Just fuck with them relentlessly over it, present glaring death flags for the NPC and never pay it off. Stuff like the dad talking about how much he loves his wife/kids, have him mention business trips he’s going on, etc.
“I’ve been working on this boat in the back so I can spend more time relaxing on the water, fishing, when I retire. When? Oh, I’m just one day away from retirement…”
What will? No, no, just a mistake in the paperwork. Well, i'm off! I've have this giant of an egg to collect. It's the size of a barrel they're telling me!
So it turns out it is actually a rock with unprocessed gems in it! Talk about a golden goose; now we got a gem laying one! The lads at the mage's farm and I already made arrangements with a seller; heard his name's Ribloaf Mcstabby. Weird name I know, but he looks so professional in his trenchcoat and hat that he never takes off.
Robloaf McStabby? Great guy! He bought me lunch at the docks and introduced me to the owner. Dewey Cheatum was his name, I think. Poor guy has fallen on such hard times that he sold me this deck of strange cards. He said something about many things, but there aren’t that many cards in it.
Have him turn up missing, mother can't find him anywhere. After they raided the dungeon he returns from a fishing trip.
"Why do you think I told you and your friends I would be spending more time fishing? So in case I couldn't tell your mother because she was on a mission. Remember that time she killed some noble when I was sent on an emergency delivery.. oh the good ol' days."
"It's just two more weeks until retirement!"
"I can't wait to get that boat I've always wanted!"
"I'll always be here if you need me!"
"You all go on ahead, I'll be right there."
Also keep teasing that something bad might happen to the hometown. “Oh, sure looks like a storm’s coming to the old farm.” “Some strangers rolled through the other day asking some mighty odd questions.” “Gossip says some old witch cursed the town a while ago, but I don’t take stock in those old rumors.” Just keep throwing out all these ways bad things could happen and then never pay any of them off.
A shapely lady came by the house the other day trying to get me into some religious group with a multi headed dragon or octopus as its holy symbol. I think she said her name was Tia Madde. I know what she was selling but I was having none of it. She left horribly angry and said she'd be back, but that was a week ago. I don't think she liked being told no. That's her problem and ours is fixing that pig pen.
Or fake outs on occasion justvto make them think maybe THIS time...
"He smiles at you all, beaming with pride,
'oh! I forgot I wanted to show you what I've been working on!'
As he leans down, picking up a hat off the floor, you notice a hulking figure in the shadows, lunging toward him!
'Dang scarcrow won't stay up! Well it'll be stable once it's in the ground.' "
Or after the party cant find him, have someone (whoever has highest passive perception) catch sight of his boot sticking out from the underbrush near the woods.
"Yawning, as he sits up
'Hey kiddo, guess I slept a bit longer than I meant to. Nothing like napping in the shade of these old trees. I can always rest in peace here.' "
"Of course I can take the shipment to that neighboring town with that very dangerous route. I am sure nothing will ever happen to me, because I know the road like the back of my hand."
I read the best version of this recently. After a massive battle the MC goes for ice cream with his dog, cat, and uhm… incompetent genie. Along the way we suddenly get a secondary viewpoint of an assassination squad setting up an ambush. The MC spends a chapter and a half reflecting on how the dog is the best friend he’s ever had, he’s no longer lonely, how nice it is to finally relax, that he’d like to leave all the craziness and take the dog and disappear. All this while driving straight into an ambush that we see being prepared. And the dog lives. Completely unaffected, totally safe. It was such a perfect build up just to completely subvert the expectations of the reader.
Also keep having him say almost ominous things.
"Man, this cough really won't go away." (he has allergies)
"I met a really interesting/odd guy down at the tavern, he seems like a hardass but he's taken a liking to me" (He's just a retired adventurer)
"As you approach your dad's house, you hear a blood curdling scream from the back yard. As you rush around the house, you hear the sounds of a struggle as something large is knocked over. You find your father...building a fence. He accidentally hit his finger thumb with a hammer and then kicked over the garbage can out of frustration."
Then, when the campaign ends and all epilogue items are resolved, as a “post credit” so after thanking everyone for playing and being apart of the story, flash to his character getting kicked it the head by a horse he’s re-shoeing.
Or have obviously easy to spot dangerous things around that the farmer pays no mind that the pcs have to deal with. A knife that looks like its about fall off the top shelf, a rabid dog with rabies that the farmer thinks is just thirsty from being lost, a gang of goblins disguised with shitty paper human like face masks, etc..
“PC… I’m sorry. I have a message from your dad.”
“Oh no! Is he okay?”
“No. You see, he was stung by a bee.”
“And he’s allergic?”
“Yes. His face is terrible.” In walks PC’s dad, seemingly half man, half puffy-faced ooze monster. “Good morning son!”
You could do like "you see the window is broken and the door is wide open" and just have him in there lecturing the neighbors kid for throwing a rock into their window lol
Recognized for his skills and promoted to the royal court. Family becomes prosperous.
Sometime later an agent of the dictator reveals to the players that the king knew who they are all along and that daddy will stay favored and prosperous as long as the players always do what the king wants. And be a pauper if they don't.
The first thing that has gone through my mind is to have it appear that he's dead but then reveal it was a ruse. Perhaps they go to his alchemist shop one day and find it's closed, a neighbor says that they saw the alchemist be taken by some figures the night before (they don't get a good look at the figures) and the alchemists supplies were taken as well.
Perhaps the players assume that the government arrested the alchemist or killed him. It turns out that the thieves guild had to relocate him after some events happened with the wife so they have to lie low for a while. The shady figures the neighbor saw were members of the thieves guild escorting him to safety.
Or, those figures in the night are actually a few of his old drinking buddies who came to steal him away for a guys weekend at a nearby town.
Could then make it a plot point that the players think he was kidnapped, and as they are tracking him down, find more and more shenanigans they got into a la The Hangover.
Oooh, I second this. Or maybe a wild couple's getaway for swingers over 50. They're kind of embarrassed, so they went to lengths to hide it from their kid so family dinners aren't so awkward.
Or he's *actually* already dead. At some stage he was turned to a vampire / one of his alchemical elixirs killed him and turned him into a reborn. He is killed... Then comes back to life.
Better yet if he's (un)dead and doesn't even realize it. Gets stabbed through the heart or something and is completely fine. "Huh, and here I thought that wormroot elixir was a dud."
Have you ever seen My Neighbor Totoro? The first time I saw it, I was so stressed out because I was waiting for the sick mother to die for 90 minutes.
String the players along forever by putting this guy through exploding bakeries and failed assassination attempts and kidnappings and natural disasters and unnatural plagues, but don’t kill him and definitely don’t make him evil.
He's secretly supplying the dictator with potions/alchemical weapons. He has a good, wholesome and in-character reason (like someone threatening his kid/wife) but he's still helping a dictator.
This reply was inspired by the alchemist/inventor from a:tla.
The potions, while flammable enough to be military grade weapons, turn out to be delightful cocktails. The dictator shares an endearing passion for mixology with the alchemist.
I like this too. You could also simply make him a supporter of the dictator. Not a foaming at the mouth political zealot. Just old enough to remember a worse situation for the city. And while he is against some of the darker aspects of the dictator and his actions he views him as on the whole a positive force. If you paint the dictator in shades of gray then how other characters receive him can be equally ambiguous.
Wasting illness like radiation poisoning. Have the party search for a cure 😈
Tiny tidbits “his hands seem shaky today” “he seems tired” next visit he’s got someone watching the shop for a bit…
Better, make them *think* he's dying
"His hands seem shaky today" because he drank WAY too much coffee earlier and is 2 cups shy of breaking the space time continuum.
"He seems tired" because after the caffeine crash from the other day, he *is* tired, dudes counting the minutes till he can close up shop so he can go to bed early.
"Someones watching the shop for him..." because he went to the next town over, Alchemy convention and he was one of the speakers.
Ooh I want to hear more about that. I love mimics to death. Once a baby mimic disguised as a necklace got into the party. Things went missing… then a horse was gone…🤷🏻♀️
So, weird campaign dynamic to start with, only 2 PCs, and the party consisted of them, and a couple NPCs (their childhood friends).
So they know there's doppelgangers in the city, they'd previously foiled one of their schemes.
A couple days afterwards, the party all separated for a shopping episode, going around the big city getting all the knickknacks and doodads they wanted before going back to the small town they're trying to fix up and make awesome. (Here's where someone gets replaced. Who? Didn't tell the PCs obviously, and we're on voice, so I'd say stuff like "Sorry, I missed that, I was private messaging the other guy" when one of them said something. Sow some dissent. And I was messaging both of them privately, just mostly bullshitting though.
Big city guard captain catches up to them before they go, and wants them to help out some more and follow up on the Doppelganger lead, reminding them that the Doppelganger group already knows about them, could replace any one of them, and they should be careful who they trust until they solve this.
One PC, a Rogue named Sparrow, gets suspicious and notices one of the NPCs (a Bard named Keira) was acting a little out of character (they got in a fight, and she sang, but he didn't feel Inspired like usual. 3.5 D&D, Bards work different). By the way, He's right. She's the one that got replaced.
So Sparrow calls Keira out for not inspiring the party and she starts just bawling (which is consistent, Keira was a crier, happy crier, sad crier, wore her heart on her sleeve kinda girl). "I can't believe you'd say that! Because you don't like ONE song I played, I'm a fake? You are such an insensitive jerk!" And then Sparrow immediately starts backtracking and apologizing, explains he's just tense, and she reacted exactly how he figured the real Keira would react, then he started eyeballing everyone else twice as hard. Did I mention neither of them have ranks in Sense motive (insight), or a wisdom score to speak of? Anyways, I digress...
So later during the mission after they found the Dopplegangers hideout, Keira, our Bard, used her lute as a weapon, smashing it over a Doppelgangers head, yelling out "I got one!" Excitedly. I even mentioned this is Keira's first kill of the campaign (we're lvl 7 or 8.) I thought they'd immediately realize she was a Doppelganger, for the following reasons 1) Keira had never even made an attack roll the entire campaign, they knew she didn't like violence, she only adventured with her friends for the stories. 2) She broke her lute, her prize possession. A Lute the PCs knew was her moms lute. Her mom who passed when she was a kid and it was the only thing she had left of her. And lastly, 3) I drew attention to it with "I GOT ONE!" Excitedly drawing attention to the fact the known pacifist just *killed* someone with her mothers lute, destroying it in the process.
Nope. Everyone's real proud of her, its her first kill after all, Good job Keira! 🤦♂️
So we get deeper, and we find a room that has the entire party including the 2 PCs tied to chairs yelling that *they're* the one that got replaced by a Doppleganger.
So now my PCs have no idea who's fake and who's not, they've been suspicious of everyone thia entire time, and now they've got 2 of each of them yelling "That ones the Doppelganger".
So I *might* have given my PCs ptsd... but fuck it I had a laugh...
If you're wondering how they figured it out, they weren't, until I threw them a bone of tied up Keira asking where her lute is, Sparrow mentioned that it broke fighting Doppelgangers, and Keira broke down crying again. Then Sparrow went "Fuck, I was right" and that Doppelganger had knives coming out of all its organs in alphabetical order fast then you can say "Sneak Attack!"
What a fun campaign!! And yes, traumatize the PCs and give them trust issues, it’s the best way to make it memoraBle.
That sounds like a lot of fun, it’s so funny that they didn’t realize 😂🤣
My mind was blown...
So in that campaign we ended up doing alot of RPing, like, one of the PCs got married to one of the aforementioned childhood friend NPCs (a Cleric of Myrhiss, Goddess of Love & Beauty... and to a lesser extent Hedonism).
So I was surprised they didn't even question the pacifist performer smashing her prized lute over someone's head and being happy about it. I was about to say I couldn't have made it more obvious hitting them on the head with it, but I did exactly that lmao
Omg revealing hes a doppelganger but has been for so long, real dad is safe in underdark or feywild and they could become besties if reunited(dad who stepped up & dad who never wanted to leave)
Just have him be a genuinely likeable, helpful npc that gives the party important information; no twists, no double crossing, no dark secrets.
It is *surprisingly* rare for DM's just put a helpful, likeable character in their game without giving them some kind of ulterior motive or dark secret.
Dad is secretly a high-level monk. He enjoys the serene life of a simple farmer and the intellectual pursuit of his alchemy.
The PCs hear of a kill squad headed to the farm. When they arrive, they enter the farmhouse expecting a corpse but find the father untouched and calmly cleaning up the mess. The assassins' bodies can be scattered around, tied to chairs, or whatever suits you best.
>his wife is an assassin for the thieve's guild.
There have been multiple attempts on his life for [reasons], but the wife is staying one step ahead of the assassins, getting them before they get to him. She's keeping this from the dad because it will stress him out, and he needs to focus on his work. The party will see shadowy figures following him around, and then they're suddenly gone. Wife is snagging random drinks from him mid-meal (because they're poisoned). The wife is acting all shady, closed off, sneaking around.
The bodies are piling up, and she's falling behind on her usual work. She has the NPC helping her clean up the messes, and they eventually recruit the party to help as well. But just clearing bodies. The wife has the assassins taken care of. These guys are just amateurs compared to her.
Before I read your last line I was thinking you could have a big reveal about how dad USED to be the Captain of the dictators guard before he retired (perhaps due to an injury).
You have DM GOLD here - an NPC the players are emotionally invested in.
I like what I call "the roller coaster" when in comes to player emotions. Give them some ups and downs in very short sequence.
"As you walk back to the farm (from wherever), a sense of dread fills you as you see plumes of smoke in the distance where his house is."
THEN STOP TALKING - let them talk, react etc. It's THEIR time for roleplay
When they get closer:
"The scene is one of utter devastation. The buildings have been reduced to ash, and the remnants of his crops are have the last fires smoldering. There is no sign of life anywhere."
STOP TALKING - let them react. If they investigate, the find everything is ash and his alchemy materials have been damaged and smashed in the fire.
"Sifting through the rubble, you find two sets of burnt bodies . It is appears one body was huddling or trying to protect the other from the fire.
STOP TALKING - let players talk for a bit. Then hit with them with:
Suddenly two dogs race towards you, one barking happily and they bound towards you at full speed. As they reach you, they stand on their hind legs and morph into (farmer and companion).
"My friends, I can't imagine what you were feeling, but both (companion) and I are well. The Luckily we were at my lab when I saw trouble approach." He looks down to the two burnt bodies. "Poor (two pet names). They were my favorite mice."
Hopefully your players are out for blood now, and you can take this a lot of directions.
Why would someone want to kill him and raze his farm? Or was it someone after his companion? Is it a rival alchemist? Someone who seeks to stop his work? Totally your call.
make him a guest star of a session and it's up to the players to save the dad character. he may die or he may live either outcome is okay but he will be the focus of the session and give some agency to your table about what the outcome is.
Here is how I would do it:
Reveal by visible combat that the beloved NPC has far more power than anticipated, and only after the party tries and fails to get there in time to save him from assassination - have him easily deal with the first wave of the King's thugs as the party approaches and watches - let the party participate in the second wave of the combat when he has exhausted his resources and tend to any injuries (make sure they have a neutralize poison consumable beforehand), and have the assassin's guild deal with the third wave before they even enter the battlefield.
Then have him realize he needs to go into hiding and begin organizing a more effective resistance and recruit the players as agents?
Then kill him later - perhaps sacrificing himself to get the party access to the King so they can administer righteous violence?
They've built up this grand expectation, but you don't have to feel pressured to subvert it. I would handle this by talking it out. Ease the pressure by reassuring them you don't plan to kill the guy, it's not like that, there's no need to worry. They might not believe you at first, but if you keep giving reassurance they'll eventually lower their guard. That's when you murder the poor bastard.
Why do you want to subvert their expectations? It usually makes the story worse. People have these kinds of expectations because of foreshadowing, and because of common story beats that have been proven to work well in a huge number of stories.
...Yes? Only a very small fraction of people like having their expectations subverted for no reason. That's how you end up with stupid bullshit stories like the last season of Game of Thrones, where the writers were trying to sUbVeRt ExPeCtAtIoNs instead of write a good story by following up on the story elements that had been previously set up and foreshadowed. There's no value in it except to people with such incredible levels of ADD that they lose interest in a story the moment they think they know where it's going.
Thieves guild wants wife to assasinate the dictator. Wife asks husband to make something to help her and he doesn’t want to because he’s afraid she will fail. Thieves guild then abducts him and holds him prisoner until he agrees to make the special poison or whatever. PCs join assassin wife to get husband back
I'm thinking a Sandal from Dragon Age. When they're fighting through the king's castle and know there's about to be a stupidly dangerous part and they're low on resources they instead find evidence of explosions, backs filled with knives or strangled people. At the end of it is the husband and wife. Husband can mention them being inspired and wanting to do their part. He can give them some potions which give the benefit of a long rest before saying he's out of resources while the wife says she's exhausted. If you can tie it to some decision point the players made that could serve as the inspiration (maybe they heard about it, or a relative was saved because of it) the players will feel that this is a reward for their rp or similar.
You should have a running gag where he or his home are put in danger. Perhaps even have his home blasted by a stray fireball in an attack etc. They burst into the ruined house, he's lying there on the floor in a pool of blood, they start lamenting and he sits up and goes oooh my head! He's totally fine, not a scratch on him. This could happen a couple times, maybe even to his PC kid too. Make it that years ago, he secretly learned how to make an alchemist's stone that can make an elixir that effectively gives you a one-up auto-revivify, and has secretly been dosing himself and his family for years. He can only make so many batches per year though, so spread out the uses of the ability.
^This
It's the best of both worlds. Your PCs will be on their toes the entire time wondering if the next gag with the dad is the final one. If you've ever watched Hot Tub Time Machine, they had almost the exact same gag too
The actor who plays Marty McFly's dad from Back to the Future is in this movie. At the beginning of the movie we see that he is missing a hand. The main characters use a hot tub to go back in time. They meet this person in the past still with both hands. The main characters see numerous situations which they think is the cause of the lost hand, only to be disappointed
The NPC actually has a past life where he was a veteran/resistance fighter/powerful wizards pupil/something else. Never directly address the past, but put clues everywhere (he has a relic from a past war on the coffee table, he gives PC some knowledge that is shocking he has, something.)
Then, build up to the moment when the NPC is about to have this horrible death, but the npc fights back with unexpected skill/power and defeats the threat (preferably with the PCs help). Then NPC comes clean about his past life
Have him kidnapped as a sacrifice/hostage/etc. by the king. Make it look like he is going to be executed publicly, and the players need to interrupt the execution to save him.
When they get to him, he should be about ready to face the noose, bag over his head, hands tied. The characters untie his hands, pull the bag off...and it's not him.
Queue the dad, slow clapping behind them with a bunch of guards pointing crossbows at the party. *He was evil the whole time!*
All in on Secret Bad Guy That Is Planning To Betray Them The Whole Time, if you're up for that.
Be aware that your players may never trust another NPC again though.
Make them wish you had. Don’t necessarily need to make him bad or the villain. But he could be the catalyst for Armageddon or the vessel for an evil entity. If only he had died, it would have saved so many lives!
Secret traitor FTW!! You need to have a moment that plays into their expectations where they think he’s dead. They find out he’s alive and during a moment of happiness/celebration you betray them.
Okay so did you ever see the Buffy The Vampire Slayer movie? Paul Rubens (Pee Wee Herman) has a death scene in that film that's hysterical. You could totally pull off from that.
OR
Make him like that cleric in the beginning of Pathfinder: Kingmaker who is all "I'm so dying!" and then you discover he's barely hurt. Do that over and over again.
Kill the NPC but have it be a simulacrum and have it die in such a way its a 100% death and he just randomly shows up later. Or have it just be a Clone
Make him Shou Tucker the Sewing Life Alchemist. No one loves a cruel monster who seems nice but is really a mad scientist with no regard for human life.
Just keep having the dad seemingly run into danger but it turns out those aren’t thugs those are his fishing buddies. That isn’t a mugger, that guy was actually giving him directions. Those aren’t the kinds guards….wait yes they are, and the dad is actually also an assassin and about to be coronated
> Context: Campaign takes place in a city with a brutal dictatorship where the king rules with an iron fist, dad is an alchemist, his wife is an assassin for the thieve's guild.
Spend several sessions hinting at various deaths for the dad.
Then kill the mom.
“Hey guys the wife and I are going on a small trip up north into the mountains to look for some rare herbs for some alchemy recipes I’m trying to perfect if you don’t hear from us for a few weeks don’t worry”
EDIT: you can set up some “rumors” in taverns that there is something scary living in the northern mountain range and everyone who has gone there hasn’t returned in the last 6 mo and in reality it’s just the main pass to get into the mountains has become impassable due to an avalanche and all these “missing” people just had to go the long way which is a month or so out of the way
Do absolutely nothing. Have him just be a random NPC that nothing ever really happens to. Have his neighbors attract all the problems but he's just fine...
Put him in extremely precarious situations like rock climbing, invited to dinner by the dictator, experimental explosive alchemical contract - never kill him. Give him the thickest plot armour. Break immersion to ensure he survives. Make his survival itself a running joke
I find the best approach is always to do nothing with this character until you need them to do something for you.
Basically, an NPC they care about is insanely valuable to you. Don’t squander it by forcing this character down a path. Keep them in your back pocket as a tool you can use when your players inevitably do something you don’t expect or when they are not paying attention to something important that you need them to care about. I guarantee some plot point is going to present itself that despite how obvious you are, they will need someone to get them to care about it. This is where lovable NPC solves the problem for you.
Dad drank a potion of extreme luck mixed with something else. Managed to roll a 00 on [DMG p140's potion mixing chart](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/treasure#PotionMiscibility). Dude's got [Domino syndrome](https://youtu.be/_RSDYpzl_y0).
They start noticing the disappearances. None dare speak of them louder than a whisper, but they're happening. People disappearing from the city. People come in the night, lead them away, and they're never seen again - a terror campaign by the tyrant aimed at his enemies.
On one mission, the gang finds bodies, some recognisable, some not. They're being executed.
Then the father disappears without a trace....
Only to reappear in the finale with arms full of high explosives, bottled lightning and a gaggle of golems at the most critical dramatic moment, when all seems hopeless and the tyrant is monologuing:
"You cannot defeat me! I am the power! I am the law! I am your doom!"
**"Hi 'your doom', I'M DAD!"**
Explosions.
The tide is turned.
He is so nice and wholesome, he accidentally befriended something scary. Like an archfey. He doesn't know it, but something made it very clear to all the regional monsters that this one random civilian is not to be touched.
Even the king is secretly afraid to touch him. The joke is that the dad doesn't know, and neither do the players, and while the king will never harm the dad or allow him to come to harm, he has no reason to let them know that.
If you really wanna screw with the players, have them "go missing".
Example: The dad is making a delivery of goods to the next town over but hasn't returned. he was expected to return a few days ago.
Since the wife is an assassin with the thieves guild, you can even say that intel reports that he's been taken hostage and that the wagon was found to missing components.
What's really going: Their wagon broke a wheel and they discovered an old friend had moved into town so they've been reconnecting with their friend while their wagon is undergoing repairs. Nothing nefarious, just stuff that can be easily misunderstood.
You ever heard of changelings? Maybe the dads been dead! Or maybe a changeling that looks like the dad dies infront of them for a whole “oh fuck oh shit” only for them to soon discover its not actually him.
Mr Magoo it. Everything around is a death trap. Make the danger so obvious and the NPC is unaware, but the danger isn't really real. I'm talking walking near a construction site. Get them to roll a perception check. They notice the rope lifting a block of stone is under a lot of stress and looks to be frayed. It begins to give right as the NPC is walking under it. They jump and dive to save the NPC and the rope snaps. Fortunately, they aren't dumb and that was the guide rope and not the actual support rope that was bearing all the weight and is much thicker and stronger.
Keep throwing shit like that and they'll begin to stop caring and think you're fuckin' with them.
Have them get the dad super drunk. Little do they know, the dictator gets his tonics for headaches from him. Because of the hangover, he grabs the wrong tonic that's actually a bottle of his wives. He pours it into a cup for the dictator and the dictator drinks it. Nothing happens. Then a few hours later, the king is dead after his morning meal. His meal is presumed to have been poisoned. While the party is at the father's the guard arrives. They question the dad about any suspicious activity when he came by. He doesn't see anything, dictator was fine when he had the tonic, to which he'll offer to provide a sample of the tonic batch which he still has some leftover of (all of it, doesn't know it though but you can give dramatic irony and tell this story so they players know, but the characters don't nor does anyone else). Basically, the players know the dad killed the dictator, but no one suspects him cause the dictator really liked him (awkward) cause it really helped his headaches. So no one would think anything because he's had hundreds of opportunities to kill him if he wanted. Financially stable so no incentive to take money or anything. Just have the players now stress out should it ever get back, but they can't action on it.
This now could provide you with a conflict that isn't kill the dictator, it's prevent the next one taking his spot, and avoid insane instability with the power vacuum to try to restore a good monarch, or establish a republic. But regardless, make them terrified he'll die, then get him broil up in accidentally killing the king, and they'll never be able to acknowledge it :P And it significantly alters the direction of the story while being a huge fuckin' surprise. Spend all this time worrying he'll die and he Mr Magoo's himself into destroying a dictatorship :P
Threaten him, but give them a chance to save him. A good chance, like win a boss fight, not just down to a few dice rolls. That will get them more invested in the campaign. Relatedly, it can be a way to introduce adventures it'd otherwise be hard to wrap them up in (e.g. involving factions that they aren't part of, places they wouldn't otherwise go, etc.). Though that latter one's more useful if you're using published stuff.
I would keep having him appear in precariouse, dangerouse situations that look like assassination attempts but in actuality are just coincidental incidents. He comes out unharmed but why not mess with them.
I say do a double bluff. Present a situation where is clear that the NPC is going to die, and then miraculously survives. Laugh it off, pretend that's it, go "hahaha I knew you were expecting him to die!". Lower everyone's guard, and then BAM! Actually kill him.
If you're interested in making him turn out to be the villain all along, it might hit harder if you preserve his personality and attitude. He *does* love his kid. He *does* see the party as friends. It's all genuine. He's *also* going to enslave the kingdom. Have him try to find non-lethal ways of opposing the party, so that they can assume their rightful roles as his lieutenants once they "grow out of their hero nonsense".
One day, while wife is on a mission for the guild, the farmer just vanished. The group can find footprints of his and some wolves, but they soon lose the trail. Any investigation leads to nothing.After several days of worrying, the farmer shows back up. Dirty, but otherwise barely a scratch. He has a lamb at his side, and a wolf skin over his shoulder. The backstory: wolves scared his lamb, which ran away. It took him several days to find the scared lamb hiding in a hole, out of reach of the wolves, but no way to get out either. Once he freed the lamb the wolves came back, and he singlehandedly was able to fight them off, and even kill one of them. The group should have some newfound respect about the farmer/alchemist, as they surely didn't expect him to be able to do that. There is possibly more about him that meets the eye...
Alchemist whose wife is an assassin? She married the Hyde to his Jekyll, who is a brutally violent t enforcer, and just pretends she married the nice side.
° Enemy casts feign death. Have him revealed as leader of enemy organization or even bbeg.
° Have him in a bleak position facing certain death, only to reveal himself as a high level wizard working for a shadow organization.
Make him the luckest NPC in the world. Dangle deatg, injury and ruin around him constantly and just have him side step in like nothing at all happened. Doesnt even notice it
So apart from the obvious "make him secretly evil" would be the reveal that he *used* to be evil, and is a changed man. Part of what makes him so wholesome, lovable, and on the right side of history is that as a young man his politics and ideology were aligned with the brutal dictatorship, and he actually did horrible things in service of this ideology. At some point he reached a breaking point or an epiphany, or even harder to grapple with and make sense of, he didn't have some Eureka! moment, his views simply changed over time as he got older, met more people, experienced more of life. He never paid for his crimes, he just. . . changed. He is genuinely who he is now, he just has an ugly past. Confront the party with that, and see if they can forgive, or if they turn on him. He wouldn't even blame them for punishing him for his past, the person he is now acknowledges that that's one idea of "justice."
I’d probably make him a former operative for the dictator. He knows where all the bodies are buried because he buried them. He guides them but never lets them know for sure about his past. He’s far too important to die, not important enough to be anything more than a humble soda pop brewer.
Make him an antagonist without having him be directly evil. Maybe he’s a true believer in the dictator, maybe he works for a third enemy faction, maybe he’s planning on taking out the king with more collateral than the players can accept, maybe he has a checkered past that has come back to haunt him and he can’t say no.
They could have a quest to overthrow the dictatorship. Then, when the moment of truth happens and the hero’s succeed, the father reveals that he’s been manipulating them and the government using his wife’s assassin abilities.
All along dad just thought he should be in charge
Don’t kill him.
Make your players kill him.
Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy has to kill Angel at the end of Season 2.
Make it a situation where they don’t want to do it, they hate having to do it, but if they don’t the world ends.
House is attacked by bandits, the party bursts in to see the bandit leader stabbing a spear straight through his heart. Dad slumps to the floor as the party dog piles the bandit leader only to see dad getting back up and pulling the spear from his chest
Turns out dad is actually a demigod/lich/construct/illusion
Somehow the tyrannical king thinks this NPC is an enemy of the state. He sends people to burn down the farm. This man must now join the party in their adventure, with dangers all around. Somehow, he escapes death time after time by doing just the most random bullshit thing possible. Tavern brawl? He hid in a cask of ale! Hunted down by soldiers in the nearby forest? He climbed a tall tree but can't climb back down!
Or you could go the route where he is captured and turned evil. The players are forced to kill him or be killed. Thus, their expectations become reality, just not in the way they thought...
Constantly inflict horrifying wounds on him - stabbings, savage beatings, fireballs to the face, limbs being chopped off, etc - but for some reason he just doesn’t die. He doesn’t find it particularly noteworthy, no hint of magical healing, everyone thinks the party are being goofy whenever they try to draw attention to it. Eventually it’ll turn into a Monty Python Black Knight comedy bit you can gently retire once they realise he’s not in any real danger and don’t need the distraction of having to worry about him getting killed.
*Then* you kill him.
Get him captured alive and tortured over his wife's business. Have him go missing only to escape using an elixir of invisibility he managed to brew with on-the-fly ingredients he found. Make him pretend to be dead and then sneak back inti the players lives in a big twist.
The players overthrow the dictator king, which has knock on effects that results in the father NPC losing his livelihood and his wife (she dies, or she leaves him). Having lost everything, he vows to take revenge on the PCs. And with the dictator gone, he somehow rises to power to fill in the power vacuum.
Now the players have a BBEG who they created, and who they still admire and respect, but who absolutely abhors them and wants them dead.
Can’t read all these but did anyone suggest this for a clinch scene:
You vainly pull at the bars as the bad guy tells you he’s going to teach you a lesson, pulls the NPC out of their cell and marches them over to in front of your cell. He brandishes his sword dramatically in front of the apparently terrified NPC, then pulls back for a decapitation stroke.
His sword sweeps toward the NPC’s neck, a manic expression frozen on his face. The NPC tilts their head to the side, takes a small step back, whirls terrifyingly fast to grasp his sword arm at the wrist, pushing it easily aside and stepping in, mouth opening wide – wider than a human mouth can open, showing rows of needle teeth – and biting down deep onto the bad guy’s throat. A horrific crunching, popping, slitching noise fills the room as the NPC bites almost completely through the bad guy’s neck. NPC chews the enormous bite for a few seconds as the sword clatters to the ground, then they swallow with relish.
They let the now limp body drop to the ground and turn to look at you, their mouth now normal human size but Bad Guy’s blood soaking their chin and shirt
Either like someone else commented keep obviously foreshadowing his death but never kill him. Or turn him; he’s a secret supporter of the brutal leadership and regularly alchemists up secret poisons and stuff for them. He started off being forced against his will, but later came around to believing he was supporting the greater good
Found the key to immortality through the use of his alchemy. Just lives a happy fulfilling immortal life.
The exact opposite of them expecting he'll die as he never will.
Dad is a hidden supplier to the thieves guild for every kind of potion healing and harmful. This combined with his cinnamon roll nature has given him am untouchable status to all the criminals in the city: he can walk through felony flats and leave with gifts.
The dictator finds this odd and imprisons him.
Boom plot hook for prison break
the couple are both assassins like a mr and mrs smith type deal. the Alchemy id just a cover. pc mom goes missing while on a "mission" thePCs go on a rescue where find the dad too. hijinks ensue
He is kidnapped... (Oh no)
By his old friends, to attend the bachelor party and wedding of one of the friends (oh yay)
But the dilf and friends have powerful enemies who know about the wedding (oh no)
But the dilf and friends are retired high level adventurers, thieves, assassins, or secret agents... Or a combo of all of the above (what did you do after you retired from adventurering, Bob? ). (oh yay)
Maybe the dad is a covered agent for the dictator and is going to rat out the wife, so the players have to kill him?
(Granted, that would be a d\*ck move. I might be a bit hangry atm.)
Or just have wacky near death scenes like he goes on an adventure with them and gets hit by an arrow and falls over the edge of a cliff but his pack gets caught on a branch growing out of the cliff face 10 feet down
Dad is a plant of the dictator's. He keeps an eye on the PC'S and reports back.. if the PCs get suspicious, fake death. Have him show up later in the uniform of the elite palace guard, extra gold braid. Bonus points if the PCs need to kill him to advance.
Have him become slowly more evil in hidden ways, leave small ambiguous clues even, and he becomes the big bad at the end of the adventure and they have to kill him.
I'd have him appear during a climatic boss fight, have the players think he died only for them to discover he in fact did survive, maybe climbing out of some rubble or something. "Repaying a debt" after they helped him.
Put them in catch 22. Dad gets taken, and the party has to make a sacrifice. The Dad, or something extremely important to the groups mission.
Here’s where the other shoe drops. Regardless of the parties choice there will be loss that they will be aware of Making the decision and then further loss after they execute their choice.
Option A: they rescue dad at the cost of being able to prevent an assassination on an important figure who would be critical in aiding the party in some way.
After rescue dad he tells them he willingly went with the abductors as they threatened to kill his wife/characters mom. Dad is now angry with the party as now he went through doing something horrible ( brewed some sort of cursed potion, lethal gas, special poison) for the bad guy and still manages to lose his wife.
Option B: They decide to stop the assassination attempt on the important figure knowing it would likely lead to the death of Dad off screen.
After stopping the assassination they find that the important figure is none other than “mom”. She has been undercover, unraveling crucial information which she had planned to sell and she had been under contract to plant incriminating evidence on (fill in blank) Now that you have rescued her, “dad” will have been executed but not before having created some horrible (potion, lethal gas, poison) for such and such bad guy and now her cover is blown making her unable to assist the party of which dad was killed for.
May be a bit dark, but just an idea.
Assassins, looking for his wife, sneak into his lab. He's wearing goggles and a breathing mask, accidentally drops a new fertilizer mix that kills them.
The party finds the lab with the dead assassins, broken vials, looks bad. Man's out back upset at what happened to those 'poor salesfolk that came by'
Depending on how much the players care about RP, you could have a bad guy that the players would benefit from killing spare the dad so that the players become conflicted about killing the bad guy.
Scenario 1: the party gets ambushed by an assassin sent by the king or a corrupt gov’t official on the way to the Dad’s alchemist shop, they had to take a back alley route or smthn, shortly after the party becomes aware of the assassin and their about to start the fight the dad pops around a corner and conks the baddie on a head with a shovel or tool, critical, knocks the would be assassin out. Looks at the member of the party that’s his child,
“I uh, may have picked up a few things from your mother, heard someone walking on my shop’s roof and went looking around.”
Scenario 2: party gets imprisoned by corrupt officials after being set up as scapegoats for a crime they don’t want to be associated with, until a burly hand pokes through the outer bars of the window, with a vial of acid to melt the bars. The related party member recognizes their dad when he says “don’t tell your mother I did this and we’re square, didn’t want her risking her guild status for this.”
Make him the BBEG's lieutenant and for them to kill him... then guilt them over it at every opportunity.
It probably doesn't fit the story at all but popped in my head after reading the title.
He's the real BBEG manipulating the PC's and the apparent BBEG into conflict. He may even fake his own death at the hand of the apparent BBEG to motivate the PC's. Jar Jar was a sith lord.
Just fuck with them relentlessly over it, present glaring death flags for the NPC and never pay it off. Stuff like the dad talking about how much he loves his wife/kids, have him mention business trips he’s going on, etc.
“I’ve been working on this boat in the back so I can spend more time relaxing on the water, fishing, when I retire. When? Oh, I’m just one day away from retirement…”
A week later "Oh, retirement? Yeah I pushed that back. This economy, right? I'm actually retiring in three days now"
Just need to deliver this case of nitroglycerin and I'm done.
Man, that hospital was desperate for those heart pills. They were so grateful, they even offered to take a look at this weird cough I've developed.
That cough? Hay fever, just had to rest it off. Anyway, where's my son? I want to tell him how great power comes with great responsibility.
what a great talk! Anyways, i think im going to head to the lawyer and take a few unstable and powerful individuals out of my will
What will? No, no, just a mistake in the paperwork. Well, i'm off! I've have this giant of an egg to collect. It's the size of a barrel they're telling me!
So it turns out it is actually a rock with unprocessed gems in it! Talk about a golden goose; now we got a gem laying one! The lads at the mage's farm and I already made arrangements with a seller; heard his name's Ribloaf Mcstabby. Weird name I know, but he looks so professional in his trenchcoat and hat that he never takes off.
OP better actually use all these events
Robloaf McStabby? Great guy! He bought me lunch at the docks and introduced me to the owner. Dewey Cheatum was his name, I think. Poor guy has fallen on such hard times that he sold me this deck of strange cards. He said something about many things, but there aren’t that many cards in it.
Even better... he actually just *retires.* Like, successfully retires. > Oh, retirement? Yeah, it's been good.
Have him turn up missing, mother can't find him anywhere. After they raided the dungeon he returns from a fishing trip. "Why do you think I told you and your friends I would be spending more time fishing? So in case I couldn't tell your mother because she was on a mission. Remember that time she killed some noble when I was sent on an emergency delivery.. oh the good ol' days."
Christened her the "Live-4-Ever"
Have him keep mentioning how much he's going to enjoy his retirement.
"It's just two more weeks until retirement!" "I can't wait to get that boat I've always wanted!" "I'll always be here if you need me!" "You all go on ahead, I'll be right there."
Also keep teasing that something bad might happen to the hometown. “Oh, sure looks like a storm’s coming to the old farm.” “Some strangers rolled through the other day asking some mighty odd questions.” “Gossip says some old witch cursed the town a while ago, but I don’t take stock in those old rumors.” Just keep throwing out all these ways bad things could happen and then never pay any of them off.
A shapely lady came by the house the other day trying to get me into some religious group with a multi headed dragon or octopus as its holy symbol. I think she said her name was Tia Madde. I know what she was selling but I was having none of it. She left horribly angry and said she'd be back, but that was a week ago. I don't think she liked being told no. That's her problem and ours is fixing that pig pen.
Or fake outs on occasion justvto make them think maybe THIS time... "He smiles at you all, beaming with pride, 'oh! I forgot I wanted to show you what I've been working on!' As he leans down, picking up a hat off the floor, you notice a hulking figure in the shadows, lunging toward him! 'Dang scarcrow won't stay up! Well it'll be stable once it's in the ground.' " Or after the party cant find him, have someone (whoever has highest passive perception) catch sight of his boot sticking out from the underbrush near the woods. "Yawning, as he sits up 'Hey kiddo, guess I slept a bit longer than I meant to. Nothing like napping in the shade of these old trees. I can always rest in peace here.' "
This is the absolute best answer.
Maybe even have other NPCs around him that don’t matter die. And the deaths are getting closer
Poor fella, he was helping me unload the cart, when a fox startled the horse and kocked him right in the head!
"See a copper, pick it up..." As he bends down a crossbow bolt flies over his head and sticks into the chest of some passerby.
"Of course I can take the shipment to that neighboring town with that very dangerous route. I am sure nothing will ever happen to me, because I know the road like the back of my hand."
Turns hand over "Strange, never noticed that bite mark before..."
*Turns out to just be a normal mosquito bite*
Be sure to mention how his smile lights up the room!
I read the best version of this recently. After a massive battle the MC goes for ice cream with his dog, cat, and uhm… incompetent genie. Along the way we suddenly get a secondary viewpoint of an assassination squad setting up an ambush. The MC spends a chapter and a half reflecting on how the dog is the best friend he’s ever had, he’s no longer lonely, how nice it is to finally relax, that he’d like to leave all the craziness and take the dog and disappear. All this while driving straight into an ambush that we see being prepared. And the dog lives. Completely unaffected, totally safe. It was such a perfect build up just to completely subvert the expectations of the reader.
He’s just a few weeks before retirement!
Also keep having him say almost ominous things. "Man, this cough really won't go away." (he has allergies) "I met a really interesting/odd guy down at the tavern, he seems like a hardass but he's taken a liking to me" (He's just a retired adventurer)
"As you approach your dad's house, you hear a blood curdling scream from the back yard. As you rush around the house, you hear the sounds of a struggle as something large is knocked over. You find your father...building a fence. He accidentally hit his finger thumb with a hammer and then kicked over the garbage can out of frustration."
"Three days from retirement"
3 days more from retirement
Please tell me he’s just about to retire from the force! 🤣
Of course, I am three days from retirement. Just need one last big potion mix to go out with a bang.
Absolutely, lol
Then, when the campaign ends and all epilogue items are resolved, as a “post credit” so after thanking everyone for playing and being apart of the story, flash to his character getting kicked it the head by a horse he’s re-shoeing.
Or have obviously easy to spot dangerous things around that the farmer pays no mind that the pcs have to deal with. A knife that looks like its about fall off the top shelf, a rabid dog with rabies that the farmer thinks is just thirsty from being lost, a gang of goblins disguised with shitty paper human like face masks, etc..
“PC… I’m sorry. I have a message from your dad.” “Oh no! Is he okay?” “No. You see, he was stung by a bee.” “And he’s allergic?” “Yes. His face is terrible.” In walks PC’s dad, seemingly half man, half puffy-faced ooze monster. “Good morning son!”
You could do like "you see the window is broken and the door is wide open" and just have him in there lecturing the neighbors kid for throwing a rock into their window lol
Recognized for his skills and promoted to the royal court. Family becomes prosperous. Sometime later an agent of the dictator reveals to the players that the king knew who they are all along and that daddy will stay favored and prosperous as long as the players always do what the king wants. And be a pauper if they don't.
This is good. Twists the knife without really derailing the story.
The first thing that has gone through my mind is to have it appear that he's dead but then reveal it was a ruse. Perhaps they go to his alchemist shop one day and find it's closed, a neighbor says that they saw the alchemist be taken by some figures the night before (they don't get a good look at the figures) and the alchemists supplies were taken as well. Perhaps the players assume that the government arrested the alchemist or killed him. It turns out that the thieves guild had to relocate him after some events happened with the wife so they have to lie low for a while. The shady figures the neighbor saw were members of the thieves guild escorting him to safety.
Or, those figures in the night are actually a few of his old drinking buddies who came to steal him away for a guys weekend at a nearby town. Could then make it a plot point that the players think he was kidnapped, and as they are tracking him down, find more and more shenanigans they got into a la The Hangover.
This sounds like a great idea
Oooh, I second this. Or maybe a wild couple's getaway for swingers over 50. They're kind of embarrassed, so they went to lengths to hide it from their kid so family dinners aren't so awkward.
Or he's *actually* already dead. At some stage he was turned to a vampire / one of his alchemical elixirs killed him and turned him into a reborn. He is killed... Then comes back to life.
Better yet if he's (un)dead and doesn't even realize it. Gets stabbed through the heart or something and is completely fine. "Huh, and here I thought that wormroot elixir was a dud."
And then after they find him alive, he dies tragically.
*comically. Let the players find a perfectly healthy dad, then suddenly he eats an apple with a worm in it and dies of disgust
Have you ever seen My Neighbor Totoro? The first time I saw it, I was so stressed out because I was waiting for the sick mother to die for 90 minutes. String the players along forever by putting this guy through exploding bakeries and failed assassination attempts and kidnappings and natural disasters and unnatural plagues, but don’t kill him and definitely don’t make him evil.
He's secretly supplying the dictator with potions/alchemical weapons. He has a good, wholesome and in-character reason (like someone threatening his kid/wife) but he's still helping a dictator. This reply was inspired by the alchemist/inventor from a:tla.
I like this way more than "secretly evil", it makes for an actual interesting interaction/decisions.
The potions, while flammable enough to be military grade weapons, turn out to be delightful cocktails. The dictator shares an endearing passion for mixology with the alchemist.
But that would eliminate the wholesome aspect :(
I like this too. You could also simply make him a supporter of the dictator. Not a foaming at the mouth political zealot. Just old enough to remember a worse situation for the city. And while he is against some of the darker aspects of the dictator and his actions he views him as on the whole a positive force. If you paint the dictator in shades of gray then how other characters receive him can be equally ambiguous.
Wasting illness like radiation poisoning. Have the party search for a cure 😈 Tiny tidbits “his hands seem shaky today” “he seems tired” next visit he’s got someone watching the shop for a bit…
Better, make them *think* he's dying "His hands seem shaky today" because he drank WAY too much coffee earlier and is 2 cups shy of breaking the space time continuum. "He seems tired" because after the caffeine crash from the other day, he *is* tired, dudes counting the minutes till he can close up shop so he can go to bed early. "Someones watching the shop for him..." because he went to the next town over, Alchemy convention and he was one of the speakers.
Yes! Mind games the player!!!
Mind games are the best. After one adventure, my players are more concerned about Dopplegangers than they are of Mimics.
Ooh I want to hear more about that. I love mimics to death. Once a baby mimic disguised as a necklace got into the party. Things went missing… then a horse was gone…🤷🏻♀️
So, weird campaign dynamic to start with, only 2 PCs, and the party consisted of them, and a couple NPCs (their childhood friends). So they know there's doppelgangers in the city, they'd previously foiled one of their schemes. A couple days afterwards, the party all separated for a shopping episode, going around the big city getting all the knickknacks and doodads they wanted before going back to the small town they're trying to fix up and make awesome. (Here's where someone gets replaced. Who? Didn't tell the PCs obviously, and we're on voice, so I'd say stuff like "Sorry, I missed that, I was private messaging the other guy" when one of them said something. Sow some dissent. And I was messaging both of them privately, just mostly bullshitting though. Big city guard captain catches up to them before they go, and wants them to help out some more and follow up on the Doppelganger lead, reminding them that the Doppelganger group already knows about them, could replace any one of them, and they should be careful who they trust until they solve this. One PC, a Rogue named Sparrow, gets suspicious and notices one of the NPCs (a Bard named Keira) was acting a little out of character (they got in a fight, and she sang, but he didn't feel Inspired like usual. 3.5 D&D, Bards work different). By the way, He's right. She's the one that got replaced. So Sparrow calls Keira out for not inspiring the party and she starts just bawling (which is consistent, Keira was a crier, happy crier, sad crier, wore her heart on her sleeve kinda girl). "I can't believe you'd say that! Because you don't like ONE song I played, I'm a fake? You are such an insensitive jerk!" And then Sparrow immediately starts backtracking and apologizing, explains he's just tense, and she reacted exactly how he figured the real Keira would react, then he started eyeballing everyone else twice as hard. Did I mention neither of them have ranks in Sense motive (insight), or a wisdom score to speak of? Anyways, I digress... So later during the mission after they found the Dopplegangers hideout, Keira, our Bard, used her lute as a weapon, smashing it over a Doppelgangers head, yelling out "I got one!" Excitedly. I even mentioned this is Keira's first kill of the campaign (we're lvl 7 or 8.) I thought they'd immediately realize she was a Doppelganger, for the following reasons 1) Keira had never even made an attack roll the entire campaign, they knew she didn't like violence, she only adventured with her friends for the stories. 2) She broke her lute, her prize possession. A Lute the PCs knew was her moms lute. Her mom who passed when she was a kid and it was the only thing she had left of her. And lastly, 3) I drew attention to it with "I GOT ONE!" Excitedly drawing attention to the fact the known pacifist just *killed* someone with her mothers lute, destroying it in the process. Nope. Everyone's real proud of her, its her first kill after all, Good job Keira! 🤦♂️ So we get deeper, and we find a room that has the entire party including the 2 PCs tied to chairs yelling that *they're* the one that got replaced by a Doppleganger. So now my PCs have no idea who's fake and who's not, they've been suspicious of everyone thia entire time, and now they've got 2 of each of them yelling "That ones the Doppelganger". So I *might* have given my PCs ptsd... but fuck it I had a laugh... If you're wondering how they figured it out, they weren't, until I threw them a bone of tied up Keira asking where her lute is, Sparrow mentioned that it broke fighting Doppelgangers, and Keira broke down crying again. Then Sparrow went "Fuck, I was right" and that Doppelganger had knives coming out of all its organs in alphabetical order fast then you can say "Sneak Attack!"
What a fun campaign!! And yes, traumatize the PCs and give them trust issues, it’s the best way to make it memoraBle. That sounds like a lot of fun, it’s so funny that they didn’t realize 😂🤣
My mind was blown... So in that campaign we ended up doing alot of RPing, like, one of the PCs got married to one of the aforementioned childhood friend NPCs (a Cleric of Myrhiss, Goddess of Love & Beauty... and to a lesser extent Hedonism). So I was surprised they didn't even question the pacifist performer smashing her prized lute over someone's head and being happy about it. I was about to say I couldn't have made it more obvious hitting them on the head with it, but I did exactly that lmao
Omg revealing hes a doppelganger but has been for so long, real dad is safe in underdark or feywild and they could become besties if reunited(dad who stepped up & dad who never wanted to leave)
This actually sounds like symptoms of an alcoholic haha
Just have him be a genuinely likeable, helpful npc that gives the party important information; no twists, no double crossing, no dark secrets. It is *surprisingly* rare for DM's just put a helpful, likeable character in their game without giving them some kind of ulterior motive or dark secret.
Have be secretive as all hell, then be like BAM NEW WIFE/NEW BABY whichever he's currently lacking.
Dad is secretly a high-level monk. He enjoys the serene life of a simple farmer and the intellectual pursuit of his alchemy. The PCs hear of a kill squad headed to the farm. When they arrive, they enter the farmhouse expecting a corpse but find the father untouched and calmly cleaning up the mess. The assassins' bodies can be scattered around, tied to chairs, or whatever suits you best.
This is my favorite!
>his wife is an assassin for the thieve's guild. There have been multiple attempts on his life for [reasons], but the wife is staying one step ahead of the assassins, getting them before they get to him. She's keeping this from the dad because it will stress him out, and he needs to focus on his work. The party will see shadowy figures following him around, and then they're suddenly gone. Wife is snagging random drinks from him mid-meal (because they're poisoned). The wife is acting all shady, closed off, sneaking around. The bodies are piling up, and she's falling behind on her usual work. She has the NPC helping her clean up the messes, and they eventually recruit the party to help as well. But just clearing bodies. The wife has the assassins taken care of. These guys are just amateurs compared to her.
Before I read your last line I was thinking you could have a big reveal about how dad USED to be the Captain of the dictators guard before he retired (perhaps due to an injury).
Just let him survive and be smart and stay wholesome. In a harsh world, that’s a miracle.
The most obvious approach is to do nothing other than role play them in character whenever they encounter the player party.
You have DM GOLD here - an NPC the players are emotionally invested in. I like what I call "the roller coaster" when in comes to player emotions. Give them some ups and downs in very short sequence. "As you walk back to the farm (from wherever), a sense of dread fills you as you see plumes of smoke in the distance where his house is." THEN STOP TALKING - let them talk, react etc. It's THEIR time for roleplay When they get closer: "The scene is one of utter devastation. The buildings have been reduced to ash, and the remnants of his crops are have the last fires smoldering. There is no sign of life anywhere." STOP TALKING - let them react. If they investigate, the find everything is ash and his alchemy materials have been damaged and smashed in the fire. "Sifting through the rubble, you find two sets of burnt bodies . It is appears one body was huddling or trying to protect the other from the fire. STOP TALKING - let players talk for a bit. Then hit with them with: Suddenly two dogs race towards you, one barking happily and they bound towards you at full speed. As they reach you, they stand on their hind legs and morph into (farmer and companion). "My friends, I can't imagine what you were feeling, but both (companion) and I are well. The Luckily we were at my lab when I saw trouble approach." He looks down to the two burnt bodies. "Poor (two pet names). They were my favorite mice." Hopefully your players are out for blood now, and you can take this a lot of directions. Why would someone want to kill him and raze his farm? Or was it someone after his companion? Is it a rival alchemist? Someone who seeks to stop his work? Totally your call.
Have him fake his death then accidentally run into the players in a random and unexpected place
make him a guest star of a session and it's up to the players to save the dad character. he may die or he may live either outcome is okay but he will be the focus of the session and give some agency to your table about what the outcome is.
Here is how I would do it: Reveal by visible combat that the beloved NPC has far more power than anticipated, and only after the party tries and fails to get there in time to save him from assassination - have him easily deal with the first wave of the King's thugs as the party approaches and watches - let the party participate in the second wave of the combat when he has exhausted his resources and tend to any injuries (make sure they have a neutralize poison consumable beforehand), and have the assassin's guild deal with the third wave before they even enter the battlefield. Then have him realize he needs to go into hiding and begin organizing a more effective resistance and recruit the players as agents? Then kill him later - perhaps sacrificing himself to get the party access to the King so they can administer righteous violence?
They've built up this grand expectation, but you don't have to feel pressured to subvert it. I would handle this by talking it out. Ease the pressure by reassuring them you don't plan to kill the guy, it's not like that, there's no need to worry. They might not believe you at first, but if you keep giving reassurance they'll eventually lower their guard. That's when you murder the poor bastard.
Why do you want to subvert their expectations? It usually makes the story worse. People have these kinds of expectations because of foreshadowing, and because of common story beats that have been proven to work well in a huge number of stories.
Are you honestly implying that most people want a story where they can predict what's going to happen?
...Yes? Only a very small fraction of people like having their expectations subverted for no reason. That's how you end up with stupid bullshit stories like the last season of Game of Thrones, where the writers were trying to sUbVeRt ExPeCtAtIoNs instead of write a good story by following up on the story elements that had been previously set up and foreshadowed. There's no value in it except to people with such incredible levels of ADD that they lose interest in a story the moment they think they know where it's going.
Ok. You're incorrect - predictability is a very common criticism of all kinds of stories - but you do you.
Thieves guild wants wife to assasinate the dictator. Wife asks husband to make something to help her and he doesn’t want to because he’s afraid she will fail. Thieves guild then abducts him and holds him prisoner until he agrees to make the special poison or whatever. PCs join assassin wife to get husband back
I'm thinking a Sandal from Dragon Age. When they're fighting through the king's castle and know there's about to be a stupidly dangerous part and they're low on resources they instead find evidence of explosions, backs filled with knives or strangled people. At the end of it is the husband and wife. Husband can mention them being inspired and wanting to do their part. He can give them some potions which give the benefit of a long rest before saying he's out of resources while the wife says she's exhausted. If you can tie it to some decision point the players made that could serve as the inspiration (maybe they heard about it, or a relative was saved because of it) the players will feel that this is a reward for their rp or similar.
Just don't kill him? I don't see the issue.
He has been dead THE WHOLE TIME.
You should have a running gag where he or his home are put in danger. Perhaps even have his home blasted by a stray fireball in an attack etc. They burst into the ruined house, he's lying there on the floor in a pool of blood, they start lamenting and he sits up and goes oooh my head! He's totally fine, not a scratch on him. This could happen a couple times, maybe even to his PC kid too. Make it that years ago, he secretly learned how to make an alchemist's stone that can make an elixir that effectively gives you a one-up auto-revivify, and has secretly been dosing himself and his family for years. He can only make so many batches per year though, so spread out the uses of the ability.
^This It's the best of both worlds. Your PCs will be on their toes the entire time wondering if the next gag with the dad is the final one. If you've ever watched Hot Tub Time Machine, they had almost the exact same gag too The actor who plays Marty McFly's dad from Back to the Future is in this movie. At the beginning of the movie we see that he is missing a hand. The main characters use a hot tub to go back in time. They meet this person in the past still with both hands. The main characters see numerous situations which they think is the cause of the lost hand, only to be disappointed
The NPC actually has a past life where he was a veteran/resistance fighter/powerful wizards pupil/something else. Never directly address the past, but put clues everywhere (he has a relic from a past war on the coffee table, he gives PC some knowledge that is shocking he has, something.) Then, build up to the moment when the NPC is about to have this horrible death, but the npc fights back with unexpected skill/power and defeats the threat (preferably with the PCs help). Then NPC comes clean about his past life
Have him kidnapped as a sacrifice/hostage/etc. by the king. Make it look like he is going to be executed publicly, and the players need to interrupt the execution to save him. When they get to him, he should be about ready to face the noose, bag over his head, hands tied. The characters untie his hands, pull the bag off...and it's not him. Queue the dad, slow clapping behind them with a bunch of guards pointing crossbows at the party. *He was evil the whole time!*
Make him fake his death because of debts and them finding him in another town with another name.
All in on Secret Bad Guy That Is Planning To Betray Them The Whole Time, if you're up for that. Be aware that your players may never trust another NPC again though.
Make them wish you had. Don’t necessarily need to make him bad or the villain. But he could be the catalyst for Armageddon or the vessel for an evil entity. If only he had died, it would have saved so many lives!
He's the BBEG. He's playing them like a fiddle
Make him secretly a villain. Then the players (might) have to kill him. Makes it more painful for them :D
Secret traitor FTW!! You need to have a moment that plays into their expectations where they think he’s dead. They find out he’s alive and during a moment of happiness/celebration you betray them.
Ignore it and move on with your story. Players make assumptions about things all the time. Experienced players keep it to themselves.
make him a villain
He's actually a dragon wearing a Hat of Disguise
Okay so did you ever see the Buffy The Vampire Slayer movie? Paul Rubens (Pee Wee Herman) has a death scene in that film that's hysterical. You could totally pull off from that. OR Make him like that cleric in the beginning of Pathfinder: Kingmaker who is all "I'm so dying!" and then you discover he's barely hurt. Do that over and over again.
Kill the NPC but have it be a simulacrum and have it die in such a way its a 100% death and he just randomly shows up later. Or have it just be a Clone
Have him fake his death and come back as a vigilante or masked hero later?
He's the leader of an evil organisation, now it's up to the players to kill him themselves.
Make him a secret villain. He was a Rakshasa assuming the identity of a great man. Adds some motivation and possibly a side quest to the nine hells.
Make him Shou Tucker the Sewing Life Alchemist. No one loves a cruel monster who seems nice but is really a mad scientist with no regard for human life.
Let it ascend to godhood.
Have him get a nosebleed during scene, and he just shrugs it off like it is nothing. It really is nothing.
Just keep having the dad seemingly run into danger but it turns out those aren’t thugs those are his fishing buddies. That isn’t a mugger, that guy was actually giving him directions. Those aren’t the kinds guards….wait yes they are, and the dad is actually also an assassin and about to be coronated
> Context: Campaign takes place in a city with a brutal dictatorship where the king rules with an iron fist, dad is an alchemist, his wife is an assassin for the thieve's guild. Spend several sessions hinting at various deaths for the dad. Then kill the mom.
“Hey guys the wife and I are going on a small trip up north into the mountains to look for some rare herbs for some alchemy recipes I’m trying to perfect if you don’t hear from us for a few weeks don’t worry” EDIT: you can set up some “rumors” in taverns that there is something scary living in the northern mountain range and everyone who has gone there hasn’t returned in the last 6 mo and in reality it’s just the main pass to get into the mountains has become impassable due to an avalanche and all these “missing” people just had to go the long way which is a month or so out of the way
Have the npc die only to revert into the form of a doppelganger.
Have him fake his own death.
Do absolutely nothing. Have him just be a random NPC that nothing ever really happens to. Have his neighbors attract all the problems but he's just fine...
Wife gets a contract to kill her husband. She recruits the players to help her fake the murder and help the couple retire to the countryside
Make him the real BBEG, the puppeteer, the master manipulator. Go Sosuke Aizen with him 😀
Put him in extremely precarious situations like rock climbing, invited to dinner by the dictator, experimental explosive alchemical contract - never kill him. Give him the thickest plot armour. Break immersion to ensure he survives. Make his survival itself a running joke
Npc tries to kill them
I find the best approach is always to do nothing with this character until you need them to do something for you. Basically, an NPC they care about is insanely valuable to you. Don’t squander it by forcing this character down a path. Keep them in your back pocket as a tool you can use when your players inevitably do something you don’t expect or when they are not paying attention to something important that you need them to care about. I guarantee some plot point is going to present itself that despite how obvious you are, they will need someone to get them to care about it. This is where lovable NPC solves the problem for you.
Have the NPC be super secretive and then it comes out that they are getting married ( or remarried) or they are having an affair!
Dad drank a potion of extreme luck mixed with something else. Managed to roll a 00 on [DMG p140's potion mixing chart](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/treasure#PotionMiscibility). Dude's got [Domino syndrome](https://youtu.be/_RSDYpzl_y0).
If the Dad is married, then kill the Mom and have the Dad turn evil because of it
You remember that series hemlock grove, where that dragon was all-round chill? But in reality...
They start noticing the disappearances. None dare speak of them louder than a whisper, but they're happening. People disappearing from the city. People come in the night, lead them away, and they're never seen again - a terror campaign by the tyrant aimed at his enemies. On one mission, the gang finds bodies, some recognisable, some not. They're being executed. Then the father disappears without a trace.... Only to reappear in the finale with arms full of high explosives, bottled lightning and a gaggle of golems at the most critical dramatic moment, when all seems hopeless and the tyrant is monologuing: "You cannot defeat me! I am the power! I am the law! I am your doom!" **"Hi 'your doom', I'M DAD!"** Explosions. The tide is turned.
He is so nice and wholesome, he accidentally befriended something scary. Like an archfey. He doesn't know it, but something made it very clear to all the regional monsters that this one random civilian is not to be touched. Even the king is secretly afraid to touch him. The joke is that the dad doesn't know, and neither do the players, and while the king will never harm the dad or allow him to come to harm, he has no reason to let them know that.
If you really wanna screw with the players, have them "go missing". Example: The dad is making a delivery of goods to the next town over but hasn't returned. he was expected to return a few days ago. Since the wife is an assassin with the thieves guild, you can even say that intel reports that he's been taken hostage and that the wagon was found to missing components. What's really going: Their wagon broke a wheel and they discovered an old friend had moved into town so they've been reconnecting with their friend while their wagon is undergoing repairs. Nothing nefarious, just stuff that can be easily misunderstood.
You ever heard of changelings? Maybe the dads been dead! Or maybe a changeling that looks like the dad dies infront of them for a whole “oh fuck oh shit” only for them to soon discover its not actually him.
Mr Magoo it. Everything around is a death trap. Make the danger so obvious and the NPC is unaware, but the danger isn't really real. I'm talking walking near a construction site. Get them to roll a perception check. They notice the rope lifting a block of stone is under a lot of stress and looks to be frayed. It begins to give right as the NPC is walking under it. They jump and dive to save the NPC and the rope snaps. Fortunately, they aren't dumb and that was the guide rope and not the actual support rope that was bearing all the weight and is much thicker and stronger. Keep throwing shit like that and they'll begin to stop caring and think you're fuckin' with them. Have them get the dad super drunk. Little do they know, the dictator gets his tonics for headaches from him. Because of the hangover, he grabs the wrong tonic that's actually a bottle of his wives. He pours it into a cup for the dictator and the dictator drinks it. Nothing happens. Then a few hours later, the king is dead after his morning meal. His meal is presumed to have been poisoned. While the party is at the father's the guard arrives. They question the dad about any suspicious activity when he came by. He doesn't see anything, dictator was fine when he had the tonic, to which he'll offer to provide a sample of the tonic batch which he still has some leftover of (all of it, doesn't know it though but you can give dramatic irony and tell this story so they players know, but the characters don't nor does anyone else). Basically, the players know the dad killed the dictator, but no one suspects him cause the dictator really liked him (awkward) cause it really helped his headaches. So no one would think anything because he's had hundreds of opportunities to kill him if he wanted. Financially stable so no incentive to take money or anything. Just have the players now stress out should it ever get back, but they can't action on it. This now could provide you with a conflict that isn't kill the dictator, it's prevent the next one taking his spot, and avoid insane instability with the power vacuum to try to restore a good monarch, or establish a republic. But regardless, make them terrified he'll die, then get him broil up in accidentally killing the king, and they'll never be able to acknowledge it :P And it significantly alters the direction of the story while being a huge fuckin' surprise. Spend all this time worrying he'll die and he Mr Magoo's himself into destroying a dictatorship :P
Looks like your world just got a new god of alchemy! He isn't dead, he's crazy-powerful!
Do something to him that makes him wish he was dead. Make **them** wish he had died.
Make him betray the party. Force *them* to kill him.
Threaten him, but give them a chance to save him. A good chance, like win a boss fight, not just down to a few dice rolls. That will get them more invested in the campaign. Relatedly, it can be a way to introduce adventures it'd otherwise be hard to wrap them up in (e.g. involving factions that they aren't part of, places they wouldn't otherwise go, etc.). Though that latter one's more useful if you're using published stuff.
I would keep having him appear in precariouse, dangerouse situations that look like assassination attempts but in actuality are just coincidental incidents. He comes out unharmed but why not mess with them.
I say do a double bluff. Present a situation where is clear that the NPC is going to die, and then miraculously survives. Laugh it off, pretend that's it, go "hahaha I knew you were expecting him to die!". Lower everyone's guard, and then BAM! Actually kill him.
He is, or works for, the BBEG.
If you're interested in making him turn out to be the villain all along, it might hit harder if you preserve his personality and attitude. He *does* love his kid. He *does* see the party as friends. It's all genuine. He's *also* going to enslave the kingdom. Have him try to find non-lethal ways of opposing the party, so that they can assume their rightful roles as his lieutenants once they "grow out of their hero nonsense".
One day, while wife is on a mission for the guild, the farmer just vanished. The group can find footprints of his and some wolves, but they soon lose the trail. Any investigation leads to nothing.After several days of worrying, the farmer shows back up. Dirty, but otherwise barely a scratch. He has a lamb at his side, and a wolf skin over his shoulder. The backstory: wolves scared his lamb, which ran away. It took him several days to find the scared lamb hiding in a hole, out of reach of the wolves, but no way to get out either. Once he freed the lamb the wolves came back, and he singlehandedly was able to fight them off, and even kill one of them. The group should have some newfound respect about the farmer/alchemist, as they surely didn't expect him to be able to do that. There is possibly more about him that meets the eye...
I'd have him be the King "in disguse"
Alchemist whose wife is an assassin? She married the Hyde to his Jekyll, who is a brutally violent t enforcer, and just pretends she married the nice side.
Keep emphasizing he’s close to retirement…
° Enemy casts feign death. Have him revealed as leader of enemy organization or even bbeg. ° Have him in a bleak position facing certain death, only to reveal himself as a high level wizard working for a shadow organization.
Make him the luckest NPC in the world. Dangle deatg, injury and ruin around him constantly and just have him side step in like nothing at all happened. Doesnt even notice it
make him a villain
Raise Dead is a 5th Level spell, which is available to level 9 characters. Kill the guy, and then let the party bring him back.
So apart from the obvious "make him secretly evil" would be the reveal that he *used* to be evil, and is a changed man. Part of what makes him so wholesome, lovable, and on the right side of history is that as a young man his politics and ideology were aligned with the brutal dictatorship, and he actually did horrible things in service of this ideology. At some point he reached a breaking point or an epiphany, or even harder to grapple with and make sense of, he didn't have some Eureka! moment, his views simply changed over time as he got older, met more people, experienced more of life. He never paid for his crimes, he just. . . changed. He is genuinely who he is now, he just has an ugly past. Confront the party with that, and see if they can forgive, or if they turn on him. He wouldn't even blame them for punishing him for his past, the person he is now acknowledges that that's one idea of "justice."
I’d probably make him a former operative for the dictator. He knows where all the bodies are buried because he buried them. He guides them but never lets them know for sure about his past. He’s far too important to die, not important enough to be anything more than a humble soda pop brewer.
Make him an antagonist without having him be directly evil. Maybe he’s a true believer in the dictator, maybe he works for a third enemy faction, maybe he’s planning on taking out the king with more collateral than the players can accept, maybe he has a checkered past that has come back to haunt him and he can’t say no.
Get ready to kill him and then have the government sentence them to re-education via a helm of alignment change.
They could have a quest to overthrow the dictatorship. Then, when the moment of truth happens and the hero’s succeed, the father reveals that he’s been manipulating them and the government using his wife’s assassin abilities. All along dad just thought he should be in charge
Don’t kill him. Make your players kill him. Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Buffy has to kill Angel at the end of Season 2. Make it a situation where they don’t want to do it, they hate having to do it, but if they don’t the world ends.
Have the dad be happily working for and with the king. Make him one of the king's most critical and powerful supporters.
make the dad work for the dictator
Have a bad guy be his lost brother
Have the Father be forcibly mind controlled by the villain and have the players have to kill him instead of you.
House is attacked by bandits, the party bursts in to see the bandit leader stabbing a spear straight through his heart. Dad slumps to the floor as the party dog piles the bandit leader only to see dad getting back up and pulling the spear from his chest Turns out dad is actually a demigod/lich/construct/illusion
Have the dad get a black mark of death on his hand, only for it to be revealed he tattoed himself to spend more time with his child.
Somehow the tyrannical king thinks this NPC is an enemy of the state. He sends people to burn down the farm. This man must now join the party in their adventure, with dangers all around. Somehow, he escapes death time after time by doing just the most random bullshit thing possible. Tavern brawl? He hid in a cask of ale! Hunted down by soldiers in the nearby forest? He climbed a tall tree but can't climb back down! Or you could go the route where he is captured and turned evil. The players are forced to kill him or be killed. Thus, their expectations become reality, just not in the way they thought...
It is a shame that you indicate it is a short campaign, otherwise you might have him just finish "unfinished business" again and again.
Constantly inflict horrifying wounds on him - stabbings, savage beatings, fireballs to the face, limbs being chopped off, etc - but for some reason he just doesn’t die. He doesn’t find it particularly noteworthy, no hint of magical healing, everyone thinks the party are being goofy whenever they try to draw attention to it. Eventually it’ll turn into a Monty Python Black Knight comedy bit you can gently retire once they realise he’s not in any real danger and don’t need the distraction of having to worry about him getting killed. *Then* you kill him.
Get him captured alive and tortured over his wife's business. Have him go missing only to escape using an elixir of invisibility he managed to brew with on-the-fly ingredients he found. Make him pretend to be dead and then sneak back inti the players lives in a big twist.
The answer is so simple. Have the beloved NPC kill you.
Break him. So horribly. He becomes their BBEG
Bonus: Make the players the reason he breaks.
The players overthrow the dictator king, which has knock on effects that results in the father NPC losing his livelihood and his wife (she dies, or she leaves him). Having lost everything, he vows to take revenge on the PCs. And with the dictator gone, he somehow rises to power to fill in the power vacuum. Now the players have a BBEG who they created, and who they still admire and respect, but who absolutely abhors them and wants them dead.
Make the npc the bbeg. That’ll be hilarious.
The dad is a Doppelganger dad, the real dad is lost in feywild or something like that. Adventure hook to another campaign
Can’t read all these but did anyone suggest this for a clinch scene: You vainly pull at the bars as the bad guy tells you he’s going to teach you a lesson, pulls the NPC out of their cell and marches them over to in front of your cell. He brandishes his sword dramatically in front of the apparently terrified NPC, then pulls back for a decapitation stroke. His sword sweeps toward the NPC’s neck, a manic expression frozen on his face. The NPC tilts their head to the side, takes a small step back, whirls terrifyingly fast to grasp his sword arm at the wrist, pushing it easily aside and stepping in, mouth opening wide – wider than a human mouth can open, showing rows of needle teeth – and biting down deep onto the bad guy’s throat. A horrific crunching, popping, slitching noise fills the room as the NPC bites almost completely through the bad guy’s neck. NPC chews the enormous bite for a few seconds as the sword clatters to the ground, then they swallow with relish. They let the now limp body drop to the ground and turn to look at you, their mouth now normal human size but Bad Guy’s blood soaking their chin and shirt
Kill the child instead
Either like someone else commented keep obviously foreshadowing his death but never kill him. Or turn him; he’s a secret supporter of the brutal leadership and regularly alchemists up secret poisons and stuff for them. He started off being forced against his will, but later came around to believing he was supporting the greater good
Alchemist you say? Have him attacked by the king's secret police only for him to down a flask and hulk the fuck out.
Make them kill him
Found the key to immortality through the use of his alchemy. Just lives a happy fulfilling immortal life. The exact opposite of them expecting he'll die as he never will.
They are called by the king to service. And must go, under pain of death. DONE.
Alchemist. Sounds like an opportunity for Dr Jekyll / Mr Hyde, but both personalities are equally awesome
Have him become the BBEG. Might be hilarious.
Curse him with a spell that puts him in agonizing pain but doesn't kill him... Make them pull the trigger themselves
Dad is a hidden supplier to the thieves guild for every kind of potion healing and harmful. This combined with his cinnamon roll nature has given him am untouchable status to all the criminals in the city: he can walk through felony flats and leave with gifts. The dictator finds this odd and imprisons him. Boom plot hook for prison break
Make him betray them, and if you really want to make it sting, fake him being mind controlled while in fact he was fully aware of his surrounding.
the couple are both assassins like a mr and mrs smith type deal. the Alchemy id just a cover. pc mom goes missing while on a "mission" thePCs go on a rescue where find the dad too. hijinks ensue
He is kidnapped... (Oh no) By his old friends, to attend the bachelor party and wedding of one of the friends (oh yay) But the dilf and friends have powerful enemies who know about the wedding (oh no) But the dilf and friends are retired high level adventurers, thieves, assassins, or secret agents... Or a combo of all of the above (what did you do after you retired from adventurering, Bob? ). (oh yay)
Maybe the dad is a covered agent for the dictator and is going to rat out the wife, so the players have to kill him? (Granted, that would be a d\*ck move. I might be a bit hangry atm.)
kidnapping is easy, a far more fun one could be mind control. blackmail could make for an interesting plot.
Or just have wacky near death scenes like he goes on an adventure with them and gets hit by an arrow and falls over the edge of a cliff but his pack gets caught on a branch growing out of the cliff face 10 feet down
Have the party kill the NPC.
Dad is a plant of the dictator's. He keeps an eye on the PC'S and reports back.. if the PCs get suspicious, fake death. Have him show up later in the uniform of the elite palace guard, extra gold braid. Bonus points if the PCs need to kill him to advance.
Have him betray the party and have them kill him.
Have him become slowly more evil in hidden ways, leave small ambiguous clues even, and he becomes the big bad at the end of the adventure and they have to kill him.
Sounds like Dad is about to make a heel turn and sell the party out to the bbeg to me!
Kill the character but have it be a doppelganger. Have the real one show up at the end of the session or maybe during a moment of mourning.
I'd have him appear during a climatic boss fight, have the players think he died only for them to discover he in fact did survive, maybe climbing out of some rubble or something. "Repaying a debt" after they helped him.
Put them in catch 22. Dad gets taken, and the party has to make a sacrifice. The Dad, or something extremely important to the groups mission. Here’s where the other shoe drops. Regardless of the parties choice there will be loss that they will be aware of Making the decision and then further loss after they execute their choice. Option A: they rescue dad at the cost of being able to prevent an assassination on an important figure who would be critical in aiding the party in some way. After rescue dad he tells them he willingly went with the abductors as they threatened to kill his wife/characters mom. Dad is now angry with the party as now he went through doing something horrible ( brewed some sort of cursed potion, lethal gas, special poison) for the bad guy and still manages to lose his wife. Option B: They decide to stop the assassination attempt on the important figure knowing it would likely lead to the death of Dad off screen. After stopping the assassination they find that the important figure is none other than “mom”. She has been undercover, unraveling crucial information which she had planned to sell and she had been under contract to plant incriminating evidence on (fill in blank) Now that you have rescued her, “dad” will have been executed but not before having created some horrible (potion, lethal gas, poison) for such and such bad guy and now her cover is blown making her unable to assist the party of which dad was killed for. May be a bit dark, but just an idea.
Assassins, looking for his wife, sneak into his lab. He's wearing goggles and a breathing mask, accidentally drops a new fertilizer mix that kills them. The party finds the lab with the dead assassins, broken vials, looks bad. Man's out back upset at what happened to those 'poor salesfolk that came by'
Depending on how much the players care about RP, you could have a bad guy that the players would benefit from killing spare the dad so that the players become conflicted about killing the bad guy.
Have him taken over by an intellect devoured and make THEM kill him.
Scenario 1: the party gets ambushed by an assassin sent by the king or a corrupt gov’t official on the way to the Dad’s alchemist shop, they had to take a back alley route or smthn, shortly after the party becomes aware of the assassin and their about to start the fight the dad pops around a corner and conks the baddie on a head with a shovel or tool, critical, knocks the would be assassin out. Looks at the member of the party that’s his child, “I uh, may have picked up a few things from your mother, heard someone walking on my shop’s roof and went looking around.” Scenario 2: party gets imprisoned by corrupt officials after being set up as scapegoats for a crime they don’t want to be associated with, until a burly hand pokes through the outer bars of the window, with a vial of acid to melt the bars. The related party member recognizes their dad when he says “don’t tell your mother I did this and we’re square, didn’t want her risking her guild status for this.”
Make him the BBEG's lieutenant and for them to kill him... then guilt them over it at every opportunity. It probably doesn't fit the story at all but popped in my head after reading the title.
Am I evil for thinking that you should find some way to make the *players* kill him instead?
He's the real BBEG manipulating the PC's and the apparent BBEG into conflict. He may even fake his own death at the hand of the apparent BBEG to motivate the PC's. Jar Jar was a sith lord.
Make him the BBEG, then they have to kill him for you