Help me capture my PCs

[JoeyD473]

My PCs will be staying the evening in a mansion as a guest of the noble (wh also happens to be the leader of the cities thieves guild, which they don't know yet). Someone staying in the mansion will be assassinated in the middle night and I want the PCs to be blamed for it and arrested.

I was originally going to have the 4 city guards who were coming to escort this other person find him dead with one of their daggers in the guys head and arrest them. This probably would have worked fine except one of the wizards in the party just gained Dimension Door and has it prepared already. SO eventhough my plan would have prevented the wizards from preparing new spells it doesn't stop him from casting Dimension door for them to get away.

Now I have one of the guards cast dimensional anchor however if the guard gets the worst of the initive rolls there is a good chance that the PCs will get away.

how can I ensure they are arrested for this crime?

 

[Doug McCrae]

how can I ensure they are arrested for this crime?

The plot seems a bit contrived to me, I'd just let them escape then do a hunted-for-a-crime-they-didn't-commit bit a la The Fugitive.

If the PCs have to be captured to make the plot work my favourite method is to say this:

"Okay guys, in order for the plot to work your characters have to be captured. Can anyone think how that might've happened? [Ideas from PCs] Great, some time later you all wake up in prison."

 

[SavageRobby]

You can't really guarantee it (short of bringing on heavily artillery in the form of much higher level casters/soldiers, and most players will do almost anything to avoid imprisonment.

I've managed to do it by having the authorities come and negotiate with the characters, asking them to please come peacefully, guaranteeing a fair trial, etc etc. However, with an assassination that they didn't do ... that probably wouldn't work.

Is arrest necessary? Will the plot work just as well if they end up getting away?

If not, one other idea is to talk that part out with your group, and then hand-wave/narrate it to the point that you want them to take over in the story. With some groups, that works much better than railroading them into it.

 

[Rhun]

Inhaled Poison that induces sleep. Make the DC high, and have the guards shatter a few vials of it on the ground to render the PCs unconscious.

 

[Piratecat]

Nothing annoys players more than having their PCs captured. Expect resentment from your players!

 

[SiderisAnon]

Disrupt the Dimension Door Spell

Now I have one of the guards cast dimensional anchor however if the guard gets the worst of the initive rolls there is a good chance that the PCs will get away.

Haver you guards draw weapons before trying to arrest the known to be armed-and-dangerous party. If you have one or more guards adjacent to the wizard, they get attacks of opportunity.

You can also have a crossbowman (or other distance weapon guard) with a held action to shoot the wizard if he tries to cast a spell. This assumes the guard would know the wizard is a spellcaster.

Of course, depending on AC, the guard might not hit, but it does give them a chance to disrupt the spell.

 

[hexgrid]

Getting captured is one of those things that works much better in fiction than it does in games.

 

[wolff96]

Inhaled Poison that induces sleep. Make the DC high, and have the guards shatter a few vials of it on the ground to render the PCs unconscious.

...and one guard with a level of wizard/high UMD check and a wand of Charm Person, Sleep, or Color Spray waiting for anyone that comes out of the cloud of gas -- since it will be assumed that anyone strong enough to resist the gas will probably be weak-willed. (Note: Unlikely to work on divine-types. )

Doesn't require much in the way of resources and is relatively easy for even a low-level city. If it's REALLY a village, make it a level 1 or 2 caster with three other guardsmen as his squad.

The biggest thing, though? Don't railroad.

Inhaled sleep gas and *maybe* a weak wizard are realistic resources, unless you're dealing with a city the size of Greyhawk. Or your setting departs significantly from the standard core, of course. Or you're in FR.

There's nothing worse than being railroaded into jail because THE PLOT MUST BE OBEYED. If, for some reason, it is absolutely vital beyond all reason that the PCs *must* be captured, then go with the advice up-thread and talk to the players. Otherwise, your players will probably be very annoyed with a railroad to jail.

If I were you, I'd ask myself...
1) Why do they have to be in jail?
2) If they're not in jail, how can I still encourage them to go the way I want?
3) What other resources -- NPCs, information, monsters -- can I use as the DM to suggest a course of action that I'm prepared for if they escape capture?

 

[Edgewood]

This sort of thing is right up alley (so to speak). As a Police Officer, I can tell you that proof is the hardest thing to come by while evidence is always plentiful. Also, evidence doesn't lie. What you want to plant is solid and near damning evidence that the PCs were responsible. Usually, suspicion begins from what witnesses see as the behaviour of the suspect before the crime was commited. So, in your example, if an argument or open hostility between this guest and the PCs is obvious, the suspicion of their involvement will grow.

Also, a dagger in the victim's head is good evidence but it doesn't mean that one of them is the murderer. If you can get a PC to go into that guest's room for whatever reason before the crime is committed, then someone may have witnessed entering or leaving the room, that would also raise suspicioin (especially if the dagger belonged to that PC).

And never underestimate the power of a good forgery in one of the PCs handwriting being placed at the scene as strong evidence of their involvement.

 

[Bayushi Seikuro]

I'm going to have to side with the comment that 'capture works better in fiction than in a game'.

My first suggestion would be also to look at how can you alter the plot so it IS more like the Fugitive - the players will appreciate it more, especially if they're problem solvers. I figure if someone who is the head of the thieves guild - or even someone powerful enough to be his rival, in case he's a red herring - they have means to keep the Watch and city actively looking for the PCs while the PCs attempt to investigate. Body doubles, anonymous tips.

The only other way I could see it work is if the PCs are honorable types, and the guards come in to arrest them, and they surrender. Not usually too likely, but it depends on the characters and the way it's handled. Noble characters will want to submit to justice, believing that it works, or even if they were framed, that a case can be made to clear them.

The other problem is DimDoor itself. Yes, the wizard might be able to get away, but depending on how many party members there are, he probably won't be able to get them all, leaving comrades behind.

And I quote from the spell: You may also bring one additional willing Medium or smaller creature (carrying gear or objects up to its maximum load) or its equivalent per three caster levels. A Large creature counts as two Medium creatures, a Huge creature counts as two Large creatures, and so forth. All creatures to be transported must be in contact with one another, and at least one of those creatures must be in contact with you.


So, the other issue is, for the wizard to DimDoor out with party members, he has to be touching one, and that one has to be touching another. Not a lot of group handholding during a standard surprise round, I would say. The wizard, I figure, could grab one other person and then pop out, leaving the other 2+ party members stranded with guards... now VERY ANGRY GUARDS WHO WILL NO LONGER BE POLITE.