Adventuring Party Needed!

[Vraille Darkfang]

Hey Morrus!

I began working on an interesting character, but never fully devolped him, largely do to my players hitting 18th level and having 5 characters capable of casting True Seeing. But, if you like this idea, I'll go ahead and crunch the numbers a post a fully game-mechanic detailed version.

Character backstory:

Lywingou was an extremley talented & smart Ethereal Filcher (MM). I.E. he possessed several levels of Rogue. Unfortunatly, he choose to grab trinkets from the wrong creature (a necromancer in version). Not only did the necromancer kill poor Lywingou, he cast Greater Undead upon his poor corpse and raised him as a Wraith.

Since then, He has trained the creature to specifically follow and sabatoge his enemies. He has been taught to recongnize and target Spellbooks, Holy Symbols, Spell Component Pouches, & Thieve's Tools for his Pick Pocket attempts. He also (through USe Magic Device has some charged magic items (such as Glphy of Warding & Hold Person) that he uses to target individual PC's or their belongings).

I was hoping to make the party think they were "haunted", but alas, their power level eclipsed this idea before I could put into action.

Thanks,
Vraille Darkfang

 

[Morrus]

You guys are fantastic! I'm getting so many ideas here, and I'll be sure to let you all know what I go with and how it all works out! Inconsequenti-AL is writing a Story Hour, in fact (although he hasn't posted any of it yet), so bug him to do so at any opportunity you get!

Anyway, I haven't made any firm decisions yet (so much to choose from!) but here are some of my thoughts so far, mainly based on ideas you guys have given me:

1) The bad guys absolutely need to remove the advantage that the copse gives the PCs. It's the only cover for miles around (other than the fort itself), so we need at least one of the bad guys doing something which destroys the copse entirely.

2) I loved the idea about negative energy damage which harms PCs but heals the bad guys. What are my options regarding area of effect spells which do this?

3) It's obvious that thee bad guys need a spread of classes. A cleric, a wizard and a good archer (or two) seem essential.

4) The two PCs I'm most worried about are the elf archer (with manyshot, he's throwing out six shots per round all with additional holy damage - he's likely to dish out 1d8 + 2d6 + (say) 4 in misc. bonuses per shot - that's a potential of 120+ points of damage per round (say, average 60). He *always* hits - his attack bonuses are very high There have been some great suggestions on how to reduce his effectiveness, from obscuring tactics to using skeletal foes.

The other worrisome PC is the wizard. He likes his evocation magic (fireball is a favourite), and there's a good chance he'll have disintegrate before this fight begins. Then again, he may choose to take a summoning spell this level, the consequences of which could be nasty.

Those are my thoughts for now. Keep those ideas coming - they're fantastic!

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

Well, if you're really worried about the copes, don't remove it, use it.

Make one of Sattersoul's men a Druid.

 

[Iron Sheep]

You guys are fantastic! I'm getting so many ideas here, and I'll be sure to let you all know what I go with and how it all works out! Inconsequenti-AL is writing a Story Hour, in fact (although he hasn't posted any of it yet), so bug him to do so at any opportunity you get!

I'm looking forward to seeing how this all works out.

1) The bad guys absolutely need to remove the advantage that the copse gives the PCs. It's the only cover for miles around (other than the fort itself), so we need at least one of the bad guys doing something which destroys the copse entirely.

There's diminsh plants which is a druid spell which doesn't kill the plants, but can reduce them to 1/3 normal size and tidies them up. That could get rid of annoying cover from the copse. But it doesn't have the shock-value of the visual of (for instance) all the trees withering and rotting away leaving bare ground.

2) I loved the idea about negative energy damage which harms PCs but heals the bad guys. What are my options regarding area of effect spells which do this?

There's negative energy burst from Tome and Blood, which is a 3rd level spell which does 1d8 + 1/level (max +10) in a 20 ft. radius burst (Will half).

The various mass inflict wounds spells aren't area of effect, but their effect could be split to heal undead allies and harm opponents.

I don't recall any negative energy-based metamagic feats, but how about (created off the top of my head, with the other energy substitution feats in mind):

Negative Energy Substitutition [Metamagic]

You can take a spell which deals energy damage, and have it deal negative energy damage instead.

Benefit: You can modify any spell with an acid, cold, electricity, fire or sonic energy descriptor to use negative energy instead. A substituted spell works normally in all respects, except that the damage dealt by the type of energy in the descriptor is replaced by negative energy. A negative energy substituted spell uses a spell slot one level higher than the unmodified spell.

For example a negative energy substituted fireball uses a 4th level spell slot, and if cast by an 8th level caster deals 8d6 points of negative energy damage.

4) The two PCs I'm most worried about are the elf archer (with manyshot, he's throwing out six shots per round all with additional holy damage - he's likely to dish out 1d8 + 2d6 + (say) 4 in misc. bonuses per shot - that's a potential of 120+ points of damage per round (say, average 60). He *always* hits - his attack bonuses are very high There have been some great suggestions on how to reduce his effectiveness, from obscuring tactics to using skeletal foes.

The mounts should probably have good barding. Magical chain shirt barding shouldn't be too expensive, and shouldn't mess with their flight capabilities.

Oooh! What about inclement weather? A good storm would mess with the archer in a major way, and could add flavour to the battle, particularly if it seems somehow linked to the appearance of these monsters.

Unfortunately, control weather is probably too high level for the orc casters to have. But bad weather could just be coincidence, right?

The other worrisome PC is the wizard. He likes his evocation magic (fireball is a favourite), and there's a good chance he'll have disintegrate before this fight begins. Then again, he may choose to take a summoning spell this level, the consequences of which could be nasty.

If you want to protect against summoning, magic circle against good (or law) might be an option: non-evil (or non-chaotic) summoned creatures are hedged out, and it can be cast well in advance of combat. It doesn't protect against ranged attacks or spell-like abilities of the summoned creature, though.

Summon monster spells take a long time to cast, so you have a good chance of interrupting them.

There isn't much you can do about disintegrate, although tough, templated undead tend to have better Fort saves than regular undead.

Corran
(Back to creating levelled yuan-ti to torment my players with...)

 

[Voodoo]

The wizards weakest aspect is probably his grapple, so have the orc cleric cast silence on one of the wyverns before the fight and swoop on him early. This probably won't kill him too quickly, but will take him out of the fight. If you can then take off into the air that will hamper any rescue attempt (and lets hope the wizard has featherfall memorised)

Disintergrate is a bane for undead, but a couple of counters are a Ring of Counterspells, though it works better if there is only 1 obvious target as opposed to 12, and a spell called Minor Refelection. Unfortunatly I don't have it to hand, but i'm pretty sure it was in Dragon Annual 5 -(level Sor/Wiz 3, Abjuration, lasted 1 min/lvl, range personal, refelects all rays tageting the protected creature (and other ranged touch attacks??) back at the caster) - which can help keep the orc wizard in one piece, especialy once the scorching rays start to fly around.

 

[Kaodi]

A few ideas...

If you want to do some grappling, you could try something like a skeletal coil wyvern (my own name), like a wyvern, but no legs and a tail built like a snakes, so it can use it to constrict. And with the DR 5/bludgeon, it has a little protection from the archer.

The archer should have his own problems though, like a ghost sorcerer ( that +4 charisma counteracts the orc penalty, especially when coupled with a +6 cloak of charisma). Maybe a phantasmal killer at DC 25 ( 18 charisma, -2 orc, +4 ghost, +6 cloak ) would clam him up... and there is always that pesky mage... that is the other use of high charisma... malevolence, combined with ability focus, is very hard to resist, hehehe... take over one of their underlings and pop a couple touchs of idiocy on him. Alternatively, you could take over someone that had a wand or staff with an offensive spell.

The sorcerer I created also happened to have darkness, fireball and a good infiltrator attack... dispel magic ( area dispel would be evil ).

Would it even be possible to disintegrate an incorporeal foe?

 

[shilsen]

Would it even be possible to disintegrate an incorporeal foe?

Yes, as long as the disintegrate makes it past the 50% miss chance.

 

[Zaruthustran]

2) I loved the idea about negative energy damage which harms PCs but heals the bad guys. What are my options regarding area of effect spells which do this?

Inflict Wounds, Mass (from the Miniatures Handbook) seems like your best bet. Or you could make up a non-official spell.

3) It's obvious that thee bad guys need a spread of classes. A cleric, a wizard and a good archer (or two) seem essential.

I strongly suggest a druid. Evil druids are scary.

Sleet Storm is a nice opener. It blocks all vision and halts movement. Characters can move at half speed with a DC 10 balance check, but if the check fails by 5 or more the creature falls and goes prone.

Or open with an Extended Ice Storm from 760 feet away (long range even for the deadly archer). That'll do 10d6 damage (6d6 bludgeon, 4d6 cold) over two rounds, letting you cast another spell (like sleet storm) during round two. Ice Storm simply halves all ground movement (no save) so it, coupled with Sleet Storm in round 2, may reduce movement to 1/4--keeping them bunched up for your next tricks.

Once they're slowed down ring them with a Wall of Fire (20' radius), heat facing inward. This will encourage the characters to huddle in the tiny safe zone in the middle. You and your buddies can hit that safe zone with Flame Strike and other blast spells.

All that fire will cause the copse to catch flame, even after the sleet storm. So, make the burning vegetation reach out and touch someone--everyone.

Entangle, a simple 1st level spell, can be deadly against high-level characters. Entangled creatures move at half speed, take penalties to attack rolls, take a -4 penalty to Dex (-2 Reflex save, -2 to ranged attacks, -2 AC, etc), and has to make a concentration check (DC 15+ spell level) before casting any spell. Nasty! Even a successful save means that creatures move at half speed. Pump up the DC with Spell Focus: Transmutation and Heighten Spell. Or use the nastier version (brambles) from Master of the Wild.

Warp Wood is another handy Druid spell. A Heightened Warp Wood will really ruin the archer's day. A fun trick would be to have the Druid approach stealthily, shapechanged into a bird or mouse. Use Natural Spell to cast Warp Wood from cover, then Summon a number of decoy animals and then scurry away while the party reacts with Buffs and other spells. Go back and slay once those spell durations end.

And, don't forget the animal companion. A 9th level druid can have a giant crocodile companion with +2 HD, +2 AC, +1 Str, and Evasion. The archer (or wizard) will have no hope of winning a grapple against such a beast.

4) The two PCs I'm most worried about are the elf archer (with manyshot, he's throwing out six shots per round all with additional holy damage - he's likely to dish out 1d8 + 2d6 + (say) 4 in misc. bonuses per shot - that's a potential of 120+ points of damage per round (say, average 60). He *always* hits - his attack bonuses are very high There have been some great suggestions on how to reduce his effectiveness, from obscuring tactics to using skeletal foes.

As stated above, Warp Wood is good vs. archers. Your Druid should have Spell Focus: Transmutation and Heighten Spell so that the Warp Wood will succeed. It's a Will save so chances are the Archer will be out of luck.

And, yeah, skeletons are nice vs. archers.

The other worrisome PC is the wizard. He likes his evocation magic (fireball is a favourite), and there's a good chance he'll have disintegrate before this fight begins. Then again, he may choose to take a summoning spell this level, the consequences of which could be nasty.

Heightened Entangle will be worrisome for a wizard, as will a Giant Crocodile. Or a polar bear whose first Bite attack is dripping Poison (as the spell, via shapechanged druid). If you follow the Druid attack recipe above that boom wizard will be blinded, on his back, suffering from 10d6 damage before round 3 begins--not counting the actions of the other riders or their wyverns. >

-z

 

[Pielorinho]

So how, from your perspective, did the big fight go? Sounds like the players had a blast!
Daniel

 

[RangerWickett]

4) The two PCs I'm most worried about are the elf archer (with manyshot, he's throwing out six shots per round all with additional holy damage - he's likely to dish out 1d8 + 2d6 + (say) 4 in misc. bonuses per shot - that's a potential of 120+ points of damage per round (say, average 60). He *always* hits - his attack bonuses are very high There have been some great suggestions on how to reduce his effectiveness, from obscuring tactics to using skeletal foes.

It's a small thing, but since when can Manyshot let you get 6 shots per round. Manyshot lets you fire multiple arrows as a standard action, not in place of a single attack. Thus, you cannot use a full attack (3 attacks per round) and have each attack fire 3 arrows. It's either "move action and fire three arrows with manyshot" or "stand still and fire four arrows with rapid shot."

From what I understand, at least.