My character died am I wrong to be frustrated?

[Stupidfy]

Hello, I need some advice regarding an incident that happened with the campaign I'm in.

For some background, my character is a level 1 barbarian who grew up a slave, and his goal is to free his race from slavery.

We are travelling somewhere with the help of some NPC's, when it comes to my attention that the leader is dealing with a particularly shady character. This character is trading members of my race into slavery with a portion of the funds going to the leader of the NPC group. Our party is in the leader's room with said shady character gloating about this operation. In response, my barbarian rages and attacks the slave trader. This is met with a swift combat in which the lead NPC can attack 3 times, and does so to my character every turn until he is dead (My character only turns to attack the leader after the slave trader has run away, and I'm still under fire). On the last turn, my character is dropped to 0 hp on the first attack. Following this, the NPC attacks with his other 2 attacks and then a 4th with the aid of a pet causing me to instantly die with no saves/healing. No other party member was attacked until I was dead.

I was particularly attached to this character and so I know that my emotions are swaying me a bit, however I wanted to get the objective opinion from others to see if I was in the wrong to initiate combat (felt like what my character would do). I started creating a new character, but I'm having a lot of trouble. I feel as though I can't play a character that's too emotional/driven which is makes me want to drop out completely.

[Corpsecandle717]

All in all it sounds like a good PC death. You entered into a situation where you didn't know all the specifics (levels, abilities etc) and stuck with your character's values and goals and it just turned out he was over-matched. It's understandable to get attached to a character, but you always need to recognize that the ultimate penalty for the this game is that your character may perish. To me, this game wouldn't be as fun if that risk wasn't there. Doesn't take the sting out of their death though.

[Jerrykhor]

Sounds like the NPC is way out of your CR league. Even for Level 1s, Barbs are pretty tough when raging. To drop you in one hit would take a pretty big chunk of damage. And 3 attacks... I'd really like to see that NPC's statblock.

Did the DM hinted in any way that the NPC was rather powerful? What weapon was he using? How did the DM describe the attack?

[Kharneth]

Your DM killed you by goading your character into an encounter that he had no chance to stand up to and then instead of letting you lay unconscious he had the guy continue to attack you. And all while your party did nothing? That's pretty lame of them.

If I kept playing I'd remake the Barbarian since he died at level 1.

[Merudo]

Did you try to negotiate with the lead NPC when it became clear you were outmatched? Anyone with three attacks a round is either level 5+ and dual wielding / using Polearm Mastery, or level 11+. That's no joke for a level 1, even a Barbarian.

Seems to me the two groups were about evenly matched. Given you used to be friendly to the NPCs maybe they would have been willing to let you go?

And all while your party did nothing? That's pretty lame of them.

I think the party helped him. It's just that the lead NPC focused on taking down the barbarian first - which is actually good tactics.

[DMThac0]

You're right to be frustrated, losing a character sucks no matter the circumstances.

However, it seems more like your question is "I feel what the DM did was unfair, am I missing something?"

It's hard to really say if the situation was handled poorly or not. In the scenario you've presented, you brought this on to yourself by jumping into the deep end without looking for rocks. Could the DM have resolved it in other ways, yes, did he need to, no. It really is a matter of how the DM felt the NPC would react to the situation, sometimes a creature/NPC will kill a player with no remorse, sometimes they'll take prisoners.

I feel a conversation with your DM, not a finger pointing session, but a genuine conversation about rationale and motivation may be in order.

[NaughtyTiger]

My experience

PC In character - I am going to murder-hobo this guy.
DM Out of game - Are you suuuuuure?
PC In character - Yeah, he offended me.
DM In game - As you put your hand on your blade, you notice his scars, suggesting that he is a veteran of combat.
DM Out of game - Are you suuuuuuure?
PC In character - I rolled a 17 for initiative!!! Shi ne!
....

New players put a loooot of effort into the PC before the new session.
New players are often rash and stubborn.

The DM should make a couple of tries to dissuade then from a blatantly bad idea. Especially at level 1-2...
The DM should show mercy (drop you, but not kill you outright) the first time so you learn not to poke the bear.

New players should not be murder hobos.
...

If the DM didn't give you hints, then yeah, you can be frustrated.
But you need to get over it, build a new/same character, and be a little cautious until level 6.

[Spriteless]

Your feelings aren't wrong, its what you do with them that can be good or bad. I suggest you talk with your DM about it. Maybe the solution is a brief retcon, in which the NPC slaver beats your dude to unconsiousness to show dominance, or in which your character decides to retreat and regroup once he realizes he can't win (but still never make a deal with a slaver, ugg!). Maybe the solution is to roll up your character's slightly more patient brother, who will wait for the guy to be alone to assassinate him.

On the other hand, maybe if dealing with slavers is necessary for the campaign the DM has, maybe he's not running the game you are interested in playing. In Dark Sun you'd have to conquer every city individually to stop slavery, which would be cool, but it wouldn't be something a 1st level character could do yet.

Also, what was the rest of the party doing? Just saying "We're not with him >_>" or helping or what? They could have chosen a side, either to help you, or stop you without killing you. "So sorry, boss, you know how his kind is, we'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

Also, 3 attacks/round from one guy? Man, a 1st level dude's only chance against a 5th or 11th level dude is by out numbering him. (I know, player monster transparancy isn't a thing in 5th edition.) This guy was a mid to late campaign boss, not a first level encounter.

[Unoriginal]

We are travelling somewhere with the help of some NPC's, when it comes to my attention that the leader is dealing with a particularly shady character. This character is trading members of my race into slavery with a portion of the funds going to the leader of the NPC group. Our party is in the leader's room with said shady character gloating about this operation. In response, my barbarian rages and attacks the slave trader. This is met with a swift combat in which the lead NPC can attack 3 times, and does so to my character every turn until he is dead (My character only turns to attack the leader after the slave trader has run away, and I'm still under fire). On the last turn, my character is dropped to 0 hp on the first attack. Following this, the NPC attacks with his other 2 attacks and then a 4th with the aid of a pet causing me to instantly die with no saves/healing. No other party member was attacked until I was dead.

So, as a beginner adventurer, you attacked someone's business partner, and this someone killed you and made sure you were dead. Honestly it seems pretty logical to me.

That your teammates didn't help you was the nail on your coffin, however. They could have done *something* to save your character or stop the fight.

I was particularly attached to this character and so I know that my emotions are swaying me a bit, however I wanted to get the objective opinion from others to see if I was in the wrong to initiate combat (felt like what my character would do).

Well, you initiated a fight in front of the slaver's ally, with other allies nearby. I wouldn't say you were wrong to make your character act like that, but it was suicidal.

What did you expect would happen?

I started creating a new character, but I'm having a lot of trouble. I feel as though I can't play a character that's too emotional/driven which is makes me want to drop out completely.

Your problem wasn't that your character was too emotional/driven, your problem was that your character was suicidaly incapable of resisting killing the slaver later. You could have reacted strongly without doing that.

Or you could have had your teammates that'd help you.

Did you talk with the DM about that?

Sounds like the NPC is way out of your CR league. Even for Level 1s, Barbs are pretty tough when raging. To drop you in one hit would take a pretty big chunk of damage.

The NPC didn't drop the Barbarian in one hit, OP said it took several turns.

And 3 attacks... I'd really like to see that NPC's statblock.

Even the CR 2 Bandit Captain NPC has three attacks. Could also be a Veteran.

Did the DM hinted in any way that the NPC was rather powerful?

Well, he was the leader of a bunch of NPCs. I know it doesn't necessarily indicates he's a badass, but at the very least it was to be expected the other NPCs would come to his help

[Stupidfy]

Sounds like the NPC is way out of your CR league. Even for Level 1s, Barbs are pretty tough when raging. To drop you in one hit would take a pretty big chunk of damage. And 3 attacks... I'd really like to see that NPC's statblock.

Did the DM hinted in any way that the NPC was rather powerful? What weapon was he using? How did the DM describe the attack?

The Npc was a Bandit Captain with a Ferret pet. We were loosely led to believe these were pirates, however they were ferrying us to a location and were quite friendly up until this point. We even did quite a bit of labor for them during the journey.

[Unoriginal]

The Npc was a Bandit Captain with a Ferret pet. We were loosely led to believe these were pirates, however they were ferrying us to a location and were quite friendly up until this point. We even did quite a bit of labor for them during the journey.

Well, while friendly and helpful, pirates aren't exactly people of high morals. Honest question, what did you think would happen when you attacked a business partner of them?

Anyone with three attacks a round is either level 5+ and optimized with a feat like Polearm Mastery, or level 11+. That's no joke for a level 1, even a Barbarian.

Also, 3 attacks/round from one guy? Man, a 1st level dude's only chance against a 5th or 11th level dude is by out numbering him. (I know, player monster transparancy isn't a thing in 5th edition.) This guy was a mid to late campaign boss, not a first level encounter.

Bandit Captain
Challenge: 2

Actions
Multiattack: The captain makes three melee attacks: two with its scimitar and one with its dagger

[Friv]

So, as a beginner adventurer, you attacked someone's business partner, and this someone killed you and made sure you were dead. Honestly it seems pretty logical to me.

That your teammates didn't help you was the nail on your coffin, however. They could have done *something* to save your character or stop the fight.

I could be wrong, but it sounds like the rest of the party got involved - the statement was that the bad guy didn't attack the other PCs until the barbarian was dead.

So, the chain of events here appears to be:

1. The barbarian's stated goal at character creation is to free his race from slavery.
2. The party is working with some shady NPCs to cross a desert.
3. The shady NPCs turn out to be selling members of the barbarian's race into slavery.
4. The shady NPC leader gloats about this to the barbarian's face.
5. The barbarian loses his cool and goes after the slave trader.
6. The slave trader takes a hit or two and runs, while the NPC leader focus-attacks the barbarian. The rest of the party is presumably busy fighting minions, because there were minions present and the OP doesn't mention having to fight them himself.
7. With the barbarian weakened by earlier hits, the NPC leader hits him, taking him out, and then continued hitting him once he was down to burn through his death saves, ending with his ferret pet taking a final attack to kill him. This prevented the rest of the party from getting over and saving him.

Now, without more details, there could be a lot of reasons for what happened. The fact that it was specifically the barbarian's race that was being sold into slavery suggests that the GM expected this to turn into a fight, or at least a serious dilemma. The fact that the battle overall seems to have lasted a while suggests that it was meant to be more or less CR-appropriate. It sounds like the only real issue is that final chain of hits.

My guess would be that the GM was playing the battle tactically, in a "die fall where they may" style - having rolled well enough to drop the most dangerous foe, you keep hitting them to keep anyone else from getting them back on their feet. The player was expecting a more lenient style - death is possible, but having fallen, he expected the enemy to turn his attention to the next threat.

The answer, as usual, is communication. Talk privately with the GM. Explain that you weren't expecting that style of combat, and that you were frustrated by what felt like an unwinnable scenario. Don't blame the GM for what happened. See how they respond.

[WilliamHuggins]

You are in the wrong no matter what, because you initiated a combat emotionally (doesnt matter if it was your emotions or your characters emotions, playing an unwise character or a character with an emotional baggage should have its downsides in addition to its benefits) when you had no idea if you had a chance or not.

What is left to decide is whether your DM is a **** or not, did you have any idea about the power of the NPC? Did they have a lot of people under their command/answering them? Were they in control of some kind of organization or a group? Did they seem knowledgeable about topics you PCs were not? These usually are the good giveaways of an NPC power, if your DM gave these clues to you and you did not understand or chose to ignore them, he is not a ****. If he did not he might be a **** but that stilldoes not make him wrong. When you are level 1 you are at the mercy of anyone breathing on your general direction so you got to suck up and start planing to get your way more subtly. For example you could have roleplayed your characters emotions by showing signs of a rage he is doing his utmost to control, and you could later persuade your party to ambush the slaver outside where no one would be aware.

I had a semi similar thing happen to me once, the party I am DMing for ran into a CR25 Vampire Lord who were dining with his beloved CR20 or something drow high priestess when they were around lvl 10, Vampire Lord acted amiable being amused by their antics but my group were gritting their teeth as they were put under the fear aura of the Vampire Lord for a little bit when he "accidentally" forgot to turn it off (clue1), they grudgingly accepted Vampire Lords offer of help about their main quest in exchange for them to kill some creatures that were disturbing him near a portal to Feywild, so they went close to the portal and ran into a group of Lycanthropes who thinking of ways to get rid of the Vampire, and after talking with the Lycanthropes they were supposed to kill, the party started arguing about whether they should kill the Lycanthropes or should help them kill the Vampire, they received the information that Lycannthropes were confident they culd kill the Drow Priestess but they were scared ****less from the Vampire(clue2) (Werewolf leader were CR12 or something while its henchmen were around CR2-3), and lastsly they decided to ask the funky Imp they have been traveling with during the whole underground ruin journey and the imp answered that, during his time of exploring the ruins while invisible, the only creature that could see him were the vampire (clue3), one of the players got the clues and argued against fighting the Vampire while other two were so emotional from their early moment with the fear aura they outvoted him to attack the Vampire Lord, long story short the Vampire slaughtered the Lycanthropes, toyed with the party by mind controlling a few of them, then gave the party the choice of picking one amongst them to be killed by the Vampire Lord and he would let the rest of them go unharmed and he would even let them take the body of the dead one (though he was going to raise it as undead before letting them take it), they argued for a while one of them wishing to sacrifice himself, other one wishing to die all together in glory while the one who voted to not attack were just waiting to run away using its Cape of Mountebank (Dimension Door), then they realized they culd put the scrawniest of them inside their bag of holding and teleport two of them away with the cape and managed to get away, and it was their luck that those two items were looted a few hours ago.

[Stupidfy]

I'm going to elaborate more, I tried to be as vague as possible because I don't want the DM to see this and take it the wrong way (I actually think that they are a great DM and friend). This is a world where magic will get you arrested, so none of our party members opted for classes that use it, however two of the npc fighting did have magic. One was a healer and the other used Misty Step along with some type of blind spell. The Slave Trader kept the slaves in a necklace she was wearing, my PC could see/hear/sense? the slaves as she gloated. The party did in fact help in the encounter, however were not able to defeat the lead npc before my permadeath on turn 2 (all 8 attacks hit and rolled near max damage per the DM, I don't peak at the DM's rolls). In the end the party was able to steal the necklace. They fled out a nearby window into the ocean, presumably near land as hours earlier in game time we saw buildings on the shore. We were told the party made it to the shore with a level of exhaustion on each member. However, after the session the DM said we were in the middle of the ocean still and will each have to make 4 saving throws to make it to shore as we are half a mile away.

Multiple members of our party were upset at how the situation was handled (some vocal), and felt it was targeting/punishment. I also get the feeling the DM didn't read my backstory, because I made it very clear how against slavery my character was. He was written to be very nice and goofy, however his flaw was blind rage at the sight of mistreating his people.

The DM's response to the party's general unhappiness was that it's how the scenario would have played out realistically. I understand this for the most part, but I feel that my player was punished heavily for something he had to do via his story. I do not think I was in the "right" to attack the slave trader, however that's what my character would have done, all he really knows is violence (He was sold into slavery at an arena forced to fight very Conan style).

The experience as a whole has hurt my new character creation because of the setting (no magic or jailed) and obvious enforcement of stern ideals. I haven't responded to the DM, however in his responses to the party he made it clear that this is how the scenario will play out 10/10 times. Leading me to believe if I play a character that uses magic, I will 100% be taken out of the campaign.

Also, we had no indication of these NPC's power levels. Other than the fact that we knew the Leader was in fact a leader of some maybe pirates, and had a collection of blunderbusses (that my character was unaware of) we had no clue about weapons/magic.

And after reading the replies, I understand that death is/should be a possibility every combat. It was simply in the way I was insta-killed that feels bad.

[Adigail]

I'm going to elaborate more, I tried to be as vague as possible because I don't want the DM to see this and take it the wrong way (I actually think that they are a great DM and friend). This is a world where magic will get you arrested, so none of our party members opted for classes that use it, however two of the npc fighting did have magic. One was a healer and the other used Misty Step along with some type of blind spell. The Slave Trader kept the slaves in a necklace she was wearing, my PC could see/hear/sense? the slaves as she gloated. The party did in fact help in the encounter, however were not able to defeat the lead npc before my permadeath on turn 2 (all 8 attacks hit and rolled near max damage per the DM, I don't peak at the DM's rolls). In the end the party was able to steal the necklace. They fled out a nearby window into the ocean, presumably near land as hours earlier in game time we saw buildings on the shore. We were told the party made it to the shore with a level of exhaustion on each member. However, after the session the DM said we were in the middle of the ocean still and will each have to make 4 saving throws to make it to shore as we are half a mile away.

Multiple members of our party were upset at how the situation was handled (some vocal), and felt it was targeting/punishment. I also get the feeling the DM didn't read my backstory, because I made it very clear how against slavery my character was. He was written to be very nice and goofy, however his flaw was blind rage at the sight of mistreating his people.

The DM's response to the party's general unhappiness was that it's how the scenario would have played out realistically. I understand this for the most part, but I feel that my player was punished heavily for something he had to do via his story. I do not think I was in the "right" to attack the slave trader, however that's what my character would have done, all he really knows is violence (He was sold into slavery at an arena forced to fight very Conan style).

The experience as a whole has hurt my new character creation because of the setting (no magic or jailed) and obvious enforcement of stern ideals. I haven't responded to the DM, however in his responses to the party he made it clear that this is how the scenario will play out 10/10 times. Leading me to believe if I play a character that uses magic, I will 100% be taken out of the campaign.

Also, we had no indication of these NPC's power levels. Other than the fact that we knew the Leader was in fact a leader of some maybe pirates, and had a collection of blunderbusses (that my character was unaware of) we had no clue about weapons/magic.

And after reading the replies, I understand that death is/should be a possibility every combat. It was simply in the way I was insta-killed that feels bad.

I am one of the other party members, and I can vouche for this. The DM is a friend and a great DM but has trouble separating a punishment and a consequence. We were lead to the captain's quarters, then told we needed to be discreet about the slaves. All of our party members are aligned as good. One of our party members said he was not a part of this and was blinded by the woman who wore the necklace. This is what initiated combat. We were not able to leave the quarters as more and more crew members filed in and we are affronted by other crew members basically on all sides. All NPC's were high level and somehow switched from being ferriers to pirates during this interaction. If my character had not decided to ask if there was a window and jump out, it would have 100% been a party wipe. (Also, I had to use a spell slot to do this instead of being able to throw a dagger through it). We were told we needed to conceal the fact that we use magic, but then have to use magic per the DM's instructions when things don't go his way. There were also very clear indications that the DM was mad when his NPC's would roll low to hit.

The major part that got me was the dwarf was on the ground and the captain, knowing there were other party members trying to kill him (including one DIRECTLY behind him) still made two death blows to the dwarf. The party member (dwarf) then made a remark about "thank God I have that last death roll" that's when the DM turned and said "the weasel then comes off the captain and bites you." It felt very intentional and very malicious. ALL party members are very upset, not just this one.

Just because a party member does something stupid, doesn't incentivize a party wipe. Should we have had consequences? Absolutely. But, nothing really justifies this. It made no sense from beginning to end with what happened in the story. Sorry, it just was a bad experience on my part and I recommend for any DM to learn the difference between a challenge and consequence and unfairness and punishment.

[WilliamHuggins]

Another thing about DnD is that it is a game not a real life simulator, you cannot create some type of characters and expect the game to work, for example we see this with some players who create characters so hard to convince into going to adventure that DM has to do back flips to to get them to do stuff, you are supposed to create a character who either wants to go adventuring or is forced to go into adventuring because of their backstory.

This is a similar case, you cant just create a character whose flaw is "I go into rage whenever I see something related to slavery.". What if your DMs homebrew world had a nation of slavers or a nation where slavery is encouraged because of its economy? What if adventure took you to such nation? Were you going to attack any moderately wealthy member of the society as they would be owning slaves and slave markets would be everywhere.

Roleplaying characters should have aims and and your character had an aim, but you decided that your character would throw it all away and go into a suicidal combat for the sake of a momentary anger.

Edit: Ok, reading the last message from your party member, even though what I wrote above is still relevant for your future Dnd play, your DM seems to be a nutjob, so all I could say is get rid of him. All you needed to say was the weird **** your DM did in that last message ( a weasel for last death saing throw? really?) and we would all be on your side.

[dmteeter]

You are not wrong to be upset that your character died that sucks.
However its 100% your own fault you died.

You are a level one barbarian max hit points of 15(point buy) or 17(rolled stats)
You attacked a slave trader who was apparently powerful enough to be successful at what is a very dangerous career.
In front of his partner a Bandit/Pirate leader.

That was just plain and simple a bad call on your part. Your DM sounds reasonable enough though. If you had done the same thing in a game with most of the DM's i've played with it probably would have ended with a TPK....

[ad_hoc]

Level 1 is the very beginning of the apprentice tier.

It is a common mistake to both construct a background where the character is more powerful than where they start and also to play the character as though they are powerful.

Learn to walk first. The satisfaction of leveling up is that your character can then deal with situations like this head on. That is a big difference between tier 1 and 2.

[Stupidfy]

Level 1 is the very beginning of the apprentice tier.

It is a common mistake to both construct a background where the character is more powerful than where they start and also to play the character as though they are powerful.

Learn to walk first. The satisfaction of leveling up is that your character can then deal with situations like this head on. That is a big difference between tier 1 and 2.

I think this is where I went wrong the most. My backstory was of a in his prime gladiator whom did not know defeat, and I played him as such. Also upon reflection and these comments, I believe I should have toned down the "rage" aspect of my character. This was my first barbarian and I played him very much as though it's 0 or 100. He had no levels of rage, simply none or blind.

Thank you all for commenting and helping out.

[DMThac0]

Even with understanding our views and coming to terms with what has happened I still believe that a conversation with your DM may still reward you with better games in the future.

Your troubles with the way the situation played out can be mulled over by the DM, he may or may not feel that he could tone down his approach. You can express your understanding and revelations from said mistake. There might be a compromise where you don't have to roll up a character. Then again, it could simply be a way for everyone to air grievances and move forward with some sort of closure.

[Stupidfy]

Even with understanding our views and coming to terms with what has happened I still believe that a conversation with your DM may still reward you with better games in the future.

Your troubles with the way the situation played out can be mulled over by the DM, he may or may not feel that he could tone down his approach. You can express your understanding and revelations from said mistake. There might be a compromise where you don't have to roll up a character. Then again, it could simply be a way for everyone to air grievances and move forward with some sort of closure.

I spoke to him about retconning it a tad for my character to have lived, albeit barely. He has refused the notion and instead my PC will be paraded in town on a pike. I've decided to respectfully leave the campaign.

[Osrogue]

No. I got frustrated reading that. It’s a cooperative game. Shoving you all into an unwinnable fight because you didn’t stick to the script wasn’t fair to anyone.

Next, ask what kind of campaign you’re playing.

In some, if you don’t make tactically smart decisions, you’ll probably die. That kind of campaign favors tactical play. I wouldn’t roleplaying a character as impulsive or dumb here, because I like putting RP first and they wouldn’t last long.

I’m playing in one where we’ve been literally blown up by one our members on several occasions, entirely in character. We got to laugh it off afterwards, since so far, it hasn’t killed us. It’s a campaign that focuses heavily on role-playing and player choice.

In some campaigns, you can play unintelligently and not be instantly murdered for it. So playing a character that flies off the handle and murders anyone who practices slavery can work in the right kind of game.

[Sigreid]

It's not wrong to be upset about loss of a character. But honestly, what you did was pretty dumb and the DM wasn't wrong to do your character in. You would have done better to make note of the slaver and hit him when you were sure you had all the cards. Heck, it could have even done more good as you could potentially found out where is current stock is and liberated them.

You were impulsive, irrational and unwise and paid the price.

[brainface]

The major part that got me was the dwarf was on the ground and the captain, knowing there were other party members trying to kill him (including one DIRECTLY behind him) still made two death blows to the dwarf. The party member (dwarf) then made a remark about "thank God I have that last death roll" that's when the DM turned and said "the weasel then comes off the captain and bites you." It felt very intentional and very malicious. ALL party members are very upset, not just this one.

Wait, it was a normal-sized weasel? Not even a giant ferret? Something with like a half-inch wide mouth is dealing the death blow to a dwarven barbarian?

I spoke to him about retconning it a tad for my character to have lived, albeit barely. He has refused the notion and instead my PC will be paraded in town on a pike. I've decided to respectfully leave the campaign.

I would probably actually barbarian rage at that point honestly. Your times better off spent reading a book or something, you don't owe anyone your humiliation for entertainment. I mean, humiliating your character isn't the same as humiliating you, but sometimes it really kind of is.

[tchntm43]

I think that, based on how you designed the character, it would have been out of character for him not to react that way.

So here is a question? Did you create your character's back-story on your own and not reveal it to the DM until after the adventure was prepared? I can't imagine character creation being done this way (unless it's a premade adventure the DM purchased or downloaded, or you are doing the D&D Adventurers League thing at a store and have a different DM every adventure). Or did the DM knowingly allow you to make a character that has an impulsive tendency to respond to slavery this way, and then go ahead and create an adventure with an unwinnable battle where your character was bound by character traits to respond in that way, and then maliciously kill the character in an overboard way?

Based on what you said in followup posts, it sure sounds like the latter. I think you're right to leave the campaign. I'd look for a DM who is interested in helping you develop a character with interesting backstory and personality traits over the course of the game rather than one that has a strange tendency to give the OK to certain characters and then punish them mercilessly for it. If you can find a another DM to player with, I'd just try to create the same character again there, as long as the DM is okay with that. You sound like the kind of player I'd want in my game, honestly. I'd rather have a player who can play into his character's personality as you did over one that is just interesting in maximizing his "build". I believe it's the responsibility of the DM to look at the characters who are in the party, their personalities, histories, and equipment, and design the adventure to complement those things.

[Friv]

I am one of the other party members, and I can vouche for this. The DM is a friend and a great DM but has trouble separating a punishment and a consequence. We were lead to the captain's quarters, then told we needed to be discreet about the slaves. All of our party members are aligned as good. One of our party members said he was not a part of this and was blinded by the woman who wore the necklace. This is what initiated combat. We were not able to leave the quarters as more and more crew members filed in and we are affronted by other crew members basically on all sides. All NPC's were high level and somehow switched from being ferriers to pirates during this interaction. If my character had not decided to ask if there was a window and jump out, it would have 100% been a party wipe. (Also, I had to use a spell slot to do this instead of being able to throw a dagger through it). We were told we needed to conceal the fact that we use magic, but then have to use magic per the DM's instructions when things don't go his way. There were also very clear indications that the DM was mad when his NPC's would roll low to hit.

The major part that got me was the dwarf was on the ground and the captain, knowing there were other party members trying to kill him (including one DIRECTLY behind him) still made two death blows to the dwarf. The party member (dwarf) then made a remark about "thank God I have that last death roll" that's when the DM turned and said "the weasel then comes off the captain and bites you." It felt very intentional and very malicious. ALL party members are very upset, not just this one.

Just because a party member does something stupid, doesn't incentivize a party wipe. Should we have had consequences? Absolutely. But, nothing really justifies this. It made no sense from beginning to end with what happened in the story. Sorry, it just was a bad experience on my part and I recommend for any DM to learn the difference between a challenge and consequence and unfairness and punishment.

Okay, I would like to revise my statements above.

Your DM is bad at DMing, and you are right to be upset. From the more fleshed-out discussions, you were obviously meant to be forced into a complicated moral dilemma where you had to follow the orders of bad people, and when the party objected to this the DM decided to teach them a lesson by murdering everyone.

That is garbage. Walking away was 100% the correct decision.

[Stupidfy]

Wait, it was a normal-sized weasel? Not even a giant ferret? Something with like a half-inch wide mouth is dealing the death blow to a dwarven barbarian?



I would probably actually barbarian rage at that point honestly. Your times better off spent reading a book or something, you don't owe anyone your humiliation for entertainment. I mean, humiliating your character isn't the same as humiliating you, but sometimes it really kind of is.

Yea, regular ferret/weasel. I think the best thing I could have done is just walk away.

Either I'm a bad player, he's a bad DM, a combo of both, or we're both decent and just can't agree on it lol.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Echoing everyone else's sentiments that your DM did, in fact, do wrong, I'd be especially annoyed at his claim at being 'realistic'.

He killed you with a non-magical pet ferret.

And the only reason that even happened is very, very clearly that he, the DM, wanted you, the character, to die.

Realism my butt.

[Adigail]

I spoke to him about retconning it a tad for my character to have lived, albeit barely. He has refused the notion and instead my PC will be paraded in town on a pike. I've decided to respectfully leave the campaign.

Because somehow holding on to a dead and bleeding dwarf in the captain's quarters so that he can post him on a spike makes more sense than throwing the dead body out the very open window next to him and being done with a dwarf he knew nothing about.

I'm done too. That's ridiculous.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Because somehow holding on to a dead and bleeding dwarf in the captain's quarters so that he can post him on a spike makes more sense than throwing the dead body out the very open window next to him and being done with a dwarf he knew nothing about.

I'm done too. That's ridiculous.

Man, that part, too. I thought he was secretly a pirate captain. Wasn't that the point of the whole stupid meeting?

Nothing keeps that secret better than parading the corpse of a stranger around town on a pike. How the hell does he explain this?

Just imagine it in the real world. The mafia offs some guy, then decides to walk around the streets with his corpse up on a pole. NOPE, NOTHING SUSPICIOUS HERE!