delericho
Legend
So, I've been running my group through the Shackled City Adventure Path, with a lot of success. However, tonight they hit the start of the final adventure in the series, Asylum, and immediately hit problems.
I have a larger group than standard, and the PCs are consequently lower level. In fact, I have 6 PCs, each of 17th level (it was 7 PCs, but one was abducted at the end of the Strike on Shatterhorn). Levels of wealth are almost exactly standard for a group of 17th level, although the paladin has quite a lot extra, thanks to a holy sword found in a previous adventure.
The characters are as follows:
Antrak: 17th level half-elf Cleric of Kord.
Alandi: 16th level elf Cleric of Pelor (Sign of the Smoking Eye template). And, yes, I find it a real pain having two characters in the game with the same class and the same first initial.
Davros: Human 2nd level Ranger/15th level Rogue.
Khoraz: Dwarf Munchkin 4th level Fighter/13th level Paladin. Almost maxed AC (44/41/19), holy avenger, all 5 energy resistances, all saves very high. Many times, I have lamented the fact that this character is almost invulnerable to damage.
Seebo: 17th level gnome Wizard. Dex penalty of -1. Seems never to have an initiative roll above 5.
Telak: 17th level human Fighter. Uses a longsword 2-handed since he got an animated shield (power attack specialist).
Anyway, the party were in the Lucky Monkey with Jenya and Nidrama, discussing the need to travel to Carceri to face Adimarchus, when there were screams from outside. Davros went to the window, and saw the revived Vhalantru menacing the townsfolk.
Being heroes, the party promptly sprang into action, racing out to face the beholder. Four rounds later, the entire party (and the two NPCs) was dead or petrified, with the sole exception of the rogue, who had chickened out, and hidden for the entire duration of the combat.
The basic problem is the save DC on Vhalantru's eye rays (DC 32). Even the munchkin dwarf only had a +22 on his best save (+4 for Fighter, +8 for Paladin, +2 Con, +4 Cloak of Resistance, +2 Charisma and +2 for dwarf vs Spell-like effects).
Even adding 2 more levels of Paladin only adds +1 to this bonus, which means the character has a 40% chance of failing his best save against the beholder's attacks. (And Vhalantru's ranged attack is good enough to hit on a 2, so that wasn't really a defence.)
I backed off from the TPK, since that would really have sucked. But the whole incident left me dismayed.
What's the issue here? Is this encounter really supposed to be a potential TPK? Or should the party have had more opportunity to prepare?
(Sorry if this is a bit disjointed, and doesn't really come to a point. It's just that, after 8 months of play, it would really have sucked to end the campaign at this stage, and on what seems a fairly unimportant encounter. So, guess I'm just ranting a bit.)
I have a larger group than standard, and the PCs are consequently lower level. In fact, I have 6 PCs, each of 17th level (it was 7 PCs, but one was abducted at the end of the Strike on Shatterhorn). Levels of wealth are almost exactly standard for a group of 17th level, although the paladin has quite a lot extra, thanks to a holy sword found in a previous adventure.
The characters are as follows:
Antrak: 17th level half-elf Cleric of Kord.
Alandi: 16th level elf Cleric of Pelor (Sign of the Smoking Eye template). And, yes, I find it a real pain having two characters in the game with the same class and the same first initial.
Davros: Human 2nd level Ranger/15th level Rogue.
Khoraz: Dwarf Munchkin 4th level Fighter/13th level Paladin. Almost maxed AC (44/41/19), holy avenger, all 5 energy resistances, all saves very high. Many times, I have lamented the fact that this character is almost invulnerable to damage.
Seebo: 17th level gnome Wizard. Dex penalty of -1. Seems never to have an initiative roll above 5.
Telak: 17th level human Fighter. Uses a longsword 2-handed since he got an animated shield (power attack specialist).
Anyway, the party were in the Lucky Monkey with Jenya and Nidrama, discussing the need to travel to Carceri to face Adimarchus, when there were screams from outside. Davros went to the window, and saw the revived Vhalantru menacing the townsfolk.
Being heroes, the party promptly sprang into action, racing out to face the beholder. Four rounds later, the entire party (and the two NPCs) was dead or petrified, with the sole exception of the rogue, who had chickened out, and hidden for the entire duration of the combat.
The basic problem is the save DC on Vhalantru's eye rays (DC 32). Even the munchkin dwarf only had a +22 on his best save (+4 for Fighter, +8 for Paladin, +2 Con, +4 Cloak of Resistance, +2 Charisma and +2 for dwarf vs Spell-like effects).
Even adding 2 more levels of Paladin only adds +1 to this bonus, which means the character has a 40% chance of failing his best save against the beholder's attacks. (And Vhalantru's ranged attack is good enough to hit on a 2, so that wasn't really a defence.)
I backed off from the TPK, since that would really have sucked. But the whole incident left me dismayed.
What's the issue here? Is this encounter really supposed to be a potential TPK? Or should the party have had more opportunity to prepare?
(Sorry if this is a bit disjointed, and doesn't really come to a point. It's just that, after 8 months of play, it would really have sucked to end the campaign at this stage, and on what seems a fairly unimportant encounter. So, guess I'm just ranting a bit.)
