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That would be a very... memorable dungeon (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/rpgmemes@ttrpg.network
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[–] 20 points 2 years ago (2 children)

18hp

Will escape as soon as harmed.

There's an implicit assumption here that may not be warranted, especially if Alan doesn't have legendary actions that let him escape on someone else's turn.

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  • [–] [S] 21 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I mean, if your party is dealing that kind of damage, they should probably be demanding more than 30gp to kill a guy.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Two casts of magic missile at level 1 (from different characters, before he can act again) will kill him 90% of the time.

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  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    i think the implicit assumption is that you aren't running 5e. in ose, two magic missiles tops out at 14 hp.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    In that case I can't say anything specific because I don't know those rules, but I still think that planning for a villain to escape alive is risky unless the fight is totally rigged.

    Although if I were running this, I might just have him attack again even if the players killed him. Ideally, he'd run away the first time, they would make sure to kill him the second time, and then they would be quite surprised the third time. The original body would still be there, and so the players might end up with three or four dead Alans before they're done with the dungeon*. Where the extras came from is not explained. This also creates an opportunity to bring Alan back much later in the campaign, because the players might have forgotten about him but he hasn't forgotten about them.

    *If they bring back evidence of more than one dead Alan to the quest-giver, he will not want to pay them because they can't prove that the real Alan is dead.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago

    I still think that planning for a villain to escape alive is risky unless the fight is totally rigged.

    You want the scene to play out like a classic horror movie bad guy, so you have to rig it like a movie script without making it seem rigged. I would run it that Alan has more than 18 hp, but as soon as he takes 18 pts of damage or more, one of his various escape mechanisms triggers. I would think of five or six before hand, and try to make them fun and creepy. A 3 use ring of Meld Into Stone, crude slide tunnels (where after Alan goes down, spear traps trigger, waiting to impale pursuers), he dumps a bag of live rattlesnakes at your feet and then runs away, he triggers a cave in between him and the party that spreads, so they have to retreat. Also, every time he comes back his AC is a little better and his attacks are a little stronger as he slowly collects all the murderer contingency equipment he has hidden all throughout his burrow.

    Although if I were running this, I might just have him attack again even if the players killed him.

    He's basically this thing.

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