dying too often? [Archive] - Wizards Community

dying too often? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Galthor
06-21-06, 07:08 PM Hallo!

Well, I'm still quite new to D&D. I've played in two ... ehr ... rather 1 1/2 groups before my current one, but this one really is great. The atmosphere is good and we're playing once every week.

However: It might be my lack of experience, but my first character wasn't really that much fun. Although I've been the one player being there most often among all players (not counting the DM) I kept being the one with the lowest level just because my character kept dying and I couldn't afford to resurrect him without experience loss. (We, or at least my character, were still below level 10 during the first two deaths of my character ... would have been three if it wasn't for this item we got as a reward sometime that let me reroll one roll before self-destructing.)
Well, it was a rogue with a too low con score (which I know 'now' ... not when I createt him), we don't have a cleric and our bard wasn't there for about a year becaus of 'real life matters'.

Before I continue I'd like to say: If my DM reads this: I'm not trying to offend or oppose you ... rather I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Well, to continue the story: I was sick of telling the cleric in town: "The same procedure as every time, please. My group will pay and I'll take their scold for doing something expensive again later and again will repay them by not recieving any reward until I repay my debt."
I rolled a new character ... a psychic warrior with relatively high hitpoints and massive self healing capabilities. We're currently playing the city of the spider queen and just arrived at the bazaar level the first time my new character went down there with the group. (for those who know the adventure ... for those who don't I'll try not to include any spoiler ;) )
Because of a future prestige class I might take (expanded psioncs handbook page 146 will let you know what class and what kind of enemy we encountered) my character was eager to attack, but well ... a few great dice rolls for our dm and my character took 49 damage in the first round before he even acted not standing farther in front than any other character in the group and two rounds later he was lying there on the floor with -12 hp again.
Now the bard returned ... he wasn't there for one year, but to leave the character in a playable state he got one levelup and now I'm not the lowest chracter in the group but half a level above the lowest one and about 40% below recommended wealth for my level because of the abolutely neccessary true resurrection.
Is it normal that a single player has so much bad luck, that he feels like beef cattle?

Just to repeat myself: I like the group and the DM is a really nice guy. I just can'T figure out how I deserve being punished to such a degree. Honestly: My first character having only 10 constitution with a w6 hp class was built wrong, but even there I couldn't find serious failures on my side in 'playing' the character. Now my new character ... built primarily for survival gets killed on his first evening ... it's not that I've got a "serious problem", but I'm "seriously frustrated". :/

Any advice what I should do / say / think about / consider?

Thanks in advance! :)
TJMHPH
06-21-06, 07:20 PM one thing i have learned over my years of playing dnd. espcially 3.0 and 3.5 no matter what stat they say is most important for a class there is only one stat i give priority CONSTITUTION :teach: . THEN I WORRY ABOUT PRIMARY STAT FOR MY CHARACTERS. once i learned the lesson of more con more hp longer lived in combat and life the sooner i was happy with the game.
MonkeyKing
06-22-06, 05:07 AM It sounds like you have similar luck to a player in our group.

Whenever the DM rolls a critical hit, it's always aimed at him, whenever the DM rolls a dice to see who a certain creature will attack first, it's always him. Whenever a dice is rolled to see where the random, flying boulder lands, it's always on him... you get the idea!

We call this kind of luck 'theDMhatesyouandwantstoseeyousuffer' luck and it is truly a burden!

Fortunately for the player in our group, he isn't forced to resurrect his characters, merely just create new ones at the same level as the rest of the group (which becomes quite interesting when the group happens to find a new companion wandering aimlessly in a dungeon that supposedly we had the only physical key to access!) In any case, you might want to talk to your DM or else with your brand of luck you'll never get ahead in DND!

Here's hoping things improve for you :pint:

MonkeyKing
draco1119
06-22-06, 05:13 AM Only advice I can really give is this: stay in the middle of the party! It sounds like your DM actually is fair, and you're just getting crapped on due to bad luck. So stay away from NPCs that will attempt to kill you. Use distance attacks. Buy Rings of Protection.
Galthor
06-22-06, 05:41 AM Only advice I can really give is this: stay in the middle of the party!

Well, spoiler:

The mind flayer rolled better on initiative than our fighter ... and our fighter rolled better on initiative than me. I was standing in the middle of the group when our fighter / weapon master beat the crap out of me ... well, I wasn't dead after that ... only lost about half of my hp from his full attack using up his weaponmaster ki damage whatever stuff. at that time I had already claws of the vampire up (buffed directly before the fight started), but for that or empathic transfer hostile I needed to enter melee combat with someone ... I should have beaten our fighter to a pulp, but even though being 'chaotic' good I somehow couldn't do that ... maybe that was my mistake. ;)
draco1119
06-22-06, 08:05 AM but for that or empathic transfer hostile I needed to enter melee combat with someone ... I should have beaten our fighter to a pulp, but even though being 'chaotic' good I somehow couldn't do that ... maybe that was my mistake. ;)

Yup. That was your mistake. Next time it's your life or his, make it yours. Otherwise (especially in a case like this!) it could be your life and his. Shoulda beat the snot out of him and apologized later. Same goes for facing an Aboleth.
Borne Of Hate
06-22-06, 09:12 AM Play a mage or a sorcerer, use invisibility, armor spells, blur, mirror image, etc. you wanna play someone who is gonna live, not someone who cant be hit. Because as great as it sounds... someone who 'cant be hit' will undoubtedly (with your luck) be hit. Play that up, let your DM crit on you, and when he has to roll the blur-miss chance and the mirror image variable, he will critically hit air.... mmmMMMmmm air:yummy :D
Kuraito
06-22-06, 09:26 AM I have almost the same problem. Do what I did, play a swashbuckler with next to no offensive ability, take improved trip, pimp your AC, and become the partys "Fall guy". If the craps happening to you, it ain't happening to anyone else, making you not only a tank, but a convient way to stop spellcasters, as there ire will be drawn towards you(thats why your a swashbuckler, everyone hates swashbucklers :) ).
Ryusage
06-22-06, 04:15 PM before presenting your new character to the group, stop at the CharOp boards and ask what they think ;)
DarkNick
06-22-06, 05:55 PM Sounds like you are having a run of bad luck. Happens sometimes. Sometimes it can be fun. I had one character that always took the hits. He got beat so bad all the time the other characters felt sorry for him. It was funny. Had heaps of scars, the most dented and patched armour possible, bad charisma. He had a reputation for taking punishment. He got respect at the pub.

Hang in there I rekon. Develop some survival strategies. Make survival the key thing for your character and don't even think about sacrificing yourself for the good for the party. Bugger that. Take a big hit? then fall back. A good fighter knows when to run. Take precautions with opening doors etc, use protection. "you open it, I'm not good with doors"
Dragonsblood
06-22-06, 06:05 PM Play a cleric - your group needs healing :rolleyes: Why do you think your group is having trouble?
__DnD4Life__
06-22-06, 07:48 PM Well, my DM has a build he has been going on about for a while, and at ECL 3 it has Regen 1. If you wouldnt mind playing a barbarian, ill PM you the build.
Cifer
06-23-06, 10:26 AM Not neccesarily insulting your DM, but are you sure the power of the squid thingy was used right? "Charm" will make the flayer seem to be the fighter's friend, but not the rest of the party enemies, while "Dominate" grants a second saving throw with a +2 bonus as soon as the fighter is instructed to do something "against his nature", which should include attacking his own party. An experienced flayer usually has no problems managing this, but its still nice to know...
Evingolis
06-23-06, 04:51 PM you could also ask the DM for advice. he should know that you think yor are dying too often and should give you some help. if not, he still has to learn~

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Galthor 06-21-06, 07:08 PM	Hallo! Well, I'm still quite new to D&D. I've played in two ... ehr ... rather 1 1/2 groups before my current one, but this one really is great. The atmosphere is good and we're playing once every week. However: It might be my lack of experience, but my first character wasn't really that much fun. Although I've been the one player being there most often among all players (not counting the DM) I kept being the one with the lowest level just because my character kept dying and I couldn't afford to resurrect him without experience loss. (We, or at least my character, were still below level 10 during the first two deaths of my character ... would have been three if it wasn't for this item we got as a reward sometime that let me reroll one roll before self-destructing.) Well, it was a rogue with a too low con score (which I know 'now' ... not when I createt him), we don't have a cleric and our bard wasn't there for about a year becaus of 'real life matters'. Before I continue I'd like to say: If my DM reads this: I'm not trying to offend or oppose you ... rather I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. Well, to continue the story: I was sick of telling the cleric in town: "The same procedure as every time, please. My group will pay and I'll take their scold for doing something expensive again later and again will repay them by not recieving any reward until I repay my debt." I rolled a new character ... a psychic warrior with relatively high hitpoints and massive self healing capabilities. We're currently playing the city of the spider queen and just arrived at the bazaar level the first time my new character went down there with the group. (for those who know the adventure ... for those who don't I'll try not to include any spoiler ;) ) Because of a future prestige class I might take (expanded psioncs handbook page 146 will let you know what class and what kind of enemy we encountered) my character was eager to attack, but well ... a few great dice rolls for our dm and my character took 49 damage in the first round before he even acted not standing farther in front than any other character in the group and two rounds later he was lying there on the floor with -12 hp again. Now the bard returned ... he wasn't there for one year, but to leave the character in a playable state he got one levelup and now I'm not the lowest chracter in the group but half a level above the lowest one and about 40% below recommended wealth for my level because of the abolutely neccessary true resurrection. Is it normal that a single player has so much bad luck, that he feels like beef cattle? Just to repeat myself: I like the group and the DM is a really nice guy. I just can'T figure out how I deserve being punished to such a degree. Honestly: My first character having only 10 constitution with a w6 hp class was built wrong, but even there I couldn't find serious failures on my side in 'playing' the character. Now my new character ... built primarily for survival gets killed on his first evening ... it's not that I've got a "serious problem", but I'm "seriously frustrated". :/ Any advice what I should do / say / think about / consider? Thanks in advance! :)
TJMHPH 06-21-06, 07:20 PM	one thing i have learned over my years of playing dnd. espcially 3.0 and 3.5 no matter what stat they say is most important for a class there is only one stat i give priority CONSTITUTION :teach: . THEN I WORRY ABOUT PRIMARY STAT FOR MY CHARACTERS. once i learned the lesson of more con more hp longer lived in combat and life the sooner i was happy with the game.
MonkeyKing 06-22-06, 05:07 AM	It sounds like you have similar luck to a player in our group. Whenever the DM rolls a critical hit, it's always aimed at him, whenever the DM rolls a dice to see who a certain creature will attack first, it's always him. Whenever a dice is rolled to see where the random, flying boulder lands, it's always on him... you get the idea! We call this kind of luck 'theDMhatesyouandwantstoseeyousuffer' luck and it is truly a burden! Fortunately for the player in our group, he isn't forced to resurrect his characters, merely just create new ones at the same level as the rest of the group (which becomes quite interesting when the group happens to find a new companion wandering aimlessly in a dungeon that supposedly we had the only physical key to access!) In any case, you might want to talk to your DM or else with your brand of luck you'll never get ahead in DND! Here's hoping things improve for you :pint: MonkeyKing
draco1119 06-22-06, 05:13 AM	Only advice I can really give is this: stay in the middle of the party! It sounds like your DM actually is fair, and you're just getting crapped on due to bad luck. So stay away from NPCs that will attempt to kill you. Use distance attacks. Buy Rings of Protection.
Galthor 06-22-06, 05:41 AM	Only advice I can really give is this: stay in the middle of the party! Well, spoiler: The mind flayer rolled better on initiative than our fighter ... and our fighter rolled better on initiative than me. I was standing in the middle of the group when our fighter / weapon master beat the crap out of me ... well, I wasn't dead after that ... only lost about half of my hp from his full attack using up his weaponmaster ki damage whatever stuff. at that time I had already claws of the vampire up (buffed directly before the fight started), but for that or empathic transfer hostile I needed to enter melee combat with someone ... I should have beaten our fighter to a pulp, but even though being 'chaotic' good I somehow couldn't do that ... maybe that was my mistake. ;)
draco1119 06-22-06, 08:05 AM	but for that or empathic transfer hostile I needed to enter melee combat with someone ... I should have beaten our fighter to a pulp, but even though being 'chaotic' good I somehow couldn't do that ... maybe that was my mistake. ;) Yup. That was your mistake. Next time it's your life or his, make it yours. Otherwise (especially in a case like this!) it could be your life and his. Shoulda beat the snot out of him and apologized later. Same goes for facing an Aboleth.
Borne Of Hate 06-22-06, 09:12 AM	Play a mage or a sorcerer, use invisibility, armor spells, blur, mirror image, etc. you wanna play someone who is gonna live, not someone who cant be hit. Because as great as it sounds... someone who 'cant be hit' will undoubtedly (with your luck) be hit. Play that up, let your DM crit on you, and when he has to roll the blur-miss chance and the mirror image variable, he will critically hit air.... mmmMMMmmm air:yummy :D
Kuraito 06-22-06, 09:26 AM	I have almost the same problem. Do what I did, play a swashbuckler with next to no offensive ability, take improved trip, pimp your AC, and become the partys "Fall guy". If the craps happening to you, it ain't happening to anyone else, making you not only a tank, but a convient way to stop spellcasters, as there ire will be drawn towards you(thats why your a swashbuckler, everyone hates swashbucklers :) ).
Ryusage 06-22-06, 04:15 PM	before presenting your new character to the group, stop at the CharOp boards and ask what they think ;)
DarkNick 06-22-06, 05:55 PM	Sounds like you are having a run of bad luck. Happens sometimes. Sometimes it can be fun. I had one character that always took the hits. He got beat so bad all the time the other characters felt sorry for him. It was funny. Had heaps of scars, the most dented and patched armour possible, bad charisma. He had a reputation for taking punishment. He got respect at the pub. Hang in there I rekon. Develop some survival strategies. Make survival the key thing for your character and don't even think about sacrificing yourself for the good for the party. Bugger that. Take a big hit? then fall back. A good fighter knows when to run. Take precautions with opening doors etc, use protection. "you open it, I'm not good with doors"
Dragonsblood 06-22-06, 06:05 PM	Play a cleric - your group needs healing :rolleyes: Why do you think your group is having trouble?
__DnD4Life__ 06-22-06, 07:48 PM	Well, my DM has a build he has been going on about for a while, and at ECL 3 it has Regen 1. If you wouldnt mind playing a barbarian, ill PM you the build.
Cifer 06-23-06, 10:26 AM	Not neccesarily insulting your DM, but are you sure the power of the squid thingy was used right? "Charm" will make the flayer seem to be the fighter's friend, but not the rest of the party enemies, while "Dominate" grants a second saving throw with a +2 bonus as soon as the fighter is instructed to do something "against his nature", which should include attacking his own party. An experienced flayer usually has no problems managing this, but its still nice to know...
Evingolis 06-23-06, 04:51 PM	you could also ask the DM for advice. he should know that you think yor are dying too often and should give you some help. if not, he still has to learn~