An Open Challenge - Assassination

[SilverSlasher]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for some thoughts on the most creative (and effective) way to kill of an unsuspecting party member, and not necessarily as a godly DM. If there was someone in the party you absolutely hated and wanted to off, how would you go about doing it?

Keep in mind that there are 2-3 other party members and you can only get the help of one of them. I'm looking for methods using poisons, traps, stealth ambushes, or plain old hilarious ways to die. The end goal: find the most indisputable way so that the person has no alternative but to say "Well, you got me! Time to re-roll."

EDIT:
This isn't meant to be spiteful or bastardly. I have a player who wants to transition to another character he rolled up and likes better. I just wanted a better way to remove the "old" character that isn't as boring as just walking away, never to be seen again.

[Signmaker]

Ghost Template. Possession. Seppuku.

[Yukitsu]

"Hand me your character sheet. Rocks fall, you die." Then light the sheet on fire.

Not sure why you'd want to play with a DM that does that though. Frankly, if my DM did that I'd pummel him.

[Keld Denar]

Just adventure until the person is near a cliff, then...bullrush him off? Make sure its a high cliff. Above spikes. And make sure those spikes have spikes on them. And those spikes are on fire. And those fires are made up of smaller fires which burn.

And then go look up Saph's rules of D&D. Follow rule 1. If you don't like rule 1, consult rule 2.

[erikun]

Any DM can kill and PC at any time.

I mean, you could have an epic level Arcane Archer fire a bane disintegrate seeker death arrow from literally several continents away, if you wanted. I'm just not sure why you'd want to.

[NEO|Phyte]

Take a night watch, Coup de Grace the weenie with the most critacular weapon you have that won't be obviously linked to you. Loot the guy if it tickles your fancy, take some of the now-available blood, make a bloody mess of the camp, get out of sight of the camp, scream bloody murder until you hear the others waking up, then head for the nearest town.

[mcl01]

Coup de Grace while the party is sleeping. If you can silence the Coup de Gracer, even better. No one will even hear the struggle. Anyone with a good str score and a x3 or x4 weapon works well. A cleric with 14 str, and a spear. Cast Bull's Strength, Cast Silence. Both 2nd level spells, so this can be done at level 3. An effective +4 Str bonus w/ a 2H weapon, automatic x3 Crit.

3d8+18 damage, averaging 31.5 damage. If that doesn't kill him, the DC ~41 fort save will.

EDIT: NINJAS.

[Altima]

Poisoned seat cushions! If it works in 40k, it can work in D&D.

[Kaziel]

Sorry for asking it this way, but this seems pretty low to me...

Is it the character itself or the player? If it's the former, then you need to check if this type of character is the norm for that player (whether you like them or not).

If it is the latter, or the player usually makes these types of characters, you need to be less passive-aggresive about dealing with the problem. Killing off someone who's a regular member of your group because you don't like their playstyle or who they are won't fix it and they'll just make another character who's similar and the problem will repeat itself endlessly until there's a massive drama-splosion.

If it's just the character (and not the player) that is a problem, may I ask why? Is it an OP power combo? Too strong a weapon? Just not a fit to the campaign (A "ca-razy" CN character in a campaign about justice and law). If this is the case, have you tried talking to them about it and they are adamant on not changing? If so, becareful... because the player might see through your "clever ruse" in that you were singling them out and (rightfully?) throw a hissy fit about it.

[BenTheJester]

Take a night watch, Coup de Grace the weenie with the most critacular weapon you have that won't be obviously linked to you. Loot the guy if it tickles your fancy, take some of the now-available blood, make a bloody mess of the camp, get out of sight of the camp, scream bloody murder until you hear the others waking up, then head for the nearest town.

that sucks, that's most easy way to do it.

from what I can see, he wants a funny way to kill him.

[Kallisti]

Sorry for asking it this way, but this seems pretty low to me...

Is it the character itself or the player? If it's the former, then you need to check if this type of character is the norm for that player (whether you like them or not).

If it is the latter, or the player usually makes these types of characters, you need to be less passive-aggresive about dealing with the problem. Killing off someone who's a regular member of your group because you don't like their playstyle or who they are won't fix it and they'll just make another character who's similar and the problem will repeat itself endlessly until there's a massive drama-splosion.

If it's just the character (and not the player) that is a problem, may I ask why? Is it an OP power combo? Too strong a weapon? Just not a fit to the campaign (A "ca-razy" CN character in a campaign about justice and law). If this is the case, have you tried talking to them about it and they are adamant on not changing? If so, becareful... because the player might see through your "clever ruse" in that you were singling them out and (rightfully?) throw a hissy fit about it.

You ninja'd the words right out of my mouth. On the other hand, poisoned seat cushions is a good idea...

[Eldariel]

Be a Frenzied Berserker. Carry acid flasks that might break while travelling around. Have a relatively poor Will-save. Travel near the guy you want dead. Nature will take care of the rest.

[Kizara]

Be a Frenzied Berserker. Carry acid flasks that might break while travelling around. Have a relatively poor Will-save. Travel near the guy you want dead. Nature will take care of the rest.

So awesome and so true.

Frank: I walk beside Steve.

Steve: Ah.... I go to the back.

Frank: I also go to the back.

Steve: Wha? Why?

Frank: No reason.... ok fine, I want to protect you (from continuing to live).

Steve: What was that?!

Frank: Hey look a dragon! *RAAAWRG!!* *Splats Steve*

Steve: Wow, ##%@ YOU!

Frank: :smallbiggrin: :smallwink:

[FMArthur]

Polymorph -> Swallow Whole.

Hilarious.

[Seffbasilisk]

I was always a fan of a paralytic, dousing them in oil, and just burning until nothing is left. Smelly, yes, but not so messy if you do it right.

[Ravens_cry]

I was always a fan of a paralytic, dousing them in oil, and just burning until nothing is left. Smelly, yes, but not so messy if you do it right.

But how do I get the grease splatters out of my carpet? And the smell of burnt meat and hair, ugh, that's not going away. Fabreze can only do so much!
Jokes aside, this is dumb. Stupid even. Small minded and infantile. If you have a problem with the character or the player, or something they did, discuss it with the player. Don't go on some immature DM power trip unless you want to be on the fast track to the the realm of Worst DM. It doesn't help, and it only makes you look like a jerk. There are other ways of dealing with these kinds of issues then being a twit.

[TheCountAlucard]

Be resistant to fire. Binder works, with the right vestiges, as does starting out as a Tiefling. Being decent at grappling helps, too.

Light yourself on fire.

Grapple your target.

[Harperfan7]

Polymorph -> Swallow Whole.

Hilarious.

Indeed sir.

But seriously (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahlboyd/2382302779/), unless it's part of the story and NOT a punishment, this is retarded.

If it is part of the story and not a punishment, then literally, what's better than a buffed up sniper assassin (as in, the pretige class)? All the pcs will know is that an arrow flew out of nowhere and all the sudden steve is dead.

[Keld Denar]

Once again, I refer you to Saph's rules of the game.

Rule 1: Don't be a douche
Rule 2: When in doubt? See rule 1.

Everything else is just details.

[FMArthur]

Wait, is this for use application in a real game? My suggestion doesn't work, then. Most things are immune to being eaten. The best method of assassination is certainly to bind your limbs and make a big show of being helpless at your enemy's feat.

[Raewyn]

I've got a problem player of my own (he plays a scout/ranger named Sephiroth :smallmad:). Here is my (now shelved) plan to kill him. My character is a halfling Beguiler 5/Mindbender 4 by the by.

Step 1: Charm a relatively powerful evil creature (mine is a Juvenile red dragon).

Step 2: Get the problem character next to the dragon.

Step 3: Cast Glibness. If a party member ask what's going on, tell him it's a buff of one kind or another. With a Bluff modifier of +45, he should buy it.

Step 4: Cast Hold Person. Works best if he has a terrible will save (it makes it even easier if you *rebuilt* the dummy's character because he can't read the BAB prereq for Arcane Archer :smallamused:)

Step 5: Telepathically tell the dragon to Coup de Grace Idiot McIdioterson.

Step 6: Once the party inevitably gets pissy at you/your minion, defuse the situation with 80 - 100 minutes of Glibness. Explain that your poor dragon hasn't eaten in days and the elf mortally offended some of his dragon sensibilities. If the party asks for details, make stuff up. It'll be fun!

Step 7: Convince the party not to have him raised (it helps to be dating the party druid). :smallredface:

Step 8: Celebrate!

[erikun]

Step 7: Convince the party not to have him raised (it helps to be dating the party druid). :smallredface:
Better yet, have him reincarnated. Repeat steps 1-6 if the reincarnation isn't humilliating enough. :smallamused:

[Raewyn]

Better yet, have him reincarnated. Repeat steps 1-6 if the reincarnation isn't humilliating enough. :smallamused:

Fair 'nough. This plan was back when his character was awful (Scout 6/Wizard 1/Arcane Archer 2; he actually didn't have enough BAB to run it) and I was hoping that the party not wanting to have him raised (no one else really likes him either) and the druid refusing to sacrifice XP for Reincarnate (he has a Vow of Poverty) would force him to reroll. Now that his character build doesn't suck, I'm actually trying to deal with him as a person (which is harder than it sounds). :smallfurious:

[SilverSlasher]

A response to some of the replies posted:
This isn't meant to be spiteful or bastardly. I have a player who wants to transition to another character he rolled up and likes better. I just wanted a better way to remove the "old" character that isn't as boring as just walking away, never to be seen again.

Isn't it better to have an old character die in an epic fashion? Sort of like a last farewell.

[Telonius]

Ah, so you want him to go out with a bang. What class is he? If he's a spellcaster, it'll be a little easier. Super-powerful bad guys approach. Cast Hypnotic Pattern, which (amazingly) functions. "I'll hold them off. Go!"

[SilverSlasher]

Ah, so you want him to go out with a bang. What class is he? If he's a spellcaster, it'll be a little easier. Super-powerful bad guys approach. Cast Hypnotic Pattern, which (amazingly) functions. "I'll hold them off. Go!"

Well, not necessarily a bang. It could be a "splorch!". The character is a human ranger 6/longwoods sniper 6 so they really like making pincushions out of targets.

[Human Paragon 3]

You could give him a cursed item that takes over his personality and makes him into an NPC. Then, if you want, it could make him into a super powerful bad guy and part of the team's new quest could be freeing him from the curse or killing him. Have him take the sword (or whatever) glow with power, start cackling, drop a couple blasphemies or contagions then teleport away.

[Farlion]

If he wants to go, give him a heroic death! A death the party will still talk about in 3 years!

Have him hold off hundereds of enemies, while the rest of the party flees.

Have him jump on a dragons back and be taken high above the clouds. The last thing the party sees, is a dead dragon dropping to the floor some 10 miles away!

Have him distract a large foe and run off with it into the woods, away from the party.

Have him sacrifice his soul to an evil lich, killing the lich (and himself) but saving the party!


Heroic deaths are awesome! Talk to your player, find a way to give him a cue, when it's his time to go. Then just make his death as awesome as you can!

Cheers,
Farlion

[WeeFreeMen]

Step 1) Hog-Tie individual in their sleep! (Dont forget the gag! ^_^d)
*Bonus points if its a silence spell centered on them.
Step 2) Grab yourself a portable hole (For the low price of 20k!)
*On the cheap end a bag of holding might do fine.
Step 3) Insert individual into said extra-dimensional space, count to 601
*You now have an unconscious piece of meat at your disposal
Step 4) Now you have 2 options, you can wait another 300 seconds until his brain is deprived of oxygen long enough to be a vegetable or you can screw with his head.
*Personally Id go with option 4.5
Step 4.5) Tie him up to some heavy rope behind your newly bought carriage pulled by 4 warhorses. Give about 10-15 ft of rope lead, and proceed to drag him behind the carriage going 30+ mph, while watching the road or lack there of peal off his skin.
*Wouldn't that be fun to wake up too.
Step 5) Ask the party druid to heal him every-so often so that this fun time can last EVEN LONGER! (He will thank you later? :p )

???Profit???

^_^d

[Cyclocone]

Portable hole + bag of holding. Do it in his sleep. Or make a trap with it.

Sovereign glue. So many applications. Like glueing him to the Tarrasque and setting it on fire. Or glueing his mouth and nose together.

Illithids. You can't go wrong with Illithids.

Sphere of Annihilation. You know what to do.

Ring of three wishes. Cue the fire.

A Druid Did It. With Bombardment. "Rocks fall..."

[kestrel404]

Use it to generate plot. Or, if you have enough plot, use it to hook into the current plot.

If you've got a handy 'sneaky bad NPC', have them poison the PC.
For a fighter, challenge them to a duel.
For a wizard, challenge them to a duel (and then polymorph into a dragon).

I have always been a fan of 'gain fire resistence, coat armor in lamp oil, light self on fire, hug enemies to death'. Ever since I played a pyromaniac halfling rogue (who's ORIGINAL purpose for the ring of fire resistence was for when he failed his reflex save after saying "UMD Wand: I fireball my feet!").

And, most comedic and memorable way to die in D&D: being served a 'Pudding' by an evil innkeep/assassin and then having it eat you.

[Xenogears]

So he is really good at shooting stuff? Fuse his legs to a stone tower and leave him there to spend eternity shooting anything that gets too close.

[BigPapaSmurf]

The PCs enter the small town and pass a small park where some children are playing war with sticks, crude wicker shields and little hand made bows and arrows. One of the smaller children with a tiny bow runs over in front of the PCs and says "Stick em' up!" and pretends to be a robber/brigande. After a short discussion the boy fires a slow and wobbly arrow at the target PC, scratching him/her. The arrow is a slaying arrow of the PC's type.

As a bonus, after the PC falls over dead, the kid can run up and steal something from his corpse then run off.

[Ravens_cry]

Sacrifice a BBEG you have been saving up, and have them characters fight them ,subtly twisting the fight so the character dies heroically fighting them, taking the BBEG with them. Then work up a man behind the man plot so the story can continue.

[boomwolf]

Cooler then "Walks away, never to be seen again." is "Walks away, will be back as a bad guy."

Try that, it was used on my assassin when I changed into a gnome artificer (with a gun) it was quite funny to see my old char try to kill my new one.


Another option to remove a party member undetected is using summoning in privet, telling whatever you summoned to wait and later on attack the one you want to rid of. it will work eventually. especially if he is badly wounded.

[Scarlet Tropix]

Have a doppleganger commit various horrible crimes in his name while staying in a town where execution is taken without due process. Accidentally get him captured. Accidentally come too late for the rescuing.

[erikun]

This isn't meant to be spiteful or bastardly. I have a player who wants to transition to another character he rolled up and likes better.
Aha, okay. I think I get it now.

Well, one way is to push the plot foward. Have the new player join the group, and as they're heading to the next dungeon, the Big Evil Bastard shows up and disintegrates the doomed character to show how Big and Evil he is. That, or the mysterious Arrow From the Dark which dissolves the character's body into pulpy mess - who did this? Why? The characters will want to know, and will probably be motivated to find out.

Death in Heroic Battle is a classic, especially if the character was someone who tried to be awesome or was a strong melee fighter. It will take longer to get rid of him, though - dying while holding off the horde at the gates of Mordor isn't quite the same as being overrun by wolves at camping spot #67.

Finally, does he need to die? I like using ex-PCs for the story, either still working towards the overreaching save-the-world plot (working better on their own, probably helping the party when they meet again) or retiring due to some injury, and providing a place to stay/store valuables/gather information.

[Fuzzy_Juan]

Hmm...
"while scouting ahead you find a small dungeon room with a broken pedestal. You notice strange glyphs on the wall and a placard from the broken pedestal on the floor with more of the strange glyphs, under the glyphs on the wall you see scrawled the words 'Behind the loose rock' with an arrow pointing down and to the side where a rock does seem to be loose."
(assuming he looks)
"behind the rock, you find a small jet black figurine of a duck with a slight sheen to it."

(The duck appears non magical, even under detect magic, analyze dweomer will allow a spellcraft DC(high?) check to notice a hidden necromantic aura, else it shows as slight transmutation (or whatever else the wonderous figurines show up as). If the character picks up the duck, skip to the next part, else read the following, "You feel a strange compulsion, as if the figure calls to you." Have the character make a will save DC say...30 or pick up the duck...insure he will pick it up barring a 20)

"When your hands wrap around the duck you notice it's eyes glow red and you feel a searing pain shoot through your body as if your very soul is being devoured, you reflexively try to drop the figure but to your horror realize that the sheen must be some form of powerful adhesive."(suffer 1d4 negative levels every round until dead or a limited wish or break enchantment is cast. If you die, your body is turned to ash and your soul is Imprisoned per the spell Imprisonment within the duck)

-----------------------

Things should be timed to that the party may have one round, maybe two to try and save him...or maybe just see him be disintegrated and his soul absorbed into the duck. The glyphs on the wall and placard should be in a language the player to die does not posess but someone else has...

Placard: The Duck of Doom

Wall: You should know better than to pick up a duck in a dungeon.

:smallbiggrin:

I play way too much munchkin :smalltongue:

[Kaziel]

Okay, thanks for clarifying why you wanted to do it. After I posted, I had a thought that it might be something along those lines, but I figured I'd just wait for your reply. :)

Anyway, as erikun said, an epic death is a great way to go, but does he have to die? Does the player really want the character to bite it, or is he okay with his character becoming an uber NPC?

Either way, whatever happens should promote the plot. One possibility for him to die is to have him hold off the BBEG when he finds the heroes and gives chase. In this scenario you'd have him standing in a narrow place where the BBEGs minions would have to come at them one at a time as he slowly backs up. Something like a long rope bridge over a deep gorge. Then as they come at him one at a time, he slowly picks them off until they overwhelm him. Maybe when he's close to death, he could sacrifice himself by shooting out the bridge and taking all the minions with him (this would require help from the player, but could really create an epic scene and give the other players a deep hatred of the enemy for forcing their friend to die).

Another option is in line with erikun's idea about the character becoming an NPC, is having him become an enemy. Something suddenly is brought to light, and he went off on his own to investigate. This shed a different light on the situation, showing that the noble endeavor that the party is attempting has some unintended side effects (“Yes, you will save the king and queen of the Elven nation of Agalon, but in the process the human nation of Kadorlin will starve!”). As a result, he joins the BBEG's plot and acts as a major enemy for the party (after some buffing up of course).

The inverse of this idea is that he is blackmailed into working with the BBEG (again will require him to work with you, the DM). Maybe he has a wife, child, parent, other family member, friend or something else that is close to him. Maybe he loves his village. Something that is near and dear to his heart. Next time the party is in town, or someplace where he can get separated from his allies (could work this into the next dungeon too), have him encounter the BBEG. The BBEG then reveals that he has this “thing he loves” captured or in jeopardy. He then unwillingly joins the villain’s plan as a major encounter (if not the final encounter) for that dungeon. This will create a doubly hard encounter for them because they want to talk him back to the “good side” without killing him. You could intersperse skill checks to get him to see that no good will come of his while combat takes place. Then afterwards, it gives the party a good side quest as they go to save this valued thing, allowing him to retire his character happily (having realized the true value of this thing), and his new character will have integrated himself into the party.

[Barmacral]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for some thoughts on the most creative (and effective) way to kill of an unsuspecting party member, and not necessarily as a godly DM. If there was someone in the party you absolutely hated and wanted to off, how would you go about doing it?

Keep in mind that there are 2-3 other party members and you can only get the help of one of them. I'm looking for methods using poisons, traps, stealth ambushes, or plain old hilarious ways to die. The end goal: find the most indisputable way so that the person has no alternative but to say "Well, you got me! Time to re-roll."

EDIT:
This isn't meant to be spiteful or bastardly. I have a player who wants to transition to another character he rolled up and likes better. I just wanted a better way to remove the "old" character that isn't as boring as just walking away, never to be seen again.

Reading the first post, it sounds like the other characters don't like this one and want him killed off. Something like sneak into a hotel room and do a Coup de Grace attack perhaps? As soon as a fight is over have the group turn on him?

[ondonaflash]

A personal favorite is a trap I saw in oblivion. Have them carve their way through a fortress, and have the final room contain a throne. One character will almost certainly sit on the throne. When they do, have the seat shift slightly, then a spring loaded, 5 ft spike explodes from the rock underneath the seat and impales them bottom to top!

AHAHAHAHAHA!>:)

[fryplink]

go into a cave of death, have helper-member sugest splitting the part, annoying opponent goes in cave with all not-helper party members, 4 sympathetic vibrations later, crushed fighter