Tactics class. Begin now.

Enceladus · Jul 8, 2003

kreynolds said:
Heighten and Silence the holy crap out of a hold monster spell. Stuff in portable hole and...you get the idea.

Thats sweet.

I'm looking for visual effect and a hightened fear factor too. I have 3 powerhouse spell casters that will have to be dealt with.

Squire James · Jul 8, 2003

Several ways I can think of, some of them heavy-handed and/or cheesy:

1. Trap them in a room with strong walls and toss in a continuous (as in "save every round") Dex poison.

2. Send them against a group that could easily TPK the party, but they use subdual attacks (perhaps with a custom metamagic feat to make a spell do subdual damage).

3. If the purpose of the kidnapping is to force them into a particular mission or a particular area, all this can be more easily done by blackmail or hostage situations (less effective if they PC's have a "kill everything and raise the hostages later" attitude).

4. For the true Rat Bastard: kill them all, and ask each one if they accept a Raise Dead spell. If they refuse, their comrades can't raise them either. If they accept, they are not only captured, but short an experience level!

Every D&D player I have played with simply prefer death for their characters to capture. So you might need to tell the PC's that their capture is necessary for the scenario you're running, and that their characters can be enriched by the experience. Then, of course, you will need to carry out your promise.

alsih2o · Jul 8, 2003

awakened tumbling hedgehog monk with collar of dimesion door

Storminator · Jul 8, 2003

Magic Jar the PC you want... done and done.

PS

Enceladus · Jul 8, 2003

Every D&D player I have played with simply prefer death for their characters to capture. So you might need to tell the PC's that their capture is necessary for the scenario you're running, and that their characters can be enriched by the experience. Then, of course, you will need to carry out your promise.

Yeah, its going to be a rough weekend for one of them. I will probably end up buying the pizza. I don't mind.

Keep em coming!

nute · Jul 8, 2003

Reverse variant on the classic Star Trek kidnapping.

Thing is - you need a high-level wizard to set up a teleportation circle in an area you know you can get the party into. Something like a bottleneck in a hallway or dungeon.

Have another arcane spellcaster with Weapon Focus: Ray, Far Shot, Precise Shot, Spell Focus: Conjuration (I think) set up on the other side of the bottleneck with Dimensional Anchor prepped. If he's not invisible, give him some concealment.

Party is for some reason running for the bottleneck (mass fear effect, chased by a troll, giant rolling boulder trap). Your 'sniper' wizard nails the target with Dimensional Anchor as he runs. The party hits the Teleportation Circle - WHAMMO! They're all in Iuz's discotheque, while the target remains in the middle of the circle. Then the kidnappers can jump him and do the Syracuse Stomp on him without the rest of the party present.

Enceladus · Jul 8, 2003

alsih2o said:
awakened tumbling hedgehog monk with collar of dimesion door

they eat hedgehog monks for breakfast. I've tried.

Tiberius · Jul 8, 2003

You could also try equipping the enemy mages with a number of Subdual Substituted Fireballs/Cones of Cold/etc on scrolls. It's less of a credibility strain than having a bunch of casters together each with that feat. (See Tome and Blood for the feat)

-Tiberius

mmu1 · Jul 8, 2003

Flesh to Stone, then Teleport.

RigaMortus · Jul 8, 2003

Enceladus said:
Hmm, that brings to mind something I saw but dont really want to use.

But,
What would be good to observe from the ethereal plane? Is there anything that can pop in and out as a free action or at will?

Look up the Ethereal Flicher (not sure on spelling there) and Ethereal Marauder. The EF is more of a "thief" though, and they try not to fight or directly confront their targets. They mainly "pop" into the Prime, steal an item from someone, then "pop" back to the Ethereal Plane before the person realizes their item(s) are missing or before they have a chance to react. You could have the BBEG maybe "hire" or summon some of these creatures so that they can start stealing the parties weapons/magic/spell components... then attack them when they are (unknowlingly) unarmed.

The Ethereal Marauder is more of a beast. They pop in, attack, and pop out for defense. I think they would also try to kill their prey, not subdue it. Plus they are relatiely low CR.