Help me capture my party.

[Evilhalfling]

At low levels (1-3) capturing is easy and can be relatively painless. In this case DO make it a forgone conclusion that they are going to loose. i.e. Drop 1 or more big ugly spells in the first round, have a guy in platemail with a flaming sword etc.

at 11th level? no way - someone is going to escape, teleport, plane shift, run 200' in 6 seconds, burrow into the ground - then your party is not only mad about losing, they are split up as well. I had never thought about making it the PCs mission to get captured, thats lovely
it also gives them the chance to leave some gear at home, or only take their backup spell books etc, only bringing gear that is crucial for success, or expendable.

 

[Rechan]

The only way I've had this happen, and it was purely by accident, is just "Avoiding a TPK".

Party come across carrion crawlers in the villain's basement. Carrion crawlers take the party out. Priest comes along, orders undead to pull the carrion crawlers off, and locks the PCs in the dungeon. PCs escape.

I mean if you MUST, just poison their wine. Get a heightened Drow Sleep poison and bam. Maybe have them roleplay taking dex damage each round, just reflecting them struggling while they're "going under". (Do this only if you're sure they don't have anything that could let them get away/reverse it, like Neutralize/Delay poison as a freebee).

 

[SPoD]

I'm going to slightly buck the trend here.

If the encounter is:
1.) A legitimate Encounter Level for them (i.e. no higher than, say, EL 13),
2.) Comprised of resources that the villain would logically have working for them,
3.) Not built with the specific abilities of the PCs in mind, except insofar as the capturing party might have met or scryed on the PCs prior to the attack,
4.) Allows the chips to fall where they may, which may include the party NOT getting captured, or being split up, or being killed by accident,

then you can do it. It's entirely kosher, after all, for the VILLAIN to try to capture the PCs. What is not kosher is for the DM to use his entire bag of DMing tricks to capture the PCs.

For example, a city might have a special squadron of soldiers whose job it is to capture high-level lawbreakers for trial. Because this is their sole purpose, it is legitimate for them to have classes, feats, spells, and magic items that further this end. It wouldn't be OK, though, for them to have stuff that is grossly more powerful than their EL, or is thematically inappropriate (i.e. having a monster on the squad just because its good at capturing things). And it's certainly not OK for you to make the capture a foregone conclusion; the PCs have to have a fighting chance of NOT getting captured, or else you are better off avoiding the whole thing altogether.

 

[hero4hire]

Ray of Enfeeblement then Empowered Escalating Enfeeblement spell from Complete Mage does wonders.

 

[Darklone]

The only way I've had this happen, and it was purely by accident, is just "Avoiding a TPK".

Same here. The only way I do "capture sessions" is to clearly avoid a TPK after a row of saving throws that failed.

E.g. Stinking Cloud is a great spell. Now if three of the melee brutes fail their saving throw with a one and the spellcaster is rushed by the enemies melee fighter undead, I had the necro capture the group.

 

[shilsen]

The nay-sayers have already pointed out the pitfalls of this approach, and they're right. But if you still want to do it, then I'll second SPoD's suggestion.

Don't make it an overwhelmingly powerful encounter. Create a challenging one with a decent chance of successfully capturing PCs. Have a good in-game reason for why the attackers want to capture the PCs instead of killing them. And then run it and let the chips fall as they may. If you capture them, cool. If you fail to capture them, also cool.

It's not really that difficult to capture a group of PCs, however powerful, with enemies that are a couple of levels lower but well-prepared. If you post your PC types and general strengths here, it's likely you'll get some good suggestions for how to pull off a capture.

 

[Wisdom Penalty]

Hmm...looks like I need to rethink how and - more importantly - if I do this.

Please note I've been DMing some of these guys for over 20 years, and all of them for at least 6 years. I won't have to worry about the "players turn on the DM" mutiny; I've done worse things to them in the past - some smart, some not so smart.

We have, however, developed a trusted bond - they know I'm not how to screw them, and so they're very, very willing to go down whatever rabbit holes I provide - even if they seem extremely twisted, dark, and difficult. That's what makes for a good story.

I know that many (most?) groups don't have this, so a capture-the-party schtick could invariably pit the DM against the players with no one winning in the end.

At any rate - thanks for the suggestions thus far.

W.P.

 

[Delta]

I know this may sound like I'm railroading them - and that's certainly true in some ways - but capturing them (and then allowing them to escape with certain information) will both challenge them in a way different than the norm thus far in this campaign, and allow the campaign's plot to progress more fully.

Don't, don't, don't, don't, for god's sake, don't do it.

Your players will be frustrated and upset. They don't like being railroaded (as you admit). They also don't like being captured. The two together is a toxic mess. They will surprise you with some amazing escape trickery, so you have to DM-fiat away rules on the fly, and it will frustrate them even more. Your players will probably rather nobly fight to the death that submit to capture by evil forces.

Here's two things that are legitimate:
(1) An encounter where the opponents try to capture PCs, if played fairly and without a predetermined conclusion.
(2) If you think you simply must have it for your campaign, simply announce that they were captured and stick them in that situation, if the facade encounter is skipped.

Don't play out encounters for which you've already determined that the players will lose. Just. Don't. Do. It.

 

[Wisdom Penalty]

OK, how does this sound: I'm not saying they will be captured, but I'm having my bad guys attempt to do just that. In other words, the bad guys understand the PCs are much more valuable (to them) captured instead of killed. Ergo, the bad guys want to prep themselves for a non-lethal assault - which is different than their normal schtick.

So the PCs certainly can (and likely will) evade capture. I won't use ELs out of line with the party level. But I would like to shift from a "destroy PCs" mindset to a "capture PCs" mindset. That's legitimate, no?

 

[Quartz]

A good modification to handwaving the capture which I've seen posted in other threads is to get the players to tell you how their characters were captured. This gives them back the illusion of control.

OTOH this can be a good way of introducing the CR19+ BBEG. The PCs are now such a thorn in his side that they warrant his personal attention.