A bit of background - I introduced the NPC in question quite early as basically Wonder Woman. She's the most powerful character in the game currently, she eats oni for breakfast and fistfights frost giants for fun, etc. She's also the Princess Consort of the kingdom the players currently adventure in as a Special Response Unit for the crown. I gave my players the choice (which was my first mistake, but I don't like them to feel like I'm forcing them along one path) to either accompany the Princess Consort on a diplomatic mission to the next kingdom over or to go investigate disappearances in a small town that have been ramping up in frequency over the past few months, figuring that a) the players would be uninterested in a campaign arc where they had to be really, really careful not to piss any NPCs off, because most of the characters have very little in the way of social skills and b) the by-the-book lawful good paladin, who is basically the father figure to the entire party, would insist on helping the villagers as part of his oath to serve and protect the people. Apparently a mountain trek into a country with mostly-closed borders run by a government that is obscenely suspicious of all outsiders actually sounded like fun to them, and due to a world-building detail I mentioned at one point, they figured out a way to travel quickly enough to do both (the Royal Family's teleportation circle network is simultaneously the best and worst thing I could have come up with for this group). This means, however, that six level 9 - possibly level 10, if they level up during the first leg, which they might - characters will be traveling with a combat-ready NPC who is the equivalent of a level 20+ player character, plus her highly-capable entourage of scouts, spies, translators, and diplomats.
I don't want to come up with dumb reasons to keep the NPCs out of combat, but I also don't want the players to feel like they're unneeded on this mission. So, uh, how on earth do I scale encounters for this arc?
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"Can we please stop debating philosophy with the dapper crab?"
Have OP npc fight the biggest opponent and direct the party to hold back waves of minions so she doesn't get overwhelmed is my first thought. Have an objective beyond just killing, capture/close that gate, I'll hold off the reenforcements while you do!
If Princess Mary Sue is with them, and they get attacked, then the creature(s) are going to be VERY powerful...period. These creatures are going to be magnitudes stronger than the characters are going to be able to handle. We're talking 1-2 turn TPK.
This is a good thing.
Just because the players make a choice doesn't mean they should be rewarded for that choice, it means they get the results of their choice. Have them join the fray, have them attempt to help in the fight, and have them thoroughly defeated. Then when all is said and done, have them resurrected, see that combat has ended, and the Princess is safe. They wake to see the attacking forces and the Princess talking and drinking, seems it was just a social custom that the players were unfamiliar with, and definitely unable to handle. You can use that moment to have the Princess send them off to look into "Something more fitting to your capabilities" and point them in the direction of the disappearances.
Sometimes the players have to fail to realize the error of their ways. Sometimes the reward is knowledge rather than xp and money. Sometimes you can "railroad" your players while still giving them a really interesting story.
My players awoke an ancient wizard from a magical slumber in order to gain his help. As they left the mountain hideaway he had been hidden, they were attacked by a large number of creatures. The NPC focused his magic on removing several of the extraneous enemies from the battle, 'banishing' them with a spell more powerful than Banishment, but one that took his full concentration to maintain. He focused on that, and the party had to deal with the rest of the combat -- while also making sure he maintained his concentration, aka: drawing fire.
So, basically: The NPC doesn't actually help in combat. The NPC seems like they help because you have given them a narrative purpose, but the NPC doesn't have 'turns' and doesn't directly act in a way that changes the flow of battle beyond their narrative purpose there. The players don't feel like they are a waste of space, or fighting something too powerful for them. The NPC seems 'epic' in some way. You get to succeed on both counts.
If you handle this the way DMThac0 suggested, I'm guessing you're going to have a group of very infuriated players. There's no reason to be mean-spirited when your players picked a story path that you presented as a viable, interesting option.
If you want to involve the NPCs in combat, the suggestion to have the Princess Consort take on the toughest foe(s) is a good one. Another way to handle this is to have the NPCs rush off to deal with one problem while sending the PCs to handle another, or to leave the PCs as a rear guard only for them to be ambushed once the high-level NPCs are gone. With the PCs being a Special Response Unit for the kingdom, it makes sense the Princess Consort would entrust them to handle certain tasks when she is busy elsewhere.
My advice would be to consider the diplomatic angle and adjust encounters accordingly. It seems to me that the Princess Consort, as the principal representative of the kingdom, would be distracted much of the time by politics. You can involve the PCs in this directly with some interesting social encounters, but they might be just as likely to stumble upon other trouble in the background that is beneath her attention. There's also a lot of interesting things you could do from a conspiratorial angle, either with scheming among the other government's representatives that the PCs could uncover or with treachery within the kingdom's own delegation.
Perhaps the PCs could be sent to do favors for the other government to get in their good graces. These favors might might be something the Princess Consort could easily handle herself, but that would be demeaning for someone of her stature.
My general question would be: what are the Princess Consort (and her entourage) not good at? Have the PCs do that.
If you handle this the way DMThac0 suggested, I'm guessing you're going to have a group of very infuriated players. There's no reason to be mean-spirited when your players picked a story path that you presented as a viable, interesting option.
I feel you misunderstood my meaning.
The players already are aware that the princess is just shy of superhero status. They took on this diplomatic mission thinking it would be more interesting/rewarding. They are, by the OP's words, not a diplomatic group of players. The chances of causing a political fiasco, again by the OP's words, is a strong possibility. So why not play into the idea that they're not qualified? It's not mean spirited to show where improvement is necessary.
I tossed out the idea of a show of strength. It's one of many ways to take it, and the least subtle.
You could have the players make it to the neighboring kingdom completely harm free. No attacks during the trip at all. However, before entering, the princess tells them all of the customs they need to follow. If the players make a mistake they're jailed or evicted from the city. The princess having to pay a fine, the diplomatic mission becoming more difficult due to the mishaps.
The idea is to show that they're not diplomats yet, they're a specialized group that might want to consider the scope of their abilities.
However it is still possible to make the whole thing even more interesting:
You could tie all that into some side quest in the neighboring kingdom where the players are trying to stop an assassination or coup. The players save the day but they ruin the princess's mission in the proces.
I think we broadly agree, DMThac0. There's certainly nothing wrong with presenting it as a very challenging situation, and I really like the idea of them trying to stop an assassination or coup and that leading to diplomatic tensions.
I just thought that the particular suggestion to have the PCs defeated, killed, resurrected, and then directed by the princess to seek "something more fitting to [their] capabilities" was a bit heavy-handed. That's not to say it's not realistic, and as a player I'd certainly get the message, but I don't think that scenario would make for a fun experience.
Thanks so much for the suggestions guys! I'll likely have the Princess Consort deal with the most dangerous enemies on the way like Noksa suggested, though there will absolutely be a very real chance that a few of the players get taken down fairly quickly, and I'm definitely going to play up how tense the situation is when they get to the neighboring country and how out of place they are there. I really appreciate the feedback - hopefully I'll be able to make it all work!
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"Can we please stop debating philosophy with the dapper crab?"
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A bit of background - I introduced the NPC in question quite early as basically Wonder Woman. She's the most powerful character in the game currently, she eats oni for breakfast and fistfights frost giants for fun, etc. She's also the Princess Consort of the kingdom the players currently adventure in as a Special Response Unit for the crown. I gave my players the choice (which was my first mistake, but I don't like them to feel like I'm forcing them along one path) to either accompany the Princess Consort on a diplomatic mission to the next kingdom over or to go investigate disappearances in a small town that have been ramping up in frequency over the past few months, figuring that a) the players would be uninterested in a campaign arc where they had to be really, really careful not to piss any NPCs off, because most of the characters have very little in the way of social skills and b) the by-the-book lawful good paladin, who is basically the father figure to the entire party, would insist on helping the villagers as part of his oath to serve and protect the people. Apparently a mountain trek into a country with mostly-closed borders run by a government that is obscenely suspicious of all outsiders actually sounded like fun to them, and due to a world-building detail I mentioned at one point, they figured out a way to travel quickly enough to do both (the Royal Family's teleportation circle network is simultaneously the best and worst thing I could have come up with for this group). This means, however, that six level 9 - possibly level 10, if they level up during the first leg, which they might - characters will be traveling with a combat-ready NPC who is the equivalent of a level 20+ player character, plus her highly-capable entourage of scouts, spies, translators, and diplomats.
I don't want to come up with dumb reasons to keep the NPCs out of combat, but I also don't want the players to feel like they're unneeded on this mission. So, uh, how on earth do I scale encounters for this arc?
"Can we please stop debating philosophy with the dapper crab?"
Have OP npc fight the biggest opponent and direct the party to hold back waves of minions so she doesn't get overwhelmed is my first thought. Have an objective beyond just killing, capture/close that gate, I'll hold off the reenforcements while you do!
If Princess Mary Sue is with them, and they get attacked, then the creature(s) are going to be VERY powerful...period. These creatures are going to be magnitudes stronger than the characters are going to be able to handle. We're talking 1-2 turn TPK.
This is a good thing.
Just because the players make a choice doesn't mean they should be rewarded for that choice, it means they get the results of their choice. Have them join the fray, have them attempt to help in the fight, and have them thoroughly defeated. Then when all is said and done, have them resurrected, see that combat has ended, and the Princess is safe. They wake to see the attacking forces and the Princess talking and drinking, seems it was just a social custom that the players were unfamiliar with, and definitely unable to handle. You can use that moment to have the Princess send them off to look into "Something more fitting to your capabilities" and point them in the direction of the disappearances.
Sometimes the players have to fail to realize the error of their ways. Sometimes the reward is knowledge rather than xp and money. Sometimes you can "railroad" your players while still giving them a really interesting story.
My players awoke an ancient wizard from a magical slumber in order to gain his help. As they left the mountain hideaway he had been hidden, they were attacked by a large number of creatures. The NPC focused his magic on removing several of the extraneous enemies from the battle, 'banishing' them with a spell more powerful than Banishment, but one that took his full concentration to maintain. He focused on that, and the party had to deal with the rest of the combat -- while also making sure he maintained his concentration, aka: drawing fire.
So, basically: The NPC doesn't actually help in combat. The NPC seems like they help because you have given them a narrative purpose, but the NPC doesn't have 'turns' and doesn't directly act in a way that changes the flow of battle beyond their narrative purpose there. The players don't feel like they are a waste of space, or fighting something too powerful for them. The NPC seems 'epic' in some way. You get to succeed on both counts.
If you handle this the way DMThac0 suggested, I'm guessing you're going to have a group of very infuriated players. There's no reason to be mean-spirited when your players picked a story path that you presented as a viable, interesting option.
If you want to involve the NPCs in combat, the suggestion to have the Princess Consort take on the toughest foe(s) is a good one. Another way to handle this is to have the NPCs rush off to deal with one problem while sending the PCs to handle another, or to leave the PCs as a rear guard only for them to be ambushed once the high-level NPCs are gone. With the PCs being a Special Response Unit for the kingdom, it makes sense the Princess Consort would entrust them to handle certain tasks when she is busy elsewhere.
My advice would be to consider the diplomatic angle and adjust encounters accordingly. It seems to me that the Princess Consort, as the principal representative of the kingdom, would be distracted much of the time by politics. You can involve the PCs in this directly with some interesting social encounters, but they might be just as likely to stumble upon other trouble in the background that is beneath her attention. There's also a lot of interesting things you could do from a conspiratorial angle, either with scheming among the other government's representatives that the PCs could uncover or with treachery within the kingdom's own delegation.
Perhaps the PCs could be sent to do favors for the other government to get in their good graces. These favors might might be something the Princess Consort could easily handle herself, but that would be demeaning for someone of her stature.
My general question would be: what are the Princess Consort (and her entourage) not good at? Have the PCs do that.
I feel you misunderstood my meaning.
The players already are aware that the princess is just shy of superhero status. They took on this diplomatic mission thinking it would be more interesting/rewarding. They are, by the OP's words, not a diplomatic group of players. The chances of causing a political fiasco, again by the OP's words, is a strong possibility. So why not play into the idea that they're not qualified? It's not mean spirited to show where improvement is necessary.
I tossed out the idea of a show of strength. It's one of many ways to take it, and the least subtle.
You could have the players make it to the neighboring kingdom completely harm free. No attacks during the trip at all. However, before entering, the princess tells them all of the customs they need to follow. If the players make a mistake they're jailed or evicted from the city. The princess having to pay a fine, the diplomatic mission becoming more difficult due to the mishaps.
The idea is to show that they're not diplomats yet, they're a specialized group that might want to consider the scope of their abilities.
However it is still possible to make the whole thing even more interesting:
You could tie all that into some side quest in the neighboring kingdom where the players are trying to stop an assassination or coup. The players save the day but they ruin the princess's mission in the proces.
I think we broadly agree, DMThac0. There's certainly nothing wrong with presenting it as a very challenging situation, and I really like the idea of them trying to stop an assassination or coup and that leading to diplomatic tensions.
I just thought that the particular suggestion to have the PCs defeated, killed, resurrected, and then directed by the princess to seek "something more fitting to [their] capabilities" was a bit heavy-handed. That's not to say it's not realistic, and as a player I'd certainly get the message, but I don't think that scenario would make for a fun experience.
Thanks so much for the suggestions guys! I'll likely have the Princess Consort deal with the most dangerous enemies on the way like Noksa suggested, though there will absolutely be a very real chance that a few of the players get taken down fairly quickly, and I'm definitely going to play up how tense the situation is when they get to the neighboring country and how out of place they are there. I really appreciate the feedback - hopefully I'll be able to make it all work!
"Can we please stop debating philosophy with the dapper crab?"