Capturing murderhobos

[Ethernil]

I am dming for a group of murderhobos that kill most things on sight when not near a town. Basically 2 of the 5 members are subtle and diplomats. Its the other 3 i have a problem with. I know a way to handle this would be to speak to them out of game. I have another idea though, either an encounter that leaves them near death to breath some fear in them or some high evel npc that sedates them with non lethal damage captures them and bargains a quest for their freedom and some monetary or magic compensation. Any ideas on such encounters?

[DeTess]

Might I suggest you do not do this, or do this after having spoken with them OOC and you have all agreed that something like this needs to happen to facilitate their rehabilitation? Having some super-NPC roflstomp all over your party likely leaves a sour taste otherwise.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Randuir has it right. Having your players stomped by an undefeatable NPC will just make them resent you. It's pretty much just short of "rocks fall, everyone dies".

And aside from that nearly being killed isn't likely to work anyway. They'll just try to get deadlier.
Same for the NPC blackmail idea - they may go along with it for a while, but players know how to keep grudges. You can bet they'll be planning how to kill the guy the entire time and go for it as soon as they think they have a chance.

This - different expectations for the campaign - is a problem you need to tackle out of character.
Either you get the players to play along with a heroic campaign or you could try out an evil campaign. Some people just want to play the bad guys every now and then, or even exclusively.
In my experience letting players get their murderous urges out of their systems every once in a while is a good thing and helps get them engaged when in a more traditional good campaign too.

[AlanBruce]

I am dming for a group of murderhobos that kill most things on sight when not near a town. Basically 2 of the 5 members are subtle and diplomats. Its the other 3 i have a problem with. I know a way to handle this would be to speak to them out of game. I have another idea though, either an encounter that leaves them near death to breath some fear in them or some high evel npc that sedates them with non lethal damage captures them and bargains a quest for their freedom and some monetary or magic compensation. Any ideas on such encounters?

It is a good idea to have a talk with your players before the game even begins. Get to know what kind of play style they want. Cross reference it with yours and hopefully, reach a happy balanced medium where this situation has no need to arise.... ideally.

That isn't the case now. You have PCs killing and stealing anything that breathes/isn't bolted down? D&D pretty much encourages this behavior for the most part. Modules in 3.5 and 3.0 at least are all about going to someone's house/lair/cave complex. Killing whoever lives there and walking out with their pockets full of gold and magic items. This behavior is actually encouraged for the most part by the module's plot.

That being said, every action has a consequence. Who are they killing? Why? Have they been doing this for awhile already? Because even if they are out in the wilderness and away from town, that doesn't mean someone may not have seen them or perhaps survived and escaped their killing spree, alerting the local authorities.

A high level NPC showing up and wiping them down out of the blue- even if it's done in a non lethal way- will strike your players as a cheap move, most likely. Set up a series of warnings: these don't have to be literal sign posts on the road- but news that certain areas around town or in some specific location are known to be particularly deadly... or so the tale goes.

Reinforce that through dreams or omens given to the party spell caster, if there is one or the closest thing they have to one. Predictably, the players might want to go to such a place and murderhobo whoever's there and that's fine.

It's the journey there that should send hints to the party that perhaps it isn't the best idea to take that course of action and, if they do not heed the many subtle and not so subtle warnings you have placed along the way, go all out.

Again, the game is designed mostly for that kind of behavior and they should not be punished for it when they design PCs that excel at it. Give them different paths they can take so they can enjoy doing their thing, but let them know in game that some areas are too challenging or outright deadly for them now... and who knows in the future, they might be able to, but now? Bad idea.

If you are still unhappy with their MO, have a talk outside the game, as per your own suggestion and reevaluate what each player likes and how it meshes with your campaign.

[noob]

How about talking to the players about how you do not like murderhobos and would like them to now use characters that are not murderhobos?
Then if it does not works maybe someone else should be the gm.
Because sending super powerful npcs to stop them can be frustrating for the players and anything involving trapping the characters can be a thing that the players does not likes if it is forced on them.

[Mordaedil]

Your idea won't really work is all I'm thinking. The only real cure for murder hobos is to treat them as more than hobos.

[16bearswutIdo]

Disagree with many of the other posters here. Actions have consequences. Maybe your PCs stole from the wrong person. Maybe they killed someone connected to an influential fellow. Either way, someone they've harmed in the past has hired thugs to rough them up and teach them a lesson.

I advise not making it incredibly obvious that this encounter is designed to wipe/incapacitate the PCs. Have the thugs lay a trap for the PCs that they get caught up in. Whoever they robbed is familiar with their tactics and has instructed the thugs to be wary. It should be a noticeably tough fight.

I did this to my PCs once and they thought the idea of begrudgingly working together for the lord who captured them was great. The PCs kept going "WHAT ARE WE, SOME KINDA SUICIDE SQUAD?"

[daremetoidareyo]

A Medusa riding a basilisk?

[Andor13]

Have somebody hire them to track down the brigands that having been cutting a swath through the lands. See how long it takes them to realize they are hunting themselves and making they should dial it back a bit.

This does have the potential to slide downhill into an evil campaign, especially if they start ambushing the other hunting parties.

[Peat]

I'd never want to tell someone to categorically never do this - but as said, it is quite possible that the only lessons your PCs will take from this is

a) They need to be even deadlier so it never happens again
b) That their DM sucks up for introducing a super-powered NPC for no reason

You know your group and whether they'll react that way, but if you think its even remotely likely, talk to them OOC first.

[DarkSoul]

Don't have everything they encounter be something they can defeat in combat. If the dragon flying overhead obviously doesn't see them or care about them, and they shoot at it anyway, well...

Just make sure they know that the world isn't all level-appropriate encounters before you do something like this or they'll likely think you blindsided them.

The idea of hiring them to capture themselves is a good one too, I might save that one for later in my own campaign.

[RoboEmperor]

My suggestion: make them regret killing the NPC.

Quest giver is in town and because your murderhobos killed the important NPC you cannot progress the quest further.

For example, perhaps the NPC held important information. Or the NPC is an important member of the kingdom and by killing him the entire kingdom is now on a manhunt to murder them murderhobos. They must now be forced to use disguise self 24/7 or retire their characters.

[Asmotherion]

Do it fair and square: Roll Percentage Dice for them to be found out and captured.

And I'm personally against the mindset of "you have to give a fair chance at everything". The world is an unfair place. Imagin what would happen, same scenario, real life.

You don't need a Very Powerful NPC to do this. Just regular Guards of their Level... The whole Millitia that is (Around 50 Armed Men for a Village). If they can really take down the Whole Millitia of Leveled Fighters (For Example), well done, they really made an Archivement. But it is indeed an unfair thing, and they probably won't make it.

It is this small details that make people respect you as a DM, and respect your world as well.

[Deophaun]

My suggestion: make them regret killing the NPC.
I'd do this, but instead of using it to grind the campaign to a halt, make the NPCs sympathetic. So, while they're stripping the NPC for loot, they find a letter to his family about hoping to earn enough to pay for little Susy's medicine, or from a gangster threatening the NPC's loved ones if they don't come up with the money soon. Have them meet the children of the person they killed, but don't tell them the relationship right away. Let them get invested in helping the child with whatever immediate problem there is, maybe even have the child voluntarily and without prompting undertake some risk on the party's behalf, then you spring the "you killed his/her parent, you terrible murderhobos" card on them.

[Asmotherion]

I'd do this, but instead of using it to grind the campaign to a halt, make the NPCs sympathetic. So, while they're stripping the NPC for loot, they find a letter to his family about hoping to earn enough to pay for little Susy's medicine, or from a gangster threatening the NPC's loved ones if they don't come up with the money soon. Have them meet the children of the person they killed, but don't tell them the relationship right away. Let them get invested in helping the child with whatever immediate problem there is, maybe even have the child voluntarily and without prompting undertake some risk on the party's behalf, then you spring the "you killed his/her parent, you terrible murderhobos" card on them.

I can see two scenarios coming from this:

A) They indeed tone it down, and this escalates into a campain about dealing with the small guy.

B) They crack a joke about it, followed by an "evil laughter".

Empathy is not for everyone, esspecially during a D&D session. Know your players.

[Demidos]

Step 1: Tell players "Okay, I've been pretty lenient with the consequences of random murdering so far, but it's getting a bit out of hand and if things continue like this all the random murders and disappearances in this area will end up being noticed by someone. If you're okay with this, I am also fine with continuing like this, but otherwise you might need to tone things down a bit."

Step 2: Depending on what they reply, either 1) decide (with the group) to run a murderhobo campaign, since again, the purpose is to have fun and be escapist or 2) decide you'd like a realistic world to escape to and to start enforcing consequences.

Step 3: Consequences include 1) Follow the advice above regarding making them feel bad about murdering random people, and 2) guards start looking for people matching their descriptions, diviners start taking an interest, perhaps the BBEG tries to hire them.

[Vizzerdrix]

Make a jar of force with an opening just big enough to fit a hand in. Drop a gp into the jar, and then glue the jar down.

[daremetoidareyo]

I have been a murder hobo before. It is kind of a phase. I think having unlimited power in the fantasy, with a total lack of real-world ramifications lends itself to exploring how to use that power against our real world cultural taboos. One way to hedge against this behavior is to run a "get it out of their system" campaign. All evil, door to door mayhem, unicorn slaying, smoke the elves out.

Another element seems to be that you have three players that quite possibly are feeding off of each other's in-game Behavior. Talking it out is one solution. Another solution is to split them up

[denthor]

You never mentioned alignment

Start with a reputation.

Then go to an alignment change (I am very much aware the playground disagrees it is still there for a reason)

As alignment shifts reputation builds. People they know start talking about the problem. -- No change-- help with magic,healing, NPC'S are busy.

They need to start finding others to help out. (Fees go up) maybe "be thankful I did not alter the deal more"

Think about real life people do not like your thoughts on.... they start to distance themselves. Pretty soon your surrounded by stranger'syou thought were your friends.

Alignment are disliked because they impose penalties on us we bring about ourselves. They are part of the game and a tool for both DM and player.