D&D 5E Most amazing PC death

[Blue]

Recent one in my 13th Age campaign. After fighting the "king" and "queen" (semi-vampiric frost giants with the queen being a powerful ice sorcerers) of an faerie tale ice castle on top a cloud in the overworld, the castle is collapsing around them as well as they are being pursued by a castle-full of frost giant zombies that had been frozen in the walls until needed.

I'm running something akin to a skill challenge to get out in time. Two of the party, sledding on the dwarforged's magical tower shield down stairs and bashign through doors, finally see daylight and bash through a last set of doors - only to find it's a balcony and they are flying through the air.

The rest of the party is frantically trying to follow through the angry-beehive of frost giant zombies stirred up. Several checks later and two of the three have made it to the balcony and down, the third having failed several checks and then fumbled the last one.

I had been turning up the tension of the castle collapsing, so with this one I described the rogue lying flat on his back, surrounded by a ring of frost giant zombies, as the tower they are in is collapsing in on itself. Oh, and everyone else is down off the balcony which is a few stories up.

I go around the table, one action each to save him. One PC mutters "I don't want to see him die" right as the wizard, trying to deal with the zombies around him, turns the rogue invisible.

Well, at least they wouldn't have to see him die.

But then the sorcerer, using a custom translocation teleport, swaps places with him. The rogue is saved, the ice tower collapses, and the sorcerer goes down into legend.

 

[Draegn]

There was once a ranger character who acquired a ring that let her turn into a swan. She thought it a great idea to sneak around as a swan to spy out other groups. Until the half orcs shot her with a critical and cooked her for dinner.

Her paladin/bard lover ended up going mad when he realized he had eaten her during his negotiations with the half orcs. He is now another "pet" of his Lamia mistress in the ruin city of Thalos.

 

[Sacrosanct]

My very first character. A level 1 cleric going through Palace of the Silver Princess. I had just killed a skeleton and was down to 1 hp. The map of the module was on the ground between me and my brother, who was DMing. He asked me which direction I was going. I said "left". My left was his right, so he said "You walk into a wall and take 1 hp damage. You're dead."


OH! You meant "amazing death" and not "totally lame death from huge jerk brother". My bad.

 

[Luz]

Last year I ran White Plume Mountain for my 5e group. It was the first game of D&D for one of the players, who played a dwarf fighter. While battling Burket and Snarla, he fumbled. Since we use critical and fumble charts I pulled off the web, he rolled percentile for the Fumble chart: 100%, which was "Critically hit self." So I had him roll percentile on the Critical charts and he rolled...100%: "Decapitated."

 

[Blue]

Back in AD&D 2ed. Was playing an elven fighter/magic-user who I had been playing for a few years and had survived quite a bit, who had found a staff of power. Was fighting at one point a legendary orc who had been a thorn in the side of the elven people, and it looks like the orc might win or at least get away. Broke the staff of power. Instantly vaporized himself and the orc and I think killed or knocked unconscious much of the rest of the party and most of the foes.

I think the group later used divination magic to see if he wanted to be true resurrected, but he destroyed a major foe of his people and was content.

Mind you, this was the same group that many levels earlier was carrying the bodies of two fallen PC to get them to be raised when they were ambushed by an overwhelming number of koa-tuas who were angry at the trespass but didn't have any specific beef with our PCs. We ended up trading them the bodies of the dead PCs as food for safe passage. One of those bodies was my original character in this group.

 

[Blue]

Last year I ran White Plume Mountain for my 5e group. It was the first game of D&D for one of the players, who played a dwarf fighter. While battling Burket and Snarla, he fumbled. Since we use critical and fumble charts I pulled off the web, he rolled percentile for the Fumble chart: 100%, which was "Critically hit self." So I had him roll percentile on the Critical charts and he rolled...100%: "Decapitated."

Ha, I had the exact opposite experience. Playing AD&D I had a 3rd level wizard who was separated from the party and had already cast his 3 spells of the day (no cantrips back then). He was set upon by two orcs whom he was attempting to intimidate of "why would I be here by myself if I wasn't badass" because otherwise he was mincemeat. They didn't by it so initiative was rolled and he went first and with hsi 10 STR attacked with his staff. I rolled a fumble, and thinking this was the end rolled on our DM's homebrew charts. "Miss so bad you spin all the way around and get another shot." Okay, cool. Roll again - crit. On the charts - triple damage. Which was enough to one-shot the orc I was attacking. At which point I stopped, raised an eyebrow and looked at the other orc. He took off running from the martial arts master he thought I was.

 

[Blue]

Lame death. Back in AD&D (2ed) rolled up a half-orc "gladiatorial" wizard. Whole back story of who he learned magic from and winning his freedom from the pits. Painted a mini.

First session was RP and meeting up, no combat. Ended on a cliffhanger of use getting attacked by wolves. Next session we started the combat. First attack by a wolf critted and brought me down to -10, killing me instantly. Never even had a chance to take an action.

 

[Elothan]

Well, I was the DM on this one, but the part was interacting with a allied spy/Spec ops network.
This organization had a rather oddball quartermaster who in addition to have the regular assortment of healing potions,etc was also handeling confiscated dangerous artifacts and some rather explosive magic experiments.

Think Q from james bond mixed with a crazy inventor.

The party wanted to aquire a bag of holding, where one of the PC's deceided to stick their head in to check it from the inside. There was also another similar bag on a shelf nearby, so another PC (played by my wife none the less) picked it up, and deceided to do the same.

It was a bag of devouring, and a series of failed dice rolls later, the PC was eaten and its body destroyed.

Now,it might seem like I was settng the party up, but the entire campaign was focused around getting dangerous magical items off the streets/tombs/lairs and under control, so they knew that most of the stuff in there was pretty dangeous to mess with. )

 

[StepchildoftheSun]

So before play in this game even started, the rogue decides he's got a phobia of birds. Later on, my PC learns she needs the help of a phoenix to save her people. During the middle of the campaign, my PC started a romance with a local noble priest (and was resurrected after falling of an undead roc w a ring of regeneration he'd gifted her).

So we're at end game, walking up to the phoenix temple. And the rogue whispers to the DM. As we're crossing the bridge over a 1,000 ft chasm, the rogue goes invisible, steals my PC's sword and backstabs her, all without an explanation. We fought until finally one good roll on his part leads to my PC clinging to the bridge with one hand. Then her priestly boy toy teleports in. She reaches out for him and gets this in responce: "I'm sorry. But your people would bring their wars with them. And I can't abide that." And he steps on her hand.

Literally EVERYONE at the table freezes. Me, the rogue, the wizard. While I'm trying to figure out wtf just happened, the wizard makes a choice. All campaign, this NE wizard had learned that we are his closest friends. And to him, betrayal of a friend deserves fatal punishment. The rogue and wizard dart around flinging spells and crossbow bolts before the rogue decides to jump on the flying mage and backstab him.

The rogue however, was pretty low on HP after tangling with PC and had forgotten the wizard's favorite spell: Vampiric touch. Cue dead rogue. Before the wizard could get to him, the priestly boy toy teleports away again. Being the only one left, the DM asks him what the wizard would do now?

His responce: "I might be evil, but I'd never betray someone I love. My wizard spends the next several years gaining power and learning to become a lich. And then I hunt that traitor down and kill him and anyone who stands in my way.
Me: *open mouthed wonder and horror* Best. Game. Ever.

 

[SheWantstheD&D]

I had a DM once that thought it'd be fun if my character, who had been kidnapped in a previous session, was replaced by a doppleganger that I would play unbeknownst to the rest of the party. The doppleganger's objective was to betray them at the last possible moment before the big fight. I was given specific instructions on how to do this that equated to a barely dramatic suicide run -- which I would have stuck to had the rest of the players not taken it REALLY personally that my cleric wasn't towing the line ("sh** healer" variety comments). I know it's spiteful of me, but I felt like my doppleganger deserved a more dignified death for all it's efforts to infiltrate the group.

I killed three out of the five other members before I was finally taken down. t(' ' t)