I'm setting up a scenario (in cooperation with one of my players) to kidnap her character - probably overnight while the others are sleeping at an inn or when they are camping out and it is her turn to stand watch. Four dwarven fighters will recognize her at an inn and follow the party because they want to kidnap her to take her back for a bounty that is on her head.
They need to be able to quietly disable her and tie her up and cart her off, all without waking the rest of the party. I thought about giving them some kind of magic item to do this, but I'm kind of stumped on what that would be. If even so much as one party member hears or sees them, the whole thing will fall apart.
My plan is for them to take her but have the party wake up and follow their tracks and overtake them (they have the means to do that since the dwarves will be on foot). Then have a big fight and rescue her, interrogate any survivors of the dwarves and learn her backstory, etc.
I'm not sure how to do this convincingly. I'm willing to fudge saves and such to make this happen (and the player is as well) but I want what happens to be believable. They party is level 6. I'm open to suggestions/ideas!
Thanks!
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So, first you tell the player that you want to discuss something about the game and need them to come over early.... oh wait. You mean kidnap the character not the player...
Keep in mind that whatever you do, the players will probably specifically safe guard against this happening again in a similar scenario.
A kidnapping from the inn will be easiest since most players assume that their characters are relatively safe and won't bother with things like watches and will likely get separate rooms assuming they are available and relatively inexpensive.
The dwarves would need to pick the lock to the room. Cast silence in the room and then grapple/tieup and gag as normal. They may need to bribe the innkeeper and/or guard(s) as they leave once they have her in tow so that an alarm isn't raised. The bribing will probably be easier/reduced/eliminated if they have a wanted poster they can show to interested individuals.
If they do it in the woods you're probably looking at something like the dwarves starting with fog cloud over the camp. Immediately followed by silence to keep her from raising an alarm. One of the dwarves could wear fogcutting lenses to direct the others where she is, while she wouldn't really be able to see the dwarves until they are on top of her. at which point they can grapple/tieup and gag as before.
Both tactics could be easily thwarted if the PC's take precautions like an alarm spell. However, if the dwarves have been shadowing the PCs for awhile, they should be aware of any precautions (magical or otherwise) that the PCs regularly deploy to protect themselves at night and will therefore be prepared to deal with them via dispel magic or disable device.
Thanks!
I suppose I could just have the dwarves charm her (since I can basically cheat on her saving throw). Then she might just leave with them on her own without a ruckus. Is there a way a non-spell caster can charm? A magic item perhaps?
You could also have one of them be a vigilante with a safe house. I forget which version of vigilante has the blast you unconscious attack. Avenger vigilante's aren't that different from fighters tbh.
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Do they have to be dwarf fighters specifically? You have access to a ton of disabling spells at level 6. If they must be fighters you can use a Cytillesh stun vial. DC 20 is pretty high at level 6 and the dwarves can throw several vials. It goes like this:
1. Dwarves sneak up on the guard.
2. In the suprise round, the dwarves throw 4 stun vials almost guerenteeing a 2 turn stun.
3. The dwarves grapple the PC.
4. She is stunned for one more round, so the dwarves pin her and prevent her from speaking/shouting.
5. She gets tied up and carted away.
2 Things you need to decide/remember: The DC to hear a fight is usually -10, but you can fudge it a bit if the target is not fighting back. The dwarves also can't be wearing heavy armor because of the ACP, so if the PCs catch them they are in trouble. I'd set the DC to detect them at 10 + the dwarves' stealth bonus. Remember that sleeping characters get -10 to perception.
Also, don't worry if the ambush fails. The PC who rolled high on perception will feel good, you will still have a hard fight with one PC disabled right away, and you will get your exposition anyway.
You could have one of the kidnappers Dimension Door in, grab her, then Dimension Door out then disappear over the hills and far away.
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If I understand this thing correctly, you want a predetermined outcome in order to reveal a characters backstory.
And you want to try to make your players believe the outcome isn't predetermined.
My suggestion is don't do that. Fudging a little here and there is one thing, but scripting out a story for them without them having any ability to effect the outcome is something else.
If you want to tell them a story, just tell them it and don't bother to make them roleplay it out. Doing this sort of thing has every chance of ruining your players trust in you as a GM.
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How about the Hoodwink spell (maybe silenced)? It allows to befuddle your PC's senses and pretend that the dwarf is actually a friend of said PC (they cannot identify who they are talking to anyway, just a rough shape).
I'm generally inclined to agree with Dave Justus and I usually don't do this kind of thing. However, in this case the player character will be temporarily an NPC (with me and the player sharing the GMing role). So, as long as I don't mess with the rest of the party, I don't see a problem. That's why I'm now thinking having the dwarves charm her (and predetermine her saving throw since her player is in cahoots with me on it) or put something in her drink would work. Then it's up to the party whether they notice anything is amiss or make preparations that would change the outcome, etc.
Dave is right on this. The best way to handle this is to simply narrate out the situation instead of roleplaying it. There is nothing wrong with doing this.
If you want a way to justify how it happened that is another thing entirely. The inn is going to be your best bet. Have the dwarves slip something into her food or drink that causes here to seem drunk, but makes her susceptible to suggestion. Then when she goes outside for some reason they simply tell her she needs to come with them.
You can still have the dwarves come in and TRY their best to kidnap her, but the players should get opposed perception checks (even with negatives while sleeping) to notice the dwarves' stealth checks. Otherwise, you're removing all player autonomy from the situation, and like Dave Justus said, this is a bad idea because your players will lose trust in their own free will vs. pre-determined outcomes.
The story would come out just fine even if the dwarves fail, and a fight ensues in the middle of the night (which is awesome for the PC's, keep them on their toes :D).
I would think a charm would work since the charmed character would just get up in the middle of the night and go out to meet the dwarves in the street? I suppose the party might hear her leave her room, but might not think anything of it if she has to go to the privy. Would the others be able to spot that she was charmed if the dwarves charm her while she's drinking with them (she is a dwarf and the others are not so it might seem reasonable for her to be drinking with them alone)? Or am I missing something?
Silence in an inn is the most practical thing I've heard so far, as well as being the least expensive for the kidnappers.
-- I'd recommend five martials (class/archetypes up to you) and one ranger1/cleric5 for the dwarves.
(If the cleric has Trickery as a domain, he'll have a use of invisibility, which they could cast on their victim after rendering them unconscious. Sling them over shoulder and carry them out straight through the common room with no one the wiser.)
Lots of great ideas here. I really appreciate everyone's help!
Magic Jar.
The dwarves need a scroll and UMD.
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Confabulation Powder makes someone extremely pliable (if they fail both the saves). You could use it as a reason why the partymember didn't try to get back to the group.
Convince her the other partymembers are evil dopplegangers, and the dwarves "rescued" her from a terrible fate.
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Magic Jar. The dwarves need a scroll and UMD.
It will be difficult for a low-level NPC dwarf to make a DC 25 UMD check, and that's on top of the onerous expensive of 1,125 gp towards a one-shot spell permitting a saving-throw.
~ ~ ~
(Further refining the party of dwarves attempting to kidnap from an inn. Add some levels, or extra dwarves, if you think they're too weak to challenge your PCs.)
Four 4th-level dwarves:
#1: Ranger(Freebooter)1/Investigator(Ruthless Agent)3
...the "face" of the group has the Affable trait and Diplomacy based off INT
...equipment: +1 cold-iron waraxe
#2: Fighter1/Cleric3 (Trickery, any other domain)
...memorized spells: two silence, one invisibility, rest dealer's choice
...equipment: Metamagic Rod, Silent (Lesser), MW bardiche
...misc: birthmark trait, Torag holy symbol
#3: Barbarian1/Fighter(Weapon Master[longhammer])3
...feats: Extra Rage, Raging Vitality, Steel Soul, Power Attack
...weapons: throwing axes, +1 longhammer (note: Weapon Training +1)
...misc: Accelerated Drinker and Glory of Old traits; potion enlarge person
#4: Barbarian(urban1)/Rogue(unchained)3; finesse (kukri)
...misc: Knock-Out Blow rogue talent and the Nonchalant Thuggery trait
...Weapons: pair of MW saps, pair of MW kukris used w/TWF; DEX is highest stat
...equipment: +1 mithral breastplate, armor expert trait
~ ~ ~
Play-by-play at the inn:
* With Track, three with decent-to-good Diplomacy, and three with good Intimidate, this bunch will have no trouble finding out where the PCs are staying for the night. (They'll arrange to take rooms on either side of the kidnap victim target if able to arrive before the PCs by some fashion, and deduce that the innkeeper is an easily-bribed ne'er-do-well just like them. If not, they don't want to spook the PCs, and so wouldn't.)
* The Investigator plays a stereotypical boisterous "drunk" (not actually inebriated) in the common room, and will attempt to separate the party by offering minor games of chance for small coin (losing generously to keep any PC's "hot streak" going) while providing information to a wild-goose chase adventure that sounds lucratively promising but is completely fictitious. Bluff score pimped to the nines.
* If it is feasible to remove the victim out the window of their room into a dark alley, the dwarves will have prepared accordingly.
* Upstairs, the victim is in their room. The cleric will cast deathwatch within ten minutes of their kidnapping attempt; if anything delays, they will have the spell memorized a second time as well as a backup scroll and will try again.
* The rogue, the longhammer barbarian, and the cleric will be upstairs. Silence will be cast (using the metamagic rod since silence itself annoyingly has verbal components) on the victim's door. The rogue will make short work of the lock without any scraping, clicking, or floor-creaking alerting the occupant.
* With the door unlocked, they'll all take a breath and set their turn order: the barbarian will open the door then delay the rest of his actions, the cleric will rod-cast silence again on an object in the room near the occupant, and the rogue will charge in and sap-attack a hopefully surprised, unarmed, and flatfooted victim. The barbarian five-foots into room and kicks the door shut behind him.
* Next round, in total silence the three of them pound the tar out of the victim for nonlethal damage and Knock-Out Blows until the victim is well and truly unconscious for good, and it shouldn't take more than a few rounds. (With deathwatch active, the cleric can determine the best point at which to stop beating the victim so as to not accidentally kill them since that can happen even with "nonlethal" damage.)
* Unconscious and unable to resist, invisibility is cast on the victim, and the group then departs, ideally out a window, else down a back stairwell, last choice being through the common room (with the Investigator tasked with providing distraction).
~ ~ ~
Later encounter: Unless the PCs are all super-gishes, this won't necessarily be an easy fight, as the dwarves have excellent Perception scores with Darkvision, and will almost certainly notice when their cover has been blown and that they are being tailed.
* When combat is imminent, the cleric will bless the group.
* The Investigator (assuming he hasn't been "made" by the PCs as part of the conspiracy and has managed to catch up to his compatriots) will begin directing Freebooter's Bane as he sees fit. He has long arm, expeditious retreat. and cure light wounds extracts prepped.
* The Barbarian will rage, but hang in the back enjoying soft-cover and throwing axes until the closing PCs will be melee next round. Then he'll throw a final axe, pops a potion out of a spring-loaded wrist-sheath, drink it, and grip his polearm to make AoOs while enlarged. He will trip medium-sized or smaller humanoids without enough reach to deliver an AoO of their own (due to him not possessing Improved Trip).
~ ~ ~
Motivations, morale, and attitudes when it all goes pear-shaped (that being if two of their number are dropped):
* The cleric is evil; he will surrender and attempt to diplo-weasel if things go badly. (He has concealed his alignment from his comrades, pretending to be of a good deity. The holy symbol of Torag is only for show; his birthmark is his true holy symbol.)
* The investigator is chaotic-neutral and in it for the coin and the sport; he will attempt to flee with expeditious retreat (if still up, or available), otherwise he also will also surrender with the gift-of-gab.
* The urban/rogue is a neutral professional, and, if the cleric and either of the others are dropped, will attempt to flee into the darkness and hide/slink-away. He immediately surrenders if overtaken or if under 10hp.
* The barbarian/fighter is an aging veteran (neutral) who's seen it all and is tired of it all. He adventures above-ground with ne'er-do-wells to escape the shame of some blight on his honor that only those of his clan know. Like the rogue, he will surrender.quickly in the same circumstances, even if at full hitpoints, and even if he determines it likely he could win the fight. His sentiment regarding his companions has been steadily souring
-- If, at any point during the fight or the aftermath, the barbarian becomes aware that the cleric actually served an evil dwarven deity, something *snaps* inside him. His alignment shifts to neutral-good, his DEX and CHA scores switch, and, possessed by the spirit of Torag and filled with holy wrath, two of his fighter levels instantly convert to Gray Paladin without loss of feats. His hitpoints and rage-rounds are restored to full, and he Smite-rages (ignoring any existing fatigue condition) to kill the evil cleric, regardless of consequences, and makes no attempt to defend himself should the PCs or remaining former allies attack (he will swift LoH while the cleric remains alive). Once the cleric has been pulped into multiple pieces, he will drop his weapon and sink to his knees, accepting whatever fate is in store. Should the PCs talk to him afterward, he has gained the Empathic Diplomat trait with four ranks in the skill (converting points from Intimidate, zeroing it out), and will freely divulge all his knows.
~ ~ ~
Yeah; I had some fun with this.
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Wow! Fun is right! I want you to be my game master. :-)
Any follow-up on how the game session turned out?
None yet. I'm planning for a few weeks out. We've had to cancel a couple of weeks so it will be a bit longer.
Tip: keep your cool as a GM; if you spook the players by acting out of the ordinary, the hairs will go up on the back of their necks, and, whether consciously or subconsciously, then they'll start acting out of the ordinary by expecting trouble at any second and so on, when schmoozing in a bar should be presented as quality RP time.
The repose domain.
Two 1st level clerics or a single 10th level cleric with Quicken Spell-like Ability can knock anyone out in a single round. Need to make the touch attack, but no saves needed.