Kidnapping and Powerplays [Archive] - Wizards Community

Kidnapping and Powerplays [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
TheApokalypseShovel
06-07-07, 06:21 PM Our party is trying to gain control over a nearby kingdom. We recently threw it into war with another neighboring city-state to the south and are planning to create more chaos with either a gnoll or undead invasion from north. Our party leader, a paladin of tyranny, will hopefully be able to gain sizable reputation and power in the kingdom by defeating these threats. At the same time we made an agreement with a Lich to get him members of the Royal family to satisfy his longstanding feud. In exchange we get his powerful support and undead armies.

We are going to start kidnapping family members pretty soon and I was wondering about good tactics for hit and runs, as well as ways not reveal our identities.

Our party:
Lucius - Paladin of Tyranny 8
Relor (me) - Human paragon 3/Wizard 4
Gorly Ha Ha - Gnoll Ranger ecl 8
Rogue(name forgotten) - Human Rogue 7/Assassin 1
Loyal NPCs:
Cleric of Balphamet(evil God, not sure of domains) 8
Dwarf fighter3/barbarian 4
Support Crews:
Gorly's Gnoll tribe - 13 gnolls
Church of Balphamet - 2-4 semi powerful warriors at time
Lich's forces - unknown

We are all varying degrees of evil and the ends will most certainly justify the means. We also are very wealthy for our character levels. Any suggestions are welcome.
Radijs
06-07-07, 07:47 PM There are a few diffrent strategies you can use at that level.

Firstly: Find out who your targets are. Kidnapping a few low-level aristocrats is diffrent from trying to capture a high level wizard.

Seconly: When are you going to take them? Use scrying to find out their routines, listen to the town criers so you might catch them outdoors.

My preference would be:
The wizard and the rogue use dimension door to 'port to the target. The rogue subdues the target and then the wizard casts teleport to get them both to a safe house or better, straight to the lair of the lich.

The only downside is that you get one per hit and after the first they are going to be on their guard.

If you want to get them all at the same time I suppose you will have to sneak into their castle or palace and get them while they sleep.
The upside to this is that a sleeping character will be considered willing and won't be able to resist the teleport.
The downside is that you'll have to break into a secure location which could be trapped and warded with magic.
TheApokalypseShovel
06-07-07, 08:11 PM For our targets, would it be best to capture the more powerful or less powerful characters first? Obviously it will be nearly impossible to simply snatch the king from his chambers, but what about dukes and royal family members in the military?

An idea I was considering was outfitting several groups with Boots of Teleportation. Do they allow you to bring along other willing members and how many? The CL for creation is 9, so that would be 3 additional members??
Radijs
06-07-07, 08:33 PM Capturing the weaker targets will ensure that the stronger ones are going to come after you to free your hostage and/or get revenge.
But on the other hand nothing would stop the less powerful members from hiring some powerful adventurers to get you.

Boots of teleportation allow you to cast teleport thrice each day, so yeah.

How many members of the family did you promise to the lich?

As for the king, does he ever make public appearances? Like adressing the people? Outside he could very well be more vulnerable.
kelcimer
06-08-07, 03:05 AM Find out what their travel plans are. If the cousins are going on a sea trip then wait until they've set sail and are a ways off shore. Attack the boat, kidnap who you want, and sink the ship. The kindgom doesn't even know they've been kidnapped yet.

Stage the kidnappings so the kidnappings seem incidental. Kidnap everyone in the carraige and sell some into slavery and arrange for one to "escape" to tell the crown what has befallen his relatives.

Kidnap a person and plant false info that it seems like an evil cult that you aren't allied with wants them for a sacrifice due to some "prophacy" of theirs. When the kingdom sends adventures after the cult you would thin the numbers of both the cult and adventurers loyal to the throne. Or at least the adventures the Kingdsom has on retainer.

At some point someone may catch on and you need to have a plan for that. Have a treasured item of a Royal family member stolen, and make sure it's one you don't plan on kidnapping until later in the game after your plot has been figured out. Preferably a magical item they keep on their person. Lay magic on that item to make them easier to locate, to listen in on, or to teleport them to a given location at your disgression. i suggest an already magical item because nothing is more suspisious then a mundane item suddenly becoming magical. You could choose to use "recovering" the item as a play to endear you to a royal.

You could also find a royal who is already inclined to run for the throne. Make it think it's his idea to kidnap or "eliminate" royals. He would be a fine useful idiot right up until you don't have any more use for him.
Duncfoo
06-08-07, 02:41 PM Kelcimer makes some important points, namely, get a scape goat for the kidnappings and try to make the look like something else.

I advise using illusions and some disguises when you kidnap. Leave clues that point towards a group that you don't like.

If you can, as Kel said, catch people as they travel. You can always have messages forged requesting that some noble travel to another nobles country estate for a secret meeting.

Burn another Nobles house down during your kidnapping. Just put a body with his rings and other personal effects on his bed before you leave.

Just try and keep your first few kidnappings from being obvious. Afterwards you can always publicly kidnap someone to strike some fear in the people.
CryoSilver
06-08-07, 02:52 PM If you're on power play, you should replace your goalie with another forward :P
wizarddog
06-10-07, 03:29 PM Replace the royal members with impostors. By the time they realize the members are gone it will be too late.;)
Candin
06-10-07, 09:57 PM Do they have to be brought to the lich alive? Because that opens up a lot of doors....

Not sure if this is pertinent, but I'd like to point out that mindrape is a very fun spell.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TheApokalypseShovel 06-07-07, 06:21 PM	Our party is trying to gain control over a nearby kingdom. We recently threw it into war with another neighboring city-state to the south and are planning to create more chaos with either a gnoll or undead invasion from north. Our party leader, a paladin of tyranny, will hopefully be able to gain sizable reputation and power in the kingdom by defeating these threats. At the same time we made an agreement with a Lich to get him members of the Royal family to satisfy his longstanding feud. In exchange we get his powerful support and undead armies. We are going to start kidnapping family members pretty soon and I was wondering about good tactics for hit and runs, as well as ways not reveal our identities. Our party: Lucius - Paladin of Tyranny 8 Relor (me) - Human paragon 3/Wizard 4 Gorly Ha Ha - Gnoll Ranger ecl 8 Rogue(name forgotten) - Human Rogue 7/Assassin 1 Loyal NPCs: Cleric of Balphamet(evil God, not sure of domains) 8 Dwarf fighter3/barbarian 4 Support Crews: Gorly's Gnoll tribe - 13 gnolls Church of Balphamet - 2-4 semi powerful warriors at time Lich's forces - unknown We are all varying degrees of evil and the ends will most certainly justify the means. We also are very wealthy for our character levels. Any suggestions are welcome.
Radijs 06-07-07, 07:47 PM	There are a few diffrent strategies you can use at that level. Firstly: Find out who your targets are. Kidnapping a few low-level aristocrats is diffrent from trying to capture a high level wizard. Seconly: When are you going to take them? Use scrying to find out their routines, listen to the town criers so you might catch them outdoors. My preference would be: The wizard and the rogue use dimension door to 'port to the target. The rogue subdues the target and then the wizard casts teleport to get them both to a safe house or better, straight to the lair of the lich. The only downside is that you get one per hit and after the first they are going to be on their guard. If you want to get them all at the same time I suppose you will have to sneak into their castle or palace and get them while they sleep. The upside to this is that a sleeping character will be considered willing and won't be able to resist the teleport. The downside is that you'll have to break into a secure location which could be trapped and warded with magic.
TheApokalypseShovel 06-07-07, 08:11 PM	For our targets, would it be best to capture the more powerful or less powerful characters first? Obviously it will be nearly impossible to simply snatch the king from his chambers, but what about dukes and royal family members in the military? An idea I was considering was outfitting several groups with Boots of Teleportation. Do they allow you to bring along other willing members and how many? The CL for creation is 9, so that would be 3 additional members??
Radijs 06-07-07, 08:33 PM	Capturing the weaker targets will ensure that the stronger ones are going to come after you to free your hostage and/or get revenge. But on the other hand nothing would stop the less powerful members from hiring some powerful adventurers to get you. Boots of teleportation allow you to cast teleport thrice each day, so yeah. How many members of the family did you promise to the lich? As for the king, does he ever make public appearances? Like adressing the people? Outside he could very well be more vulnerable.
kelcimer 06-08-07, 03:05 AM	Find out what their travel plans are. If the cousins are going on a sea trip then wait until they've set sail and are a ways off shore. Attack the boat, kidnap who you want, and sink the ship. The kindgom doesn't even know they've been kidnapped yet. Stage the kidnappings so the kidnappings seem incidental. Kidnap everyone in the carraige and sell some into slavery and arrange for one to "escape" to tell the crown what has befallen his relatives. Kidnap a person and plant false info that it seems like an evil cult that you aren't allied with wants them for a sacrifice due to some "prophacy" of theirs. When the kingdom sends adventures after the cult you would thin the numbers of both the cult and adventurers loyal to the throne. Or at least the adventures the Kingdsom has on retainer. At some point someone may catch on and you need to have a plan for that. Have a treasured item of a Royal family member stolen, and make sure it's one you don't plan on kidnapping until later in the game after your plot has been figured out. Preferably a magical item they keep on their person. Lay magic on that item to make them easier to locate, to listen in on, or to teleport them to a given location at your disgression. i suggest an already magical item because nothing is more suspisious then a mundane item suddenly becoming magical. You could choose to use "recovering" the item as a play to endear you to a royal. You could also find a royal who is already inclined to run for the throne. Make it think it's his idea to kidnap or "eliminate" royals. He would be a fine useful idiot right up until you don't have any more use for him.
Duncfoo 06-08-07, 02:41 PM	Kelcimer makes some important points, namely, get a scape goat for the kidnappings and try to make the look like something else. I advise using illusions and some disguises when you kidnap. Leave clues that point towards a group that you don't like. If you can, as Kel said, catch people as they travel. You can always have messages forged requesting that some noble travel to another nobles country estate for a secret meeting. Burn another Nobles house down during your kidnapping. Just put a body with his rings and other personal effects on his bed before you leave. Just try and keep your first few kidnappings from being obvious. Afterwards you can always publicly kidnap someone to strike some fear in the people.
CryoSilver 06-08-07, 02:52 PM	If you're on power play, you should replace your goalie with another forward :P
wizarddog 06-10-07, 03:29 PM	Replace the royal members with impostors. By the time they realize the members are gone it will be too late.;)
Candin 06-10-07, 09:57 PM	Do they have to be brought to the lich alive? Because that opens up a lot of doors.... Not sure if this is pertinent, but I'd like to point out that mindrape is a very fun spell.