The Unstoppable Pursuer Enemy

[murph04]

For a campaign I'm starting with my group I wanted to throw in an enemy that would pursue them throughout the campaign, be nigh indestructable and show up at the most inopportune times.
Kinda like Pyramid Head in Silent Hill or Nemisis from Resident Evil 3.
Basically I want to add pressure without having a time limit. At best my players would only be able to slow it down while it hunts them across the continent.

Now of course my players will eventually be able to kill it, but only towards the end of the campaign when the players are finally strong enough to challenge it.

Has anyone else tried anything like this? If so could you offer any tips on what would make an enemy/plot-device like this effective and not be annoying to my players?

[Demidos]

Easy. Higher level Ghosts are near impossible to kill permanently unless you get them what they want. Same goes for Liches, although thats a bit cruel. Give them some sort of set of unique disposable items (a set of magic stones/rune inscribed disks?) or something that can trap it for a short period of time (say, 1d3 days) if they manage to get the ghost to move/stay over it for some period of time (from any time to a round or more). As a ghost, it also shouldn't have too much trouble following them anywhere they go. That work? :smallbiggrin:

[Sith_Happens]

What system? Mind you, "ghost" actually works in most of the ones I can think of.

[JustSomeGuy]

Try a mimetic poly-metal alloy golem that looks like Robert Patrick!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-1000

Melee range only, pretty invincible from lower levels and nonmagic attack. Obviously too heavy to ride a horse or owt, so limited to foot speed for pursuit but no need for rest to catch up. Also tres cool.

[skyth]

Black Reaver from Rolemaster comes to mind as a good enemy. Basically unstoppable but never hurries.

[murph04]

It's Pathfinder game. I was thinking of using an Inevitable, or at the very least some houseruled version of it.

[The_Werebear]

My recommendation would be for a Golem of some sort. Ghosts might be reasoned with, but Golems will obey the order given to them to letter. Also, to me at least, they better suit the feel of an unstoppable juggernaut slowly and methodically running them down. Another thing to recommend a Golem over a ghost is that the Golem has to physically cross all barriers that the party puts in its way. Having it smash through a stone wall or come storming out of a torrential river is far more unnerving than it simply floating through or across, while at the same time rewarding the party with extra time by being clever with obstructions for it.

One recommendation I would make, depending on the challenge you want it to be, would be to slap the Zombie style "Move or Attack, but not both" limiter on it (or restrict it to no more than double moves). That way, you can keep it a devastating opponent if they stay in range of it, encouraging retreats in the face of it.

[Joe the Rat]

An Inevitable sounds good - it's even got the right name for it!

I also refer you to the Marvel Universe's Juggernaut for ideas for how to slow it down (nothing takes the pressure off like being buried in concrete).

[Slipperychicken]

In nWoD, Mask Slashers (found in the slasher sourcebook) are pretty much what you describe, having been designed to emulate characters like pyramid head and Jason Voorhees. They take only 1 point of damage from any attack, no matter how devastating, which is a pretty big deal in nWoD. Just imagine landing a rocket on this dude, only for him to swagger out the dust cloud virtually unscathed.


EDIT:
Of course, knowing how PCs think and act, they will usually keep fighting until something drops dead, be it the enemy or themselves. If you want an enemy to be unstoppable, be sure to give it offensive power as well as defensive. Also prepare for the PCs to do every possible thing to stop it, including running it over with a truck, detonating backpacks full of semtex on it, and bringing down buildings on its head.

[TeChameleon]

One point of caution; depending on your players, your implacable man could very well break your game. If the players get irritated enough by the irritating DMBS cheese enemy, they may well drop the plot entirely to finally kill this ****ing thing. And instead of the 'slowly advancing wall of doom, run!' effect you seem to want, you'll get pretty much the exact opposite.

That being said, you may wind up seeing some fairly impressive displays of player ingenuity, up to and including managing to inadvertently destroy the entirety of the planet/plane of existence.

... for whatever it's worth, my approach would be more akin to the Borg or zombie swarm; sure, you can kill them- sometimes it's not even all that hard- but there will always be more. And if they're clearly targetted on the players, they won't necessarily have any suicidal heroic impulses to try and hold off the swarm to get the civilians to safety or whatever.

[No brains]

Another good candidate is a vampire of any stripe. There are a number of good reasons for this to work.
1 Gaseous Form at 0 hp. Let them think they've won when the monster pursuing them crumbles into smoky dust. The two good ways you can work this are either rewarding them for a courageous and clever attempt to neutralize their stalker or have it go gaseous with their spell like ability so that the party is lulled into a false sense of safety.
2 Raising Spawn. If the party fights this monster half cocked, they not only lose a body, but that body starts working against them. This will especially unnerve anyone who has low hp or con.
3 Daylight Vulnerability. There will be a rhythm to when they are attacked, one that they will break when they decide to fortify in a sunless castle or cavern.
4 Creatures of the Night. If you want to just harass and terrify instead of kill, send howls and squeaks to herald the vampire. Send bats to stare at the party without attacking. Then after a few times, let the vampire be one of the bats.
5 Simple Vengeance. When the party grows physically and mentally strong, they will be resolute to take the offensive on the newly revealed vampire lair. For every night spent afraid, every minor injury, and every ally lost, the party will get the chance to repay the vampire in kind.


There are more reasons still, but these five are the ones that jumped out. Remember that in the right environments or situations, it might not be clear that it is a vampire they are fighting. Give him a staff, and component bag to make them think his powers are spells. Or just give him spells. One huge freedom is that a vampire can level up with the party so that they still remain a challenge, but that head start slowly erodes away.

[stupiddDice]

How about a graveknight. They have got a ton of cool abilities and some degree of immortality?

Or, if you really hate your players, the Tarrasque.

[FrznTear]

With grace, he leaps down the foliage, grabs a rather startled and helpless victim, and runs up another tree before anyone can react. Those that resist his charms must make a choice, be abducted by him and be subjected to horrors unfathomable or plunge to their deaths.

The most crucial fact about this villain, something all but those who encounter the terror of this crazed abductor of unsuspecting adventurers is his race. For this man is more than a man, he is part beast, a creature without mercy, he is... a centaur.

[Souju]

Reading this had me come up with an idea: A poltergeist or some form of demonic/fiendish presence that can possess anything human-shaped (this could include suits of armor, which could breed some rather amusing paranoia in your players as the regular watch rotation involves making sure the plate wearer's armor stays in separate piles when not worn)
Whenever it possesses something, it imparts its abilities onto it, and warps the body to suit its needs.
They can't stop it, because it WILL find a new body eventually and, for reasons only you can determine, it wants your party DEAD (but it shouldn't be able to possess the party themselves, just everyone they know and love)

Also, linking it to an activity cycle of some sort WOULD be a good idea, otherwise your players will elect to never interact with anyone ever again once they figure out this guy's shtick. They'd just avoid people on, say, Tuesdays.

[Doorhandle]

How about a graveknight. They have got a ton of cool abilities and some degree of immortality?

Or, if you really hate your players, the Tarrasque.

Reminds me of this drawing someone made of a mini-tasseques as reoccurring villain.


How about a graveknight. They have got a ton of cool abilities and some degree of immortality

Gravenights are cool, but they're limited by the fact the leave their armour behind when they die. Sure, someone may put it on and be GRAVEKNIGHT'ED! but the party will only fall for it once, and until they can kill it properly, will likely just keep the armour in a locked bock or a bowl of holy water.


Reading this had me come up with an idea: A poltergeist or some form of demonic/fiendish presence that can possess anything human-shaped (this could include suits of armor, which could breed some rather amusing paranoia in your players as the regular watch rotation involves making sure the plate wearer's armor stays in separate piles when not worn)
Whenever it possesses something, it imparts its abilities onto it, and warps the body to suit its needs.
They can't stop it, because it WILL find a new body eventually and, for reasons only you can determine, it wants your party DEAD (but it shouldn't be able to possess the party themselves, just everyone they know and love)

Also, linking it to an activity cycle of some sort WOULD be a good idea, otherwise your players will elect to never interact with anyone ever again once they figure out this guy's shtick. They'd just avoid people on, say, Tuesdays.
I like this one.

For a (more annoying) variation: a villain who shows up and does the one thing which will screw the players over (pressing the big red button, waking the dragon, stealing the maguffin just as they reach it)

A perma-staggered Adamantine golem is probably the ideal: (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/constructs/golem/golem-adamantine) Never sleeps, regenerates constantly, huge DR, spellproof, huge damage both to players and to any obstacles in it's way, requires a vorpal blade/wish to kill. They should be able to spot it form a large distance most of the time however: it has a big reach.

[A Tad Insane]

I would be a little hesitant with this, as the "unstoppable harbinger of your inevitable doom slowly creeping up" generally doesn't fit with the "let's punch dragons in the face and challenge the gods themselves" mentality that most d&d breeds. Imagine the frustration of battling through the twelve stories of the evil wizard's keep, pummling him to a bloody pulp, your boner has a hardness of 50, only for this jerk to show up!

Though if you are going to do it, I think a cancer mage would do pretty decently. The ability to escape the killing blow, a reason it could find the pcs, a combat style that favors sudden attacks when they least expect it, with enough burst to inspire fear, but to little immediate sustained damage to be to much of a threat, and having attacks that will stick to the pcs as a constant reminder. It also has the cool theme of being the other murder stalker, not the unstoppable mega titan, but the snake, slowly creeping up on you, unseen, yet still lethal.

[Traab]

What you need is a monster that can be beaten but never finished off. Something that will regenerate after they leave and come back again. Preferably stronger than before. After they beat it a few times they should notice the trend of it being stronger every time, they might start avoiding it because it will eventually outpace them. Right up till the end when they finally get a macguffin or something to permanently shut it down. Give them some background info in the narrative or from some random person they talk to, or book they pick up and read or whatever so they have a few clues. It wouldnt hurt to home brew this if nothing matches these standards.

[FabulousFizban]

How about a graveknight. They have got a ton of cool abilities and some degree of immortality?

Or, if you really hate your players, the Tarrasque.

graveknight antipaladin is what i've been using in my game. He has contingency word of recall on his armor, so every time the players beat him (which they always very nearly die doing), he teleports away. Only for them to encounter him up to some new villianous scheme elsewhere. You think they'd learn to cast dispel magic at some point.

Also his name is Leroy Brown: baddest man in the whole damn town. Madder than old king kong, meaner than a junkyard dog (this is how NPCs describe him). He hits like a ****ing truck, & since his feats are power attack, channel smite, & extra lay on hands (lots of ELoH) he can spam negative channel to heal himself & hurt evreyone else, or channel smite for something like 8d6+20. He's just... not a nice man.

although golems and inevitables are great for that sort of thing. Constructs are lovely in that they ignore magic that allows spell resistance. Beef up a Caryatid Column, then not only is it immune to magic, everytime they attack it their weapons break.

[NickChaisson]

I created an NPC a while back who would do something like this for a 3.5 game. He was a Flesh golem who killed his master and became a bounty hunter and would relentlessly track his prey down. If the party managed to kill him he would repair himself with any bodys he could find (preferably the bodies of his targets allies) He was also equipped with a composite great bow and used trick arrows to accomplish different things. The problem I can see with this though, is at some point they are going to get tired of him popping up and they wont let him get away to repair himself. Maybe try using some type of outsider that goes back to its home plane when it dies?

[Tengu_temp]

This is very hard to pull off in an RPG. It's unlikely the players will actually feel any kind of dread when meeting this creature over and over - more likely it will be annoyance of the "not this guy again!" kind. Making it a creature that can be beaten but not killed, like a vampire or some other kind of regenerator, is even worse - you risk turning the enemy into a running gag, a recurring weak villain who is beaten over and over again, but always returns for the next round.

[The Oni]

Here's a thought - an evil Resurrection Man. start with a weak-ass enemy that can be easily killed - only, when he's killed, he returns with an immunity and indeed special powers based on the way he was killed. So, if you burn him to death, he comes back from the dead perpetually on fire. If you stab him in the head, he's got DR 15 vs. piercing and turns his limbs into blades that he throws at you and regenerates.

When he becomes immune to the usual methods of killing badguys, you have to start resorting to increasingly creative measures of offing him - but this only gives him increasingly scarier powers. If you push him off a cliff he comes back with gravity control. If you disintegrate him he destroys living matter with a touch.

Until finally, you're faced with a terrifying option. You could kill him with a Sphere of Annihilation and he'd probably stay dead...but what if he doesn't?!

[A Tad Insane]

Here's a thought - an evil Resurrection Man. start with a weak-ass enemy that can be easily killed - only, when he's killed, he returns with an immunity and indeed special powers based on the way he was killed. So, if you burn him to death, he comes back from the dead perpetually on fire. If you stab him in the head, he's got DR 15 vs. piercing and turns his limbs into blades that he throws at you and regenerates.

When he becomes immune to the usual methods of killing badguys, you have to start resorting to increasingly creative measures of offing him - but this only gives him increasingly scarier powers. If you push him off a cliff he comes back with gravity control. If you disintegrate him he destroys living matter with a touch.

Until finally, you're faced with a terrifying option. You could kill him with a Sphere of Annihilation and he'd probably stay dead...but what if he doesn't?!

All I can think of is the penny arcade video about the belt of hindsight.

[Kane0]

Bring over a 3.5 Warlock and make it warforged or undead, that way your pursuer can level according to your party.

Warlocks have all at-will powers and undead/constructs don't need to eat, sleep or breathe. Flavor to suit and give them a couple feats/skills/magic items to locate their targets.

For added challenge every time they best him he learns a new invocation.

[DigoDragon]

for whatever it's worth, my approach would be more akin to the Borg or zombie swarm; sure, you can kill them- sometimes it's not even all that hard- but there will always be more.

I did something like this in a dungeon once. At the far end of the dungeon was an artifact that would keep building clones of a specific person to defend the dungeon with. As the players go through and defeat one, the artifact would make another. As players level up and get wise, the artifact had to adapt and change up it's next clone (usually by switching out levels and abilities. This even changes it's looks). That kept the challenge going (The bard clone took them by surprise with suggestion spells) and the end fight was smashing the artifact in a very satisfying way with the bluntest objects they can muster. :smallbiggrin:

[Traab]

This is very hard to pull off in an RPG. It's unlikely the players will actually feel any kind of dread when meeting this creature over and over - more likely it will be annoyance of the "not this guy again!" kind. Making it a creature that can be beaten but not killed, like a vampire or some other kind of regenerator, is even worse - you risk turning the enemy into a running gag, a recurring weak villain who is beaten over and over again, but always returns for the next round.

I thought the same thing, which is why I suggested a steadily stronger guy. Every time they "kill" him he comes back another cr higher or whatever might be a better ramping of difficulty. Sure the first time or two will be relatively easy. But around the 3rd and 4th the increase in hp, damage, and abilities will start becoming far more dangerous. Of course, by then you would hopefully be including scenery descriptions or something that allows methods of trapping or delaying him instead of killing him. At least until the party can make it stick.

[lytokk]

a way to do this would be to use the geography of the encounters to delay the guy. Using a giant steel golem, find some way to send it off a cliff edge. Sure the fall won't kill it, but its going to be delayed for quite a while. Could cause a cave in to bury the thing until it digs its way out. Part of designing encounters is more than just designing the guys, its designing the terrain in order to either help or hinder the players.

[No brains]

a way to do this would be to use the geography of the encounters to delay the guy. Using a giant steel golem, find some way to send it off a cliff edge. Sure the fall won't kill it, but its going to be delayed for quite a while. Could cause a cave in to bury the thing until it digs its way out. Part of designing encounters is more than just designing the guys, its designing the terrain in order to either help or hinder the players.

^I give my support that [this] is a very good point.

[Ozfer]

It sounds like you basically want a Nazgul type character, and as others are saying, ghost totally fits the bill. Maybe you could refluff it if you don't want a flat-out ghost.