Uller
Adventurer
In the PotA thread http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?p=6698111 the discussion has turned to keeping glass canon NPCs alive. Particulary villians that have been built up by the plot only to end up having so few HP that one or two PCs novaing on them could take them down in one round.
A couple sessions ago I had an NPC go down while trying to escape the wrath of the party. As she fled the party wizard got one last crack at her and took her out with a fireball. After the game I realized she had a cleric underling...she knew she would be fighting the PCs and they were dangerous. She could have had her cleric cast Deathward and she would have escaped.
So DMs...what are your tricks for keeping your villians alive an extra round or two to give them a chance to deliver that really kewl attack or to escape to fight the party another day?
As a DM I try to play the really important NPCs like they are my PC. They want to live. They want to win. Any clever means within the rules is fair play. DM fiat or deus ex machina is out.
A couple sessions ago I had an NPC go down while trying to escape the wrath of the party. As she fled the party wizard got one last crack at her and took her out with a fireball. After the game I realized she had a cleric underling...she knew she would be fighting the PCs and they were dangerous. She could have had her cleric cast Deathward and she would have escaped.
So DMs...what are your tricks for keeping your villians alive an extra round or two to give them a chance to deliver that really kewl attack or to escape to fight the party another day?
As a DM I try to play the really important NPCs like they are my PC. They want to live. They want to win. Any clever means within the rules is fair play. DM fiat or deus ex machina is out.