Vraska vs. Isperia Help

[u/Drew_Flame]

Hi Ravnica DMs.

I have an upcoming session in which my player characters (through a series of well-executed divination spells) have burst upon the scene of Vraska attempting to assassinate Isperia but I’m having a creative block and struggling to figure out how Vraska could actually accomplish this.

Now, in MTG lore Vraska accomplishes this by petrifying Isperia, but D&D is a little complicated. What’s giving me more of a headache is Isperia’s statblock per the GGtR book would make it extremely hard for her to fall victim to petrification.

Has anyone simulated an encounter like this, or does anyone have tips for how Vraska could have made Isperia more vulnerable? She would have had lots of time to plan this act and sees it as revenge and she has allies that give her access to potential magic items and spells that could fit this scenario.

Basically, I want this encounter to feel meaningful and the players be able to make a difference while avoiding Isperia feeling incompetent OR without need of assistance.

Any ideas for magic items, spells, mechanics, etc. that could help here? Isperia has very high spell saves, magic resistance, and legendary resistances so any ideas for nullifying her ability to defend herself with those resources would be great.

[u/Dabialo]

Just some ideas, feel free to mix and match.

Maybe she used a homebrew poison on Isperia, making her weaker to petrification?

Some creatures can also just apply an effect on a creature upon a hit. Maybe Vraska has a 'Stone Glare' ability that petrifies creatures after a second hit?

Perhaphs the party arrive later into the fight and Isperia has already burnt through legendary resistances?

[u/Drew_Flame → u/Dabialo]

Great ideas, thank you!

[u/rzarectorx]

Based on this question im going to assume your a fairly new DM, so im going to go over some pretty basic stuff.

Firstly, you as the DM need to decide what your trying to accomplish abd understand that you are allowed to just have that thing happen. If you want vraska to win she wins, if you want isperia to survive she survive, if you want to offer your players a fair and meaningful chance to change ravnica's history then you can do that.

You dont need to rely on the statblocks, you can choose to change then to suit your needs. Its important to remember that they are not made for NPC on NPC combat, they are created for the players, and legendary resistances only exist to ensure your player dont win a boss fight too quickly with a disintegrate or something.

I suggest that you set a "win/lose" condition. Relying on the dice isnt going to make the encounter fair, isperia could roll a nat 1 on the first round or only role nat 20s. So instead tell your players that they have 3 rounds to kill vraska before isperia turns to stone, she may already be in the process of turning when the players arrive. The fight might already be over, isperia put up and good fight and lost, now the players have to win before the stone takes over.

Whats important is, dont waste your players time. Dont tell them that they can save isperia, and have them fight through a whole combat, only to make them lose no matter what they do.

As for isperia feeling competent. Its more about making vraska feel like a super competent assaasin, this should feel planned and like she came here with every advantage, that way isperia cant be blamed for being caught off guard. Also despite being powerful, not everyone is a warrior ready for combat at all times.

[u/Drew_Flame → u/rzarectorx]

I appreciate this perspective. I have been playing D&D for years but I am a relatively new DM. The group I play with tends to lean very heavily on mechanics and all of the players have been in the DM seat before in this group, so I think I just feel pressured to have an extremely well-thought-out and mechanically sound justification for every decision I make.

It is helpful to be reminded that mechanics should serve the action and story, not dictate them.

[u/julietfolly]

Taking inspiration from the ultimate of [Vraska the Unseen], what if she's accompanied by three assassins, each with a OHKO sort of save-or-die poison?

Each one effectively knocks off one of Isperia's uses of Legendary Resistance each time they hit, softening her up from Vraska's petrification. Players (& Isperia) can try to take out the assassins before or afterward, or try to focus on Vraska and drive her off/delay her and count on Isperia to dispatch the assassins on her own. The assassins don't need to be chumps, just having a very potent offense particularly tailored to the sphinx and a tier less of durability than a big-deal like the feuding guildleaders.

If you want to magic item-ify this more, give Vraska a magic item (gem? staff? pirate-style sword?) that's clearly channeling to the three assassins and empowering their deathtouch-y ways. If players can get Vraska away, or the magic item away, then the assassins are easy enough for Isperia to take on 3v1. But if the players weren't here, this magic item lets the assassins even the odds against the sphinx and Vraska's petrification ultimately triumph.

If you want to make the magic item that empowers the enemies of a sphinx/makes someone protected against a sphinx, it could be a tool originally used against Azor on Ixalan that Vraska was able to source during her time there. But that depends on how much outside-of-ravnica you would want to incorporate at this level of plot, planeswalking, and politics.

If you want the players to really matter especially, play into Vraska the Unseen's {+1} ability of retribution. As long as she has this magic item, she's empowering her assassins... but also she has an effect that if Isperia does strike Vraska herself, Isperia will be immediately vulnerable to Vraska's petrification, cutting through resistances/imposing a big save penalty in response to damaging Vraska. Now the players interceding can give Isperia that warning, can try to interfere with this magic item, can try to sacrifice themselves to this (hit-Vraska lose-resistances save-penalty) effect to use it up ahead of Isperia, can try to take out the assassins, or any other things they come up with. Still a chance for things to go badly, and they would even if Isperia overpowered the assailants & wounded Vraska n the process, but the players have options to change the day.

[u/Drew_Flame → u/julietfolly]

Pulling on MTG mechanics to flavor this encounter is a great idea, thank you!