ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

i created a skeleton and it had no choice but to kill its master who begged to let him live and offered a cloak as a price for his life. it's said in lore than rare undead will kill its master if he give it a gift of some sort, moreover i didn't want to kill him anyway. he didn't do anything to deserve death afaik, just raised a bunch of corpses and he asked me not to kill him. maybe a possibility to let him live would be good

The lore thing was a deliberate piece of dark humour by Burb Lulls :)

Befriending the necromancer would raise all sorts of issues with having the rest of the dungeon being hostile. Also I can't help but feel that if you did show mercy he would just back-stab you anyway.

Which might in turn provide the solution. Give the players the option of sparing his life, only for the necromancy to try to cast a spell to undo you. It doesn't work because of whatever gave you free will in the first place, and you end up killing him anyway.

But that in turn would mean giving the player a choice that was essentially meaningless which is just bad game design.

Another way around it would be to alter it slightly so that after he gives you the cape, he immediately tries to kill you with the spell anyways without waiting for you to decide whether to spare him or not, thus eliminating any choice in the first place.

Hmm, I like that second idea. Would make the player hate the bugger more.

What if, if you choose to spare the necromancer, you force him to escort you through the ruins, only for him to turn on you the moment you encounter the half-finished bone giant on the last floor (since he thinks he can take you then)? In return for making the dungeon easier, you'd essentially have to fight two bosses at the end.

The only problem I have with that, is that he is supposed to control the undead in the dungeon, so why would they be fighting him in that case? There would have to be at least a handwave to cover it.

Why not this: if you choose to spare him, at the end of the dialog, he just kills you. You die. End of game. This should help guide players down a more... judicious path. On the next character.

Instakill for a dialogue choice--no thanks.

if you choose to spare him, at the end of the dialog, he just kills you.

Fun, cruel and totally pointless.
I like it.

Should unlock an achievement.
'sacrificial wanna be hero' or something like this. Idea's?

Add some flavor text explaining to the player that saving his life is always an insta-kill so players don't make the same mistake twice.

Or disable the choice for anyone who has gained the "achievement", replacing it with something like "No! I have learned from my past lives." Might break the fourth wall a bit too much though.