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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Barastrondo" data-source="post: 5666227" data-attributes="member: 3820">There's a line between "The villain would realistically do whatever it takes to survive" and "I as GM will do whatever it takes to keep my villain alive." Even if you've never crossed that line before in your lives, odds still are that unless all your players are people you personally recruited to gaming, somebody at the table has experienced the latter. And then even if you have a villain work to survive via the noblest of intentions, it can still remind the PCs of a villain that survived because of GM protection. And flashbacks to moments of being powerless aren't enjoyable. And maybe you don't care if the players enjoy themselves, but if you do, it's something to keep in mind. I favor the tactic described in "<a href="http://wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dmxp/20110825" target="_blank">The Villain's Fault</a>". Yes, villains will flee, or try to protect themselves, or work to take chances. That does not mean, however, that they take the optimal choice in every situation. Sometimes they might put themselves at risk from stupid pride even if I as GM say "If he were wiser he wouldn't do that". Sometimes they may try to flee immediately, leaving their subordinates behind and perhaps engendering some betrayal. For one, I think it's more realistic if the players can identify flaws in their villains; for two, if they see them, they're much less prone to think "this villain is an extension of the GM's will." Instead they think of the villain as an entity unto himself, a personality in the world. That's pretty valuable.</blockquote>

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