Sudden, but Inevitable Betrayal

[Basch]

I've got a group that usually takes turns as DM, so when we switch the DM's character fades to the background except for combat and when something is requested of them like a lock picked, etc. But I've been running the show for a fair bit and tracking my character along with everything else has made me weary and have decided to have my character betray the group, and end with them killing him, to make a good story and free up some brainspace.

At the moment the group is level 11. A champion fighter, beastmaster hunter (with a death dog because it could use the help), a necromancer, and myself as a tempest cleric. We've been exploring a cave system and was wondering if anyone had advice for what might make things more exciting.

I plan to have a devil, who has been irritated with our cutting his peons down, at the bottom trap us in a large magic circle where he will offer great power to whoever joins him. Probably in the form of a single casting of a Wish spell or some such. My character will of course join him, and be ordered to kill his former companions. Ideally, they will kill me, get level 12, and save the day.

My biggest concern is the actual fight, and making it threatening to them, but also not just ripping them apart with destructive wave. It will be in a very large cave with some places for cover around the edges, probably 60' to the ceiling and a roughly 40-50' radius. Should I focus more on Hold Person and other debuffs, or should I try to Bless myself? I guess what I'm wondering is, is it better to fight them defensively or offensively? Maybe just a Destructive Wave in the first round to throw them off their game? They will have most of their spells, action surges, etc. However, the necromancer doesn't have any undead.

[Talanos]

Well, if you're going to have a devil involved, it might be better to have it deceive your character into betraying the party. Perhaps it appears as an avatar of the Cleric's god? Convinces him to turn on them for the "greater good"? Then, if you are concerned about the fight being too one sided against your Cleric, the devil could summon some minions to even out the fight. It should be a hard fight that forces them to take lethal action against your guy. And then, depleted from that fight, they have to take down the fiend.

It can be tough to have a PC, even one acting as an NPC, turn on the rest of the players. Good luck.

[Keltest]

To be honest, I think a bigger concern is that other characters also decide to take the deal and you end up with a TPK because the party is tiny and seems to be up the creek without a paddle.

[Basch]

Good idea with the devil's deception. It makes it less likely that the other members will betray the group, and gives a good, story-based reason I would turn them. If instead of having the caves head down into some awful hellscape, if i have them head back up, maybe to a hilltop, get a storm going to build the mood. Our necro for some perplexing reason doesn't have fly, so I guess the point of a ceiling kinda of goes out the window when the group can't take advantage of flight. Maybe a fistful of Mephits to do much of the attacking while I Hold Person and let them chip away with weak attacks. The criticals from hold person would alarm them more than the actual damage from such weak creatures.

[MaxWilson]

I'd be cautious of introducing intra-party betrayal this way. It has the potential to kill the fun for anyone who plays D&D primarily for fellowship. (C.f. Eight Kinds of Fun.)

Do you really think this makes for a good story, or is this primarily about freeing up brainspace? If the latter, just retire the PC. Either via sudden heart-attack, or he vanishes in the night, or he just announces that he's had enough of wandering and is going home now.

Even if you really do want the betrayal, having him vanish in the night first between sessions and then show up during the session as an NPC villain seems less likely to rub folks the wrong way with the sudden betrayal.

[Basch]

The other players in my group are mostly in it for the action, and it's an evil campaign, I very much doubt they'd take any issue with it. I'm confident they'll be ok with it, since we've been playing together for years. They're pretty darn good about realizing it's just a game. I'm honestly more concerned about making it memorable, something they won't forget by the next time we play.

[MaxWilson]

Ah, evil action campaign? That sounds okay then.

[Crusher]

The other players in my group are mostly in it for the action, and it's an evil campaign, I very much doubt they'd take any issue with it. I'm confident they'll be ok with it, since we've been playing together for years. They're pretty darn good about realizing it's just a game. I'm honestly more concerned about making it memorable, something they won't forget by the next time we play.

My initial concern for making the situation interesting is making sure the party doesn't just annihilate the cleric on Round 1. Well put together 5e characters can nova pretty decently at full resources. Combined with lucky initiative rolling, they might steamroll the cleric in a round or two barely having it be a fight.

IMO, the two ways to keep that from happening are to: 1) deplete the party a bit with earlier fights (no action surge for the fighter, necromancer down enough spell slots to be cautious, etc) though this has the penalty of making the fight feel a little cheap since the party doesn't get to use their best moves, and 2) provide extra targets.

Even if the other targets aren't that scary, the difference between 3v1 and 3v5, say, is huge, even if its just psychological. Even if the cleric has a pack of Lemures helping him out, having them absorb a couple spells and a round of melee from the Fighter makes a huge difference. The longer the fight runs, the more epic it will feel, and those CR 1/2 Lemures could add a couple rounds to the battle by themselves. Perhaps a Vrock and a half-dozen Lemures. The party should still win, but it'll take a while and NOTHING makes a fight feel more epic than being significantly outnumbered.

The key is to just not let the party tunnel-vision the cleric and nuke him down. You don't want the helpers to be too strong, especially if the party is depleted, just strong enough so the party can't throw everything at the cleric on Round 1.

[Basch]

What if I the fight started with 4 or 5 Dust Mephits as well, possibly with a chance each round for 1 or 2 more to spawn. They can blind and sleep foes, though the weak sleep might not help much. But the possible blinding, with some Holding of Persons would keep the pressure on without resorting to spamming Destructive Wave and hoping it doesn't wipe them. Good call on the action surge, shouldn't be too hard to get our fighter to be a showoff and blow it mutilating some Shadows or Darkmantles as they climb the inside of the peak.

[MaxWilson]

My initial concern for making the situation interesting is making sure the party doesn't just annihilate the cleric on Round 1. Well put together 5e characters can nova pretty decently at full resources. Combined with lucky initiative rolling, they might steamroll the cleric in a round or two barely having it be a fight.

IMO, the two ways to keep that from happening are to: 1) deplete the party a bit with earlier fights (no action surge for the fighter, necromancer down enough spell slots to be cautious, etc) though this has the penalty of making the fight feel a little cheap since the party doesn't get to use their best moves, and 2) provide extra targets.

Also, the extra targets can be illusions. Facing down three Nalfeshnees and a traitor cleric is scary even if it turns out to be really only one Nalfeshnee and a traitor cleric, with the other two demons being Programmed or Major Illusions.

If a PC blows their big attack (Disintegrate, whatever) on what turns out to be an illusion it can make the fight much harder.