The Paladin thread had me thinking... which is usually never a good thing. Over the course of the game I'm pretty much sure that everyone here has ignobly lost characters to the fickleness of the dice gods. Then there are those earth shaking character deaths worthy of epic ballads and manly tears.
Memorable deaths that players can look back on and hold their head high as they hand over the sheet and roll up a new character... (Or wait for someone to produce an expensive diamond).
Anyone here has a particular story of this nature to share?
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PC 1: The door is rattling ominously and I'm all by myself in a room with only one escape hatch via a ladder.
ME: looking down from escape hatch): Maybe you should be careful...
PC 1: Nah.... I'm just gonna open it.... OH NO!!!! (PC 1 tries to run back to the ladder, doesn't make it and fails save against paralysis.)
ME: (Slams hatch shut and uses a magic locking spell on it) So long sucker!
There's a Scythe trap between me(2nd level character) and a bad guy.
ME: Nah, I can handle one stupid scythe! I run through it.
DM rolls 20.
While playing Ravenloft [old school] our party was unlucky enough to encounter Strahd on the walkway between the castle's spires 100ft above the ground.
In a "Billy from Predator" inspired moment of folly, my Half-Ogre Fighter "Roach", although battered from doing his meatshield best for the group, heroically [read: stupidly] offered to hold off Strahd while the rest retreated...
My brave companions legged it and Roach [as unkillable as his insect namesake and twice as manky] faced off the nefarious lord of Ravenloft...
2 rounds later Roach has been polymorphed into a toad and kicked off the walkway by Strahd to a sneering pseudo-slavic "Amphibian Imbecile" sendoff by the vampiric Count...
The mental image of Strahd punting poor Roach to his doom is still recounted some 20 years on, and I still hate that damn vampire.
BD
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Not a death but...
We were in a cavern below a valley full of graves and ghouls, etc.
There was a ladder going way up into the darkness. I took the ladder. There was a trapdoor with a padlock on my side. I opened the lock (the days of Theives) and cracked the trapdoor and peeked inside. There were feet walking around all over. Someone threw open the trapdoor and reached for me. I grabbed his hand and jerked him right down through the hole yelling in coming to the group. The figure fell a long way maybe a 100 feet, hit the ground, bounced and stood up. It was a wight. I lost a level and the group turned him. He started back up the ladder.
One of my players was playing this nigh-indestructible epic Monk - SR, AC in the 50's, Touch AC of ~40, saves off the chart. 3 epic beholders together generally made him roll a save only once per round (between trying to hit him and his SR), which he would make on a 2.
Then the group ran into some advanced Formians - double HD and such. Nothing too bad for him, he'd smash them up for ~100-140 damage per round. Then the Formian Queen showed up, 36 HD, 36th caster level... one intensified meteor swarm and some lucky touch attack rolls later I had one monk shaped cinder (oops!).
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While playing Ravenloft [old school] our party was unlucky enough to encounter Strahd on the walkway between the castle's spires 100ft above the ground.
In a "Billy from Predator" inspired moment of folly, my Half-Ogre Fighter "Roach", although battered from doing his meatshield best for the group, heroically [read: stupidly] offered to hold off Strahd while the rest retreated...
My brave companions legged it and Roach [as unkillable as his insect namesake and twice as manky] faced off the nefarious lord of Ravenloft...
2 rounds later Roach has been polymorphed into a toad and kicked off the walkway by Strahd to a sneering pseudo-slavic "Amphibian Imbecile" sendoff by the vampiric Count...
The mental image of Strahd punting poor Roach to his doom is still recounted some 20 years on, and I still hate that damn vampire.
BD
being a fan of the old count... and consider how annoyed would had him being about the stupid half orc corssing his path... aye... i aprove of his death :D
mmm
ok it was not DnD... but palladium... still it was kind of similar at the time of the death.
Rigel, hated and loved for being arrogant as a paladin with stick through his ass (this was in purpose).
they were passing a series of enemy outpost guarded by single enemies (yes, any similarity with Saint Seiya is merely copied and translated to my GM setting)... and Rigel had to go through one of those... Cancer I think... guarded by a woman he sort of loved... and she sort of loved him... anyway both had a duty... she guard the place... him pass through.
the battle was being hard on both... Rigel used both his swords on Cancer to cut her neck, but it was not enough...about 2 hps were left... so she smiles, says its a good job and launches a power/magic/whatever against his neck... beheading him...
so laid dead Rigel, in honorable combat... Cancer even cried a bit... but my fellow players were not exactly sad, so i knew they wouldn't be calling him back to life... still it has been a good death so i didn't even asked and began rolling a new character...
a few minutes late i saw Rigel's character sheet and discovered something horrible...
I forgot to add the strenght bonus...
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Mine was in Eberron. Our group had traveled from Aundair to Valenar on the lightning rail, fighting agents of the Emerald Claw all the way and dodging assassins. As we arrive at the train station on the borders of Valenar and the Talenta Plains my character, a swashbuckling halfling rogue with ridiculous movement skill mods, decides that he wants to find some Talenta halflings and trade with them. After all, the party had a few hours until we had to leave again.
Through some Gather Info checks, and the careful application of grease on a few peoples palms, he finds a hidden underground camp, on the outskirts of town. He talks to a few of the halflings there and they tell him that he can have the item he sought if he could defeat their champion. I was feeling pretty good about the combat prowess of my character so I readily agreed. Derrin Tallbottle (my halfling) was then lead out to a big are that they apparently used to fight and such. I wondered briefly why the ring was so big, but was cut short when my DM slammed the huge fiendish T-Rex mini on the mat and declared that this was their champion.
*GULP*
Well, I did have a few tricks up my sleeve, mainly a combination of sneak attack, the rod of immovable force which I used as bars to swing higher and thus reach up and over the T-Rex, and of course my balance, climb, jump and tumble skills.
The rest of the party watched for the first few rounds, commenting that "sorry dude, but you're dead, dead and some more dead." Well, yes that turned out to be true, but not after dragging the T-Rex almost down with me. After a few rounds of beating the crap out of the dino, the rest of the party started to cheer and hope that I would kill the damn thing, and I almost did.
The T-Rex was on its last legs and all I had to do was to reach my rod of immovable force so that I could use it to swing one last time onto the T-Rex's back. I ran as fast as I could, with the T-Rex stomping after me, and reached the rod... just as the T-Rex reached me and chomped on me, leaving nothing but the hand and forearm, desperately clutched onto the rod.
Derrin died, but damn that was fun!
being a fan of the old count... and consider how annoyed would had him being about the stupid half orc corssing his path... aye... i aprove of his death :D
mmm
ok it was not DnD... but palladium... still it was kind of similar at the time of the death.Rigel, hated and loved for being arrogant as a paladin with stick through his ass (this was in purpose).
they were passing a series of enemy outpost guarded by single enemies (yes, any similarity with Saint Seiya is merely copied and translated to my GM setting)... and Rigel had to go through one of those... Cancer I think... guarded by a woman he sort of loved... and she sort of loved him... anyway both had a duty... she guard the place... him pass through.
the battle was being hard on both... Rigel used both his swords on Cancer to cut her neck, but it was not enough...about 2 hps were left... so she smiles, says its a good job and launches a power/magic/whatever against his neck... beheading him...
so laid dead Rigel, in honorable combat... Cancer even cried a bit... but my fellow players were not exactly sad, so i knew they wouldn't be calling him back to life... still...
Never being a fan of the paladins... and consider how annoying their holier than thou schtick is... aye... i approve of Rigel's death ;)
BD
Only ever had one of my PC's diem but as far as death's go it was pretty spectacular.
Bit of backstory first, there were four party members (my PC included). One was a catfolk barbarian, a kobold bard and a kobold rogue (both brothers) and my PC, who was a straight fighter (though he had alot of Psionic focused feats).
Our DM had added a few of his own stuff for our Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign, which caused a build up against an additional foe at the end of the campaign (which was an epic level dragon).
The two kobolds worked as a sort of comic relief pair, leaving most of the less comical RP to my PC and the barbarian. The barbarian and my fighter met...(note sure if it's that much of a Cotct spoiler, but just in case)
The kobolds themselves joined the group simply because they wanted to help.
After gaining closure and finding the murderer of his father, the barbarian PC "handed over the torch" so to speak, putting my PC in charge of the group and making it clear that he wasn't comming to save the city or fight against some greater evil, but because he wanted to help his friend. To this end my PC gained...(definate spoiler here)
This helped to boost my charatcer's power, and he started to "one-shot" a few bosses.
When the final fight came, the additional boss thrown in was a large, epic CR dragon. Fortunately, earlier in the campaign my character had bought two potions of fly. He used one earlier, but had the other spare, so he drank it and began to duel the beast. The party didn't stop him, thinking that if any of us stood a chance, my character would be the safe bet.
My character charged, power attacked for full (we were using old power attack rolls), rolled 3 critical hits (out of 4 attacks) and, in short, did alot of damage. As soon as the party (and the DM) saw the numbers their jaws dropped. The players began saying things like "That dragon isn't going to stand a chance" and "We should've known he'd take that thing out too easily as well". The barbarin began rally the city folk to man seige crossbows to take down the dragon, using the thought of a near-invicible warrior as a means to encourage them.
Next round the dragon used his breath, DM got a little lucky on the rolls, and I forgot to heal some Con damage I had taken earlier. My character got disintegrated on the spot, in front of the city we were trying to save. So worth it just to see that "Oh s**t" look the other players had at that moment.
Well, I once had a group of PCs (4th level) that encountered a brown bear in an underground cavern. The bear came out from around a bend, enraged and ready to defend itself, and the ranger of the group had taken the lead position in the party's formation.
"Hey I have wild empathy. I'll try to calm the bear down."
It didn't work…
Another party (2nd level) was exploring a dank well within a cavern. The well was 50' deep with about 5' of water at the bottom. One of the players wanted to explore the water, and another player wanted nothing to do with "such a waste of time." Everyone else was indifferent.
Anyway, exploring ensued, and the exploring player carefully tied off a rope and shimmied down into the water. The player that wanted nothing to such a "waste of time" was verbally sulking in Real Life about it! Then…
Explorer: "Hey, there's a small tunnel underneath the water's surface!
Complainer: "What? There's a tunnel down there? I'm diving in!"
Other PCs: "It's only 5' deep…"
Complainer: "That's fine. I'm diving in."
Players of other PCs: their jaws drop
DM (Me): "Just for posterity's sake, how are you diving in?"
Complainer: "Well, I want to dive in sorta like this…" "Alright, I'm going to order the pizza. Let me know what we find when I get back."
Everyone, but the complainer: Bouts of laughter when he leaves to order the pizza.
You had to be there…
We were in the World's Largest Dungeon, and I was playing a Dwarf Psion 1/Psychic Warrior 1. Thanks to an 18 CON and rolling max HP, I had a fair chunk of HP. Myself and about four other 2nd level-ish PCs wandered into the Ogre lair, populated by four (!) ogres and, get this, a 4th level Ogre barbarian. Not realizing the barbarian was there at first, I spammed Disable on two of the ogres rendering them useless for 10 rounds each. The other two ogres got felled thanks to some lucky crits from our other warriors. Then the barbarian came in.
We had been rolling tons of high numbers with the ogres. Two or three crits, at least. The second that barbarian came onto the map, we could NOT roll above a 6. He wailed on the NPC rogue (who was level 5 or something) for a round or two, then (fortunately) rolled a natural 1. The DM determined that he accidentally dropped his greatclub, leaving him disarmed. He retreated for a few rounds, and we eliminated the rest of the ogres (rolling several more 19s and 20s). He returned, and our dice went to crap again. I used my last power point to manifest Biofeedback, getting DR 2/-. I went total defense and drew an AoO from him to allow the rest of the party to escape. Afterall, I was in pretty good armor, my AC was 8 points higher thanks to him being a giant and me being all defensive. He rolled a 20. Confirmed with another 20. Proceeded to roll almost max HP.
I went from 22 HP with DR 2/- to -30 HP in one hit (the only hit I'd taken that session). The party would have been creamed if the healer hadn't remembered his Tanglefoot Bag and managed to actually fully entangle the Ogre Barbarian. The party fled, and I and the NPC rogue were the only casualties.
Man, I'm glad I died saving the party and all, but that was absolutely sick how that all worked. And I'll always appreciate how darn useful the Disable power is. We were able to dispatch four ogres thanks to it.
I have traditionally DMed far more than I play, so I only have one death as a player which I'd truly call "epic." It wasn't saving the party or anything, it was just... well, amazing.
First, let me say I play mages. Always. I just love spellcasters. Well, this was one of two exceptions to date, both being half-orc barbarians. Since I was the only one with any level of FR knowledge whatsoever, all that being gleaned from the 3e FRCS and the PC Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights series, I named this character Baghtru since no one else would get the name. He was as dumb as a rock, but he carried a biiiiig axe and could hit reeeally hard.
The party was split when Baghtru came into the game. Baghtru met up with a warmage in the wilderness, that warmage being one of the other PCs who had gone off to a remote fortress for training and now was traveling back to meet up with his companions. Baghtru was a moron who would often see a pretty flower or a bunny and wander after it into the wilds. I don't remember whether the other people were NPCs or temporary characters rolled up to travel with the warmage while the party was split, and thus keep all the players together even with separated PCs (it was probably the later). Either way, they would realize some time later that their version of Lenny was gone, and then they would have to go find him. This usually involved lots of pain, and rarely for Baghtru. I remember the warmage nearly got killed by a pack of displacer beasts once. The only danger I remember Baghtru himself getting into was a tendriculous which nearly ate him, but he managed to fell the beast.
So, the caravan of fools finally makes it back to a city where the warmage hopes to meet up with his companions again. Of course, being a city limit isn't going to stop Baghtru from getting distracted and wandering off. While alone and unsupervised in the streets (never a good thing), a pickpocket tried to filch off the half-orc. Baghtru wasn't fast enough to catch him as the boy started running away, so the half-orc pulled out his longbow and shot him in the back, killing him. I never said Baghtru was a morally responsible person, now, did I?
Soon, Baghtru was in a cell for murder, but he didn't stay there long. A corrupt official in the city watch helped run an illicit fighting club, and realized Baghtru's potential. He sold the half-orc as a combatant, and Baghtru was soon enjoying the combative life again, regularly being escorted from his cell and led to the clandestine arena, killing people and monsters while others passed bets around him, and then going back to his cell. Ah, the good days.
It couldn't last, though. Baghtru became the main event at the arena, and the crowd called for more and more death-defying battles for their favorite half-orc. This eventually led to a one-on-one fight with a gray render. Now, Baghtru was maybe 7th level or so. This was a very serious fight. Not that Baghtru realized that or cared.
The battle went in the half-orcs favor until the critical hit was rolled. It's always a critical that makes these kinds of stories, isn't it? Well, the orc didn't make the critical, he got hit with it. And the DM was using some critical hit chart he found online. He rolled for the critical's effect. Off came Baghtru's arm. The now-maimed half-orc was left standing agog with his greataxe in the remaining arm, and no second hand to weild it with. I asked the DM for the penalty swinging one-handed, and he ruled the standard -4 for nonproficiency with this use of the weapon. I could deal with that.
That wasn't the dying part. Amazingly, the idiot brute won that fight, leaving the arena with a dead gray render and an arm behind him. He received some healing, and perhaps there was even a regenerate spell in the works. Baghtru never got it. Now is the part with the dying.
That afternoon, Baghtru heard a strange noise outside his cell. Looking into the street, he saw his warmage friend, along with two other people Baghtru didn't know. They were fighting. There was a swarm of weird gargoyle-like creatures attacking them (custom made creatures out of the dark mind of that DM). Baghtru's friend was in danger! At that moment, Baghtru's "handler" came in and started talking to the half-orc. I have no clue what the guy said anymore, but I do know it made Baghtru made. Really mad. A moment later, Baghtru was beating the bloody remnants of the man's corpse against the wall, then threw him aside and used his berserk strength to bend the bars of the cell window, ripping bricks out along with the iron, and leaping through in a surging rush of blood and green-gray flesh. He landed in the middle of the fight, a one-armed half-orc swinging his greataxe in his single hand wildly. He mowed down one or two of the flying monsters, fighting to reach his friend, but then they swarmed him. Already damaged from the fall, and perhaps still a little from the gray render (I don't recall), Baghtru fell beneath their vicious claws.
Then the warmage also died. So, in the end, the only PCs left were the ones who had never met and knew nothing about Baghtru. The players knew everything, but from the PC's perspective, strange monsters had swooped to attack them in the city street, only for an iron-barred window high in a tower, moments later, to explode out a one-armed, greataxe-weilding half-orc, who fell to the ground, chopped wildly at the monsters, and then died, and thanks to the death of the warmage seconds afterwards, it all happened with no explanation whatsoever.
Like I said, it was just amazing.
The most spectacular one was long ago in a 1st edition game, when fireballs still filled every room and corridor until the total area size was reached. The characters were in a maze, attacked by a goblin. The party wizard had just reached level 5 and had just acquired fireball. He was itching to cast it, so he did, and it raged all through the labyrinth. It ended in a total party kill (and the death of all the goblins nearby). They really went out with a blast!
How about an absolutely pointless but nonetheless epic death?
A few years ago, while playing in a 3.5 Dark Sun game (best game evar!) we finished up one leg of our epic adventure and after barely surviving the fight with the BBEG we are essentially treated to a "cinematic". The DM narrates the scene of the city almost falling to ruins before us as we all run down the streets to escape. He then randomly has someone roll a reflex save. The rogue fails...on a natural one. He is crushed by a wall. There's no reason for him to have died, we should have healed up but we just didn't think about it; we thought the adventure was OVER!!!