Advice on this encounter about a face stealing fey in the feywilds.

[Throne12]

So my party have found there way into the feywilds. They just killed a giant snake the casted a illusion on them. They haven't Realize they are in the fey ream yet. As they go and try to find there way back to the road. they were traveling on. They don't find the road they were on but they do fine a small foot path. Along the foot path they'll meet what looks like a old lady with a basket and walking cane. Moving down the path. When they Approach the old lady she will with ungodly speed run up to one of them place her hands on that person's face. Then she will lean in face to face. The player will be Paralyze and grappled they can make save to try and break but they will be high DCs. When the party starts attacking the old lady. I'll Describe how ever wound they deal her disappears and they see a similar wound appear on the stund player. After a few rounds. The old lady will start turn Into smoke and disappear. The player will have lost there face. Now I don't want to be to harsh on the player. What kind of drawback they suffer from losing there face.


I'm thinking they can't see, smell, taste, or speak. They can breath but it feels like they are breathing through a blanket. But they'll have only 3 days to get the players face back or the player can die from not being able to drinking water. After the old lady leaves the party standing there Baffled as to what happen and what to do about it. They'll hear a Rustling from the bushes. When they investigate they finds a Fairy. That offers them to take them to it village. Where they can talk to the learder of this village of fairy, pixie,and sprites. The leader will offer to send one of sprites with them to the location of the face snatcher. But they want something in return. When a Bargain is made the fey folks will put the faceless player into a magical Stasis. And the player can play the sprite in battle. Now this is all I have so I'll start asking questions now.

1. What do you think of this encounter?
2. What should the fey folk ask for?
3. I want a 5th level caster for the Npc sprite. And a custom spell list what spells should he have.
4. I don't know what kind of combat encounter for the Face Snatcher. What kind of abilities does it have? What would it lair have and how would it loom and hurt the party.

[Shako]

1)
So, one of your players is pretty much guaranteed to lose his face and there's nearly nothing they can do about it (apart from a natural 20 on the escape check if you set the dc accordingly).
Then there's a faerie which naturally can help them but only if they do something for it.
Between losing the face and accepting the mission they're pretty much useless unless they have blindsight.
Oh and that player isn't even allowed to play his own character for the the mission.

Doesn't sound fun for that player to be honest.

If you think your players would enjoy it and want to stick with the story I would suggest lifting some of the penalities of losing their face.
But beeing unable to see/speak is unfun. I think we can throw realism out of the window anyway so let them see/speak. If you want to have some disadvantage to it find some smaller stuff which would still be annoying but not completly crippling. Maybe stick with blind but therefore give them small radius blindsight?


4)
Figure out why the Face Snatcher actually looms and wants to hurt the party. What is it's reason?
The linking-and-throwing-every-point-of-damage-onto-the-linked-player-for-several-rounds isn't any fun if the player actually can't deal with it apart from rolling a 20. They need to have some possibility of interrupting it. Maybe make it concentration? Let Dispel Magic or some other protection work?

I don't think it should be a solo fight so add some minions. Maybe other poor faceless people who encountered the face snitcher and are now following it's commands on the promise on getting back their faces?

[Throne12]

Oh sorry a little more info.
The party is made up of.
1. V-human level 4 paladin oath of the crown with shield master and heavy armor master feats. Has a magical sword that heals her if she pass her half of hp max.
2. Tabaxi level 4 long death monk with mobile feat. As of right now no magic items or weapons but should be getting something next session.
3. Human? Level 1 fighter level 3 rogue swashbuckler. Again right now no magic weapon or item but will be getting one next session which is at the start of this encounter. His character is based off of bloodborn.
4. Lizard man? But in back story was a elf. A hexblade Cathulu warlock level 4. Has a magic weapon that's a mimic it gives him a extra attack using the mimics stats.

Also they all have max hp.

I don't like giving +X magic weapons so they don't have any.

[Chugger]

1. What do you think of this encounter?

(edit, don't feel bad - a monster that sucks off faces could be very cool - and I discuss execution approaches that would fix it for me - but maybe not for you and your table - use your own best judgment here - there is no absolute right or wrong - this is highly subjective). I don't like it. As the above person said, railroaded - but railroading is okay and sometimes brilliant under certain circumstances.

So why don't I like this version?

It feels arbitrary. It sucks the face off a player character instead of, say, a beloved NPC. Now this sort of thing happens in movies - say in The Matrix Neo literally gets his face sucked off. Well, I'm lying, but the Agents mess with him and mess with his mouth/face in the early part. And then Neo wakes up from a "bad dream" that it turns out was not a bad dream. I get to watch Neo with a normal face (and mouth) go after the Agents and ultimately win.

The player this is done to is so gimped - they'll feel picked-on. Used. Abused. Harassed. Well it's a tough world full of powerful monsters, get over it, right? Well, as a DM do you want to deliver a great adventure or a mediocre one?

Some players are cool with this sort of surprise gotcha now deal with it DM'ing - and some are not. If your players accept this as "good DMing" fine then - do whatever - they would accept almost anything.

Instead why don't you set this thing up? Why does the face snatcher immediately get them? Why not have them discover an elf village where, to their horror, they find an elf dying of _having no face_. They can choose at this point to go after the face snatcher, whatever it is, and try to stop it. Or they can leave if they don't want to risk getting their faces snatched off.

What is the whole point to it? If you make this more epic, or rather to make it feel epic, you need to develop a persona for this creature and why it does this - and let them learn about it - and set it up as a great evil that really needs to be stopped. Why make it a normal monster that you fireball and stab and done - and oh look, Ted, there's your face now - it's in her basket - why don't we staple it back on? There that's not so bad - a little crooked - why do it so haphazardly?

Why not have them do a subquest to figure out how to kill it - how to restore a face - something to make it feel less haphazard and more wow we really need to stop this thing but it won't be easy but it will be worth it. Now sure, such efforts can fail if done wrong - it's a delicate thing - too many subquests and it just gets too bogged down - but if you balance it right it could be epic. The basic idea is kind of freaky and fine - it's the jumping nature of how you execute it that I'm worried about. Craft it - work it - make it awesome as opposed to just this thing that happens.

If you steal a party member's face do so with caution.

[Throne12]

1) Sounds like a complete railroad job that you want to do to them because it seems cool. I wouldn't be happy at all.

2-4) Doesn't matter. You can do it better. Try again. Design a creature with an agenda, a personality, and a task they're doing when the party sees them. Then allow the players to handle it however they want - up to, and including, dealing with it peacefully or avoiding it entirely.

Thank you for your advice. Oh on a sidenote my group enjoy what you call railroading. I always ask them what are you do or were are you going. But they never have anything. I've talked to them about this and they said they like that I guide them through to encounters and if they want to do anything they will let me know. Also campaign books and AL are all railroading but I don't see people complaining about that.

[Throne12]

1. What do you think of this encounter?

(edit, don't feel bad - a monster that sucks off faces could be very cool - and I discuss execution approaches that would fix it for me - but maybe not for you and your table - use your own best judgment here - there is no absolute right or wrong - this is highly subjective). I don't like it. As the above person said, railroaded - but railroading is okay and sometimes brilliant under certain circumstances.

So why don't I like this version?

It feels arbitrary. It sucks the face off a player character instead of, say, a beloved NPC. Now this sort of thing happens in movies - say in The Matrix Neo literally gets his face sucked off. Well, I'm lying, but the Agents mess with him and mess with his mouth/face in the early part. And then Neo wakes up from a "bad dream" that it turns out was not a bad dream. I get to watch Neo with a normal face (and mouth) go after the Agents and ultimately win.

The player this is done to is so gimped - they'll feel picked-on. Used. Abused. Harassed. Well it's a tough world full of powerful monsters, get over it, right? Well, as a DM do you want to deliver a great adventure or a mediocre one?

Some players are cool with this sort of surprise gotcha now deal with it DM'ing - and some are not. If your players accept this as "good DMing" fine then - do whatever - they would accept almost anything.

Instead why don't you set this thing up? Why does the face snatcher immediately get them? Why not have them discover an elf village where, to their horror, they find an elf dying of _having no face_. They can choose at this point to go after the face snatcher, whatever it is, and try to stop it. Or they can leave if they don't want to risk getting their faces snatched off.

What is the whole point to it? If you make this more epic, or rather to make it feel epic, you need to develop a persona for this creature and why it does this - and let them learn about it - and set it up as a great evil that really needs to be stopped. Why make it a normal monster that you fireball and stab and done - and oh look, Ted, there's your face now - it's in her basket - why don't we staple it back on? There that's not so bad - a little crooked - why do it so haphazardly?

Why not have them do a subquest to figure out how to kill it - how to restore a face - something to make it feel less haphazard and more wow we really need to stop this thing but it won't be easy but it will be worth it. Now sure, such efforts can fail if done wrong - it's a delicate thing - too many subquests and it just gets too bogged down - but if you balance it right it could be epic. The basic idea is kind of freaky and fine - it's the jumping nature of how you execute it that I'm worried about. Craft it - work it - make it awesome as opposed to just this thing that happens.

If you steal a party member's face do so with caution.

Thank you for this advice I'll look at the encounter and try to make it feel more viable and not just a you stumble Upon this creature. I'm now thinking of the party comes to this village to find a place to rest and get something to eat. They find out the village is being harassed by a creature they call the Face Snatcher. You know the hole Beowulf and Grendel type of thing.

[tieren]

Maybe start the encounter with the woman as a social encounter, they meet her on the road and she offers them a bite to eat from her basket, if any accept she steals their face in exchange.

If they don't take the offered snack she can pose a riddle to them, if they answer correctly she goes on about her way, if they answer wrong she steals the face of the one who answers.

Or she could ask them for help, either to lure the PCs into a trap, or if they rebuke the old woman she can attack to teach them a lesson.

[HandofBlades]

The air is heavy as if a light rain has been cascading down for hours. Looking around you see the forest you are in seems to have changed. The normal greens of the forest have been replaced by vibrant hues of blue purple red and a almost unnaturally bright greens. The plants themselves look normal but there is an other worldliness to them. Bushes seem to grow as tall as trees. Shrubs look to be tiny soldier pines. A small brook flows across the ground, the water splashed with pinks and purples while an orange and gold frog croaks softly on a bright yellow Lilly pad. Upon looking closer at the frog you notice that it lacks a face. Completely blank but still seeming to act normal.

Moving past the disturbing site you wander the woods looking for a way out of this strange and fantastical place. (Roll a 1d6 for random encounter. 1 creature with missing face 2 random magical fey effect 3 face snatcher 4 elf who has lost his face begging for help 5 a playful swarm of pixies 6 a calm pool of crystal clear water guarded by several spirits. )

Use the missing face creatures and elf to build up the terror and drama that is the face snatcher. Magical fey effects have fun and go buck wild. The swarm of pixies warns the party of the pool and the face stealer. The spirits are up set that the face stealer has gone rogue so to speak. They will ask the players to deal with her and if they do they will allow the players to leave the fey wild through the pool.

If the face stealer is encounter she will be kind and ask the players to help escort her from these woods mentioning a pool that leads back to the normal world. The face stealer is lady Te'lamoa. Spurned by the fey lord of the summer court she has vowed to find the most beautiful face to wear and earn his favor back.

Should the pcs attack her or have a charisma higher than 16 she will attempt to steal one of their faces. She rushes towards the player with the highest charisma and makes an attack against them. On a hit the player makes a D.C. 10 charisma save. On a success they feel their face shifting and melting while she laughs. On a failure she scolds and shakes her head claiming they are not good enough for her. I would use a hags stats for this. They can try and convince the lady she is beautiful as she is with successful checks. This works well if the party is journeying with her. Less so if they are fighting. She will try and convince the party the spirit pool is evil and they need to escape. The pool spirits will do the same of her.

Should the party defeat the face stealer for the pool spirits they will let them dip their water skins in the cool fresh water enchanting them to provide enough clean water for each of them over the course of a day. Should they convince the face stealer to give up her ways she in atonement removes her own face giving it to the party. The face functions as a hat of disguise. Or they can take the face and return to the elf returning his face to him but losing the mask. The elf in gratitude presents them with his cloak of the mountebank as reward. If the party kills the face stealer and removes her face to return it to the elf he gives them the cloak but it won't function as a hat of disguise for them.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Maybe start the encounter with the woman as a social encounter, they meet her on the road and she offers them a bite to eat from her basket, if any accept she steals their face in exchange.

If they don't take the offered snack she can pose a riddle to them, if they answer correctly she goes on about her way, if they answer wrong she steals the face of the one who answers.

Or she could ask them for help, either to lure the PCs into a trap, or if they rebuke the old woman she can attack to teach them a lesson.

This seems like a pretty good solution. Give the players a chance to figure out the situation they're in. This also plays nicely into the old taboo of accepting/eating food offered to you in the feywild.

Be as descriptive as you can about the situation and maybe try to coax the players into paying very close attention to their surroundings, you probably want it to be a surprise that they've ended up the feywild but I think possibly being "found out" by a clever player would be fair if your plan is to steal a face no matter what.

[Throne12]

Ya they haven't figured out they are in the feywilds yet. Also how would y'all stat out this fey. Any abilities and how should I use the face snatching ability. Oh and my paladin should learn by now not to accept food or drink from people. She has ate moldy soup and in a different encounter Drink Alchemis fire a fire priest offer her saying it wine.

[denthor]

Better yet have a NPC wandering around that works for this old woman stage an attack on her to get the party to do something. Evil of course. Then have a fey explain in poor terms not convincing at all half information why they should not. They decide what to do.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Also how would y'all stat out this fey.

Just on this point, maybe you could use this (http://basalt-dnd.tumblr.com/post/160489498097/basalt-dnd-the-feywild-isnt-a-safe-place-for)? It might be too much CR though...

[Throne12]

Just on this point, maybe you could use this (http://basalt-dnd.tumblr.com/post/160489498097/basalt-dnd-the-feywild-isnt-a-safe-place-for)? It might be too much CR though...

Thanks ninja