Advice on balancing an encounter

[General Barron]

MY PLAYERS STAY OUT!!!

I'm looking for advise on the difficulty of an encounter I'm working on. It's a little complicated, and I'm looking for some help ironing out the specifics. Here is the general situation:

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The adventurers have been hired to accompany a duke on a small dungeon dive. The duke is also bringing his trusted bodyguard, his court wizard, and two more guards. As it turns out, the wizard and the two guards are planning on betraying the duke and the adventurers.

At the end of the dungeon, the party enters a room containing the book they are searching for. As the rest of the group guards the exits, the wizard, flanked by the turncoat guards, walks up and takes the book, then turns around and blasts the duke with some magic (surprise round). Fighting ensues. The two sides tenatively look like this:

Good guys:
PC's x 3 (lvl 3 rouge, bard, fighter)
Duke (lvl 5 aristocrat)
Bodyguard (lvl 6 fighter)

Bad guys:
Wizard (lvl 8?)
Guards x 2 (lvl 3 warrior?)

The wizard will kill the duke as early as possible, then work on the bodyguard, or whomever else is the biggest threat. One guard will engage the duke/bodyguard, while the other will stay near the wizard to defend him (using his bow in the meantime). The wizard might also summon something to help defend him. The bodyguard will do whatever it takes to try and keep his liege alive, namely trying to kill the wizard. The duke is meant to die however, hopefully within the first couple of rounds.

In the meantime, taking the book triggers a defense system of sorts. The entrence(s) to the room slam shut and lock. A couple golems, or some other powerful, animated guardian will eventually enter the room (after a few rounds or so) and start attacking everybody.

Once things start looking grim, the wizard will teleport away to his lab, leaving his two minions to their deaths. The bodyguard, realizing his lord is dead, will stay in the room and attempt to hold the golems back, in order to buy the PC's time to escape the dungeon. The PC's escape, only to be captured by guards at the entrance, who know something is wrong but don't know what exactly has happened. The PC's end up in jail for the murder of the duke, wizard, and bodyguards, who never came back out.

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The levels of the 'good guys' side is basically set. I really need to know what level to make the wizard and the guards. The wizard is a powerful villian that will be back later. The bodyguard is a powerful ally that will also resurface at a later point in time. The duke and the guards are worm food. I also might like to add another NPC adventurer to the PC's side, who will get captured with the PC's (especially if this is required to balance the encounter). The PC's should exit the encounter feeling lucky to be alive.

Also, advice on what to use for the guardians would be appreciated. They should be too tough for the PC's to stay and fight, but later on in the campaign, the PC's will return to this site, along with the bodyguard, and will need to be able to actually defeat them. The PC's should be a couple levels higher at that point.
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Sorry if this is a pretty unclear explaination of what I'm looking for. Thanks in advance!

 

[LostSoul]

It's too bad you have that 6th level fighter with the PCs. He'll probably steal some of their thunder.

I'd have a 7th level Wizard with a brooch of shielding, Evard's Black Tentacles and Dimension Door memorized. Then he can drop the tentacles on the Duke (and the fighter - probably best to centre it on the fighter) and get to safety. If he wants to make sure the bodyguard is dead, he can hit him with an Empowered Ray of Enfeeblement.

That gets rid of the high-level NPCs and lets the PCs get into the spotlight.

Since the meat of the fight is the PCs vs. the wizard's guards, go with something like an EL 4-5 encounter. 2 Warrior3/4s or Fighter2/3s will work, although I'd go with more, lower-level guys. The difficulty for the PCs is in killing the Warriors before they get stomped by the book's guardians.

I'd use some Shield Guardians as the automatons guarding the book - tough, but they don't deal one-hit-one-kill damage. Still, the PCs won't be able to survive more than a few rounds in melee combat with them. Maybe just two of them.

What are the PCs hoping to get out of this encounter? Escape with their lives, save the aristocrat, or kill the wizard? Or something else? What I've got above is an okay "Escape alive" encounter, but not a great encounter otherwise.

 

[General Barron]

Thanks for the great feedback. Let me clarify a bit.

The PC's don't really know the duke, his bodyguard, or anyone else. They are just hired help--the duke is essentially pulling a publicity stunt, so by hiring outside help, he hopes that word of his exploits will travel across the land.

This is essentially an opening encounter which will springboard the PC's into a much larger plot. At this point, the intention isn't to spotlight the players, just to shock and surprise them. A whole lot of stuff is going on around them which they don't understand yet. The bodyguard is meant to survive the encounter, although the PC's will think he is as good as dead. He will reappear near the climax of the story to help the PC's, only at that point it will be the PC's in the spotlight.

What are the PCs hoping to get out of this encounter? Escape with their lives, save the aristocrat, or kill the wizard? Or something else? What I've got above is an okay "Escape alive" encounter, but not a great encounter otherwise.

The encounter will be a complete surprise to them. Once they figure out who is on what side, I'm assuming the PC's will want to protect the duke. The book is supposed to hold some powerful magic, so they should also want to get that away from the wizard. However, no matter what, the duke will die, and the wizard will escape with the book, simply because that is what the rest of the adventure/campaign is designed around (the PC's proving their innocence, and later reclaiming the book). After the wizard teleports, and the guardians move in, it should become quite clear that the only option left to the PC's is to escape (they don't even really have to kill the guards, since the guardians can do the job for them).

Btw the shield guardians are a great suggestion; I'll definately use them.

It is a very force-fed encounter, but again this is the 'hook' for an adventure, not the climax.

 

[cmanos]

don't assume the PCs will help the duke. Plan for them helping the duke, but also plan for them A) running like girls and B) helping the wizard.

Also, if the PC's DO get a hold of the book, plan for that as well. Nothing sucks so much as the PC's surprising the DM with a plan that works, only to have the DM contrive some way to get them out of what they accomplished. I know. I was the DM who railroaded a party this way and it was the end of my campaign.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think you should consider that the Duke doesn't die - if the characters can survive the encounter, so can he, especially since he has more levels than them (even in a NPC class), and so does his bodyguard.
There are two problems, basically:
1)
The players must be able to contribute. Otherwise, its boring and the PCs could as well hear from this in stories (if the knew both characters beforehand and later are informed of the wizards betrayal, you could achieve similar "emotions")
2)
The players must be able to survive a encounter that contains enemies that are considerably stronger than them.

Maybe balancing the encounter should work on the following premise:
First set up an encounter between the characters and the Wizard associates, and perhaps also the defense system.
Second set up an encounter between the Wizard and the Duke (and his Bodyguard), and perhaps some constructs or undeads of the defense system. Since it is hard to find constructs in the desired range, you could simply reduce the hps of a stronger one (while ensuring it deals less enough damage that it doesn't kill the PCs with a single hit)

Combine them in a way that ensures that the wizard associates block the group from the wizard (in a way that ensures that the wizard doesn't "accidently" interferes with the group, especially with a misplaced area spell (like a fireball) )

The Wizard and the Duke should probably go together to the book, ordering the PCs to stand at the door. Once the wizard takes the books and sets off the defense system, a wall of force or similar effect blocks the way between the two groups. The constructs/undeads appear and engage.
After some amount of time (maybe 5-10 rounds) the wall of force breaks down (could be a malfunction), allowing the PCs to help the duke or his bodyguard, or vice versa (depending on how well the encounter worked).
You could even make deactivating the defense system a part of the characters action - maybe there is a switch they have to reach.

 

[diaglo]

if i were a player in this dive i would assume that one of the NPCs with us was a turncoat even before we started.

either i would assume the Duke was just going to use us as fodder for monsters and traps.

or i would assume someone would want to kill the Duke and the party.


so as a PC i would want to kill or leave behind the others esp the Bodyguard and the wizard. those two have obvious reasons for wanting to kill the Duke and take the prize.

if i were you i'd make a sorcerer with invisibility item follow the party down into the dive. and i'd take a few levels off of the bodyguard and wizard.

Good guys:
PC's x 3 (lvl 3 rouge, bard, fighter)
Duke (lvl 5 aristocrat)
Bodyguard (lvl 3 fighter)
Wizard (lvl 4)

Bad guys:

Guards x 2 (lvl 2 warrior?)
Invisible Sorcerer 7

 

[diaglo]

teleport is too high a level spell for your wizard anyway.

 

[General Barron]

if i were a player in this dive i would assume that one of the NPCs with us was a turncoat even before we started.

Wow, you aren't very trusting, are you.

I think you should consider that the Duke doesn't die - if the characters can survive the encounter, so can he, especially since he has more levels than them (even in a NPC class), and so does his bodyguard.

That cannot happen. The encounter must be set up so that the duke dies. The whole point is that the PC's get framed for his murder, and must attempt to prove their innocence.

My thoughts were to have the wizard blast him with an empowered spell of some sort powerful enough to kill him outright on the surprise round, or at least do enough so he can be killed on the round following. Damage and saving throw rolls could be 'determined beforehand', so that it automatically does X amount of damage.

The duke has 26 hp, and should be full at this encounter. An empowered Shocking Grasp spell with average damage rolls would do 25 damage, so saying it does 27 damage wouldn't be far fetched. That would drop the duke on the surprise round, leaving him bleeding to death and easy to finish on the next round.

The Wizard and the Duke should probably go together to the book, ordering the PCs to stand at the door. Once the wizard takes the books and sets off the defense system, a wall of force or similar effect blocks the way between the two groups. The constructs/undeads appear and engage.

I'm liking this idea, although it's becoming harder and harder for me to rationalize a reason why the defense system would be set up in this manner. Ideas?

 

[Chiaroscuro23]

However, no matter what, the duke will die, and the wizard will escape with the book, simply because that is what the rest of the adventure/campaign is designed around (the PC's proving their innocence, and later reclaiming the book).

No plan ever survives contact with the PCs. Unless you're prepared to railroad like Casey Jones (and your players won't mind that) I'd strongly suggest you be ready for them to do all sorts of crazy things. Including try to win at all costs (and either do so or TPK) and totally abandon everything when the hits the fan.

 

[General Barron]

No plan ever survives contact with the PCs.

Lol... I know, that's why I'm trying to make this as 'foolproof' as possible.

*If the duke is killed outright in the surprise round, then there is nothing the PC's can do about it (unless they get suspicious before then... )

*If the wizard has some sort of teleportation spell (dimension door, etc) ready to cast, especially if it is the form of a magic item which cannot be interrupted (ring of spell storing?), then the wizard will be able to get away. He only has to stick around long enough to kill the duke, and perhaps a round or two after that.

*The third thing that must happen is the PC's must escape, but the bodyguard must be left behind. This is actually the part I worry most about the players messing up. Originally I was thinking that the duke's corpse should be left behind, but actually I don't see any problems plot-wise if the players can get it out. It would also make more sense if that happened, since the bodyguard would have more of a reason to sacrifice himself (give his lord a chance to live, but in truth he is already dead).