Best monster to sideline a high-level character when the player can't show?

[ksbsnowowl]

It's not often that my group plays when one of the players can't show (due to travel, an unexpected late night at work, whatever), but the few times I've done so usually has an in-game reason that their character isn't there either.  Maybe the Wizard is scribing spells into his spellbook when his player can't come, or maybe the character gets hit with some poisoned arrows in an initial ambush, sidelining the character for the duration of the night's game.

I haven't had to do such a thing in a while, but I nearly needed to do so tonight, and I realized it is quite hard to sideline a character when the party is 15th level (and gestalt).  A Heal spell will take care of everything but ability drain or drained levels.

What other attack forms would quickly sideline a character for a night of play?

Also, what monsters have such attacks, and are a reasonably-appropriate CR for high level characters, such that they are effective enough to actually succeed at sidelining a character?

Allips are CR 3. Wisdom Drain
Lamia are CR 6. Wisdom Drain
A Greater Dusk Giant is CR 14. Enervation 3/day
Specter is CR 7. Energy drain
Dread Wraith is CR 11. Constitution Drain

Wights and Slaughter Wights.
Vampires.
Succubi (though situational at best).

What other things am I not thinking of?

[sirpercival]

Character snuck a buttload of cannabis and has run off to Niflheim for munchies.

[bhu]

Lolth decides he's hot and he has to spend the evening bullshitting his way out of an impromptu mating session/devouring by listing off the myriad undesirable qualities that make him an unsuitable lover.

[CaptRory]

I was going to suggest something similar. XD The character is shifted to an adjacent dimension to have a chat with a deity or similar entity.

Then before the next session you just have the conversation with the player and you're good to go.

[Nunkuruji]

kidnapped by clerics of loviatar

[veekie]

Swallow Whole, low stomach damage, high fly speed?

[Bearchucks]

Maze would work, if the character failing the int checks isn't unreasonable.

[NunoM]

A random rip opens in the weave, generating a zone of wild magic. Unfortunately, the rip opens exactly where the character is, snatching him/her while walking/sleeping/swimming/... The character is immediately transported through space and time (some reference here), and appears exactly when the PC returns and next to the party. For him/her, the trip was instant.

[ksbsnowowl]

Swallow Whole, low stomach damage, high fly speed?

Hmmm... this one is intriguing, but said creature would likely get eviscerated by some of the party members.  The character I would have needed it against this week is the Fighter//Rogue, however, so he would have stabbed his way out in short order.

Perhaps with a paralytic poison in the stomach...

"You were swallowed by a dragon."
*stab*
"You hit his gallbladder... role to save vs Dragon Bile poison."

It's not perfect (wouldn't work vs the Druid), but it's not too terrible.  It would actually work quite well in the story line very shortly.

Many of the suggested quantum quirks and deity interventions, while amusing, don't fit the tone of my game.  Thanks for the suggestions though.

I just thought of another one: Rogue* Thommil engulfs the person, and then earthglides with said individual to a sealed off underground cave, where he lets the individual go.  Won't work for a Mage with teleport, but most other characters would have to wait to be saved, or wait to reprep spells (master earth, etc).

*not the class, just the idea of uncontrolled, or unpredictable.

[veekie]

Well, stabbing his way out in short order is sort of the point, if it could, say, teleport. Or fly REALLY REALLY fast.

[ksbsnowowl]

Well, stabbing his way out in short order is sort of the point, if it could, say, teleport. Or fly REALLY REALLY fast.

Ah, I get your meaning.  I was reading it as "playing keep away" from the other players.  You just meant to get the target away in such a way that he would then spend his time trying to meet up once again with the party.

[Captnq]

Ah. Simple.

Do they have extradimensional bags of holding/backpacks/portable holes? Have they been paying their taxes?

From the extra-dimensional space comes... THE AUDITOR INEVITABLE.

Born from the cogs of industry comes the most feared Inevitable ever. It only answers to governments. They are summoned by tax men to hunt down and audit those who have avoided paying their taxes, which Adventurers are notorious for avoiding.

The AUDITOR emerges from the extradimensional space and appears, a mass of mechanical calculators and infinate rolls of white parchment. It calmly explains that all his assests being kept in any sort of extra-dimensional container has been seized and that he can forgo the audit in exchange for all of his equipment. Or he can return with the AUDITOR to mechanus who will perform a line by line audit of his back taxes that he owes.

To Everyone.

EVER.

It shouldn't take too long. Don't worry about your friends. I'll drop you off with them as soon as we're done.

The player obviously chooses to go.

When the player returns, he gets hit with some fee, which usually I use as an excuse to re-adjust his WBL if things have been getting out of hand. I've actually given a player who ICly was most dutiful about paying her taxes a refund when I found out she was way BELOW WBL.

As for your player, when he returns to the game, explain what happened and that he got to sit on a giant mile wide gog that slowly turned at a desk surrounded by millions of other desks. This cog floating in an infinite void of interlocking cogs as far as the eye could see.

At each desk was one "creature" and one AUDITOR. Occationally tempers would flare and you'd hear some shouting in the distance, but mostly you got to sit there and listen to the auditor drone on and on about "Line 6b, sub-line 4. Question? Do you claim your familiar as a dependent?" over the backdrop of clicking gears and levers being pulled on alchemy powered adding machines.

Then you glare at the other players and mention, "I hope all of YOUR taxes are up to date."

Trust me. They won't miss any more sessions.

[veekie]

Ah, I get your meaning.  I was reading it as "playing keep away" from the other players.  You just meant to get the target away in such a way that he would then spend his time trying to meet up once again with the party.

Basically, it doesn't have to last very long, just long enough to dump him somewhere inconvenient, but not fatal.

[ksbsnowowl]

Ah, I get your meaning.  I was reading it as "playing keep away" from the other players.  You just meant to get the target away in such a way that he would then spend his time trying to meet up once again with the party.

Basically, it doesn't have to last very long, just long enough to dump him somewhere inconvenient, but not fatal.

Right.  Good plan.

One problem, though:

Target: You and touched objects or other touched willing creatures

Nothing about being swallowed forces someone to be willing.  Only knocking them unconscious or mind-affecting effects do that...

Of course, this is why a fast fly speed would be advantageous.

Rogue Thommil is looking better and better...

[veekie]

Ought to work well enough with flight, assuming the party doesn't have it. Ditch him up a cliff or down a river, fly the bird into a storm to get chucked out god knows where...

[SolEiji]

From the extra-dimensional space comes... THE AUDITOR INEVITABLE.

Sir, I'mma gonna have to stat this, you know that.

[CaptRory]

I think Randy Milholland already did. http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp04152004.shtml

[Chrononaut]

Pathfinder actually made a metagame artifact to 'justify' someone fading out for awhile...

but I digress.

Easiest way - something with plane shift as a spell like ability (optionally using the supernatural conversion) tries to 'take out' a player on a BBEG's order by plane shifting them to a plane or demiplane with the flowing time trait with a justifiable time difference. A nightshade is a good level appropriate enemy who would hate the PC's guts but be unable to directly win a fight.

Make it have the Dead Magic trait too if you're worried about them trying to follow the PC there or divine where he is (can't plane shift and per RAW all divinations fail to locate things on a dead magic plane) and exploit the time difference. Say it takes them long enough to find a portal to the astral plane (or equivalent) and that the doors are 1 way unless you know the way in or something.