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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 7321569" data-attributes="member: 16814">I'd be very cautious with this kind of encounter -- unless you foreshadow it so well that the player slaps their own head for being so obviously stupid, they're more likely to learn to not trust you than have fun.Betrayals of NPCs can be a very interesting and rewarding plotline.  However, from the player's perspective, it's more fun to discover the betrayal and counter it than be blindsided by it.  Therefore, as a DM, you need to be extra mindful about how you approach these events.  Your thinking shows that you're more interested in nailing down the rules coffin to kill a PC than providing an interesting encounter for that PC.  In other words, by focusing on the how of the drowning, your missing that the encounter should be about discovering the NPC is crazy and dealing with the fallout from that rather than desperately trying to survive a DM orchestrated ambush.I'd strongly advise reconsidering the outcome of this encounter.  Heavily foreshadow it, with the NPC chuckling or giggling while still onshore while talking about going out to get the treasure and how good an idea that is.  Crazy people do not often do well acting normal for long periods of time, and especially near their triggers.  At the point of the encounter, if the PC rashly continues, I'd have the NPC spout off a bit on the mad plan before attacking, rather than having the initial grapple and submersion being automatic (personally, as a player, I would hate this).  This gives the PC a chance to make a bad choice on their own -- dive in and try to swim back to shore, try to throw the crazy NPC off and paddle back on the raft, or trying to fight the NPC.  Much more dynamic and allows the player to make bad choices rather than you dictating a bad outcome without a choice.In other words, I'd suggest making this encounter much less about the NPC's plan going the way the NPC wants, and more about the the PC discovering and thwarting the NPC's plan.  If I've learned anything over a few decades of DMing, its that your players will add all of the bad choices you could possibly want -- you don't need to work hard to force them.</blockquote>

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