Ashes to Ashes...

[STARP_JVP]

OK. Here's another one.
Memorable character deaths.

The most memorable character death that involved my character was probably the time my fighter/thief (2nd ed) died because she refused to go along with a geas spell to kidnap her friend. She didn't know it was a geas at first, but even after she found out she refused steadfastly to betray a friend, at the cost of her life.

But my all-time favourite is the death of a player character in my old campaign. The PCs were on an Africa-like continent trying to get home, and at one point, and I don't remember why, the cleric wandered off on his own. I rolled a random encounter and then announced that there was a very large noise moving rapidly towards the cleric. Rather than, you know, RUNNING, the cleric stood his ground and was confronted by a stampeding elephant. The character decided to fight it. He did not succeed. I have a vague recollection that the cleric was hunting, which makes me wonder why a CLERIC would hunt and why he would hunt ELEPHANTS! Nevertheless, it was certainly a memorable death, and the "Tale of the Irate Pachyderm" is still told in STARP as a warning to those who would tempt fate.

 

[Raloc]

We're currently finishing up a 3-4 year campaign that I play in, and that means it's showdown time with all the major baddies. One such was a massive battle against the half-dragon (black) grandson of our main enemy (who is a black dragon). Our army moved in, and the PCs were part of a "strike team" to kill the general (the half-dragon). With him, there was a mage and a cleric (Velsharoonite, who my character had personally almost killed about a dozen times, including one time where he blinded my character, who then proceeded to shoot and hit him with arrows from 600ft (got a few crits) before he left). My character went right up to the cleric, nearly killed him, then saved vs. death (Destroy? Something like that, can't recall the name, but can only be brought back by True Res) by *one*, then nearly killed him again (98 damage for the round by my char (level 14)), before he was taken out by our mage (with a Distintegrate) at which point my character was killed by the half-dragon (who had a sword of Wounding). Afterwards, I claimed the half-dragon's sword as my own (was a greatsword, I'd been using a +1 Flaming greatsword, this was a +2 greatsword of Wounding) and we set out to go finish off the rest of the enemy army (we routed the army after my char died). As we were setting up to leave, we were approached by a messenger. He claimed he was from the Second Company Light Cavalry, and my character was the only one to realize that Second Company was *heavy* cavalry, at which point my char attacked the messenger outright. The mage cast Dispel on him and he returned to his original form, i.e. a Huge black dragon (the father of the half-dragon that I killed, and was incidentally attacking with his son's own sword :O). Needless to say, three level 14 chars vs. a 16 HD dragon left us all nearly dead.

 

[Shemeska]

I had a PC whose player was moving cross country, and he decided to go out with a bang, having his PC offer themselves to die willingly at the hands of a seriously powerful fiend in exchange for sparing the lives of the other PCs. She cackled and hurled a power word kill at him, too arrogant to bother to check his spell protections. He had a death ward, and so her cackling got cut short when the spell failed. She screamed and tossed a disintigrate... which another PC counterspelled back at her. The bounced back disintigrate didn't break her SR, but it did piss her off to the point of incoherency, and made her toss a meteor swarm, which did end up killing that one PC, but it gave the others a chance to react and they managed to end up (temporarily) killing her.

 

[demiurge1138]

Pity the poor half-orc barbarian. Led into a trap by a supposed "ally", the party found themselves at the top of a tower with a very hungry troll on the balcony with them. Troll bull's rushes the barbarian, who barely manages to survive the hundred foot fall... but doesn't survive having 600 pounds of troll landing on top of him.

Demiurge out.

 

[ThirdWizard]

There's a player in my game who has never survived a combat with an owlbear. The best one was when he was a druid and, trying to escape when at low hp after trying to kill the beast alone, turned into a bird to fly away. The owlbear got him on an AoO and killed him the next round (chewing him up). It's funny because he even told his animal companion to stay back thinking he could handle it alone. The next best owl-bear induced death was when his rogue decided to Sneak Attack it after my fighter has whiffed at it for several rounds. The owlbear turned on him and grappled him to death as I continued to whiff. The round after the rogue died, the owlbear went down...

A great one was against a barghest. We had no idea what we were fighting (some kind of strange goblin), and the rogue was acting funny. So, my character called for a strategic withdrawl (read "Run for your lives!"). Not realizing (in character) that he was charmed, we all left him there to die... and his soul was devoured.

But, the best death of all time was a 2E game with a PC controlled by the same player as the owlbear incidents. I was padding the session by adding a pickpocket/chase the thieving kids thing in, and the PCs complied by chasing the two 15 year olds into a dark alleyway. When the PCs made it clear that they weren't going to escape, the youths pulled out their daggers, one duel wielding them. One round and two natural 20s later, the PC was laying in a pool of his own blood, dead. He still hasn't lived that one down.

 

[Sanackranib]

Pity the poor half-orc barbarian. Led into a trap by a supposed "ally", the party found themselves at the top of a tower with a very hungry troll on the balcony with them. Troll bull's rushes the barbarian, who barely manages to survive the hundred foot fall... but doesn't survive having 600 pounds of troll landing on top of him.

Demiurge out.

its not the fall that kills you . . . its the abrupt stop at the botom

 

[Staffan]

My first 3e character was a wizard. He and his friends had been trapped in an elemental-themed dungeon, where we had to get through four different rooms, each based on an element.

Anyway, we enter the Water room. We get attacked by a pretty big water elemental. My wizard character had hasted himself, and keeps retreating and throwing spells at the elemental, until he gets out of the room and adjoining corridor, returning to the central room of the dungeon, thinking himself safe.

Much to his surprise and chagrin, the elemental leaves its room, enters the room he's in, and proceeds to smack him until all that's left of my poor wizard is a smear on the wall.

 

[Lord Wyrm]

One of my players was running a Lawful Good Rogue, he gets pickpocketed. Now in my mind any LG person would probably at the most chase after the pickpocket, which I fully expected with this player. Instead of chasing the pickpocket he walks into an alley, stabs someone, and loots the corpse. He didn't check for witnesses however and the guards were promptly summoned. Now the guards do the typical "stop or I'll shoot" with their crossbows and the PC...

runs. So the guards take full advantage of the "Fleeing Felon Law" and shoot him, alot. His warforged friend runs over to save him and the guards shoot the warforged after he picks up the Rogue, the warforged goes down landing on his friend. The guards can't roll the warforged off the rogue in order to heal him and the rogue bleeds out.

This was this player's first death and only his second session, but its something he's never going to live down.

 

[StupidSmurf]

How's about a "Stupid Death Due to DM Incompetence?"

I was part of a campaign back in 1979, playing AD&D. I had rolled up a Paladin, and we're talking here about rolling 3d6 six times, in attribute order, no re-rolls. I was actually the first "natural rolled" Paladin in the campaign ever. For the icing on the cake, the random determination of psionic ability turned up "positive", so Alaric Greytower actually had some psionic abilities. Nothing major, but useful in a pinch.

The DM had placed a Holy Avenger named Slasher in the campaign, and eventually I got it. Bad news? It had a high ego and it controlled Alaric. However, since the sword's whole reason for being was to slay evil and that was Alaric's mission, there was really no conflict. So far, so good.

So...we go through this one dungeon, down a corridor, and find a chest. Our elven thief checks for traps, picks lock, etc. Finds a sword. She picks it up. The DM quietly informs her that she's been taken over by it, and is now Chaotic Evil. Oh, yeah, and it's the Sword of Kas.

That's right. Sword of Kas. In a chest. In a hall. No guards.

We have no way to know it's the Sword of Kas, but the DM informs us anyway. We have no way to know that our thief is now Chaotic Evil, but the DM informs us anyway. So, armed with the information that our thief is now a bit shady, we begin to move on, keeping a wary eye on her.

Then this one hosehead smarmy player pops up and says "Hey! Alaric's controlled by his enthusiastic evil-slaying Holy Avenger! Shouldn't the sword be pissed about the Thief and go after her?"

The DM gets this fanatical gleam in his eyes and says "You're right! Roll for initiative! Slasher's dragging Alaric into a fight!"

Initiative is rolled. I lose. She hits. The DM announces that the sword's activating one of its powers.

Disintegration. Make a save.

Nope. Failed.

Alaric is now a fine gray powder. And since it was done by an artifact, it's permanent. No wishes, no acts of the gods, no Alter Reality, nothing can bring him back.

It was the only time that I actually threw something in anger at a D&D game.