Encounters for a level 18 party

[NewJeffCT]

I'm running my party of six PCs at level 18 through some encounters this coming Friday.

They are: Human Fighter (defender); Goliath Barbarian/Warden (striker/defender); Human wizard (controller); Human Shaman (leader); Eladrin Rogue (striker) and Elf ranger (striker)

They deal a good amount of damage out each round, so any "solo" monster would need support.

This would be in a temperate climate (though, there are nearby mountains) - rivers and swamps/moors would be okay, but no oceans.

I'm looking for something that would run fairly quickly (so, not something with 25+ bad guys on the table), but also be threatening.

I was thinking of some Fomorians, but wanted some other ideas, too.

Thanks

 

[the Jester]

So 6 pcs, an encounter budget of 12,000 xp?

Here are a couple of options:

Idea One: Hunting Party (12,000 xp)
A hag and her rakshasa minions are pursuing a giant slug so that she can harvest its mucus for some haggy brew or other (or maybe as frosting for a hag cake). The pcs come upon the slug and its pursuers; but a couple of rounds after battle breaks out, the guardian treants emerge to defend the marsh and its inhabitants from the hag and her minions. This could easily turn into a diplomatic opportunity if you want.

1 giant banana slug (see attached) (lvl 18 soldier)
1 dream hag (MM3 109) (lvl 19 controller)
1 rakshasa warrior (MV 243) (lvl 15 soldier)
2 rakshasa archers (MV 244) (lvl 15 artillery)
2 treant grove guardians (MV 267) (lvl 18 brutes)

Idea Two: Hydra Trouble (12,000 xp)
A hydra has recently been roused to anger by a yuan-ti priest, who- along with his amphisbaena pet- is driving it towards [fill in appropriate target in civilization here]. This encounter does require you to update the yuan-ti stats to MM3 standards if you want it to be a good challenge. This encounter uses lower level monsters; while it should still be a decent challenge, using lower-level bad guys helps avoid a long, drawn-out combat.

1 venom-maw hydra (MV 177) (lvl 17 solo brute)
1 yuan-ti malison disciple of Zehir (MM 270) (lvl 17 controller)
1 amphisbaena (see attached) (lvl 15 elite soldier)

EDIT: Even if neither of these encounters strikes your fancy, the attached doc has a ton of monsters from earlier editions that I've converted, so it's a good resource to throw things your pcs haven't faced in 4e at them.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

You're just looking for what amounts to random encounters in that environment? Not tied to a specific storyline?

Just focussing on MM3 so you don't have to worry about updating math:

Cloakers (Cloaker Lord) make good, moany, spooky opponents.
Maybe a dream hag served by some Girallon Alphas she's seduced?
A group of Banderhobbs? (warders, filches and abductors)

-rg

 

[NewJeffCT]

You're just looking for what amounts to random encounters in that environment? Not tied to a specific storyline?

Just focussing on MM3 so you don't have to worry about updating math:

Cloakers (Cloaker Lord) make good, moany, spooky opponents.
Maybe a dream hag served by some Girallon Alphas she's seduced?
A group of Banderhobbs? (warders, filches and abductors)

-rg

Well, part of the problem is that we're shutting down our campaign a good year or more early because of a work relocation (my lovely wife got a great new job)

So, with player agreement, I'm skipping over a lot of the "fluff" and campaign building that was going to take place in the middle of the campaign, and just have a few more sessions with the players leveling up 3-4 levels each time until I'm forced to pack up my minis and move. We'll conclude with a level 27 or 28 party against the final BBEG.

And, I think I can tie just about anything that is not too exotic (hence, no elemental chaos or astral plane or whatever) back to what has taken place so far. I could probably tie extraplanar stuff back to the campaign as well, just don't want to do the extra work.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

Hmm. What if you introduced the BBEG now, in all his 30th level glory, then introduced a handful of quests for major powerups -- each one gains the party 5 levels or so as they're invested with divine spirit or some other hocus pocus like that.

Basically, a short series of delves, and the big reward in each delve is a big level jump. Then you can make those delves thematic and part of the story -- these could be gifts from dieties or relics of long-dead enemies of the BBEG or something like that.

-rg

 

[NewJeffCT]

Hmm. What if you introduced the BBEG now, in all his 30th level glory, then introduced a handful of quests for major powerups -- each one gains the party 5 levels or so as they're invested with divine spirit or some other hocus pocus like that.

Basically, a short series of delves, and the big reward in each delve is a big level jump. Then you can make those delves thematic and part of the story -- these could be gifts from dieties or relics of long-dead enemies of the BBEG or something like that.

-rg

sounds like a good idea, too.

 

[Quickleaf]

I love the Wandering Tower mimic from MV2; it includes the Core of the Tower (18 solo controller) which is meant to be encountered with a Mirror Mimic (15 lurker), Blood Raven Swarm (14 skirmisher), and Living Walls (18 hazard). All together worth 14,200 XP. It needs very little adaptation since it's well presented and well designed, just decide what it looks like and come up with a reason the PCs would go inside. It makes for a great way for an otherwise impotent NPC to betray the PCs by sending them into the tower...and provides a future plot hook for the PCs to find whoever betrayed them and get revenge.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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[aco175]

I just ran my level 17 level party through a 3 encounter mountain tomb that held a aspect of Tiamat (L17 solo) I had 2 angels of Tiamat (L19 elite) with the dragon making it a lev20 encounter fdor the last fight. It was a tough end fight since I limited the grid making the reach 3 bite power more threatening. The angels were able to teleport to a chosen enemy making it a good power. I may have updated the damage and some other powers a bit more to make it a bit more challenging in the end