Taking Death Like a Hero

A lot of really awesome things are possible in a game of DnD. Unfortunately, a lot of not so awesome things are also possible. Among those not so awesome things is the always looming threat of character death. It is a lot more difficult to be outright killed in fourth edition (and it becomes progressively less of a threat as you level), it can still happen. Its happened to me twice, in fact. If you want to be a good player, you need to be prepared to lose a character and not throw a fit over it.

Puck Quickblade (Revenant Gnome Rogue)
Puck was an undead Gnome with an unhealthy love of stabbing enemies repeatedly. I suppose he technically died twice, but the first time was planned. A teammate discovered Puck had been hired to kill him and reacted by pushing him off the flying ship the party was using to travel. Puck returned in the next town, now significantly more undead than before.

Puck's real death came at the end of the encounter. We were fighting an Eladrin mage (who was actually a re-skinned beholder, but details) and Puck had taken a few hits. This meant he was bloodied when he took a death ray to the face. No big deal though, three chances to throw off the effect before you die. First turn came and went and Puck failed his throw. The mage attempted to run, but Puck unleased another deadly attack on his second turn before failing another save. On the third turn, the mage had flown to an adjacent platform. Puck, unphased, made a flying leap at her, critically hit (granting him a barrage of attacks) and then failed his last saving throw and died.

Kriv Medresh (Dragonborn Cleric)

More recently, I was playing a foul-mouthed dragonborn named Kriv Medresh. Living in a world completely overrun by undead, Kriv's focus on radiant damage had the potential to be absolutely disgusting. He hated undead and made to attempt to spare any of them (including a Revenant party member who had the misfortune of constantly being in his Turn Undead).

Kriv's demise came as a shock to all of us (including the DM). We were in what we thought was an easy encounter (eliminating a pair of vampires who had been chasing us), when the DM discovered that one of them was able to force its enemies to attack their allies at will. Suddenly, everyone was turning on the source of radiant damage and heals. Kriv went down, but rolled a 20 on his saving throw the next turn, allowing him to spend a healing surge. He might have survived if not for the fact that we had a barbarian in the party. A barbarian who crit. The resulting attacks liberated Kriv of his hit points and his head.

And so they died...
Once your character has joined the ranks of the dearly departed, what is there for you as a player to do? Here are a few handy tips:

Keep it in Perspective: Remember, you lost a fictional character to a fictional death. Sure, it sucks that all that work is in the crapper, but its not like you lost a friend, family member, or even pet. An hour or so in the character builder will get you right back into the game.

You Only Have to Change what You Want: If you really liked your character, there's nothing stopping an identical character (with the same name, even) from showing up the next time the group gets a breather. It could be a random new guy or it could be a family member (Edward Coolguy the 37th).

Look on the Bright Side: Now that your character is dead, its a great time to try something new. You can build a character that is a class or race that you've never used before. You can test out a concept that you thought of/stole.

Roleplay the Hell Out of it: Your new character can also have a connection to your old one. Beyond being just a friend or family member to the original, they can also swear an oath to avenge their death. Or maybe they really hated the late bastard and are determined to get them back... even if it means chasing their departed soul into the underworld.