I'm doing a boss-fight for my party in a couple of weeks. I want it to be epic, with lots of enemies to fight, but I also want to A) keep it moving and B) give my players a fighting chance against a mob of goons. They have been in this game world for awhile and have made some allies who might be attracted to a big monster showdown in a public space. So what I was thinking was to have each of my five players be able to roll a d20 at the start of their turn, and if they roll high enough (say a DC 15 Charisma check) their ally shows up to help out. An example of this would be, one character made friends with the captain of the town guard, so in his case, the captain busts in with a few guards and keeps some of the enemies busy.
I was thinking I wouldn't add the allies to the initiative order, they would be doing their own fight so maybe I would do some sort of coin-toss to see how well they do each round. I also want the players to have to keep rolling well to keep their ally in the fight, and if they roll low, the allies either have to fall back or maybe they get pulled into another part of the fight "off camera". That would start of easy (say DC 10) and gradually get harder as the fight goes on.
Any notes? Has anyone ever tried something like this? Is there some existing mechanic for it?
I’ve not heard of an existing mechanic for this, and I’ll say it sounds really tedious from the DM side. But I do like the grand finale epicness of bringing all the NPC allies into the scene. A big “On your left” moment.
I wouldn’t tie it to an ability unless they’re actively yelling for help. But I could see asking for an (in Pathfinder terms) a flat check. A 15 or higher and you say “OK, noted.” After the end of their turn, you narrate “A familiar battlecry rings through the doorway. You chance a glance over your shoulder and see Bob in full armor charge in and tackle a minion to the ground. For the time being, both are tied up in their own battle and neither are involved in initiative until further notice.”
The danger of this is if the PCs care too much about the NPCs, even after you say they’re not part of their battle, the PCs are likely to try to disengage and save their friend. Especially if only one shows up at a time. Maybe once the 2nd or 3rd shows up, they relax and just appreciate the help. But until they’re sure how this will work, it’ll be more distracting than sought after.
Again, I think it’ll be tedious on your end, but you could roll a “battle check” for the ally each round. Three successes and they’ve permanently defeated the minion; three failures and the Ally is killed.
Other challenges will be the battlefield. If it’s littered with grappling “pawns,” AOE spells like fireball will catch them. I suppose you could say each occurrence is a failed battle check. Persistent spells like Cloudkill will be trickier. Will they disengage and move? Will they wait it out until their opponent dies, then try to move before they die, too?
I also think you could just remove the mechanical component to this and, as a DM in the moment, use your judgement to determine when or if you should give them NPC help. It might even be more rewarding for the players not to know about it before hand to get the feeling that an npc they trusted came through for them in the end or something.
As for determining which NPC's show up, consider ones that have had the most impact on the player they're associated with, or that people have responded to most or put forward the most emotional investment. That way it becomes less run-of-the-mill like "the (checks notes) woodcutter you killed all those bears for appears at your side like a pokemon and chops the enemy with her axe" and more "the thief you saved from the gallows, who swore a life dept to repay you which blossomed into a friend/mentorship comes to you in your darkest hour!"
Banking off emotional investment and "rule of cool" will give much more epic returns than a random mechanic.
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Hey all,
I'm doing a boss-fight for my party in a couple of weeks. I want it to be epic, with lots of enemies to fight, but I also want to A) keep it moving and B) give my players a fighting chance against a mob of goons. They have been in this game world for awhile and have made some allies who might be attracted to a big monster showdown in a public space. So what I was thinking was to have each of my five players be able to roll a d20 at the start of their turn, and if they roll high enough (say a DC 15 Charisma check) their ally shows up to help out. An example of this would be, one character made friends with the captain of the town guard, so in his case, the captain busts in with a few guards and keeps some of the enemies busy.
I was thinking I wouldn't add the allies to the initiative order, they would be doing their own fight so maybe I would do some sort of coin-toss to see how well they do each round. I also want the players to have to keep rolling well to keep their ally in the fight, and if they roll low, the allies either have to fall back or maybe they get pulled into another part of the fight "off camera". That would start of easy (say DC 10) and gradually get harder as the fight goes on.
Any notes? Has anyone ever tried something like this? Is there some existing mechanic for it?
I’ve not heard of an existing mechanic for this, and I’ll say it sounds really tedious from the DM side. But I do like the grand finale epicness of bringing all the NPC allies into the scene. A big “On your left” moment.
I wouldn’t tie it to an ability unless they’re actively yelling for help. But I could see asking for an (in Pathfinder terms) a flat check. A 15 or higher and you say “OK, noted.” After the end of their turn, you narrate “A familiar battlecry rings through the doorway. You chance a glance over your shoulder and see Bob in full armor charge in and tackle a minion to the ground. For the time being, both are tied up in their own battle and neither are involved in initiative until further notice.”
The danger of this is if the PCs care too much about the NPCs, even after you say they’re not part of their battle, the PCs are likely to try to disengage and save their friend. Especially if only one shows up at a time. Maybe once the 2nd or 3rd shows up, they relax and just appreciate the help. But until they’re sure how this will work, it’ll be more distracting than sought after.
Again, I think it’ll be tedious on your end, but you could roll a “battle check” for the ally each round. Three successes and they’ve permanently defeated the minion; three failures and the Ally is killed.
Other challenges will be the battlefield. If it’s littered with grappling “pawns,” AOE spells like fireball will catch them. I suppose you could say each occurrence is a failed battle check. Persistent spells like Cloudkill will be trickier. Will they disengage and move? Will they wait it out until their opponent dies, then try to move before they die, too?
I also think you could just remove the mechanical component to this and, as a DM in the moment, use your judgement to determine when or if you should give them NPC help. It might even be more rewarding for the players not to know about it before hand to get the feeling that an npc they trusted came through for them in the end or something.
As for determining which NPC's show up, consider ones that have had the most impact on the player they're associated with, or that people have responded to most or put forward the most emotional investment. That way it becomes less run-of-the-mill like "the (checks notes) woodcutter you killed all those bears for appears at your side like a pokemon and chops the enemy with her axe" and more "the thief you saved from the gallows, who swore a life dept to repay you which blossomed into a friend/mentorship comes to you in your darkest hour!"
Banking off emotional investment and "rule of cool" will give much more epic returns than a random mechanic.