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[CAMPAIGN] Out of the Abyss [SPOILERS]
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<blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 6996250" data-attributes="member: 5834"><p><strong>The Maze</strong></p><p></p><p>The heroes slogged through the maze on, footsore and weary. Time seemed lost within the maze. </p><p></p><p>The heroes came upon a angel-blooded human battling five mad giants lost for too long in the maze. They attempted to force the human to lead them out, but he would rather die than be their pet. He stood against them. The drow and their human companion Dar interceded on behalf of the human quickly killing two and sending the other three fleeing unwilling to challenge the drow. They learned the human was part of a party of thirteen warriors dedicated to Helm, Torm, and Tyr sent to defeat the demonic influence below. All but Davashiel including the his brother died in the maze, so Davshiel took up his brother's magic blade and dedicated himself to the completion of the quest. The party was mostly indifferent to this goodly man's commitment save Jharzzle of Eilistrae, who welcomed the man into their fellowship. On they marched through the stone maze.</p><p></p><p>More time passed, the heroes engaged a pair of mind flayer's riding an enslaved behir. The discourse between drow and mindflayer was cordial, yet unfriendly, like a cold wind. Though both parties agreed to let the other pass, battle was inevitable. The mindflayers launched the expected ambush, the drow with their human companions answered swiftly. One mindflayer and the behir died, the other shifted off the plane to escape no longer wishing to learn the secrets of the new and strange maze.</p><p></p><p>The heroes pressed on. A few battles with unworthy foes provided a brief respite from the timeless travel, fatigue was the greater enemy. Finally, they came to the end of the maze, yet it was guarded.</p><p></p><p>Beastly goristro stood as gate guards with their smaller abyssal minotaur brethren. The heroes engaged setting forth <em>wall of force</em> to act as a bulwark against the horde. Unknown to them, Zhaolor the Gate-keeper, a balor of fearsome power bolstered the gate guards of Baphomet. This ancient creature countered the blessings of their gods and cast fire and lightning from within a cloud of darkness. A great battle followed as the heroes sought to slay the demons that kept them from escaping the maze. It was a long fight, but Davashiel felled the darkness on Zhaolor and Jharzzle's bow inflicted greivous wounds as he swore a death oath on Zhaolor. Zhaolor summoned two marilith to cut down Jharzzle and his singing bow and Davashiel and his holy power. They did not disappoint. Their snaky tales trapping the small mortals as their blades made quick work of them. If not for Sassindra, Jharzzle may have died. Davashiel was not so lucky as he was cut down, fell from from air as his dead wings were still, and his neck broke as he hit the stone floor. The pain was enough to drive Zhaolor from the battlefield. He disappeared. After he departed, the rest of the party made short work of the remaining demons. No one escaped unscathed save the dancing Apothicas. Yet the way lay open for them to pass from the maze and continue on their quest.</p><p></p><p>*****</p><p></p><p>DM's Note: I did not allow long rests in the maze. Though the giants and mindflayers did not consume many resources, the lack of long rests definitely made the players more cognizant of their resources. They did not nova on every battle as they had been doing. Using the narrative to control long rests was much more successful at preventing novaing than allowing the players to control resting in a linear fashion.</p><p></p><p>I tried out my new and improved Balor, Marilith, and Goristro. They worked much better than the MM versions. They performed more like their flavor text indicates they should. The goristro was a warbeast that took immense damage and hit hard. The marilith's were tactically able to move about the battlefield inflicting a great deal of damage, while protecting themselves from easy ranged destruction. The Balor was a battlefield general stripping buffs, adding damage in support of his minions, moving opponents around the battlefield, and protecting himself in a cloud of darkness. He even escaped at the end and managed to kill one character and drop another. </p><p></p><p>A creature that acts a general or ruler of powerful creatures should have certain core abilities such as the ability to strip magic buffs off, the ability to move around a battlefield or move others, crowd control abilities like holds or grapples, communication abilities, and/or AoE attacks. They should be built to serve a similar function to an arcane caster in a PC party. If they are not built this and are instead solely hit point sponges, that is a poorly designed field general for powerful monsters. This is the type of poor monster design I've been seeing in 5E. They don't seem to be building monsters with the same idea that PCs build parties with. </p><p></p><p>PCs build parties to cover various capabilities be it travel, AoE damage, ranged attacking, and other advantageous factors that shift the battlefield in their favor. Monster designers should design monsters or monster groups in a similar fashion where different monsters provide certain types of support to the group in a way that seems appropriate. Using my demon example, the balor served the same function as a wizard using powerful magical support to either damage the group or support the group. This is how every major monster group of even single monsters should be designed, so they are capable of countering many PC tactics which mostly include magical support spells that shift battles in their favor. If monsters do not have the tools to counter the tactics PCs use, then they are not going to be challenging to a group of even semi-competent players. You can possibly compensate for this by putting the PCs in an environment that accomplishes the same function, but it's much easier to remake the monster. By remaking the monster, you also increase the number of environments and places where it can function effectively. This allows more variety in encounter design since the monster doesn't require environmental factors to be challenging. It can challenge PCs in a white room. Then environmental factors can be added to further increase the challenge if so desired, but are not required.</p><p></p><p>I posted my rebuilt balor and marilith earlier. They worked quite well. I will post my rebuilt goristro shortly. Suffice it to say, I finally feel satisfied with a major high level battle in 5E. I was able to find the sweet spot I was looking for. The goristro, balor, and marilith fulfilled without requiring a special environment their function according to the flavor text for each creature. They challenged a powerful level 12 party armed with major magic items and brought them to the brink of death. I have to say I'm very pleased with this outcome.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celtavian, post: 6996250, member: 5834"] [b]The Maze[/b] The heroes slogged through the maze on, footsore and weary. Time seemed lost within the maze. The heroes came upon a angel-blooded human battling five mad giants lost for too long in the maze. They attempted to force the human to lead them out, but he would rather die than be their pet. He stood against them. The drow and their human companion Dar interceded on behalf of the human quickly killing two and sending the other three fleeing unwilling to challenge the drow. They learned the human was part of a party of thirteen warriors dedicated to Helm, Torm, and Tyr sent to defeat the demonic influence below. All but Davashiel including the his brother died in the maze, so Davshiel took up his brother's magic blade and dedicated himself to the completion of the quest. The party was mostly indifferent to this goodly man's commitment save Jharzzle of Eilistrae, who welcomed the man into their fellowship. On they marched through the stone maze. More time passed, the heroes engaged a pair of mind flayer's riding an enslaved behir. The discourse between drow and mindflayer was cordial, yet unfriendly, like a cold wind. Though both parties agreed to let the other pass, battle was inevitable. The mindflayers launched the expected ambush, the drow with their human companions answered swiftly. One mindflayer and the behir died, the other shifted off the plane to escape no longer wishing to learn the secrets of the new and strange maze. The heroes pressed on. A few battles with unworthy foes provided a brief respite from the timeless travel, fatigue was the greater enemy. Finally, they came to the end of the maze, yet it was guarded. Beastly goristro stood as gate guards with their smaller abyssal minotaur brethren. The heroes engaged setting forth [i]wall of force[/i] to act as a bulwark against the horde. Unknown to them, Zhaolor the Gate-keeper, a balor of fearsome power bolstered the gate guards of Baphomet. This ancient creature countered the blessings of their gods and cast fire and lightning from within a cloud of darkness. A great battle followed as the heroes sought to slay the demons that kept them from escaping the maze. It was a long fight, but Davashiel felled the darkness on Zhaolor and Jharzzle's bow inflicted greivous wounds as he swore a death oath on Zhaolor. Zhaolor summoned two marilith to cut down Jharzzle and his singing bow and Davashiel and his holy power. They did not disappoint. Their snaky tales trapping the small mortals as their blades made quick work of them. If not for Sassindra, Jharzzle may have died. Davashiel was not so lucky as he was cut down, fell from from air as his dead wings were still, and his neck broke as he hit the stone floor. The pain was enough to drive Zhaolor from the battlefield. He disappeared. After he departed, the rest of the party made short work of the remaining demons. No one escaped unscathed save the dancing Apothicas. Yet the way lay open for them to pass from the maze and continue on their quest. ***** DM's Note: I did not allow long rests in the maze. Though the giants and mindflayers did not consume many resources, the lack of long rests definitely made the players more cognizant of their resources. They did not nova on every battle as they had been doing. Using the narrative to control long rests was much more successful at preventing novaing than allowing the players to control resting in a linear fashion. I tried out my new and improved Balor, Marilith, and Goristro. They worked much better than the MM versions. They performed more like their flavor text indicates they should. The goristro was a warbeast that took immense damage and hit hard. The marilith's were tactically able to move about the battlefield inflicting a great deal of damage, while protecting themselves from easy ranged destruction. The Balor was a battlefield general stripping buffs, adding damage in support of his minions, moving opponents around the battlefield, and protecting himself in a cloud of darkness. He even escaped at the end and managed to kill one character and drop another. A creature that acts a general or ruler of powerful creatures should have certain core abilities such as the ability to strip magic buffs off, the ability to move around a battlefield or move others, crowd control abilities like holds or grapples, communication abilities, and/or AoE attacks. They should be built to serve a similar function to an arcane caster in a PC party. If they are not built this and are instead solely hit point sponges, that is a poorly designed field general for powerful monsters. This is the type of poor monster design I've been seeing in 5E. They don't seem to be building monsters with the same idea that PCs build parties with. PCs build parties to cover various capabilities be it travel, AoE damage, ranged attacking, and other advantageous factors that shift the battlefield in their favor. Monster designers should design monsters or monster groups in a similar fashion where different monsters provide certain types of support to the group in a way that seems appropriate. Using my demon example, the balor served the same function as a wizard using powerful magical support to either damage the group or support the group. This is how every major monster group of even single monsters should be designed, so they are capable of countering many PC tactics which mostly include magical support spells that shift battles in their favor. If monsters do not have the tools to counter the tactics PCs use, then they are not going to be challenging to a group of even semi-competent players. You can possibly compensate for this by putting the PCs in an environment that accomplishes the same function, but it's much easier to remake the monster. By remaking the monster, you also increase the number of environments and places where it can function effectively. This allows more variety in encounter design since the monster doesn't require environmental factors to be challenging. It can challenge PCs in a white room. Then environmental factors can be added to further increase the challenge if so desired, but are not required. I posted my rebuilt balor and marilith earlier. They worked quite well. I will post my rebuilt goristro shortly. Suffice it to say, I finally feel satisfied with a major high level battle in 5E. I was able to find the sweet spot I was looking for. The goristro, balor, and marilith fulfilled without requiring a special environment their function according to the flavor text for each creature. They challenged a powerful level 12 party armed with major magic items and brought them to the brink of death. I have to say I'm very pleased with this outcome. [/QUOTE]
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