A fair Farewell?

[AlanBruce]

Greetings! I run a PbP game here and have been running it for quite some time already. Our initial party had a spellthief who, throughout the months and time played IC and real time and given everything he has accomplished, has decided to "retire" his PC and create a new one.

We both looked at his new character concept, gave it a go and it has just begun away from the party currently, but soon to join them.

My quandary is with his former PC, the spellthief.

The ST in question has been having a long solo adventure in a mad lab/mansion after being abducted by some bounty hunter. The guy has been clawed, bitten, poisoned, and infected in so many different ways, that when he escaped the mansion through an underground tunnel and narrowly avoiding a huge explosion, he succumbed to his fever and falls asleep for an indeterminate number of hours.

He survives, of course. And rested to boot. However, he has contracted a unique strain of parasite that makes him better and worse in some ways according to his build. For one, although still in control of his PC, he cannot attack the main villain in this current arc. he has free will to fight monsters, loot, explore, but when a certain trigger goes off, he will do his duties- mainly, attempting to take out his party members who are in a underground train headed for the same facility where he is. they are, of course, unaware of him showing up.

As mentioned before, the ST's player already has a new PC posting and ready. My question is- is it a good way to send the spellthief off? By getting killed by his long time friends (these guys traveled together for eight long years before the campaign began). They will get all the loot he has on, of course (which is about 150K in mundane and wondrous items). However, is it a fair way for the spellthief to retire? How would you go about it?

[BCOVertigo]

I wouldn't force it.

I would have a check available to determine that he isn't himself. Even failing that you may end up with the possibility of the party trying to subdue him. I know if one of my friends tried to attack me after being gone for awhile I'd probably try to hold them down rather than blow their brains out (so to speak).

If he does die, you could have a little sleuthing point to the bbeg, which if done properly could really cement player animosity. It's generally a good thing if your enemies can provoke the right kinds of emotional response.

[AlanBruce]

That is what I'm going for, basically. To have the party really hate the villain for doing this to their PC friend.

The spellthief knows what he has inside. During his travel through the lab, he has uncovered files that detail the parasite in question and he has felt "different" inside. He has not been able to contact the party in full, but they both had a passing chance to relay info when the ST used a scrying device to see them in the train.

The party at that point does not know the ST is infected in any such way, although the ST made a comment that he "may be infected" given how many times he had been bitten and scratched by the creatures there.

[Mnemnosyne]

If the character escaped...and has free will until this trigger is activated...and knows about his condition... Why doesn't he just get as far away as possible, and ensure he has no means of rapid transport available to him, so that he is unlikely to get back in time to fight his friends? Then he can contact them with sending or something, tell them that he can't travel with them until he's cured himself, and 'retire' by heading off into the distance to seek a cure?

This seems like the most logical reaction, at least. Granted, the character's personality may not be one to permit this, but it seems like a good option in general.

[nedz]

A decent party will

Stop him
Work out what happened
Fix him


What do you do next ?

Also, what do you do if the player wants to come back into the game ?
And if that's half way through doing this ?

[AlanBruce]

Currently the spellthief is underground. He can escape, if he chooses to travel a large sewer system, but he does not know the range of the trigger condition.

The party knows through him that he may be infected. When such a conversation took place, the Spellthief had already failed a save against a previous encounter. It would be later after his escape and not having contact with his party that he would realize the effects of the parasite within.

The player is still in the group, but he decided to roll a new pc, so he isn't leaving. In fact, it was his decision to roll a new PC that I began working on this scenario to see his Spellthief leave the group while creating a strong animosity towards the current arc's villain.

The party will try and fix him initially, of course. There are ways to do so without killing him, but do not know if they have the resources available currently.

[Kol Korran]

I think this highly depends on the player of the spellrhiwf, not on the o try her play e'er rs- how would he feels about ho we his former character is used? Some players like these kind of twists, but others don't want try heir characters used against the party or disturbing fates happening to their former characters. What about your player?

Also if the party stops the spell thief and "fix" him, does he return to be a player character? Non player character? Retire or continue adventuring? This as well may b e'er p e'er oblations with try he player.

Players often feel attachments to their former characters, so t as let try h as t into account when using them. I'd suggest asking the player, in general terms, to see how far you can go...