I'm running a campaign where my PCs have been tasked with kidnapping a child prodigy bard, who is the the son of Shelyn's herald The Spirit of Adoration. The child is a musical prodigy who despite only being only six years old is already at 4th level. I'm planning for him to be an Aasimar, and I'm thinking of applying either the half celestial or a mythic level in trickster, possibly both. My PCs are at sixth level.
I want to design this character not to fight the PCs, but to escape from them. I want the encounter where they search for him to be memorable and difficult, but not impossible. There should be an opportunity for them to fail, and consequences if they do fail. They'll be searching for him in a large mansion, and possibly in a demi plane that connects to Shelyn's realm on Nirvana.
What Bard abilities would make for a memorable round of hide and seek? Should I incorporate Mythic or Half Celestial into the mix? How do I make this challenging and memorable without focusing on direct combat? What holes could my PCs exploit in order to find the child?
I'm just curious if anyone has run something similar or if they've played Bards enough that they have general advice. It is vital to the story that this character is a Bard, and it is vital that the character is very young, but otherwise everything is flexible.
Ventriloquism will be a lot of fun to play with. Half-celestial will give him a huge fly speed. He can use Vanish to dart from room to room over the heads of the PCs standing in the doorways, and throw his voice to confound them. Silent Image for more fun. Use Touch of Gracelessness, Unnatural Lust, and Suggestion to make the PCs make silly fools of themselves for his amusement.
PCs can use Faerie Fire or Glitterdust to expose him. Hold Person won't work because he's an outsider. Big stompy martials can try to block off exits and intercept him. Crafty charisma characters can try to trick the trickster kid right back and lure him into a trap. He's just a kid, so it won't be impossible.
Consider the Rondeau of Heavenly Order! If he's 4th level, that means he can qualify for this masterpiece. It forces PCs that fail against the performance to be able to move only in straight lines, which sounds pretty funny to hamper them on their chase.
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I wouldn't have a child NPC cast Unnatural Lust. Beguiling gift on the other hand... that could be awesome.
Do you want everything off his spell list and performances? Because having some potions or wands might help too. I love the idea of Rondea of the Heavenly Order for this kid.
Query: what sort of alignment / personality are the PCs? They've accepted the job of kidnapping a potentially vulnerable child. Will they protect that child, or are they playing ruthless people who might try to end the game of hide and seek in a violent rather than playful manner?
Hmm
None of the PCs are good, two are evil, and they work for the Red Mantis Assassins, a LE organization. However, they have been filled in that if they're responsible for the child's death, their lives are forfeit as far as the organization is concerned.
To further color the situation, they are planning on killing his mother, a powerful cleric of Shelyn, in order to get to her son. It hasn't played out quite yet so we'll see what happens, but there's a good chance that the son will bear witness to his own mother's death.