Help making my players sweat? (My players, don't look!)

[The_Warlock]

*edit* i wonder how long it would take to roll the dice for 200 blowdarts. And I wonder, mathematically, how many would hit? *pulls out calculator*

I need to go through my Dragon Archive...there was a great old article back for first edition that had a d20 matrix that let you roll one d20 for groups of up to 20 creatures - one roll gave you the number that succeeded at a given target number for the group. I lost the original magazine years ago...must dig that out...

 

[Evilhalfling]

200 attacks
need a nat 20 to hit
10 hits.

try mob rules is 60 creatures become a 30hd swarm that does 5d6 damage to any target it envelopes.

*House rules fighting mobs* great cleave, combat reflexes and Whirlwind all function as AoE spells ie +50% damage to a swarm. Power attack damage is limited.

 

[Bad Paper]

I'm trying to get an idea of the numbers to include for a penultimate battle this weekend:
<snip>
This is a final encounter, one that will finish the campaign, and I want it to be memorable.

I'm confused. You have the final battle laid out, but you need something to warm them up/wear them down? Or is this big one (with the rakshasa, et al.) the penultimate encounter, and when they release the rajah, that's the ultimate encounter?

 

[Henry]

I'm confused. You have the final battle laid out, but you need something to warm them up/wear them down? Or is this big one (with the rakshasa, et al.) the penultimate encounter, and when they release the rajah, that's the ultimate encounter?

Currently, I don't have the final battle laid out, other than I'm committed to a Marility and an Ak'chazar in the battle (Akchazar is the mastermind, and the ritual performer, the Marilith is his general/chief thug.) What I'm asking for is the kind of info that penance, mage smiley et.al. ahve laid out - what to include in the battle. If they fail at stopping the Rajah's release, it's ALL over, as I'm using the Rajah stats from a Keith Baker article in Dragon Magazine. If they just wade in and try to kill everything, I want it to be an EL+4 or so encounter - hellishly tough. I'm also planning to arrange things so that if they are skittish against all that, there will be a way to stop the ritual that doesn't take as much manpower, say EL +2 or so. They still might die from the forces, regardless, but the saving of the world is accomplishable.

Therefore, any ideas on what breakdown of forces against these PCs and their NPC allies would present that kind of encounter, by the formulas in the DMG, is what I seek.

 

[Dross]

The party consists of five level 15 PCs:

1 Cleric 5 / Exorcist of the Silver Flame 10 - shtick is spell support, and spells that do many nasty things to evil outsiders, hp high 90's, AC 22
1 Half-Dragon Monk 12 - shtick is massive unarmed damage and moderately powerful sonic breath weapon AC 31, hp low 100's
1 Half-elf Monk 15 - shtick is nigh-unkillable, and pretty decent damage in melee. AC 30 to 35 (expertise), hp mid 100's.
1 Changeling Artificer 10 - shtick is ungodly amounts of magical items, AC 35, hp high 90's.
1 Ratling Ninja 13 / Shadowdancer 2 - shtick is unaparalleled stealth and sneak attacking flat-footed foes. AC 33, hp low 100's.

When prepared (as they will be for this battle), the monks are usually equipped via Artificer infusions with both Vorpal and Wounding enchantments on their hands. (thanks to a feat, their attacks can do slashing) The artificer can cast a number of spells from Staff or scroll of 7th to 9th level power, and uses spells from the Spell Compendium frequently, including frequently going around with superior invisibility in major conflicts.

It appears that the PC group is mainly melee with spells being the main long range weapon. Try something that flies and uses bows or flaming oil/Alchemist Fire (or something that the BBEGs are immune/resistant to)

For the final battle, a Young Adult Gold Dragon (CR 14), a level 5 cleric (performs party buffs and hangs back), a Couatl (Cr 9) and 6 level 7 warforged fighters will be joining them.

The party has their own mooks Anyone that hangs back in a large fight is either the leader or vunerable (or both), which is it I wonder? Why not have someone (disposable but capable) go and find out?

I'm willing to take any suggestions of power, and any creative ideas someone may have to donate. Any additional info needed, I'm glad to provide; I don't have access to character sheets at the moment, but I have a fairly large amount of info on them memorized. I also know this is a heck of a lot of variables, and I don't expect perfect advice, but mainly this is as much for the number crunching fun as anything else.

Sunder, grapplers and non-leathal damage tend to make players, use it to your advantage.

Trip specialist. PCs have been doing it for ages, get some of your own back.

Are there columns in the room? Web. Repeatedly. Did someone mention Alchemist Fire?

Hmmm, quick moving foes, Grease? Darkness/Fog spells (if someone has Blind Fight, Tremorsense, Blindsight etc)

 

[QuaziquestGM]

Shadow dragon. -level breath weapon should knock them down a bit.

about 20 mook undead. They probably won't notice the one with the protable hole in one hand and the bag of holding in the other until it is too late.

Gate spells can be open in any orientation.

wall of fire is nice.

Summon greater elemental...the earth ones can grapple and then pull the PC underground with earthglide...or SNA 9 could get you 4 huge elementals appearing whereever you want....

1hd kabold mooks using greenslime splash weapons....

Stonespikes, entangle,

don't forget that most dragons and deamons have see invisible and or true seeing

Clerics of the magic domain have Mort's disjuction as a domian spell

Insanity mist as a spash weapon.

 

[Plane Sailing]

First of all, you want a good way of estimating relative power.

The quickest and easiest way I've come across is using the CRsquared method from Grim Tales (which I think was originated by Cheiromancer).

Essentially, work out the power of the party as the sum of the squares of their character level (including LA), so it looks like 225+225+225+100+225 = 1000

plus their allies

gold dragon +196
couatl +81
cleric +25
warforged 6x49 = +294

So party total is 1596 or so?

So if the enemy total of sum of CR squares is the same or greater, then it is likely to be an even match with a good chance of party deaths. As a simplistic example the party would give a group of 7 of your Ak'chazar Rekshasa a run for their money, and trample much less.

 

[Plane Sailing]

OK, suggestions.

1. Give the party some moral dilemmas in the fight.
e.g. threatening innocents at the same time - what is their priority?
"You can either attempt to stop the ritual or save the lives of all these orphans/virgins/the city of Sharn... you choose".

A more twisted version of this is that the necromancer has Magic Jar, and he has magic jarred into the body of one of the PCs loved ones or most trusted mentors. "The only way you can kill me is to kill the one you love! Mwahahahahah!". It also gives him a get out if his host is killed - he can just possess another body. Can the PCs find his gem in time?

2. Home field advantage.

Unhallow the entire area, and have dispel magic (or dimensional anchor) tied to it, keyed to affect everyone apart from the bad guys alignment.

3. Divide and conquer.

Bad guys pick on one foe and eliminate him as quickly as possible. If a full attack, all attacks are against the same target, and don't just stop when they are down, eviscerate the corpse just to be sure.

4. Incorporeal foes

Incorporeal foes are always nasty, because regardless of how good the other guys are to hit, there is ALWAYS that 50% miss chance. Hmmm, Necromancer, Incorporeal, Unhallowed area. I think a large group of Spectres could really say 'I love you' in that special way, and would certainly put the wind up the PCs too. They might have difficulty in hitting characters though, so what if our Necromancer has made a pact with, say, 8 Dread Wraiths? With their large size and life sense, they can actually take their combat reflexes attacks from completely within rock, and with their spring attack they can spring out, all of them attacking a single foe and then spring back within their rock. Imagine the effect of eight of them rising out of the ground around the same target, each making their +16 attack (surprise? flanking) for 2d6 +1d8 Con drain. You could take someone down in one go if they were very unlucky... Hey, the PCs are using wounding to do CON damage, how do they like it in return?

The 8 dread wraiths would contribute 8*121 = 968 towards your total. Ak'chazar Rekshasa contributes 225, your marilith contributes 289.

I suggest that for the marilith you ditch one of her useless feats (weapon focus) and replace it with Quicken Spell Like Ability. Boost her caster level to 18 and she could have quickened telekinises to cause havok with every round as well as doing something else. If you feel that is cheating a little, give her Empower spell like ability (blade barrier), then she is creating at-will blade barriers for 15d6+50% damage. The guys with evasion may be making their saves and getting through untouched, but if anyone is grappled and then forced into a blade barrier they probably wouldn't get a save, and 78 force damage is pretty nasty. Definitely worth dropping one on anyone who gets held/paralysed/knocked out or otherwise rendered immobile. Could synergise well with web (which actually cripples people even if they DO save) or even with tanglefoot bags if you get lucky. "Heh, they are using tanglefoot bags against us". "whrrrrrrrrrrr". "Arrrrgh!"





Since she has blade barrier at will, have her concentrate on creating a whole lot of blade barriers to control the battlefield and divide up the party.

 

[Shadeus]

The marlith is a powerful foe if it's given time to prepare.

Unholy aura is very, very nasty. SR 25 is a 50/50 shot at level 15. Plus any melee attacks against the creatures affected require a DC 25 Fort save or lose 1d6 Str. And it can cast it on 16 people. So cast that on a bunch of mooks and send them in. The hasted monks are going to think twice if they want to use their 6 attacks to take out a mook when they want to risk getting a DC 25 save every time they hit. (Okay, one has spell resistance, but still.)

Blade Barrier at will? Have a dozen of them in the final room.

Change the environment of the room. Make it a pit of lava that the marlith is immune to (well 10 points / round anyway). Also will lava, it is difficult terrain; it negates their movement bonus that monks have. The marlith can teleport; no problem moving there.

Summon help - have the summoned help appear next to their casters for them to deal with.

Give the Marlith a weapon of wounding. See how they like losing Con with every hit. Your party has decent ACs, so it won't hit too often, but give the Marlith a haste or some other means to boost his attacks. They have a great use magical device so maybe give her a wand or scroll of extended haste.

Maybe give the marilith a scroll of fire seeds as well. It has a +28 to read scroll and enough Wisdom to read it (it's a 6th level spell). Nothing like a no-save spell to put those monks in a tizzy. Or give it a scroll of meteor swarm and have her make the ranged touch against a monk. No save against that either. Or a scroll of maze.

As for the mooks, spectres are very good (especially if they have unholy aura on them as well).

 

[moritheil]

I advanced a marilith for my campaign - what you want is four levels in metamagic sorcerer at 2-for-1 to CR and wraithstrike. If you want, I can try to dig up the details, but essentially, toss out several of the more useless feats for improved multiweapon fighting and the ability to make a full attack on a charge. Win initiative. Make mincemeat out of the nearest flat-footed player.