Ygthkb

My players tried to capture one of my bosses (they didn't know it was a boss) and after a few rolls they succeeded. They started to interrogate him (the NPC is a human) and after obtaining the information they wanted he was stabbed in the chest.

Now here's the thing: how do I handle realism and oneshoting bosses out of combat? Because I can think of excuses but I don't want my players to feel discouraged or think that their actions are meaningless if the DM wants this NPC to fight them.

Adapt and move on

Players do have a tendency to ruin the best-laid plans of the DM!

In your scenario, I wonder if maybe there was a mistake somewhere that allowed such a powerful NPC to be captured and made helpless in the first place. Typically you would not expect such a character to be walking around alone and defenceless in the first place.

But what's done is done, so now you may need to adjust your plans. Bearing in mind that your players (hopefully) don't know your entire plan.

So, perhaps this NPC was not the big boss after all. He was actually an underling, a front, the right-hand man and so on. He may even have put up the pretence of being the boss to act as a diversion to the real guy.

Assuming the players didn't take measures to prevent it, his body could always be recovered by his own allies and raised. (Possibly the simplest answer).

Or maybe the NPC could end up returning as an undead, even meaner than before!

Or another NPC, one the players have not encountered before, could take over the boss's criminal organisation. You could even have multiple criminals and/or monsters fighting to take over the criminal enterprise and causing your plot to veer off into a completely different direction!

Note: All of the above could be in addition to the points made in SaggingRufus's answer.

Your PCs are acting as vigilantes, and as such that should come with the consequence of murdering someone.

I can think of a few ways to handle this off the top of my head:

1. Have the police come after them and launch a full investigation into the murder of this NPC


2. Have the rest of his gang find out that the PCs murdered their boss. Maybe there was someone in that gang looking to have the Boss killed so they could rise to power.


3. Have the rest of his gang go a on quest to attempt to resurrect him using relics that the PCs need to collect before they do.

Either way, you can use this as a way to change the story.

I agree with adapt and move on, but an alternative is to

look at what the boss has up their sleeve to prevent this

An intelligent enemy won't put themselves into a situation they don't think they can escape from, so maybe he is a magic user and "You reach for your dagger and as you strike the captive vanishes, he reappears seconds later in the corridor, turns and runs" (IE: Casts Misty Step as a reaction).

Maybe he is a hardy barbarian and "You push the dagger into his chest which resists like it was made of steel! A small dribble of blood runs out where you would expect a flood. Suddenly his muscles tense and he breaks free of his bonds!" (IE: Bear totem resistance to non-magical piercing, followed by raging and gaining advantage on strength checks to break the ropes / manacles).

It might be too late for you to do this now, but equally if your PC's were taken captive I don't think they would like to be killed like chumps, so can probably understand the NPC's not going out this way. Your boss would still be unarmed, unarmoured and at a serious disadvantage, but at least he would have his HP and actions to make his escape.