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<blockquote data-quote="Zaruthustran" data-source="post: 991928" data-attributes="member: 1457"><p>You only need one kidnapee, right? Use bait-and-switch. Play upon the tendency of players to meta-game by introducing one type of adventure but actually going with something else.</p><p></p><p>Start the evening like a standard adventure: the PCs are hired by some guy to investigate a mystery. The guy's uncle has died, and while the guy was cleaning out the old man's house he found an old letter in a false bottom of a chest. Turns out that the uncle was once an adventurer, and the letter contains notes about the location of some kind of magical artifact (as well as a few pages of ancient paper with lettering in an unknown script). The guy wants to hire the PCs to decipher the letter and recover the artifact.</p><p></p><p>Chances are, the bard or rogue will say "I Gather Information on the uncle and his party" and the wizards will say "I go to the library to do research" and the clerics will say "I go to the temple and cast divinations" while the fighters say "I guess I go to the tavern."</p><p></p><p>All these things take time. The gather information skill, for example, takes an entire evening of wandering around and talking to folks. Give the Gatherer circumstance penalties if he brings along his burly surly pals, and you're practically guaranteed that the Gatherer will head out alone. And of course the churches and libraries don't take kindly to heavily armed and uncouth fighters, rangers, animal companions, and barbarians wandering about.</p><p></p><p>So, just like that, you've got the party split. And lone adventurers are very, very easy to pick off. Forget about Piratecat's mighty magic ambush--just use gangs of 3rd level human rogues. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Don't forget that according to the rules, getting hit with a bola is an automatic trip. Tanglefoot bags are also cheap and easy immobilizers.</p><p></p><p>It could go like this:</p><p></p><p>DM: Okay, bard, you go off to Gather Information. You've spent a few hours hitting the city's adventurer's taverns and hangouts. Make a Gather Info roll.</p><p>Player: Okay... 32. </p><p>DM: You're pretty sure you've talked to the people most likely to have heard of Uncle Adventurer and his pals. Funny thing is, no one's ever heard of him. Or that artifact.</p><p>Player: No one?</p><p>DM: Nope, no one at all. It's almost like Uncle Adventurer doesn't exist.</p><p>Player: (slightly nervous) Huh. Well, I guess I head back to my friends, the fighters. Once there--</p><p>DM: Hang on a minute. What's your flat-footed ranged touch AC?</p><p>Player: Uh oh.</p><p></p><p>-z</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Zaruthustran, post: 991928, member: 1457"] You only need one kidnapee, right? Use bait-and-switch. Play upon the tendency of players to meta-game by introducing one type of adventure but actually going with something else. Start the evening like a standard adventure: the PCs are hired by some guy to investigate a mystery. The guy's uncle has died, and while the guy was cleaning out the old man's house he found an old letter in a false bottom of a chest. Turns out that the uncle was once an adventurer, and the letter contains notes about the location of some kind of magical artifact (as well as a few pages of ancient paper with lettering in an unknown script). The guy wants to hire the PCs to decipher the letter and recover the artifact. Chances are, the bard or rogue will say "I Gather Information on the uncle and his party" and the wizards will say "I go to the library to do research" and the clerics will say "I go to the temple and cast divinations" while the fighters say "I guess I go to the tavern." All these things take time. The gather information skill, for example, takes an entire evening of wandering around and talking to folks. Give the Gatherer circumstance penalties if he brings along his burly surly pals, and you're practically guaranteed that the Gatherer will head out alone. And of course the churches and libraries don't take kindly to heavily armed and uncouth fighters, rangers, animal companions, and barbarians wandering about. So, just like that, you've got the party split. And lone adventurers are very, very easy to pick off. Forget about Piratecat's mighty magic ambush--just use gangs of 3rd level human rogues. :) Don't forget that according to the rules, getting hit with a bola is an automatic trip. Tanglefoot bags are also cheap and easy immobilizers. It could go like this: DM: Okay, bard, you go off to Gather Information. You've spent a few hours hitting the city's adventurer's taverns and hangouts. Make a Gather Info roll. Player: Okay... 32. DM: You're pretty sure you've talked to the people most likely to have heard of Uncle Adventurer and his pals. Funny thing is, no one's ever heard of him. Or that artifact. Player: No one? DM: Nope, no one at all. It's almost like Uncle Adventurer doesn't exist. Player: (slightly nervous) Huh. Well, I guess I head back to my friends, the fighters. Once there-- DM: Hang on a minute. What's your flat-footed ranged touch AC? Player: Uh oh. -z [/QUOTE]
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