Banditry

[Stormcrow]

Dear GITP Braintrust,

My party of swarthy adventuring types will be begining our first campaign in about eight months (I wanted a break after a non stop seven years) and I've decided on bandits in the Western Heartlands of Faerun.

What kind of challenges should I pose them?
I figure hundreds of minds are better than one...

[Damionte]

You thought WRONG!

Just kidding.

Your question is too big and too broad. i could post anythign and it would be the right answer.

Here's a challenge. "Poop"

Here's another "Snow"

I mean, reighn it in a little bit. Start a discussion. give us a frame work.

[Mike_Lemmer]

For example, are they bandits or are they fighting bandits? What alignment is the campaign?

[Stormcrow]

The characters ARE the bandits, Two Rogues a Bard and a Barbarian. Level 6, the alighment is morally ambiguous. I need bandity things for them to do.

[ClericofPhwarrr]

Highway robbery! Have them "liberate" some well-guarded caravans.

[MrNexx]

Bandits in the Western Heartlands is a great start. There's a lot of trade going through there, from the Sea of Fallen Stars, out to the Sword Coast.

You've got a couple options for a bandit-hunting campaign:

1) Make the bandits local to the area. They hit caravans then come into town to live it up. Figure out if the locals report anything, or just enjoy the additional income.
2) The players come from city or village X, and have a friend or family member who is working as a caravan guard. His caravan gets ambushed, and he gets killed or captured. It's now either revenge, or a rescue mission.
3) The players themselves play caravan guards. Maybe they're sent away to scout for bandits, while the bandits hit from another direction. They return to a bunch of butchered merchants, and no strongbox (meaning they won't get paid).

[The_Werebear]

As bandits, there are several things they need to struggle with.

1. Location, Location, Location
Where are they going to be staying while they are off banditing? In a tent in the woods? That means they need to worry about weather, food, shelter, and other basic needs. If they chose to stay in a town, then they must worry about being ID'd.

2. Disposal of Loot
How and where are they going to dump the supplies and gold you just got? It does no good sitting on it in the wilderness, but hauling it back to a sell point is a hassle. Also, it is slightly suspicious when a caravan on the way into town gets robbed, and then they turn up two days later with a supply list identical to what disappeared.

3. Reputation
How famous should they try to be? If the party is well known, people may be inclined to surrender the goods and leave. If they are very lucky, they may even get a folk hero reputation and local cooperation. However, fame attracts bandit hunters and more prepared guards, as well as making the party easier to ID. If they try to keep a low profile, going disguised or spreading the attacks over a very wide area, the party must deal with people who aren't so inclined to surrender. The trade off is that the authorities are less likely to send bandit hunters against them personally, or know your strength and tactics.

4. Other Bandits
There will be other groups trying to rob others as well. How do they feel about a group of upstarts nosing in on their turf. Are they willing to accept groups to trade and work with, or do they simply raid the party after the party hits a caravan? Also, does the party want followers? More bandits means easier robbing, but it also means it is harder to feed and hide the force.

[Subotei]

The_Werebear's points are excellent.

Three bandits is quite a small bandit group - they're not going to be able to take on big jobs unless they get themselves a gang. Mostly they'll have to take down small targets - small groups or lone travellers, couriers etc, which could lead to some interesting NPC encounters/plot leads - who is going to travel alone in bandit infested country after all? Small portable wealth items should be their target - big wagons don't make for a quick getaway.

Most likely after a few jobs they'll end up being the hunted, rather than the hunters, when the locals come after them - they're more likely to attempt to drive off a small group, whereas they may come to some accomodation with a larger bandit force - or just be unable to deal with them.

[Stephen_E]

Actually that's 4 bandits (2 Rogues, Bard, Barbarian)

Many good points already mentioned.

How are they going to handle the local law? Payoff or evade/fight.

I'd suggest at least one of them take the Leadership feat.

As a PC build mechanic point I'd suggest the Bard (probably the guy taking Leadership) become a Warchanter (Comp Warr pretige class). They are the ultimate class for pumping a bunch of followers so they don't die. 1st lev song give +2 temp hps per WC class lev to all allies within hearing. At 6th lev they also get diehard. At 10th lev you can give all allies a BAB equal to your character level, or the highest BAB amongst your allies, whichever is higher.
If you get to 15th level before the army detachment turns up, having your 30 followers have 20 temp hp, +15 BAB, Diehard and a +2 Competence Dam bonus from 2 songs that can be sung as 1 standard action will put the wind up most army detachments.

Adventure hooks -
The old standard. The raid a caravan and find a princess/nobles daughter. What do they do? What happens if the daughter falls in love with one of them. This can be reversed to a prince/nobles son, depnding on ses and sexual orientation of party.

They find an artifact amongst the loot. What do they do with it? The Bard should be able to tell them what a bad idea having an artifact is (you could even give them the "Head of Vecna", the real one ).

How are they identifying which caravans are worth hitting and which should be left alone, either because they to strong or to worthless. Do they set up an infomation network on the various towns along the caravan route.
Note: If they hit every caravan they'll either get killed or close down the caravan trade and have to move.

Do they try to turn their bandit group into a revolution (this has occurred in RL a few times).

Stephen

[Subotei]

Actually that's 4 bandits (2 Rogues, Bard, Barbarian)

My bad - long night...

[Telonius]

Morally ambiguous, eh? Sounds like perfect patsies for a BBEG in disguise. He provides some nicer-than-expected equipment, if they'll just do this little job for him.

[MrNexx]

Great trick for the morally ambiguous PCs is to have them paid by the BBEG to do things... but the things, though relatively innocuous (from their point of view), contribute to his larger plan. It's also best, IMO, if the BBEG in question is LE, so they're chaotic types who are helping him eventually destroy them.

So, for example, he has them hit a caravan, and wants to make sure they steal a certain thing... they can have the rest, he just wants item X. Item X isn't that dangerous, by itself, but it's a component of a ritual.

[AKA_Bait]

You can also have them getting screwed by messing with the wrong people. That one elderly fellow just walking along might look like easy prey but as it turns out he can kick butt and gaes them all into doing what he wants.

Is there a standard criminal organization around where they will be banditing? A powerful thieves guild might not take to kindly to unliscenced liberation of caravan goods.

What if one, or more, of the caravan guards decide they want to join up?

[Jarlax]

once they start to get a reputation as bandits you should expect some local law enforcement or more traditional adventurers to show up on the scene. for an interesting change of pace once the PCs have a base of operations have the NPC adventurers attack them while they defend their base.

i did this with my pirates campaign and it was interesting to have the NPCs try and overcome the encounters and traps placed by the PCs.

[Fishies]

You can also have them getting screwed by messing with the wrong people. That one elderly fellow just walking along might look like easy prey but as it turns out he can kick butt and gaes them all into doing what he wants.

Remember Rule One. Be cautious when dealing with the old unarmed monk dude.