So like I imagine happens a lot of people’s campaigns, oftentimea the PC’s at my table run afoul of the local law. I don’t mind it, and it can sometimes lead to new adventure hooks I didn’t see coming. At lower levels this is easily rectified by squads of guard found in the Gamemaster Guide, but once the group reaches 5th level + they kind of eclipse the abilities of normal NPCs to curb their law breaking behavior. I was curious to see if any GM’s out there for ideas how large cities / nations keep powerful groups of adventurers from running amok. Basically, what happens after the PCS’s have drawn the attention of high-level guard (i.e. 10th level and above) for blatantly flouting the law. I have few ideas I’d like to submit for feedback / inspiration, would love to hear what other people think or have used in their campaigns –
1. Mage Police (inspired by Baldurs Gate: Shadows of Amn) – When PC’s commit a particularly heinous act, a cadre of mages teleport in nearby to bring them to heel. Mages are of course all prebuffed, and may be composed of different school specializations that complement each for maximum cadre effectiveness.
2. Golem Guards – The city unleashes a special contingent of magical constructs to deal with powerful troublemakers. The golems are composed of different specialties / types with corresponding combat roles.
3. Hippogriff Riders – Rangers on appropriate flying mounts who strafe PC’s with flyby attacks and various arrow types designed to harass certain character classes.
Runes of whatever that hurt when you commit crimes and allow anyone with the proper command to stun them are mandatory for everyone in the city.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Secretly create fake trouble far outside of town, with rewards for quelling it. Drop hints amongst the adventerous.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Bounty Hunters
When you have a problem with adventurers, hire other adventurers. Hopefully they'll kill a few of each other in the process. Feel free to make these guys as powerful as you like.
Elite Retainers
In short, rather than throwing guards at the players you throw high level dudes that are all part of the same order or whatever and should be very clearly devoted to their nation. Depending on what nation they're from, they could be western-themed knights, highly skilled warrior-monks, warrior-mages, etc.
Guilt
Make it very clear that people are becoming upset with the party. Y'know, the general populace. That should, at the least, make them question what they're doing for a few seconds.
Nevermind; these are adventurers we're talking about. What am I saying?
A Genie
Someone hires the services of a genie who purposely gets whooped by the party and says "Oh no! Please, spare me! I will grant you three wishes if only you spare me!"
Then make the wishes go horribly wrong.
Experienced players may know to avoid free wishes.
Snipers
High DEX, high STR characters wielding composite longbows with some means of having high stealth located VERY far away (hundreds of feet away) from the party using the Snipe ability to fire single, powerful shots at the party before going back into stealth. Go for the casters first.
Did You Hear About That Very Powerful Magical Treasure Located In That Dragon's Dungeon?
Someone spreads a false rumor meant to trick the party into going somewhere dangerous, possibly somewhere an ambush is awaiting them. Start the drumroll.
Hiring the Thieves Guild
Political officials sometimes have connections with groups like the local criminal power that they use to strong-arm people they don't like into being cooperative. Why should adventurers be exempt from this?
Just Put a Big Reward on Their Head
Much like the "Bounty Hunters" suggestion, just having a large reward on the PCs' heads should be enough to make them at least flee the nation. When even Joe the Bartender is trying to tattle to the guards on them in hopes of getting a huge reward, they won't be safe anywhere, not without pulling some serious shenanigans.
appeasement, grant them titles of nobility and land. You want to make them stakeholders in the kingdom so they have less of an incentive in blowing the place up.
If that doesn't work try capturing them and subjecting them to a geas, "leave and never return"
If all else fails kill them, animate their corpse and toss it into a portable hole.
Depending on the setting guards are not so much high level as there are high level npcs who have this or that function within the kingdom.
Loving these ideas, especially the concept of luring dum-dee-dum adventurers into a waiting ambush with rumors of treasure. The more excuse I have to use traps the better :)
All of the above suggestions are spot on.
As an addendum to Inlaa's Elite Retainer idea, are the PC's evil?
If not, then they may very well belong to an organization that could send their own representatives/incentives to admonish the party.
-Will the PCs attack members of their own church?
Cavalier Order? Thieve's Guild?
-What will the characters think when their animal companion or bonded mount wanders off until they get their act together.
-In the case of divine casters, their spells don't work or can't be prepared.
-Clerics, Paladins, etc are particularly vulnerable, since nothing say "get your mind right" like a visit from an outsider (CR as necessary) working for their patron deity.
-I once got a player's attention when he couldn't draw his intelligent (LG) weapon.
-For extreme problems - 2 words; Alignment Crisis.
-A stubborn party could have all sides potentially on their backsides. Civil authorities, sure. But also don't leave out criminal organizations or evil masterminds and such, whose activities may be in jeopardy because of the party's actions.
The local watch may certainly be after them for busting up a tavern...but why not the local theive's guild as well, who use it as a front or get paid protection by the owner?
A stubborn party could have all sides potentially on their backsides. Civil authorities, sure. But also don't leave out criminal organizations or evil masterminds and such, whose activities may be in jeopardy because of the party's actions.
The local watch may certainly be after them for busting up a tavern...but why not the local theive's guild as well, who use it as a front or get paid protection by the owner?
This is a very good point.
Let's say your party is made of the typical Chaotic Good adventurer (the go-to alignment for most parties I find). They've kicked the door in on criminals in the past, busted down dungeons, and now have managed to tick off the local authorities.
This is an opportunity to have the dungeon denizens, thieves' guild AND the town watch all hounding after them at once.
(As an aside, I play music that fits my party's actions in my games. So, once, I actually DID use the Benny Hill Theme to poke fun at their antics.
Some laughed. Others looked annoyed.)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There's always a bigger fish. Long lived Adventurers understand this. Perhaps it's time for an object lesson.
In my homebrew the town my players currently inhabit has the normal guards and even low-level wizard bands (the town is ruled by a wizardly kingdom). Unknown to them (so far) is the wizards keep clockwork soldiers (many) as 'shock troops' to be called out in times of need. And they can always be supported by other clockwork constructs. Very similar to the town in Dungeon Siege III. Can't remember the name.
|
The problem with bigger fish.. Why would they care? (Usually) a party of 5 level 12+ PCs are pretty damn threatening. Would the guys after them risk their top-notch members to catch them? Not unless they have done great harm. 'Ticked off' doesn't warrant the risk.
If they are just causing a rucus, make a big display of elite guards and guardsmen,
Have then warned, if it continues force them to leave the town. If they decline THEN send the Royal guard unit of 15 level 10 dudes + wizard to whoop some butt with the surprise help of local guilds and or townsfolk. Smaller towns are basically 12+ adventurer parties play things.
|
Unless it is in a very special region like inside the vault of knowledge guarded by elite extra planar guards...heh I don't bother. Most cities, couldn't afford to have high level heroes/adventurers on their payrolls. Cities like Sigil and the likes, of course can but again extraplanar cities.
Anyway in a metropolis with 8th level spellcasting services available, there is at least one high level caster who is willing for some reason to sell his services for money, so he is most likely available as mercenary aid in time of crisis when a city is in a trouble due to rowdy adventurers.
The problem with bigger fish.. Why would they care? (Usually) a party of 5 level 12+ PCs are pretty damn threatening. Would the guys after them risk their top-notch members to catch them? Not unless they have done great harm. 'Ticked off' doesn't warrant the risk.
If they are just causing a rucus, make a big display of elite guards and guardsmen,
Have then warned, if it continues force them to leave the town. If they decline THEN send the Royal guard unit of 15 level 10 dudes + wizard to whoop some butt with the surprise help of local guilds and or townsfolk. Smaller towns are basically 12+ adventurer parties play things.
One moderately high level wizard on the payroll can call outsiders to do his bidding. The details will vary depending on what happened and the motivations. Inevetables are very useful things for this.
The problem with bigger fish.. Why would they care? (Usually) a party of 5 level 12+ PCs are pretty damn threatening. Would the guys after them risk their top-notch members to catch them?
Depends.
1) The higher level NPC adventurers are good aligned and don't like what the party's been up to.
2) The NPC adventurers are being paid to do something about them.
3) The NPC adventurers were wronged in the past by the PCs.
4) Someone is manipulating the NPC adventurers either magically or with leverage.
5) The NPC adventurers think the PCs are giving adventurers a bad rep.
6) The NPC adventurers just don't like the PCS.
7) The NPC adventurers are officially working for the kingdom thanks to being granted a fiefdom for their deeds.
8) The NPC adventurers are evil and are taking advantage of this time of the PCs being hated to get rid of them.
9) The NPC adventurers are looking to prove they're the best of the best and think putting a stop to the PCs will make them more famous.
10) The NPC adventurers got drunk and are looking for a fight.
There's PLENTY of reasons beyond these why other adventurers might want to beat up the PCs.
Trained magicbane bandersnatch. With a cavalier or ranger handler.
dotting
Magically, or physically, put them in jail. Fine them. Take their gear.
Guards en masse that deal non-lethal damage, trip, disarm, and apprehend adventurers could throw them in jail for a while with awful food, et cetera. Seems like an appropriate fix.
So the PC's kill someone, break some buildings, steal something etc...
And nothing happens.
Like no one even reacts to it. They just keep going about their lives. In anywhere from 1d4 rounds to 1d4 hours everything goes back to exactly how it was. The stolen items are missing, the buildings are repaired, the dead guy isn't dead and apparently no one remembers him dying either.
Welcome to Pathfinder Groundhogs day. Good Luck.
AKA ignore their shenanigans until they get back in line.
At high levels (say, above level 9), one may reasonably expect the town's patron deity to take a hand in protecting its worshippers and followers.
Maybe a lantern archon shows up with a warning. Then a pack of hound archons. Then a planetar -- or one for each of the PCs. You can scale up as necessary.
"Ho, chaotic breakers of rules! The Herald of Abadar demands you lay down your weapons and surrender, or face the Justice of the First Vault."
Two words. Andy Griffith.
|
|
All depends, personally I figure out what kind of power a city has from the start, and don't change it to much, I've had PCs walking in cities where level 16 hippogryph riders are perched along the walls and walk among the streets, and where 12+ rogues of theives guilds hide in the shadows when they were level 3-5
I guess you need to make a decision about what is the power of your campaign, the economics, and the ecology. You also need to decide how powerful your characters will be compared with the rest of the community.
I think it really boils down to the point above, and how the GM wants lawbreaking to be handled in their campaign. Personally, I like PC's to have consequences for their actions until around 12-13+, then it starts to the attention of nations and really powerful outsiders to curb their shenanigans. Each GM has their own preference of course.
I like a lot of the ideas so far, and yes, I did steal the idea of hippogriff riders out of Crimson Throne w/out thinking about it. Clockwork soldiers are solid too. So far the most terrifying / effective option is by far Andy Griffith. Keeping my fingers crossed he shows up in Ravingdorks Character Emporium one day... ;p