My party had a crazy encounter tonight. Through the advice of a dead god (long story) they knew the exact time and place that a githyanki raiding party would hit a specific area.
The raiding party consisted of:
1) 10 Githyanki Warriors (CR 3)
2) 7 Githyanki Knights (CR 8)
3 1 Githyanki Gish (CR 10)
Combined this was a 40k xp encounter, though if you use the horde multiplies it could be considered up 200k for difficulty purposes. As a deadly fight for this 6 character, 7th level party is 10k, so in theory this is way above the paygrade.
Now the party did a lot of prep, but ultimately the prep wasn't really needed due to the power of surprise.
The Githyanki appeared using some astral skiffs, right at the time and place the party knew they would be. The party got surprise round. Fireball, Fireball, and a Call Lightning to start the ball while the Rogue and the Wizard's undead assistants starting hitting the Gish and the Barbarian jumped on a skiff to start wrecking shop.
The party finished surprise round, and two of them got to go first again. Fireball, Fireball.....and now a lot of dead gith. The Gish was dead, and while most of the knights were still alive they were extremely wounded. Not wanting to engage in a suicide mission, the knights plane shifted out.
And so an absolute overwhelming encounter turned into a cakewalk.
The party loved it and had a great time. It wasn't how I thought they would handle it, but it all worked out.
The lesson is that CRs are great and all, but the circumstance of a battle can have a huge impact. Without surprise, in an open field, the party would have been slaughtered. With surprise and good position and they don't even get hurt.
The raiding party consisted of:
1) 10 Githyanki Warriors (CR 3)
2) 7 Githyanki Knights (CR 8)
3 1 Githyanki Gish (CR 10)
Combined this was a 40k xp encounter, though if you use the horde multiplies it could be considered up 200k for difficulty purposes. As a deadly fight for this 6 character, 7th level party is 10k, so in theory this is way above the paygrade.
Now the party did a lot of prep, but ultimately the prep wasn't really needed due to the power of surprise.
The Githyanki appeared using some astral skiffs, right at the time and place the party knew they would be. The party got surprise round. Fireball, Fireball, and a Call Lightning to start the ball while the Rogue and the Wizard's undead assistants starting hitting the Gish and the Barbarian jumped on a skiff to start wrecking shop.
The party finished surprise round, and two of them got to go first again. Fireball, Fireball.....and now a lot of dead gith. The Gish was dead, and while most of the knights were still alive they were extremely wounded. Not wanting to engage in a suicide mission, the knights plane shifted out.
And so an absolute overwhelming encounter turned into a cakewalk.
The party loved it and had a great time. It wasn't how I thought they would handle it, but it all worked out.
The lesson is that CRs are great and all, but the circumstance of a battle can have a huge impact. Without surprise, in an open field, the party would have been slaughtered. With surprise and good position and they don't even get hurt.
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