Morien
01-22-2012, 06:33 PM
The recent threads in House Rules inspired me to ask this question from other GMs and players, as well as air some of my own experiences.
Obviously, the monsters and challenges the player knights encounter depend on the GM; one GM might have them meeting human foes preferentially, while another might put them against giants and dragons and redcaps. I find that this is probably the most important factor when it comes to PK mortality in Pendragon, as a 12d6 giant with skill 8 is much more deadly than a 5d6 knight with skill 15, in my experience. Not only can the giant oneshot a PK, but he is less likely to let the PK live after the PK loses consciousness.
Of course, the game styles of the game groups varies as well. Some groups enjoy living on the edge, where each battle that they come through alive is cause for celebration, enhanced by the knowledge that not everyone made it. Other groups like to follow their knights through their career, eventually growing old and passing down the family sword for their now-adult heirs. In the latter case, having your PK killed every other session pretty much hampers your long-term plans, and can lead to frustration, or nonchalance about your character, since he will be dead soon anyway. Why not go out with a bang, if you are unlikely to survive anyway? Again, to each his/her own.
As a GM, I am hesitant introducing monsters that can oneshot PKs. I know the dice well enough that especially when there is a long fight, at some point someone rolls poorly, and that might mean a red mist moment for the hapless knight. So I tend to use human opponents, who are much more likely to capture and ransom the unconscious PKs, and allow first aid to be used on them. Usually, this is enough to save the characters from the brink of death, thanks to the first aid rules.
Another thing is that I allow players to hold on to their Glory Points rather than spend them in Winter Phase, and use those stored Glory Points as Fate Points of sorts: expending a Glory Point gives you a success in your roll, and a failure for the opponent. Oftentimes this is used to avoid a critical hit from the enemy.
Still, the characters are mortal. The flipside of not going out of my way to introduce big monsters is that I am not fudging the dice when they do come down poorly for the PK (other than the Fate/Glory Point in above). And so far that has ended up happening for all PKs save for one, who retired out of active service, as the player wanted to shift characters.
Here is the list of the honored dead:
1) Sir Robert: died while trying to save Arthur from Camille's clutches (9d6 mace from a half-giant HURTS, especially if you get hit twice). Saxon first aid was not equal to reviving the mangled body.
2) Sir Garnock: died in a duel to the first blood... unfortunately for this doughty knight, he was already hurt (he was at 2/3 hitpoints, I seem to recall), and the first blood was a high damage critical. Still, there was some hope that first aid might save him, but alas, the Healer Lady character fumbled her first aid...
3) Sir Maelgore: died as he had lived... naked on a bed. Famously Lustful Pagan, who went out of his way to seduce anything in a skirt, and finally one of the husbands found out and ambushed the adulterous pair in flagrante, as it were. Alas, the other PKs didn't manage to cut through the husband's men-at-arms quickly enough, and thanks to lacking their healer, Sir Maelgore bled to death with failed First Aid rolls.
4) Sir Nidian: died while trying to save ladies from the King of Dolorous Women. Again, here there was first a couple of good hits, and then a critical, dropping Sir Nidian to minus hitpoints. As the Healer Lady character was one of the ladies in need of rescuing, the First Aid skills of his fellow knights were not up to the task, and Sir Nidian perished.
So, in three of those cases, it came down to First Aid. There had been a couple of close calls before (I seem to recall Sir Nidian hovering at death's door at least once before), but then the dice were favorable. Also in three of those cases (Robert, Garnock and Nidian), the knight in question had already been injured, and could have opted for surrender (although Passions did play a role in two of those fights). In Maelgore's case, the lack of armor was the issue (we don't follow the movie Excalibur in that :P ). Interestingly enough, in two of those cases, the absence of the Party Healer (the Lady character), proved significant.
What have been your experiences with PK mortality? What flavor of campaign are you running?
Obviously, the monsters and challenges the player knights encounter depend on the GM; one GM might have them meeting human foes preferentially, while another might put them against giants and dragons and redcaps. I find that this is probably the most important factor when it comes to PK mortality in Pendragon, as a 12d6 giant with skill 8 is much more deadly than a 5d6 knight with skill 15, in my experience. Not only can the giant oneshot a PK, but he is less likely to let the PK live after the PK loses consciousness.
Of course, the game styles of the game groups varies as well. Some groups enjoy living on the edge, where each battle that they come through alive is cause for celebration, enhanced by the knowledge that not everyone made it. Other groups like to follow their knights through their career, eventually growing old and passing down the family sword for their now-adult heirs. In the latter case, having your PK killed every other session pretty much hampers your long-term plans, and can lead to frustration, or nonchalance about your character, since he will be dead soon anyway. Why not go out with a bang, if you are unlikely to survive anyway? Again, to each his/her own.
As a GM, I am hesitant introducing monsters that can oneshot PKs. I know the dice well enough that especially when there is a long fight, at some point someone rolls poorly, and that might mean a red mist moment for the hapless knight. So I tend to use human opponents, who are much more likely to capture and ransom the unconscious PKs, and allow first aid to be used on them. Usually, this is enough to save the characters from the brink of death, thanks to the first aid rules.
Another thing is that I allow players to hold on to their Glory Points rather than spend them in Winter Phase, and use those stored Glory Points as Fate Points of sorts: expending a Glory Point gives you a success in your roll, and a failure for the opponent. Oftentimes this is used to avoid a critical hit from the enemy.
Still, the characters are mortal. The flipside of not going out of my way to introduce big monsters is that I am not fudging the dice when they do come down poorly for the PK (other than the Fate/Glory Point in above). And so far that has ended up happening for all PKs save for one, who retired out of active service, as the player wanted to shift characters.
Here is the list of the honored dead:
1) Sir Robert: died while trying to save Arthur from Camille's clutches (9d6 mace from a half-giant HURTS, especially if you get hit twice). Saxon first aid was not equal to reviving the mangled body.
2) Sir Garnock: died in a duel to the first blood... unfortunately for this doughty knight, he was already hurt (he was at 2/3 hitpoints, I seem to recall), and the first blood was a high damage critical. Still, there was some hope that first aid might save him, but alas, the Healer Lady character fumbled her first aid...
3) Sir Maelgore: died as he had lived... naked on a bed. Famously Lustful Pagan, who went out of his way to seduce anything in a skirt, and finally one of the husbands found out and ambushed the adulterous pair in flagrante, as it were. Alas, the other PKs didn't manage to cut through the husband's men-at-arms quickly enough, and thanks to lacking their healer, Sir Maelgore bled to death with failed First Aid rolls.
4) Sir Nidian: died while trying to save ladies from the King of Dolorous Women. Again, here there was first a couple of good hits, and then a critical, dropping Sir Nidian to minus hitpoints. As the Healer Lady character was one of the ladies in need of rescuing, the First Aid skills of his fellow knights were not up to the task, and Sir Nidian perished.
So, in three of those cases, it came down to First Aid. There had been a couple of close calls before (I seem to recall Sir Nidian hovering at death's door at least once before), but then the dice were favorable. Also in three of those cases (Robert, Garnock and Nidian), the knight in question had already been injured, and could have opted for surrender (although Passions did play a role in two of those fights). In Maelgore's case, the lack of armor was the issue (we don't follow the movie Excalibur in that :P ). Interestingly enough, in two of those cases, the absence of the Party Healer (the Lady character), proved significant.
What have been your experiences with PK mortality? What flavor of campaign are you running?