Challenging my high-lvl group (NPCs and monsters; my players shouldn't read this!)

[Piratecat]

It's crunch-dillicious!

They've already left the 'Throat, but there will be other opportunities. I need to find a way to use that.

Re the previous page, thank you for the monsters and ideas! I've got an incredibly important next game, where a bunch of things get decided; after that, depending on what the PCs do, the number of non-undead threats may rise. It's weird having the campaign at a turning point, because it makes it harder to plan ahead.

 

[Knightfall]

It's crunch-dillicious!

They've already left the 'Throat, but there will be other opportunities. I need to find a way to use that.

Well, you could always wait until the whole White Kingdom thing is over and use it a future adventure.

Has Agar and/or Nolin ever had any dealing with the Society of Sensation? If so, maybe you could have a 'magical telegram' arrive for one of them from this high-up of the Sensates, asking for the characters help in some important matter.

Might be a good way to get the PCs to Sigil for a little while. A bit of downtime fun after the quest is over. Nolin could meet Factol Erin Darkflame Montgomery. (I think those two who get along famously, if you know what I mean.)

This could also be a good way to link Sigil and Union, if you and your players decide to go Epic (since they're pretty close).

Hook: A group of low-level sensates want to 'experience' this city of Union they've heard of but don't know how to get there or if they could survive the journey. Of course, that's part of the thrill.

Halfor Wincet is worried about his daughter, who is a sensate and wants to go, and needs strong heroes to escort her and her friends so they don't get killed. (This father's love is stronger than his dedication to the faction's principles.)

The Factol may or may not go with the group but even she knows it's better to come out alive, after experiencing so much power. She also wants to try and set up the Society in Union and recruit sdome of its more 'free-spirited' residents.



Hey, so what do you think?

KF72

 

[ForceflowX]

I was looking around WotC's website, and I found this magic item:

Faceless Mask: A faceless mask looks like a shallow oval stone bowl with the inverted impression of a face on the inner surface. When held against the face of any creature, the mask adheres to the creature's face and bonds with it, erasing the creature's facial features (eyes, nose, ears, and mouth) completely. Removing a faceless mask is a full-round action that causes great pain (and 2d6 points of subdual damage).

Although the faceless mask robs the wearer of the ability to hear, see, smell, and taste, and prevents the use of any bite attacks, the benefits granted by the mask outweigh these disadvantages. The wearer is immune to all attacks that require sight, hearing, or a sense of smell (such as gaze attacks, most language-dependent spells, sonic attacks, a harpy's captivating song, darkness, and a ghast's nauseating stench). In addition, the wearer of the mask gains the blindsight ability to a range of 50 feet. Blindsight allows the target to maneuver and fight as well as a sighted creature. Invisibility and darkness are irrelevant to the creature, though blindsight does not allow the creature to notice ethereal beings. The creature does not need to make Spot or Listen checks to notice creatures within range of its blindsight ability.

Finally, as long as the mask is worn, the wearer is sustained without food, water, and air.

A faceless mask uses the eye lens/goggle magic item slot when worn.

Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, alter self, blindsight, create food and water, water breathing; Market Price: 74,000 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

Now, just sticking it on a ghoul or something wouldn't be a bad idea, but I'm thinking you stick it on a human prisoner of the ghouls, or someone that is a good guy. Maybe someone that's been wearing the mask so long they don't know they can take it off, and they've been attacked by the ghouls so many times that by now their natural reaction is to attack anyone within range of their blindsight. Throw in a couple of stories about the 'facelss defender', and viola! moral quandry. Do they avoid the area this person is in, or do they attempt to subdue them and take fo the mask? And what would this person do when they regain sight, smell, and hearing? Granted, it's not the creepiest thing in the world (Although seeing a bald, pale human with no ears, eyes, nose or mouth has to be good for a few shudders), but it'd make a good side story.

 

[Piratecat]

ForceflowX, you've given me a cool idea! Thank you.

Quick, I need a monster name for tonight! I'm currently calling them "thurn", but we can do better.

The monster is effectively a wart-covered, elephant-sized gray render with huge bat wings and the BoVD's "corrupted" template attached. They're eeevil, they're tough, they're NOT undead - they're more like vaguely intelligent attack dogs if an attack dog was the size of a rhino - and they need a cool moniker. Any ideas?

Huge Aberration
HD: 20d10+220 (330)
Initiative: -1
Speed: 30 ft., fly 60’
AC: 25 (-2 size, -1 dex, +18 natural)
Attacks: Bite +27 melee, 2 claws +22 melee or weapon +22/+17/+12
Damage: Bite 2d10+12 (+ vile), claw 1d10+6 (+ vile) or huge greatsword 2d8+18
Face/Reach: 10 ft. by 5 ft./15 ft. (elephant sized + bat wings)
Special Attacks: Improved grab, rend 3d10+18, Disruptive attack (+10 pts vile) on non-outsiders
Special Qualities: Scent, darkvision, acid immunity, DR 10/+3, Fast Healing 10 pts
Saves: Fort +23, Ref +11, Will +5
Abilities: Str 35 (+12), Dex 8, Con 32 (+11), Int 3, Wis 10, Cha 6
Feats: None
Skills: Hide +12, Spot +17
Treasure: None
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the thurn must hit with its bite attack.

Rend (Ex): A thurn that gets a hold latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This attack automatically deals x3 claw damage.

Disruptive attack: When a corrupted creature successfully hits, it does half its hit dice as additional Vile damage (ie not easily healed.) In the case of thurnm, this manifest as grotesquely bulging warts and a swelling of the injured area.

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Vargo]

Attack Rhino?

Hmm...

Uuurchug (After the snorting noise it makes through it's nose)

Damn, I gotta get serious...

Beezelbub's Boil-infested Bollix...

No, serious, get serious...

Vile Render?

Geez, I'm having a rough time of it today. I give.

 

[WizarDru]

How about a Dim Thrasher, or Dimthrash, for short. Hints at what they are, without actually giving it away.

Maybe a name that reference's the Throat, somehow?

How about UnderVore?


I'm thrashing. Not unlike how I do before my game.

 

[Capellan]

And if you want names that are just random syllables thrown together in an attempt to sound cool:

Kreltarg
Burrvash
Grendox (that one comes from grendel + ox, basically)
Torkril
Grat

Though actually, I quite like "Thurn". One of the advantages of a short name like that is that it is sounds cool when you add adjectives, to create subspecies. "Gray Thurn", "Batwinged Thurn", "Spitting Thurn". 'tis all good. And it lets you give different critters different powers, to shake up your PCs a bit.

Batwinged Thurn might be the standard type, for instance. Gray Thurn might have only vestigal wings, and much higher intelligence (with or without enlarged craniums, at your decision). Throw a few psionic powers on the Gray, and bingo! Leader type. Spitting thurn, on the other hand, are the same as the normal kind, but add a power like:

Spittle (Ex): the saliva of a Spitting Thurn is caustic. One every round, it can spit its saliva at any one target within 10'. The spittle inflicts 2d6 damage (+ vile) with a DC 20 REF save for half damage.

And so on, and so forth ...

 

[Piratecat]

Capellan, you talked me into it! Thurn it is, and I'll save some of those other names for later. I'm so lazy; all I did was take a gray render, boost it to 20 HD, slap a template on it and give it a new appearance. Voila! Instant bad guy.

And you know how long they took to kill the damn thing?

A round and a half.

 

[Eridanis]

A round and a half.

Ahh, they're just keeping you humble.

Seriously, though, do you even try to use CRs as they're used in the books? Given that CRs are based on a four-person party with DMG-average treasure, and you're faced with six to seven very experienced players with very powerful characters, it seems like you pretty much have to go by intuition when it comes to scaling combat encounters. What have you found?

 

[Piratecat]

Keep in mind that this encounter was only SUPPOSED to last a few rounds; it had to clearly be deadly, but not be "tricksy." The group really needed something to pound on, and this fit perfectly - as well as setting the stage for something a few months down the line. The thurn was a monster that should have been able to stop almost anyone -- and, as I wanted it to feel, the Defenders were the one exception.

Matt, I generally approximate CRs. I tend to use intuition and experience a lot more, though. the other problem is that there just isn't that many things in the world that are as tough as the PCs. That means that I'm forced to use weaker creatures creatively with some deadly combinations and an occasional badass sprinkled in to keep the group honest. Wulf is bringing more tactical thinking to the group, so I'm changing my style a bit.

Everyone says the CR system breaks down at high levels, and that's generally true! I'm learning that whoever has prep time has a tremendous advantage, and whoever gets ambushed is very badly off.

Note that although the party is large, they're right where they should be treasure-wise. I was astonished when I did the math.