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Kosjsjach
2009-05-31, 01:45 AM
Hey all. I'm trying to build a backstory for a cloistered cleric/ninja PC I have in my head, and I'd like some help.

My goal is to have him as an anonymous wandering healer, and so I've thought up the following:
He is betrayed and enslaved*, and forced to heal other slaves to keep them productive. His continued "cooperation" is ensured by the baddies by threatening the wellbeing of his wife and child. He escapes and makes the slavers think he's dead, thereby protecting his family as long as no-one knows he's still alive.

My problem is thus: how does one convincingly fake one's death in D&D? There's the ol' "falling off a cliff" gimmick, but I was hoping there was a more fantasy-esque method I was just overlooking. Is there a spell that'd be useful? (He could have escaped with the help of another slave, so the possibilities aren't limited by the cleric spell list.) Is there an especially creative/inventive way you can think of accomplishing this? (It also gives a great reason for the ninja level.)

Since it's a backstory, I want to keep the character level as low as possible, I'm thinking maximum 4. I'd like to avoid spells higher than 3rd-level.

Thanks in advance!

*I was thinking the slavers would be hobgoblins. They do that kind of thing all the time, right?

ZeroNumerous
2009-05-31, 01:46 AM
Find a dude. Kill him. PAO his corpse into your corpse. :smallbiggrin:

Kosjsjach
2009-05-31, 01:50 AM
I know I'm gonna feel really foolish for asking this, but PAO? :smalleek:

edit: Ohh, Ploymorph Any Object, right? *checks SRD* Yikes, it's a bit higher-level than I was hoping...

HMS Invincible
2009-05-31, 02:17 AM
The CIA uses fire to fake death. Look for a hobo that has similar build as you and then kill him. Place in a building and set the building on fire with lots of accelerant such as kerosene. Leave something that will survive the fire that makes people assume it was you. A necklace or medal, or tatoo, certain favorite weapon/armor.

Kosjsjach
2009-05-31, 02:47 AM
The CIA uses fire to fake death. Look for a hobo that has similar build as you and then kill him. Place in a building and set the building on fire with lots of accelerant such as kerosene. Leave something that will survive the fire that makes people assume it was you. A necklace or medal, or tatoo, certain favorite weapon/armor.

I think I like that plan. In no small part because it gives a great segue into Vow of Poverty, which is another thing I was going for (optimization issues notwithstanding; please don't touch this :smalltongue:). He can leave behind all his material possessions, including a very personal item he'd never part with under normal circumstances... yeah, I like it. :smallsmile:

I'm still open to ideas, but until I hear a better one, I think I'll go with this. Thank you!

Lord_Gareth
2009-05-31, 02:49 AM
I think I like that plan. In no small part because it gives a great segue into Vow of Poverty, which is another thing I was going for (optimization issues notwithstanding; please don't touch this :smalltongue:). He can leave behind all his material possessions, including a very personal item he'd never part with under normal circumstances... yeah, I like it. :smallsmile:

I'm still open to ideas, but until I hear a better one, I think I'll go with this. Thank you!

Umm...you may want to check Vow of Poverty again. Note that bit where it's an Exalted feat? This'd probably be an evil act, unless your DM is going to go let you steal a corpse.

J.Gellert
2009-05-31, 02:50 AM
If you want more fantasy, instead of fire, you can use Ghouls. :smalltongue:

Kosjsjach
2009-05-31, 02:58 AM
Umm...you may want to check Vow of Poverty again. Note that bit where it's an Exalted feat? This'd probably be an evil act, unless your DM is going to go let you steal a corpse.

It could be a fellow slave who does the killing, or maybe a really evil slaver that dies. I read up on the definition/requirements or Exalted feats again, and as long as he's of the "highest moral standards", it shouldn't be a problem. I always thought killing an evil creature is a good thing in D&D.

I'll keep in mind the ghoul possibility. It certainly does add an element of fantasy not provided by "death in a fire".

EDIT: Oh no, I just opened up a morality debate, didn't I?

Lord_Gareth
2009-05-31, 02:59 AM
It could be a fellow slave who does the killing, or maybe a really evil slaver that dies. I read up on the definition/requirements or Exalted feats again, and as long as he's of the "highest moral standards", it shouldn't be a problem. I always thought killing an evil creature is a good thing in D&D.

I'll keep in mind the ghoul possibility. It certainly does add an element of fantasy not provided by "death in a fire".

EDIT: Oh no, I just opened up a morality debate, didn't I?

You totally did.

If you wanna go by BoED definition, violence is only GOOD (as opposed to nuetral or evil) if brought against evil creatures in order to prevent evil.

Kosjsjach
2009-05-31, 03:19 AM
Violence against a ruthless slaver... I think that qualifies under violence "against evil creatures in order to prevent evil".
How about we say he was a really really bad man, and leave it at that? *hopeful smile*

jcsw
2009-05-31, 05:07 AM
There's the Feign Death alternate class feature in Exemplars of Evil, but it requires a class that has evasion, sadly.

Kosjsjach
2009-05-31, 05:15 AM
That is more along the lines of what I was thinking, but you're right, it's not exactly accessible. Thanks anyway, though; it would've never occurred to me to look there.

Lord Loss
2009-05-31, 05:16 AM
A spell? Yes, there is!

Rigor Mortis
Necromancy

Level: Clr2/ Death Delver2

Casting Time: 1 Standard Action

Range: Touch

Target: Creature Touched

Duration:1d6+2 round

Fortitude negates, SR . (Can be used offensively)

This spell allows you to wrap a target in death's embrace, making him both feel and appear dead for the duration of the spell. You must be able to touch the target, and he must have a Wis score, but other than that the spell can affect any creature. All vital Functions are suspended. Those who fail their saves immediatley fall to the ground, as if dead. the subject does not need to eat, breate, pump blood or otherwise. Attacks made against the target allow another saving throw (unless he has put himself in this predicament willingly)

Sillycomic
2009-05-31, 06:33 AM
If you have a level 1 sorcerer or wizard help you.... silent image.

Set a building on fire, then have the wizard/sorcerer silent image your cleric inside. Instant witnesses.

You won't even have to leave anything behind. So long as there is a burnt unrecognizable corpse in the building.

FMArthur
2009-05-31, 06:37 AM
Slaver 1: Hmm, it appears that one of our coworkers has gone missing, and so has one of the slaves.
Slaver 2: Wait, we've found a body! It's burned up but it matches the proportions of both our friend and the slave.
Slaver 1: Clearly our man killed the slave and burned his body, and took off rather than come back for some reason.
Slaver 2: Yes, that sounds plausible.
...
Slaver 1: I'mma go smash boulders over my head some more. Interested in joining me?
Slaver 2: Sure!

:smallannoyed:

yilduz
2009-05-31, 11:01 AM
Slaver 1: Hmm, it appears that one of our coworkers has gone missing, and so has one of the slaves.
Slaver 2: Wait, we've found a body! It's burned up but it matches the proportions of both our friend and the slave.
Slaver 1: Clearly our man killed the slave and burned his body, and took off rather than come back for some reason.
Slaver 2: Yes, that sounds plausible.
...
Slaver 1: I'mma go smash boulders over my head some more. Interested in joining me?
Slaver 2: Sure!

:smallannoyed:

:smallbiggrin: That is awesome lol

Olo Demonsbane
2009-05-31, 11:12 AM
There is also a feat that lets you feign death...its a tactical feat from Complete Warrior.

yilduz
2009-05-31, 11:17 AM
lol this thread reminds me of the time my buddy tried to faint. My DM (and the rest of us) thought he meant feint, but after succeeding his bluff check, he held his hand to his forehead and fell over. I'm still convinced if he hadn't done that, we never would have been sold into slavery.

huttj509
2009-05-31, 11:22 AM
If burning a different body, just remember. Sherlock Holmes saw through this. You do want to outwit Holmes, don't you? (Yes, one of the published cases had a man burn a hobo to fake his own death and frame someone for that murder, good one)

Kosjsjach
2009-05-31, 02:20 PM
Slaver 1: Hmm, it appears that one of our coworkers has gone missing, and so has one of the slaves.
Slaver 2: Wait, we've found a body! It's burned up but it matches the proportions of both our friend and the slave.
Slaver 1: Clearly our man killed the slave and burned his body, and took off rather than come back for some reason.
Slaver 2: Yes, that sounds plausible.
...
Slaver 1: I'mma go smash boulders over my head some more. Interested in joining me?
Slaver 2: Sure!

:smallannoyed:

Ha, yeah, that's what worries me with the whole "fake burnt body" thing. In a slave camp, the absence of two persons is just as noticeable as the absence of one.

I looked at the Rigor Mortis spell in Heroes of Horror (thanks, arb514!), and it sounds pretty much perfect. The only thing preventing me from closing the matter is the duration: 1d6+2 rounds doesn't seem like enough time to convince whoever is in charge that a seemingly-healthy slave just keeled over and died.

I remembered something I found a long time ago: The Thieves Guild Drugs & Poisons Database (http://www.thievesguild.cc/poisons/). I went back and found this: Deathsleep (http://www.thievesguild.cc/poisons/index.php?id=201).

This powerful paralytic poison not only reduces its victims to immobility, but slows their heart beat and respiration down to such a degree that, to non-magical inspection, a victim appears dead. Deathsleep is extracted from a combination of carrion crawler blood and boilded ghoul flesh and appears as a light grey liquid with a strong, salty taste. The victim of deathsleep remains in a seemingly dead state for a total of 3d4 hours.
So while it doesn't fool magical detection, it does have a much longer duration. (It's also from a 3rd-party publication, but shhh.) Heck, the slavers could even stab him into negative hit points, and with the Healing Devotion feat (from Complete Champion), he'd heal right back up while still incapacitated and they'd be none the wiser. :smallbiggrin:

I'm thinking far too deeply into this, I know. It's a backstory. Still, it's fun to think about.

Thanks for all your help!

Flickerdart
2009-05-31, 02:35 PM
Alternately, you could get intimate with a Lich, their paralysis makes you look dead.

Wulfram
2009-05-31, 02:41 PM
Why fake? Die, and get raised.

OK, a bit on the expensive side, but has the advantage of authenticity.

Dixieboy
2009-05-31, 04:22 PM
Slaver 1: Hmm, it appears that one of our coworkers has gone missing, and so has one of the slaves.
Slaver 2: Wait, we've found a body! It's burned up but it matches the proportions of both our friend and the slave.
Slaver 1: Clearly our man killed the slave and burned his body, and took off rather than come back for some reason.
Slaver 2: Yes, that sounds plausible.
...
Slaver 1: I'mma go smash boulders over my head some more. Interested in joining me?
Slaver 2: Sure!

:smallannoyed:While that is hilarious i would like to point out how unlikely it is that they count their slaves every day if the camp is even just a tiny bit on the large side.

Ravens_cry
2009-05-31, 05:15 PM
While that is hilarious i would like to point out how unlikely it is that they count their slaves every day if the camp is even just a tiny bit on the large side.
Wouldn't surprise me if they did. The best time to count would be at whatever passes for meal time. You pass out a bowl of gruel, you take back the bowl at the end of the meal, and if their is a discrepancy, such as a bowl not passed out, then you have an escaped or dead slave.

Dixieboy
2009-05-31, 05:21 PM
Wouldn't surprise me if they did. The best time to count would be at whatever passes for meal time. You pass out a bowl of gruel, you take back the bowl at the end of the meal, and if their is a discrepancy, such as a bowl not passed out, then you have an escaped or dead slave.
When one thinks of those ideas they sound like they work.

But upon further inspection they don't really.

One could easily take two, hell if one could get away with it one would take as many as possible, and if they really kept it so secure that every single one got only ONE bowl of gruel because they simply COULD NOT sneak in ANY way, (I like capitalizing random words, can you tell?) do you really think that their first reaction is "Oh, one escaped /died let's send all of our forces after it/start a thorough investigation"?

Zaq
2009-05-31, 05:46 PM
You're a cleric, right? Ask your god for some help. I don't think it's unreasonable for a benevolent deity to offer his faithful servant, a man (or woman) who has remained devout even in the most horrific of circumstances, some way of faking death in order to escape. This has the secondary effect of explaining your absolute devotion to your deity (I've always personally had a hard time explaining why a cleric feels such a devotion to one deity or another, at least to the level that I expect) and provides a nice roleplaying facet. Depending on the god, it might also be an adventure hook, as the god might expect you to work to either free the remaining slaves, punish the slavers, or both, once you were free and in a position to get help.

It's not 100% by the book, but if you ask me, backstory doesn't have to be. It's clear that this is not the kind of thing that you get to call upon every day; it's flavorful and fits with the story; it offers insight into your character's motivations and personality... I don't see anything unreasonable about it.

Naturally, the onus is now on you to provide a reason for your character to warrant your god's favors like that. Of course the gods look out for their most devoted clerics, but if you treat it too lightly, that kind of implies that no cleric would ever have anything unfortunate or dire happen to them without the god intervening and saying "hey, lay off, he's with me." You need to come up with some kind of show of devotion that goes above and beyond what your average cleric displays... and remember, you can't lie to your god, so if you go down this route, you should probably mean it. Overall, though, if you write your backstory well and play the consequences appropriately, I think it makes a lot of sense that your god would give you a hand in faking your death, as long as doing so furthered your god's goals. (A god's goals can be pretty broad, of course, so you've got some good leeway here, but still, you get what I'm saying.)

Ravens_cry
2009-05-31, 05:50 PM
When one thinks of those ideas they sound like they work.

But upon further inspection they don't really.

One could easily take two, hell if one could get away with it one would take as many as possible, and if they really kept it so secure that every single one got only ONE bowl of gruel because they simply COULD NOT sneak in ANY way, (I like capitalizing random words, can you tell?) do you really think that their first reaction is "Oh, one escaped /died let's send all of our forces after it/start a thorough investigation"?
The slave can't TAKE two, because they are GIVEN one. Hells, tattoo a number on each slaves arm, mark off each slave as they go through, so if they try the old 'coming around for seconds trick' well, it becomes immediately obvious.
And considering that, at least in pre American Civil War South anyway, a slave was a fairly considerable investment, I would say that a dead or escaped slave would be a pretty big deal. Not big in a 'oh no a person died' way, but in a 'oh no, there's money down the drain' way. What can a slave offer the cooks anyway to try and bribe them? There's one thing only, and just make a punishment for that, for both sides. Something painful, but non debilitating as a slave that can't work isn't very useful. As well as stealing food, or been found with a bowl after meal time.

Sinfire Titan
2009-05-31, 06:38 PM
Ha, yeah, that's what worries me with the whole "fake burnt body" thing. In a slave camp, the absence of two persons is just as noticeable as the absence of one.

I looked at the Rigor Mortis spell in Heroes of Horror (thanks, arb514!), and it sounds pretty much perfect. The only thing preventing me from closing the matter is the duration: 1d6+2 rounds doesn't seem like enough time to convince whoever is in charge that a seemingly-healthy slave just keeled over and died.

If you get that spell as a potion, there's a feat that let's you delay it's effects for up to an hour and then gain the benefits as an immediate action. You just need to think a little tactically when applying the effects (running away, drink the potion, delay the effects until the catch up, start combat, get hit then apply the effects, fake death). When they turn their backs to leave you to the wolves, you wake up and stay put until they are gone.

Leave a little blood to make it convincing.

Rapidwhirl
2009-05-31, 06:45 PM
If you want to fake death, you must consider how the slavers will react. How do hobgoblins take care of the corpses of their enemies? Will they bury, burn, or unceremoniously dump the bodies in an open field? Ask your GM what he thinks, and plan out a method of escape for each of them.

My advice on acting dead, you may be able to get away with a simple bluff check. As a both a cleric and a ninja, you should know a thing or two about the human body. Or whatever race you are.

The New Bruceski
2009-05-31, 06:55 PM
Seems straightforward enough to me; the character is in charge of healing slaves? Well one day a slave dies under his care. Seeing an opportunity he does the burned body trick, leaving some sign of himself and fleeing in the fire.

It doesn't need to be 100% foolproof, because this is the character's backstory. He already got away with it.

kirbsys
2009-05-31, 07:11 PM
I remembered something I found a long time ago: The Thieves Guild Drugs & Poisons Database (http://www.thievesguild.cc/poisons/). I went back and found this: Deathsleep (http://www.thievesguild.cc/poisons/index.php?id=201).

So while it doesn't fool magical detection, it does have a much longer duration. (It's also from a 3rd-party publication, but shhh.)


This seems like the best idea so far, at least to me. The 3rd party doesn't really matter much since it's part of his back story.

quick_comment
2009-05-31, 08:09 PM
The Ghostwalker prestige class in sword and fist has a feign death class feature.

Devils_Advocate
2009-06-01, 12:45 PM
So, going with what Juliet (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples) tried, are you? Didn't work out too well for her. Not something I'd recommend, as there's a lot that can go wrong.

Of course, it's easy to put an improbably flawlessly executed plan in a character's backstory; that's different from trying it in game. Still, it's risky enough that it should only have been done out of desperation (or by a low-Wisdom character, which isn't relevant here). But that's probably true of almost all methods of faking one's own death...

And, hey, maybe something did go wrong, and corrections were necessary.

Asheram
2009-06-01, 12:56 PM
Oh dear.. before you start to fake your death, make sure to find out what they do to the corpses!
It'd be such a shame to go through so much trouble, to be butchered and thrown to the dogs/birds

Jayabalard
2009-06-01, 02:35 PM
Umm...you may want to check Vow of Poverty again. Note that bit where it's an Exalted feat? This'd probably be an evil act, unless your DM is going to go let you steal a corpse.If I read him correctly, he's going to fake his death and then wind up making the vow of poverty at some point afterwards, and all of this is in his backstory. It doesn't seem like this should be an issue.