Dead Rising Encounter too tough

[Kzach]

Personally, I'd use skeletons instead of boneshards. The skeletons control PC movement whilst the wight darts in and around the PC's, but neither is too hard to take out after having burned through dailies in the previous encounter. It's an 'about right' encounter for 1st-level.

Either that, or change the text to read that the encounter takes place after they have had a chance to extended rest so that the can have levelled to 2nd, or at least be fully refreshed, before taking on the encounter.

 

[Kzach]

Having a look through the rest of the encounters, a number of monsters seem really out of whack with comparable Compendium/Monster Builder monsters.

Feris, for example, has the defences and attacks of an elite/solo but is written as a standard with a standard's hit points, no action points or saving throw bonuses. So I'm assuming he's a standard, but with defences 4-5 points higher than they should be, and attacks roughly one die higher than they should be, as well as attack bonuses that are 1-2 points higher than other artillery.

 

[rangda]

The encounter needs to be rethought, unless the entire party is ranged and can safely stay out of the room. Moving in to engage the foes effectively traps those that do, unless they are willing to sacrifice a PC. And that's no fun for anyone.

I haven't started running WotBS yet as my players want to finish Scales of War first (blech), but IMO this encounter feels like a throw in. It's one of the few in the entire module that doesn't help contribute to the overall plot. When I run, I plan on replacing it with another encounter with one of the various groups in the city. (I'll probably build encounters for the Black Horse, Shahalesti, & White Wyrms and run the one for whichever group the PC's piss off the most.) Coming back to rest is the perfect time for the party to get ambushed by any of these groups...

 

[Daern]

I've taken to just making up equivalent monsters out of the MB for these adventures. I like to customize anyways, and it eliminates weird surprises. Anyways, I didn't run this one, like dude said, it didn't seem to contribute to plot or tension.

 

[Truename]

I haven't started running WotBS yet as my players want to finish Scales of War first (blech), but IMO this encounter feels like a throw in. It's one of the few in the entire module that doesn't help contribute to the overall plot.

I went through and compared the 4e version to the 3.5e version, and you're right. As I recall, this encounter and the dwarven encounters in Act 5 are new. They're also the weakest, in my opinion. The dwarf encounter doesn't feel quite as tacked on as Dead Rising, but the execution just seems silly... out of place compared to the others.

 

[Blackbrrd]

The dwarf-encounter as in the whole skill-challenge stuff towards the end of the first module? I actually really liked it. It really shows off how Dwarves are supposed to live in the campaign world. It feels a bit like settlers in the wild west or something.

 

[Morrus]

The Dwarf stuff and the Dianoem Mk IV all pay off in later adventures.

 

[EugeneZ]

I've taken to just making up equivalent monsters out of the MB for these adventures. I like to customize anyways, and it eliminates weird surprises. Anyways, I didn't run this one, like dude said, it didn't seem to contribute to plot or tension.

It actually worked out really well for me. One of the PCs was killed in the depository tower (wisp solon got a crit on her with its most powerful power, if I remember correctly) and Buron was reviving her. So I had the dead wake as an effect of the ressurection spell.

That said, I agree with everyone here who says this encounter is way too tough. If the DM shows no mercy and the PCs hold their ground, I simply don't see how they can possibly survive.

 

[nvrtrustanelf]

My players also had a rough time with this encounter and they believe even with the appropiate burst damage it still would have been tough.

During the encounter I had every party member below zero up, save one. 2 of the party ended up dying. Afterwards I was speaking to my players and they didn't mind the burst damage as much as they minded th small quarters that prevented them from avoiding it.

My party was unsure if what to do when thier numbers were down to 2 and they still had 2 boneshards to down. They didn't want to unleash the undead on an already taxed city. I allowed them to escape to avoid a tpk (I had the boneshards go back to thier tombs when the party left). I told them they could find other Resistance members to come back and clean the place out.

 

[John Doom]

I think there was a thread, or part of a discussion about this encounter somewhere before.

My party would have TPK'd, and they would have done so quickly.

However, with the magic of a DM screen and them not seeing the dice rolls, three survived the first several rounds and luckily I had forgotten the first bone explosion at bloody. I also changed the bone explosions also burst to hurt their nearby cohorts for that same massive damage.

With two still standing and a couple of fudged dice-rolls later the party avoided the TPK.