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How do I kill this NPC?

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revaddict

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« on: <09-21-11/1642:27> »
I have my first game this Friday night and I just realized a potential problem with my story.

At the beginning of the story, an NPC courier will hire the PCs to protect him while he delivers a dingus to its next location.  The NPC needs to die right after hiring the PCs, leaving the job in their hands.  How can I kill the NPC, but have him live long enough to make a dramatic, dying plea to the PCs and yet keep the PC mage from healing him?  Any ideas?

Phylos Fett

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« Reply #1 on: <09-21-11/1649:26> »
Find another way to do it - players are going to screw up your plans no matter what you do, and forcing something like this on them is going to scream "railroad", and they hate that even more.

If an NPC has to be dead for something to work in the game, he has to die off camera, otherwise the players can try to thwart it, and usually come up with all manner of ways to do it.

Zilfer

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« Reply #2 on: <09-21-11/1650:02> »
I have my first game this Friday night and I just realized a potential problem with my story.

At the beginning of the story, an NPC courier will hire the PCs to protect him while he delivers a dingus to its next location.  The NPC needs to die right after hiring the PCs, leaving the job in their hands.  How can I kill the NPC, but have him live long enough to make a dramatic, dying plea to the PCs and yet keep the PC mage from healing him?  Any ideas?

If he doesn't have a high enough body his damage overflow (I may be mixing up terms here) won't be much. So like a person with 2 body for example will have 9 HP, and before he keels over and dies permanently he has 1 turn unless whatever killed him did 10 Physical damage. In which case he be dead unless he burns edge. So having a low body score might help kill him.

<.< a spirit could pop in and kill him, not sure what most of the group would be able to do to drive him off, the mage could probably hurt the spirit.

>.> They could come accross his body and there's sort of a "last will" and a promised reward to however does it. Or sends a video recording right before he dies. That might get them jumpin. xD

Sorry, I can't really think of anything too creative right now, i'll reach back to you hopefully soon.

(the guy waiting impatiently for silent hill....)
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man

Artighur

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« Reply #3 on: <09-21-11/1653:58> »
Alternatively you can kill him off one shot, have the PCs framed for his death and force them to do the job or face the consequences. I don't know for who the NPC works but corps can get edgy when people with job to do die before they have the time to pull it off.

kirk

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« Reply #4 on: <09-21-11/1725:51> »
There's always hitting him with Naga Venom or White Star. But I think you're asking the wrong question. Instead, it's "How do the players know where to take the dingus," with maybe a side order of "what reason do they have for delivering the dingus?"

If you want to add the frustration of trying to find where to deliver, just answer the last question and maybe a hint or two for the first.

Tecumseh

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« Reply #5 on: <09-21-11/1748:28> »
I can think of a couple ways you could do it. There are probably many more.

Hit him with a custom spell, Suffocate, kind of like a reverse Oxygenate. Give him enough time to gasp out a few last requests while the PCs spin in circles wondering why he's choking. Maybe they figure it out but they can lose the race to stop the magic before he goes.

Or, tag him with some capsule rounds of a toxin. Envelop him in a cloud of something unpleasant like Seven-7 that will keep the PC magician at bay, unable to touch/heal him while still giving the NPC a couple rounds to communicate before expiring. Oops, looks like Kirk beat me to the venom/toxin suggestion.

I wouldn't be afraid to bend a rule or a roll in the story's cause. If it happens right at the beginning then I think the PCs will accept it as an integral part of the plot and won't feel unfairly deprived of the opportunity to save this schmoe. If they get all pouty then you can say that they saved his life but not before irreversible brain damage that leaves him unfit to accompany or assist them, etc etc.

Tec


Zilfer

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« Reply #6 on: <09-21-11/1845:15> »
Basically if you catch him unarmored, and do a called shot, and if the guy just happened to be surprised it will probably just flat out lay the guy out. If any of the suggestions before hand didn't help not sure what else we'd be able to give you. :D Hope your campaign goes well! Here's for the best!

(goes back to preparing his level 10 character for DnD Saturday night)
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man

CanRay

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« Reply #7 on: <09-21-11/1917:53> »
Fire.
Si vis pacem, para bellum

#ThisTaserGoesTo11

Zilfer

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« Reply #8 on: <09-21-11/1919:04> »
Fire.

Not just fire.... lots and lots of fire.

Cranial bomb induced maybe?
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man

CanRay

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« Reply #9 on: <09-21-11/1923:04> »
Fuel-Air Explosive?
Si vis pacem, para bellum

#ThisTaserGoesTo11

Tecumseh

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« Reply #10 on: <09-21-11/1933:41> »
How can I kill the NPC, but have him live long enough to make a dramatic, dying plea to the PCs and yet keep the PC mage from healing him?  Any ideas?

Let's not forget an important clause of the original request, emphasis mine. My limited understanding of anatomy and explosives leads me to believe that a cranial bomb would preempt any departing thoughts or last requests.

Mason

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« Reply #11 on: <09-21-11/1943:40> »
Have the very information he imparts to the players be the trigger for a Cranial Bomb.
Infect him with a powerful disease that the PCs can't identify to heal.
Lop off like 3 of his limbs and have him bleeding out rapidly as they talk to him, obviously going to die in seconds. Mechanically, say he burned an Edge to barely stay alive with -20 damage, so if they try to heal him it will be way too much damage to heal and the mage knocks himself out with the Drain or doesn't heal enough to save him.
Toxins as stated above
Hey, you stole my Suffocate spell! (Though i call it Suffer)
Assassinate him after he imparts the info, regardless of PC healing him.
Make the dramatic saving of his life an option and an epic scene it's own right.

Zilfer

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« Reply #12 on: <09-21-11/1948:39> »
Have the very information he imparts to the players be the trigger for a Cranial Bomb.
Infect him with a powerful disease that the PCs can't identify to heal.
Lop off like 3 of his limbs and have him bleeding out rapidly as they talk to him, obviously going to die in seconds. Mechanically, say he burned an Edge to barely stay alive with -20 damage, so if they try to heal him it will be way too much damage to heal and the mage knocks himself out with the Drain or doesn't heal enough to save him.
Toxins as stated above
Hey, you stole my Suffocate spell! (Though i call it Suffer)
Assassinate him after he imparts the info, regardless of PC healing him.
Make the dramatic saving of his life an option and an epic scene it's own right.

That's what I was implying with the cranial bomb... xD

(as in he's not supposed to say this information out loud or whatever)
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man

imperialus

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« Reply #13 on: <09-21-11/1950:18> »
Make it so the PC's aren't actually present.  They get hired for the job, and are told to meet the courier at 0600 tomorrow outside of a bank to make the delivery.  At 3 AM one of the team members gets a frantic comm-call from the courier.  He makes the plea as the baddies are kicking in the door of his apartment.  Only has enough time to give them a code though before he gets riddled with bullets.  Turns out the code is a safety deposit box number in the bank the PC's were supposed to meet him outside of.  If you want to be nice that's the code to open it.  If you want to be a jerk then it's keyed to his biometrics .  The PC's need to find a way to get a blood sample or a fingerprint (or both) off the courier's rapidly cooling corpse before Doc Wagon scoops it up and then con their way past the bank staff to get into the safe deposit box.  Only then can they actually start trying to figure out how to go about delivering the Mcguffin.

Zilfer

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« Reply #14 on: <09-21-11/1952:58> »
Make it so the PC's aren't actually present.  They get hired for the job, and are told to meet the courier at 0600 tomorrow outside of a bank to make the delivery.  At 3 AM one of the team members gets a frantic comm-call from the courier.  He makes the plea as the baddies are kicking in the door of his apartment.  Only has enough time to give them a code though before he gets riddled with bullets.  Turns out the code is a safety deposit box number in the bank the PC's were supposed to meet him outside of.  If you want to be nice that's the code to open it.  If you want to be a jerk then it's keyed to his biometrics .  The PC's need to find a way to get a blood sample or a fingerprint (or both) off the courier's rapidly cooling corpse before Doc Wagon scoops it up and then con their way past the bank staff to get into the safe deposit box.  Only then can they actually start trying to figure out how to go about delivering the Mcguffin.

They find out it's a pink bunny plushie. (then they find out it's 1 of only 10 made and every rich girl wants one! xD)
Having access to Ares Technology isn't so bad, being in a room that's connected to the 'trix with holographic display throughout the whole room isn't bad either. Food, drinks whenever you want it. Over all not bad, but being unable to leave and with a Female Dragon? No Thanks! ~The Captive Man