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Upon approaching the door, I would give the PCs a Listen check (rolled secretly, by me). If the rogues are whispering to set up their ambush, it'd be DC 15 + 5 for the interposing door + 1 per 10' of distance +5 for "listener distracted" unless they specifically stop for a few rounds to be...

I would suggest heading for SF Conjuration --> Augment Summoning (you're almost to level 9 after all) or Craft Wondrous Item.

When abstracted ("I go play pool for a week of downtime") it'd be profession: Gambler. A performance check might also make sense given the "one night stand" nature of many gambling games. If you're playing out a poker game for some reason then you can get specific with the various skills...

Spells: Quickened Divine Favor DMM Persistent Divine Might Righteous Might (Before that, enlarge person) Feats: Power Attack OR Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, maybe Zen Archery (Archer Clerics) DMM: Persistent Spell (requires extend spell and persistent spell as prereqs) or DMM...

3 level paladin dip with Turn Undead FTW. Use Turn Undead to power Divine Feats like Divine Might, Divine Vigor, etc. You also get CHA to saves which helps out your will save quite a bit and it adds CLW to your class spell list (allowing you to use a wand). Take Extra Smiting from Complete...

Maybe you don't care about fixing any of your party's fundamental problems, but just throwing out there that having awesome AC does not make you a useful tank. It just means that all your friends die, and then you die last while foes ignore your fairly inconsequential attacks. If you were...

As a fellow DM, I think Ellie is likely being quite fair. Its easy to be fair to a given, set difficulty level when running a module. Also, I believe in statistics in the long run. Here's my rough comments on each of the issues he brings up. Clerics, when correctly played, are the MOST...

A very high individual AC means that (A) you get nuked with Will save spells or (B) you get ignored and just happen to be the last one to fall. You want to be a battlefield controller to really help out your team on defense. Spiked Chain fighters make ideal battlefield controllers. You need...

It works nicely with the Dwarvish Cleric Substitution level 4 (+2 damage wtih Warhammers) coupled with the Divine Favor spell.

The rest of the party should in theory recognize the sacrifice made by one of their own and make it up to the clerical caster of Miracles with a bonus share of treasure or something.

If equipment (read heavy armor) and spells are not available, you want to go the high dexterity route. With 18 dex, you can get by just fine with nothing heavier than a chain shirt and buckler (or even studded leather). Combat Expertise or 5 ranks in tumble (fighting defensively) help as well...

If there's any NPCs at the jumping off point, you could pay for a long lasting high level mobility spell (Overland Flight, Teleport, etc).

I think you might just be letting the party rest too often. Using spells to get past mobility challenges (crossing a ravine with Fly for example) means that fewer spells should be available for combat encounters. I also like the idea of just bumping the offensive spells up one level. Finally...

Just use a light shield so you can hold something (a weapon or holy symbol) in your off hand as needed. With a BAB+1 or greater you can drow something for free as part of normal movement. This issue really only affects 1 step of AC (Light Shield/Buckler vs. Heavy Shield)

Another option could be to switch from a totally pre-planned campaign to a more old-school site-based campaign. Just create a locale or game world that exists semi-independently of the PCs. Generate monster encounters by using the "commonly encountered" guidelines in the MM and random...

Build your BBEG to be capable of getting multiple actions. - Summon critters to his aid, so they can take actions on his behalf - Use Timestop (perhaps from a charged item) or a Wish (from an item as well) to get an extra action or two - Use an AoO area-control build for a melee type - Use...

In which case the tribal leader "owns" the warriors too -- he just pays them the NPC hireling rates, right? No, this encounter is more challenging because of the mounts and the PCs should be entitled to more XP for overcoming it.

Are four nomads harder to defeat if (A) mounted or (B) not mounted? And can a level 1 warrior afford a warhorse? I think that the warriors probably can't afford the horses, and defeating them while mounted is certainly much more of a challenge than defeating the four of them on foot. Thus the...

Throw down some magic mouths, light spells, and other "clutter" to slow him up. While the party is wasting valuable time trying to "disarm" a magic mouth, have the guards/monster respond to their dallying by activating mechanical traps or sallying forth.

When I ran a conversion of B2, I had a similar problem. The party's will save spells (Color Spray, Command, etc) played havoc with the humanoid riff-raff that populates the caves of chaos. However, I had set up one orc tribe as a bunch of religious fanatics. They all had the iron will feat...