1001 ways to introduce a character in the middle of a dungeon!

[Rorrik]

51 - Sleeping Beauty The new PC his found beside a pool-of-water-of-eternal-sleep/magic-spinning-wheel/toad-stools-of-rest and upon being awakened is willing to join the quest.

52 - Clever Stone The party finds a small sentient stone on a corpse. The stone has plenty of attitude and tells them he's a person cursed to be in stone form. The only way to change back is to be placed on an altar in this dungeon, he was so close until the idiot corpse they found him on got himself killed.

[Logic]

New PC is a bounty hunter, determined to bring someone to the local authorities (it could be the PCs, depending on their track record.) He agrees to help finish the dungeon since the party can't go on without him, and he can not tackle the bounty alone. The bounty target may instead be the dungeon boss, or under-boss, or even a simple mook hireling of the enemy, or the party!

New PC is a courier of messages, and has tracked the PCs to deliver an important one to them. Then he gets trapped in the dungeon with the party.

[Erik Vale]

Just pointing out, many of these are repeats, please refrain (especially on the first page)

[Logic]

Just pointing out, many of these are repeats, please refrain (especially on the first page)

I specifically read the whole thread to avoid repeats. I don't think everyone was as careful.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Most 1001 X lists have at least a few repeats. If not outright repeats, then at least a few that are close enough that they might as well be.

[TuggyNE]

Just pointing out, many of these are repeats, please refrain (especially on the first page)

The number of "last survivor of other party" variants is amusing, and impressive.

[falloutimperial]

53- Deposed Dungeonlord The party encounters the previous owner of the dungeon who would have been their adversary if he were not evicted.

54- Good Twin the party prepares to ambush the BBEG when they instead find a magical clone who knows there can only be one.

55- Reserved For Retcon The new PC knows why they are in a dank dungeon, but they don't feel like sharing. It may become a plotpoint later.

56- Becoming the Mask Adventurers encounter the person they planned to fight, only to find a change of heart, misunderstanding, or large mutual threat causes the antagonist to become a protagonist and learn to love, etc.

[Killer Angel]

Classic is Classic.

[eulmanis12]

57.
From the tunnel ahead the PCs hear shouts, orc war cries, and the sounds of battle. One voice stands out above the rest. "Stand your ground you cowards! If you run we're all dead! Bowmen, target the chieftan! Pikes plug that gap! XII Legion (or whatever you want to call the group) rally to me!", as the pcs begin moving towards the sounds the hear a giant crash and the same voice shouts "Gods above! What is that thing" there is an ear splitting roar "Its wiped out the pikes, Bowmen! concentrate your arrows on that THING! Swords with me! CHARGE!" By this point the pcs should be running as fast as they can towards the battle. if you want, lone or pairs of human soldiers can run past them in the opposite direction, refusing to stop and talk, or saying things like, "GANGWAY!" or "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" . The PC's finally reach the end of the tunnel which opens into a large cavern. Bodies of human soldiers and orc warriors are everywhere. At the far end a massive (Insert favorite monster) is fighting a few dozen humans. There is a massive hole in the cieling that the monster aparently came in through, and the far wall appears to not be a wall but a pile of rubble. There are a few random orcs all retreating out an different tunnel from the one the PCs came through. The PC's should join the fight, during which most/all of the humans, except their leader, should either be killed or run away, and the monster should cause the tunnel the PC's used to collapse. The commander, and whatever troops of his remain agree to join the PCs. Their reason for being in the tunnel in the first place was that they were sent in to wipe out an orc tribe that shelters on the other side of the cavern (blocked now by the cave in), they came in through a tunnel that is now buried under the rubble. The only way out is now forwards.

[Rorrik]

58. Marriage Trouble The spouse of one of the party members shows up looking for them. Surprisingly, he or she is the perfect level and class to replace the lost party member. Could make for some interesting role-playing interactions.

59. Metamorphasis Complete The party finds a cocoon. Within it is the new PC. He can be any race, especially a made up race. He's just finished growing and is perfectly ripe for participation in the party.

[TuggyNE]

59. Metamorphasis Complete The party finds a cocoon. Within it is the new PC. He can be any race, especially a made up race. He's just finished growing and is perfectly ripe for participation in the party.

This would work ridiculously well if the new PC happens to be a 3.5 Dragonborn.

[RandomNPC]

60: Tree Born
Using a Qualls Feather Token, Tree of course, the new party member falls from the branches.

My group was so confused.

[Bucky]

61. An adventurer was tracking a monster back to its lair and followed it through the dungeon's handy back door. He then got lost and ran into the party.

62. An adventurer was fighting something above the dungeon when it bull-rushed him into a conveniently placed shaft.

[JetThomasBoat]

59. Metamorphasis Complete The party finds a cocoon. Within it is the new PC. He can be any race, especially a made up race. He's just finished growing and is perfectly ripe for participation in the party.

This puts me in mind of a lot of the goofy characters you get in Chrono Cross, like finding Draggy in his egg, using the shark tooth amulet to make the voodoo straw man thing come to life, finding Pip in a cage in a scientist's lab, finding Neo-Fio on the terrace of the same scientist's research base, pouring magic water on a burned spot of ground to get Turnip.

63. The Experiment. Have the dungeon they're going through have some kind of magical laboratory that was either in an abandoned wing (so the other baddies in the dungeon haven't gotten to it first) or just have the magical researcher have stepped out for something or maybe designing something against his will. Either way, the PCs would stumble across the experimental creature on the table. The bumbling comic relief rogue trips over a lever or the numb skull barbarian tries to hit a fly with his axe and breaks a gearbox. Suddenly the [warforged/intelligent plant/animated doll] sits up from the table and doesn't know what's going on. For added fun, maybe the new PC thinks of whoever activated it as its father or something.

[The Succubus]

64. "UPS. Can you sign here please?" and he refuses to leave the party without the signature.

[Dublock]

59. Metamorphasis Complete The party finds a cocoon. Within it is the new PC. He can be any race, especially a made up race. He's just finished growing and is perfectly ripe for participation in the party.

I would totally do this, and the character would be known as "Queen of Blades." (She is one of my favorite characters...)

65. The party prays to their God for a replacement and the god picks a person and summons him/her to them (Opposite of someone else's, but it works :P)

[eepop]

When a character dies, they are erased from time. As such, another character was with the party all along.

Its kind of a campaign wide thing, but we tried it out once in a time travel/dimenson travel ish game, and it worked out in an interesting manner.

[Manly Man]

66. The new character is under the impression that they're a bard, and constantly sings "On The Road Again." While they sing, they pay little attention to their surroundings, and happen to have wandered in and ran intot he party by accident.

[Doorhandle]

One instance I remember reading here was just having the new character fall out of the sky and crush the party member he was replacing...

Have ALL the cookies, that made me laugh out loud.

*See that hobgoblin? The third one on the right? HE'S A SPAH! Fortunately, this spy was never really on the hobgoblin's side, and joins your party.

*The new P.C has been waiting in ambush for a passing group of orcs for DAYS, and springs out at the P.Cs, stopping instantly when he realises that they're not a threat, and decided to just kill the orcs the fun way: with the party.

* The character owes a life debet to one of the other P.Cs, but was running late and only just caught up with the rest of them.

* A horde of goblins seem to be charging at the players... and then runs right past them in a blind panic. Turns out, they were running from the new P.C.

*Dynamic entry! a player enters with a completely awesome *BOOTTOTHEHEAD* on the biggest, baddest guy in the room, and then joins your party.

*In a more high-leveled campaign: a character was knocked flying from a particularly impressive blow, and landed several miles away, into the dungeon.

*The character is encountered in a particular compromising position, such as while in the bathroom, having intercourse where and with something one really shouldn't have intercourse in/with or singing show-tunes in the shower (badly), and after sheepishly covering up, joins the party out of embarrassment and to prevent blackmail.


edit: *The party arrive to a group of cultist summoning a demon, and were too late, the portal to the abyss already opened... and then the summoned demon falls through, stone dead, with the new P.C standing on his back with his sword through the demon's skull, smiling proudly as if he was a toddler showing a new drawing to his mother.

[Daftendirekt]

The current party walks into a room to find a privy made of solid silver. They lift up the toilet seat to find a deep pit which is quite clean. At the bottom is my character. When pulled out, he has no memory of how he got there because the memory was ripped out of his skull by the creator of the dungeon.

[JustSomeGuy]

Like the terminator, preferably naked in a rowdy outlaw horseman's tavern.

[The Random NPC]

The new PC wanders in, greeting everyone by name. Turns out he's a bit unobservant and has confused your party with his.

[genderlich]

The new PC is the assassin sent to kill the old PC. Works best if nobody really liked the old one, or if he had a shady past.

[nedz]

69.Infatuated Lover.
The new character has been stalking one of the PCs for ages. Bonus points if the PC targeted by the stalker is not the one who just died.

[Mono Vertigo]

70. The party dodges/deactivates a trap (bonus points if that same trap just killed their companion), and finds another adventurer who was stuck because of it. S/he's the sole survivor of her/his own group. Why not make the best of a guy/gal prepared enough to survive god-knows-how-long in that particular situation?

[Hopeless]

71: Female Conan: You're slowly approaching town when the sound of yelling reaches your ears, rushing forward you witness the end of a fierce punch up between a group of local hoods and what looks like a very athletic and muscular barbarian youth.
The thugs run off as they see you approaching and as you get closer you suddenly realise the barbarian is actually a woman albeit flat chested and clad in rags that look like the remains of whatever armour she's been using.
She asks you for directions whilst cleaning her hands on a portion of one of the thugs discarded cloaks shifting her axe and sword as she does so.
Funnily she's heading in the same direction as you are and is apparently keen on hunting down someone you'd like a hand with... what are the odds?

72: Halfling Sorceror: In front of you a bizarre flash of light that seems to hang in the air for a moment before a deluge of water splashes on the ground before you and as the light dissipates a figure tumbles out and rolls across the ground before sitting up.
"Thats the last time I trust a wand of wonder... hey where are you guys?" he asks curiously finally noticing he's alone and then notices you.
"Oh hello, any idea where here is do you?" he asks.

72: Acolyte: You walk up to the disused church and find someone sweeping the front steps.
He appears quite old and clad in simple clothing and as you approach he looks up and stops sweeping.
"Is this about those goblins I chased off last week, because I swear they looked like they were looking for trouble..." he shrugs a little shamefaced.
"Okay they found some even if they didn't expect it but what do you do when the little beggars start running around with lit torches you know they're all arsonists and i was getting tired with repatching the roof..."

[Lemmy]

73: Foundations: The dungeon, (or at least one of its rooms) is actually the basement of the newcomer's house, and he/she just came downstairs to store some old stuff that he/she doesn't use anymore.

74: World Champion: The newcomer comes out of a very well hidden secret passage. He/She then proclaims "I knew I could win this!". A golden belt with the "Hide-and-Seek World Champion" magically appears around his/her waist.

75: Save Point: The PCs approach a luminous floating question mark. They stay around it for a few seconds, without moving at all. The newcomer pops into existence beside them.

76 The Hangover: The PCs enter a room where the newcomer is just waking up, apparently suffering from a terrible headache. He/She looks arounds with a confused expression on his/her face and says "Dude, where is my horse?"
(Actually used this one. Spent a whole campaign trying to find that damn horse. In the end, turns out it was in the backyard of the BBEG.)

[Lemmy]

Oh! Oh! One more! one more!

76: Mirror Mirror on the Wall: The PCs enter a room with a huge mirror. The mirros shows the perfect reflection of whatever is in the room. Plus one unkown person. This unkown person comes closer to the mirror, saying something (lipreading reveals he/she is saying something like "Why don't I have a reflection?").

When he/she touches the mirror, he instead falls into the real world. The PCs' reflections don't do anything other than mimic their real-world counterparts.

The newcomer has no reflection at all in this mirror. When he touches it, nothing happens, all tests, divinations and etc point out the mirror as being completelly mundane. Whatever the case, the newcomer knows the party quite well, as if he/she has been part of the group for a quite a while.

The newcomer may or may not have a reflection on other mirrors.

[SgtCarnage92]

77. The Starchild-As the players are exploring the dungeon they come into a massive cavern. The ceiling torn asunder as if by some great explosion. In the center of the cavern sits what appears to be a giant metal egg. Two stories tall it towers above the party and as they approach, azure lines appear across its surface. Soon a section of the ship slides away and the players are blinded by a brilliant light. The light fades as a figure appears in the portal, bathed in the light from inside his vessel...He steps down toward the players, a new visitor on an alien world. A new life to begin escaping some fate he wishes to forget...

78. Aww, can we keep him?- The players walk into the room and the walls are covered in viscera from some recent combat, the distinct smell of blood and sweat mixing in the players noses. Body parts and what's left of corpses lay strewn across the room. In the middle of the room sits a cat casually cleaning blood out it's silky white fur. It walks toward the party and in a incredibly high pitched and squeaky voice, "it's about time someone showed up. Now could one of you change me back?"

[Jack of Spades]

79. Mum sends her love. Also do you have any food? How about that couch at your place, do you still have that? Your sibling has, for whatever reason, been sent (possibly by his own divinations, maybe by his recent unemployment, most likely by your parents) to help you out. Or possibly to mooch off of you. It's up to you. Have fun with it!