The Mad Hatter 10 6
First Post
Whipped?
I personally like the idea of keeping an open mind about the encounter. I would say this particular encounter has EXCELLENT potential to be one the PCs won't forget for a LONG time. I would have the BBEG attack the party and attempt to take the stone, but let THEM decide what they will do... they can obviously hand over the stone (Its a fair cop), or they can attempt to do battle with the villian (and lose), or clever PCs can find away to trick the villian and escape (I like the idea of an adventure filled chase with the bad guys hot on your heels, and if they are 5th level, Invis Sphere lasts all day... nothing like an invisible travelling party).
Take the villian's alignment into effect... if he is Lawful Evil, perhaps he doesn't really want to kill the players, he just wants the stone... while he won't take steps to PREVENT injury to the players, he and his minions won't murder them once they are beaten. They will take the stone, and perhaps the PCs gear, leaving them naked and helpless in the wilderness. I used a similar situation on an "artifact race" where the bad guys beat the snot out of the PCs and left them tied up and naked in the snow... not only were the players spared... they were ENRAGED at the evil NPC party... this fire burned in the group for a very long time as they clashed with the NPCs on several more occasions but never had enough "umpf" to defeat them villians. It builds a history of hatred and rivalry with the villian and motivates the players part to become more powerful and kick it to the bad guys that slighted/ beat the crap out of them.
Perhaps this strategy would work for you as well here.
I personally like the idea of keeping an open mind about the encounter. I would say this particular encounter has EXCELLENT potential to be one the PCs won't forget for a LONG time. I would have the BBEG attack the party and attempt to take the stone, but let THEM decide what they will do... they can obviously hand over the stone (Its a fair cop), or they can attempt to do battle with the villian (and lose), or clever PCs can find away to trick the villian and escape (I like the idea of an adventure filled chase with the bad guys hot on your heels, and if they are 5th level, Invis Sphere lasts all day... nothing like an invisible travelling party).
Take the villian's alignment into effect... if he is Lawful Evil, perhaps he doesn't really want to kill the players, he just wants the stone... while he won't take steps to PREVENT injury to the players, he and his minions won't murder them once they are beaten. They will take the stone, and perhaps the PCs gear, leaving them naked and helpless in the wilderness. I used a similar situation on an "artifact race" where the bad guys beat the snot out of the PCs and left them tied up and naked in the snow... not only were the players spared... they were ENRAGED at the evil NPC party... this fire burned in the group for a very long time as they clashed with the NPCs on several more occasions but never had enough "umpf" to defeat them villians. It builds a history of hatred and rivalry with the villian and motivates the players part to become more powerful and kick it to the bad guys that slighted/ beat the crap out of them.
Perhaps this strategy would work for you as well here.