A murder dilemma

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I don`t know why anyone should raise the bard? He is an assassin/bounty hunter, right? Inform his family, if they have the money, they can raise him.

I don`t know about the prison, but I wonder if there is safe way to get an 11th level character into prison. But assume there is - make it an adventure.
Another dark criminal figure is in the prison, and his men are going to free him. And the Monk just happents to be next to him (probably both must be in the same high security tract)
The idea with a raised bard plotting the murder of the monk might also lead to a nice story...
A further alternative is the endangerment of the city in question - "quick, we need some heroes, but we don`t want to pay to much" - send the Monk and tell him he is free if he does the job...

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[I'm A Banana]

Best ideas I've heard

- excile instead of inprisonment, under the mandate of a current Harper/party member
- imprisonment, but turn the prison into an adventure (bard tries to kill off the monk in prison, etc.)

Also, think about those big events in the monk's future...how will people react if the monk's not around? Perhaps these events can come back to the prison in an unwanted way?

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I think Pielorinho's idea could be a good one. Hold the fighter responsible for the fine. Whether this is a good idea depends on how the fighter's player would take that?

Just paying the raising costs does seem quite lenient, unless the bard is considered guilty of something already. If it does get paid, then possibly add the condition that the monk can't bear arms (or arm bears!) in their territory... wouldn't be quite as crippling for the monk as some other types of PCs and could lead to some fun arguments.

Another idea - depending on how unpleasant your Harpers are. Have them spring the monk on his way/in the prison... Make it really destructive - not necessarily in terms of life, perhaps just an awful lot of property. Give the people who locked him up the motivation to chase down. Give him a hand with a disguise of some sort that will let him wander unhindered.

Then they can blackmail him into working for them. If they feel he normally wouldn't, then they could see this as a golden opportunity. Perhaps they grab a few locks of his hair/etc, just to scry him later.

A final thought - is it possible the player wants to change characters and saw this as a way of going about doing it?

 

[Whimsical]

Have him be charged guilty with a life sentance. Then the government approaches him with a deal. They need a accomplished person like him to do something specific for them. They won't pay him like normal, but this is a way for him to work for his freedom.

Of course, there is an opportunity for adventure in prison for the bard, as he discovers some new adventure hooks in there. An unjustly imprisoned person who was put there for political reasons. An old prisoner who has some key information about a problem that the party had to deal with, but was unable to fix. A discovery about something that the PC thought was true is a lie. Opportunities to discover new contacts, information, gain favors, and get a different perspective of how the society of the city works. Of course this is all after he takes out the prison's "welcoming committee."

One of my house rules is that if a player has a character exit the game for good roleplaying reasons, I let him make a new character with the XP of the old one.