Summary
If you’ve played in or been a Dungeon Master (DM) for aDungeons & Dragonscampaign, chances are you’ve had to say goodbye to a character at some point. But it’s not always because a boss or encounter claimed the life of a player character.
Sometimes, it serves the story or the player to have a character exit before the adventure is done. As either a DM or a player, it can be difficult to say goodbye. Or even more difficult to figure out how you want to retire an adventurer. But there are a number of ways to do this gracefully. Or with a bang.
There should always be discussion between the player and DM about how a character’s retirement should go.
8A Glorious Death Or Great Sacrifice
Don’t Go Gentle Into Playing That New Character
One of the most popular ideas for both DMs and players is to have a character give their life for the greater good or for the party. This can work really well for impacting the campaign’s story in a major way, deeply affecting the other player characters, or driving the party to seek revenge.
It can be a fun, emotional way for someone to give a fitting exit to their character while looking forward to creating and playing a new one to join the party after they’ve been rocked by the loss. It can also elevate a smaller or less important NPC suddenly, making them a major villain.
7A Peaceful Or Off-Screen Death
Gone But Not Forgotten
A not as popular off-shoot of going out in a blaze of glory is to bid a quiet or unexpected farewell to a player character. This can be a tool of DMs who have a player leaving the campaign or can lead to a great amount of intrigue or questioning by the party if a player is simply ready to roll a new character.
Does the party wake up one morning and their ally is dead? Did they disappear in the middle of the night, never to be seen again? Did a curse or illness catch up to them and take this adventurer way before their time? There are a lot of different ways to use this storytelling tool.
6Other Objectives Elsewhere
So Long Fantasy Cowboy
One of the options that keeps a player character alive is to have an issue that arises elsewhere.Using a player’s backstorycan really aid in this by giving some guidance as to what could be so important to call a character away.
If a character has some family drama in their past, something can come up that they view as their own business and not the party’s as a whole. Perhaps a character with a bond to a deity or patron is ordered to walk a path different from the rest of the group. They could have some unfinished business pop up and leave in the night to spare the party from it. There are really no wrong answers.
5Peacekeeping Or Volunteerism
Serving A Greater Good All On Their Own
Is your party passing through or helping a town that has been devastated? It could be a dragon attack, a famine, a natural disaster, really anything. The sights and the suffering of this place might stir a character to stay behind while their friends continue forward, feeling they can help in their immediate surroundings.
It doesn’t just have to be a village, town, or city your party is currently in. The character can hear a tale of a far off place or something happening to their hometown. Maybe a Lord, Lady, or Monarch isrequesting volunteers to help with a noble questthat the rest of the party says no to. There are a lot of options.
4Have Them Become A Shop Owner
Is There A Friends And Family Discount?
It’s a common story for NPCs. “I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow to some unfortunate part of my body.” You get it. After a hard and fast life of being a sword for hire, they’ve settled into a more peaceful life of buying and selling goods, baking or cooking, crafting, so on and so forth.
There’s no reason why you can’t apply this to a player character. And it could be a fun way for the party to stop in and see their old friend between quests. It’s up to the DM if that character then becomes an NPC, someone the DM would control, or if the player can step back into those familiar shoes to chew the fat with the party briefly before they set back out on their journey.
3A Party Disagreement
Serve Piping Hot Tea On Your Way Out
This can be a harder option to pull off, but can lead to some fun possibilities. Party members don’t always see eye to eye.With different alignments, different backstory elements, and forming different opinions in regard to actions the party has taken as a whole or decisions the group has made, there can be fuel to the potential fire.
This works best if the player knows that they want an excuse to retire a character. Then, one day, they can let their emotions boil over and pick a disagreement or fight to have with the people they’ve spent all this time with. Though, depending on how heated things get, you might want to check in with everyone after the session to make sure things are all okay in real life.
You Know, They’re Making A Lot Of Sense
One of the more extreme options, this can really change the course of a campaign and its story. It should go without saying that the player who wishes to retire their character has to be on board with this idea or arrive at it on their own. And if they do? What a wild ride that can ensue.
Most people can say there is a villain in entertainment they’ve listened to who has made some valid points. Why can’t a player character feel the same way? Or they could have sworn themselves to something that the party has vowed to fight against. It’s an incredible way to have a character leave the group and push the narrative in a new direction.
1Make Them Into A Legend
And Legends Never Die
This is a great option when there’s been a significant passage of time or if one campaign ends and another one begins in the same world or universe. Other players might elect to play their old characters while some are excited about trying out someone new.
It can also be a way to retire the entire cast without a total party kill (TPK) or if the characters would otherwise continue on after the main conflict is settled and finished. If it is used in the case that another campaign is starting up after the events of the first one, it’s also a fun way to work in tributes to the characters of the past and make the players excited to see and/or hear of their old friend again.
