If you have a big party, one or two of them get introduced to intellect devourers before the party is released on their own recognizance. Just to be sure to be sure things get done.
Your demon could have captured another adventuring party and kept them just for fighting.
I do like this idea. Make the other party a really obvious mirror of the PCs, to drive home the point that "this could (should) be you, but I am a merciful DM just this once"
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I'm a huge fan of letting the players figure there own way out of the mess that they got into. You didn't dupe them into the situation they are in? They made this choice, but maybe there were a couple NPCs that would physically stop them before they got to this part, but that's for the shoulda-done-this pile.
If the party can't figure out how to get out, they wake up in the gibbets outside the gate of the tower. Or maybe, when you get back to the table, you dream sequence them back to the end of the long rest that brought them to this point. If they've made a mistake after they were clearly warned, offer them a flat out retcon. If they turn it down - skin that smoke wagon and get to work. But let the players choose, don't force your solution onto them.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
One thing that ought to be mentioned is that these PCs are level 2 and are very vulnerable to instant death. Assuming a CON modifier of no more than +2, a d8 hit die character will have an average 17 hit points. If the Glabrezu rolls a critical hit (roughly 20% chance if it 'goes easy' on them and makes 4 attacks instead of casting a spell, 10% chance if it does) and then rolls above average on its damage dice (15 on 2d10) then it deals 35 damage and kills the character outright in a single hit. For a d6 hit die character like a wizard or sorcerer, it only needs to score 14 on 2d10. A single round of combat may well result in character instant death.
Sound unlikely? If the Glabrezu hits the 17hp character on its first attack, then they'll drop to 1 hit point on an average roll. A second attack needs to then deal just 18 damage (13 rolled on 2d10 when average is 11) in order to kill them outright.
If you play the Glabrezu as though it's a genius creature (Int 19), it should also go straight for the squishies, ignoring the front line, and if they go unconscious hit them again for 2 failed death saves, and again for death. It can shrug off any number of hits from the puny players and it knows it.
After a while of thinking about what approach to take, I think I'm going to knock out the party, and have them wake up in small rooms connected to an arena. Multiple demons from the Tower gathered here to watch these puny mortals fight for their lives. Once inside the arena, various holes and gates in the walls open and release stirges, zombies, and a Carrion Crawler at the end. The Glabrezu then shows up in the arena, knocks everyone out again, and dumps the survivors at the gates of the Tower.
Am I going too easy on them, or is this a fitting challenge?
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Former Spider Queen of the Spider Guild, and friendly neighborhood scheming creature.
"Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders."
My pronouns are she/her.
Web Weaver of Everlasting Narrative! (title bestowed by Drummer)
Well, the personality I gave the Glabrezu is that they like food and torturing others, and hate paladins. Maybe the Glabrezu will let the players go if the paladin stays with them, forced to be their personal chef for a while. Is that too easy on them?
Fresh food is best.
Knock them to 0 HP, hang them upside down before cooking - PCs wake up when Glabrezu isn't in the room.
After a while of thinking about what approach to take, I think I'm going to knock out the party, and have them wake up in small rooms connected to an arena. Multiple demons from the Tower gathered here to watch these puny mortals fight for their lives. Once inside the arena, various holes and gates in the walls open and release stirges, zombies, and a Carrion Crawler at the end. The Glabrezu then shows up in the arena, knocks everyone out again, and dumps the survivors at the gates of the Tower.
Am I going too easy on them, or is this a fitting challenge?
I actually think maybe you shouldn't overthink it. The PCs ought to figure this out themselves, and if they've attacked the Glabrezu then that's on them. If it was the Glabrezu initiate the attack, then have it strike for non-lethal damage and put them in the arena, but if the PCs want to fight, then they should fight. If they want to run, then they run.
The arena plan is a bit of a "Mr Bond, now you die by the lazer sharks and I'll not watch" moment. I do think that you are letting them off lightly. The PCs blundered badly by going somewhere they'd been told not to go, and they will come out of it entirely unscathed. I think that they ought to be bound to the Glabrezu in some way. For example, each PC gains a particular mark on their body (personally I'd go with badass looking tattoos around their eyes) and any time they take a life, that creature's soul is gifted to the abyss, and if no sentient creature's soul is sent there within a week, the PC suffers a level of exhaustion that cannot be removed until they do. Escaping its clutches should become a significant story goal.
If you are going to let them go without combat or do the arena, then I'd also remove all possibility of reaching the high level dungeons and areas until the PCs are guaranteed to be able to beat them. This is an important distinction in the type of game you're running. You may want to feel like the world exists around the PCs, but actually, you're changing the world to meet the current needs of the PCs to guarantee that they'll win. That's fine, D&D can be played that way if that's what you prefer, but there's no point letting them into the Tower of Skulls if the denizens are going to get nerfed or changed if the PCs get there under level.
That's great advice. I'll let them do what they want, and if they get sent to 0 hp at the Glabrezu's hands, then I'll go with the Binding Mark idea. The whole "kill something sentient once a week" curse seems a bit extreme, but this is a demon that enjoys torturing and corrupting others we're talking about. Any other Binding Mark ideas?
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Former Spider Queen of the Spider Guild, and friendly neighborhood scheming creature.
"Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders."
My pronouns are she/her.
Web Weaver of Everlasting Narrative! (title bestowed by Drummer)
They could have to destroy or defile a holy place or item of good if souls is too extreme. Maybe they have to burn a sacred grove of trees, bring the glabrezu the holy bones of a martyr that are displayed in a vast cathedral (heist mission!).
Try a plot twist, for example: the glabrezu was actually a commoner who accidentally read a spell scroll for polymorph, and it wears off soon. Then the commoner will tell the characters not to keep going (or something that will keep them out of the rest of the tower).
A glabrezu is more than powerful enough to play with them a bit so I wouldn't jump straight for a kill.
I probably would have it cast darkness or confusion on them , move in to make two attacks and try to grapple one or more. If it reduces a target to 0 that's fine because it can do non lethal. It then uses those people as hostages to start a dialogue. That should probably get the message across they can't win this fight and lets them try and bargain out of it. You never know, maybe the players can think of a way to bribe the demon or something. If you want to improv a deal just use the effects of the spell [spell]geas[/geas] that lasts until they fulfill the deal, the damage is enough to keep them in line at that level and the charm leaves them unable to attack the demon so they wont be able to progress through that tower again until they find a way to deal with the curse.
If they still fight knock them out and have the Glabrezu do what ever it wants with them. Personally I think a demon would torcher them to death because fiends need people to die in specific ways to make more fiends. With that in mind i'd offer the players a choice to let those characters make new characters or try to escape/ rescue them. Of course they may also piss the fiend off enough to have it kill them outright which I would say happens if they do more than 50 damage or combat drags on too many rounds, at the point just kill them. If they've been given a chance to talk and a couple of rounds of combat to choose to flee then death is more than fair.
What does the MM say about this creature? How can you incorporate that into the encounter?
A glabrezu takes great pleasure in destroying mortals through temptation, and these creatures are among the few demons to offer their service to creatures foolish enough to summon them.
Although glabrezus are devastating in combat, they prefer to tempt victims into ruin, using power or wealth as a lure. Engaging in guile, trickery, and evil bargains, a glabrezu hoards riches that it uses to fulfill promises to shortsighted summoners and weak-willed mortals. However, if its attempts to entice or deceive fail, a glabrezu has the strength to fight and win
Okay, start of the next session, a perceptive character notices an unconscious summoner on the floor.
Do you have someone in your campaign that you need them to find? Guess what -- they found them.
Maybe the glabrezu managed to get the drop on the summoner, but it's still trapped in its summoning glyph. And that's when it attempts to beguile and entreat with the party. Maybe it even offers someone a lot -- A LOT -- of power to betray the team and free it. "All you have to do," it whispers in one of their mind, "is brush away one rune from the glyph. One smudge. One mistake and I'll be able to do the rest."
Even if they succumb, the glabrezu spares their lives for the help they gave it. And the team is now forever "marred" with the stench of helping a demon--no matter how small it was.
(Just be prepared to actually offer the player some sort of power that is manageable (for you) at their level -- maybe something that grows with them.)
Try a plot twist, for example: the glabrezu was actually a commoner who accidentally read a spell scroll for polymorph, and it wears off soon. Then the commoner will tell the characters not to keep going (or something that will keep them out of the rest of the tower).
lol this is actually a fun idea!
Then maybe there's a situation where there are a lot of missing spell scrolls that they need to find, lest other commoners do something actually terrible.
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If you have a big party, one or two of them get introduced to intellect devourers before the party is released on their own recognizance. Just to be sure to be sure things get done.
And let them know before the session via narrative e ail or whatever. Give them time to think hard on it.
I do like this idea. Make the other party a really obvious mirror of the PCs, to drive home the point that "this could (should) be you, but I am a merciful DM just this once"
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I'm a huge fan of letting the players figure there own way out of the mess that they got into. You didn't dupe them into the situation they are in? They made this choice, but maybe there were a couple NPCs that would physically stop them before they got to this part, but that's for the shoulda-done-this pile.
If the party can't figure out how to get out, they wake up in the gibbets outside the gate of the tower. Or maybe, when you get back to the table, you dream sequence them back to the end of the long rest that brought them to this point. If they've made a mistake after they were clearly warned, offer them a flat out retcon. If they turn it down - skin that smoke wagon and get to work. But let the players choose, don't force your solution onto them.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
One thing that ought to be mentioned is that these PCs are level 2 and are very vulnerable to instant death. Assuming a CON modifier of no more than +2, a d8 hit die character will have an average 17 hit points. If the Glabrezu rolls a critical hit (roughly 20% chance if it 'goes easy' on them and makes 4 attacks instead of casting a spell, 10% chance if it does) and then rolls above average on its damage dice (15 on 2d10) then it deals 35 damage and kills the character outright in a single hit. For a d6 hit die character like a wizard or sorcerer, it only needs to score 14 on 2d10. A single round of combat may well result in character instant death.
Sound unlikely? If the Glabrezu hits the 17hp character on its first attack, then they'll drop to 1 hit point on an average roll. A second attack needs to then deal just 18 damage (13 rolled on 2d10 when average is 11) in order to kill them outright.
If you play the Glabrezu as though it's a genius creature (Int 19), it should also go straight for the squishies, ignoring the front line, and if they go unconscious hit them again for 2 failed death saves, and again for death. It can shrug off any number of hits from the puny players and it knows it.
These are all great ideas! Thank you all so much for helping me find a way to manage this dilemma!
Former Spider Queen of the Spider Guild, and friendly neighborhood scheming creature.
"Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders."
My pronouns are she/her.
Web Weaver of Everlasting Narrative! (title bestowed by Drummer)
After a while of thinking about what approach to take, I think I'm going to knock out the party, and have them wake up in small rooms connected to an arena. Multiple demons from the Tower gathered here to watch these puny mortals fight for their lives. Once inside the arena, various holes and gates in the walls open and release stirges, zombies, and a Carrion Crawler at the end. The Glabrezu then shows up in the arena, knocks everyone out again, and dumps the survivors at the gates of the Tower.
Am I going too easy on them, or is this a fitting challenge?
Former Spider Queen of the Spider Guild, and friendly neighborhood scheming creature.
"Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders."
My pronouns are she/her.
Web Weaver of Everlasting Narrative! (title bestowed by Drummer)
Fresh food is best.
Knock them to 0 HP, hang them upside down before cooking - PCs wake up when Glabrezu isn't in the room.
I actually think maybe you shouldn't overthink it. The PCs ought to figure this out themselves, and if they've attacked the Glabrezu then that's on them. If it was the Glabrezu initiate the attack, then have it strike for non-lethal damage and put them in the arena, but if the PCs want to fight, then they should fight. If they want to run, then they run.
The arena plan is a bit of a "Mr Bond, now you die by the lazer sharks and I'll not watch" moment. I do think that you are letting them off lightly. The PCs blundered badly by going somewhere they'd been told not to go, and they will come out of it entirely unscathed. I think that they ought to be bound to the Glabrezu in some way. For example, each PC gains a particular mark on their body (personally I'd go with badass looking tattoos around their eyes) and any time they take a life, that creature's soul is gifted to the abyss, and if no sentient creature's soul is sent there within a week, the PC suffers a level of exhaustion that cannot be removed until they do. Escaping its clutches should become a significant story goal.
If you are going to let them go without combat or do the arena, then I'd also remove all possibility of reaching the high level dungeons and areas until the PCs are guaranteed to be able to beat them. This is an important distinction in the type of game you're running. You may want to feel like the world exists around the PCs, but actually, you're changing the world to meet the current needs of the PCs to guarantee that they'll win. That's fine, D&D can be played that way if that's what you prefer, but there's no point letting them into the Tower of Skulls if the denizens are going to get nerfed or changed if the PCs get there under level.
That's great advice. I'll let them do what they want, and if they get sent to 0 hp at the Glabrezu's hands, then I'll go with the Binding Mark idea. The whole "kill something sentient once a week" curse seems a bit extreme, but this is a demon that enjoys torturing and corrupting others we're talking about. Any other Binding Mark ideas?
Former Spider Queen of the Spider Guild, and friendly neighborhood scheming creature.
"Made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders."
My pronouns are she/her.
Web Weaver of Everlasting Narrative! (title bestowed by Drummer)
They could have to destroy or defile a holy place or item of good if souls is too extreme. Maybe they have to burn a sacred grove of trees, bring the glabrezu the holy bones of a martyr that are displayed in a vast cathedral (heist mission!).
Try a plot twist, for example: the glabrezu was actually a commoner who accidentally read a spell scroll for polymorph, and it wears off soon. Then the commoner will tell the characters not to keep going (or something that will keep them out of the rest of the tower).
pm me the word "tomato"
she/her
A glabrezu is more than powerful enough to play with them a bit so I wouldn't jump straight for a kill.
I probably would have it cast darkness or confusion on them , move in to make two attacks and try to grapple one or more. If it reduces a target to 0 that's fine because it can do non lethal. It then uses those people as hostages to start a dialogue. That should probably get the message across they can't win this fight and lets them try and bargain out of it. You never know, maybe the players can think of a way to bribe the demon or something. If you want to improv a deal just use the effects of the spell [spell]geas[/geas] that lasts until they fulfill the deal, the damage is enough to keep them in line at that level and the charm leaves them unable to attack the demon so they wont be able to progress through that tower again until they find a way to deal with the curse.
If they still fight knock them out and have the Glabrezu do what ever it wants with them. Personally I think a demon would torcher them to death because fiends need people to die in specific ways to make more fiends. With that in mind i'd offer the players a choice to let those characters make new characters or try to escape/ rescue them. Of course they may also piss the fiend off enough to have it kill them outright which I would say happens if they do more than 50 damage or combat drags on too many rounds, at the point just kill them. If they've been given a chance to talk and a couple of rounds of combat to choose to flee then death is more than fair.
What does the MM say about this creature? How can you incorporate that into the encounter?
Okay, start of the next session, a perceptive character notices an unconscious summoner on the floor.
Do you have someone in your campaign that you need them to find? Guess what -- they found them.
Maybe the glabrezu managed to get the drop on the summoner, but it's still trapped in its summoning glyph. And that's when it attempts to beguile and entreat with the party. Maybe it even offers someone a lot -- A LOT -- of power to betray the team and free it. "All you have to do," it whispers in one of their mind, "is brush away one rune from the glyph. One smudge. One mistake and I'll be able to do the rest."
Even if they succumb, the glabrezu spares their lives for the help they gave it. And the team is now forever "marred" with the stench of helping a demon--no matter how small it was.
(Just be prepared to actually offer the player some sort of power that is manageable (for you) at their level -- maybe something that grows with them.)
lol this is actually a fun idea!
Then maybe there's a situation where there are a lot of missing spell scrolls that they need to find, lest other commoners do something actually terrible.