Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us, and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Battle, and his blood shall give us the Light. Let tears flow, O ye people of the world. Weep for your salvation.
– Wheel Of Time Series, Prophecy of the Dragon.
In the ongoing debate of killing of PCs and total party kills, one aspect of PC death is often left out: The Plot Kill. Having turned Plot Kills into defining campaign moments and having received some memorable Plot Kills myself, I think the concept warrants discussion.
First, to define Plot Kill: situations in which the DM plans for a PC death and executes either with or without mechanics. Examples could be playing out a “Last Stand” against a never ending horde of minions (played out to see how long the other characters actually have to make an escape) or requiring a PC to sacrifice himself to contain the essence of a mad god (no roll required). In this article I am going to discuss the guidelines of planning a Plot Kill, advise DMs on how to handle these occasions, and make a case to DMs for turning EVERY PC death into a Plot Kill.
Death, sacrifice, and prophecies of doom are fantasy mainstays. The problem many DMs approach in a D&D game is that these acts tend to single out one player and put him on a sacrificial altar. For the story-telling player friendly DM the thought of singling out someone to die is horrifying, but that is part of the point. The sacrifice should be both great and terrible. There are compelling reasons for ANY DM to use the plot-kill. Here are a few guidelines:
- Make it Count: If a PC makes a heroic last stand, make sure it gives the party the opportunity to do something truly awesome and world-altering. Maybe the major epic villain is vulnerable (and paragon power leveled) for 10 minutes after a powerful ritual. Really play up the heroic death and make that PC’s noble sacrifice meaningful. With death on the line, you’ll find that the tension (and fun) is ratcheted up a notch.
- Have Something New for the Martyr To Do: There’s no reason for the player that chooses the heroic sacrifice to be bored afterwards. Assuming it’s not the campaign finale, have a role for the player to assume. It can be as simple as being a bad guy for the rest of the adventure or having them assume control of a favorite NPC. After all, nothing is more delicious than having the former big bad join the PCs to fight an even bigger foe…
- Choices: Do not remove decision from the PC’s sacrifice. It’s hard to resist if it’s a pivotal plot point, but having the Player choose willingly to die makes it more riveting for a few reasons. The first is that it involves the player consciously deciding to kill the character. Regardless of the character to character reaction, the players at the table will all have to give props for it. Secondly, the greatest heroes in this situation become heroes by willingly making the ultimate sacrifice. Lastly, it lets the player bow out of it. This SHOULD be an option you prepare for. Maybe the heroes all live, but they fail dismally. Maybe the other characters brand him a traitor. Who knows! Sometimes this sort of option leads to out of the box thinking from the character in danger and turn a certain death into an unexpected victory of the ages. Regardless, be prepared for plan B and even an unexpected twist.
- Know your players: Some Players are just not going to like being thrust into the limelight and having to decide whether or not to off their character. Others would never let their beloved character die. The best players for this unique situation are storytellers and world-builders themselves with a fully rounded character that they role play well. Sacrifice should be a difficult and frightening decision to be sure, but making a power gamer consider this is probably the wrong tact.
Finally, there are times when PCs die in battles that they aren’t meant to die in. You can fudge the rolls, which sometimes work for the best. You can have it be a brutal reminder of the danger of adventuring, or you can hastily make it a Plot-Kill. Maybe the PCs needed a conduit to another plane, and their departed companions spirit can provide it. Perhaps someone the PCs cannot venture certain places due to powerful wards against the living, hence the return of the dead character as a revenant. The point is that death is a part of life and an enormous part of fantasy. Rather than grappling with how to avoid it with your players allow it to be an opportunity to take the game in bold new directions. It’s a fantasy game, it could be that death is just the beginning…
I once ended up with a PC tied to an altar, about to be sacrificed to a dark god. It was a tricky situation to handle, since while the PC agreed to be tied to the altar, at the time he’d been sure that the rest of the party could find an alternate sacrifice in time. It would be absurd to have the character escape from that kind of situation – especially since the rest of the party was standing around not helping him (for perfectly good reasons, they all claim). But that player did not intend for his PC to end up dead, and there wasn’t a single roll he could take to change things. It was a tough situation.
I ended up compromising. The PC was sacrificed and died, but he was brought back almost immediately as a servant to the goddess who accepted the sacrifice. He got a few small stat changes and a few big fluff changes, and a whole host of plot complications that he had to deal with before being able to get his original destiny back on track.
Good post. PC death can be one of the most intense and rewarding things to happen in a game. I think that a GM should definitely offer players the chance to have a heroic sacrifice take place. I recall reading a Star Wars RPG rulebook that told GMs exactly this: you have to give each player the chance to die heroically. Cool thought.
.-= Andy´s last blog ..Hiatus =-.
@Swordgleam: Great solution and exactly what I advocate.
@Andy: Thank you, Sir. Star Wars, by drawing on a source that showcases such a sacrifice as the climax of three (or six if you choose) movies is a definite source of inspiration for this idea.
The Game, during his hodgepodge ‘include everything cool D&D game’ from our adolescence let my 2E psionicist go into negative power points to use a massive disintigrate to ruin Darth Vader’s plans (sorry Lord Dort Invader). The downside was that it basically destroyed his brain. The second part of the game saw the party use a ship named partially in his name.
“Maybe the PCs needed a conduit to another plane, and their departed companion’s spirit can provide it”
Consider this tool placed into my pocket until needed…
Thanks.
.-= Charisma´s last blog ..Rescuing Racel – Steal this Adventure =-.
My group once had a warrior that stood alone against a Collosal red dragon… at level 10. He managed to last longer than i thought he would and after his great sacrifice the parties Spirit Shaman summoned the spirit of their now dead friend. He travelled with the group as a PC in spectre form and developed some interesting and unique powers.
In the end he decided to sacrifice himself again in order to save another PC. Great character.
I definitely agree that character death should be turned into a major event, even if they are killed by a goblin, there should be major ramifications.
Thank for some great ideas
Scott
.-= Scott´s last blog ..The Planar Orphan =-.
Great post. I fully support this kind of play, especially in cahoots with willing players. This sort of thing is good for allowing a player to switch characters, too, or to dramatically send off a character whose player is departing the game.
.-= Chris Sims´s last blog ..Mailbag 3 – The Pitch =-.
Just had a text today from a player asking if we could kill his character, this has given me some great ideas!
Great Post!
It also helps to Plot Kill a character that can’t permanently die- maybe not always as dramatic, but you know it won’t sting quite as much as arbitrarily killing off a character who will be lost.
For example, killing off a Deva who will reincarnate later…
This is suuuch a fine line to walk, especially if the Plot Kill isn’t lined up with the PC beforehand. I’ve had it work amazingly well using a couple of the themes in the post above… and I’ve also had it backfire brutally on me, almost tearing a campaign apart midstream. I think to do this you need to know your players very, very well. but if done right the rewards can be tremendous.
.-= Jason Dawson´s last blog ..Old Adventurers =-.
I have to admit, The Game used The Plot Kill quite well recently. After WotC newest nerfings (cough, i mean errata) my Deva Avenger Student of Caiphon (an 18+ Critical Machine with an Executioner’s Axe) was made completely and utterly inviable. The Game and I talked about it, and decided to kill him off and have him reincarnate as a new build, same character (not that the other PCs new it was gonna happen).
In summary, use the plot kill to un-nerf trapped players.
I had a hand in the “plot kill” of my first 4E character. I didn’t really feel comfortable playing him so I figured killing him off and making a new character was the way to go. It wasn’t until after the “plot kill” that I really started to appreciate him and got a sense of who the character was.
Character death can bring the best in realism and fantasy to the table. Good post.
I try to, at least once per session, allow one player the option to retire their character (based on what’s happened in the plot of the adventure) and take it out of the game, and in exchange they can build a new character with extra experience or more booty or whatever seems appropriate.
Obviously, this works better for some settings than others.
I had a character in my group die by dint of horrible coincidence, and rather than come up with some far-fetched world changing rules to allow the 5th level characters to bring him back, I had his spirit embody the sword of one of the other PCs, and when they discovered it, they started minor rituals around his former bad habits, rubbing chewing tobacco on the sword before cleaning it, letting it rest next to an open flagon of ale, etc. As the party leveled, the sword became progressively better, which reinforced the role-playing from the group.