TLDR: I want to build a party around the idea that some god somewhere needs champions, saw a bunch of mortals die in cool ways, and decided to grant them power and uses them to accomplish some kind of cosmic quest. What are cool ways to die that you think would attract the attention of a god? All I can think of is sacrificing yourself to a greater cause and I'm stuck there.
I've had an idea for a campaign kicking around for a while and I was wondering if I could get some kind of... something for it. I'm not sure really. It's not feedback because there isn't enough to actually feed back on. Maybe springboards? I don't know.
Also, if there is a more appropriate place to post this I'd be happy to move it. I looked around but couldn't find a better thread.
A few years ago a few of my friends tried to play Exalted, but it quickly fell through due to a bad DM and schedule issues. But the idea has stuck with me for a while. And now that my D&D knowledge is way more than it was, the idea of exalting sounds super cool for a campaign for me.
What my idea is to have some players tell me how their character dies. I think it'd be cool to have a really vague answer like "saving someone" or... yeah that's where I"m stuck. But I'd like to have the characters not know how they died and maybe that gets revealed as the campaign progresses. Regardless, they die in a way some cosmic being notices and he uses them to accomplish some planar level task. Maybe keeping peace across the cosmos or something. That's up for grabs too. But I've never had a big planar campaign and I think it'd be really fun to start at level 10 or something and do missions beyond kingdoms and countries.
Anyway, please let me know what you think or if it sounds familiar enough to give me sources of inspiration.
I like this idea... but I would definitely let them come up with cool death scenarios rather than you imposing them on the players. My only restriction would be, they can’t use the same death scenario twice. So if my character dies saving someone else, your character has to do something else.
Cool possible deaths, though, as suggestions...
Honorable leader who was assassinated by a political rival.
Spouse whose SO poisoned them because the SO wanted to be with someone else and the land does not, say, grant divorces.
Soldier who died on the battlefield, the last member of his platoon/company/regiment to hold the line against a swarm of orcs/gnolls/etc.
Person wrongly accused of a crime, framed perhaps, and executed for it (beheaded, hanged, etc.).
Captain of a ship whose crew mutinied against him and killed him, Treasure Island style.
That’s what I’ve got off the top of my head.
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I like this idea... but I would definitely let them come up with cool death scenarios rather than you imposing them on the players.
I was certainly not suggesting that these are the only deaths available to my players. But when I think of possible plot lines or story arcs, I like them to be character driven more than me driven, and all I could think of was "Last Stand" deaths. I really needed maybe NPC death ideas or just a widening of my thought processes on what a cosmically noticeable death would be.
Death by smoke inhalation saving orphans from a burning building.
by lightning strike while chopping down a tree for a log cabin for settling a wild area.
While mountain climbing, got bit by a snake that was sunning on a cliff face, causing him to lose his grip and fall to his death.
by an infected wound received while sparring/training with the king or his son.
Along the lines of service to a king...a meat taster earned his paycheck and screened poisoned food meant for the king.
A researcher exhausted himself finding the answer to some arcane mystery, only to have a stroke brought on by excitement at making the discovery.
a storekeeper stood up to the mafia trying to extort him for “protection” and was beaten to death.
a prisoner of war was tortured to death, but did not give up intel on his army. Death by 1000 paper cuts style.
I like the thought behind a lot of these. The "Wronged by Another" deaths could lead to some really interesting plot threads. I imagine someone finding out they were poisoned for political gain and their (Now massively overpowered) character revisits the moral plane to seek revenge or something. I'm imagining A Christmas Carol but, you know, D&D. That would be really fun to play.
I think what they would notice would depend on the god. A god of war or battle could notice a last stand. A god of the home might notice more a parent who starved after giving their last bit of food to their child.
You could build it around a whole pantheon. Each of the various gods chose one person who’s death embodied their portfolio. That could allow the PCs to run into other, similar folks who might be working either with or against them.
A show of bravery could work, level 1 vs. CR 20+. Maybe a wizard that was so devoted to working on their craft, that they died in an experiment that was obviously killing them, but they were getting close.
I think what they would notice would depend on the god. A god of war or battle could notice a last stand. A god of the home might notice more a parent who starved after giving their last bit of food to their child.
You could build it around a whole pantheon. Each of the various gods chose one person who’s death embodied their portfolio. That could allow the PCs to run into other, similar folks who might be working either with or against them.
This crossed my mind as a problem when I had this idea; I don't really have a strong enough world for this to work yet. Even so, I'm having trouble imagining a reason to assemble these Gods' champions to form a party that would cause the party to stick together after a mission.
This crossed my mind as a problem when I had this idea; I don't really have a strong enough world for this to work yet. Even so, I'm having trouble imagining a reason to assemble these Gods' champions to form a party that would cause the party to stick together after a mission.
That could be solved with a quality session 0. You compile a list of deaths acceptable to a god you pre-chose, and say “So the scenario is you all died. [Corellon Larethian] took note because each of you died in a way acceptable to him. He has assembled you all as his champions...” either among the dead, or as revenants, or whatever your plan was. “If you plan to roll a paladin, Consider that ____ will be supplying the divine power you smite with. Clerics, you, too. Arcana, Life, Light, and War are acceptable domains.” (If going with the god I exampled). Elven pantheon has good options with lots of domains per god.) “If the terms of my campaign are acceptable to you, we’ll proceed. If not, let’s talk about what you’d like to do.”
This crossed my mind as a problem when I had this idea; I don't really have a strong enough world for this to work yet. Even so, I'm having trouble imagining a reason to assemble these Gods' champions to form a party that would cause the party to stick together after a mission.
That could be solved with a quality session 0. You compile a list of deaths acceptable to a god you pre-chose, and say “So the scenario is you all died. [Corellon Larethian] took note because each of you died in a way acceptable to him. He has assembled you all as his champions...” either among the dead, or as revenants, or whatever your plan was. “If you plan to roll a paladin, Consider that ____ will be supplying the divine power you smite with. Clerics, you, too. Arcana, Life, Light, and War are acceptable domains.” (If going with the god I exampled). Elven pantheon has good options with lots of domains per god.) “If the terms of my campaign are acceptable to you, we’ll proceed. If not, let’s talk about what you’d like to do.”
So I'm pretty sure you were saying all that as a GM, but I couldn't help but imagine some divine priest holding like a board meeting for the characters. "[God] has found your deaths to be within suitable parameters to be in his employ. Fridays are casual and tomorrow we'll set you up with HR to discuss your un-life insurance policy."
Ha! I was scripting for the DM, but that’s NPC gold right there. Maybe a Deva who functions as an intermediary that takes all the crap when the party is feeling irreverant.
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TLDR: I want to build a party around the idea that some god somewhere needs champions, saw a bunch of mortals die in cool ways, and decided to grant them power and uses them to accomplish some kind of cosmic quest. What are cool ways to die that you think would attract the attention of a god? All I can think of is sacrificing yourself to a greater cause and I'm stuck there.
I've had an idea for a campaign kicking around for a while and I was wondering if I could get some kind of... something for it. I'm not sure really. It's not feedback because there isn't enough to actually feed back on. Maybe springboards? I don't know.
Also, if there is a more appropriate place to post this I'd be happy to move it. I looked around but couldn't find a better thread.
A few years ago a few of my friends tried to play Exalted, but it quickly fell through due to a bad DM and schedule issues. But the idea has stuck with me for a while. And now that my D&D knowledge is way more than it was, the idea of exalting sounds super cool for a campaign for me.
What my idea is to have some players tell me how their character dies. I think it'd be cool to have a really vague answer like "saving someone" or... yeah that's where I"m stuck. But I'd like to have the characters not know how they died and maybe that gets revealed as the campaign progresses. Regardless, they die in a way some cosmic being notices and he uses them to accomplish some planar level task. Maybe keeping peace across the cosmos or something. That's up for grabs too. But I've never had a big planar campaign and I think it'd be really fun to start at level 10 or something and do missions beyond kingdoms and countries.
Anyway, please let me know what you think or if it sounds familiar enough to give me sources of inspiration.
I appreciate your time. Thanks.
I like this idea... but I would definitely let them come up with cool death scenarios rather than you imposing them on the players. My only restriction would be, they can’t use the same death scenario twice. So if my character dies saving someone else, your character has to do something else.
Cool possible deaths, though, as suggestions...
That’s what I’ve got off the top of my head.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Death by smoke inhalation saving orphans from a burning building.
by lightning strike while chopping down a tree for a log cabin for settling a wild area.
While mountain climbing, got bit by a snake that was sunning on a cliff face, causing him to lose his grip and fall to his death.
by an infected wound received while sparring/training with the king or his son.
Along the lines of service to a king...a meat taster earned his paycheck and screened poisoned food meant for the king.
A researcher exhausted himself finding the answer to some arcane mystery, only to have a stroke brought on by excitement at making the discovery.
a storekeeper stood up to the mafia trying to extort him for “protection” and was beaten to death.
a prisoner of war was tortured to death, but did not give up intel on his army. Death by 1000 paper cuts style.
I was certainly not suggesting that these are the only deaths available to my players. But when I think of possible plot lines or story arcs, I like them to be character driven more than me driven, and all I could think of was "Last Stand" deaths. I really needed maybe NPC death ideas or just a widening of my thought processes on what a cosmically noticeable death would be.
I like the thought behind a lot of these. The "Wronged by Another" deaths could lead to some really interesting plot threads. I imagine someone finding out they were poisoned for political gain and their (Now massively overpowered) character revisits the moral plane to seek revenge or something. I'm imagining A Christmas Carol but, you know, D&D. That would be really fun to play.
I think what they would notice would depend on the god. A god of war or battle could notice a last stand. A god of the home might notice more a parent who starved after giving their last bit of food to their child.
You could build it around a whole pantheon. Each of the various gods chose one person who’s death embodied their portfolio. That could allow the PCs to run into other, similar folks who might be working either with or against them.
A show of bravery could work, level 1 vs. CR 20+. Maybe a wizard that was so devoted to working on their craft, that they died in an experiment that was obviously killing them, but they were getting close.
Also known as CrafterB and DankMemer.
Here, have some homebrew classes! Subclasses to? Why not races. Feats, feats as well. I have a lot of magic items. Lastly I got monsters, fun, fun times.
What about something like.....the players die in their sleep, but the Gods of fate are confused because it wasn’t their time to die.
I really like this idea for maybe a mission of finding out why an NPC did this. Or the gods of fate are lying to get the party to do something.
This crossed my mind as a problem when I had this idea; I don't really have a strong enough world for this to work yet. Even so, I'm having trouble imagining a reason to assemble these Gods' champions to form a party that would cause the party to stick together after a mission.
That could be solved with a quality session 0. You compile a list of deaths acceptable to a god you pre-chose, and say “So the scenario is you all died. [Corellon Larethian] took note because each of you died in a way acceptable to him. He has assembled you all as his champions...” either among the dead, or as revenants, or whatever your plan was. “If you plan to roll a paladin, Consider that ____ will be supplying the divine power you smite with. Clerics, you, too. Arcana, Life, Light, and War are acceptable domains.” (If going with the god I exampled). Elven pantheon has good options with lots of domains per god.) “If the terms of my campaign are acceptable to you, we’ll proceed. If not, let’s talk about what you’d like to do.”
So I'm pretty sure you were saying all that as a GM, but I couldn't help but imagine some divine priest holding like a board meeting for the characters. "[God] has found your deaths to be within suitable parameters to be in his employ. Fridays are casual and tomorrow we'll set you up with HR to discuss your un-life insurance policy."
Ha! I was scripting for the DM, but that’s NPC gold right there. Maybe a Deva who functions as an intermediary that takes all the crap when the party is feeling irreverant.