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View Full Version : BBEG with lots of Money but not a lot of time



Totally Guy
2008-10-31, 04:57 PM
Things took an interesting turn in my group's campaign.

The BBEG had two motivations. One was to harrass, capture and torture his former evil boss, which he's nearly done. The other was to get rich at the same time using a side quest of same plan.

He was going to trick a group of adventurers into opening a vault full of treasure and then trapping them inside. The adventurers think they have a Leomund's chest spell to get the gold (and a message) to their family but it actually goes to the BBEG.

But the party was smart and prevented this portion of the plan working. Unfortunately when the player's eventually got all this money they decided to share it with the other adventurers anyway. So it got sent to the BBEG.

But next day (session) they're probably going to go to his house and beat him up. Which means that rather than being rich for a few weeks before the heroes arrive he'll actually have been rich for about a day. That gives very little preparation time for him to spend it on something clever. Back before the plan was foiled I was planning for him to get an evil tower or something as his current house is exactly that, just a house.

The story still kind of works if he doesn't spend any money but just seems dumb.

What might he do? He's a Chess master type villain, a Star Pact Warlock of 12th level and we're in 4th edition. He is aware of heroes out to get him but his Ranger girlfriend that was feeding him information has already been thrown in jail so he doesn't know when, freeing her isn't a priority. Don't worry about suggesting something 4th edition friendly, I'm just after inspiration for his next move.

Calinero
2008-10-31, 05:00 PM
Well, if he has enough money, you could say he was able to buy a giant tower almost immediately (he's in a hurry, and enough money could speed things up.) Or, you could say he had already made arrangements to buy the place, and was gambling a lot on his plan succeeding.

Erk
2008-10-31, 06:13 PM
It's really hard to say without knowing the villain better. For example, if his first plan is done and he just cheated a bunch of adventurers, why doesn't he just skip town? Have him disappear for a while and return later as a wealthy larger villain?

Draz74
2008-10-31, 06:23 PM
Hmmm, good traps normally take more than a day to build, but perhaps you can buy some varieties in a portable install-in-your-house-yourself form?

Tadanori Oyama
2008-10-31, 06:29 PM
You could go for numbers. He's hired every single thug in the city (assume this is about a city) and even with unskilled labor he's turned his former mansion into a half built death trap!

Use normal trap stats but lower the attack roles to represent the less than steller workman ship. Give the players a home alone style obsticale course.

Alot of holes and trenches around the place, sawed through some beams, turned everything completely unsafe. After all, he doesn't plan to stay there much longer (got that awesome tower to get to).

Triaxx
2008-10-31, 08:20 PM
Fake Boob trap the house and pay for a long distance teleportation.

By which I mean pay for a very high level illusion of a succubus, or to summon one and draw the party into the house, then she leaves, dropping the house on them. Meanwhile the Mage is miles away sipping on an umbrella drink.

---

Or just hire a minion horde and any caster you can put your hands on. Proceed to flood them with summons.

Yakk
2008-10-31, 08:56 PM
He fled? They arrive and find some hired goons waiting for them (a simple encounter), and evidence about where he went.

This starts a sequence of adventures where they try to chase the evil guy down. There are false trails, side adventures, and further plots by the evil guy.

Yukitsu
2008-10-31, 09:10 PM
Use the money to hire an angry mob to burn down the mansion, and to fake your own death. Start anew as an adventuring star pact warlock, who just happens to want to help out the PCs with whatever sub plot they are dealing with. Kill them all in their sleep when he's on watch. Use their stuff to buy a new mansion.

Oracle_Hunter
2008-10-31, 09:13 PM
Step One should definitely be "Take the money and run." There is no reason for him to be sitting in his house after swindling PCs if he thinks the PCs are going to jump him.

The easiest way to run would be to find an 8th level Ritual Caster and pay him tons to Linked Portal the pair of them to some TP Circle. Lacking that, he'll hire a coach or just buy a fast horse and get the heck out of Dodge.

Once he's reached another town, he can start putting his money to good use. As a Chessmaster, Step Two will be finding a place to lie low and setting up a trap to catch any of his pursuers. A classy way to do this is to "hire" the local thieves' guild to put him in a safehouse and to keep an ear out for someone looking for him. The Guild will have a hefty payment up front, and a promise for another big payment if they kill the PCs. Since the Chessmaster is able to hide his funds in an extradimensional space (and Starlocks can be very slippery with Wraith Form), the Guild will probably uphold their end of the bargain.

Another fun way to do this is the old "Diplomatic Immunity" route. The Chessmaster uses his money to buy the protection of the local lord - he'll get some minor title, and will be a guest of the Castle until his money runs out. Oh, and since he's now a Noble, he can preemptively brand the PCs as Enemies of the State, and put a nice big (and legal) bounty on them, if they ever show up. Note that this only works with neutral or evil rulers, but I'm sure our Chessmaster can find someone amenable.

Raum
2008-10-31, 09:21 PM
What might he do? He's a Chess master type villain, a Star Pact Warlock of 12th level and we're in 4th edition. He is aware of heroes out to get him but his Ranger girlfriend that was feeding him information has already been thrown in jail so he doesn't know when, freeing her isn't a priority. Don't worry about suggesting something 4th edition friendly, I'm just after inspiration for his next move.I can think of several potential options and he may well use more than one: Take the money and run.
Hire mercenaries.
Bribe the city guard.
Plant evidence of the PCs' nefarious plans to rob him (and every other wealthy man in town).
Pay the thieves / assassins guild to delay or kill the PCs.
Hide the loot and claim it never got to him.
All of the above.

Totally Guy
2008-11-01, 07:34 AM
More about the villain?

He's a man that was able to escape slavery and found notes about treasure under the city, this was guarded by his former master the local baron. He fled to another city to escape. When the baron fell out of popularity he got his girlfriend to to open the now unguarded tomb and he convinced many adventurers, party included, to go over there and storm the dungeon. Very much favours off-site management. The whole time the game has revolved around "what is the evil baron up to?" which has been a red herring. Evil alignment does not imply the character has a plan, eventually he got captured by the BBEG. From a backstory perspective this turns the tables, "Now I'm the master with the money and you are the slave, bwahahaha!". Which doesn't sound so evil except that for that he's tried to ruin a town and stolen from the adventurer's charities to do it. This baddie started the campaign with very few resources.

Running away might be a good option but I thought I'd be ending the campaign soon and that shifts from the conclusion of the mystery to a shift in the game style. He'd have to carry...

Money
His evil wizard hostage
His precious secret chests
A cart

Then I need a way for the party to find out where he has gone that doesn't allow the NPC adventurers to find out (as I'd like them not to steal the limelight). Teleportation to another city is difficult as big linked portal gates have been disallowed following a war. He'd so far just used teleport when his girlfrind had set it up ahead of time... So he could teleport to her jail cell and get her out maybe... I'd like not to cheapen the party's vitory on this point. I want them to have trust in that jailing a villain is a ligitimate way of dealing with them.

Mercenaries could be good. The reason I'd avoided this train of thought is that he doesn't know when he's going to be attacked. But I've now thought of a good way he can get a signal to himself when the good guys get close to the city. That would provide a decent end battle. The party could catch him as he flees with bodyguards.

Trapping the house is silly... It's not a mansion it's more like a two bedroom apartment. He'd set off the traps himself.

The game has been mysterious for long enough. Now the party are on the verge of solving everything they'll be really feeling the urge to solve the problem with brute force (and boy do they deserve it). So I think that is good enough reason not to start another politcal treachery arc.

Thanks everybody! Especially Yakk, Oracle and Raum.

Raum
2008-11-01, 10:01 AM
Mercenaries could be good. The reason I'd avoided this train of thought is that he doesn't know when he's going to be attacked. But I've now thought of a good way he can get a signal to himself when the good guys get close to the city. That would provide a decent end battle. The party could catch him as he flees with bodyguards.He's got the cash to spend, hire a group of full time mercenary body guards. Half a dozen (or some appropriate number) on each of three or four shifts with the others "on call" in case of emergency. If the guards are dedicated enough they'll even take hits for the BBEG which keeps him standing longer.

Depending on how you want it to play, he could hire a number of guards which would make a frontal attack very risky...leaving the PCs to find a way (bribes, blackmail, stealth, etc) to neutralize some or all of the guards before attacking. Of course a straightforward blowout of a battle could be a blast also... Have fun! :)

CthulhuM
2008-11-01, 10:37 AM
War trolls, man, war trolls. Nothing says "hired muscle" like 31 strength, a large greatsword, and regeneration. Plus, the things are explicitly flavored as bad ass mercenaries.


Though you should probably disregard the line about hiring one for 30gp a day on the off-chance your players ask...

Oracle_Hunter
2008-11-01, 11:44 AM
Running away might be a good option but I thought I'd be ending the campaign soon and that shifts from the conclusion of the mystery to a shift in the game style. He'd have to carry...

Money
His evil wizard hostage
His precious secret chests
A cart

Then I need a way for the party to find out where he has gone that doesn't allow the NPC adventurers to find out (as I'd like them not to steal the limelight). Teleportation to another city is difficult as big linked portal gates have been disallowed following a war. He'd so far just used teleport when his girlfrind had set it up ahead of time... So he could teleport to her jail cell and get her out maybe... I'd like not to cheapen the party's vitory on this point. I want them to have trust in that jailing a villain is a ligitimate way of dealing with them.

OK, so you're using nonstandard Teleportation rules. In 4e you usually need a TP Circle at your destination in order to teleport there. Here, you're doing something else. Good to know.

Honestly, from everything you've said, "Take the Money and Run" is the only logical response to his situation. But, if you want to end it here, you're going to have to invent a better base for him; some reason to stick around town.

May I recommend turning some piece of the loot into a magic key that allows him access to the Baron's Safe Room? The idea here is that the BBEG knows of a special secure building that the Baron had which was not only safe from assault, but also contained his secret lore. Or maybe it was the Baron's wizard. Whatever reason you use, it has to:
(1) Contain an immobile resource that the BBEG would be willing to risk his own life for.

Examples include: huge libraries of secret lore, a large artifact, a summoning circle, a chained demon.

(2) Provide a reasonable amount of safety.

Even if the BBEG doesn't know that he's going to be attacked, any Chessmaster will act like he could be at any moment. There's a reason they're often Crazy Prepared. And in this case, the BBEG knows that he screwed over the PCs and that they're alive - if he's not expecting retribution, he's no Chessmaster.

And if he's going to stay in town, he should hire up some mercenaries, or at least some bodyguards.

Man, it's too bad you're ending the campaign; this guy has great potential as a reoccurring villain. Would it be so bad for him to TP out (thanks to his hostage's Ritual Casting) and for the PCs to interrogate his captured girlfriend? I'm sure that she'll be pissed off about being abandoned, and will be more than happy to say "well, if he pulled this off, he was planning to go to X and start a new life... with me. Go nail that bastard!"

Totally Guy
2008-11-01, 02:26 PM
OK, so you're using nonstandard Teleportation rules. In 4e you usually need a TP Circle at your destination in order to teleport there. Here, you're doing something else. Good to know.

No. If I was the evil girlfriend stuck in jail I'd draw a summoning circle in a known pattern and wait the Big Bad Boyfriend to teleport. Aided by a sending ritual this works even better. So as long as she's without chalk she's stuck. How hard could it be to find chalk? It was pretty much her job to set up teleport circles.

As for the Captured Evil Wizard Ex-Baron, he's no longer in home territory and I've already done the safe room skit.

Idea: The party's next known obstacle is a digging a tunnel or clearing a pass of debris. In the rubble they'll encounter a weak stone door. The door will be closed and locked and they'll have a choice with how they deal with it. The door has an arcane lock upon it and if they break the door or open it Mr BBEG will know that the heroes are coming and prepare to move. If not he'll be unaware. We'll see what happens. Imagine they open the door only to see a wall of stone, they'll figure out the trick.

If he does leave town I'll maybe have the hostage use sending to request help. Enemy mine scenario. I'm all inspired again now.:smallsmile:

Oracle_Hunter
2008-11-02, 10:46 AM
No. If I was the evil girlfriend stuck in jail I'd draw a summoning circle in a known pattern and wait the Big Bad Boyfriend to teleport. Aided by a sending ritual this works even better. So as long as she's without chalk she's stuck. How hard could it be to find chalk? It was pretty much her job to set up teleport circles.


:confused:

You create a shortcut across the fabric of the world, linking your location with a permanent teleportation circle somewhere else on the same plane.

Emphasis mine. But like I said - your world, your rules.


Idea: The party's next known obstacle is a digging a tunnel or clearing a pass of debris. In the rubble they'll encounter a weak stone door. The door will be closed and locked and they'll have a choice with how they deal with it. The door has an arcane lock upon it and if they break the door or open it Mr BBEG will know that the heroes are coming and prepare to move. If not he'll be unaware. We'll see what happens. Imagine they open the door only to see a wall of stone, they'll figure out the trick.

If he does leave town I'll maybe have the hostage use sending to request help. Enemy mine scenario. I'm all inspired again now.:smallsmile:

Sounds good enough to me. I hope the "leaving town" thing works for you, 'cause I'm otherwise out of ideas :smallbiggrin: