Have you ever had an NPC in a fightable position guarding something the PCs want but who is simply unbeatable?

Oh sure lemme just go pick off the players from the player tree's.

Its harvest season after a- no fuck you, I'm not picking up other pubs because then I'll just get into the same problem and sweet god don't talk about just finding players in bumfuck nowhere, finland.

Have you tried not playing D&D?

Yes for the past year now, but traveler isn't exactly fucking better

Have you tried not playing systems nearly as old, clunky and poorly designed as D&D?

Like?

And dont dare say gurps, literally the same shit just more options.

Point us to a good system. Surely you're not just memeing, enlightened user?

Yeah
He was a Death Knight who the players would encounter from time to time in their dungeon delves
You could tell when he was in the dungeon because you would find a steady increase in monster corpses as you went deeper
He was basically hunting the same sort of treasure as the players as the behest of his employer
Dude fought with a tower shield that could spew fire and one handed a great axe
He was always like five levels above the party whenever they encountered him and if they ever managed to almost defeat him he would teleport away. at least until the final encounter with him

Hell no. I know the immaturity of my players. I had enough of a shitfit several campaigns ago when they ran into a guy who was an amazingly good rapier duelist. They befriended him, and he would train one guy in the group who also used rapiers, (mechanically, less XP to level up the weapon skill), and I always described him with terms like "unbelievably fast".

Eventually, PC in question got to the maximum humanly possible rank with rapiers, and went to his old mentor for a sparring match, which was a draw. You would not believe the whining. And that was just a tie in a specialized training match with a guy where there was nothing at stake.

Once, but it was less the NPC being overpowered (he wasn't) but the entire party picking up the idiot ball for some reason all at the same time combined with really bad luck.

None of them died.

>Teleport Away

Come on'

Yeah but I don't force it in their face. I offer warnings, so they have no one to blame but themselves.

If the players were looking for a time portal, they'd definitely find out about the one with the Guardian, but that won't be the only lead. Should they attempt that one, I offer plenty of clues that the Guardian is way stronger than they are. Maybe a graveyard of monster bones, some of which the players fought maybe one or two before, but they see dozens of the corpses on their way to the destination. If they reach it without taking the hints, the Guardian warns them that they have no chance of winning. If they still attempt it, I try a simple display of power, perhaps a single round of attacks knocking out the first one who approaches. If they push their luck, then it's entirely their fault and they get destroyed, and even killed because if you pull your punches forever they won't respect the danger of a situation.

Okay if we're talking REAL FUCKING PEOPLE with the ability to teleport even with scrolls.

Why the fuck would you not have that?

Instant teleportation to safety is literally one of the greatest assets TO NOT DIE

Interesting idea, not sure about the teleport behind you deus ex but I may copy your meme.

>finland
welp, found one of your problems

It's lazy and insulting to the players.

I also forgot to mention I gave him the same number of turns in the initiative order as the players so he didn't get fucked by the action economy

To be fair my players are used to superhero games where the bad guy escapes capture all the time
And also the reason he was able to teleport is that he was basically a martial lich and therefor had a phylactery
So he was invoking the magic that kept him "alive" to bring his body closer to his soul
A thing liches have done in my games for years

new poster here. it's one of the earliest mistakes a DM can make: not anticipating that your villain, who made a flashy entrance, a cool speech, did some overt act of violence, and is laughing at the PC's while they roll initiative. The DM suddenly realizes his villain is about to be subtracted from the story, because this isn't an anime where it's simply protagonist vs villain , it's 4 PC's on one villain (5 actions vs 1 action) and the only answer the DM has on the fly is "he teleports away" -- often without use of a scroll or ring or anything else visible.

We've all been there.

One way around this is
>the villain has minions who are causing havok (more actions vs players)
>there is an imminent danger (keeping the player occupied while the villain monologues)
>the villain has a contingency/teleport on him put there by his wizard friend (contingency is very handy for this)

It can be frustrating yes but i think it's frustrating when a gm runs a genius wizard like a retard who just fireballs everything.

Anytime there's a fucking wizard

FIREBALL

It's totally possible, just change the monsters stats mid battle, oh, never thought they'd be able to actually deal 1000 damage that you set his HP as? Well turns out he had 5000, keep going.

This. At least let the player know his scrolls are finite. So they can expect him to get away but they still have a sense of progression since he wasted a scroll away and they know "next time they will get him"

It will also add tension and emotion to the final fight as everyone involved will know this is it, this is where the final bout will take place.

>Did the time portal blue guy was guarding ever destroyed?
Aku outright says in ep 2 of the new season that all of the time portals were destroyed.

... Why wouldn't he buy or craft a new scroll? Might be a bit costly, but with how much treasure he's apparently getting for his lord, I'm sure the Death Knight could finagle a new scroll from him.

I think what he meant was "show the players that the villain's ability is finite", rather than GM fiat of "he can escape whenever i want". It gives the players the illusion of hope, as it were. "We can beat this guy if we can [steal his teleportation ring/kill his wizard/keep him from reading a scroll] etc."

So...it goes back to the art of DM'ing, when you need to telegraph certain ideas to players.

WHICH...will ultimately fail, because as I posted earlier, players are dogs, and are aggressive and simple-minded, wanting only treasure and leveling, and need to be led by the hand to your clues, which must be shouted in their ears no less than three times for them to "get it".

FATE

Nigga he ded

Dimensional anchor, do you cast it.

so just memeing, got it

Ah, alright, I can see what you're getting at, and I can see your problem with aggressive players. However, is there any room for players who aren't only interested in treasure and leveling? Personally, I'm usually more interested in seeing a good story and ending to the campaign that fits with our actions as a group. Treasure's nice and so are levels, but honestly, I've been playing more characters who are able to make a living crafting and abstain from an equal portion of treasure, and at this point, I've played the system to the point where I know how to plan each of my characters out, so levels just... don't really surprise me anymore, I guess. At this point, I like to think I'd rather see where the story is going even if I don't level up or get treasure.

You have reached a new level in Gamer. You have passed beyond the veil of Leveling and Treasure, and are ready to begin creating worlds. Congratulations.

Be warned though,....
Players are dogs

so just a grognard set in your ways and afraid of change, got it

... Holy shit, I did get hoodwinked into GMing a game for the first time recently, and they really are dogs.

This is a vicious cycle, as vicious as trying to not open it.

>Party had to get some mechanical mcguffin for a wizard from rival wizard
>they break into his castle, destroys his 'pets' and constructs
>they get to rival wizard and realise (after rolling too low for 4 whole rounds of combat against him) that they can just take it and bolt
>wizard knows what's going to happen and casts shatter on the object, breaking it into pieces scattering over the room

party got pissy with me, but hey, 2 of the player's shouldnt have been starting petty shit in the group chat

FucKS sake Season 5 is a spit in the face of the old series.

>Not living in the best nation to ever exist
Yup, found your problem.

If it is so good why are there so few players? I could afford to kick all of mine if I wanted to and replace them.

B-buh no blacks?

GURPS

...

A friend wizard can't contingency a teleport on you. Maybe he could make a scroll and statue for you to use and carry as well as a scroll of teleport, if you can make the UMD checks and not loose the focus

I mean, kind of?

There are characters in the setting who have been around, who the party would have very much liked removed for various reasons, either political gain, personal revenge, or just straight up loot. There's nothing stopping them from walking up and starting a fight, as such, but I like to think I do a pretty good job of describing danger without outright telling them that if they try to fight, they will all die.

And all of them have stats, too. I never fiat my enemies. If the players get super lucky and the guy rolls nothing but 1s for the entire fight and they kill him despite him being able to one-shot anybody he lands a hit on, I will give them their just rewards.

Nah

Just give the villain multiple turns.

F