Not quite sure what to do...

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Got a potential minor problem IMC:

One of my players expressed an interest in becoming a heroic monster hunter type.

Thought it was a good idea, so I dutifuly created a monster for him to hunt - it's a David Gemmel inspired rat/human hybrid that's escaped from a BBEGs 'Joining' factory... It has dominion over normal rats. (Wooo! Scary swarms!) It's trained to devour evil cultists and so attacks anyone it see's wearing a black cloak. It's been terrorising the slums district of the city in this city based campaign - eaten a few guardsmen so the city posted a bounty on it...


Anyway, I designed the beast with the thought that he'd shanghai the other 5 PCs into helping him. Instead he's decided to do it alone. Now what do I do?

If he actually catches it one on one then it'll probably slaughter him - it's designed to pose a danger to 6 PCs with a decent plan. Worse still, he favours a black hooded cloak - so it will try to kill him.

I'm not sure how to handle it. I think an out of character explanation is a bit close to a railroad, but I don't particularly want to kill his character off. I could nerf the monster or pull some punches but I'd feel a bit like I was 'cheating'.

Any ideas would be great!

 

[Thanee]

Very simple.

Make up an encounter, where the PC meets up with the beast, gets his ass handed, but has a chance to escape (i.e. if the beast is large enough, there might be a tight corridor in the sewer, where the PC could escape).

Then he should go get his comrades and start the real hunt.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

While the character is looking for information on the creature, perhaps it could learn that it decimated a party of adventurers, adventurers that the character in question would have heard of and knew about. Said character could have known that those adventurers were a little wimpier than him and his group?

Or, in the same vein, the character learns about another person who went after the rat-lord and died. His widow or friends could tell the character that "Orebro was a powerful man... He wrestled an Ogre to the ground with his bare hands he did... But what he went after tore through him like he had been a wet piece of parchment!"

The rest of the party could learn about the character's plan to tackle the rat-lord and could decide to help.

If the character decides to be "heroic" (ie stupid), then, too bad for him I guess...

AR

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Very simple.

Make up an encounter, where the PC meets up with the beast, gets his ass handed, but has a chance to escape (i.e. if the beast is large enough, there might be a tight corridor in the sewer, where the PC could escape).

Then he should go get his comrades and start the real hunt.

Bye
Thanee

Doh!

Makes sense.

It's even size 'large', so it'd work....

Why did I overlook this?

Thanks!

 

[Ryltar]

Either that, or you might want to design the encounter in a way that the PC *should* be able to use to his advantage: tactical usage of the monster's environment comes to mind. Think stacked crates, dangerous liquids, stuff like that. If the PC gets the hint, he should be able to defeat the monster by using his wits, if he doesn't, well, you ought to have a backup plan .

Cheers
Ryltar

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

While the character is looking for information on the creature, perhaps it could learn that it decimated a party of adventurers, adventurers that the character in question would have heard of and knew about. Said character could have known that those adventurers were a little wimpier than him and his group?

Or, in the same vein, the character learns about another person who went after the rat-lord and died. His widow or friends could tell the character that "Orebro was a powerful man... He wrestled an Ogre to the ground with his bare hands he did... But what he went after tore through him like he had been a wet piece of parchment!"

The rest of the party could learn about the character's plan to tackle the rat-lord and could decide to help.

If the character decides to be "heroic" (ie stupid), then, too bad for him I guess...

AR

He did a little digging and I did mention to him that it wiped out a squad of city watchmen that were sent to hunt it... although he's a 4th level character and could probably do the same if he really wanted to! I suspect he's got it into his head that being heroic is the way forward.

I like Orebro - he might have to make an appearance - I'm thinking a retired vetran who ran an inn - his poor widow is sooo distraught.

 

[Umbran]

I'm not sure how to handle it. I think an out of character explanation is a bit close to a railroad...

Then make it an in-character explanation. Does he have any appropriate Knowledge skills? If so, you could tell him, "Your knowledge of similar beasts suggests that this thing might be too big for you alone."

Figure he's going to need to track the thing - have it leave behind lots of good evidence that it is very, very tough, and that he might be biting off more than he could chew...

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Spent all my 'design time' on another problem and had brain block with this one.

Thanks for the ideas. Got to run now, but I'll drop back with how it went.