Zardnaar
Legend
So the players decided to use LTH after defeating the BBEG in a dungeon. BBEG was a devourer CR 14. Level 7. Devourer got owned by command spells and basically got to do nothing. It had 4 refluffed Ogre Zombies in a desecrated area (immune to turning, resistance to radiant, opponents vulnerable to necrotic). Players avoided the zone like the plague. Spellcaster heavy.
Level 7
Dragon Sorcerer
Glamour Bard
Celestial Warlock
Way of Fists Monk (2014)
Light Cleric
They did not defeat the high priest of Shar though. She organized the counter attack and response. They slept in the dungeon. Newer players tend to dump all their spells and were depleted. Killing the devourer and feeing Paladins soul was a milestone to level 8.
Didn't post entries LTH don't need it. Except they had a priest of Shar with a successful dispel magic. Sharans tend to be refluffed NPCs with devil sight and tweaked spell lists eg darkness, blindness etc.
Andres the head priestess of Shar sent out surviving allies and NPCs as a hit squad to buy time.
Hit squad while they were sleeping.
2 reapers of bhaal CR2
3 sharran veterans CR3
1 priest of shar CR 3
1 Dark Justicier (buffed gladiator CR 6)
Woken up by critical hits and bhaalists won initiative via surprise. They won and got hurt bad. Had to restart the long rest. This one was completed.
Remaining mooks removed a dark artifact tied to devourer. 14 hours head start. Remaining Sharrans dug in. PCs buffed with temporary hit points, aid spells etc.
They dumped their remainings spells into glyphs of warding and scattered them around. I wrote the trigger conditions down and the location. Level 4-6 upcast. Spells regained in 8 hours vs PC 14.
"Landmines" were thunder damage. One was a hold person spell. Trigger conditions were approach 10', looked at (DV17 to "find") and cast a spell within 10'.
Remaining spellcasters dug in in the temple. They could hear the glyphs going off and I alternated various trigger conditions. First one was a land mine, next one was when looked at things like that. There were 6 of them upcast. Monk was used as landmine detector after the first one.
Alerted the NPCs got to buff and prepare the battlefield. Monk set off another glyph but evasion.
Final battle. If you have played BG3 think Shadowhearts final question with Viconia. Level 8 PCs fully charged final battle. 60'wide temple covered in globes of darkness.
PCs could see 6 Zombies. They were normal ones but DM special. If killed 4d8 necrotic damage 10'radius dc 13 con save for half.
In the darkness was a mage mage and 4 shadowlocks (CR3 5th level casters). Being sharrans they have darksight (treat as devil sight warlock invocation).
PCs didn't know what's in the darkness and they didn't want to go into it to find out they attempt a daylight spell the warlocks counter it. Lots of reactions PCs couldn't counter the warlocks though no line of sight.
Fireballs and Eldritch blasts come out of the darkness Zombies a dashing in. Once one detonated they start becoming very paranoid about the remaining 5 (20d8 necrotic damage). They manage to avoid them or push them away. Zombies are kamikaze and attempt to dash including through a cloud of Daggers.
Mage had cast improved invisibility and cone of cold getting 4/5. Monk managed to hit him with disadvantage and stun him breaking concentration.
Warlocks ran out of counterspells eventually daylight lands removing the darkness. They are squishy so PCs run in. Straight into landmine glyphs of warding. As the fight is winding down I roll a new initiative and initiative count 1.
"Cleric" of Shar enters the fight. She is spellbuffed. Statue of Shar grants warding bond and bless spells. Staue is AC 13 100 hp vulnerable to thunder damage. She's a level 12 caster. She's a cleric/sorcerer in 3E I converted her as NPC DM special divine soul. Proficient in wisdom, charisma and constitution saves. 19 AC resistance to all damage. Initiative count 1 statue gave her an additional magic action.
PCs try the usual tricks. Command, hold person etc. She's shrugging then off via bless in one case rolling a 4. With precast spells she's used a lot. I mess up with new spiritual weapon requiring concentration. She lands a blindness on 2 PCs two more glyphs of warding are found the hard way. One had hold person on it. She hid beind one baiting the PCs into it.
Turns out detonating 6 glyphs, exploding zombies, cone of cold, fireball and spirit guardians is very good at chewing away at HP. Even with level 4 aid, inspiring leader, warding flare and armor of Agythis etc. They were chugging healing potions as bonus actions and scraping by with. A couple dropped everyone else came close to it. One got dropped inside a spirit guardians and almost died.
Lots of mistakes were made. I described the link to the statue as a purple link. They kept throwing wisdom saves and con saves at her despite having access to mind sliver and other effects. Inspiration and lucky were depleted across the board.
Eventually the monk used mobility and Cacophony staff from BG3 to destroy the statue and stunning strike on the "cleric). Everyone dogpiled her with true strikes and melee weapons while stunned finishing her off. Session ended with Shar manifesting......
All because they cast LTH giving NPCs time to react, redeploy, and move an artifact with a 14 hour head start. They did free the Paladins soul took them 4 sessions spread over 6 weeks last 1 was 6 hours.
Next arc. Level 8 baldurs gate. Some Cazadors surviving spawn from BG3, Mykul raising one to vampire status and a surviving cauldron that buffs undead.
Convergence in the Gate. They know Bhaals heading there, they'll find out Mykuls there I'm guessing Bane is as well.
Level 7
Dragon Sorcerer
Glamour Bard
Celestial Warlock
Way of Fists Monk (2014)
Light Cleric
They did not defeat the high priest of Shar though. She organized the counter attack and response. They slept in the dungeon. Newer players tend to dump all their spells and were depleted. Killing the devourer and feeing Paladins soul was a milestone to level 8.
Didn't post entries LTH don't need it. Except they had a priest of Shar with a successful dispel magic. Sharans tend to be refluffed NPCs with devil sight and tweaked spell lists eg darkness, blindness etc.
Andres the head priestess of Shar sent out surviving allies and NPCs as a hit squad to buy time.
Hit squad while they were sleeping.
2 reapers of bhaal CR2
3 sharran veterans CR3
1 priest of shar CR 3
1 Dark Justicier (buffed gladiator CR 6)
Woken up by critical hits and bhaalists won initiative via surprise. They won and got hurt bad. Had to restart the long rest. This one was completed.
Remaining mooks removed a dark artifact tied to devourer. 14 hours head start. Remaining Sharrans dug in. PCs buffed with temporary hit points, aid spells etc.
They dumped their remainings spells into glyphs of warding and scattered them around. I wrote the trigger conditions down and the location. Level 4-6 upcast. Spells regained in 8 hours vs PC 14.
"Landmines" were thunder damage. One was a hold person spell. Trigger conditions were approach 10', looked at (DV17 to "find") and cast a spell within 10'.
Remaining spellcasters dug in in the temple. They could hear the glyphs going off and I alternated various trigger conditions. First one was a land mine, next one was when looked at things like that. There were 6 of them upcast. Monk was used as landmine detector after the first one.
Alerted the NPCs got to buff and prepare the battlefield. Monk set off another glyph but evasion.
Final battle. If you have played BG3 think Shadowhearts final question with Viconia. Level 8 PCs fully charged final battle. 60'wide temple covered in globes of darkness.
PCs could see 6 Zombies. They were normal ones but DM special. If killed 4d8 necrotic damage 10'radius dc 13 con save for half.
In the darkness was a mage mage and 4 shadowlocks (CR3 5th level casters). Being sharrans they have darksight (treat as devil sight warlock invocation).
PCs didn't know what's in the darkness and they didn't want to go into it to find out they attempt a daylight spell the warlocks counter it. Lots of reactions PCs couldn't counter the warlocks though no line of sight.
Fireballs and Eldritch blasts come out of the darkness Zombies a dashing in. Once one detonated they start becoming very paranoid about the remaining 5 (20d8 necrotic damage). They manage to avoid them or push them away. Zombies are kamikaze and attempt to dash including through a cloud of Daggers.
Mage had cast improved invisibility and cone of cold getting 4/5. Monk managed to hit him with disadvantage and stun him breaking concentration.
Warlocks ran out of counterspells eventually daylight lands removing the darkness. They are squishy so PCs run in. Straight into landmine glyphs of warding. As the fight is winding down I roll a new initiative and initiative count 1.
"Cleric" of Shar enters the fight. She is spellbuffed. Statue of Shar grants warding bond and bless spells. Staue is AC 13 100 hp vulnerable to thunder damage. She's a level 12 caster. She's a cleric/sorcerer in 3E I converted her as NPC DM special divine soul. Proficient in wisdom, charisma and constitution saves. 19 AC resistance to all damage. Initiative count 1 statue gave her an additional magic action.
PCs try the usual tricks. Command, hold person etc. She's shrugging then off via bless in one case rolling a 4. With precast spells she's used a lot. I mess up with new spiritual weapon requiring concentration. She lands a blindness on 2 PCs two more glyphs of warding are found the hard way. One had hold person on it. She hid beind one baiting the PCs into it.
Turns out detonating 6 glyphs, exploding zombies, cone of cold, fireball and spirit guardians is very good at chewing away at HP. Even with level 4 aid, inspiring leader, warding flare and armor of Agythis etc. They were chugging healing potions as bonus actions and scraping by with. A couple dropped everyone else came close to it. One got dropped inside a spirit guardians and almost died.
Lots of mistakes were made. I described the link to the statue as a purple link. They kept throwing wisdom saves and con saves at her despite having access to mind sliver and other effects. Inspiration and lucky were depleted across the board.
Eventually the monk used mobility and Cacophony staff from BG3 to destroy the statue and stunning strike on the "cleric). Everyone dogpiled her with true strikes and melee weapons while stunned finishing her off. Session ended with Shar manifesting......
All because they cast LTH giving NPCs time to react, redeploy, and move an artifact with a 14 hour head start. They did free the Paladins soul took them 4 sessions spread over 6 weeks last 1 was 6 hours.
Next arc. Level 8 baldurs gate. Some Cazadors surviving spawn from BG3, Mykul raising one to vampire status and a surviving cauldron that buffs undead.
Convergence in the Gate. They know Bhaals heading there, they'll find out Mykuls there I'm guessing Bane is as well.
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