(from a rather "thud-and-blunder" campaign I played in while in graduate school)
1. A climactic duel (honorable single combat) between the PC Paladin and the NPC Evil Overlord is underway, in the Evil Overlord's throne room. My character is an exceedingly pragmatic spy (modeled as an Assassin), armed with a sharp (but very brittle) obsidian dagger that magically enabled him to phase through walls, solid stone, soil, and so forth. I pass a note to the DM, make a successful "Hide in Shadows" check, and character phases down into the floor of the room, "walks" unnoticed underneath the combatants, phased up out of the floor right behind the Evil Overlord and, without ceremony, cuts his throat, killing him (sadly, the dagger broke in the process -- it wasn't really meant for actual combat). The Paladin was, needless to say, understandably pissed (it was, after all, a shocking violation of honorable single combat), and the PCs had a lot of trouble getting out of the throne room (pandemonium erupted as soon as everyone figured out what had happened), but the Evil Overlord was definitely dead.
2. The PCs have just defeated the staff of a local NPC Robber Baron's torture chamber (one of the vassals of the Evil Overlord mentioned above, encountered much earlier in the campaign). My character at that point was a Cleric of the patron god of travelers, pilgrims, and such, and since the Robber Baron had been preying upon the very people he was supposed to be ministering to, he was furious, and naturally took the role of the Bad Cop in the interrogation of the one surviving torturer. By the end of the questioning, he was kneeling on the chest of the now frantically-babbling torturer, with his mace held threateningly high. He finally asked, "So... why did you do it, anyway?" The torturer said something about only following orders, and my character just shook his head, said "No, not good enough," and dashed out his brains, then and there. The other PCs were surprised and aghast, but my character simply reached into his pouch, sprinkled a handful of sanctified earth over the body as a symbolic burial, and calmly recited a prayer for the recently deceased (his deity was, of course, also the guide of the dead).
(from a campaign I played in while in college)
3. My character is a Ranger (albeit one adapted to the open grasslands instead of the woodlands) an auxiliary mounted archer in the service of the leading empire of what, for convenience, we will just call "Continent-A." He is descended from a group of people who came to Continent-A hundreds of years ago, to escape from the rising power of a group of evil illusionists who were taking over the distant "Continent-B." Like most of his people, he is fanatically and compulsively honest, regarding lying as the first, and most pernicious, sin. The PCs have traveled to Continent-B, to recover an artifact from a tomb-complex hidden deep in the desert. This campaign-universe has no "Common tongue," so my character is the only member of the party can speak the local language (with a thick foreign accent, but well enough to be understood). The PCs decide to rent camels for the trek into the desert, and hire a guide, and end up in a "Arabian Nights"-style bazaar. My character says to one of the merchants something like "Greetings! My friends and I are new to this country, and we know nothing whatsoever about camels. Could you please direct us to a knowledgeable and trustworthy camel driver, who can help us for a reasonable fee?"
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marginaleye.livejournal.com at 06:46am on 09/03/2008![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
1. A climactic duel (honorable single combat) between the PC Paladin and the NPC Evil Overlord is underway, in the Evil Overlord's throne room. My character is an exceedingly pragmatic spy (modeled as an Assassin), armed with a sharp (but very brittle) obsidian dagger that magically enabled him to phase through walls, solid stone, soil, and so forth. I pass a note to the DM, make a successful "Hide in Shadows" check, and character phases down into the floor of the room, "walks" unnoticed underneath the combatants, phased up out of the floor right behind the Evil Overlord and, without ceremony, cuts his throat, killing him (sadly, the dagger broke in the process -- it wasn't really meant for actual combat). The Paladin was, needless to say, understandably pissed (it was, after all, a shocking violation of honorable single combat), and the PCs had a lot of trouble getting out of the throne room (pandemonium erupted as soon as everyone figured out what had happened), but the Evil Overlord was definitely dead.
2. The PCs have just defeated the staff of a local NPC Robber Baron's torture chamber (one of the vassals of the Evil Overlord mentioned above, encountered much earlier in the campaign). My character at that point was a Cleric of the patron god of travelers, pilgrims, and such, and since the Robber Baron had been preying upon the very people he was supposed to be ministering to, he was furious, and naturally took the role of the Bad Cop in the interrogation of the one surviving torturer. By the end of the questioning, he was kneeling on the chest of the now frantically-babbling torturer, with his mace held threateningly high. He finally asked, "So... why did you do it, anyway?" The torturer said something about only following orders, and my character just shook his head, said "No, not good enough," and dashed out his brains, then and there. The other PCs were surprised and aghast, but my character simply reached into his pouch, sprinkled a handful of sanctified earth over the body as a symbolic burial, and calmly recited a prayer for the recently deceased (his deity was, of course, also the guide of the dead).
(from a campaign I played in while in college)
3. My character is a Ranger (albeit one adapted to the open grasslands instead of the woodlands) an auxiliary mounted archer in the service of the leading empire of what, for convenience, we will just call "Continent-A." He is descended from a group of people who came to Continent-A hundreds of years ago, to escape from the rising power of a group of evil illusionists who were taking over the distant "Continent-B." Like most of his people, he is fanatically and compulsively honest, regarding lying as the first, and most pernicious, sin. The PCs have traveled to Continent-B, to recover an artifact from a tomb-complex hidden deep in the desert. This campaign-universe has no "Common tongue," so my character is the only member of the party can speak the local language (with a thick foreign accent, but well enough to be understood). The PCs decide to rent camels for the trek into the desert, and hire a guide, and end up in a "Arabian Nights"-style bazaar. My character says to one of the merchants something like "Greetings! My friends and I are new to this country, and we know nothing whatsoever about camels. Could you please direct us to a knowledgeable and trustworthy camel driver, who can help us for a reasonable fee?"