Tactics class. Begin now.

Start the game in media res, or in the middle, to englishify the phrase. Begin with the party tied up, sans weapons or spells in the dungeon of whomever you want to kidnap them. Let them escape, overhear or otherwise discover the evil plans of the bad guys. The evil deal is going down, and it's going down in the very spot where they are. A spot that is heavily guarded from the outside, or extraplaner, or a Daern's fortress, something that it would be damn near impossible for them to get into in normal circumstances.

Then once you've got them really jazzed about what it is they're up against, and the challenge of finding their stuff and stomping the evil as a parting gift, snap the action back to your ambush. Comic books and movies do this well. Have a player look at a wound on his arm or a shiner, and flash, they're in the ally and fist is meeting face. That way your players will realize that they need to get captured, on a metagame level, but the characters won't. You'll have their buy in to the story, and that's nine tenths of the battle with a kidnapping.

Then you can hit them with a really tough ambush, and don't pull any punches. The players will know that it's ok to lose, because they'll have a chance to redeem themselves later.

Enceladus said:

The best way to kidnap a PC. 4-5 party members all 8th level. Thats all I'm saying so as to not pigeon hole any ideas.

-=Thanks=-

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Are you allowing for the possibility that one or more PCs might be able to avoid capture? If not, I think you may be heading down the wrong path.

IMHO, the whole kidnapping gig is often a recipe for one of the following:
TPK
One or two PCs who somehow avoid capture, thus screwing up your plot.
Disgruntled players who feel they've been railroaded.

My advice, fait de compleat (my appologies for the poor spelling). If capturing the party is essential to the game, just describe the situation as you imagine it would go down and move on to the "real" gaming. Don't play it out.

Easy.

Predicate a 3rd lvl spell.. we'll call it hammerblows. It does 1d6 per lvl of subdual damage, fortitude save for half.

The bad guy's pet wixard (if the PCs are 8th, let's say he's 10th) makes three wands of this spell, heightened to 7th lvl instead of the normal 5th. He hands them to three 1st lvl wizard lackeys. He also hands them each a potion of haste.

After studying the PCs actions for a few days in a town, they take positions on top of buildings on either side of a street, a half block down from where the PCs will be walking. If necessary, he uses a divination spell to find a good spot and time.

When the PCs appear, the bad guys duck back out of sight and drink their haste potions (or the wizard casts the spell.) Then, cued by a simple message spell, the bad guys let loose with their wands.

Surprise round: since everyone is hasted, the bad guys get 2 partial actions a piece. The apprentices use them to fire their wands, and the wizard uses them to cast 2 hammerblow spells. Total damage is 62d6 (7+7+7+7+7+7+10+10) subdual. Average subdual damage is 217 points, or 108 if all eight saving throws are made.

Round 1: the wizard flies down and collects all the bodies in a pile.

Round 2: the wizard teleports away with them, and the apprentices run to a pre-arranged meeting place.

Will that do?

Note that you could use fireball with the subdual substitution feat, but a reflex save + evasion makes it easy for the rogues to escape.

Enceladus said:

Thats sweet.

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I thought you'd like that.

Enceladus said:

I'm looking for visual effect and a hightened fear factor too.

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How about the visual effect of the PCs frozen in place, helpless, up to the mercy of your kidnapper, unable to help one another. Set the building they're in on fire, and when the PC is kidnapped, have the other hold spells fade with just enough time for the remaining PCs to get out of the burning building alive. Sounds like a terrifying moment to me. Maybe I'm just overly creative.

Here's mine

I don't know how much detail you guys get into when discussing daily activities or role playing them but in any group there are times when you just need to be alone...absolutely alone. I mean going to the privy, sleeping, etc.

IMO while sleeping presents the best opportunity to take a single player or to take them one at a time. While sleeping unless they have some serious wards and guards they are going to to be vulnerable to someone who teleports into thier chamber silenced, under a non-detection spell, with improoved invisibility and bulls strength (for carrying the victim).

Say a rogue or assassin with a very potent type of inhaled poison (you can make up something strong enough to beat thier DC's since they are wizards right, it doesn't have to be stock to the game, make it virtually impossible for them to beat) and sneak in with a breathing mask (ala savage species) and uncork the bottle in thier face.

They get a fort save and when they fail they are totally knocked out (no chance of revival) for 3d4 hours/days whatever you want.

They are then teleported (teleprotation circle) out by said rogue via item or scroll and his use magic device skill to the BBEG hideout.

They wake up later with a headache in chains (the kind that sap your strength see AEG's Mercenary Guide so they can't break out) with no weapons, armor, or spells prepared since they didn't study. If they are sorcerers then you'll need them silenced, deafened or totally immoble to keep them from casting spells.

You could do this once each night for a number of nights or once depending on what you need to make the plot advance.

You can add tension by taking the players asside one by one and alone and just talking to the ones you aren't going to capture for a few minutes (5-10) while handling the encounter with the victim seperately. It'll make them wonder what's up, then when you get them all together in the AM they find thier buddy missing with no clues or some if you want an investigation.

That's my plan...



Sin

2nd ed

In a second edition arc I used a drow rouge carrying the drow darts, one of their types are sleep. I was able to take down a very high level PC. (He had consumed a few draughts of Halaster's Quaff and that kind of thing.)

It helped that he rushed into the trap by himself, but if you know what gets that PC's goat, maybe he hates mages or priests of a certian god, or giant bunnies... you shouldn't have trouble luring him/her out of the group.

Equal level group of monks (or monk/rogue). Grapple & subdual damage them (all of them if necessary). Or, depending on how you might rule, use stunning fist, then sub-dual coup de grace. Or maybe just one high level monk using stunning fist/grapple/dimension door or invite them over for some (poisoned) tea

Hmm depends how much about the party the enemy npc's know. You could always go with a group of Psionicists and Psychic warriors. Warriors target the wizards, the Psions hit the party tanks with mind-control. Or even just a few Psions mind-controlling the tanks who turn around and subdual damage the mages to unconciousness.

Also, a vampire with wizard, rogue or psion classes could separate the party and then take them down one-by-one. In a city setting this would be quite easy, capturing some while they sleep, others as they leave a tavern (or in a tavern even).

It really depends how you want to take them down: as a group or individually. I prefer individually, as it can be made really creepy if they start disappearing one-by-one, until it is just two party members left...one of which happens to be under control of the vampire.

Predicate a 3rd lvl spell.. we'll call it hammerblows. It does 1d6 per lvl of subdual damage, fortitude save for half.

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that would save me from needing heavy grapplers thats for sure.

How about the visual effect of the PCs frozen in place, helpless, up to the mercy of your kidnapper, unable to help one another.

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This could be doubly effective as I'm planning on bringing back someone they thought they'd killed. fortunately I do have access to raise dead. The beauty of it, that NPC is not the one that's going to be doing the kidnapping.

Enceladus said:

that would save me from needing heavy grapplers thats for sure.

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In my own game, it's a spell devised specifically by a particular city's city guard. Such wands are given to the low level warwizards, and it is illegal for anyone who isn't a soldier to possess one. Mind you, that hasn't stopped the bad guy from acquiring them...

You can tweak this method by adjusting the power of the wands and the number of wizards; it's a method to use when you really want to capture PCs of almost any level, and you don't want any lackeys or bad guys hurt in the process. The important thing to remember is that its strength is in the hasted surprise round. Once the PCs have a chance to act, the chance that they'll think of something clever increases dramatically.