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I'm planning out the final book at the moment and all through our game I've had the feeling that the paladin of the group is going to try and merc Baba Yaga as soon as the final fight is over. I want to finish the AP but leave it open for me to write an add-on to bring them up to level 20, when they will fight Baba Yaga at that point.
Anyway, I'm after any ideas to stop the paladin-smash from happening. I was thinking that the geas (an icy ring that has been absorbed into their finger in my game) could be used to physically stop him. So she simply says "no" and he stops moving. It would stop him from him attacking her, stop her from killing him, and I think maybe give him some satisfaction (as there are other RP things brewing for his character).
What do you think? Any other ideas or suggestions are very welcome.
Here's how that is going to go. Baba Yaga is going to let him try. As soon as he fails, he's going to learn why she has made a demon lord her personal whipping boy, and why you never go against Baba Yaga. There's a reason she put down a rebellion put on by high level casters in 24 hours with pretty much no difficulty.
In short, don't stop it from happening. Just remind them after the fact that many, many other people have tried and failed to do the exact same thing.
You could also have her look right at him right after she turns off the winter at Golarion, smile, and say "are you sure you want to try that?"
Have you considered giving hints that she might be redeemable (this need not necessarily be true)? Then he might well refrain from attacking. Then let him discover that she is not redeemable towards the end of the campaign, when you want the real fight to happen. He will only be motivated more, since his attempts at redeeming her have been frustrated.
Keep in mind that the party has the prison doll with them for the entirety of Book 6, so you have plenty of opportunities for Baba Yaga to interact with the party.
(Also, the doll should simply not go in if the party tries to cram it into a bag of holding or portable hole. Someone should have to have it on his or her person at all times.)
Anyways, even though she's a terrible person, the party can still get used to actually thinking of her as a person, which may in of itself end any desires to immediately attack her. (It actually did do that in my group.)
Now, if the paladin goes for it anyways...
1) The Hut itself may try to break up the fight by trying to eject the paladin. Dear Grandmother will eventually tell it to knock that off, but that would provide an immediate "out" if the paladin waives the saving throw.
2) Baba Yaga has both wild arcana and the Queen of Witches ability, meaning she's an actual Schrodinger's Wizard with three entire spell lists. And she's mythic. She can just use amazing initiative and knock the paladin out with a sleep hex for 1 round with no save, and then do something else to him with wild arcana. Like, if she's being nice, leaving him in a prismatic sphere.
3) Or she can just kill him. She should crush a non-mythic PC - even a paladin - like a bug unless she holds back.
That is all very helpful, thank you everyone.
The main thing for me is that (if he survives for the rest of the AP - they're mid way through book 5 at the moment) he has had this character from the very start. So I know exactly why he would want to attack her, but it would feel so utterly meaningless if I simply Phantasmal-Killered him to the face. If I let him kill her then that would almost feel like an anti-climax as well. But then not letting him also doesn't feel right...
I like the idea of using the rest of the book to bring her alive for them and maybe giving her a route of redemption.
Also, the way it's going at the moment he and Anastasia are getting on rather well so there could be something there I could use too.
Feel free to keep making suggestions or talking about this though, it's very handy.
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If she's not feeling nice, the Hut sprouts a lit paladin-sized oven behind him as she uses her action to toss him in. "Time for sweet meats, former Rider!" cackling ensues
Baba Yaga using wild arcana to create a shade (80% real) or simulacrum of Kostchtchie could be another option.
"If you can't even handle this then sod off, dearie."
I'd assume Baba Yaga has hundreds of unique spells that she can call up on the fly with wild arcana.
Baba Yaga's more than a match for any existing demigod, and confronting her should be an utterly daunting task.
I cannot recall her spell list, but maybe Baba Yaga can baleful polymorph him into a toad?
Perhaps Baba Yaga could go the same route as with Ratibor in book 3: imprison him in the hut (or link him to the hut in some way). The he could keep on plotting her downfall and you have some extra plot for the final adventure.
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Thread necromancy used.
I don't have to worry about this in my campaign... but I'm of the opinion that killing the paladin should be the last thing to do in this scenario. To use a quote from the Riddler in Batman Forever, "If you kill 'im, then he won't learn nothing." Because the point is to make sure that not only he gets that Iaga Baba is no one to trifle with, but that the others get that message as well.
I suggest running the fight. If the other players get involved, include them. Don't hold back. Be as ruthless as possible.
Then, once the last PC drops, you tell them all that she removes her hand from the paladin's arm, everyone still alive, and says, "This will be the result of your actions should you choose to go through with what you intend. Is that your wish?" Hopefully, the answer will be no.
And with but a use of the vision hex, you will have "ended" the fight.
Ooooh, I like that idea... A vision certainly works well with what I've done before too.
Thread necromancy used.
I don't have to worry about this in my campaign... but I'm of the opinion that killing the paladin should be the last thing to do in this scenario. To use a quote from the Riddler in Batman Forever, "If you kill 'im, then he won't learn nothing." Because the point is to make sure that not only he gets that Iaga Baba is no one to trifle with, but that the others get that message as well.
Or kill him quickly, in the first round if possible.
Then let his allies take his broken body away to be raised. At level 16(?) death is hardly the end and a humiliating deafeat could teach the Paladin a lesson.