What to do when players surprise you

[Black Omega]

Backstory. The PC were sent to the realm of slaughter (Toshigoku, for those keeping trasck at home) to recover and artifact of a fallen god. The realm of slaughter is a place Rokugani souls go when they have commited too many atrocities for them to be allowed to reincarnate. The artifact is in the position of Hantei XVI, the Steel Crysanthemum. No former emperor of the Emerald Empire was more feared and hated. And just 15 years ago when he returned from the dead he led a civil war that nearly tore the empire apart, killing thousands and thousands. At that time he was opposing Toturi I, who's dynasty had taken over for the Hantei.

Now the Emperor is dead and the Empire is split between his children, each heading a faction declaring them emperor. And the group found Hantei the XVI. He was agreeable to them taking the mirror, as long as they took him as well. A bit to my surprise, some of the group waffled. One was favoring taking him back right away. Another couple are seeing ways they could benefit from it as well. Before they could decide anything, the cleric handling their planeshifting grabbed the mirror and planeshifted out with the group. While Hantei XVI was holding onto the mirror as well.

The mirror is linked to Hantei XVI, which allowed it to follow him to Toshigoku. The question now becomes, the group planeshifts out. They can take the mirror with them, there is no doubt of this. But would Hantei XVI come with them? Or, more to the point, would it be unreasonable to say he comes along with them? He's certainly a willing target and wants very badly to return to the Empire. From the story point of view, it would be great fun. But I don't want to do anything that's totally unreasonable in terms of the rules.

 

[Starglim]

As you say, he's willing, and has grabbed an object held by one of the people travelling. An emperor who has come back from the realm of slaughter once before ought to know the requirements of the spell, so that's close enough to linking hands. Unless you have eight or more people in the party, I'd say Hantei XVI is a valid target of the spell.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Was the Hantei actually a part of the circle of linked hands, or was he merely holding onto the mirror when the spell was cast?

The way the spell is worded, the cleric can target either an individual (touch) or a group who have formed a circle of linked hands. So if the Hantei was one of the people linking hands, then yes, he goes along. If he was just touching the mirror, I'd say he does not go along, and would consider it unreasonable that he come along.

At least...that he come along by means of the cleric's spell. There are plenty of other ways to arrange that the Hantei make it back to the material world, now that the mirror he's linked to has been returned there.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

As you say, he's willing, and has grabbed an object held by one of the people travelling. An emperor who has come back from the realm of slaughter once before ought to know the requirements of the spell, so that's close enough to linking hands. Unless you have eight or more people in the party, I'd say Hantei XVI is a valid target of the spell.

I disagree. The cleric is the one who targets the spell, not the Hantei. Just because he wants to go along doesn't make "not linking hands" close enough to "linking hands." If I were the cleric's player, I'd be very upset by this. I'd feel like I'd taken the initiative to use surprise and get away with the mirror while leaving the Hantei behind, and the DM was bending the rules to screw me.

 

[Black Omega]

I disagree. The cleric is the one who targets the spell, not the Hantei. Just because he wants to go along doesn't make "not linking hands" close enough to "linking hands." If I were the cleric's player, I'd be very upset by this. I'd feel like I'd taken the initiative to use surprise and get away with the mirror while leaving the Hantei behind, and the DM was bending the rules to screw me.

It wasn't exactly a surprise "He'll never see this coming." thing. The character forgot she was being stalked by a ninja and walked off from the group to try a sending. When the attack came, she simply ran back inside and the group reacted fast enough to grab on. As did Hantei XVI, though to the mirror. I tend to agree the character should be able to control who the spell effects. One side of me wishes people didn't fight about this so much, since it's a staple of the genre, something or someone grabbed on and going with the 'teleport' or whatever. But by the rules, I think the cleric clearly controls who goes.

The linked hands is not as much an issue, the group didn't exactly circle up and grab on hands to hands. But it seemed a minor issue that got hand waved.

And I'm aware of all the other ways this could work out, you are quite correct there. I'm more interested in this particular case because some of the PC's seem interested in supporting him and if the PC's were going to go in that direction, this would be the time.

 

[clockworkjoe]

how bout the bad guy's soul is placed in the mirror, thus slowly corrupting anyone who spends a lot of time around it? Subtle, and good for a lot of mileage in a campaign.

 

[the Jester]

This is prolly what I would do:

Ridealong (Su): Any time any creature uses any ability that teleports, dimension doors or plane shifts it, x may choose to ridealong. This allows it to follow creatures, maintaining the same direction and distance to their new location as he had to their old. Thus, if x moved adjacent to a wizard who subsequently took a 5' step backwards and then dimension doored 100' away, x could choose to dimension door to a point 5' away from the wizard at the same time. Excercising this ability is an immediate action, but x cannot do so if denied its dex bonus.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

...

The mirror is linked to Hantei XVI, which allowed it to follow him to Toshigoku. ...

If there is some magical link that ties the mirror to Hantei XVI, the more likely explanation (IMO) is that the Mirror CANNOT leave the plane without him!

Make whatever ruling you think best fits the group's enjoyment. You are the DM, and it seems that the Cleric's spell effect could easily be superseeded by the will of the artifact.

 

[Black Omega]

Certainly there is a link there. The mirror is not a small hand mirror. To be more precise, it's about coffee table sized and shaped. Most of the table is magical obsidian (According to legend when Lord Moon's blood fell to earth, it dried as obsidian.) The silvery sheen in a disk on the top of the table was created with fresh blood, preserved from the time when Lord Moon was injured and the Kasmi who founded the empire fell to earth. Hantei XVI's ancestor Hantei I was the son of Lord Moon. It's entirely possible he could stop it from going. But not as much fun, and Hantei XVI WANTS to be brought back to life. This is his chance. So the mirror goes. Now I'll just work out if he goes with it or not.

 

[sparxmith]

"What to do when players surprise you?"

What to do when players surprise you?

There's only one thing to do really: TPK











Or you could just railroad them.