I am starting a new campaign with a relatively small group of 3 main players and a 4th that pops in when he can manage to play. The over all bad guy for this is going to be a Archmage/Lich who plans to resurrect a forgotten God. I have the first game or two pretty much set up and I am starting them at lvl 1 with only the three main players playing. The problem im having currently though is scaling down the first encounter with the Main Plot Boss. I have set it up that they all live in a city where they do not know one another. The city is attacked by the acultist and in the fray the players are each surrounded in their location and teleport to the cults base to be killed by Archmage who has seen that the only ones in his way of resurrecting the god is to kill the party. To counteract how powerful this fight to escape I plan on tossing in a NPC who shows up and helps them to escape. I am going to make him a reacquiring NPC who knew the Lich before he "lost his way" and will subtly guide the party along the way.
My question is how would you best dumb down the fight between level 1 players and a few cultist till I throw in the NPC and the escape? Do I just say the Lich orders them to contain the players as he fights the NPC and then they escape fighting the cultist? How many would you believable have the party "fight" without undermine the power and following the Archmage/Lich has? If you where DMing this senerio how would you set this up personally this is the first time Im throwing the main boss at first lvl players.
BBEG: "These mortals are but kittens among wolves. Go, destroy them!" as he sends out his cultists.
Party fights and is either successful or is overwhelmed, either way does not matter.
Party is, or isn't, successful; the BBEG casts a spell that stops all of the players in their tracks such as Mass Suggestion. Where upon the NPC drops in and destroys the remaining cultists, removes their helm, looks at the Lich and there is a pause. The Lich, overcome by the reveal vanishes vowing to destroy the players.
It's a simple setup, effective in getting the story going, sets up the immediate goal of the Lich toward the players, and introduces your exposition NPC. The best part is, at level one, you can set the scene with dozens of cultists standing in the room yet only have 6 of them attack. The rest of the cult, and the Lich can simply walk away with arrogance.
Perhaps have this fight occurring in some public place, with all sorts of witnesses. The evil mage is there but not ready to reveal themself and their true power/nature because the whole kingdom could rise to resist, so generic goons (cultists disguised as thugs) are involved and the big bad is forced to snarl angrily at the party and leave before things get too politically awkward. "But mark my words, I'll deal with you meddling adventurers!"
Perhaps have a say, 7th or 11th lvl underling follow the archmage/lich around and he is commanded to kill them but ends up in a battle between the NPC wizard or whoever the npc is? Now, I'm gonna do a dangerous thing here and say: Liches are CR 18. you can always say that "well the lich wasn't as powerful when he became a lich". But an archmage is VERY ******* POWERFUL. And I would advise against using an archmage with a 1st lvl party. Because that they are suppose to be VERY clever and many of them probably have spells of their own creation that would be enough to kill a party of 1st level. or just thunderwave them at 6th level. You can do it! Certainly. But you have to play it smart else you are gonna end up nearfing an archmage which is suppose to show how powerful wizards can be at level 66. But! If you want to, then do it! ^^
As for nearfing? Make him underestimate the party. Or perhaps he does kill them and suddenly they are restored! By a cleric friend who owed the NPC resucer a favor! But now they're even! Or something. Else, ask them to bring additional character sheets and perhaps a little creativity :p.
Sorry if it doesn't help as much. ^^ Good luck my friend! ^^
Have you considered a different approach? I'm having a hard time seeing how the lich/archmage doesn't just kill the PCs outright, as you've stated that he has foreseen that the party is the only thing standing in his way. It seems like even the most arrogant of villains would want to nip this problem in the bud, if it represents not just a threat but an existential threat to his plans.
Even running the encounter as described, with an NPC showing up to provide help, what's stopping this lich/archmage from going after the PCs the moment their "guardian" isn't around anymore? I also think this whole scenario robs your players of quite a bit of agency, between being forced into an encounter and then being saved by a deus ex machina. Also, "you need to stop this lich or he'll kill you all," while a strong motivator, isn't particularly interesting from a story perspective.
A couple of the building blocks you have here are good ideas: introducing a big bad and the stakes to the PCs early and connecting them to a helpful ally to guide them during their journey. I'm just not sure you've decided on the right approach.
Consider an example: maybe whatever means the lich/archmage used to discover this threat to his plans was vague. Maybe he knows they are denizens of the city in question, but not who they are exactly. Perhaps the PCs even see some individuals who look a bit like them or who have similar abilities killed by cultists or by the big bad himself. Have them see the big bad from a distance and realize he's too powerful to take on directly. Maybe the PCs can help rescue other residents of the city who are caught up in the crossfire, and maybe this is how they encounter the NPC ally.
This is just one potential idea. I'm sure you can think of other, more interesting scenarios. But I just want to highlight that there are probably better ways to achieve your goals than forcing the PCs into an unwinnable encounter where they are rescued by a powerful NPC.
I think you may be getting ahead of yourself here. I understand if your problem is "why isn't the ultra genius evil boss able to see that the party is fated to thwart his plan" or something like that. I've even thought along similar lines once or twice. Or perhaps you just want to introduce the players to the main villain at the start of the campaign...
The PCs being surrounded alone and then teleported to the villain -- sounds strange to me. Why not just kill them in that scenario? You don't even have to be that smart of a player to question that.
It could be that there are threads of fate connecting the villain with the characters. When the villain performs a great ritual, perhaps to contact the deity he wants to resurrect, the divine powers of fate cause the PC:s to have identical dream vision of the whole thing. I think that could work as a plot hook.
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I am starting a new campaign with a relatively small group of 3 main players and a 4th that pops in when he can manage to play. The over all bad guy for this is going to be a Archmage/Lich who plans to resurrect a forgotten God. I have the first game or two pretty much set up and I am starting them at lvl 1 with only the three main players playing. The problem im having currently though is scaling down the first encounter with the Main Plot Boss. I have set it up that they all live in a city where they do not know one another. The city is attacked by the acultist and in the fray the players are each surrounded in their location and teleport to the cults base to be killed by Archmage who has seen that the only ones in his way of resurrecting the god is to kill the party. To counteract how powerful this fight to escape I plan on tossing in a NPC who shows up and helps them to escape. I am going to make him a reacquiring NPC who knew the Lich before he "lost his way" and will subtly guide the party along the way.
My question is how would you best dumb down the fight between level 1 players and a few cultist till I throw in the NPC and the escape? Do I just say the Lich orders them to contain the players as he fights the NPC and then they escape fighting the cultist? How many would you believable have the party "fight" without undermine the power and following the Archmage/Lich has? If you where DMing this senerio how would you set this up personally this is the first time Im throwing the main boss at first lvl players.
BBEG: "These mortals are but kittens among wolves. Go, destroy them!" as he sends out his cultists.
Party fights and is either successful or is overwhelmed, either way does not matter.
Party is, or isn't, successful; the BBEG casts a spell that stops all of the players in their tracks such as Mass Suggestion. Where upon the NPC drops in and destroys the remaining cultists, removes their helm, looks at the Lich and there is a pause. The Lich, overcome by the reveal vanishes vowing to destroy the players.
It's a simple setup, effective in getting the story going, sets up the immediate goal of the Lich toward the players, and introduces your exposition NPC. The best part is, at level one, you can set the scene with dozens of cultists standing in the room yet only have 6 of them attack. The rest of the cult, and the Lich can simply walk away with arrogance.
Perhaps have this fight occurring in some public place, with all sorts of witnesses. The evil mage is there but not ready to reveal themself and their true power/nature because the whole kingdom could rise to resist, so generic goons (cultists disguised as thugs) are involved and the big bad is forced to snarl angrily at the party and leave before things get too politically awkward. "But mark my words, I'll deal with you meddling adventurers!"
Perhaps have a say, 7th or 11th lvl underling follow the archmage/lich around and he is commanded to kill them but ends up in a battle between the NPC wizard or whoever the
npc is? Now, I'm gonna do a dangerous thing here and say: Liches are CR 18. you can always say that "well the lich wasn't as powerful when he became a lich". But an archmage
is VERY ******* POWERFUL. And I would advise against using an archmage with a 1st lvl party. Because that they are suppose to be VERY clever and many of them probably have
spells of their own creation that would be enough to kill a party of 1st level. or just thunderwave them at 6th level. You can do it! Certainly. But you have to play it smart else you are
gonna end up nearfing an archmage which is suppose to show how powerful wizards can be at level 66. But! If you want to, then do it! ^^
As for nearfing? Make him underestimate the party. Or perhaps he does kill them and suddenly they are restored! By a cleric friend who owed the NPC resucer a favor!
But now they're even! Or something. Else, ask them to bring additional character sheets and perhaps a little creativity :p.
Sorry if it doesn't help as much. ^^ Good luck my friend! ^^
Have you considered a different approach? I'm having a hard time seeing how the lich/archmage doesn't just kill the PCs outright, as you've stated that he has foreseen that the party is the only thing standing in his way. It seems like even the most arrogant of villains would want to nip this problem in the bud, if it represents not just a threat but an existential threat to his plans.
Even running the encounter as described, with an NPC showing up to provide help, what's stopping this lich/archmage from going after the PCs the moment their "guardian" isn't around anymore? I also think this whole scenario robs your players of quite a bit of agency, between being forced into an encounter and then being saved by a deus ex machina. Also, "you need to stop this lich or he'll kill you all," while a strong motivator, isn't particularly interesting from a story perspective.
A couple of the building blocks you have here are good ideas: introducing a big bad and the stakes to the PCs early and connecting them to a helpful ally to guide them during their journey. I'm just not sure you've decided on the right approach.
Consider an example: maybe whatever means the lich/archmage used to discover this threat to his plans was vague. Maybe he knows they are denizens of the city in question, but not who they are exactly. Perhaps the PCs even see some individuals who look a bit like them or who have similar abilities killed by cultists or by the big bad himself. Have them see the big bad from a distance and realize he's too powerful to take on directly. Maybe the PCs can help rescue other residents of the city who are caught up in the crossfire, and maybe this is how they encounter the NPC ally.
This is just one potential idea. I'm sure you can think of other, more interesting scenarios. But I just want to highlight that there are probably better ways to achieve your goals than forcing the PCs into an unwinnable encounter where they are rescued by a powerful NPC.
I think you may be getting ahead of yourself here. I understand if your problem is "why isn't the ultra genius evil boss able to see that the party is fated to thwart his plan" or something like that. I've even thought along similar lines once or twice. Or perhaps you just want to introduce the players to the main villain at the start of the campaign...
The PCs being surrounded alone and then teleported to the villain -- sounds strange to me. Why not just kill them in that scenario? You don't even have to be that smart of a player to question that.
It could be that there are threads of fate connecting the villain with the characters. When the villain performs a great ritual, perhaps to contact the deity he wants to resurrect, the divine powers of fate cause the PC:s to have identical dream vision of the whole thing. I think that could work as a plot hook.