Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why Villainous Rants?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="BSF" data-source="post: 1558227" data-attributes="member: 13098"><p>Generally, the players are looking for that advantage. The last big villian taunt I got off was when the villain was in a Forbiddance zone, there were minions to get in the way, and the party was almost all out of evocations. </p><p></p><p>Prior to that, I had an adversarial NPC that was trying to talk to the party. He was part of a group that had been put together as mirrors of the PC's. I thought it would be nifty to have a bit of banter. Three words were out of my mouth and the PC barbarian wanted to attack. He was already moving his mini across the map because he somehow thought he just got to act. I looked at the group and asked if that was really what he was doing. He was reaching for his D20 to see if he hit when he said yes. He rolled, I waited for the die to stop and _then_ said, "OK, let's roll initiative. Can somebody move Ardel back where he was?"</p><p></p><p>It was a blast when the NPC Mind Flayer won initiative, mind blasted the group, and the two PC's with the highest Will saves blew them. Amazingly enough, the Barbarian saved on that one, but not on the Charm that followed by another one of the NPC's. The group lost that battle and the NPC's took the stuff they came to "retrieve". The PC's also lost the opportunity to get the item back for several game months because they hadn't talked to the NPC's. Actually, a few players were annoyed at the barbarian player because they wanted to know what the NPC's had to say. They were sure it would be important. It was.</p><p></p><p>So, don't roll any initiative until one side goes hostile. Then, let the consequences fall where they may. When the players later complain that there was "no way" they could have found out the vital clue, point out to them that they killed the person that would have told them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BSF, post: 1558227, member: 13098"] Generally, the players are looking for that advantage. The last big villian taunt I got off was when the villain was in a Forbiddance zone, there were minions to get in the way, and the party was almost all out of evocations. Prior to that, I had an adversarial NPC that was trying to talk to the party. He was part of a group that had been put together as mirrors of the PC's. I thought it would be nifty to have a bit of banter. Three words were out of my mouth and the PC barbarian wanted to attack. He was already moving his mini across the map because he somehow thought he just got to act. I looked at the group and asked if that was really what he was doing. He was reaching for his D20 to see if he hit when he said yes. He rolled, I waited for the die to stop and _then_ said, "OK, let's roll initiative. Can somebody move Ardel back where he was?" It was a blast when the NPC Mind Flayer won initiative, mind blasted the group, and the two PC's with the highest Will saves blew them. Amazingly enough, the Barbarian saved on that one, but not on the Charm that followed by another one of the NPC's. The group lost that battle and the NPC's took the stuff they came to "retrieve". The PC's also lost the opportunity to get the item back for several game months because they hadn't talked to the NPC's. Actually, a few players were annoyed at the barbarian player because they wanted to know what the NPC's had to say. They were sure it would be important. It was. So, don't roll any initiative until one side goes hostile. Then, let the consequences fall where they may. When the players later complain that there was "no way" they could have found out the vital clue, point out to them that they killed the person that would have told them. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why Villainous Rants?
Top