How do you make an NPC stay dead?

[kreynolds]

Any ideas?

It depends on how vindictive your DM is. Like Spikey mentioned, Soul Bind works wonders.

Trap the Soul can also work, but if you're DM is really lame, he'll just use a Wish to free the soul. Trap the Soul doesn't include the same "wish/miracle won't work" disclaimer, and its also one spell level lower than Wish.

Last but not least, if all else fails, find a DM that doesn't use cheesy-as-heck justifications for raising a BBEG over and over and over. Eventually, nobody cares if you're dead, thus nobody cares to bring you back. Besides, if a BBEG has to be brought back to life three or four times, then it should be quite obvious to his allies that he's an incompetent fool and isn't worth wasting resources on. After all, he died four times already, so its more than likely that he'll just die again, thus fail again.

Also, you can use the reverse psychology tactic on your DM. More often than not, the reason a BBEG keeps coming back to life (more than once) is simply because one of his allies/henchmen just so happens to be a high level cleric. It might not even be a close ally. Perhaps you killed the cleric after the last resurrection, but when you kill the BBEG again, he amazingly comes back to life somehow. If your DM says something like "He's got allies all over the place, and someone heard he had died" when you confront him about it, do the following...

...Every time you meet a high level cleric NPC, get on his good side. Just be nice to him and befriend him. Now, when you die, just smile at your DM. When he asks what you're so happy about, just say "I'm waiting." When he asks what you're waiting for, just say "I've got allies all over the place, and someone will hear that I have died."

OK, so maybe that's a rarely applicable tactic. Basically, if you're having to deal with a "rapid-resurrected-BBEG", ask yourself how you feel about that element of the game. Don't ask yourself if it's fair. Ask yourself if you think its cheese. If you think it's cheese, tell your DM its cheese. If you don't have to worry about "rapid-resurrected-BBEG's", and you just want to make sure that you can keep some dude from being brought back to life, use Soul Bind. Short of godly intervention, its pretty much fool-proof.

 

[shurai]

I spose you could convert the dude to some warm, fuzzy religion that has a really wonderful heaven and then just wait for him to live out his life.

Seriously, maybe the best way to deal with him isn't killing him or even fighting him. Geas/Quest? What about insanity? If he's deluded enough he can't hurt anyone.

What if you somehow figured out a way to settle your differences?

But if the DM wants him to live and won't take no for an answer, he'll live and there's little you can do about it (aside from leave the game, anyway).

-S

 

[Sanackranib]

dead

it sounds like you beat him easily enough, the problem is he keeps comming back right. so i have 3 ideas for you. (the 2nd & 3rd are really evil)

1) kill him (again) and stuff him into a bag of devouring. no body makes bringing back the dead difficult

2) kill him and raise him (note I said "raise not res." this will cost a bit, (best to do it from scrolls) each time that you do so he will loose a level once you cannot raise him cast the following:

3) cast the level 2 priest spell "Grim Feast" he will be sucked dry and the empty husk cast aside (spell says he can't be brought back

if this doesn't make him stay dead then nothing will and you will just need to join the other side because the obviously really care about their guys.

 

[Xarlen]

Or, just stop going after the guy.

Seriously. Unless he's spesificly coming after you, go do something else. Have the party do a U-turn, and look for an adventure elsewhere. Or make some higher-powered allies, and stay around them. If the sucker attacks, then he pisses off your allies.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Re: dead

1) kill him (again) and stuff him into a bag of devouring. no body makes bringing back the dead difficult

Except for that pesky True Resurrection Spell...

2) kill him and raise him (note I said "raise not res." this will cost a bit, (best to do it from scrolls) each time that you do so he will loose a level once you cannot raise him cast the following:

Except that a soul knows who is trying to raise it, and can elect not to return for the 'wrong' people...

-Hyp.

 

[Sanackranib]

pesky soul

thats why I added the bit about grim feast!

 

[Sejs]

Kill him.

Then plane shift to your campaign's version of the afterlife, use Discern Location to find him, and then kill his soul before he can be placed back into his once-mortal coil



No ressurection for -you!-

 

[Xarlen]

Kill him.

Then plane shift to your campaign's version of the afterlife, use Discern Location to find him, and then kill his soul before he can be placed back into his once-mortal coil



No ressurection for -you!-

Or make some Planar allies in the area, and tell them to put a watch out for him, and Hold Him Down. Or split the party up, and have some of them waiting around for him.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Binding

Do you have access to the 8th level spell Binding?

If you do, prepare the binding by way of Minimus Containment, which is permanant. Since he is not dead, he may not be raised.

The problems here are the use of Dispel Magic, Anti-Magic Shells, and Wish type spells being used to free the NPC. To deal with that, you will need to hire 4 large leg breakers from the local organized crime types in your area to visit your DM and 4:00 am in the morning and explain to him that you do not appreciate the constant recycling of the villian.

Besides, any haveway smart DM would have been using Clones after the 2nd time you killed the NPC.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[ruleslawyer]

A few more ways:

1) Soul bind, then put the gem in a bag of holding. Then drop it into a portable hole. Unless your DM is completely ignoring the rules, no one comes back from that one.

2) The shatter soul spell from Relics & Rituals (assuming that the dead individual doesn't have someone able to fetch all of those little soul pieces).

3) Incapacitate the baddie, and then have a lavawight or shape of fire use its blazefire ability to drain the victim's hit points to -10. There's no known way of restoring the hp lost to blazefire, so the villain's out of luck.