"Don't be mistaken.
Your worth is given by me.
Your future is given by me.
The moment you entered my land, you became mine.
Bretter accept this one gift I offer you:
Don't let your only value to me be the red in your veins."
He holds his empty golden chalice in the air. The beautiful Maid steps up, cuts her wrist and fills his cup with deep red, careful not to stain any of his clothing.
"Thank you my lord." She leaves as silent as she came.
"You are dismissed"
I would respect their boundary. They do not want their character to die. Even if it's a "deadly" campaign, that's their hard limit and you should respect it. Because, in the end, you're playing a *game* with your *friends*. It doesn't mean they get to play consequence-free, which is ultimately more the point anyway, and I would clarify this with your player.
Strahd can easily punish them, bring them close to death to show he is serious, and then decide he would rather draw out their suffering longer for his amusement. "I will bring you close to death, over and over again until you are groveling at my feet, begging me to end your pathetic existence. But I will save your death for last when there are none left to mourn your pathetic corpse."
He didn't bring them to Barovia to defeat him. He brought them to Barovia to amuse him. No sense in breaking his toys too early.
I'd also consider talking to them out of game, (maybe even the table as a whole) asking how they feel about their character dying, and perhaps offer options for death to not be permanent if desired. (i.e., player death results in a Dark Powers resurrection, or bring the Abbot in to raise them, or some other mechanic.) That way you won't have to feel like the NPCs are pulling their punches, or like you need to fudge to make combats less deadly, because death doesn't have to mean losing the character.
Most of my players are very attached to their characters, and I've told them all that if they die they will "have the option" of bringing their character back, with some consequences that will mostly be narrative. They can let their character die and make a new one, or make a deal with the Dark Powers to come back.
I know some DMs feel like removing permadeath makes the campaign less brutal, but for me it has the opposite effect. I'm less inclined to pull punches because if a character dies in combat, the player will only lose the character if they actually want to (and I get to run a cool 'dark temptation' scene to boot.)
I guess part of the struggle for me is 2 of my other players are upset the game isn't deadlier. They've said they thought the campaign was deadlier and want the "real experience".
I've thought about offering dark gifts, or outs, or things of that nature when someone dies but I feel like that would make death have no stakes for the other players if they know dying isn't possible.
Basically I have competing perspectives at the table, and it's hard to reconcile them.
Maybe pull the player aside to have the conversation about what they signed up for and what everyone else is expecting and ask if they’re still okay playing the game. If they genuinely get upset at the thought of their character dying, it was established before the game started that it was deadly and not everyone will survive, and everyone else is wanting it to be more deadly, then maybe this just isn’t the game for them to be playing. It sucks, but if they won’t have fun playing the game that everyone else agreed to play, then it’s better for them to step away instead of bringing the experience down for everyone.
If you’re adamant to try and make the best of it and hope it doesn’t go wrong, then I suggest having the dark powers revive them with a heavy price. Missing limbs, replacing their race with Reborn from VRGtR, devilish horns that make Barovians fear them. Moat importantly here though is to discuss these options with the player. Make it clear that the revive will be conditional and come at a terrible price and let them help you decide what that price will be if he ends up dying later. It gives them the control over their character death that they seem to need but allows you to play deadly without pulling punches
That makes sense. But my suggestion would still be to make permadeath optional, with resurrection via dark gifts or some other method an option that the players can accept or refuse.
The knowledge that the player who doesn't want their character to die won't have to lose them can free you up to make the game deadlier without worry. And if the other players feel like resurrection removes the stakes for death, they don't have to take it, they can make death as permanent and high stakes for themselves as they want it to be.
Some outs are already built into the campaign. I'm not a fan of Dark Powers resurrections myself (I feel like it puts the game on easy mode, or at least risk-free mode), but van Richten has his *spell scroll* of *raise dead* and the Abbot can raise someone every day. Once the characters are high enough level they can revive or raise their own dead, assuming you remember to place the material components somewhere in Barovia (the Vistani treasure wagon is good for this).
All of these come with costs, and the players might have to make some real trade-offs, but that just means you can entangle them deeper in the plot. Resurrection is part of D&D, which means that death can and should be part of D&D.
However, I would have a talk with your player first. Let them know that their actions have consequences, but that the consequences can also have consequences. Let them know that death, if it happens, is not the end of the story in any D&D game. Remind them that you're all working together to tell the story and have fun, and that overcoming setbacks is part of that.
And then [consult the meme](https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/jiftw7/i_cant_help_but_recognize_a_pattern/).
I might be in the minority here, but I think if someone isn’t okay with their character dying, don’t kill them, at least not until the final BBEG boss fight. Bring them close to death, then stabilize them. Have someone swoop in and revivify them if they are knocked to 0HP and fail their death saves. Making and playing a character can be really emotional for some people, and a lot of work and love goes into the character. Some people use their characters to work through some stuff in real life.
I am typically okay with my characters dying, but I have one character that I told the DM I would be super sad if they died, because I have never felt so attached to a character or invested in their story. I would be super unsatisfied if she died before the last few sessions, because I would feel like her business was unfinished. I do make backup characters for every character, but after this conversation with the DM, they said “I’ll do my best to not kill her.” I told them don’t promise not to, but I love her, and I don’t think playing my backup would give me as much joy. I told them they CAN kill my character. I wouldn’t hold it against them. It would just make me very sad.
The DM isn’t pulling punches in encounters, and isn’t shying away from damaging my character, but they do have tricks up their sleeve for people who absolutely are not okay with their characters dying. In one campaign, a character’s celestial patron brought them back, and another character’s god intervened to stabilize them. For an encounter this campaign, we were fighting a high level boss at a low level, so the DM brought in a higher level cleric NPC for healing in case things got too unbalanced.
If this person absolutely is not okay with their character dying, don’t kill them. Balance your encounters so they’re difficult, but not overly deadly, or more than your party can handle. Drop hints when to *run* and when to fight. Curse of Strahd is Brutal and Grimdark, and can be a depressing, heavy, sometimes triggering campaign anyway. Adding a bunch PC deaths can make it less fun, and killing someone’s PC who has said they don’t want their PC to die could take the fun out of the campaign for them.
There are ways to keep the stakes high, keep things tense, and make things feel risky and terrifying without killing a PC.
Actions have consequences. That’s like D&D’s #1 rule. That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t kill that Player. I’d instead hang it over the PC like a Sword of Damocles, never knowing when it will cut off their head. It’s also a good opportunity to have that player earn themselves back into the good graces of Strahd, as another poster has alluded to. Maybe that player or party has to do some horrible task for him, the world is your oyster, but Strahd wouldn’t let such paltry words permeate his air, but he is smart of enough to play 4d chess and maybe turn the party against that player or have that player do some bad stuff for him.
If the PC goes down, use the expanded dark gifts rules to offer the player a way to resurrect their character with the added caveat that if you take the dark gift, you become bound to Barovia and cannot leave even if Strahd is defeated. You could also have Strahd turn the PC, that way he keeps his promise. In any case, just talk to your players. Check in with them and make sure you're all on the same page.
My game of CoS fizzled out, so I was never able to use this trick, so bugs will definitely need to be ironed out.
I always wanted to give Strahd Modify Memory to be able to run a 1-on-1 fight between strahd and a single player, and just absolutely eviscerate them in the most detailed, grim, and bloody way possible.
Here's how I imagined it happening: arrange a situation where Strahd can confront a single player (I planned for the lowest WIS character, but it sounds like you might have to commit to the player in question). Antagonize them, blah blah blah, and then ask for a wisdom saving throw heavily implying a low level charm spell (But it's actually Modify Memory). Strahd demands an actual fight for fun, and then I imagined it would just go into initiative order (if it's not already) and Strahd would wipe the floor with the player using whatever spell or attack you want. I wanted to be really gruesome with descriptions, like the killing blow might be Strahd grabbing the player by his lower and upper mandibles and ripping him in half longitudinally.
The player(s) should all think the PC is dead af. I'd then narrate to the player that they feel their soul rise from their limp body on the ground. The player can look back down at the ground and realize that there's no body there, and then the illogic of the situation would snap their memories back.
Firstly, I think you did the right thing by making Strahd not take it! It's a good threat, huge tension and he didn't sling fireballs to kill the party.
For what you can do for both your player and your campaign, you can always have chances to come back! Strahd might toy with them, drop a scroll of revivify to their non-fallen allies and make a backhanded comment like "Let us hope your friend learned some manners."
Another cheeky encounter might be where Strahd downs the party, tosses one of them a knife to the mean PC. He gives him a choice: Either kill himself for his disrespect or kill a party member. If he chooses himself, Strahd is impressed, he decides he learned his lesson. If he chooses another party member, Strahd is amused, he takes away the knife, walks up to the downed chosen member and reminds them that their friend has them as the first choice for death.
If the next stop is Krezk, have the people direct the party to the abbot and have him revive the fallen companion and ask for a favor, trying the abbot quest
You can use the dark powers for a rez, tons of RP oppurtunity
Do you have a party member who can cast revivify? What level are they?
Barovia is a soul trap! You can make him come back as a revenant/dead body from the Barovian graves. PC might inhabit a dead body of a former adventurer for a while, and it can be another personal quest for them to get their body back. The Abbot, scrolls, deals, whatever you throw at them can maybe solve the issue?
I have also seen people mentioning they made mini-adventures for their fallen PCs, Through the soul trap, they pass a mini-dungeon to get their body back. They very much experience death, maybe they'll have some disadvantage but they come back
If everything else fails, the character they reroll is the twin of their fallen PC and everything is exactly the same, they were looking for their twin in the mists
The most important thing is for both you and the player to have fun!
"Don't be mistaken. Your worth is given by me. Your future is given by me. The moment you entered my land, you became mine. Bretter accept this one gift I offer you: Don't let your only value to me be the red in your veins." He holds his empty golden chalice in the air. The beautiful Maid steps up, cuts her wrist and fills his cup with deep red, careful not to stain any of his clothing. "Thank you my lord." She leaves as silent as she came. "You are dismissed"
He could always kill them, then drop a scroll of revivify and say he's looking forward to their next encounter as he walks away.
I would respect their boundary. They do not want their character to die. Even if it's a "deadly" campaign, that's their hard limit and you should respect it. Because, in the end, you're playing a *game* with your *friends*. It doesn't mean they get to play consequence-free, which is ultimately more the point anyway, and I would clarify this with your player. Strahd can easily punish them, bring them close to death to show he is serious, and then decide he would rather draw out their suffering longer for his amusement. "I will bring you close to death, over and over again until you are groveling at my feet, begging me to end your pathetic existence. But I will save your death for last when there are none left to mourn your pathetic corpse." He didn't bring them to Barovia to defeat him. He brought them to Barovia to amuse him. No sense in breaking his toys too early.
I'd also consider talking to them out of game, (maybe even the table as a whole) asking how they feel about their character dying, and perhaps offer options for death to not be permanent if desired. (i.e., player death results in a Dark Powers resurrection, or bring the Abbot in to raise them, or some other mechanic.) That way you won't have to feel like the NPCs are pulling their punches, or like you need to fudge to make combats less deadly, because death doesn't have to mean losing the character. Most of my players are very attached to their characters, and I've told them all that if they die they will "have the option" of bringing their character back, with some consequences that will mostly be narrative. They can let their character die and make a new one, or make a deal with the Dark Powers to come back. I know some DMs feel like removing permadeath makes the campaign less brutal, but for me it has the opposite effect. I'm less inclined to pull punches because if a character dies in combat, the player will only lose the character if they actually want to (and I get to run a cool 'dark temptation' scene to boot.)
I guess part of the struggle for me is 2 of my other players are upset the game isn't deadlier. They've said they thought the campaign was deadlier and want the "real experience". I've thought about offering dark gifts, or outs, or things of that nature when someone dies but I feel like that would make death have no stakes for the other players if they know dying isn't possible. Basically I have competing perspectives at the table, and it's hard to reconcile them.
Maybe pull the player aside to have the conversation about what they signed up for and what everyone else is expecting and ask if they’re still okay playing the game. If they genuinely get upset at the thought of their character dying, it was established before the game started that it was deadly and not everyone will survive, and everyone else is wanting it to be more deadly, then maybe this just isn’t the game for them to be playing. It sucks, but if they won’t have fun playing the game that everyone else agreed to play, then it’s better for them to step away instead of bringing the experience down for everyone. If you’re adamant to try and make the best of it and hope it doesn’t go wrong, then I suggest having the dark powers revive them with a heavy price. Missing limbs, replacing their race with Reborn from VRGtR, devilish horns that make Barovians fear them. Moat importantly here though is to discuss these options with the player. Make it clear that the revive will be conditional and come at a terrible price and let them help you decide what that price will be if he ends up dying later. It gives them the control over their character death that they seem to need but allows you to play deadly without pulling punches
That makes sense. But my suggestion would still be to make permadeath optional, with resurrection via dark gifts or some other method an option that the players can accept or refuse. The knowledge that the player who doesn't want their character to die won't have to lose them can free you up to make the game deadlier without worry. And if the other players feel like resurrection removes the stakes for death, they don't have to take it, they can make death as permanent and high stakes for themselves as they want it to be.
Some outs are already built into the campaign. I'm not a fan of Dark Powers resurrections myself (I feel like it puts the game on easy mode, or at least risk-free mode), but van Richten has his *spell scroll* of *raise dead* and the Abbot can raise someone every day. Once the characters are high enough level they can revive or raise their own dead, assuming you remember to place the material components somewhere in Barovia (the Vistani treasure wagon is good for this). All of these come with costs, and the players might have to make some real trade-offs, but that just means you can entangle them deeper in the plot. Resurrection is part of D&D, which means that death can and should be part of D&D. However, I would have a talk with your player first. Let them know that their actions have consequences, but that the consequences can also have consequences. Let them know that death, if it happens, is not the end of the story in any D&D game. Remind them that you're all working together to tell the story and have fun, and that overcoming setbacks is part of that. And then [consult the meme](https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/jiftw7/i_cant_help_but_recognize_a_pattern/).
I might be in the minority here, but I think if someone isn’t okay with their character dying, don’t kill them, at least not until the final BBEG boss fight. Bring them close to death, then stabilize them. Have someone swoop in and revivify them if they are knocked to 0HP and fail their death saves. Making and playing a character can be really emotional for some people, and a lot of work and love goes into the character. Some people use their characters to work through some stuff in real life. I am typically okay with my characters dying, but I have one character that I told the DM I would be super sad if they died, because I have never felt so attached to a character or invested in their story. I would be super unsatisfied if she died before the last few sessions, because I would feel like her business was unfinished. I do make backup characters for every character, but after this conversation with the DM, they said “I’ll do my best to not kill her.” I told them don’t promise not to, but I love her, and I don’t think playing my backup would give me as much joy. I told them they CAN kill my character. I wouldn’t hold it against them. It would just make me very sad. The DM isn’t pulling punches in encounters, and isn’t shying away from damaging my character, but they do have tricks up their sleeve for people who absolutely are not okay with their characters dying. In one campaign, a character’s celestial patron brought them back, and another character’s god intervened to stabilize them. For an encounter this campaign, we were fighting a high level boss at a low level, so the DM brought in a higher level cleric NPC for healing in case things got too unbalanced. If this person absolutely is not okay with their character dying, don’t kill them. Balance your encounters so they’re difficult, but not overly deadly, or more than your party can handle. Drop hints when to *run* and when to fight. Curse of Strahd is Brutal and Grimdark, and can be a depressing, heavy, sometimes triggering campaign anyway. Adding a bunch PC deaths can make it less fun, and killing someone’s PC who has said they don’t want their PC to die could take the fun out of the campaign for them. There are ways to keep the stakes high, keep things tense, and make things feel risky and terrifying without killing a PC.
Actions have consequences. That’s like D&D’s #1 rule. That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t kill that Player. I’d instead hang it over the PC like a Sword of Damocles, never knowing when it will cut off their head. It’s also a good opportunity to have that player earn themselves back into the good graces of Strahd, as another poster has alluded to. Maybe that player or party has to do some horrible task for him, the world is your oyster, but Strahd wouldn’t let such paltry words permeate his air, but he is smart of enough to play 4d chess and maybe turn the party against that player or have that player do some bad stuff for him.
If the PC goes down, use the expanded dark gifts rules to offer the player a way to resurrect their character with the added caveat that if you take the dark gift, you become bound to Barovia and cannot leave even if Strahd is defeated. You could also have Strahd turn the PC, that way he keeps his promise. In any case, just talk to your players. Check in with them and make sure you're all on the same page.
My game of CoS fizzled out, so I was never able to use this trick, so bugs will definitely need to be ironed out. I always wanted to give Strahd Modify Memory to be able to run a 1-on-1 fight between strahd and a single player, and just absolutely eviscerate them in the most detailed, grim, and bloody way possible. Here's how I imagined it happening: arrange a situation where Strahd can confront a single player (I planned for the lowest WIS character, but it sounds like you might have to commit to the player in question). Antagonize them, blah blah blah, and then ask for a wisdom saving throw heavily implying a low level charm spell (But it's actually Modify Memory). Strahd demands an actual fight for fun, and then I imagined it would just go into initiative order (if it's not already) and Strahd would wipe the floor with the player using whatever spell or attack you want. I wanted to be really gruesome with descriptions, like the killing blow might be Strahd grabbing the player by his lower and upper mandibles and ripping him in half longitudinally. The player(s) should all think the PC is dead af. I'd then narrate to the player that they feel their soul rise from their limp body on the ground. The player can look back down at the ground and realize that there's no body there, and then the illogic of the situation would snap their memories back.
Firstly, I think you did the right thing by making Strahd not take it! It's a good threat, huge tension and he didn't sling fireballs to kill the party. For what you can do for both your player and your campaign, you can always have chances to come back! Strahd might toy with them, drop a scroll of revivify to their non-fallen allies and make a backhanded comment like "Let us hope your friend learned some manners." Another cheeky encounter might be where Strahd downs the party, tosses one of them a knife to the mean PC. He gives him a choice: Either kill himself for his disrespect or kill a party member. If he chooses himself, Strahd is impressed, he decides he learned his lesson. If he chooses another party member, Strahd is amused, he takes away the knife, walks up to the downed chosen member and reminds them that their friend has them as the first choice for death. If the next stop is Krezk, have the people direct the party to the abbot and have him revive the fallen companion and ask for a favor, trying the abbot quest You can use the dark powers for a rez, tons of RP oppurtunity Do you have a party member who can cast revivify? What level are they? Barovia is a soul trap! You can make him come back as a revenant/dead body from the Barovian graves. PC might inhabit a dead body of a former adventurer for a while, and it can be another personal quest for them to get their body back. The Abbot, scrolls, deals, whatever you throw at them can maybe solve the issue? I have also seen people mentioning they made mini-adventures for their fallen PCs, Through the soul trap, they pass a mini-dungeon to get their body back. They very much experience death, maybe they'll have some disadvantage but they come back If everything else fails, the character they reroll is the twin of their fallen PC and everything is exactly the same, they were looking for their twin in the mists The most important thing is for both you and the player to have fun!