Bouncing Back From Character Death

[DragonBaneDM]

Hey guys.

So my half orc died. It really sucked and I'm still getting over it. But I talked things over with my party and DM and I have a good bit of pull on how things go moving forward. I wanted to ask for advice on here.

So first off, I wanted to say a bit about my build and ask if it's...over ambitious.

Spoiler: Build Thoughts:

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Domri is a Level 11 Hybrid Barbarian/Cleric. He's using Battle Cleric's Lore, a greatspear and lightning cheese. It's been really fun! I've got a bunch of neat power combos and my defenses are relatively high. I definitely enjoy my build.

The problem is that our campaign has some really heavy damage, and I don't feel up to it as a frontliner. My DM rebuilt his monster math to mimic the lethality of 1st level all the way up to 30. This isn't a complaint against him. It's the way the campaign works and I know that. Domri's Con score is 10, I drop after about 3 solid hits. I needed a high Dex and Wis to qualify for Spear feats, and this is the kind of game where I need my attack stat maxed. So while Half Orc Reslience steps up for me, I've still got some of the worst HP in the party, and also a low surge count.

We've got lenient rebuild rules. When I get rezzed, and I will if that's what we decide would be cool story wise, do I need to rethink this build? I posted the full thing a while back, and one of the big things someone brought up (I think it was tdcrudusi?) was that my HP was low and he had imagined this kinda build with Rageblood Vigor as a Temp HP generator in place of lightning cheese. It was valid advice. Maybe I need to pick up a fullblade, get in close, and toughen up.

Or maybe one/both of my classes need changed? I love the combo, it fits the niche in our party well and it's fun to roleplay. But maybe the Hybrid has gotta go?

Another option is a whole new character, at least for a bit.

Spoiler: New Character Thoughts:

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Like, I could play as something totally different, maybe a random Dragonborn Paladin who could step in for a level while helping my party ressurect Domri that fills my frontline beater roll for a bit. Or maybe I just play something totally different from what I am now like an Invoker or an unoptimized, just for fun character for a level to get myself out of my rut and have some goofy fun for a bit.

Or maybe I need to double down on a character I've been playing for the better part of...jeez three years? Like accept that he's a squishy little man, and just play smarter/ask my party for more support?

What would you do?

[MoutonRustique]

I am not a build-master by any stretch of the imagination. My gut-reaction personal advice : stick with your character, you like how he plays, your party knows how he plays - I'm pretty sure you guys will be able to make it work.

If you're not satisfied in play : grab something completely different. Don't make the same v1.5 character. Go for an eladrin Invoquer or something.

My 2cp.

[Marcloure]

I'll have to second MoutonRustique. If you plan to do a new character, why not experiment with something entirely (or even in part) new? I advice you to not do something like "my new character is pretty much like the past one, but with a different name". If you want to keep your character, I think your DM might be able to come up with something, or if he doesn't want to, than you better pass over it.

[masteraleph]

Thinking about temp HP- Eager Hero's Tattoo could be a possibility (level 10 item, gets you 5+healing surges spent temp hp every short rest). Sensate theme? (at that level, 5 temp hp whenever you spend an encounter or daily power).

[Kimera757]

Does your party have a leader? If so, what class/build/level of badass?

There's a couple of healing items that will instantly heal a surge if you fall unconscious. They're in Dragon Magazine, not any of the physical books.

[Meta]

Our leader is a shaman. Usually pretty good at his job but dropped the ball, heavily. I'm pretty sure OP died and both healing words (or w/e the shaman's equivalent is) were still available.

An item that picks him up from unconscious could be useful, though. Which dragon?

[DragonBaneDM]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Hey, Meta.

So yeah, I think given the setting of the dungeon and the stuff I've been thinking of lately, Domri's coming back. While it'd be nice to play a back of the line artillery dude for a bit, this isn't the right time to phase my half orc out even for a bit, and there's about 1000 plot relevant reasons he'd come back to life in this dungeon. On top of that, I really do like the character, and don't have many ideas for a new one I'm attached to right now, so the points about playing something different only if I'm really bored with my current build ring true, thanks for that.

So that's happening. Now I'm just looking forward. I'm gonna change my attitude at the table a bit. Get a little bit more vocal about asking for support, try to match our tactical leader for "most present" at the table, and reminding people about this if we should leave anyone KO'd for more than two rounds. We play online, which leads to a disconnect once in awhile. If anyone has any advice for that, it'd help.

However, I'm also interested in the "get up if you've been KO'd" items, especially if they're available in Paragon Tier. We're also going to have a look at where we can place defensive items better in the party and try to keep our frontliners safer. The Eager Hero Tattoo sounds awesome, and it's especially fitting since "Eager Hero" defines Domri's roleplay personality perfectly. And while Sensate seems good, I'm pretty dedicated to the Sohei theme.

I think this is gonna work? I'm up for any build advice/proactive things/keeping our party focused tips moving forward, though. It's also just nice to do a pulse check on this forum once in a while, good to see the old community is still up and running.