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<blockquote data-quote="Pielorinho" data-source="post: 3419242" data-attributes="member: 259">Absolutely I would be, for several reasons:1) It's unlikely that the DM has done so;2) It's unlikely an illusionist would have need of such a feat;3) It's not just the hostage's life I'm betting.&nbsp; It's the lives of the people the illusionist will kill if I let him go.A decade ago, I read a book on virtual reality that talked about the features of interactivity.&nbsp; Two features stand out.&nbsp; First, in an interactive game, either party involved can interrupt the other party at any time.&nbsp; Second, in an interactive game, neither party knows the outcome of the game in advance.&nbsp; The book was talking about computer games, but I think the same principles apply to D&amp;D.A hostage situation can be plenty of fun if these two principles apply.&nbsp; That is, if the players may interrupt the DM at any time, and if the DM does not know how the scene will play out, then you've got a terrific scene full of tension.&nbsp; If, however, the DM has predetermined that the PCs cannot meaningfully interrupt (by &quot;meaningfully,&quot; I mean being able to do something that changes the scene), or if the DM has predetermined that the bad guy won't get captured, then there's a problem.I think the movie The Untouchables has a great hostage-taking scene, demonstrating how a good guy can kill a bad guy holding a hostage, at least in action-movie format.&nbsp; The hostage-taker is all about the sincerity of the threat.&nbsp; The hostage is only good to him alive, but is also only good to him if he's willing to kill the hostage.&nbsp; Once the hostage is dead, or the bluff is called, the hostage-taker is toast.That's different from how the good guy sees it.&nbsp; From the good guy's perspective, he's got to convince the hostage taker that there's plenty of time, has to lower the tension more and more until the moment that overwhelming force can be applied.&nbsp; This means that your good guy needs high ranks in bluff and diplomacy to convince the hostage taker that there's a serious negotiation going on.If I were DMing this scene, and the players tried to take down the hostage-taker, I'd allow them to make some bluff and diplomacy checks; if they succeeded on these checks, they could act before the hostage taker got a chance.Daniel</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Pielorinho, post: 3419242, member: 259"] Absolutely I would be, for several reasons: 1) It's unlikely that the DM has done so; 2) It's unlikely an illusionist would have need of such a feat; 3) It's not just the hostage's life I'm betting. It's the lives of the people the illusionist will kill if I let him go. A decade ago, I read a book on virtual reality that talked about the features of interactivity. Two features stand out. First, in an interactive game, either party involved can interrupt the other party at any time. Second, in an interactive game, neither party knows the outcome of the game in advance. The book was talking about computer games, but I think the same principles apply to D&D. A hostage situation can be plenty of fun if these two principles apply. That is, if the players may interrupt the DM at any time, and if the DM does not know how the scene will play out, then you've got a terrific scene full of tension. If, however, the DM has predetermined that the PCs cannot meaningfully interrupt (by "meaningfully," I mean being able to do something that changes the scene), or if the DM has predetermined that the bad guy won't get captured, then there's a problem. I think the movie [i]The Untouchables[/i] has a great hostage-taking scene, demonstrating how a good guy can kill a bad guy holding a hostage, at least in action-movie format. The hostage-taker is all about the sincerity of the threat. The hostage is only good to him alive, but is also only good to him if he's willing to kill the hostage. Once the hostage is dead, or the bluff is called, the hostage-taker is toast. That's different from how the good guy sees it. From the good guy's perspective, he's got to convince the hostage taker that there's plenty of time, has to lower the tension more and more until the moment that overwhelming force can be applied. This means that your good guy needs high ranks in bluff and diplomacy to convince the hostage taker that there's a serious negotiation going on. If I were DMing this scene, and the players tried to take down the hostage-taker, I'd allow them to make some bluff and diplomacy checks; if they succeeded on these checks, they could act before the hostage taker got a chance. Daniel [/QUOTE]

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