How Do Your Villains Escape?

MojoGM said:

oh yes...I use this one a lot.

I can't count how many times I've thrown something out there, with no definitive explanation in mind.

While the party goes back and forth with it, I suddenly hear an idea I like and it becomes the reality.

Makes me seem like a genius and the players feel good because "HEY! We were right!"

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The best villain escapes are the ones that are casual, where the actions of the PC's open up an avenue of escape for the bad guy. If the PC's spent three hours clearing out every single monster from the dungeon, the villain has a clear avenue of escape. If they left their boat moored at the side of the castle, the villian finds it. The best out is usually the hole the PC's battered in trying to reach their objective. This creates a sense of story logic, verisimilitude, and makes the PC's feel that their actions have weight in the world.

MerakSpielman said:

Never count on having your BBEG escape. And never bend the rules to ensure it. This undermines the legitimate efforts of players, who could be expending non-renewable resources in their attempt to pursue/catch him.
I have the darndest time keeping my villians alive once the players catch up with them, personally.

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I agree. I NEVER want to count on it, but in my mind any smart villain would have a means of escape. And hey, if it doesn't work and they get him, oh well. But knowing my players [in BOTH groups ] they are bound to screw up now and then, and the baddie can escape.

MerakSpielman said:

Teleport, blink, DD, etc all work well, but are predictible. They can be sneaky and go invisible, then cast open/close on a nearby door to pretend they've fled.

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Yes, those are good to use but not all the time.

The Invisibililty, Open/Close idea is a good one. Had not thought of that.

It depends on the villain. Clerics can plane shift away, druids turn into a bird and fly away, rogues run around the corner and hide, aquatic monsters swim downstream, fighters grab an unconscious PC and ready an action each turn to stab them as they move away, etc. More often than not, the villains IMC try to retreat when they realize they're screwed; they succeed about 1/3 of the time. Occasionally, an escaped villain will come back to cause more trouble, but the smarter one realize that they got lucky the first time, and they stay away. 'Course, players love chasing down the escaped villain, and I've got no problem letting them find the villain and tidy things up.

Daniel

Matt Lazarus said:

Wow, that's a bad idea. Parties hate "only watching".

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This is true! They do hate it. Except when they think they caused they other villian to show up and take out the BBEG. Then they think it is kind of cool.

But, that brings in the real evilness. Party rats out BBEG to competing villian expecting that the two will fight and at least one of the bad guys will go down. Then, the good guys can take out the other bad guy. But, what really happens is the two bad guys get together, stage the fight so that they take each other out (say with a necklace of fireballs), party is thrilled because their planned worked even better than they thought. Heck! The two bad guys even turned each other to ash. How cool is that?

Of course, the villians are meanwhile laughing that the party took the bait. They are working on combining their vile plans and will take out the party at some point in the future.

Nah, that would never work!

I have a villian who has a "blessing" from an evil war god, if he dies 9 times, he becomes much more powerful. However, he must die in a "honorable" manor (IE, no suicide or falls or whatever) for this to work. This leads to a villian that appears to be a cheesy "returning villian" but the party must learn how to defeat him WITHOUT killing him and making him stronger...

One somewhat nasty option is to have the BBEG retreat through an area that has Forbiddance. In 3.0, characters with different alignments could not enter unless they succeed at a Will save. With 3.5, anyone can enter, but they will take damage.

Have the Villian retreat down a mundane secret passage with forbiddance. The party can follow if they can take the damage. But, nobody will be using planar travel in that area.

(Actually, this is a strategy I recently used in a 3.0 game. The BBEG was on the otherside of a 10' wide chasm. She had cast Forbiddance on her side, all the way to the edge of the chasm. Her Monk cohort was guarding the 2' wide bridge that led across. The party thought it would be easy, just jump across the chasm. Boy was the Barbarian surprised when he hit that forbiddance! Almost fell in the chasm.)

Matt Lazarus said:

Wow, that's a bad idea. Parties hate "only watching".

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Well, that idea was more meant for the situation 'party goes after BBEG, who they aren't supposed to fight, yet' or as way of avoiding a TPK. But you're right, it's not the best of solutions.

With my "low" level games, it's scarcely a problem. The first villain the players encountered was as wizard 9 not prepared for battle (spellwise). She knocked half of the group out and incapacitated the rest, then grabbed what she wanted and left. Players hated her.

Usually my villains just enter their carriage, wave their handkerchief and drive into the sunset, leaving flocks of bodyguards to chase away the chasing groups

I like to have villains with more political power, influence and money than levels. A good villain escape is the city watch that enters at the right moment while the "respected citizen" congratulates the bunch of lousy adventurers that "aided him" in a matter of uttermost importance...

Let's see, if you are really set on having a villian escape, give them a healthy dose of survival instinct.

Have them run once they are down below 1/2 HP (or 3/4 for really cravenly villains). The PC's will probably assume that one more hit will take the villian out. Maybe a Magic Missile, or an arrow. They might not consider pursuit until after the villian keeps staggering onward and has already obtained too great a lead.

Another option, if you have a group that believes in honor. Have the villian challenge one of the PC's for the right to leave unharmed. This does not need to be a fight to the death, maybe just to unconsciousness. If you do this, make sure the villian has honor too! Maybe even to the point of stabilizing the PC that lost. With the right party, this can work very well. With the wrong party, the villian is toast.

The wave of low level grunts works. The PC's have to deal with the immediate opponents in front of them while the villain slinks away. Though, a clever party can easily prevent this.

Another honorable/good party option. Have the villian surrender. Now, they have to safeguard a prisoner. If they have any semblance of law, that also means they have to protect the villain from rivals! They will have to expend resources on keeping watch so the villian doesn't escape and is unharmed. They have to bring the villian back to face justice. They have to prove misdeeds. You get the idea. In players terms, it works like this. "Oh great, now there are plenty of chances for the DM to screw us!" While I don't advocate that strategy, it is likely what the players will think. However, you can use this as a great way to establish how the local kingdoms' legal systems work. Perhaps the PC's can't prove a crime. Perhaps the villain can wiggle free through a loophole. Again, with the right party, this can be a lot of fun and cause some great RP.

Spells - A ton of them. Travel spells are great, but do not overlook illusions. Programmed Image, Mislead, Veil, are some nice high level spells. But even a mundane Invisibility and Silent Image can help a bit. Heck, even Darkness can give you a bit of a good lead. Creativity is your friend. But, the PC's can bypass these with good saves, dispel's, True seeing, etc.

Equipment - Don't underestimate the value of a bag of caltrops, tanglefoot bags, thunderstones, trip wires, etc.

Planning - If this is the villains fortress, a good escape path should be available! Especially a smart villian. Why not have the escape path lead straight into a maze? Over a rope bridge that can be cut? Or over/under/across/through and number of things that could be setup well in advance. Heck, have fun with the party. Have the villian run down a narrow, twisty corridor with pit traps. Each pit seems like a chute that slides down into the dark. The party has to decide if the villian used the pit as a chute leading down to a safe escape, or if that chute leads down to death. The longer they pause, the further ahead the villian gets. Of course, there is nothing saying you couldn't prepare for either choice to be "wrong" and the villian gets away.

I might have more ideas later. Let's see how this does for now.

Dakkareth said:

Well, that idea was more meant for the situation 'party goes after BBEG, who they aren't supposed to fight, yet' or as way of avoiding a TPK. But you're right, it's not the best of solutions.

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I suppose I could have phrased that more tactfully. Thanks for not taking offense. I'm afraid I flashed back to a very long session where our party had the "privilege" of watching two gods duke it out. Never again.