It's important to know why this person died. Why?

[DonAdam]

You could make the mode of death important to a culture or religion, such as:
-It is a great insult, worthy of retribution, to use a certain poison on a nobleman; the particular poison has some cultural significance because of history or mythology and is considered particularly degrading.
-If you die with your back to the enemy, you cannot enter Valhalla.

Ultimately, though, having particular modes of death-dealing be associated with various suspects seems like the most obvious choice.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Another important reason: It gives the bad guy something to throw into the parties face when they meet up with him. "I will gut you like your worthless henchman, hearing you squeal as I pluck out your eyes!"

 

[Steverooo]

The Mysterious Murder of the Silver Mage:

I have run a Whodunnit Murder-Mystery campaign, before... I my case, the Silver Mage gave his apprentice the day off, telling him that one of his dozen-or-so trading partners was coming in, and he would spend the day entertaining...

Although no one came in through the gates, the apprentice later heard sounds of combat through the door, and broke it down with a table (as it was Arcane Locked), to discover the Silver Mage and his Pseudo-Dragon Familiar dead. Now, obviously, one of the Mage's trading partners was the suspect, but which one?

Two of them (both Lawful Good) were on the way to see him, and arrive shortly thereafter. The Council of Magi summons the most powerful adventurers available to investigate, and transports them in. The campaign then centers on the search for clues, and justice.

Unfortunately, none of the groups that I have run through it have ever solved the mystery! :-( Aw well... the murdere(r/ss) got away!

More reasons why knowing how/why might be important:

Something is missing.
The dead NPC was the only source of information on...
The dead NPC was the only one in the local vicinity who could Raise Dead!
The dead NPC was killed in a manner similar to how many peasants in a nearby area died.
The NPC died in the Palace! What's wrong with security?!?
The means of death were most gruesome and disturbing... What could have caused this?
An insane propher foretold this death, in exacting detail, and it presages...
It's a family curse, and his son wants it broken!
Etc., etc., ad nauseum.

 

[blargney the second]

Ignore this post.. it'll teach me to open 30-odd tabs of interesting threads, then forget to refresh before I reply.

How about a high level druid with timeless body that dies of old age? That's about as traceless as you can get...

-blarg

 

[Mr. Kaze]

I think that the description is going to be more important than the precise scientific explanation.

IMC, I had a whole lot of folks wiped out in quick succession by negative levels. The description of the area was that it was "Distressingly quiet -- these corpses are so dead that even the flies aren't interested in buzzing around them. The air is deathly stale, but without scent of decay." Investigation of a body that had landed on a potion belt revealed that the victim was dead and unscratched before he hit the ground. The players weren't sure whether to creep through that area or just run for their lives.

I was using a pair of custom creatures (based on the twins from Matrix: Reloaded) to do this bit of dirty work, but a conventional succubus -- as has been mentioned -- would also do nicely in an SRD sort of place.

The body would have to be investigated because it's not decaying. Bodies are supposed to smell bad and stuff, but this one doesn't -- and nobody's quite sure when the deceased became that way...

Alternately, you could have a Master of the Unseen Hand drop somebody (merfolk?) from a great height on the top of a hill with no trees or anything around such that they die from massive impact damage but no commoner can figure out where they fell from in the middle of nowhere.

The unfortunate NPC could be a local noble's favorite tailor, targeted as part of a feud between noble (or ignoble) houses.

That's my 2 coppers.
::Kaze

 

[2WS-Steve]

A very simple reason they might need to know cause of death is that the victim might be suffering from symptoms of a virulent disease, and the authorities need to know if he actually was infected, and thus have to quarantine or whatever. (er, been watching a little Deadwood lately...)

For added juice the symptoms could be of a demonic, magical, or psionic disease.

Alternately, the victim had some political or economic importance. If he was murdered then there will be revolution, gang war, or noble vendettas in the offing--and all of these best resolved by quickly finding those responsible. Better for everyone involved though if the guy died of natural causes, or the players agreed to *say* it was natural causes then go about exacting justice on the sly.

 

[Psion]

For added juice the symptoms could be of a demonic, magical, or psionic disease.

Psychic.

Now there's a thought. Anyone remember psychic venoms from Book of Vile Darkness? Combined with the "Silver Sage" idea earlier, perhaps a powerful diviner falls victim to a psychic venom trap when he tried to divine something. The source of the psychic venom could reveal what someone didn't want him to look into or if someone set a trap for him.

BTW, Steve, some specifics might interest you. The pact-member that the party has access to to do this is a member of tempest argon who is part of the chamber pact. They were looking for someone to unload some nonmagical scrolls and books on. I thought who else would have such a keen interest in general knowledge.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Well not to get to mundane, but if you have any religious dogma about suicides not being able to go to the seven heavens or being forbidden from consecrated burial (a horror with undead a real possiblity) then his family may be going well out of its way to determine if it was a real suicide or a frame.
added complecations if family is willing to bribe/kill to change outcome.

 

[cybertalus]

Just to be clear, guys, I'm more looking for situations in which it is important that the cause of death be discovered, not the less than obvious causes of death themselves (though the situation may imply a certain cause of death.)

A wager. The deceased is notable for his many exploits where he seemed to have cheated death. So as a sort of a joke a local bookie began to take wagers on what it would take to finally kill him. But now that he has died the bookie needs to know how it happened so he knows who won the bet.

A wager #2. Two grumpy old so and so's each declare that they'll outlive the other. When their boasting threatens to come to blows, someone convinces them to settle it with a wager stating that half the worldly goods of the person who dies first go to the one who is still alive, but only if the death isn't caused by foul play. Now that one of them is dead his family is accusing the other one of having him killed.

Accusations of murder. The deceased was not liked and had recently been in heated arguments with at least half a dozen people, including one very strange traveller who was seen to smack the deceased with his bare hand and then remark that it would now only take the merest of thoughts to kill him. Although the deceased was bad news, the local authorities still need to determine a cause of death, as accusations of murder are being levelled against everyone who had a disagreement with the deceased.

Accusations of murder #2. The deceased was a dignatary from a foreign country on the brink of war with the local country. The foreign government, who had been promised the dignatary's safety while he was involved in delicate negotiations, is furious at the death and is demanding an explanation.

Too Young to Die. The deceased was an apparently healthy young adult whose death shows no sign of foul play, accident, or disease. The grieving family begs for someone to figure out the cause of death so they can try to ease their pain.

We're at War! The Royal Intelligence Service has heard rumors that the enemy have been developing a new, untraceable means of assassination. When a poor street urchin turns up unexplainably dead, they want the death looked into quietly.

 

[drnuncheon]

I think my earlier post got eaten by the board slowdown.

In any case, I think that in order to make the players want to find out 'how', you need to make it personal.

Hmm. They are hired to find out how the deceased died. That's OK, appeals to greed, but it's pretty weak. No personal involvement.

How about, a friend wants them to find out how the deceased died. That's better.

Or maybe the friend is the deceased. Now we're getting somewhere. The killer, being no dummy, is shrouded from divination spells, but knowing how he killed the person might provide a clue to his identity.

But if you really want to get personal, make sure there are some clues that make the PCs think that they are the next target. Yep, somewhere out there there's an assassin with a mysterious, untraceable method of killing, and he's gunning for you. That'll really give them an impetus to solve the crime - they need to know 'how' so they can defend against it!

J