Searching for an entry

[Corsair420]

My DM sprung an encounter on us the other day, we were lured in by song and dance and drink, we were subsequently knocked out and robbed of ALL possessions including basic clothing. I am an Air Goblin Ranger/Shock Archer(PrC I made myself) I rolled a nat 20 on my survival check and couldn't find a single trace of these people. turns out I couldn't find anything because the DM didn't know what book they were in.

So, my question is this... does anyone know of any kind of gypsy-like humanoid lures adventurers in with song and dance and drink and then robs them blind and disappears without a trace? I have looked through MM 1-5, Stormwrack, Sandstorm, Frostburn, Manual of the Planes and a few others I glanced through and I haven't been able to find anything at all, so please let me know if anyone knows anything about this creature.

I lost a +2 Composite Longbow with distance, seeking, dragon bane and wounding on it before I was able to fire a single arrow with it to these people...that's 55,000 gold and I want it back.

[crazyhedgewizrd]

WOW teleporting gypsies, they are mostly human with a high level caster.

[Kantolin]

I thought a lot of forest-like fae have the druid's trackless step. Certainly, any of various creatures who then have three levels of druid, or fly like pixies.

[Gabe the Bard]

They sound like the Bacchae from Fiend Folio.

[Shadowknight12]

Or plain old satyrs. With a thieving bent. It's honestly not hard to avoid leaving tracks, you know. Druids can do it, Rangers can do it, Warlocks can do it, I'm sure that there's a spell that can do it...

[Corsair420]

DM says they are a specific entry, they did appear as humans to the group, though that coulda been done easily through magic, i'll ask him if the bacchae are it it does seem very close.

But my DM seemed very adamant and specific about these people, according to him its very specific that they lure people in with song and dance they rob the people blind and then they vanish without a trace, this is an entire large group of probably 30 or more based on the way he described the encounter

[Coidzor]

This reeks of fiat and the DM trying to cover his butt. :smallwink:

[Shadowknight12]

Hire a spellcaster to cast a divination spell for you. Do this as many times as you must in order to find the culprits. Technically, you don't even need to pay for this service if you can use Diplomacy or Intimidate (or Bluff, with a good lie) to get it for free. Alternatively, rob some evil people to pay for it.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what it is, but where it is and how dead it is after you're done with it.

[Diarmuid]

So the DM threw an encounter at you for which he had no actual stat blocks and your entire party was incapacitated/robbed/etc without even rolling any dice?

Smells like DM fiat to me. Sucks to be you.

[Mr.Smashy]

They sound like the Bacchae from Fiend Folio.

Definately. They are one of my favorite monsters, cause the PC's always think they are in for a good time, only to find themselves lured into their revelling.
It doesn't seem like them to steal from people though. They are more apt to try and keep the PC's partying all night. If the PC's party too long, they eventually become Chaotic, and then Bacchae themselves.

[Feytalist]

A Wizard Did It.

Alternatively, what everyone else has been saying. If they even exist outside the DM's head, it sounds like a type of fey. Satyrs specifically, or bacchae, especially with the song and dance routine.

[Toliudar]

You are indeed looking for an IC answer to what is an OOC problem. If the DM just decided that this was what was happening, it doesn't really matter what race they were - if they ever existed as a game construct. If he's not letting you track them, then either the pursuit of these gypsies is plot related, or never going to work.

[Corsair420]

yea i'm pretty sure this is just something he made up, i told our group I wasn't able to find anything after looking through the books and his response was "don't worry, i'll find them" my guess is he made them up and since I normally play fighters, didn't expect me to roll a nat 20 on a survival check as a ranger, and he hadn't made up enough about them to have us find and fight them. Though he seems t believe his own lie or hes just really convincing cause he swears they are real

[Telonius]

Either a Bacchae, a random Fey, or a DM fiat. I'd say polymorphed Kender, but the situation seems a little too much on the malevolent side for them.

[LansXero]

Maybe they are from a 3rd party source, older edition or homebrewed material from some site? (Like D&DWiki for example).

In any event, if he cant prove they exist, will the event get a rollback? Id say you should ask him for a chance to get your stuff back and get even; its only fair.

[Zherog]

...didn't expect me to roll a nat 20 on a survival check as a ranger, ...

A natural 20 on a skill check doesn't mean anything special. Sure, you'll have a high result (assuming you have decent ranks and other modifiers), but it's not automatic success. Auto success/fail only happens with attack rolls and saving throws.

***

My bigger concern, however, is this:


we were lured in by song and dance and drink, we were subsequently knocked out and robbed of ALL possessions including basic clothing.

Did anybody get any sort of saving throw? Suffer nonlethal damage? If not, congratulations, you and your group have fallen victim to DM Fiat.

[Urpriest]

yea i'm pretty sure this is just something he made up, i told our group I wasn't able to find anything after looking through the books and his response was "don't worry, i'll find them" my guess is he made them up and since I normally play fighters, didn't expect me to roll a nat 20 on a survival check as a ranger, and he hadn't made up enough about them to have us find and fight them. Though he seems t believe his own lie or hes just really convincing cause he swears they are real

See this isn't how DMing works. If he used the monsters, then he had their stat block on hand. What would have happened if you attacked them, for example? He wouldn't have used them if he just remembered them from somewhere and didn't know their exact stats.

[Corsair420]

Maybe they are from a 3rd party source, older edition or homebrewed material from some site? (Like D&DWiki for example).

In any event, if he cant prove they exist, will the event get a rollback? Id say you should ask him for a chance to get your stuff back and get even; its only fair.

He got all his books from me, and hes not the kind of person who looks around for homebrew stuff, he made his entire world over the course of years, if anything he would have made it up himself, but he swears its in a book. Won't be getting a roll back but he says as soon as he finds them to figure out what happens when people try to track them i'll be able to find them and get my stuff back.


A natural 20 on a skill check doesn't mean anything special. Sure, you'll have a high result (assuming you have decent ranks and other modifiers), but it's not automatic success. Auto success/fail only happens with attack rolls and saving throws.

***

My bigger concern, however, is this:



Did anybody get any sort of saving throw? Suffer nonlethal damage? If not, congratulations, you and your group have fallen victim to DM Fiat.

In my groups on skill check a nat 20 increases your roll by 10 so a nat 20 is essentially a 30 + ranks, with my skills I got a 44, i've never seen anything that didn't leave SOME kind trace with a 44. and it was drugged alcohol that knocked us out, either that or they just waited until we fell asleep from all the drinking and dancing and what not that we did.

[Zherog]

Drugged alcohol should permit a Fortitude saving throw. As for the tracks, there are ways that that isn't an issue (such as the previously mentioned druid class feature).

[Diarmuid]

SNIP

In my groups on skill check a nat 20 increases your roll by 10 so a nat 20 is essentially a 30 + ranks, with my skills I got a 44, i've never seen anything that didn't leave SOME kind trace with a 44. and it was drugged alcohol that knocked us out, either that or they just waited until we fell asleep from all the drinking and dancing and what not that we did.

As has been previously mentioned there are a LOT of ways to not leave tracks.

[Greenish]

i've never seen anything that didn't leave SOME kind trace with a 44.The thing is that skills can't usually defeat magic (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/passWithoutTrace.htm). Especially the older spells were written to just shut stuff down instead of making it harder.

[Corsair420]

Right so we had a session last night and it was indeed the Bacchae, and I was able to get my bow back, thanks for the help everyone