Or GM Fiat.
Character mechanics are for player characters.
Or GM Fiat.
Character mechanics are for player characters.
^ This. 100%.
Drop Dead only lasts up to a minute, even if you bypass it's need for an attack to land. So as long as the party sticks around for 1 minute investigating, the gig is up.
False Death is better, and the option I'd pick if I was a PC setting up this sort of ruse, but it has some drawbacks. First it requires your NPC to fail some pretty low fort saves to remain under it's effects. And second, it has an onset time of 10 minutes, so you can't just bite your tooth and appear dead. It can last for 5 days though, so that's nice.
Are you going to fudge how False Death works to make sure it works as you intend? Or are you going to be okay with the party immediately finding you out when your npc passes the wrong check?
Either way you are using GM Fiat to fix the situation. So just go with whatever you want. A mysterious elixer purchased from a shady merchant. An exotic root extract from far off lands. Then decide how you want it to work, the DC's involved in the party figuring out what it is and your done.
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Depending on the level of the party, Slumber Wine or False Death.
For either item, I'm fairly certain the remaster will be providing guidance on intentionally failing saves. I'd do something like that for said NPC; just decide they fail instead of rolling it "honestly".
Plots that rely upon initially deceiving the PCs are usually bad calls. There's too much room for PCs to deviate from the script you planned. They might roll a nat 20 on a check to see through the ruse, use a spell you didn't expect, or decide to exume the corpse on the spot. Or find the "murderer" and kill them on the spot before anything is revealed. Unless you're prepared for it to be a VERY short investigation, don't do it.
Also, this might be more personal taste than generally applicable advice, but... I have seen GMs do the "NPC was secretly testing you with a fake quest before giving you a real quest" thing and I truly loath it. It just feels like a colossal waste of time. Roleplaying games are about telling a story of affecting change on the world. This idea basically tells players "hey everything you thought you were doing up until now didn't matter." Twice over, really, since both the "death" and the reason for it are farces.
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Plots that rely upon initially deceiving the PCs are usually bad calls. There's too much room for PCs to deviate from the script you planned. They might roll a nat 20 on a check to see through the ruse, use a spell you didn't expect, or decide to exume the corpse on the spot. Or find the "murderer" and kill them on the spot before anything is revealed. Unless you're prepared for it to be a VERY short investigation, don't do it.
Also, this might be more personal taste than generally applicable advice, but... I have seen GMs do the "NPC was secretly testing you with a fake quest before giving you a real quest" thing and I truly loath it. It just feels like a colossal waste of time. Roleplaying games are about telling a story of affecting change on the world. This idea basically tells players "hey everything you thought you were doing up until now didn't matter." Twice over, really, since both the "death" and the reason for it are farces.
I actually like the premices, but with the added twist, pretty much a trope actually, that someone takes advantage of the faked death to actually make it quite real.
Real murder, real investigation.
Given that the idea is to test the party, a kidnapping and/or heist might be a better gauge. If nothing else the party might wonder about being hired by the late Mr Boddy. Or Mr Boddy's protests when the first thing they do is an autopsy ...