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What do your Heroes do when they Retire?

NewLifeForm

First Post
Do they retire? If so, what happens to PC Heroes when their adventuring days are over? Open an inn? Become ruler of a land? Buy a small cottage by a lake and fish ('cause they've got enough gold for three lifetimes)?

Share some stories.

NewLifeForm
 

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My thief Wizard (went thief for a lot of levels before picking up Wizard levels) retired when we defeated the lich version of the necromancer we had defeated in the first campign. He started a thieves guyild after taking out the existing one. He built a Bard College, Arena (for gladotorial fighting), and a hippodrom (for chariot races) with his eccess money. He used his ties with the mage school of that same city to recruit a ferw important and talented people to give his guild a good edge. He had a very talented spy opperative that helped him take down a rival guide and slave organization (he was always against slavery since people tried to sale him into slavery when he was younger). He did that for a number of years until an ill fated flip from a Deck of Many things changed his alignmnet to good, so he sold his thieves guild for a gold piece to his number two and started using his vast wealth to improve the life of the less fortunate in his adopted city. He was nominated to be come a leader in his hiome land but he laughed at them and rarely ever goes back there.
 


Based upon the Forgotten Realms campaign setting you would move to Shadowdale and open a dry goods store. When some orcs try to rob your wagon, instead of killing them and everyone they ever knew from the comfort of your bedroom with a handful of 9th level spells, you would instead hire some 1st level newbies, knowing that some of them are going to die while breaking up the orcish bandit tribe.
 


A variety of things, but the most common would be to purchase or build an Inn in a town that most attracted him. And then be content to hang his warhammer behind the bar and tell tales of his past exploits while listening to those of the current adventurers tell by the fireside.
 

They die. ;) Well, I haven't ever played a character through to retirement mostly because I love to have them die gloriously in battle saving their friends. But if I did ever make it, I'd probably have them do these things (depending on what kind of character [Basic D&D classes]):

Cleric: Either go back to where he came from and spend his time worshiping his deity, or move somewhere new and build a church dedicated to aforementioned deity and start a large charity organization for the poor.

Fighter: Build a kingdom, not let many people know that he is king and have one of his trusted friends (maybe an old adventuring companion) rule while he opens a tavern at which he spends all of this time talking with passing travelers and serving drinks.

Magic-User: Build a tower for himself a few miles from a town that is open to anyone interested in Magic, and donate a large sum of money to the town for a huge library.

Theif: Probably start a theives guild in a small town while slowly giving money to the down to help it grow and expand, bringing in new business for his guild. ;)

Dwarf: Retire back to his homeland and be content spending his days working at the anvil making beautiful and powerful (he's rich by now... He can afford all of the best materials) weapons and armor to sell very cheaply to young dwarves getting ready to go out into the world.

Elf: Buy a huge lot of land containing a forest and creates what is much like a giant inn for travelers, free of cost to stay but instant banishment if they harm the forest or anything living there.

Halfling: Finds a nice quiet town near a lake and buys a nice home on the lake front and spends his days relaxing, eating, fishing, and remembering his adventures.



Gorilla
 

When characters in my campaigns retire they always seem to want to open taverns and retire to run those. No wonder theres so many taverns in D&D.
 

I have a pair of characters who retired and opened a tavern, then began brewing hard alcohol in their cellar. They've become wealthy merchants because their drink is popular among numerous groups, including dwarfs, throughout the world because of the sheer alcohol quantity of their primary product. They export two separate beverages:

The Vat of Hellish Brew is a dark colored hard alcohol with a foul taste that can knock anyone without an iron liver to the floor.

The Scaly Dragon is bubbly, red in color, and has a distinct berry flavor. This drink is similar to champaign, but with a higher alcohol content. The also sell a mildly enchanted version of this drink, which changes color and flavor every two minutes.
 

It doesn't happen much.

Raise kids, rule a fief or nation or just retire to the Astral Plane- it just depends on the character.

Oh, almost forgot- become a lich. :]
 

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