Dead character

[corwyn]

So this is in Savage Worlds but the system isn't relevant.

The setting is Dark Vietnam. the group is a lone unit, sent to destroy this evil magic temple, so far unhurt by some bombing runs, with a backpack nuke. At this point they are at this point they are pretty overwhelmed. The solution is to release the nuke at ground zero. Along the way, all the characters were offered mystical protection which would allow them to survive the nuke. They all accepted the gifts - all but one. Which I missed.

There are no friendly npcs to offer him but I don't want to leave him doing nothing. The enemies consist of NVA, some of which are possessed by ghosts, some other phantoms, demons, all of which would be destroyed by the nuke while releasing a Great Ancient One which would require some opposed trait rolls to survive/wound the GAO.

Any suggestions? It is a finale; I don't object to fatalities. I just don't want it to be half the session. I could contract the GAO encounter but that's all I got right now.

[sir_pudding]

Ghost, not even in death does duty end.

[DeadParrot]

Why did the character not accept the gift? Deliberate choice? Misunderstanding by the player? Player not at that session? ETC.

If it was by deliberate choice, then choices have consequences.
If a misunderstanding or miscommunication or absence, then fix by having the offer be extended to the character again. In a setting with ghosts, Ancient Ones, and mystical ways to survive danger close nukes, a 2nd offer doesn't seem out of line. Maybe someone(thing) is impressed that the unit has gotten this far. If that character turns it down again, then back to choices have consequences.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Ghost, not even in death does duty end.

Rising just in time for the boss fight after being killed by the nuke. Ghosts are bound until they accomplish that one task for release, you know. So the character does die, just not right away. (If the party loses, the ghost finds out just what GAOs can do to them, so there's a new NPC for the next game.)

Don't forget the Can Carry Objects on Insubstantial. Otherwise, the character can't pick up their weapons, and the player will have to get inventive on ways to affect the GAO. Similarly, the GAO will need Affects Insubstantial on their mind powers and perhaps even physical attacks. (I'd go with different attacks, so the live characters get hammered by the tentacles or whatever, while the psi blasts can attack the ghost.)

Variations on the theme could be the "zombie tanker", Terminally Ill from radiation poisoning (if there's a way the blast doesn't get him) but otherwise functional long enough to get through the fight. Or in this setting, even a literal zombie. Or the character could wind up with a superpower about equal to that Terminally Ill. Dr. Manhattan would be a bit much, but even a radioactive spider bite can do wonders; the whole bomb dose leaves the field wide open. Still lethal, of course, unless the group is transitioning to a supers game, in which case you've got one character already. (Though I'm not sure making the wrong choice deserves a reward...)

[thrash]

Originally Posted by corwyn

There are no friendly npcs to offer him but I don't want to leave him doing nothing.

Incredulous radio operator at base, whom they must convince of their situation and actions before they can be reinforced/resupplied/extracted/etc.

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by DeadParrot

Why did the character not accept the gift? Deliberate choice? Misunderstanding by the player? Player not at that session? ETC.

If it was by deliberate choice, then choices have consequences.
If a misunderstanding or miscommunication or absence, then fix by having the offer be extended to the character again. In a setting with ghosts, Ancient Ones, and mystical ways to survive danger close nukes, a 2nd offer doesn't seem out of line. Maybe someone(thing) is impressed that the unit has gotten this far. If that character turns it down again, then back to choices have consequences.

Deliberate choice. I think he was suspicious of them. The people that offered the gifts are long gone. I think a ghost/revenant is my best choice. If they lose, it's probably a tpk, if they win, he dies at the end once his goal is accomplished.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by corwyn

Deliberate choice. I think he was suspicious of them. The people that offered the gifts are long gone. I think a ghost/revenant is my best choice. If they lose, it's probably a tpk, if they win, he dies at the end once his goal is accomplished.

Is cheating an option? In one plotline in the webcomic Schlock Mercenary, one of the characters was offered a nanobot injection that would make him markedly more difficult to permanently kill, but he rejected it. Then when his throat got torn out by an alien, he discovered the one who had given him the offer had gone against his wishes and surreptitiously injected the nanobots after all, causing them to repair and augment his body as designed. In this case, it would be that the benefactors opted to grant him the same protection as the others without his consent. Alternatively, you could claim having so many nuke-immune people in a small area winds up rendering the entire small area immune - when the blast clears, maybe you have the cluster of PC's standing in the middle of a small patch of intact land, and everything around that island of protection blasted to bits.

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Is cheating an option? In one plotline in the webcomic Schlock Mercenary, one of the characters was offered a nanobot injection that would make him markedly more difficult to permanently kill, but he rejected it. Then when his throat got torn out by an alien, he discovered the one who had given him the offer had gone against his wishes and surreptitiously injected the nanobots after all, causing them to repair and augment his body as designed. In this case, it would be that the benefactors opted to grant him the same protection as the others without his consent. Alternatively, you could claim having so many nuke-immune people in a small area winds up rendering the entire small area immune - when the blast clears, maybe you have the cluster of PC's standing in the middle of a small patch of intact land, and everything around that island of protection blasted to bits.

Cheating is always an option. Or, to put another way, GMs can't cheat.

So the former suggestion, the gifts were delivered mostly in tangible items. They received an amulet from some children, a tattoo from a wizened old Vietmamese elder, and a kiss from a witch woman. Still could be done, I suppose.

The second, the PC in question went out of his way to place himself away from the others to snipe from a tree so they're not even together anymore.

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by corwyn

Any suggestions? It is a finale; I don't object to fatalities. I just don't want it to be half the session. I could contract the GAO encounter but that's all I got right now.

Have you considered having him play the GAO for the final fight? I mean, if you don't mind fatalities...

[corwyn]

Originally Posted by TGLS

Have you considered having him play the GAO for the final fight? I mean, if you don't mind fatalities...

I actually did; I've done it before but I'm not sure I want to do it for a campaign's final boss. Of course, then the tpk isn't "my" fault.