A fellow DM need advice (my players, keep out!)

[nopantsyet]

Question is, would you have let the PC die had the dice rolled otherwise? I think you should give the PC 1 XP shy of two levels, then smack the living crap out of him when others seek retribution. Don't shortchange the player's reward unless you would have circumvented the PC's fate.

However, this sudden escalation should be more than the PC is ready for. There will be power groups in contention for his alliance or his death. Some will be willing to harbor him in exchange for his services. Others will want to enlist him against his will. Others will want to kill him outright. Others will want to make him suffer.

Instead of being the big fish in the little pond, he just moved to a bigger pond. Even at sixth level, this is sure to provide him with adequate challenge.

So give him the full reward. The mitigation for that reward is the unending hell that will be the consequences of that action. It may also lead the PC in a direction that is ultimately not compatible with the campaign, which is always a risk with this type of character.

 

[Turanil]

Give the soloist all the XP he lucked into, which will leave him 1 XP short of gaining two levels. Give him all the junk the NPC was carrying. But then have the NPCs friends estimate him as at least two levels tougher than their late friend, load for bear, and come for vengeance.

Unfortunately this almost certainly means that a player is about to lose a favourite character. That is sad but...

The DM must be impartial. There must be some outcome of killing people for their gear and because they are upset. The player wants to play an evil guy and an assassin. LET HIM COPE WITH THE LOGICAL CONSEQUENCES! Frankly I would not bother about it. Players choose Assassin because of the special "mystique" of the class, and moreso because of the "cool" powers that enable you to kill a 15th level character at 4th level (where this class comes from? It's not the 3.5 prestige assassin I guess). I would have him pursued and killed and that's all. NOW if the player is clever and thinking, his character would leave town and never come back, making sure leaving no tracks behind. If he doesn't do this but act as if everything was normal, he DESERVES being killed.