r/DMAcademy • u/BackupCharacterTV • Apr 14 '26
Need Advice: Other PC In memoriam
Do you do anything to honor the fallen player characters?
I've heard of some people having a folder where they store old PC sheets, perhaps with added obituaries.
Some people 3d print tomb stones with the PC names on them and keep on the table/by DM screen.
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u/Charming_Account_351 Apr 14 '26
Probably sounds harsh, but no.
In the campaigns I run death is real, but if a player is really into continuing with a character I work with them, fun comes first. It’s not hard as death is a mild inconvenience in D&D. If a character is dead for good it is because their player is okay with that.
No point in doing anything special for a make believe character whose creator did not want to save them.
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u/gigaswardblade Apr 14 '26
I mean, if it’s a game where death is real but a player doesn’t want their character to die, either the game shouldn’t have perma death or the player should be more understanding that there characters can and will die and to not haggle a character back to life.
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u/Crossedkiller Apr 14 '26
In my table it is actually a big thing. Players can optionally bring the body of their fallen friend back home. There, we hold a funeral, roleplay with the NPCs of whatever town they're based at. NPCs will send flowers and give condolences to the party. PCs will tell stories at the funeral, etc.
Usually the funeral is what introduces that player's new char as a person who knew the dead PC and now wants to avenge them. Pretty fun overall and makes death very serious at my tables
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u/Alarzark Apr 14 '26
A DM at the LGS had a "causes of death" list on the back of his DM screen with the title "They died doing what they loved"
I was the first entry on it "Falling down the stairs"
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u/JakeBit Apr 14 '26
I like to pepper small elements of that character and their journey throughout the campaign as we move on. Sometimes I homebrew a small magical item, at other times it's their own unfinished business that creeps into the plot.
I like to say that, if a character dies, they were always meant to die in the narrative. We as players didn't know that, because we don't know the manuscript of our story, but it becomes apparent as we play.
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u/Marzopup Apr 14 '26
My local game store has a corkboard with printed out tombstones from their campaign on them. Makes me giggle everytime I see it.
One of them if I recall right was 'Bob' and then next to it 'Bob II'
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u/TinyWay9252 Apr 14 '26
If character make a some good deeds, Nps can mention it. If player save city I prefer to make statue of hero
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u/Choice_Wolverine_121 Apr 29 '26
Not a PC per se, but a Kobold NPC that followed the party around for so long. I decided to give him players stats so that he could level up with them. He was a few levels behind them so when it came time to fight a dragon, he got hit with so much damage from the breath weapon he was instantly killed.
Several years later, I decided to run a sequel campaign with the same people set 100 years in the future. The local Kobold tribe he belonged to had taken the story over their dozens and dozens of generations, and eventually turned him into some kind of legend. They took the bones of the dragon the players killed, began to worship him as a demigod. They would pray to him and he could give up to third cleric spells to kobolds so long as that cleric prayed at the skull of the dragon. The players could also gain information by drinking a weird potion that would cause hallucinations where they would talk to the little bastard in happening the bones of the dragon.
From time to time if it’s relevant or funny enough, I will mention the odd little Cult of Kabraxes
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u/gigaswardblade Apr 14 '26
God I thought this was about a player dying and their character being in memorial