D&D 4E Most Ridiculous 4E Battle So Far

[thecasualoblivion]

Just finished our Sunday night game, and we had the most ridiculous battle I've ever seen from this game. It was set up as an annoying but not difficult fight that got out of hand when the players found they had the perfect abilities and tactics for this and were rolling ridiculously well.

We had

Lv11 Elf Ranger(TWF/Archery hybrid)
Lv11 Elf Cleric(Laser/Melee hybrid)
Lv11 Human Fighter
Lv11 Halfling Fighter/Paragon Rogue
Lv11 Human Wizard/Blood Mage

vs

Lv14 Blackroot Treant(usually level 19, but reduced to 14)


Round 1

Cleric--Hit with Righteous Brand, Ranger gets +4
Ranger--Quarries Treant, Hits with Evasive Strike
Fighter--Misses with Steel Serpent Strike
Halfling--Misses with Rain of Blows(all of them), uses Rain of Steel(stance)
Wizard--Hits with Blood Pulse
Treant--(Rain of Steel)Hits Fighter with roots, hits Cleric with damage

Round 2--

Cleric--Hits Treant with Command, Blood Pulse for 6(squares)
Ranger--Hits with Sweeping Whirlwind, Blood Pulse for 4 and prone
Fighter--Stands up(Treant had been moved dispelling restrained), misses with charge
Halfling--Hits with Positioning Strike(had Artful Dodger from DM Candy), Blood Pulse for 3
Wizard--Hits with Thunderwave, Blood Pulse for 4
--Blood Pulse Ping Pong over--
Treant--(Rain of Steel)tries to get up, but Ranger hits with Wrong Step(Pathfinder Encounter 11) and Treant is immobilized. Misses Halfling with both attacks. Fails save vs. Immobilized.

Round 3--

Cleric--Hits Prone Treant with Rune of Peace. Treant can now not attack.
Ranger--Hits once with Twin Strike
Fighter--Hits with main attack from All Bets are off.
Halfling--Hits with Sand in the eyes, Treant is blind(just piling it on here)
Wizard--Hits with Firey Burst, 5 ongoing fire
Treant--(Rain of Steel)Can't move, can't attack, takes 5 ongoing fire. Saves vs ongoing fire, fails vs immobilized and Rune of Peace

Round 4--

Cleric--Hits with Searing Light
Ranger--Hits twice with Twin Strike--Treant dies

 

[Goumindong]

So you set your players up against level 9 encounter that had only one enemy in it(which multiplies
the power of action and movement reduction powers) and expected a different outcome?

To top it off there is 2 dailies(Rune of peace, Reign of steel) used?

Yea, i am not seeing how this was supposed to be "annoying" or anything other than your players stomping all over a treant

 

[Kzach]

Yeah, I'm not getting it either... what's wrong with this scenario?

You put them up against a 2,000 xp encounter where for their level a challenging encounter is 3,000 xp. What did you expect?

Quite frankly, I'm surprised they wasted dailies on it. It would've been, and should've been, a cake-walk even without them.

 

[Goumindong]

They probably thought: One enemy, its got to be a Solo.

Solo's aren't much difficulty either without some sort of interaction mechanic either, but that is another story

 

[JesterOC]

The encounter was too easy. The DM should not have used an elite as a solo. Using an elite as a solo is hard on the monster (it just does not get enough chances to hit back). When it was reduced to level 14 it became the same power level as 5 lvl 9 creatures which is 2 levels below your parties level. Thus they should have smoked it given the fact that two dailies where used.

Jester

 

[Cadfan]

This is from Thunderspire, so its going in spoiler blocks.

[sblock]Its the fight in the room full of blood. There are two statues which are magical traps, and three demons. The traps are triggered so that they activate for the first time if someone steps in the pools of blood, or if someone steps on the central walkway. Once activated, each one hits an entire half of the room, pushing the person hit one space and knocking them prone.

The overall gist of the encounter is that the blood poisons you, the demons go insane with bloodlust once you're bloodsoaked, and you can't get out because the current in the blood coupled with the pushing/tripping statues and the blood counting as difficult terrain, wrecks your mobility. You need to get to the opposite side of the room, steal two halves of a broken dagger, and escape.

So the party walks in the room. They haven't stepped in the blood yet, they're on the ledge. They succeed some spot checks and notice the lurking demons under the surface of the blood, and the articulation on the statues' arms. The tiefling wizard, Milton, decides that stepping in the blood is a stupid thing to do, so he casts levitate. He floats over to the other side of the room. He then uses mage hand to pick up half of the dagger. This takes him like a full minute because levitate moves very slowly.

I decide that the demons have had enough of waiting beneath the surface of the blood, and that they come up to look around and see why no one has stepped into the trap. They see Milton. I declare that they're going to jump up and try to grab him.

Milton's player points out that he can be four spaces up in the air with levitate, and that he said he was going as high as he could. He did say that. I respond that he can only go as high as the ceiling. He asks how high that is. I think for a moment, and remember that there's a picture of the room in the booklet. I take out the picture, and find that the ceiling is... really, really darn high. So he's the max four spaces. There's no way the Evistro demons can jump that high with a +8 athletics check.

But this isn't lost yet! The demons (roleplayed as screeching, angry monkey-critters) climb up the giant statue in the center of the room. Milton realizes what's going on, and backs away, taking a long trip around the room to get to the other dagger. Every few rounds, the demons fling themselves from the top of the statue in an effort to leap to him and knock him out of the air. They fail, miserably. I had one demon catch Milton's ankle and hang from it for a bit, while Milton kicked and yelled at him and the demon fell.

Milton then stole the other half of the dagger, and floated on back to his allies.

The demons naturally attacked the group as a whole, but since this combat took place outside of the range of the statues and out of the blood, the three demons were quickly destroyed.

During the whole Milton-levitation thing, the rest of the party sat on their hands. See, no one has a ranged weapon. NO ONE. Milton has ranged spells, but he was busy flying around. Sylenne, our cleric, had one spell with a range of 10, but the whole jumping demon thing took place about 20 spaces away. The rogue's shuriken couldn't reach, nor could the ranger's throwing dagger.

It was a farce, but it cracked everyone up, so I'm calling it a success.[/sblock]

 

[Alraiis]

Treant--(Rain of Steel)tries to get up, but Ranger hits with Wrong Step(Pathfinder Encounter 11) and Treant is immobilized. Misses Halfling with both attacks. Fails save vs. Immobilized.

Not sure of the "save vs. Immobilized" is refering to something else, but Wrong Step isn't a (save ends) power; it lasts one turn.

Of course, I don't think that would've made much difference.

 

[Shadewyn]

Cadfan ... same in mine ... water walk + super fast speed = victory.

Good use of non combat mechanics to beat a challenge in a prettty combat heavy area so why not!

 

[Saeviomagy]

Immobilized doesn't stop you from getting up, it just stops you from moving from the square you're in.

 

[Goumindong]

Immobilized doesn't stop you from getting up, it just stops you from moving from the square you're in.

Also, being prone doesn't stop you from attacking, you just take a -2 penalty and grant CA to all adjacent enemies.