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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Salthorae" data-source="post: 7843332" data-attributes="member: 1095">Maybe I am "that kind of DM"? I guess? I don't know. I don't consider the success/failure/fun/not fun of a campaign entirely on one encounter, no. Not ever single encounter/scenario/scene in a game has to directly translate into "fun" so long as overall the game experience is fun and satisfying for everyone involved.If the encounter is designed to "hurt" in terms of PC failure, I don't care, no. But I would rather the PC's interact with a scene rather than just cut scene. It is a shared narrative. I want to know WHAT the PC's try to do to stop something, I want to know HOW the PC's feel in that situation... as reflected by the players statements of actions and those feelings. I can't get those in a cut scene. I would think that low-level PC's seeing someone running on the walls or ceiling with a glowing sword, might give them pause about their chances vs. that NPC. I certainly would if I were playing a level 1 PC and saw an assassin running on the walls, etc. have immediate doubts about my ability to fight them. I never said giving advantage on saves? I was just referencing back to the OP's encounter concept card that talked about advantage for the assassin or disadvantage for the PC's because of the unconventional nature of 3D combat that the assassin is trained to deal with while they are not. I probably would just do disadvantage on attacks if anything. But that isn't necessarily.... necessary. It's just part of the encounter card that I was again, referencing. It's not a strawman. I'm not talking about an "overpowered-ninja-style NPC", I'm talking about a NPC who is more powerful than the PCs. If you want to get nitty-gritty with it, I'm talking about a Hexblade Pact of the Blade Warlock with a few invocations and spells that let him walk on the walls/fly. Tht would have proficiency in Wisdom saves and so be more likely to NOT fail those saves vs. specific spells like Command or Hold Person, etc and who has spells at their disposal to get out of a grapple if necessary. The card specifically says the assassin is after their target only and won't try to harm the PCs (Prologue Szeth, not later Szeth). You literally counter your own statement here by calling your weirdly specific thing a "subcategory" of Powerful NPCs... so yeah. I've never seen any before in a game, nor used any. That's why I think it would make for a memorable and fun arc for a game because I've personally never had it. I'm not talking about a "Wacky over-the-top weapon" here? I'm literally talking about a Pact of the Blade warlock with their pact weapon... so yeah. I'm not sure why you keep bringing up this hypothetical NPC bad guy who is Szeth-like as "overpowered" when you can literally build one from standard rules with the standard array. More powerful than players? Sure for now. Overpowered, I don't think so. Also, it's on the DM to work with the players and the story to have a compelling reason for PC's to do ANYTHING. This shouldn't be any different than your hypothetical Dragon encounter. Dragons' shouldn't naturally go on the "we've got to kill that guy!" list of the players' either, they should for any sane character go onthe "f that guy, jeez ugh, let's hope we never see that dragon again." list of the players'I assume the rapid rise of PC's in abilities outstrips the NPCs. So while this assassin took years to hone their craft and rise to the lofty power level they're at when the PC's first meet them. They are relatively static/plateaued in their growth, so by the time the PC's meet them again (end of the chapter/arc/whatever) they're now level appropriate. Maybe a hard encounter but level-appropriate now. If it's level-appropriate, then the PC's should be able to either kill or stop them from escaping through their very many more tricks that they have up their sleeve now: flight of their own, counterspell, etc. etc. etc.). I'm not DM'ing for my group right now, just playing, so it might be a while before I get a chance to do this, but I will do it when I'm up. What I'm going to do is exactly what we talked about. A 9th level Hexblade Pact of the Blade Warlock with their abilities walking on walls, etc. as an Assassin that the PC's have no warning about will appear and attempt to assassinate someone they are either friends with or paid to defend. They will likely succeed in that attempt and do their darndest to get away cleanly. Players are creative so they might not getaway. it also depends on how many NPC guard types are around, etc as well as Action Economy, which far more so than anything else, is ever the foe of single NPC enemies</blockquote>

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