Hello I recently lost my father to two strokes he was our fourth player and I want to find a way to write his character out that feels earned and respects who he and his character were. He played a bugbear barbarian named Dante very classic barbarian he had a soft heart and a hard head. Very similar to the man himself we were running rise of tiamat and we're still in part one when this all happened so if there are any ideas I'd appreciate any advice on how to craft something like this.

First off, I know from experience what you’re going through, and you have my condolences. It’s a hard time.

As for the D&D of it. Maybe make it into a kind of epic send off. His tribe needs help, and of course the party goes along. They fight off some dragon cultists or whoever might make sense as the bad guy. Epic battle. The good guys win. Dante needs to stay behind and tend to rebuilding the village.

Then, in time, you can keep using him. They hear about Dante uniting the tribes, slaying the demon. You can even turn him into an NPC. Maybe, when the party really needs someone to bail them out, Dante can appear. In this campaign and in future campaigns. Whenever it feels right, he can show up and be the ally the party needs.

My condolences. 

Sorry for the confusion; I know this is a sensitive subject, but when you say send-off, do you mean send off or kill off? Part of me likes what Xalthu stated above, but it might reopen old wounds seeing him again in-game. Plus there are those who believe in a warrior’s death. Again, I don’t want to assume anything; just brainstorm.

Honestly, I’m not sure what I would do in your situation. While my dad does not play DnD, I know he likes pretending to be more of a hard-(censored), so he might get a kick out of going out in a blaze of glory. Plus, I know he’s getting older too, and ai can’t help but wonder sometimes it he’d rather check out like that to avoid further discomfort, embarrassment and pain.

One thing I WOULD keep in mind is regardless of what you feel about the real afterlife, there is life after death in DnD, so it’s not really goodbye. Having said that, it beings up why you don’t resurrect him. Perhaps his culture of barbarian or religion did not believe in that and you can chalk it up too the blaze of glory type of thing. Or perhapse you work with your DM on something you have to wish for or have to (true?) resurrect instead and he goes out in an extra sacrifice, giving up his chance at continued life for the greater good. Kind of a Casper the friendly ghost thing where (SPOILERS!) in the movie his dad was so obsessed with resurrecting a young Casper, but when Casper’s living friend’s daughter dies he gives up his own potential chance in life for his.

You could (IF YOU’RE COMFORTABLE WITH IT) do a Critical Role thing where (again, spoilers) you wish for a chance for everyone to at least say goodbye. Maybe some DM mercy would even let you cast it for free as a rewards for something or just because it is so noble. It could hurt, but it could also be a bit therapeutic.

i guess my ultimate advice is talk with your party (especially your DM) not so much about the game, but how you all feel as your fathers friends and get some feedback there, almost like a session RE-zero about what everyone would feel comfortable with addressing his death. Remember, while he is your father, I assume everyone had their own feelings for him.

Again, so sorry for your loss… as well as me gushing out all this stuff! I hope it at least helps somewhat.