Help me take something off of my group's hands

[Cyri'kazzen]

Hey all,

What are some good/unique ways to steal something from a party? Any suggestions would be great.

Essentially my group will acquire an artifact and I want to steal it from them. They will be about 9th-10th level when this occurs. What examples or ideas can anyone give me of unique ways to take the item out of their hands. Here are some standard ones.

1. Take item by force
2. Take item by stealth
3. Item betrays party and leaves them
4. Item appears to be worthless so the party sells it

I want to come up with one that is plausible and won't seem like I have done it on purpose. Thanks.

 

[maddman75]

Any trusted NPCs you can abuse? The item takes him over and has him handed into the hands of the enemy. He can then be repentant about it and see how they deal with him.

 

[howandwhy99]

Could you be more specific about this artifact? Why do you think it's cool enough to put in the game? Does it serve a story purpose or one of another kind? Can it be cursed, famous, require godly intervention? One interesting idea would be to take, say an ancient sword, and have it be a key to an even more mythical place or item. If the key is used, the gate is open and can never be closed. etc. etc.

Another idea is to have the artifact be destined for a specific character, yet have the item (so I here you saying) arrive too early in that person's development. The fates are upset and all normal causal logic, serendipity, chance, etc. is bending around taking the artifact from their hands.

Please understand that the minute you give the players an artifact or really anything that is far too powerful for their character's level, they will start to wonder how you plan on taking it from them. You see, if they're smart and evil (like the DM), they will be planning some means to keep it so safe you can't take it away w/o appearing arbitrary. Any simple "Damn! a thief stole my eye of Vecna when I wasn't looking!" story results in plenty of ill will towards you.

I'd suggest something story-based. Try and make it compelling enough that the players (character's) want to give away the item. It can be tough, but it's better that you're planning now, beforehand, than after they know what they've got

 

[drakhe]

Here's two incidents I came across and how I handeled them:

The central character of the group, a Paladin, had aquired a mace with some magic runes on the wooden haft. I had miscalculated the powers of the mace so that he allmost never missed and he dealt enormous amounts of damage, killing foes with one or 2 blows. Having seen enough NPC's (well uh, monsters actualy) die at the hands of this mace, I gave the final monster a parry roll and on success I ruled the monster died but in a final attempt to ward off the blow parries with his weapon (a morningstar if I recal correctly) and scratched the runes on the haft, rendering the mace harmless (as harmless as a mace anyways)

The next anecdote is closer to your question. At some other time I needed also to steel something from the party, so I placed a gypsy fair in the next village. The plan was to have some pickpocket snatch some small things from the party. If the party fails to notice I would have an NPC witness the whole thing, leading the party to the gypsy camp. The camp leader (a rather round man called El Patron) convinces the party he'll do anything to round up the scoundrel who's thieving is incurable bla bla and offers the party a meal and accomodations as recompence. I then slipped some sleeping potion in the food and the next morning the gypsies were gone with whatever needed steeling (and some other little tidbits I wanted to eliminate <insert evil grin>)

And guess what: my party fell for this little trap ! They never suspected a thing. Now the'll look suspicious at ANYTHING being offered for free <repeat evil grin>

 

[LostSoul]

I think the best way to "steal" an item from the group would be to have them want to give it away. For whatever reason; maybe they just don't know what it does, or what it's worth, or they fear it, or whatever. This way the PCs can't complain about railroading and they'll feel like they're in control of their own destiny.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

The next anecdote is closer to your question. At some other time I needed also to steel something from the party, so I placed a gypsy fair in the next village. The plan was to have some pickpocket snatch some small things from the party. If the party fails to notice I would have an NPC witness the whole thing, leading the party to the gypsy camp. The camp leader (a rather round man called El Patron) convinces the party he'll do anything to round up the scoundrel who's thieving is incurable bla bla and offers the party a meal and accomodations as recompence. I then slipped some sleeping potion in the food and the next morning the gypsies were gone with whatever needed steeling (and some other little tidbits I wanted to eliminate <insert evil grin>)

And guess what: my party fell for this little trap ! They never suspected a thing. Now the'll look suspicious at ANYTHING being offered for free <repeat evil grin>

That's a good trick! Remind me to slap myself with something quite soft when I undoubtedly fall for it myself...

 

[LostSoul]

Having seen enough NPC's (well uh, monsters actualy) die at the hands of this mace, I gave the final monster a parry roll and on success I ruled the monster died but in a final attempt to ward off the blow parries with his weapon (a morningstar if I recal correctly) and scratched the runes on the haft, rendering the mace harmless (as harmless as a mace anyways)

That's pretty cheap. You should have just used a disarm + steal attempt, or sundered the item. At least that would have been by the rules.

Another way to deal with that would be to ramp up the power level a touch. If nobody else in the group can hold their own, dole out some more magic items of a similar value.

Or you could talk about it out of game, and ask the player to have his PC donate the item to the temple. Or - even better - have the temple the Paladin is working for be invaded from inside, and the temple demands that the Paladin hand over the weapon on pain of death. What does he do?

The point is to refrain from punishing the PCs for a mistake that you made.

I then slipped some sleeping potion in the food and the next morning the gypsies were gone with whatever needed steeling (and some other little tidbits I wanted to eliminate <insert evil grin>)

That's not bad, as long as you offered the PCs saving throws against the poison and allowed El Patron and his troupe to be tracked, scried, or found somehow. It would be kinda cheesy to throw down a DC 35 sleeping poison and then have the gypsies Plane Shift during the night.

 

[Dr. NRG]

Reveal the hidden curse that's been on the item all along. Do it gradually, like by rumors of the demise of the former owner under mysterious circumstances... Make it a "curse of the mummy" kind of thing where the new owner starts to get uncomfortable. Start passing the owner notes during session that talk about fell dreams. Also pass him blank notes that just make the other players suspicious. Do this enough, and he'll start thinking bad things are happening due to the artifact. If this doesn't work, start making bad things happen due to the artifact.

The best way to "take" something from someone is to have them give it or sell it to you.

 

[The Sigil]

My personal favorite - require them to "use the item up."

Example:

Your 5th-level paladin somehow has a holy avenger sword you need to relieve him of? No problem.

Have him fight a demon vampire who can only be (permanently) killed by staking him through the heart with a holy weapon (IOW the sword).

Your PC doesn't feel cheated (he "saved the world") and the item is gone and it doesn't look like you're contriving just to be rid of the item (since stuff like this is classic fantasy).

--The Sigil