D&D 5E How to run a successful "poisoned NPC" scene in 5e?

[Quickleaf]

My 4th-5th level PCs are approaching a scene in which they'll have an audience with the aging ruler (pharaoh), where they're attempting to present evidence of a renewed threat that the ruler believes to have died with his grandfather. I'm designing this as a skill challenge to determine how convinced the ruler is – and this will impact the support the PCs get later on.

At the climax of the scene, the ruler is non-fatally poisoned (poison was administered earlier and kicks in during the audience). It leaves him debilitated for a time.

My intention with the poisoning scene is that it serves as an impetus for the PCs to depart the capital city, and for a little while to experience life outside of the ruler's graces (context: several of them have connections to the royal court). This could either be the cliched "you've poisoned me!" where the ruler fingers the PCs, and guards give chase. Or it could be more politically nuanced, where the ruler fears his advisors will use the poisoning to renew a costly war against the southern kingdom (who had nothing to do with the poisoning), and beseeches (or forces) the PCs to "take the fall" until they can investigate & dismantle the true conspiracy. This scene serves to propel them to seek out a rumored bastard heir behind the conspiracy, without having the weight of their respective urban organizations behind them.

It's not exactly "the NPC dies before your very eyes", "but I cast cure wounds" kind of scene, but I'm a bit concerned that I'm skating too close to that territory given that the 4th-5th level PCs have access to lesser restoration. The obvious choice would be to heal the ruler without consequences/side effects – the drama and suspense dissipates, the poisoning becomes trivial, the PCs have no blame or suspicion upon them, and the scene is reduced to the ruler giving them a quest to find the bastard heir.

How can I successfully run this kind of scene in D&D? Or are scenes like this wholly undesirable in D&D? Does it require intelligent selection or homebrewing of the poison to avoid inflicting the easily removable poisoned condition while imposing ongoing effects? Do I need to include more variables / potential outcomes to maximize player agency?

 

[MarkB]

A powerful ruler will be wary of magical attacks - but poison is a mundane threat. Have the ruler's entire audience chamber be warded with an anti-magic field. Thus he can still be poisoned, but the PCs cannot deploy any magical cure or assistance.

 

[Flamestrike]

I'm a bit concerned that I'm skating too close to that territory given that the 4th-5th level PCs have access to lesser restoration.

Or its a particularly virulent poison that can only be cured with Greater Restoration or similar magic.

A DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check reveals this information.

 

[aco175]

I was thinking on how the scene would unfold with the ruler starting to cough and show signs of being poisoned and how the guards, viziers, attendants, etc, would react. The PCs and players may think poison and think to jump to the aid, but the reaction of the secret service to lock things down and remove the president to a secure bunker may stop them. If some group of PCs who are not the senior, trusted advisors try to rush the ruler, they may get attacked. At least they get shouted back with words about how their royal cleric will tend to him.

This may be a good place to drop a spy with the faction that poisoned the ruler. He could be a trusted advisor or NPC that the PCs have dealt with before and have him point to the PCs/patsies to be arrested.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There is lots of precedent for "special magic poison that does not respond to conventional healing magic". I wouldn't worry, just say lesser restoration doesn't work, and a Medicine or Arcana check tells the party what the special antidote ingredient(s) is.

 

[Quickleaf]

A powerful ruler will be wary of magical attacks - but poison is a mundane threat. Have the ruler's entire audience chamber be warded with an anti-magic field. Thus he can still be poisoned, but the PCs cannot deploy any magical cure or assistance.

I love the idea. One of my challenges here is that the ruler (pharaoh) is a spellcaster in his own right, his vizier is a high-level bard, his bodyguard is a paladin of some sort, and there's good odds that an allied high priest will be present. He even has a death ward cast on him daily. So the antimagic field would be as crippling to the ruler and his court as it would to any would-be assassins.

I was thinking on how the scene would unfold with the ruler starting to cough and show signs of being poisoned and how the guards, viziers, attendants, etc, would react. The PCs and players may think poison and think to jump to the aid, but the reaction of the secret service to lock things down and remove the president to a secure bunker may stop them. If some group of PCs who are not the senior, trusted advisors try to rush the ruler, they may get attacked. At least they get shouted back with words about how their royal cleric will tend to him.

This may be a good place to drop a spy with the faction that poisoned the ruler. He could be a trusted advisor or NPC that the PCs have dealt with before and have him point to the PCs/patsies to be arrested.

Exactly. Part of the nuance is that the ruler is old and ailing already, so signs of sickness and coughing during the encounter aren't abnormal. Just reviewed the 2 cleric PCs and neither seems to regularly prepare detect poison and disease.

The high priest who is likely to be present – the most effective "royal cleric" – is also likely to be the most inclined to jump to conclusions and advocate for militancy against the wrong suspected enemy.

 

[Quickleaf]

There is lots of precedent for "special magic poison that does not respond to conventional healing magic". I wouldn't worry, just say lesser restoration doesn't work, and a Medicine or Arcana check tells the party what the special antidote ingredient(s) is.

I didn't realize there were precedents. I'd be curious how they handled that narratively. Could you illuminate me about the specific precedents you're referencing?

 

[MarkB]

An alternative to anti-magic over the entire room would be a Wall of Force between the ruler and their visitors. That should allow communication while blocking line of effect.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I didn't realize there were precedents. I'd be curious how they handled that narratively. Could you illuminate me about the specific precedents you're referencing?

Snow White, Peter Pan, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings (Athelas), Star Trek (how many times does their super-medicine fail to heal the one specific thing), Doctor Who - The Caves of Androzani, Iron Man 2, [gasp]

 

[Quickleaf]

Snow White, Peter Pan, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings (Athelas), Star Trek (how many times does their super-medicine fail to heal the one specific thing), Doctor Who - The Caves of Androzani, Iron Man 2, [gasp]

Ah, I see. I mistakenly thought you were referencing something from within D&D itself, like an adventure or supplement which I could look to as a template for how it was handled insofar as the rules are concerned.