PCs vs. The Law -- my players stay out!!

[iwatt]

The PC can't argue about his fate because it is more merciful than death, and it is the same injury suffered by his god! The Sea Lord has maimed the PC in the same way Tyr was maimed when he gave up his arm so that Fenris Wolf could be chained by the other gods. Tyr would see this as a worthy badge in the fight against a great evil and would definitely be upset if his servant complained about such a punishment. And the PC -- and the player as well -- still thinks his comrades are dead, so he has to live with the guilt of surviving the ordeal that resulted in the deaths of his friends.

Awesome....tell us how he takes it...

 

[Endur]

Bribes.

Otherwise known as weregild. Or donations. Or Money Talks.

If the PCs have powerful patrons opposed to the city lords, the patrons can spend money on their behalf to prevent the end of the campaign. Or the PCs themselves can sell their magical items (or give their magical items) to generate the influence needed to avert this crisis.

One of the PCs' supporters who was webbed can turn it into a joke ...after all, its not every artistocrat that gets webbed at a public ball. He is now a member of an elite group.

There are a number of ways to avoid ending the campaign.

Another alternative is you can have the PCs thrown in prison awaiting execution. Have a group of NPC Heroes save the world. Then the PCs death sentence is commuted to hard labor on a suicide mission somewhere (i.e. dungeon crawl).

 

[atom crash]

That was impressively done, AC.

Thanks. I struggled with taking away his paladinhood, but this was just so much more fun. Now the Sea Lord looks to the city like the victim, and the PC will be watched closely and viewed negatively wherever he goes in town. Plus, it's easier for the bad guys to track the movements of a one-armed dwarf.

Awesome....tell us how he takes it...

The player obviously feels bad about what happened to the other PCs, but on the other hand they seem to him to be satisfied with their fates. I trust he'll play the PC as wracked with guilt, but he's also resolute in his fight against evil. He just knows now that he can't act openly against his enemies.

What's going to be fun is when he -- the player AND his PC -- find out the rest of the group isn't really dead. The other players have been joking that they want to play a Ghostwalk campaign and haunt his PC. I told them all that they can only gain a level as ghosts by draining levels from the living creatures they haunt.