Feywild Guardian Encounter

[Mesh Hong]

The following is an encounter designed as a challenge to a group of PCs entering a particular area of the Feywild through an isolated portal.

My idea is that the portal freely allows passage from the Feywild to the middle world, but any individual passing through to the middle world cannot return using the portal for 24 hours (or maybe the following twilight). The Feywild side of the portal is a clearing sounded on all sides by a dense thorny thicket with the sky barely visible through a twisted canopy. The only other exit from this antechamber is through a large elaborately decorated marble archway, this leads to a safe path to the Fey domain beyond.

In an effort to stop riff raff and undesirables wandering into their realm the Fey Court of the domain have installed a guardian to challenge interlopers to their lands. The guardian will not trouble anyone bearing an enchanted seal of passage but as this can only be obtained from the fey Court itself the PCs will not have one.

As the PCs step through the portal a large mainly translucent crystalline creature will form in the archway across from them, this humanoid golem like creature has a multitude of different red, blue, green and silver arcane symbols etched into it. But before the PCs can get a good look at them it will say “You are not welcome here, face me or return to whence you came” in three simultaneous voices speaking elven, gnome and sylvan.

What follows is a 4 stage encounter with a transforming creature.

Stage 1: Rainbow Hue Guardian (level 8 solo brute)
This solo creature fights until bloodied when it transforms into 3 creatures

Stage 2: 3x Shifting Stalker (level 8 skirmisher)
These are 3 creatures of Fey Chaos that are prone to elemental shifts each turn. As they are defeated they each transform into 5 other creatures.

Stage 3: 15x Motes of Light (level 8 minion)
These are bobbing lights that do force damage and bounce their targets around. Whenever any multiple of 5 of these creatures are destroyed the fifth transforms into a different single creature.

Stage 4: 3x Emissary of the Third (level 8 controller)
These dark red and blue creatures are the final test the challengers must face, only when all 3 are defeated are the PCs welcome in the domain.

Now the encounter is set out as 4 stages but it is quite likely that creatures from all stages might overlap. This is a single encounter and is designed to be a reasonable challenge, the main problem for the PCs will probably be the uncertainty of just when the creatures will stop transforming on death.

An issue for a DM might be the fiddly nature of some of the creatures as they are by no means easy to run. I have tried to keep things as straight forward as possible but a DM will have quite a lot to keep track of, in general though I have tried to make the later creatures less fiddly than the earlier ones to alleviate some mental fatigue.

Terrain
I would set the encounter in a large roughly circular clearing so as to allow a fair amount of movement, I might also add a few large stones to add a little more interest. But I would make sure that the Guardian starts close enough to the PCs to not become a sitting duck (if necessary he can move forward as he is speaking his warning, then roll initiative).

I would surround the clearing with 15ft deep hazardous difficult terrain with impassable terrain after that to keep everyone in the area while allowing some pushing into a hazard fun.

Thorny Thicket – Hazardous Difficult Terrain
Any creature ending their turn inside the Thicket takes the following attack; attack +11 vs. Reflex; on hit the target is grabbed and takes 5 ongoing damage (escape ends both), escape check athletics or acrobatics DC 20.

Any edged weapon, or fire based attack hitting AC 16; Fort 18; Ref 16; Will 16 and dealing at least 15 damage is also enough to end the grab, but the magical Thicket will soon twist back and fill the square. In other words if the target doesn’t move out it will take a grab attack at the end of its turn.

Portal
The portal allowed unlimited travel from the Feywild-Middle World, but an individual can only travel from the Middle World to the Feywild once a day (maybe at twilight).

This means that the PCs are free to escape back through the portal at any time but if they do so they will not be able to return until after an extended rest. This is a way of stopping the PCs getting any advantage other than escape from the portal.

Archway
The large marble archway is elaborately carved with images showing the members of the Fey Court as graceful, beautiful and powerful rules of the domain. The Archway is also studied with many small gemstones with a total value of roughly 100,000 gps though a divine magic will show that they are enchanted with strong magics.

The stones would be easy to remove but anyone taking or assisting in the theft of even a single stone will be subject to a Fey curse once thy are out of sight of the archway. The curse will brand any miscreant with a glowing arcane symbol on their forehead that reads “Thief of the court”, anyone bearing this symbol will be shunned by the residents of the domain and probably arrested to be dragged before the Court itself if they visit a settlement. A remove curse ritual might also remove the curse at the DMs discretion.

When the PCs defeat the guardian a small compartment will open at the pinnacle of the archway and a small emerald will fall to the ground. When examined this will have the arcane symbol for “Warrior” or “Guardian” magically suspended within it. If the PCs present this to the Fey Court they will be welcomed and it will be exchanged for an enchanted seal of passage so that they may in future travel freely through the portal.

Rainbow Hue Guardian Level 8 Solo Brute
Large Fey Magical Beast XP 875 (half normal)

Initiative +3 Senses Perception +10, darkvision
HP 360; Bloodied 180; see Bloodied Transformation
AC 20; Fortitude 21, Reflex 19, Will 20
Immune charm
Saving Throws +5
Speed 6
Action Points 1

Elemental Infusion ♦ Trait
Whenever Guardian is hit by an elemental attack its next melee attack
deals an additional 1d8 damage of the appropriate type; this effect does
not stack, a second elemental attack will replace the first

Glowing Slam (Standard; at-will)
Reach 2; attack +13 vs. AC 2d10+8 damage

Sweeping Slam (Standard; at-will) ♦ fire, cold, acid or force
Guardian makes a Glowing Slam against a primary target; hit or miss
Guardian makes the following attacks against all secondary targets; burst
2; attack +11 vs. Reflex; 2d6+6 variable damage (for each target hit roll a
d4 to determine element; 1=fire, 2=cold, 3=acid, 4=force); on miss target
takes half (force) damage

Elemental Cascade (Standard; encounter) ♦ fire, cold, acid, force
Reach 2; 4 attacks against the same target; attack +13 vs. AC; first
attack 1d6+6 fire damage; on hit target takes 5 ongoing fire damage
(save ends); second attack 1d8+4 cold damage; on hit target is slowed
(save ends); third attack 1d10+2 acid damage; on hit target takes a -2
penalty to AC (save ends); fourth attack 2d6 force damage; on hit target
is pushed 6 squares and knocked prone

Rainbow Waves (Standard; recharge ) ♦ fire, cold, acid or force
Close blast 5; enemies only; attack +11 vs. Fortitude; 2d8+8 variable
damage (for each target hit roll a d4 to determine element; 1=fire, 2=cold,
3=acid, 4=force); on hit target is pushed 2 squares; on miss target takes
half (force) damage and is pushed 1 square

Symbol of Cold (Minor; encounter) ♦ cold
Range 15; attack +11 vs. Will; 1d8+2 cold damage; on hit each time the
target moves or is forced to move more than 2 squares as part of an
action or effect it takes 5 cold damage (save ends)

Symbol of Force (Minor; encounter) ♦ force
Burst 3; attack +11 vs. Fortitude; 1d6+4 force damage; on hit target is
pushed 4 squares; on miss target is pushed 1 square

Symbol of Fire (Minor; encounter) ♦ fire, zone
Area burst 1 within 15; attack +11 vs. Reflex; 1d6+8 fire damage; hit or
miss creates a zone that lasts until the Guardian transforms; all enemies
entering or starting their turn inside the zone take 5 fire damage

Symbol of Acid (encounter) ♦ triggered action, acid
When Guardian is hit by an attack a series of green symbols briefly
illuminate on its body, all creatures inside burst 2 take 5 acid damage

Scintillating Symbols ♦ triggered action, charm
Whenever Guardian is hit by an attack while it is stunned or dazed a series
of brightly coloured spinning symbols dance from the Guardian to its
aggressor; the triggering target takes an attack +11 vs. Will; on hit if the
Guardian is stunned the target is stunned (save ends), if the Guardian is
dazed the target is dazed (save ends), the target cannot make a saving
throw against these effects during the turn they are initially affected

Bloodied Transformation ♦ triggered action
When first bloodied Guardian erupts in a large flash of red, blue, green and
silver light; burst 5; attack +10 vs. Will; on hit target is dazed until the
end of their next turn; hit or miss Guardian is removed from play and replaced
by 3 Shifting Stalkers that appear in any free square within the burst

Alignment Unaligned Languages elven, gnome, sylvan
Skills Arcana +9, Nature +10
Str 20 (+9) Dex 8 (+3) Wis 12 (+5)
Con 18 (+8) Int 10 (+4) Cha 18 (+8)

----

Shifting Stalker Level 8 Skirmisher
Medium Fey Magical Beast XP 350

Initiative +11 Senses Perception +6, darkvision
HP 90; Bloodied 45; see Motes of Light
AC 22; Fortitude 19, Reflex 22, Will 20
Immune charm;
Resist see Chaotic State
Speed 7

Chaotic State♦ trait
At the start of Stalkers turn roll a d6; 1 or 2=fire, 3 or 4=cold, 5 or
6=acid; until the start of its next turn Stalker gains 10 resistance of the
appropriate element and it can only use its basic melee attack and powers
that have that elements keyword

Combat Advantage ♦ trait
Stalker deals an additional 1d6 damage against targets granting it combat
advantage

Talon Rake (Standard; at-will)
Attack +13 vs. AC; 2d6+7 damage; on hit Stalker may shift 1 square

Sudden Freeze (Standard; at-will) ♦ cold, see Chaotic State
Range 10; attack +11 vs. Fortitude; 2d6+8 cold damage; on hit target is
restrained and takes 5 ongoing cold damage (save ends both)

Burning Talons (Minor; at-will) ♦ fire, see Chaotic State
Until the start of Stalkers next turn its Talon Rake attack deals fire
damage and gains the following effect; on hit target takes 5 ongoing fire
damage (save ends)

Stinging Haze (Minor; at-will) ♦ acid, see Chaotic State
Stalker gains the following aura until the start of its next turn; aura 1; all
creatures entering or starting their turn inside the aura take 10 acid
damage

Fey Step (Move; recharge ) ♦ teleport
Stalker teleports 3 squares as a move action

Motes of Light ♦ triggered action
When reduced to 0 HPs Stalker collapses in a torrent of multicoloured
light; burst 2; enemies only; attack +11 vs. Will; on hit target grants
combat advantage to all enemies until the end of its next turn; hit or miss
5 Motes of Light appear in any free square within the burst

Alignment Unaligned Languages elven, gnome, sylvan
Skills Arcana +10, Nature +11, Stealth +14
Str 16 (+7) Dex 20 (+9) Wis 14 (+6)
Con 18 (+8) Int 12 (+5) Cha 17 (+7)

----

Mote of Light Level 8 Minion
Tiny Fey Magical Beast (blind) XP 70 (5=standard creature)

Initiative +12 Senses Perception +4, blindsight 20
HP 1; a minion takes no damage from a missed attack; see One From Five
AC 24; Fortitude 19, Reflex 22, Will 20
Immune charm
Speed fly 5 (hover), see Bouyant

Bouyant ♦ trait
Motes of Light naturally float and cannot be knocked prone, whenever a
Mote is subject to a push, pull or slide effect it may instead shift the
appropriate number of squares as a free action

Force Slam (Standard; at-will) ♦ force
Attack +13 vs. AC; 8 damage; on hit target is pushed 1 square

Drift (Minor; at-will)
Mote may shift 1 square as a minor action

Force Repulsion ♦ triggered action
When Mote is missed by a melee attack by an adjacent creature it may
make the following attack as an immediate reaction; attack +13 vs. Reflex
(mote gains a +1 bonus to hit for each additional Mote adjacent to the
target); on hit target is pushed 3 squares, if the target ends this push
adjacent to a different Mote then that Mote may make a Force Repulsion
attack against the target as an immediate free action, this can repeat
until the target does not end a push next to a Mote

One From Five ♦ triggered action
Whenever a multiple of 5 Motes of Light are destroyed there is a flash of
light and the triggering target takes the following attack; attack +11 vs.
Will; on hit the target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends); hit
or miss an Emissary of the Third appears in any free square within burst 5
of the triggering Mote

Alignment Unaligned
Str 6 (+2) Dex 22 (+10) Wis 10 (+4)
Con 12 (+5) Int 8 (+3) Cha 18 (+8)

----

Emissary of the Third Level 8 Controller
Medium Fey Magical Beast XP 350

Initiative +5 Senses Perception +13, darkvision
HP 90; Bloodied 45
AC 22; Fortitude 20, Reflex 19, Will 22
Immune charm
Speed 5

Painful Touch (Standard; at-will) ♦ necrotic
Attack +11 vs. Reflex; 1d10+7 necrotic damage; on hit secondary attack
against the same target; attack +11 vs. Fortitude; on hit target loses a
healing surge

Shards of Fire and Ice (Standard; at-will) ♦ fire, cold
Close blast 3; attack +13 vs. AC; 2d6+5 fire and cold damage

Word of Command (Standard; recharge ) ♦ charm
Range 15; attack +11 vs. Will; on hit slide the target its speed and target
makes an at will attack against a legal target of the Emissary's choice

Vortex of Attraction (Standard; encounter) ♦ force
Area burst 3 within 10 (must target an unoccupied square); non Fey
creatures only; attack +11 vs. Fortitude; 2d10+5 force damage; hit or
miss creates a 1 square zone of impassable terrain (target square), all non
Fey creatures starting their turn adjacent to the zone take 2d6 force
damage, minor action to sustain, when Emissary sustains this power the
Vortex makes a attack against the closest non Fey target that isn't
adjacent to it, attack +11 vs. Fortitude; on hit the target is pulled 2
squares and slowed until the end of its next turn

Fey Step (Move; recharge ) ♦ teleport
Emissary teleports 5 squares as a move action

Alignment Unaligned Languages elven, gnome, sylvan
Skills Arcana +11, History +11, Nature +13
Str 16 (+7) Dex 12 (+5) Wis 18 (+8)
Con 18 (+8) Int 14 (+6) Cha 20 (+9)

The Total XP for the encounter works out at 4025 XP, which is the equivalent of a level 13 encounter, but I think that in reality it is probably a lot closer to 10 or maybe even lower.

My questions are:

1: Do you think this encounter is any good?
2: What level do you think it actually is?
3: What level PCs do you think it is suitable for (assuming 5 PCs)?

 

[El Coro]

I think your encounter is definitely cool and will keep your players interested. Having these kind of worldbreaker encounters with multiple phases is totally awesome and regardless of what happens, players always seem to enjoy the complexity and shift in tactics.

For #2 and #3, I would guess that it looks to be around a level 10 or 11 encounter for a group of five level 9 PCs.

I think there are a few difficult and harsh parts of this encounter, and it makes me wonder if it would either murder or frustrate (or both) a group of players, for the following reasons:

Stage 1:
Elemental Cascade is really harsh, and though I'm sure it's meant to be since it's an encounter power, it's really not an encounter ability if you think about it; most encounter powers are saved for mid-combat or an opportune moment, but with all of your phases, it's going to probably use it within the first 2 or 3 rounds (since it will need to before being bloodied and dispersed). This is the same for the other recharge and encounter powers - they're very powerful in anticipation of being used rarely (or once), but all of those one-time uses will be almost back-to-back.

Most level 9 or 10 players probably won't have more than 70 hit points. If one sorry player is targeted by Elemental Cascade one turn and then merely caught in the secondary attack of Sweeping Slam, they could take up to 60 damage in those two turns - and that's not accounting for any of the minor encounter abilities or if, god forbid, the monster spends an action point. And that's all just in the first phase.

I'd recommend having Elemental Cascade make 4 attacks against 4 separate targets, or, if you want to keep it with 4 attacks on 1 target, at least lowering the damage and focusing on the effects. In addition, you could have Glowing Slam target up to 2 or 3 players normally, which is what many solo monsters can do to offset their few turns.

Also, for all of the phases, I would cut out the extreme effects of the transformation. Players HATE being dazed and stunned, and they often (in my experience) get pissed when something just explodes and damages or affects them without any kind of foreseeable warning - the "how could I prevent it if I didn't know about it?!" aggravation.

If nothing else, I'd remove the daze from Bloodied Transformation, that is a pile of pissed off players with no first turn in phase 2.

Stage 2:
My only critique here would be the sudden explosion of Motes of Light that leave each player vulnerable to the mote's attacks as soon as they appear. The 10 ongoing damage is a little harsh if the players aren't yet paragon tier, but that's only a random effect so it could go either way.

Stage 3:
Force Repulsion seems a little much for a minion attack, especially since it pushes, triggers more attacks, and gives bonuses to those attacks (which already target Reflex, a lower defense). If the attack bonuses are cumulative, it's not hard to imagine some poor player getting caught in the acid aura of one of phase 2's still living stalkers, then taking three or four attacks by these motes, totaling near 40 points in one round (by only 3 creatures).

Also, since these minions appear basically anywhere, some of your more vulnerable players won't have a chance to get away or avoid them without a few opportunity attacks. When combat starts, most of your fragile players will make sure to stay out of the middle, but that might not be possible, and suddenly a ranged class is provoking opportunity attacks every time they move or cast a spell.

Stage 4:
Shards of Fire and Ice should probably do less damage or be a recharge. Not because it's overpowered, but because your players have already been dealing with a lot of spread-out burst damage by now, and having potentially THREE of these guys up, all using that attack each turn, could easily cause a TPK.

I'd also make Word of Command cause a melee or ranged basic attack, not an at-will attack, just to balance it a little more.

Vortex of Attraction is pretty cool, not sure how it'll play out - depends on the size of the area I guess, but I'm a fan and think it's a great idea.

In general I think your encounter is pretty awesome and you clearly put a lot of time into thinking thematically and how everything fits together. I just think it needs a few tweaks to even it out for a group of players of a near level (if they're too high, it'll just be a joke because the monsters won't even land a hit).

Sorry if I seemed to rip it apart or anything, it wasn't my intention. I post stuff like this sometimes and I almost always wish someone would just go through it piece by piece and give me some constructive feedback on not only what they didn't like, but how to fix it - so I'm trying to do that.

Good luck!

 

[Mesh Hong]

Thanks for the detailed response, I very much appreciate it.

I would usually reply with quotes and deal with one issue at a time, but it might be a bit difficult with your post so I will just lay out my discussion here instead.

Stage 1

Elemental Cascade.
The standard single target damage for a level 8 brute is 2d8+7 x 1.25 = 28 (rounded down). A solo or elite should at the very least be able to attack twice in a round at that damage, in this case that would equal 56 HP max damage and by my calculations an average damage of 38.

Elemental Cascade is 4 attacks for a maximum of 12 damage each plus effects. That means that if it hits with all attacks and scores maximum damage it will do 48 +5 ongoing fire for a grand total of 53 damage, and by my calculations an average of 31+5 ongoing fire.

This means that damage wise Elemental Cascade is slightly suboptimal, especially when you consider that it is 4 attacks. Having this as 4 attacks means that it is unlikely that it will hit its target with all 4 but it should hit with at least 1 and hopefully 2 or 3.

Elemental Cascade is also an encounter power and the only power the Guardian has to target the same PC more than once at a time.

Rainbow Waves
Looking at it again I think that Rainbow Waves might be more troublesome than Elemental Cascade. The secondary effect of either blinded or dazed are just as bad as each other and are almost certainly too much for a heroic level brute, they would be a lot more reasonable at high paragon or epic.

I think the secondary effect should be replaced with; on hit the target is pushed 2 squares.

This would keep the utility of the power as assured damage and a push to a greater or lesser extent depending on hit or miss.

Bloodied Transformation
Well the daze effect requires a hit (with a -1 penalty to accuracy) so it is by no means automatic. The effect is also until the end of PCs next turn, this means that depending on actual initiative a PC might end the dazed effect before the monsters can act. Only the PC that triggered the Bloodied Transformation is guaranteed to be dazed when the monsters act if they are hit.

As to players hating being dazed or creatures having an on death attack we are probably going to have to disagree. Being dazed for one action isn’t denying the players their action, they still get one, and the daze effect is one turn only so personally I don’t see this as a problem.

As to the on death burst you could describe the crystalline creature cracking and fracturing as it takes damage, maybe fissures slowly open in its surface that radiate coloured light. This would hint that it might be liable to explode. But as the explosion itself doesn’t actually do any damage as it is an optical effect they really don’t have anything to grumble about.


Stage 2,3,4

One thing to consider when assessing stages 2, 3 and 4 is that the PCs are only facing 3 creatures worth of XP value at the same time, no matter what combination of creatures they trigger.

This means that XP wise all other things being equal these should be relatively simple encounters. What ups the threat scale is the design of the creatures and the resource drain from a much longer than usual encounter.

Shifting Stalker

I know what you mean about Stinging Haze, a 10 damage aura is potentially very nasty at heroic tier. But it is most likely that any Stalker will only have it active one round at a time so it has only a limited window of threat. The problem might be if more than one Stalker has the aura at the same time as auras now stack. Coupled with Fey Step it might be possible to deliver quite a nasty aura bomb given the right conditions.

I would have thought that a groups natural instinct would be to concentrate on a single creature at a time, so they should make short work of one of the Stalkers which reduces their overall threat. Of course it then leads to more trouble which will give the PCs plenty to think about.

The Stalkers on death trigger that transforms it into 5 Motes of Light is a burst 3, attack vs. Will; on hit grant combat advantage until the end of next targets next turn. The first time this happens there will be 2 Stalkers who might be able to capitalise on this, but at burst 3 you certainly aren’t going to hit all the PCs so I don’t see it as that much of a threat.

On reflection though I think burst 3 might be a little large (after all that is 7x7 squares), burst 2 (5x5 squares) would probably give enough room to place 5 Motes of Light and ensure they were initially closer together to allow a window of opportunity in blasting them while they were bunched up.

Mote Of Light

Force repulsion is a triggered attack when missed by a melee attack. It is an attack that does no actual damage but might lead to a bit of comedy pinball action and deposit the melee PC far away from where it was. It is a power designed to keep things active and dynamic on the battlefield.

Tragically of course it only activates on a missed melee attack so it might never happen.

My original intention with this attack is that it could try and bounce PCs into the grabbing undergrowth, but bouncing them into an aura would be good too. I don’t think the PC would take damage if they were pushed into an aura until the start of their turn, and by then the Stalkers aura might have gone away due to its random nature.

Emissary of the Third
I am not sure about your assessment here, I don’t think the PCs have been taking any burst or blast damage since stage 1 when the first of these guys show up. The Stalker has no damaging blast or burst attack and neither does the Mote of Light.

I think the biggest threat would come from Word of Command, but as it is a recharge power and isn’t a full Dominate I think it should be OK. The danger of course is that PC attacks can be quite nasty, but turning allies against each other strikes me as a very Fey thing to do.

Again it is 5 PC vs. 3 PCs worth of monsters and by the time the first Emissary turns up the PCs should have recognised the pattern and will hopefully concentrate on the Emissary to see if it is the end of the chain or not.

Conclusion
I have probably missed a couple of your points, but please come back to me any further assessment.

However you have certainly highlighted a couple of issues resulting in the following changes:

Rainbow Hue Guardian
Changed Rainbow Waves on hit effect from blinded/dazed to push 2 squares.

Shifting Stalker
Changed Motes of Light burst area from 3 to 2

Admittedly that is only 2 changes for now, but I am open to further discussion.

 

[El Coro]

[MENTION=11426]mesh[/MENTION]

Good call with replacing the blind/daze effect. I always tend toward push/pull/slide in favor of daze or stun, just because as a player it's so boring to be dazed/stunned.

I confused Force Repulsion with Force Slam, thinking that Repulsion included the Slam damage - my bad. The pinball effect seems much more fun to me now that I don't imagine it as a shoving match of death.

I'm still a little worried that Elemental Cascade and the Emissary's blast attack might be a little painful since the PCs will often have no warning before taking a lot of damage in one turn (if multiple Emissaries are there at once). But again, this relies on so many uncontrollable factors: the DM can choose NOT to overlap the blasts, the players might have burned down one monster at a time (though often they do not, and it drives me insane), or the damage could be inconsequential depending on the other mobs. I think it's perfect from a design perspective, but players and dice always seem to throw nice design out the window.

But more than anything, this all depends on what level the PCs are. If they're too high, the damage and effects and attacks won't bother them (especially if they reached Paragon tier). If they're still in heroic, and quite low, then attack rolls will dictate most of the fight.

So really, I guess all of my critiques are dependent on what level the PCs might be, so that they can soak up decent damage while still avoiding some attacks.

All in all I think it's pretty awesome, and if nothing else, here's a bump back to the top of the page.