DM vs Player

[Bagpuss]

And they seemed to botch all rolls I gave them.

At least you gave them rolls...

 

[Piratecat]

The important question is: did you want to die? If so, it probably wasn't an evil act for him to kill you.

Dang! I'm mixing threads again!

In answer to your question, you should have gotten a "take 0" listen check (just your base listen skill) vs. his Move silently roll. Your camp guard should have gotten checks made normally.

I personally might not have done this as a DM, though; where's the drama? Where's the fun? If you're going to kill someone, you might as well make it fun for the players anyways.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Really bad DM'ing in my opinion. I believe that a character should not die due to their inaction. Suffering a poisoned sneak attack why dungeoneering is one thing because at least there was the chance that someone in the party might have heard or seen the Assassin sneaking up. Outright killing a PC is simply bad form. I'd talk to the other players about getting a new DM. Hell, I'd probably beat the crap out of a DM if he did that to me without a damn good explanation. If it is part of the story then fine... maybe he's planning on bringing you back at a dramatic point. You should know your DM's style though. If you honestly don't think he is going to bring you back then I'd definitely look at joining another group or kicking the current DM out.

 

[Bagpuss]

There's nothing in the rules to stop the DM saying "What a pity it appears your character just died of a brain embolism. That's a bit of bad luck." Doesn't make the game any fun to play however.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Of course not, but with a decent move silently you wouldn't expect to be thwarted as a player. It would feel like a deus ex - "He wakes up just as you are poised to strike, roll initiative."

All I'm saying is that I find it a hard one to run as a DM. For a start, you have to imagine that you don't know where the PCs are, when clearly you do. There are other factors, but in general I feel a bit guilty when a high-level assassin does his job on the party, because they inevitably say "no fair, I was sleeping." That, of course, is precisely the idea.

Unless the party is dumb and all sleeping out of view of the guards or the assasin is invisible it should take a hell of a lot more than a simple move silent for someone to be assasinated.

This was an a-hole DM pure and simple. The further proof is in the comment made later about the DM being a total powergamer as a player.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

There's nothing in the rules to stop the DM saying "What a pity it appears your character just died of a brain embolism. That's a bit of bad luck." Doesn't make the game any fun to play however.

Sure there is. As a rule my characters always on a weekly basis ask the party cleric or party Paladin to hit them up with a cure disease spell when they are staying at an Inn or some other convenient downtime.

Adventuring is nasty work and its a given that characters will get small infections and other things as they are camping outside, exploring ancient tombs, etc. A cure disease makes sure that none of these problems stick around to bother me and unless your DM is a dick pretty well keep you in tip top shape.

Also when the party gets to be high enough level that cure disease gets replaced with a heal spell. Pretty much a standard I would expect in a DnD world for anyone who could afford it. Consider it the DnD equivalent to vitamins and visting the doctor regularly in our world.

 

[Bagpuss]

Except a embolism doesn't need to be caused by disease and can effect otherwise prefectly healthy people, and even heal every morning would not necessarily be effective against something like that.

 

[MerakSpielman]

It's possible, however unlikely, that the DM make all the opposed checks behind the screen, and this encounter was totally by-the-book. I've been known to make secret listen/spot checks for the characters, so as not to alarm the players that something is going on.

That said, it's easy to have the PCs killed. A few assassins, improved invisibility, silence spells, and maybe some poison for good measure. Take out the guards first, then take your time with the sleepers. Gosh, this DM vs. player thing isn't so hard! It's easy to "win" when you're freaking omnipotent.

Like PC said, though, that's just not fun. We do play this game to have fun, right? I remember when I introduced my group to bodaks for the first time. The players didn't even know they had a gaze attack. Some people felt tingles on their turn, and some people "fell over." After the combat, they checked on the fallen, "what are they, asleep? Paralyzed?" "They are dead," I responded. There were looks of incredulity, especially from the players of the 2 fallen characters. This is the only time that we ever stopped mid-game to look up rules in an attempt to dispute the DMs ruling. I could tell they didn't find that encounter fun. I regret doing it.

 

[Bagpuss]

I could tell they didn't find that encounter fun. I regret doing it.

Still bet it didn't stop you having the dead PC's come back as bodaks to attack the party the next night?

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I don't recall the awake characters making rolls.

Yes, that particular DM does that very often.

No, no plot device, he just died. And no one in the part tried to raise him.

Character wasn't disrupting the game, at least anymore than a cleric of Hextor would disrupt a game. The two rogues setting up a thieve's guild and not have the paladin find out was way more disruptive.

I'd be really 'foaming at the mouth' mad in that situation. Being killed off arbitarily by some crappy random encounter is not a lot of fun for a player.

I think it's time to have a word with the GM, find out why he did it and explain how you feel about it... just be calm and be nice