Perhaps I shouldn’t have told the DM that a heroic death would be welcome.

In the season finale of Bloodlines of Fate, we defeated a harbinger of a deposed Death God, who had taken the form of a frost dragon. But my Changleing Bravelord didn’t survive the encounter.

Honestly, he deserved to die. As a player, I did the least amount of prep ever. When the last session ended in October, I dutifully leveled up my character and picked (I think) all the right changes to advance the build, largely stolen from lordduskblade’s Dragonborn Nova Bravelord build. But then I didn’t look at it until at the table Saturday night. I kept firing my signature at-will when I had no adjacent support. I was reduced to zero hit points, when I shouldn’t have been because I ignored the 4 temp HP I had given myself two rounds earlier. In short, I was a mess and a manace to my party. I hope they’re not pissed at me.

Adding unluck to haplessness, I also rolled miserably all night. When the dragon’s claw raked me into the chasm above which we fought, I had a 55% chance of Saving vs Falling, and was completely unsurprised when I rolled a 7. Thankfully, the rest of the part survived and defeated the big bad to close the night and this season of BLoF. (After a hiatus, we’re shelving this for a time to start a new Dark Sun campaign).

I’ve had some time to reflect on Phlox’s death. Some things surprised me.

• I have alt-itis. I like to create and use new characters, at the expense of my main. So in theory I should be glad to set aside this warlord. But it hurt to die. It hurt to have my shiny new Daily Party Heal power unspent. It sucked to watch everyone keep playing. I really don’t care about dying, but I hated leaving my party a man short and 20% more likely to die.
• The Bravelord was the wrong choice. I think I’m okay at tactical planning, but the build is just too risk-reward for an inexperienced player like me. I’m the Leader. I shouldn’t be so close to death all the time.
• The pressure of being the Leader is no fun. I really like the Party Face part of being a leader. I get into speaking parts. But the keeping-everyone-alive part is tough. I’m ready for a change. Looks like I’ll be a Defender in Dark Sun. Hopefully that’s not as bad.
• Sorta sorry to see phlox go. As a character, he wasn’t as interesting as his alter ego, Eolian the Half-Elf Bard. Perhaps I should have stuck with that a while. I’ll admit that dying will cause second guessing on the player’s part. The previous two sessions were glorious. Risk-reward again.

The plan is to go back to the BLoF campaign eventually. If/when that happens, I’ll need a chracter. The players at the table quickly calculated they had enough cash to buy a resurrection, but I’m a big fan of death meaning something. (Plus, I have alt-itis). But Chuck suggested I might be reborn as a Revenent, like him. Hmmm. A Revenant Changeling Warlord in the service of the Raven Queen. I’ll admit: that sounds cool.