FormerlyHemlock
Hero
TLDR; soliciting NPC ideas which will demolish similar-level PCs in a fun way, then take their stuff and ride off laughing, leaving the PCs for dead.
Normally I run a sandbox, but I also have karma rules by which the players can get a boon in-game by basically placing a big old Kick Me sign on themselves for karmic payback. And one of my players last session dug himself deep enough in the karma hole that I'm spending some karma to make him squirm, to teach him not to call upon karma casually.
In short, I get to violate my sandbox rules and tailor an encounter specifically to mess with the players.
So far, the most interesting idea I have is for a small but fast attack shuttle (Dragonfly ship, for anyone who's ever played Spelljammer) to land on their little colony. Out pops a couple of huge, heavily armored "orcs" (actually a scro Eldritch Knight and his scrawny scro Diviner buddy under a Disguise Self illusion) and a bunch of scro warriors (basically double-strength hobgoblins mechanically), and the first thing they do is pull out some documents and charge the PCs with trespassing on their rightful property, and demand half the profits of the colony and half of any magic items they've found here (i.e. half of the party's magic items, because "everyone knows groundlings don't have any good magic except what they found here in wildspace"). Basically a cross between Attack of the Space Lawyers and Attack of the Space Jocks.
I have no idea whether my players will want to pay the tribute, attempt to hide their earnings, or fight it out in a straightforward fashion, but if it does come to a fight I want it to be 1.) hard enough to be extremely interesting, and 2.) an opportunity to give the PCs some magic items as a reward for dealing with karmic payback. So I'm thinking about giving the scro Eldritch Knight items like Armor of Invulnerability +2, Cloak of Displacement, and a Ring of Air Elemental Command--genuinely cool loot which also makes for a genuinely difficult fight with a good chance of TPK, while simultaneously letting me play with cool NPC powers that may possibly inspire my players to see the coolness of the Eldritch Knight class (Absorb Elements + Shield spells, Blur, etc.). Also a Fighter/Warlock scro mounted on a giant bat or void-worm with Agonizing Repelling Eldritch Spear, who can knock people off the edge of the air-island into an infinite fall (and is himself vulnerable to getting knocked off his bat).
So that's one idea, but basically my question for the hive-mind is:
What ideas do you have for mechanically interesting anti-PC builds which simultaneously are fun for you to run, fun for the players to fight, and maybe make players go, "Hey, I want one of those for my character tree!"
Normally I run a sandbox, but I also have karma rules by which the players can get a boon in-game by basically placing a big old Kick Me sign on themselves for karmic payback. And one of my players last session dug himself deep enough in the karma hole that I'm spending some karma to make him squirm, to teach him not to call upon karma casually.
In short, I get to violate my sandbox rules and tailor an encounter specifically to mess with the players.
So far, the most interesting idea I have is for a small but fast attack shuttle (Dragonfly ship, for anyone who's ever played Spelljammer) to land on their little colony. Out pops a couple of huge, heavily armored "orcs" (actually a scro Eldritch Knight and his scrawny scro Diviner buddy under a Disguise Self illusion) and a bunch of scro warriors (basically double-strength hobgoblins mechanically), and the first thing they do is pull out some documents and charge the PCs with trespassing on their rightful property, and demand half the profits of the colony and half of any magic items they've found here (i.e. half of the party's magic items, because "everyone knows groundlings don't have any good magic except what they found here in wildspace"). Basically a cross between Attack of the Space Lawyers and Attack of the Space Jocks.
I have no idea whether my players will want to pay the tribute, attempt to hide their earnings, or fight it out in a straightforward fashion, but if it does come to a fight I want it to be 1.) hard enough to be extremely interesting, and 2.) an opportunity to give the PCs some magic items as a reward for dealing with karmic payback. So I'm thinking about giving the scro Eldritch Knight items like Armor of Invulnerability +2, Cloak of Displacement, and a Ring of Air Elemental Command--genuinely cool loot which also makes for a genuinely difficult fight with a good chance of TPK, while simultaneously letting me play with cool NPC powers that may possibly inspire my players to see the coolness of the Eldritch Knight class (Absorb Elements + Shield spells, Blur, etc.). Also a Fighter/Warlock scro mounted on a giant bat or void-worm with Agonizing Repelling Eldritch Spear, who can knock people off the edge of the air-island into an infinite fall (and is himself vulnerable to getting knocked off his bat).
So that's one idea, but basically my question for the hive-mind is:
What ideas do you have for mechanically interesting anti-PC builds which simultaneously are fun for you to run, fun for the players to fight, and maybe make players go, "Hey, I want one of those for my character tree!"
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