I need to capture 2 PC's in my game. A Cleric and a Ranger, both 8th level.
I will be using an assortment of Rogues, Assassins, and possibly a wizard if necessary. All 14ish level. It will occur in a city and probably during the day.
My players are very clever, number crunchy, and definitely OP. They will definitely call me out on any DM fudges/shenanigans. I am worried they will escape and/or kill the kidnappers.
This cannot happen. I need to guarantee this capture.
Any suggestions or tactics?
Is there a NPC that these PCs trust implicitly ? Someone that they would never ever use Detect Magic on because they know him so well. If so, have one of the Rogues impersonate him with magical help as needed.
And have him put sleeping pills in their food.
Alternately someone in authority could be used to a similar effect. He could even be a genuine official adequately bribed by the Rogues.
Have your players designed routines aimed at foiling this kind of trick ? If so, which ones ?
BTW this should be in the Advice forum.
Multiple 14th level enemies against two 8th level PCs? If you think they're OP, you probably had a lot to do with it if 14th level enemies can't deal with them.
You could probably handle this with an appropriate number of 1st-5th level NPCs. Have some of them throw nets or use lassos. They pretty much need to get the jump on the players. Perhaps they've gotten a reputation of a sort, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to have them set up to counter your guys specifically. I'd say a 5th level Wizard, an indeterminate number of 1st-3rd level Fighters/Warriors, a 1st level Bard, and maybe a 1st level Rogue or two would be enough. Arm the Fighters with nets, bows, longspears, and shortswords. Have one of the players get pickpocketed or otherwise lured into an alleyway by the Rogue. Once your guys are in the alleyway, have the Fighters close off the entrance to the alleyway and pop up from the rooftops and start chucking nets. The Bard is for buffing, since low-level Fighter to-hit bonuses are pretty poor. Have the Wizard prepare something like Magic Missile, and prepare an action to cast it if the Cleric casts. Glitterdust or Create Pit might be useful, probably Create Pit, since the Cleric's reflex save can't be that great. Invisibility and Silent Image are also a useful buffs for hiding people. Haste is a good buff in general.
Your basic strategy would be to lure your players into a dead-end alley, then close off all exits (vertical and out the normal way) using your Fighters and/or magic. You could hide your forces behind minor images on the side or outside of the alleyway, and above the alleyway. You'd incapacitate them with nets, lassos, and your Wizard. You neutralize the Cleric's ability to cast via your Wizard casting Magic Missile. Once they are sufficiently debilitated, you take them prisoner. Otherwise, you start shooting them until they're unconscious, then you take them prisoner.
In my experience, it's never a good idea to plan for a single outcome. You can stack the odds against the PCs as much as you want, but you always have to take the possibility into account that your players might succeed unexpectedly. Your players will feel less railroaded that way and succeeding at impossible odds still feels like a real accomplishment (rather than disrupting the GM's plans).
|
1 person marked this as a favorite.
|
It may feel like railroading to them. To make it the least railroady, possibly have them go willingly/be tricked. Have someone with a significant friendship/relationship to the party be held hostage.
legoguy4492 wrote: It may feel like railroading to them. To make it the least railroady, possibly have them go willingly/be tricked. Have someone with a significant friendship/relationship to the party be held hostage. And remember that it's all Lando's fault.
|
1 person marked this as a favorite.
|
Cubicle 7's Dr.Who game actually has mechanics that award players story points for trading in successes for failures when it moves the plot along.
After all, the best way to learn the Master's plans are to let him capture you. And then figure out a way to escape while he's gloating.
Drahliana Moonrunner wrote: Cubicle 7's Dr.Who game actually has mechanics that award players story points for trading in successes for failures when it moves the plot along.
After all, the best way to learn the Master's plans are to let him capture you. And then figure out a way to escape while he's gloating.
Mutants & Masterminds has a similar mechanics where the Gamemaster may announce a Gamemaster Fiat : what happens, happens. No tricks, no buts, you get captured.
In exchange, each player that were impacted by the fiat get a hero points.
In M&M, hero points are a powerful resource that let the player reroll a d20 check (with the addition that if the reroll is lower than 11, it gets a +10, effectively making it as 11-20 roll) or gain the benefits of one feat the character doesn't have for 1 round, or other similar effects.
The idea behind that is that this allows the GM to set up a story where where the heroes start dis-empowered, possibly bested by the villain, which give them the hero points that let them beat him in the second half of the story.
While this mechanics was originally made to represent the common scenario of many comics (hero gets kicked by villain, hero investigate/train/other, hero kicks villain. repeat), it could be adapted for a non-superhero style.
TyroAmberhelm, You could propose a similar houserule to your players before the game. If they agree, use the capture scene as a first application where they see what can happen, and what they gain from it.
(Edit : clarified the moment when I switched from replying to Drahliana to replying to Tyro)
You could try approaching the two players before the game and explaining why their capture is crucial to the plot. If the group is mature enough to handle it, you could offer to let those players control (friendly or enemy) NPCs until their characters' release/rescue/escape.
Drahliana Moonrunner wrote: Cubicle 7's Dr.Who game actually has mechanics that award players story points for trading in successes for failures when it moves the plot along.
After all, the best way to learn the Master's plans are to let him capture you. And then figure out a way to escape while he's gloating.
As seen in The Incredibles.
Syndrome wrote: Oh, ho ho! You sly dog! You got me monologuing! I can't believe it...
Yeah.... don't do this. There is no point in them being there if the capture absolutely needs to happen. You need to acknowledge that they have some measure of control over events, even when the odds are stacked against them, and you need to plan accordingly.
That said, it should be trivially easy for the team you've described to murder them in a round. Just beat their heads in with merciful weapons, or kill them with a single spell and raise them from the dead without even telling them they died. "The wizard begins casting something!" **dice clatter** "Everything goes dark!"
In an earlier adventure, the killed a member of a witches covent, and the rest of the members have tracked them down as a means of revenge, and to use them as part of a ceremony to raise their fallen companion, a group of 4-6, lvl 6-8 with multiple castings of Slumber Hex may very well take them down, assuming none are elves or otherwise immune to sleep. just an idea.
Have you tried the idea by luring the 2 pc in a street controlled by a thieves guild ? You know ... blowpipes with poisoned needles and that stuff.
They must be captured alive I guess otherwise, NUKE THEM !
Recent threads in Homebrew and House Rules
|
