Heroic PC death

[theshard]

I started running my first 4e adventure a few weeks ago. It is an Eberron campaign and everything seems to be going well.

Then the other day one of my players expresses that he is not happy with his character (dragonborn warlord). At first, I thought he was going to give it a few levels but suddenly he shifted gears and decided to roll a elven ranger.

I have no problems with this and I already have a good hook to bring the new character. What I am having a difficult time with is deciding how the old PC should go out. As a DM and player, I am all about the heroic death scenes. I had previously planned an encounter (the pc's are in the mountains) with some shadowbats(? i think) and a rope bridge to up the challenge. The pc's would never be in danger of death due to falling off the bridge but it sure was going to increase the difficlutly of the fight.

Now, I am considering how to kill the warlord, in a heroic manner, within the rules so that it does not appear forced and without resorting to DM narrative. Obviously, I can fudge die rolls where needed, but I can't figure a way to have the player save someone else while sacrificing himself and make it all seem like it wasn't in the plan.

Has anyone else encountered this? How did you go about it?

 

[Mort_Q]

For a Hollywood heroic death, the PC would need to choose death. I.E. Sacrifice himself to save the party. Spock in ST:WoK won't work, but Gandalf (even though he cheated) on the Bridge.... works well.

Add in something to the shadowbat encounter that just can't be allowed to cross the bridge.... he could hold it off while the rest of the party crosses and cuts the ropes...

That sounds a little forced... I know... but it is a good death.

 

[fba827]

If you can't find a non-forced way to have a heroci death, then don't. simply, instead, come up with a reason why the former-pc needs to leave. perhaps on his own, or go back home, or to take care of 'the political end' of what they're doing, etc.

in fact, the above is probably what i'd do and then i'd have him killed "off screen" several sessions later (such as 'the bad guy caught up with him since he was in town and made an example of him).. but that's just me.

else, something like the pcs are being chased by a major bad guy that is obviously above their capabilities. they make it to the bridge and the dragonborn pc says he'll hold the bad guy so they have time to cross. as they cross, the dragonborn pc breaths his dragonbreath on his side of the bridge, breaking the ropes so that the bad guy can't follow and the bridge collapses if anyone tries to cross.

but, yeah, you'll defintaly need to introcude some 'bigger' threat beyond the pcs current capabilities and then have a narrative as to how the dragonborn pc can hold it off (jumping on its back/bull rushing it off a cliff, causing them both to fall over the edge, etc)

 

[theshard]

If you can't find a non-forced way to have a heroci death, then don't. simply, instead, come up with a reason why the former-pc needs to leave. perhaps on his own, or go back home, or to take care of 'the political end' of what they're doing, etc.

His character would not willingly abandon his companions.

else, something like the pcs are being chased by a major bad guy that is obviously above their capabilities. they make it to the bridge and the dragonborn pc says he'll hold the bad guy so they have time to cross. as they cross, the dragonborn pc breaths his dragonbreath on his side of the bridge, breaking the ropes so that the bad guy can't follow and the bridge collapses if anyone tries to cross.

but, yeah, you'll definitely need to introduce some 'bigger' threat beyond the pcs current capabilities and then have a narrative as to how the dragonborn pc can hold it off (jumping on its back/bull rushing it off a cliff, causing them both to fall over the edge, etc)

I like the breath weapon on the bridge. I had considered a BBEG and not sure why I did not think of it this way. Maybe just distracted at work and what-not.

 

[Kordeth]

Perhaps an obvious question, but... you have made sure the player knows you're setting up a heroic death for him and expect a noble sacrifice, right? Because otherwise "noble last stand while his allies escape" can quickly turn into "TPK as the party refuses to abandon their friend."

 

[Regicide]

His character would not willingly abandon his companions.

If that's the case then make him come up with something. His character, his ending.

 

[Nytmare]

Is there a reason why this has to be a on screen spectacle and a surprise to the rest of the group?

In my experience, when players get to the end of a combat only to find that they've stumbled into a scripted scene that they've had (and will have) no control over, things kinda fall flat.

If I found myself in this situation I'd probably sit down with the group and handle his exit as a collaborative bit of storytelling instead of 10 rounds of mock-mock-combat.

 

[Larrin]

If you've never seen a television show where they had to write out a character, then you haven't seen nothing...

method 1: Promotion! he's now king of dragonland. Bureaucrats drag him off kicking and screaming. His NPC form shows up now and then to make encounters seem special.

Method 2: He fell is love and got married! Offscreen! He moved away,with his love and, completely against character, left the party in the lurch.

method 3: Reincarnation! he contracts "old" and dies, but comes back as an elven ranger.

method 4: He dies off screen! Its completely bogus and no one ever mentions him again.

method 5: He suddenly becomes a minion! Big bad evil guy kills him with one hit (arrow/spine/spear/fireball through the body/head is a popular one), just to scare the crap out of the party, or make them feel sad. have a skill challenge to deal with their feelings, success meaning they never have to remember him again, unless convenient.

Method 6: He ascends to a higher plane of existence! Not to be confused with promotion. He becomes and angel and promises to watch over the party, and pretty much doesn't do anything ever again because that would be 'interfering'.

Method 7: Goes down with the ship! or with the bridge...already mentioned.

Method 8: He betrays the team! for an entirely unbelievable reason he either was evil all along, or was forced by/confused by/asked in passing by evil to be a traitor. He must either die or go to jail and wear mittens.

ahhh television, you handle actors wanting out so gracefully.....

 

[N0Man]

There are countless possibilities to write him off, even without death:

• He gets a disease and has to be left behind to be tended back to health. Maybe some mysterious dragonborn disease.
• He has to go back to attend to some emergency back home, to help a friend, loved one, or family member.
• He has a religious experience and now believes he has to go wander the earth.
• He goes off to summer camp, and comes back at the end of the summer played by a completely different actor of a completely different age, in this case an elf. (It works on soap operas)
• He gets separated from the party, takes a blow to the head and develops amnesia.
• He's separated from the party, captured by slave traders, and the party doesn't know what happened to him.

Death is only one option, and I'd hesitate to just sacrifice the character to make room for another. What if he decides he might want to bring him back one day, even if for a one-shot?

 

[Flipguarder]

SKILL CHALLENGE

For instance (buffy season 6 spoiler alert):


End of buffy season 6:

Athletics check to get to the top of the tower in time.
Acrobatics check to avoid Glory
Bluff check to tell Dawn everythings going to be alright
Diplomacy check to convince Dawn that you have to sacrifice yourself
Arcana check to close the portal thingy to all that nastiness

BUT Buffy has a 8 in wisdom, arcana untrained, and generally rolls terribly on arcana checks. But she gets a +20 conditional bonus to her roll since she sacrifices herself in the process.