There are three of us in the party I'm currently in that have a deeply entwined backstory. Two of our characters are essentially a team that is relationally codependent. We're still at low enough level that a Raise Dead and Reincarnation are likely out of reach.
We've had several conversations irl about the likely behaviors of the 3 characters if any should die. The conclusion is that certain death combinations would likely cause the remaining member(s) to NPC out, due to heartbreak, sense of failure or lack of interest in adventuring.
My question is: has anyone ever NPC'd a character purely for RP purposes, despite enjoying the character? How'd it play out?