Adventure 5 DM Combat Question (Spoilers)

[Rugult]

Ok, so we're well into Adventure #5 and finished the first two major combat encounters. The first one went off pretty well (though a bit lengthy), where the second one dragged on for a fair bit.

I'm just wondering if any other DM's out there who have passed this point have any stories about their party's battle with the Air Elementals on the way to the Monastery. Because for my group it was a pretty intense fight!

Here are some things I noted...

1. DR 10/-. A standard Huge Air Elemental only has DR 5/-, so this is a huge (pardon the pun) upgrade. Most of the party members who were combat specced (1/2 the party) could barely dent the things. They ignore crits and sneak attacks to... pretty sick in my opinion.

2. The terrain. It's obviously difficult, and with a speed of 100ft and improved bull rush... these things just moved the party around like they were leaves in a gust. Then when they had the lonely party member away from the group they would do things that would make a strong man in jail blush.

3. The gust attack. Thank god these things didn't have engulf. However this ability was rather useless considering the boon the party was under from indomitability. I don't really see why they would do anything but Slam each round with power attack on full (due to their sick base attack bonus).

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Now for some cool events that happened in my fight. Maybe give some DM's thoughts...


1. The wizard polymorphed our tank into a polar bear. This dealt with the terrain problems, and made him able to realistically contend with the bull rushes that the elementals were sending out.

2. Wall of iceing an air elemental. Yup, at 9th level a wall of Ice deals quite nicely with an Air elemental, keeping him trapped for a few rounds while the party beats on the other one.

3. My revenge... Air elemental grapples a party member. Next round he flies up and drops him. If you have wizards who don't think feather fall is useful, I suggest using this tactic!

 

[RangerWickett]

Normal huge air elementals get DR 5/-, while greater air elementals get DR 10/-. Both are 'huge' size, though. The two-wind elementals were based on greater elementals. We probably should've given them Awesome Blow instead of the gust attack, because of Indomitability, but the gust can still deflect arrows.

Flyby Attack and Awesome Blow is mean, by the way, which is why the first big foe in Adventure Nine has this trick.

I'm glad you've been having fun despite a few hurdles. Elementals are always pretty tough for their CR, and they probably should've been listed a bit higher.

I'm really curious about the earlier part of the adventure, actually. It was something I added on to the author's adventure; the usual technique is that they do the main adventure, and I put in the bits that connect the adventure to the setting and campaign as a whole. How did the encounter with Onamdammin go?