[RPG] How to plan the CR of an encounter your PCs can’t win

encounter-designnew-gmpathfinder-1e

I'm going to create a combat encounter that my PCs are very unlikely to win, with the ultimate result of their "dying" in combat leading to their capture by a yet-to-be-revealed villain. I don't want them to be completely unable to win, as there is some fun story I've thought up that they can see if they do beat the boss, but ultimately there will be no penalty for them losing the encounter (besides shame) as they will ultimately escape their captor and regain any lost items, wealth, equipment, etc.

I'm tempted to just use the CR for the enemy they'll be facing, and give them XP accordingly, but given that they could just phone in the fight (they should have a pretty good idea that they're going to lose, with some heavy hints that someone is trying to capture them) I don't know how to rate it and reward them.

If they do give the fight their all, should I treat it as normal, and only reduce CR/XP if they surrender/don't try? Is there a better way to put them in an insurmountable position without them giving up?

If it matters, I'm a new GM with mostly new players, playing a Pathfinder campaign.

Best Answer

Your question asks how to "determine CR", but it sounds like your actual goal is to figure out how much XP to award.

Rules As Written, you only award experience points for "defeating monsters, overcoming challenges, and completing adventures". Unless the players defeat some of the enemies involved in the challenge, Rules As Written there's no XP reward.

However, you have the ability to give your players Story Awards:

Feel free to award Story Awards when players conclude a major storyline or make an important accomplishment. These awards should be worth double the amount of experience points for a CR equal to the APL. Particularly long or difficult story arcs might award even more, at your discretion as GM.

If you decide to not do the Story Award for the battle itself (because you're worried the players might not try very hard), your other option is to add some sort of achievable goal to the battle. The players can't avoid capture, but they can wreck the villain's favorite magic item, or they can thwart the villain's plot, or they can kill some of the villain's henchmen. (It's a good idea to add a goal like this anyway, so that the players don't feel too frustrated by having to fight a losing battle.)

If it's too difficult to cue the players in to what is expected of them, consider simply pausing the action and explaining what's going on out-of-character: "this is a difficult fight and you're probably going to all get captured. But if you can find a way to thwart the villain, you can still get experience points for that, and it could help your group out in the future."

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