[Adventure OOC]: Shards of Eldanarth (DM: MadAzolin)

[MadAzolin]

[MENTION=87106]MetaVoid[/MENTION]:

--> A bit too much, don't you think?! Such powers are rare even at higher levels and monsters that resist it are even rarer. I'd guess non-existent in heroic and low paragon

Please keep discussions on game mechanics & stuff in OOC thread to minimize off-topic stuff in main thread.
Speaking of it, nah, at some point, wizards realized their solo monsters pretty much suck and are far too vulnerable to crowd control so in monster vault and books after it they pretty much gave almost every solo some sort of CC resistance or non-CCable actions/attacks, so if you look at for example:
- they gave all dragons: removes CC at end of turn and free action before its turn which removes CC if any is up (so two removers), hydras got unpreventable (can always use free actions, despite being cced) two auto attacks per opponent, beholders got similar...
And it makes perfect sense as basically solo monsters are built with attack and HP of four regular monsters (so start with lower attack and buffer then standard 5-monster encounter*) and basically if you stun solo, it is equivalent to stunning all monsters in encounter, while your regular 5-monster encounter doesn't have these problems...
Of course, regular encounter will decrease in difficulty as time passes (as monsters die), while solo encounter typically increases in difficulty as time passes (as monster tends to get bit more dangerous when bloodied), direct comparison is not really fair, but still...
Also keep in mind that by dazing solo, you effectively remove around 50% of its damage output, still more then stunning single monster in 5 monster encounter; and of course, being dazed instead of stunned does not make it 'immune' to being cc-ed, basically immobilized and dazed monster is as good as disabled; and as for this particular monster, you have option of removing good part of its damage output by killing its 'minions', so again, you do have several mechanisms to keep it under control

 

[MetaVoid]

Sorry.

I still think it too much, but it's your game. And I'm not all that much into DMing stuff and monsters - for example, I didn't Know what powers owlbears should have (like jbear or dimsdale)



Now I feel sorry for hoarding stunning attack that could have stopped a bunch of owlbears dazes we have plenty.
Anyhow, at the end of my next turn, the monster will recover from the daze I inflicted so it gets another or a does of radiant while I still have +4 to damage...

 

[jbear]

It is fighting defensively before it is even barely scratched...

540 HPs and ability to regenerate ... I foresee this is going to be a long combat.

Kane does not use either interrupts on the minions.

I'd quite like to know how a minion deals 20 HPs of dmg though.

I'd also like to make a quick comparison between your Solo and a beholder (lvl 9 solo)

HP 540 (+Regeneration by minions on a hit which regenerate infinitely) vs 392 (No regen or healing)
Defenses: 27 AC 26/23/26 F/R/W vs 23 AC 21/22/22 F/R/W
Has potential KILL powers; immune to stun vs Has potential kill powers; has no mechanism to remove action limiting conditions.
+18 to hit vs +14 to hit

So my estimation is that we are fighting a level 13 solo creature... That seems far too high. It feels like we are being set up to fail.

 

[Neurotic]

On the other hand, we are all experienced players and characters on the boards seem fairly well optimized - except of course, we're bunch of controllers

I remember seeing level +6 or +7 encounter in renau1gs adventure with bunch of players going against couple of eladrin with dragons - auras, breath weapons et al.

All survived (barely)

It will be hard fight, no doubt (and probably very long )

 

[MadAzolin]

Yes, monster is indeed not level 9 (and much closer to level 13 then to 9); Keep in mind however, that
you are 6 men party of average level around 8 (+/- a bit), giving you power of effective power of level 9 - 10 5 men party,
putting this into +2 - +4 encounter range, therefore something between 'challenging' and 'hard'. In my experience,
decent party of 5 characters can beat solo of +4 to +6; +7 is definitely overkill; also party power tends to scale
non-linearly with number of people (6 men party is generally more then 20% stronger then 5 men party),
so I would never put this as 'overwhelming' encounter (I really wouldn't even put it into 'very hard' category).
Also, you have more then one 'out of jail card' for this one (if you manage to figure them out and want to
use them); cannot really tell details, would spoil the fun, right?

As for minion hitting stronger then it should, it is basically one of creature's powers (keep in mind monster was
not dazed the moment interrupt went off, so perhaps it is preventable with daze / stun / whatever.

As for fight length, I don't think it will take that long, it surely has some annoying combat tactics (as you
already witnessed), but there are ways to counter that.

 

[Neil1889]

Could/should we try and switch on all of the pillars?

Tragically, the main monster is resistant to many damaging attack forms from Lilli, but not all and if I want, Lilli can still see it underground for one turn. She's probably better off trying to swat tentacles (or maybe just once get them to swat each other or the main monster itself).

 

[Neurotic]

[MENTION=100292]Neil1889[/MENTION]

I don't think so, if they switch out once per round, one character would have to do nothing else, but keep them running. If they remain active and deactivate only when monster goes underground then it could be better. I do think there would be enhanced effect if we managed it, but since Martelai is effectively out of it ...

Maybe those still having actions and being near the pillars could do some activating while the monster is hidden? Minions can be cleared by various area effects.
[MENTION=79956]dimsdale[/MENTION], Cyr and Martelai could use some of Lerricks healing mojo, please, if you can find a way through.

 

[MetaVoid]

[MENTION=6747396]MadAzolin[/MENTION],

Just checking that activating the pillar is still standard action? I cannot kill a minion or three and still activate a pillar, right?

 

[MadAzolin]

yup - nothing changed there

 

[MetaVoid]

It seems that the beasts tunnelling tactic has been foiled. I would like to know if the beast has indeed be forced to resurfaced and if so where exactly.

Jade won't last long this combat. Kane does not have enough surges to recall him if destroyed. Kane may go in for a round to mark the beast but then he will not want to hang in melee. It can kill with almost a single bite. Far away seems like close enough.

I believe it can kill any of us in the same way. Martelai survived bloodied. He wouldn't survive second round. Cyr is 1 point above bloodied, he wouldn't survive full hit. Therefore, I believe we all have to have a turn at it, take its attention (damage) and move away and control it as much as possible. Since we cannot stand directly, taking turns make sense especially since healers mercy can bring around whole party.

I know Jade wouldn't stand for long, that's why I was proposing to have it protected somewhat. I the thing is blinded and the target has +5 AC it's kinda hard to bite into. That goes well with that "taking hits" part.

Voda Vosa withdrew Vermitrax whole the way out of fight, but we cannot prevail if only two characters (for now) take damage, because what will happen is that one will fall and we loose firepower. Second will fall and the next and next, each one faster then the one before because the damage and control power will drop.

MadAzolin has it right that 1 extra character adds more power to the party then it would appear because between us we have enough control to keep it dazed (and maybe slowed in difficult terrain, within zones etc) that it should have more then 1 serious attack every second round or so.

Vines are another story, but they are minions.

[MENTION=79956]dimsdale[/MENTION], you wouldn't happen to have that resist all spell similar to shamans Protective Roots that gives resist all 5?

[MENTION=6747396]MadAzolin[/MENTION], my glove that is so neatly hovering enables me to handle objects (locks, picking stuff etc) from distance. Can I activate the pillar that way?