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Message: <blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 5824812" data-attributes="member: 92511">If your BBEG is a demon, even a minor one, shouldn't he/it have inate invisibility and teleport? Or some kind of dimension door/limited teleport? Couple those together, so even if they are in a big open area, he teleports or dim-door's away, comes out invisible (or turns invisible first or whatever). Even if he technically would be in "view" of the PCs, they have no clue where exactly he might be.It's got wings? Turn invis and fly away!If the NPC is to be recurring, they need to have an exit strategy, not necessarily a "defeat the PCs" chance. And something that should be intelligent and conniving, like a demon or demon, should have no trouble removing itself from the battlefield.They, also, should be more than capable of defending themselves from most if not all of what the party can throw at them...given enough spying, time, preparation.And/or there's always DM fiat. If you don't want it to have innate or spell use for teleport, give it an amulet/tongue-ring/nail polish with a teleport or "word of recall" that will return it to some hidden sanctum/chamber the PCs don't know about or could find/follow.And yeah! The PC's might hem and haw. "We had it! We should/could have beaten that! Coward! Get back here! That's not fair!" Yeah. There will be "unfinished" or "jipped" feelings. That's totally natural and, in my experience, helps!But the PCs are not guaranteed to succeed in every encounter...nor are they entitled to have things go the way they like.Those feelings get (hopefully) balled up (the PCs hold a grudge) into the next time they face it and (presumably) will take extra care/alter tactics to try to account for the abilities they witnessed and defeat it the next time.Unless it is some kind of evil overlord, super-powered wizard, or something like that that I want around for the whole campaign, I generally let/like the recurring villains 3 appearances. If they get killed in the first encounter...I can always come up with another/the next one.  If it IS that kind of recurring BBEG/overlord/ultimate guy behind the scenes...then he IS, mostly, behind the scenes. With hordes of lackeys,  hench-creatures and most likely personal bodyguards/"lieutenants"/etc... to carry out their bidding, bring their scheming machinations to fruition.Maybe this minor demon of yours can conjure/gate in imps/more minor demons to do some things for him...or help/distract in battle...spirits to possess the party members so they're more troubled/defending against/interested in how to fix their teammate then getting the demon that's slinking away from the combat. Heck, throw a few charmed (many demons get innate dominations or charms) ogres or bugbears or whatever at them while he runs/flies/teleports away.Then after, an appearance or 3, not even necessarily a direct encounter, but the PCs learning who they are, what they're after, seeing them slip away while they battle the minions, the climactic endgame battle ensues and, hopefully, the PCs are victorious. Recurring villains are the best. Build the tension. Build up their personalities through the recurring limited encounters. Make them feel like real villains to fuel the PCs continued pursuit to overthrow them and/or disrupt their plots (What?! So-and-so is behind this?! Let's gettem!)And, honestly, imho, if you want them to really be around for a while and really build that ongoing "us vs. him/her/it" feeling into the various threads of the game, then a certain amount of "story security/immunity" might be necessary in the beginning.If story immunity makes you uncomfortable and the players do manage to take them out on the first appearance, there's always more evil to step in and take their place...most likely bigger and badder than the one that came before. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devil.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":devil:" title="Devil    :devil:" data-shortname=":devil:" /> Maybe they will smudge the floor with this new demon of yours...maybe it has a big brother who's not happy about that. "Hey! Didn't we kill this guy already? Why is he three feet taller than he was last time? Did he have two heads, before? Since when can it cast Fireball!!!???"Just my thoughts on the subject. Good luck and have a great time with it.--SD</blockquote>

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