This question isn't about killing my PC' in a combat by accident but about when a PC does something that results in their deaths.

I'm quite reluctant to kill off my PC' because, after all they've taken the time to write them up and my players are the type who like to nurture a character, however in the last couple of sessions my PC' have done questionable things that I feel I was too soft on.

They are currently on a frontier world staying in a mining town, long story short, my groups psyker attempted to dominate the towns sheriff into freeing the groups assassin. The assassin had lost at cards and discovered that his opponent had fleeced him, he followed him out of the tavern then killed him in the street, right outside the sheriff’s office. The psyker who was watching the altercation from his room at the tavern attempted to dominate the sheriff.

The town however isn't as backwards and the PC' and is secretly a front for another Inquisitor plans (however they must maintain the deception irrespective of the PC'), therefore, the sheriff had a device that not only blocked the psychic but revealed the psyker position. The sheriff then arrested the psyker as an accomplice. In hindsight however, I feel the sheriff should have executed the psyker for the attack on the sheriff, I feel like I should have but didn't partly to appease my the person playing the psyker.

What would you have done other GM'? Would you have killed the PC off and told them they should have thought of the consequences or let them get away with it?

Well, every action has its own reaction and the players must learn that they cant slaughter their way and that they have to live with the consequences.

But as the GM I would never "script" an akolyths death. In your situation I would send the murderer and the psycher to a court where they have a chance to free their men or bring them out on bail money if they pass several social tests and deliver good roleplay. If they fail here I would send them to jail where the gorup can free its members with force or wait till the next day where they are send to the gallow. Here they can plan an ambush on the sherif when he brings the prisinors the the gallow or they can free them at the gallow (Shoot the rope or whatsoever.)

Atleast give them several posibilities to free their men, both social and combat, and if they fail, they have failed. Its that simple. You can love your character as much as you want, but if hes an idiot there will not always be someone to save his ass. And the Inquisition has no need for Idiots.

You did the right thing Maverick91. Killing off PC's should be a cinematic and tragic event that involves great sacrifice and courage (unless your playing BC, then maybe just sacrifice . To me, since Psykers are uncommon/rare individuals, the Sheriff did the right thing because dead men tale no tales. I'm sure the Inquisitor who runs that place would really want to know why a trained assassin/killer and a sanctioned psyker are in his small town.

Now, obviously you do need to mislead the PC's. If you are playing up the charade that the place is a small frontier society, then having a psyker in their midst would probably cause a rabble of townspeople to form wanting to hang/burn/lynch the poor sap. And maybe it is only the sheriffs intervention that saves him from this, only to be gruesomely interrogated by him later. With the rest of the PC's rescuing him at near death in the end. Just one idea I have out of many, but I'm sure you have ideas planned already too.

Killing off a PC because he does something really really stupid is likely to occur with new players (and experienced bored ones too) sooner or later. But hey, that's what fate points are for in DH. Now I'm not saying kill them for every silly/slow/out-of-this world crazy @R$ action they commit, but if it's 100% justifiable and the outcome would completely result in the PC's untimely death, through fault of their own actions, then let it be so.

For some examples of heroic PC deaths, go here

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp

Esdras has a very good example of courageous sacrificial cinematic death. I posted a few but they were no where near as good as his, IMO.

Hmmmmm… Yes, as a GM we need to make sure that people aren't getting out of hand but given the circumstances I don't see that they did anything that stupid. Look, on a frontier world killing a man for stealing isn't the sort of crime you might imagine. It's natural to get the ol' sheriff involved here and if I were that psyker, I would try to dominate the misguided local as well. The cell is simply too important to be slowed down by that kind of BS. It's a bit… I'll say it… Unfair to have some local sheriff be in possession of something so intensely potent as a psy-dampener and/or tracker. That's a serious piece of kit, whether he's sponsored by the Inquis or not. I'm not one to knock on your game, but ask yourself how your players could have even potentially discovered any of this, and what the context would be if there wasn't a super-secret plot going on. In most contexts, their behavior is in keeping with a bunch of self-entitled bastards who consider themselves to be above the law because of the organization they're involved with. If I were a player, I would be pretty frustrated by this to be honest. If they knew there would be another cell possibly at play, they may be more careful about using their psychic powers and all that, but… You know what I mean? I just don't think it's that stupid, and I absolutely don't think they should be killed for their stupidity because it wasn't that stupid. I have absolutely punished players for doing things that were patently stupid (in an RT game, a character went shopping while the ship was in port, even though they knew there was a powerful enemy going after them and the captain EXPLICITLY ordered them to stay on the ship. He got merced by an assassin that was built to take on the entire party) but I don't think your situation qualifies. This is the kind of crap that a cell would get up to if left to their devices in a little frontier post, in my opinion, and it sounds like they were having fun with the setting in the first place.