Buffoon ex Machina? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Buffoon ex Machina? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Spatacus
07-25-07, 01:09 AM I’ve just had an amusing NPC idea that I’ll use the next time I DM.

During the boss fight a knight in gleaming armor will burst through the door. Flinging his exquisite cape in a most dramatic fashion and drawing his blade with purpose, the knight’s commanding voice rings “Fear not dear warriors! Upon my honor I shall rescue you from this vile ogre/werewolf/were-half golem anthropomorphic dire raw calamari lich!”

Anime-style sparkles shimmer around the warrior as dramatic smoke pools around his majestic boots. If you had lots of spare gold you’d hire a couple of low level arcanists to run your special effects department, wouldn’t you? And you can’t forget the troubadours.

Once the pomp and circumstance has been sufficiently pomped and circumstanced the mighty warrior charges headlong into the fray . . . then comes the attack of opportunity. WHACK! Down goes the knight like a tipsy freshman with low self esteem. Fear not! He’s only knocked unconscious.

When the battle’s over and he’s revived he’ll return to town with the party, but one of his assistants will discreetly stay back. The assistant will take the fallen enemy’s head as a trophy. Upon returning to the village the knight, with the help of his troubadours, brags that he single-handedly slayed the monster as the PCs ran for their lives. Should the PCs confront him, he takes the head of the beast from his assistant and asks “How then do I have this trophy?”

This scenario should spark some interesting role-playing back in town, maybe earlier if the party notices anything suspicious.

*** Stat time ***

The knight: Aristocrat of the party’s level -2 or so. Good charisma and social skills, not much else matters.

Troubadours / Assistants: Low level experts. The one that hides back has stealthy skills.

FX Crew: an Adept. If they don’t have the cantrips needed . . . *looks up rule zero* Oh, they can cast those spells =P
vricon
07-25-07, 01:16 AM bravo
EchoXero
07-25-07, 01:19 AM An interesting situtation, to be sure. It should provide your PCs with a memorable confrontation. My group would probably handle this situation alot differently then you would expect. The "knight" would have arrows in his head before he made it to the bad guy, for the sheer fact that he snuck up on them and they can get really jumpy.
Mock26
07-25-07, 03:27 AM This reminds me of one of my recurring NPC's, whose name is Sir Arno. When they first met him he came flying to the ground as a glowing ball of fire and he landed, naked, and glowing red hot, in a crater. He got up, all bewildered, completely unharmed, and asked the group where he was and when it was. He claims to have fallen from the moon, but he doesn't know how he got to the moon in the first place. They have since run across him several times, usually with some bizarre mechanical device as he tries to figure out how to get back to the moon! On one other occasion they saw him with wings on his helmet, arms, hips, legs, and feet as he jumped off of a 1,000' cliff, only to plummet to the ground below. The group used magic to get down there only to find him confused as to how his flying suit failed to work. The group always finds him entertaining and amusing. I think that every campaign needs a regular NPC who is a buffoon. It adds levity, and realism, to the game. After all, nearly everyone knows or has known someone who is/was a fool or a buffoon.
Bozwevial
07-25-07, 09:00 AM I would gladly take lessons from Sir Arno. It's not every NPC who can fall from the moon or over a 1000 foot cliff and survive.
NinjaPenguin
07-25-07, 09:45 AM Ah, its only 20d6 damage, falling that far. Of course, the fire damage from the friction could be nasty, but there are spells/items/special abilities for that. Still its quite amusing.

I've had groups that wouldn't hesitate to chop off the OP Buffoon's head in return for his troubles, but then again, I used to play with a number of evil players.
brock samson
07-25-07, 01:03 PM Great, great ideas. The intrigue and RPing situations that can come out of this are something new and fresh.
DarthMarasmus
07-25-07, 01:25 PM To the OP, that's an interesting idea, but be careful with it. I've seen far too many DMs attempt to be funny with a recurring buffoon-type character and fail miserably (often because said DM made the character far more annoying and outright ridiculous than funny). I'd say only use him once every 2-3 sessions, otherwise you run the risk of hacking off the players.

For example, one game I was in, the DM had a pixie or fairy or something with us that "moved" by casting blink (and yes, I realize that the mechanics don't allow for that). Every time he used it, he said "Blink! Blink!" in a high pitched, annoying falsetto voice. Needless to say, we all wanted to slaughter the stupid pixie and possibly the DM as well.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Spatacus 07-25-07, 01:09 AM	I’ve just had an amusing NPC idea that I’ll use the next time I DM. During the boss fight a knight in gleaming armor will burst through the door. Flinging his exquisite cape in a most dramatic fashion and drawing his blade with purpose, the knight’s commanding voice rings “Fear not dear warriors! Upon my honor I shall rescue you from this vile ogre/werewolf/were-half golem anthropomorphic dire raw calamari lich!” Anime-style sparkles shimmer around the warrior as dramatic smoke pools around his majestic boots. If you had lots of spare gold you’d hire a couple of low level arcanists to run your special effects department, wouldn’t you? And you can’t forget the troubadours. Once the pomp and circumstance has been sufficiently pomped and circumstanced the mighty warrior charges headlong into the fray . . . then comes the attack of opportunity. WHACK! Down goes the knight like a tipsy freshman with low self esteem. Fear not! He’s only knocked unconscious. When the battle’s over and he’s revived he’ll return to town with the party, but one of his assistants will discreetly stay back. The assistant will take the fallen enemy’s head as a trophy. Upon returning to the village the knight, with the help of his troubadours, brags that he single-handedly slayed the monster as the PCs ran for their lives. Should the PCs confront him, he takes the head of the beast from his assistant and asks “How then do I have this trophy?” This scenario should spark some interesting role-playing back in town, maybe earlier if the party notices anything suspicious. * Stat time * The knight: Aristocrat of the party’s level -2 or so. Good charisma and social skills, not much else matters. Troubadours / Assistants: Low level experts. The one that hides back has stealthy skills. FX Crew: an Adept. If they don’t have the cantrips needed . . . looks up rule zero Oh, they can cast those spells =P
vricon 07-25-07, 01:16 AM	bravo
EchoXero 07-25-07, 01:19 AM	An interesting situtation, to be sure. It should provide your PCs with a memorable confrontation. My group would probably handle this situation alot differently then you would expect. The "knight" would have arrows in his head before he made it to the bad guy, for the sheer fact that he snuck up on them and they can get really jumpy.
Mock26 07-25-07, 03:27 AM	This reminds me of one of my recurring NPC's, whose name is Sir Arno. When they first met him he came flying to the ground as a glowing ball of fire and he landed, naked, and glowing red hot, in a crater. He got up, all bewildered, completely unharmed, and asked the group where he was and when it was. He claims to have fallen from the moon, but he doesn't know how he got to the moon in the first place. They have since run across him several times, usually with some bizarre mechanical device as he tries to figure out how to get back to the moon! On one other occasion they saw him with wings on his helmet, arms, hips, legs, and feet as he jumped off of a 1,000' cliff, only to plummet to the ground below. The group used magic to get down there only to find him confused as to how his flying suit failed to work. The group always finds him entertaining and amusing. I think that every campaign needs a regular NPC who is a buffoon. It adds levity, and realism, to the game. After all, nearly everyone knows or has known someone who is/was a fool or a buffoon.
Bozwevial 07-25-07, 09:00 AM	I would gladly take lessons from Sir Arno. It's not every NPC who can fall from the moon or over a 1000 foot cliff and survive.
NinjaPenguin 07-25-07, 09:45 AM	Ah, its only 20d6 damage, falling that far. Of course, the fire damage from the friction could be nasty, but there are spells/items/special abilities for that. Still its quite amusing. I've had groups that wouldn't hesitate to chop off the OP Buffoon's head in return for his troubles, but then again, I used to play with a number of evil players.
brock samson 07-25-07, 01:03 PM	Great, great ideas. The intrigue and RPing situations that can come out of this are something new and fresh.
DarthMarasmus 07-25-07, 01:25 PM	To the OP, that's an interesting idea, but be careful with it. I've seen far too many DMs attempt to be funny with a recurring buffoon-type character and fail miserably (often because said DM made the character far more annoying and outright ridiculous than funny). I'd say only use him once every 2-3 sessions, otherwise you run the risk of hacking off the players. For example, one game I was in, the DM had a pixie or fairy or something with us that "moved" by casting blink (and yes, I realize that the mechanics don't allow for that). Every time he used it, he said "Blink! Blink!" in a high pitched, annoying falsetto voice. Needless to say, we all wanted to slaughter the stupid pixie and possibly the DM as well.