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Climactic Sacrifice of PCs
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5454447" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I think your suggested answer is one way to go. Another thing that can help is that the purpose of the sacrifice is something not just that the PC cares about, but something that the <em>player</em> cares about - which tends to require some build up over the course of previous play.</p><p></p><p>You can also get much the same result if the player decides to sacrifice his/her PC before then discovering the alternative - at that point your player gets the satisfaction of having formed the heroic resolve, while also getting the satisfaction of not losing the PC.</p><p></p><p>An example from one of my campaigns: Over the course of many levels the PCs had had recurring encounters with the echo of a dead god, and also entered into the service of the dead's god still living brother. They had discovered that the dead god existed in at least three forms: (i) the echoes they kept meeting; (ii) a large physical body turned to stone and standing almost completely covered in water (if you know the Freeport trilogy, this was the island on which the lighthouse was being built); (iii) a living form trapped in the void locked in timeless combat with an evil otherworldly being. (A dead god can be a metaphysically complex being - I took some of this stuff from Requiem for a God.)</p><p></p><p>They also learned that it was in combat with the otherworldly being that the god had died, and that his eternal combat in the timeless plain was helping keep that being imprisoned and unable to ravage the world. This was part of a larger arrangement between the gods and the hells to keep the world safe - and the PCs regarded it as an unjust arrangement, because of the way it left the dead god suffering for all eternity.</p><p></p><p>Over the time that the PCs collected this information, they also discovered that the otherworldly being was beginning to escape its prison, and were taking the steps to keep it imprisoned. At the climax they used a gate spell to summon the living form of the dead god out of the void, in order to help them retrap the otherwordly being in its prison. They then had to decide who would go back into the void in order to maintain the eternal struggle there. The paladin PC - who had become the closest to the dead god over these various events - decided that he would take the dead god's place, because the dead god had suffered enough, and now had a chance to return to life again.</p><p></p><p>In the end, though, they discovered that a powerful artefact that had been made by a banished god who had been the dead god's closest ally (this was the Soul Totem from Bastion of Souls), and that the king of hell was using to reimprison the otherworldly being, could also be used to make a spiritual duplicate of the paladin, who could go into the void and take the dead god's place. So they tricked the king of hell into doing this (before then imprisoning him along with the otherworldy being), and the paladin PC himself was able to retire to the monastery he had founded, and which was dedicated to the worship of the (now no longer) dead god.</p><p></p><p>This climax to the campaign wouldn't have worked except for the three things I mentioned above: (i) the players, as well as their PCs, were highly invested, as far as the course of action culminating in sacrifice was concerned; (ii) the player <em>really did decide</em> to sacrifice his PC; (iii) the alternative only came to light <em>after</em> this decision had been made; (iv) the player was able to take the alternative without feeling that he'd compromised his values or his PC.</p><p></p><p>This was a very satisfying end to the campaign.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5454447, member: 42582"] I think your suggested answer is one way to go. Another thing that can help is that the purpose of the sacrifice is something not just that the PC cares about, but something that the [I]player[/I] cares about - which tends to require some build up over the course of previous play. You can also get much the same result if the player decides to sacrifice his/her PC before then discovering the alternative - at that point your player gets the satisfaction of having formed the heroic resolve, while also getting the satisfaction of not losing the PC. An example from one of my campaigns: Over the course of many levels the PCs had had recurring encounters with the echo of a dead god, and also entered into the service of the dead's god still living brother. They had discovered that the dead god existed in at least three forms: (i) the echoes they kept meeting; (ii) a large physical body turned to stone and standing almost completely covered in water (if you know the Freeport trilogy, this was the island on which the lighthouse was being built); (iii) a living form trapped in the void locked in timeless combat with an evil otherworldly being. (A dead god can be a metaphysically complex being - I took some of this stuff from Requiem for a God.) They also learned that it was in combat with the otherworldly being that the god had died, and that his eternal combat in the timeless plain was helping keep that being imprisoned and unable to ravage the world. This was part of a larger arrangement between the gods and the hells to keep the world safe - and the PCs regarded it as an unjust arrangement, because of the way it left the dead god suffering for all eternity. Over the time that the PCs collected this information, they also discovered that the otherworldly being was beginning to escape its prison, and were taking the steps to keep it imprisoned. At the climax they used a gate spell to summon the living form of the dead god out of the void, in order to help them retrap the otherwordly being in its prison. They then had to decide who would go back into the void in order to maintain the eternal struggle there. The paladin PC - who had become the closest to the dead god over these various events - decided that he would take the dead god's place, because the dead god had suffered enough, and now had a chance to return to life again. In the end, though, they discovered that a powerful artefact that had been made by a banished god who had been the dead god's closest ally (this was the Soul Totem from Bastion of Souls), and that the king of hell was using to reimprison the otherworldly being, could also be used to make a spiritual duplicate of the paladin, who could go into the void and take the dead god's place. So they tricked the king of hell into doing this (before then imprisoning him along with the otherworldy being), and the paladin PC himself was able to retire to the monastery he had founded, and which was dedicated to the worship of the (now no longer) dead god. This climax to the campaign wouldn't have worked except for the three things I mentioned above: (i) the players, as well as their PCs, were highly invested, as far as the course of action culminating in sacrifice was concerned; (ii) the player [I]really did decide[/I] to sacrifice his PC; (iii) the alternative only came to light [I]after[/I] this decision had been made; (iv) the player was able to take the alternative without feeling that he'd compromised his values or his PC. This was a very satisfying end to the campaign. [/QUOTE]
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