How Do Your Villains Escape?

Simplicity · Sep 12, 2003

MojoGM said:
Hey all,

When you have a primary villain that you want your PCs to encounter but not fight to the death, what methods do you put in place for the villain to attempt to escape?

Now, I'm not talking about DM "magic" to make sure they escape, and the old "Contingency Spell Teleport" gets old real quick.

What I'm asking for is a good tactic to allow escape, while giving the PCs a chance to thwart it and put an end to them once and for all.

Any ideas?

The old Contingency Spell Teleport is what players deserve if they face this once, and then they fail to bother with a Dimensional Anchor spell.

For mages, Expeditious Retreat/Spider crawl/fly etc are standard ways of getting away from low level parties. Combining one with an obscuring mist/darkness/invisibility can always be helpful. And adventuring party would have to be very brave to follow an evoker down a corridor.

Druids can take advantage of the fact that they can essentially move through walls of thorns unhindered.

Rangers or druids might escape through the lair of some dangerous creature that they are on somewhat friendly terms with.

Monks can fall great distances without harm, and probably could flee through poisonous gas without effect.

Fleeing through pre-set traps is an easy way to shake your enemy.

In general, a good villain makes sure to chose his/her battlefield, and arms themselves based on that battlefield. Being at the top of a tower gives you a pretty easy escape route, assuming you can just jump off of it. Having some trained gargoyles who live on the way down doesn't hurt either. Polymorphing yourself to flee or simply hide yourself in some known area can be another useful way to get away.

Dakkareth · Sep 12, 2003

Matt Lazarus said:
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.

Well, imo there's nothing wrong with seeing event unfold helplessly once in a while, especially if it drives a point home (eg 'these guys are too powerful for you' or 'you failed to plan carefully and now the villain wins'), but of course it depends on the way it is done. Briefly describing some fancy fireworks is fine, using the DM's old character to play out a lengthy combat session isn't.

---

I agree BardStephenFox' suggestions, well summed up!

masque · Sep 12, 2003

Matt Lazarus said:
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.

My first DM killed off all the players but one in the last battle with the BBEG and we had to watch the last player, who mysteriously happened to be the DM's best friend (and the lost prince of the fey, and could turn into a dragon at will, and... of course, the other players knew none of this, despite the Clark Kent/Superman symdrome the character seemed to suffer from), duke it out with said BBEG guy while our spirits "prayed for his victory."

Granted, we didn't roleplay that very well, said, "No, we hate that guy, forget the world, I want to see his pansy "faerie prince" tush get whalloped by Mr. Evil-Purple-Lightning-Knight," and all decided watch Sephiroth being beaten instead. *sigh*

Sorry, just a bit bitter about that.

Kid Charlemagne · Sep 12, 2003

One nice thing about 3e is that anyone can withdraw from combat without getting whacked too hard. My villains always have a plan on how to escape. All wizards, for example, keep at least one spell handy that will help them get away, whether it's expeditious retreat or jump, or whether its dimension door or teleport.

Fighters, particulalry heavily armored ones, are a little tougher. They have to beat a strategic retreat, often one 5' step at a time, until they can slam a door in the pursuit's face, etc.

Rogues can take shortcuts over/through obstacles that would give fighters and such problems, allowing them to gain ground once they break off from combat.

Having combat take place in an area where you can quickly duck around a corner is vital to keep PC archers from peppering you to death. Retreating on a wide open plain is futile. Cover from trees works well in a forest - anything to make it tough for PC's to keep you in sight.

Mark Chance · Sep 12, 2003

MojoGM said:
What I'm asking for is a good tactic to allow escape, while giving the PCs a chance to thwart it and put an end to them once and for all.

Any ideas?

In my campaign, the PCs just had their first encounter with the Unholy Triarchs. These three arcane casters had been dispatched to harrass the party for problems the PCs have caused the BBEGs. Prior to the fight, I laid out a basic, round-to-round strategy for all three Triarchs. This includes pre-combat casting on their part, as well as their preferred targets and spells once the fight starts.

The Triarchs teleported in after a round of buffs and putting up a globe of invulnerability and antilife shell. This delayed the PCs from directly engaging the Triarchs until PC casters dropped the abjurations via dispel magic. Meanwhile, the Triarchs lobbed spells, including two geas spells against the paladin and silver dragon, a Chain spell blindness centered on the party's wizard (which worked) and two feebleminds against the wizard and the cleric (both worked!).

By this time, the globe and shell were down. The PC silver dragon closed and breathed, paralyzing one of the Triarchs. The paladin and steel disciple (home-brew class) were dangerously close to engaging the Triarchs in melee. Consequently, the two unparalyzed Triarch cast defensively and teleported themselves and the paralyzed villain to safety.

Greybar · Sep 12, 2003

Don't bother trying to figure out a readily explainable cause of why he has returned: Your players will do it for you, and you just have to steal their cue. That's actually one of the greater DMing secrets: You don't have to think of something, if the players will do it for you. Nothing has to have a predetermined solution until the player thinks of one and tries it: If you like the solution he came up with, make that the correct solution and allow him to succeed.

Well, maybe it's a style thing, but I really dislike this. As a player I remember realizing that this sort of logic drove the game I was in. It totally took the fun out of it. Success and Failure was irrelevant, since reality morphed in front of us.

So maybe for some it is a "great DM secret", but only so long as used very sparingly and kept a deep deep secret so the players never notice it.

It's like letting someone win in a competitive game...

john

Rashak Mani · Sep 12, 2003

I usually employ Darkness or some sort of wall... possibly secret doors following that.

One I did in a wilderness setting was that the giants had an orc scout that used a Boots of the North combined with a striding and springing boot. Expensive item for sure. Still in the snow scenario the orc scout could get away and report to the big Evil guy (tm)... walking in deep snow helps

BiggusGeekus · Sep 13, 2003

Wizards teleport. Druids ride ley lines. Everyone else either dies or uses a secret enterance I thought of in advance.

If my players outwit my bad guy I don't deprive them of the kill.

Mark Chance · Sep 13, 2003

BiggusGeekus said:
If my players outwit my bad guy I don't deprive them of the kill.

Exactly.

As well-organized and disciplined as the Unholy Triarchs' attack was, it could have come off a lot worse for the party. The PCs prepared themselves, and did a good job of working together to counter or defeat their foes. The PCs victory was certainly a hollow one this time, but there will be a rematch.

jasamcarl · Sep 13, 2003

Here is a question. How do you award xp and gp when you essentially only give a pc a partial encounter? This is a practical rules question, one which i've had trouble answering.

How Do Your Villains Escape?

Simplicity

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