Suicide Squad Movie Link
Vangele Ioannidis
I am working on a short campaign modeled on the Suicide Squad concept, also used in Escape from New York and to some extent, The Dirty Dozen. The PCs all start as people in prison with a death sentence upon them. The players get to choose the reason, as well as whether they are actually guilty or innocent. They are offered a mission by a black ops civil authority. If they succeed, they are released from their sentence, if they fail...
That's where I need a control. I need a control that will mean almost certain death for them if they fail to complete the mission. I could easily homebrew a magic item or poison, but I'd prefer to work within the established rules. Therefore I need a control that meets the following criteria:
It is an item, substance, ability, spell or otherwise to be found ina published WotC book. I have most of the fifth edition books, andwould prefer that edition. An otherwise perfect item from a previousedition would be acceptable.
It must be something not easily subverted. Most poisons can beneutralized with the appropriate spell, a curse can likewise beremoved. If it can be countered, it should be only possible withresources available to high level characters. The PCs will be 5thlevel. So a wish could undo the control, but a Remove Curse orLesser Restoration should be ineffective.
(a) If possible, it should be something that could be triggeredimmediately, by a handler. The Suicide Squad wear explosive armbandsthat can be detonated remotely should they act against the wishes oftheir commander. This one is not essential, but would be nice.
(b) It needs to have some kind of time limit: 48 hours, 1 week, itdoesn't matter. If it cannot have a time limit, then it must meetrequirement 3a: be able to be remotely activated. In this way, thetime limit is simply enforced by someone at HQ saying "Their time isup. Terminate them."
Note: Since it has come up several times in the answers below, I know that as DM I can create anything I want in order to solve this. I am not looking for any answer that tells me I am the DM and can do anything. I would prefer to do it as close to RAW as possible. If for no other reason, it keeps this question from becoming too broad, and I would not like it shut down when I have already gotten some great suggestions.
As far as I know, there are no magic items that fit your criteria, since they are either meant to be beneficial, or they are cursed - in which case the curse is not controlled by an outside force, such as your government. (There might be an item that I'm unaware of, maybe from an earlier version)
10d10 (which is the effect on a saving throw success!) will probably kill any 5th-level character, unless you roll really bad. Or you just use the average result, which is 10*5.5 = 55. A barbarian in the group might survive this, but you can just "roll" really good so he doesn't make it. It's not like the players would know the difference (provided you roll in secret), and the effect will supposedly only be for deterrence reasons anyways, unless you're actively going for a TPK.
You could of course transfer this ability to a magic item, which could be capable of affecting multiple creatures at a time - if you so desire. After all, you as the DM are free to use abilities and effects that are not available to player characters.
Another possible solution would be using the spell Glyph of Warding and storing a high-damaging spell inside. Usually, I wouldn't permit players to trigger this spell on something like acting against the creators wishes, since that's a very complex trigger. But, since you're the DM, you can rule differently for your own sake.
Another possibility would be Geas, although its RAW version can be removed with Remove Curse or Greater Restoration, which violates your criteria. You could rule, however, that it can't be removed with one of these spells (although that deviates from RAW, obviously, which violates a different criterium).
Although that violates your criteria: have you thought about blackmailing the characters? For example "if you betray us, your wife dies" or something like that? Might be worth a shot, provided you find something appropriate for each character. You could also set the requirement for your players to provide something like this, unless the suicide-squad-aspect is not clear from the beginning and should be a surprise.
What the protagonists are trying to do, and what the audience wants them to do, and what they usually end up doing is subverting the mission and delivering well deserved vengeance on the a-hole that sent them on it.
If I were setting up this campaign, subverting the compulsion is what I would expect would be the players primary goal and confronting and defeating the person who sent them on the mission as the self-evident climax of the campaign. As such, having several ways to escape the compulsion is a good idea.
If the prospect of freedom is not enough to motivate them then the insta-death compulsion is likely to create a very real risk that if things get too tough, the players will just say "Why bother?", sit down and wait for the end. At least they get to die free, right?
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. ... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.
Interlocked Geas - start with the "prime directive", add another that compels them to attack anyone in the party who breaks their Geas, add one to any of the party who tries to prepare Remove Curse (ban Bards from knowing it in the campaign rules), etc.
It can kill lower level PCs that disobey the given order by doing 5d10 psychic damage once per day, it becomes less effective at higher levels. Low level barbarians and old one warlocks are also capable of surviving.
It is hard to remove (part of the Geas command can prevent players from actively removing it). To prevent players from removing Geas, you could home brew in persistence (allowing it to reactivate after x-time)
You are in fact describing an old D&D trope, made popular in the Curse of the Azure Bonds (computer game, adventure module, and novel) back in 1989. In AD&D 2e module FRC2 Curse of the Azure Bonds, PCs get these magical tattoos put on them that force their actions, and the campaign is about their attempt to escape them.
Dispel magic and remove curse willnever have any effect on the brands,except to bring about the results mentionedabove. A limited wish spell (if successfullycast without the death of themagic-user) will remove one of themarks from one individual. A full wishspell will remove up to three of themarks. Short of these actions, the AzureBonds will prove extremely difficult todelete. Attempting to cut off the arm andregenerating it through magic will resultin the brands merely reappearing on thenew limb.
Anyway, if you don't want them removable by the rules, make up a new thing that someone has just created. This still leverages the rules framework, but specifies what works and what doesn't. This is basic homebrew content generation expected of any DM, and first party published adventures, monsters, etc. don't hesitate to say "well this is a curse but..." when needed.
Geas can be used to remotely enforce a command, on pain of 5d10 damage when the target disobeys. However, it has the two weaknesses of being removable by remove curse, and it doesn't do enough damage to kill a 5th level character. However:
"Complete the mission given to you within 29 days. Actively refuse any attempts to remove the geas from yourself or your companions. If you receive a sending containing the words 'you are off the leash', then you are acting counter to our command."
In addition, this gives you a built-in remote trigger. If the geas-er decides that the squad is causing too much damage, then they just send a sending and the problem goes away, since receiving such a sending is explicitly against their orders. If you don't like that kind of direct remote trigger, you can change it to something like "if we tell you to, go hide somewhere and don't move until we come get you", which is the same TPK of a different color.
Presumably you are explaining the concept to the players and they're bought in. In this case, the control isn't really something you need from an existing rule or spell. It's simply part of the setting.
Retributive Strike deals 160 damage (to the target that breaks it, or in this case, the target that it's attached to) on a successful save making even a Barbarian with 20 constitution who rolls maximum hit points die at level 5. Even if he has the Tough feat.
Note: if you are still worried about them surviving through some weird Abjuration-wizard/max-temporary-hit points/relentless-endurance shenanigans, you could use Staff of the Magi for 400 damage but having 5 legendary magic items is more complicated than 5 very rare ones
A simple contraption with a metal piece pressed against the staff where the party's handlers could cast catapult (from a Ring of Spell Storing) or something on the piece of the contraption that snaps the tiny Staffs of Power and activate the Retributive Strike, while not strictly RAW, certainly makes sense realistically and thematically.
The government stole these magic items from a powerful Pixie conclave they defeated but lacks the spellcasters who would be able to attune to them so they use them for the only purpose they can by rigging them to this death machine.
I've seen varying accounts as to if this is removable with greater restoration or lesser restoration, but in the case of the greater restoration: that's a 5th level spell (9th level character, minimum).
Wishing, for example, "[All the PCs] will die unless they complete [task] to the degree that is approved of by [shadowy BBEG] within [time limit]" should do the trick. As DM you should have the latitude to allow this wish to happen fairly and maybe even generate some interesting story surrounding how such figures have access to so much power.
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