it turns out they were all working on the same thing.

This is pretty much what I was going to do, since if anyone has played the Age of Worms, this group is pretty unknown in the free city.

They did however take out 3 other gladatior groups by themselves and one member did live, so I think they could easily be approached by new people, but sadly no one can enter the tourney after it has started.

Im thinking I might just fudge the die rolls to the extreme and in the future allow resurrections
StevenO
04-04-08, 01:26 AM I'd have to dig out that magazine to check out the official tournament rules and brush up on the other things going into that adventure. If a new group can't recruit the survivor perhaps the survivor recruits the new group.
Jaim
04-04-08, 02:00 AM I'd let the druid use reincarnation, with you as the DM making hidden rolls for the outcome but in truth already deciding beforehand what the outcome will be.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Bloodofgods 03-27-08, 04:22 AM	WARNING AGE OF WORMS CAMPAIGN SPOILERS My group is playing in the age of worms campaign, and we have just finished the part of the campaign where we have the very first match in the gladiatorial matches. One of the characters in my group is a Evil assassin who, in short, is a bit of a jerk. He managed to **** off the other contestants so much that all 3 groups teamed up on our group. Long story short our group of 1. Level 9 Elf Druid 2. Level 9 Human Assassin/Rogue 3. Level 9 Scout (Actually a power house character/Improved skirmish FTW!) 4. Level 9 Barbarian. The level 9 Barbarian was 3 hit. Critical blow for 39 damage followed by a 2nd for 38 followed by a 3rd for 29 put him well under and death. The scout was also killed, and the assassin rogue was utterly destroyed. the druid of course survived (Honestly, not much can kill a druid) and now since I am the DM I am having a bit of a problem.. I don't like the idea of letting players just roll new characters, because it completely gets rid of the penalty of dying, and in the age of worms a priest high enough to cast rejuvenation spells is hard to come by, let alone inexpensive. So what is the alternatives that we have? Reincarnation is not a favorite spell of mine, since it often makes non playable characters, which then die and need to be remade anyways. So am I going to have to bite the bullet on this one and allow them to make new characters and roleplay it somehow.. Keep in mind that this group needs to be up and ready for the next gladiatorial match in less than two days. Thanks to whoever reads and I welcome all suggestions =) Long live the Druid, and the many many mistakes and broken abilities that it allows (I'm talking about you Mr. Legendary Ape wielding a staff)
Bloodofgods 03-27-08, 04:25 AM	I do however know that the average roll of a player in this particular battle was around a 7, and I critical more than 5 separate times. In short, I was rolling rolls that should never ever happen, and our level Pc's would of had a hard time beating an ogre with their roles and damage. Keeping that in mind I am thinking about letting them re roll, or even throwing in a campaign twist in which allows them to live.
Dunsel 03-27-08, 04:13 PM	Basically, this breaks down to two options: 1) bring the old pcs back 2) roll up new pcs. Since rolling up new pcs is a gimme, I will concentrate on bringing back the pcs to life. 1) You could use the old "I brought you back from death, now you owe me." routine. 2) Spontaneous life. PCs thought dead are alive and conscious (1 hp). 3) Old friend helps them out after their bodies are dumped outside the city. 4) They are only "mostly dead". :cool: OK, maybe not. 5) Dallas episode, It was a dream. 6) Clones (sans equipment of course) I think you get the idea. Since you are loathe to kill off the PCs, I would suggest keeping track of their hit points on your side of the DM screen (you do have a DM screen right?), rolling behind said DM screen, dealing out less damage, and/or hitting less if they appear to be in trouble. This way you can knock them down below 10 hit points, make it a good battle, but still keep them alive. And yes I know, there are DMs who will disagree with this option but the OP seems streesed by the PC deaths.
Cartigan 03-27-08, 04:28 PM	They were all aced by one? Might as well just let them pull up new characters since it was a TPK only held off by a Druid (of course). Have it RPd so there are people that know what happened and feel it was unfair so decided to join up, or some equally absurd nonsense.
StevenO 03-27-08, 05:37 PM	A gladatorial arena seems like it would be a great place to just introduce new PCs. Have the slain PCs make new characters (one level lower than before to reflect their "reincarnated" status) and approach the survivor to join their group. These new PCs were another one of the competing groups who lost a member and now need a replacement with the surviving Druid looking like the perfect new recruit. This may kill some of the player's history but is a perfectly logical way to introduce new PCs into the story. Who knows, may this group was working on a parallel adventure when the first PCs were killed and now it turns out they were all working on the same thing.
Bloodofgods 04-03-08, 03:09 PM	A gladatorial arena seems like it would be a great place to just introduce new PCs. Have the slain PCs make new characters (one level lower than before to reflect their "reincarnated" status) and approach the survivor to join their group. These new PCs were another one of the competing groups who lost a member and now need a replacement with the surviving Druid looking like the perfect new recruit. This may kill some of the player's history but is a perfectly logical way to introduce new PCs into the story. Who knows, may this group was working on a parallel adventure when the first PCs were killed and now it turns out they were all working on the same thing. This is pretty much what I was going to do, since if anyone has played the Age of Worms, this group is pretty unknown in the free city. They did however take out 3 other gladatior groups by themselves and one member did live, so I think they could easily be approached by new people, but sadly no one can enter the tourney after it has started. Im thinking I might just fudge the die rolls to the extreme and in the future allow resurrections
StevenO 04-04-08, 01:26 AM	I'd have to dig out that magazine to check out the official tournament rules and brush up on the other things going into that adventure. If a new group can't recruit the survivor perhaps the survivor recruits the new group.
Jaim 04-04-08, 02:00 AM	I'd let the druid use reincarnation, with you as the DM making hidden rolls for the outcome but in truth already deciding beforehand what the outcome will be.