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Need some suggestion here

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
pringles
May 16, 2004 12:37:25 Ok, I have a problem with one of my player in our Darksun campain.
That guy is a psionic/thief, and he has the Science of Teleport and Dimension door (psychotransportation).
That mean I can't capture him.

The last two game session, he ****** off one of my major vilain (an elf NPC) by backstabbing the guy then teleport.

I want to make my NPC revenge against that player by kidnapping him and release alone in the middle of the desert with no water (after beating the **** out of him of course, like torturing the PC).

I need to find a way (spells, articfact whaterver) so he can't no longer teleport so I can capture him.

Do you have suggestion?
#2
nytcrawlr
May 16, 2004 13:07:56
Originally posted by Pringles
Do you have suggestion?

Errr, switch to D&D 3.5? Heh.

Seriously, been awhile since I've played 2e, but how is he attacking and initiating teleport in the same round?
#3
zombiegleemax
May 16, 2004 13:41:23 the main bad-guy now knows the pc's abilities and so can be prepared:
The main bad-guy takes prisoner one of the pc's friends and demands he turn himself in.
The main bad-guy contracts out a psi-null: a person with the talent to nullify psi talents. the pc gets a little surprise when he tries the same tactic again.
The main bad-guy sends him a bard as a gift under an assumed name. Sleep posion, anyone?
The main bad-guy trumps up charges and gives the Templars his name. a sufficient bribe would make sure the Templars hunt him to exhaustion. too tired to dd? oh, too bad.
The main bad-guy puts a bounty on the pc: the pc has no idea who is after his skin until too late.
The main bad-guy convinces his friends in the VA that the pc is a threat.

Take the emphasis away from his abilities and put it on role-play where those abilities are weaker.
#4
dawnstealer
May 16, 2004 19:34:29 There's a few 2e psionic abilities that were brought in later to end this kind of tactic (one of my DMs gave up when I went with an Aarakocra with the ability to go ethereal). Teleport trace and teleport lock are two options. You can also have anti-psionic zones and the like (would have to be a spell). Or have him use ultrablast or similar technique.

Biggest question: is the party having fun?
#5
zombiegleemax
May 16, 2004 22:30:35 IIRC 2e had a rule that if a spell caster or psionist was hit in the same round that they were going to cast a spell/use a power, that power would then be disrupted and wasted.
At least that's how we played it.

sequence would go like this

round1
-Backstab.

round2
-declare actions.
-roll inititive(sp)
-bad guy hits thief,
-thieves PP lost loses action

round3
add infinitum
#6
zombiegleemax
May 16, 2004 23:26:53 I assume that the point of this exercise is to further the plot and not simply that the dm is miffed at the player's having outmaneuvered him.

If the latter, I would suggest that it's ok to let the pc's "win" once in a while- especially if what they think up is especially clever.

if this is for plot advancement, I would suggest that the best solution is to go AROUND his ability, not to negate it. negating it leaves the player bitter while the clever dm that finds an innovative solution adds to the whole game.
#7
pringles
May 16, 2004 23:31:52 Ya the party is having great fun. Its a great campaign in fact.
And that Psionic Player is not a Munchkin power gamer of any sort. Is one of my best at role-playing. It's jsut that I want my NPC bad guy give him a lesson, and make with this a sub-quest by having the other player rescues this player. (kinda Ironic having to rescue a guy that have the power to teleport).

The main plot is to kill Kalak (they are right now trying to find a way to kill him (read: Hearthwood spear)), but I have this bad ass elve that was an ally in the begginnig but turn out a vilain after this player (the psionic guy) tryed to steal the NPC. Been two game session the elve with a couple of his tribesman are chasing the party around the desert. The party barrely died after they were stuck in an old abandonned obsidian mine, with the group of elve waiting at the entrance to kill the PC when they will go out, or let them starve out. (The elves even lit up fire in the mine to choke the PC, that was pretty cool). So they had to go out, but how? Instead of fighting a way out(they would have died anyway, cause there a 12lvl defiler with the bad guy, and they were like 30 (against 4 PC), the psionic used teleport to get everyone out of the mine one by one and teleport them in Urik

So now, I will have to get them in Urik. I plan to ambush the party in the elven market with anti-Psionic zone cast before they arrive.
#8
dawnstealer
May 16, 2004 23:50:00 Careful with that sort of tactic: players sniff it out very quickly. They have to want to be in the plot you've constructed and nothing will do that like curiousity.

I highly recommend not pigeonholing the players. If they don't want to go to Urik, don't make them: come up with a new storyline that follows where they're going. If they don't overthrow Kalak, then they can hear about it from some bard, dig?
#9
gilliard_derosan
May 17, 2004 0:37:24 Hehehe... During the Dark Sun campaign I played in, the Tiefling (yeah, the DM allowed a Tiefling - fit with the story of escaped refugees from Dregoth's attempt at finding extraplanar armies) contracted a parasite. I don't remember if the parasite was in the City by the Silt Sea adventure, or if it was something he found somewhere else, or something he made up himself - but he contracted it while we were running around the sewers escaping from Abalache-Re's palace).

But essentially, it starts off small. It's a Psionic Parasite, and so heal and such won't kill it. Have to cast remove curse or some such, forgot exactly.

But anyway.
To start. Whenever you manifest a spell, you have to spend 1 extra PP. For every 5PP or the like, the creatures multiply. So after 5 extra PP, you now have 2 of these creatures, which makes every power you manifest cost 2 extra PP. After another 5 PP each being fed to these critters, they multiply again, so now there are 4, etc etc. I think my DM made it so that every 20PP overall another was added to the total parasites (5PP to reproduce means a lot of these things reall fast), Yes, it takes some bookeeping. Oh, it was really messing with the player of the tiefling. Because all of the other characters were lucky enough not to attract this parasite, he was the only one that got it. He also had the wile talent ability of teleportation. it got to the point that when he wanted to use his powers, he was wasting an extra 36 or so PP for each power he manifest. And each power he used, the more creatures he ended up with.

Eventually (since none of the PCs really had a way of figureing this out) we ran into an NPC who was able to see the aura drain around the player and cure him of the parasite.

But it was hilarious. At first the DM secretly recorded all the extra PP expenditures, keeping his own tally, which he alerted the player "Umm, you can't use that power, you don't have enough PP"
"What do you mean I don't have enough, I should still have plenty"
"Umm, no, in fact you are quite low."

Once the drain was 4 or 5 per power, he started telling him
"You feel a mental drain which is quite fatiguing, that power costs you an extra 4PP" (which are "lost" thus they cannot go into augmentations, and they do not count against per power PP limits - although, you can be really devious and make these points count agianst the limit on PP able to be spent per power - and if the parasite requires more PP to be spent than what could be spent, the power fails and PP are lost.)

"Yer 15th level, you want to use a 5th level power, augmented with an additional 5 points for a total of 14 - Okay.. The power fails to manifest, subtract 18 PP from your total."

But if your player gets one of these, eventually he will spend PP on various powers, saving just enough for that great escape, but secretly you have been tracking the extra he has been spending.. so when he thinks he still has 20 or so PP to make his escape, you know that he only has 2 and thus not near enough to manifest his teleport.
#10
pringles
May 17, 2004 8:42:40 by the way, they are not pigeonholed. In my campain, they decided themsevles to go to Urik so they can ressuply on weapons, spell componenent and food and water:D

Urik is the city of my NPC elf bad guy, and spell compoenent, you can only get that in the elves market :D :D :D

I like the idea of the parasite. Very cool.
#11
nytcrawlr
May 17, 2004 16:04:10 Yeah the 2e psionic parasites ruled, wish they would have converted them to 3rd ed, oh well, one more monster to convert, heh.
#12
dawnstealer
May 17, 2004 16:13:53 My favorite for munchkin critter is the grub worm.

"I search through the body."

"Roll me a d20."

"Why?"

"No reason, just roll it."

"Um....okaaaaay...3."

"Okay."

Two days later: Bam! Dead!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 pringles May 16, 2004 12:37:25	Ok, I have a problem with one of my player in our Darksun campain. That guy is a psionic/thief, and he has the Science of Teleport and Dimension door (psychotransportation). That mean I can't capture him. The last two game session, he **** off one of my major vilain (an elf NPC) by backstabbing the guy then teleport. I want to make my NPC revenge against that player by kidnapping him and release alone in the middle of the desert with no water (after beating the ** out of him of course, like torturing the PC). I need to find a way (spells, articfact whaterver) so he can't no longer teleport so I can capture him. Do you have suggestion?
#2 nytcrawlr May 16, 2004 13:07:56	Originally posted by Pringles Do you have suggestion? Errr, switch to D&D 3.5? Heh. Seriously, been awhile since I've played 2e, but how is he attacking and initiating teleport in the same round?
#3 zombiegleemax May 16, 2004 13:41:23	the main bad-guy now knows the pc's abilities and so can be prepared: The main bad-guy takes prisoner one of the pc's friends and demands he turn himself in. The main bad-guy contracts out a psi-null: a person with the talent to nullify psi talents. the pc gets a little surprise when he tries the same tactic again. The main bad-guy sends him a bard as a gift under an assumed name. Sleep posion, anyone? The main bad-guy trumps up charges and gives the Templars his name. a sufficient bribe would make sure the Templars hunt him to exhaustion. too tired to dd? oh, too bad. The main bad-guy puts a bounty on the pc: the pc has no idea who is after his skin until too late. The main bad-guy convinces his friends in the VA that the pc is a threat. Take the emphasis away from his abilities and put it on role-play where those abilities are weaker.
#4 dawnstealer May 16, 2004 19:34:29	There's a few 2e psionic abilities that were brought in later to end this kind of tactic (one of my DMs gave up when I went with an Aarakocra with the ability to go ethereal). Teleport trace and teleport lock are two options. You can also have anti-psionic zones and the like (would have to be a spell). Or have him use ultrablast or similar technique. Biggest question: is the party having fun?
#5 zombiegleemax May 16, 2004 22:30:35	IIRC 2e had a rule that if a spell caster or psionist was hit in the same round that they were going to cast a spell/use a power, that power would then be disrupted and wasted. At least that's how we played it. sequence would go like this round1 -Backstab. round2 -declare actions. -roll inititive(sp) -bad guy hits thief, -thieves PP lost loses action round3 add infinitum
#6 zombiegleemax May 16, 2004 23:26:53	I assume that the point of this exercise is to further the plot and not simply that the dm is miffed at the player's having outmaneuvered him. If the latter, I would suggest that it's ok to let the pc's "win" once in a while- especially if what they think up is especially clever. if this is for plot advancement, I would suggest that the best solution is to go AROUND his ability, not to negate it. negating it leaves the player bitter while the clever dm that finds an innovative solution adds to the whole game.
#7 pringles May 16, 2004 23:31:52	Ya the party is having great fun. Its a great campaign in fact. And that Psionic Player is not a Munchkin power gamer of any sort. Is one of my best at role-playing. It's jsut that I want my NPC bad guy give him a lesson, and make with this a sub-quest by having the other player rescues this player. (kinda Ironic having to rescue a guy that have the power to teleport). The main plot is to kill Kalak (they are right now trying to find a way to kill him (read: Hearthwood spear)), but I have this bad ass elve that was an ally in the begginnig but turn out a vilain after this player (the psionic guy) tryed to steal the NPC. Been two game session the elve with a couple of his tribesman are chasing the party around the desert. The party barrely died after they were stuck in an old abandonned obsidian mine, with the group of elve waiting at the entrance to kill the PC when they will go out, or let them starve out. (The elves even lit up fire in the mine to choke the PC, that was pretty cool). So they had to go out, but how? Instead of fighting a way out(they would have died anyway, cause there a 12lvl defiler with the bad guy, and they were like 30 (against 4 PC), the psionic used teleport to get everyone out of the mine one by one and teleport them in Urik So now, I will have to get them in Urik. I plan to ambush the party in the elven market with anti-Psionic zone cast before they arrive.
#8 dawnstealer May 16, 2004 23:50:00	Careful with that sort of tactic: players sniff it out very quickly. They have to want to be in the plot you've constructed and nothing will do that like curiousity. I highly recommend not pigeonholing the players. If they don't want to go to Urik, don't make them: come up with a new storyline that follows where they're going. If they don't overthrow Kalak, then they can hear about it from some bard, dig?
#9 gilliard_derosan May 17, 2004 0:37:24	Hehehe... During the Dark Sun campaign I played in, the Tiefling (yeah, the DM allowed a Tiefling - fit with the story of escaped refugees from Dregoth's attempt at finding extraplanar armies) contracted a parasite. I don't remember if the parasite was in the City by the Silt Sea adventure, or if it was something he found somewhere else, or something he made up himself - but he contracted it while we were running around the sewers escaping from Abalache-Re's palace). But essentially, it starts off small. It's a Psionic Parasite, and so heal and such won't kill it. Have to cast remove curse or some such, forgot exactly. But anyway. To start. Whenever you manifest a spell, you have to spend 1 extra PP. For every 5PP or the like, the creatures multiply. So after 5 extra PP, you now have 2 of these creatures, which makes every power you manifest cost 2 extra PP. After another 5 PP each being fed to these critters, they multiply again, so now there are 4, etc etc. I think my DM made it so that every 20PP overall another was added to the total parasites (5PP to reproduce means a lot of these things reall fast), Yes, it takes some bookeeping. Oh, it was really messing with the player of the tiefling. Because all of the other characters were lucky enough not to attract this parasite, he was the only one that got it. He also had the wile talent ability of teleportation. it got to the point that when he wanted to use his powers, he was wasting an extra 36 or so PP for each power he manifest. And each power he used, the more creatures he ended up with. Eventually (since none of the PCs really had a way of figureing this out) we ran into an NPC who was able to see the aura drain around the player and cure him of the parasite. But it was hilarious. At first the DM secretly recorded all the extra PP expenditures, keeping his own tally, which he alerted the player "Umm, you can't use that power, you don't have enough PP" "What do you mean I don't have enough, I should still have plenty" "Umm, no, in fact you are quite low." Once the drain was 4 or 5 per power, he started telling him "You feel a mental drain which is quite fatiguing, that power costs you an extra 4PP" (which are "lost" thus they cannot go into augmentations, and they do not count against per power PP limits - although, you can be really devious and make these points count agianst the limit on PP able to be spent per power - and if the parasite requires more PP to be spent than what could be spent, the power fails and PP are lost.) "Yer 15th level, you want to use a 5th level power, augmented with an additional 5 points for a total of 14 - Okay.. The power fails to manifest, subtract 18 PP from your total." But if your player gets one of these, eventually he will spend PP on various powers, saving just enough for that great escape, but secretly you have been tracking the extra he has been spending.. so when he thinks he still has 20 or so PP to make his escape, you know that he only has 2 and thus not near enough to manifest his teleport.
#10 pringles May 17, 2004 8:42:40	by the way, they are not pigeonholed. In my campain, they decided themsevles to go to Urik so they can ressuply on weapons, spell componenent and food and water:D Urik is the city of my NPC elf bad guy, and spell compoenent, you can only get that in the elves market :D :D :D I like the idea of the parasite. Very cool.
#11 nytcrawlr May 17, 2004 16:04:10	Yeah the 2e psionic parasites ruled, wish they would have converted them to 3rd ed, oh well, one more monster to convert, heh.
#12 dawnstealer May 17, 2004 16:13:53	My favorite for munchkin critter is the grub worm. "I search through the body." "Roll me a d20." "Why?" "No reason, just roll it." "Um....okaaaaay...3." "Okay." Two days later: Bam! Dead!