How to kill the unkillable?

[FogHat]

I'll take any ideas I can get.

 

We are fighting the evil ruler of an alternate dimension that has cast a spell that will destroy all the humans on earth given time. Through some mystic means (The team is far from mystic) we have found out that we must kill the King in Yellow. Sound easy, but killing him, well.. doesn't.

 

Let me explain: We met this truly evil King once before after getting gated to his world after getting drafted by a mystic. After talking failed and everyone in the party took body we killed him. To our shock and horror as the dead body hit the ground he reappeared as if he had never been touched!! Sorta of an Evil Reset. Learning from our mistakes we knocked him silly without killing him and dumped him into

deep hole and filled it in with a local artifact.

 

After this we started a local tradition. We had the peasants add a few feet of dirt to the site every day to keep him digging, as he wasn't dead.

 

We returned home and years later the King in Yellow sent us a message that he had finally escaped and was most annoyed but couldn't/wouldn't gate to our world. We where told he'd find a way to make us come to him. He has.

 

Ok, let’s get right to the question: How to kill the unkillable?

[BobGreenwade]

The only thing that comes to mind is to put him into some condition that would instantly kill him every time he resurrects -- the heart of a volcano, deep (interstellar) space, the surface of the sun, or something like that.

[Demonsong]

Drain Regeneration, continuous, 0=END?

[Mr. Negative]

Killing the King in Yellow

 

As I'm unfamiliar with your game world, but familiar with the literary character of the King in Yellow, I'd normally assume that you are completely doomed. However, since the "real" King in Yellow would never be so easily thwarted as being stunned and buried, I'm assuming that your GM hasn't actually made him a full power avatar of Him Who Shall Not Be Named (Hastur, oops).

 

As gating is possible in your campaign, I'd suggest gating him to a dimension where time has no meaning, thus "imprisoning" him forever. Alternatively, if he is a mystical character, you might try to gate him to some area which is antithetical to his being. In the published stories of Hastur, he is often presented as being entropic in nature, so perhaps a dimension of perfect order, etc.

 

Depending on the influence of mythology in your campaign, you might be able to make an appeal/bargain with another being opposed to Hastur/willing to take you up on it. Again, if the campaign follows the published mythology, the Elder Gods, such as Nodens, might be willing to intercede on your behalf. You might also try to get a single player to appeal to someone such as Nyarlathotep, which would probably doom him, but may save the rest of the party.

 

Combating the King in Yellow in dreams may also be a viable option, as the "reality" of the Dreamlands (if they exist in your campaign) is more malleable than that of reality. Also on this note, journeying to Carcosa itself (the source of at least one manifestation of the King) to confront him/follow the encounter through to completion, may be possible in dreams (or in the real world of your campaign). Note that ripping the pallid mask from the King would normally be considered a bad idea, but may be, in your game world, the confrontation necessary to defeat the King.

 

Finally, the King in Yellow is the title of a (fictitious) play which drives those who read/witness it to depression, despair, and insanity (at least in the published stories). Perhaps you could destroy any first editions of this play (if it exists in your world) to negate the power of the King.

 

Telll us more about the campaign and I, or others, may be able to offer some more suggestions. These are overly broad and perhaps completely out of tune with your game world, but certainly tie in with the literary figure of the King in Yellow (although, again, if he's anything like the "real" King in Yellow, you're simply doomed.)

[SirViss]

Obviously...

 

Kill the GM!

 

Seriously, it would depend on how you feel about the character. If the group doesn't particularly like the concept of an enemy that CAN'T be killed, the you should make sure that the GM understands that.

 

That being said, "unkillable" characters often have an achile's heel weakness that circumvents their supposed immortality. In game like that you usually have:

 

- A first "quest" to find out who might know it;

- A second search to find the individual in question and ask him what material, device or situation would bring permanent death to the «evil doer».

- A third "quest" to find, gather and maybe fabricate the antagonist's «kryptonite», or the place where the enemy would stay dead;

- And the obvious fourth, using the item in the apropriate setting for it to have it full power vs said enemy, or luring/forcing him to where he is vulnerable.

 

Those are the classics for the typical "unkillable" nemesis...

[FogHat]

The King

 

Thanks for all the ideas.

To clarify the King in Yellow in the campaign is a weaker version, thank goodness. The way he has been played to date is he isn't very fast but his attacks are all very very deadly, lots of dive for cover and group attacks where used to bring him down. We only faced him once while on a quest to get mystic artifact from his world. Looking like an old man he asked to get the artifact back just before we left. Someone guessed who this man in yellow was and attacked from surprise (Fight or flight and our brick likes fight.) So we got the upper hand and in the end won. Ouch.. big ouch.

 

We don't know anything about the Kings enemies. We are more tech than magic. Our GM had a great time having us face D&D monsters on one world but that isn't normal.

 

On the King, I like tossing him into the sun. Now getting him there. I'm thinking stun him - (Easier said than done as we have no idea where he is) sleep box him and somehow get him to the sun. He doesn't have teleport or he would of escaped the last trap. It is the frame work of a plan which is more than any of us had before.

 

Thanks

[altamaros]

The others came with good ideas.

- putting him in a place that completly kills/entangle him, fin an ennemy, etc...

 

You may also consider the opportunity of "Transform" him through a continuous transform with an independent focus (costs XP but definitive) or trying to read his thoughts to learn his weaknesses.

 

Some personal thought : "was most annoyed but couldn't/wouldn't gate to our world. We where told he'd find a way to make us come to him"

He could open gates but could not use them himself ??

 

that could imply that he can only resurrect in his own universe ...

(only problem, if i'm wrong and if you bring him somewhere else then this world will be doomed)

[DigitalGolem]

Interesting problem.

 

I'd suggest a stasis field, designed as an uncontrolled Speed Suppress. He won't get out if he never gets another action. But eventually somebody would release him, once they figure out how.

 

"I can't lie to you about your chances, but you have my sympathy."

 

--Ash, Alien

 

L8r,

 

DGv3.0

[Lord Liaden]

I think altamaros is on to something: fictional beings who have motivation to travel to some environment other than their native one, but choose not to, are usually dependant on their environment in some way. This King in Yellow outside of his homeworld may be killable, weaker or even dissipate altogether given enough time.

 

As a variation on that idea, I find it interesting that you remarked that the King was reborn "as soon as he hit the ground." Your group also left him buried beneath the soil. Perhaps his "unkillability" is related to contact with the ground, in which case you could try the Antaeus maneuver: deliver the coup de grace with his Yellowness suspended above the ground, and leave him hanging there.

 

Good luck!

[BlackSword]

Play the semantics. You *kill* him and he comes back. But maybe by killing him once you break his hold on the spell, he respawns, but the spell has lost its power in the fraction of the second he was actually dead. I guess it needs to be clarified if he needs to stay dead or just killed once.

 

If that isn't the proper way to go about it, then I would guess the GM has some master plan of a quest to find out how to destroy him from gathering other mystic items. Of course you could have a GM like one of the ones I play with who makes a seemingly impossible task and didn't have any plan(GM made weakness) for the characters to suceed and just wanted to see how we would solve that problem.

[Supreme]

I am unfamiliar with the literary reference and your campaign world. However, I am very familiar with HERO and astronomy. Astronomy solutiuon: gate his butt into a black hole. He can regen all he likes, he'll still be stuck in a singularity. If he has power to over come that you're hosed anyway (and a pile of dirt wouldn't have held him either). HERO solution: there is always a way to overcome any ability. All desolidifications have SFX that they aren't immune to. All regenerations have numerical limits, as do all damage reductions. Hit him with larger and larger clubs. Gate him into a nuclear reactor or a star if that's not enough.

[DocMan]

I gotta agree with Supreme. When confronted with an unkillable enemy that you MUST kill, hand him an unshielded singularity and get off of the planet fast!

 

Doc

[Monolith]

I am not familiar with the character in questions, but perhaps instead of killing the king outright the players need to destroy something else first, and then they can kill the king. I seem to remember an old Sinbad-type movie where the villain could not be killed because his soul was being stored away from his body. For the villain to die the hero had to find the soul and destroy its container first, and then he could attack and kill the villain.

 

It would seem to me that something like that could work for you king. You could have a multipart adventure when the players need to find the source of the king's immortality, and then once that is destroyed they can confront the king one final time, and kill him for good.

[Gary]

Since "unkillable" is a plot device, then you need to deal with it using another plot device. I would bet the farm that your GM has some sort of plot device setup to deal with the King, and it's up to you to investigate. Find out its history, known previous appearances, etc.

 

If the King in Yellow is actually an Elder God from the Chthulu mythos, then the plot device to deal with it is an Elder Sign. Imprison it and then seal the prison with the Elder Sign.

 

Of course your GM could have other ideas on its weakness...

[Insaniac99]

Originally posted by BlackSword

Play the semantics. You *kill* him and he comes back. But maybe by killing him once you break his hold on the spell, he respawns, but the spell has lost its power in the fraction of the second he was actually dead. I guess it needs to be clarified if he needs to stay dead or just killed once.

 

If that isn't the proper way to go about it, then I would guess the GM has some master plan of a quest to find out how to destroy him from gathering other mystic items. Of course you could have a GM like one of the ones I play with who makes a seemingly impossible task and didn't have any plan(GM made weakness) for the characters to suceed and just wanted to see how we would solve that problem.

 

not to derail this thread, but i honestly GM like this, i put the PCs in and give them no direction except that they seek, and if they come up with something good, then i would think to myself, you know that would be cool and would make the player happy because he "guessed" right and when he works towards that direction I'll let him, they tend to think up everything for me...

 

i am begining to wonder if they even realize that i am GMing the whole campaign without and ounce of it planned out...

[Insaniac99]

Originally posted by Gary

Since "unkillable" is a plot device, then you need to deal with it using another plot device. I would bet the farm that your GM has some sort of plot device setup to deal with the King, and it's up to you to investigate. Find out its history, known previous appearances, etc.

 

 

actually i think i could make the unkillable without a plot device, it just costs more and more points... there is even undamagable with doesn't cost all that many points at all.. two desolidfications, both linked and both only to protect form damage, then you buy one affected only by frost and cold and the otehr by fire and heat, then by total Life Support, and now you are totally Invincible, then buy movement powers and you got yourself a way to get out of things...

[Klytus]

Originally posted by Insaniac99

actually i think i could make the unkillable without a plot device, it just costs more and more points... there is even undamagable with doesn't cost all that many points at all.. two desolidfications, both linked and both only to protect form damage, then you buy one affected only by frost and cold and the otehr by fire and heat, then by total Life Support, and now you are totally Invincible, then buy movement powers and you got yourself a way to get out of things...

 

Thing is, if you are the GM, you are unencumbered by point costs. I don't like this mechanic, though. This is more a representation of INVULNERABLE as opposed to unkillable. Besides of which, Desolidification doesn't do squat vs mental attacks, so an Ego Attack which does BODY damage would kill this dude nicely.

 

MY take on Unkillable... Massive amounts of BODY, plus even more massive ammounts of BODY with the Lim: Only to Calculate the point of death. So You have an uber-villian with 50 BODY, but he needs to be reduced to -200 BODY to be slain. Add in scads of REC and Immortality Regeneration, and you have a foe who can be defeated, yet not (easily) killed.

[FogHat]

Great ideas.. and suggestions

 

Ok..

 

Black hole.. like that one (finding it may be an issue.. note to self to check EBay)

 

Inviting more supers sounds great (doubt it will happen because of one plot device or another).

 

I'll put forward a plan when we arrive to try and find out if he has any weaknesses or a myth about his "soul" being stored off site. (That sounds like something my GM would do)

One character has a gagget pool so flash grenades and sonic NNDs are on the list. Maybe he can whip up some sound suppression grenade - (maybe cutting the number of spells he can cast)

 

We have several types of entangles in the group so one should work, I hope. (maybe cutting the spells needing gestures).

 

After that we will have to see, if he's out he'll get a trip to the sun or something equally deadly, hoping whatever can do is deadly enough. Oh yah, wills filled out before we go.

 

More info on the King: For those who want to know more about the character has us scared as hell.

 

On our first meeting with the king, he wasn't "TOUGH" so he wasn't invunerable to anything we threw at him. He was painful to hit because each time we took a shot meant we stopped dodging. Our Brick took body the first shot with a horrible skin eating "thingy" that appeared from a spell.

 

At the end of the seven party members everyone had taken some body and one was so badly mangled he was retired when we got home. (He was missing limbs and half his intelligence). Some wonderful d&d style spell we couldn't fix in 2008 (with supers of course).

 

The King sent a message that he can't gate to us but will get his revenge. So, to be honest I have no idea how he "comes back to life." However when he comes back fresh as when he started at full power and with all his spells (we are assuming that, as wearing him down involves being cut to pieces and not our favorite option). Trying to figure out his weaknesses while in combat isn't as easy as Rinse & Repeat.

 

Thanks again for all the ideas and info I didn't know about the King in Yellow.

[Insaniac99]

Originally posted by Klytus

Thing is, if you are the GM, you are unencumbered by point costs. I don't like this mechanic, though. This is more a representation of INVULNERABLE as opposed to unkillable. Besides of which, Desolidification doesn't do squat vs mental attacks, so an Ego Attack which does BODY damage would kill this dude nicely.

 

MY take on Unkillable... Massive amounts of BODY, plus even more massive ammounts of BODY with the Lim: Only to Calculate the point of death. So You have an uber-villian with 50 BODY, but he needs to be reduced to -200 BODY to be slain. Add in scads of REC and Immortality Regeneration, and you have a foe who can be defeated, yet not (easily) killed.

 

 

yeah i said i could do Unkillible with low points, but then went on to describe how i woudl do undamagable which of course is totally differant