Does the DM guide...

[Journeymanmage]

Sounds like the goal is/was not: "Kill the attackers"

so much as: "Buy Time" for the ritual casters

And that would be the key.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Anyone think our DM had it in for us?

Not this time. You all survived, you succeeded at the party goal, and you had the crap scared out of you by a type of foe you'll see again later (allowing you to feel really cool when you start dropping those guys regularly).
I'm fairly sure this was a "you'll see this again, when you're closer to ready" encounter. One which was enjoyably epic in play and seemingly fun (if frightening) for everyone.
Bonus, such a high level challenge probably netted a great deal of experience.



... I do think your DM has an abundance of drow-love. I wouldn't be too surprised to discover that in his campaign Blade Masters are basic drow warriors. Regardless, he seems to know how to keep the fight playable, and as long as everyone is having fun the game is good.

Good luck.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Every once in a while, when I run monsters out of a book, I realize, though I'm on the right page and started off looking at the right monster, that I've wandered off into the wrong stat block.

Might your DM have started you off facing a bunch of Drow Warriors, and then accidentally wandered over to a Blademaster?

The infamous 3E Oriental Adventures Giant Total Party Kill in my group happened like this. The DM slipped in the wrong column, and one fullround attack and two (great) cleaves later, the party was dead.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Sounds like the goal is/was not: "Kill the attackers"

so much as: "Buy Time" for the ritual casters

And that would be the key.

Agreed, it probably was the key. Whether it was fun or not is up to the group. Fwiw, the DMG (or DMGII) specifically advises against making NPC's the central role in the game. I'm not 100% sure that's what happened, but clearly the party was outclassed by both baddies and NPCs (else they couldn't have survived). The "heroes" were in fact a minor issue in the plot, given the high stakes involved. Maybe this is fine once in a while, but I'd hope it wouldn't continue or even happen again.

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

Drow Inquisitors are level 15 soldiers. Would be tough nuts for a level 9 party to crack: AC 31, +22 attack bonus.

Does this happen regularly in the game? Maybe your DM just wanted to force you on your heels for a bit, though I am not a big fan of having to rely on NPC allies. If I wanted a near impossible battle, I would have used level 9-11 drow, but just used wave after wave after wave to press the party.

Yep, that sounds like what we were up against. There was 2 other types too, but I can't remember exactly what they were called - sting rays or sting blades? Something like that. Our Paladin at one point was up against some necro class drow that he missed with a 29 also.

Regularly, well...it depends. I'm not sure if you saw one of the first threads I posted here (I'm pretty new/noob material), but we've got 2 regular DMs that rotate, and have had one guest DM that was a "zombie-master" (whole village of undead - approx. 25-30, that came out in waves when the church bell rang. He made a player roll a D6 two times, first roll was number of zombies in the wave, 2nd roll was what building they came out of - fun!). We've had -2- game changing events (IMHO). One, early in the game I had bought a lev2 item that let me read any language while wearing them (reading spectacles). I messed up the DMs plot line by being able to read an encrypted parchment that he had a whole plot fork based on. So the knee-jerk reaction was to ban us from buying anything from the Adenturers Vault, towns no longer had magical shops, and items gained from drops went to zilch. The 2nd was an encounter where our party, as a team, had a heckuva rolling run where all of us critted like mad and we wiped a group that the DM thought should have given us trouble. Result - much higher level groups against us.

<shrugs> I guess that's just the way it goes. That was way back, we're level 10 now, after that fight (9 during it) and its been about -6- levels since we've seen the AV, or a magical shop anywhere. We have seen a *few* magic drops. We found a plus 3 morningstar. After the big zombie fight and follow up fights to that "fork", we actually got some wondrous items , but they were like magic rope, a crippled summoning bag that only lets weasels come out, some feybread biscuits, stuff like that.

I'm kinda worried about when we get to lev11/Paragon. I think out path choices are going to be limited because we'll not be able to acquire any equipment to augment or enhance what we might like to do. For example, as an Avenger, I def. want an increased crit range, but I can't choose daggermaster because I won't be able to get any daggers. I can't choose any path that doesn't offer an increased crit range, because I'll never get a jagged mod for any weapon. Stuff like that - I'm sure its the same for the other team members too.

Its still fun playing though - the gang I play with are a great bunch. We just think that the DMs need to lighten up a bit on the anti-magic bias and not over-react when things actually go the team's way every now and then. They are all good people.

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

Sounds like the goal is/was not: "Kill the attackers"

so much as: "Buy Time" for the ritual casters

And that would be the key.

It seems that way. It did work out in the end. Not sure if it was part of "creating the atmosphere"
for the fight, but the DM actually told us that if the Balor did come through, many of us would die.

Level 27? I have no doubt.

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

Not this time. You all survived, you succeeded at the party goal, and you had the crap scared out of you by a type of foe you'll see again later (allowing you to feel really cool when you start dropping those guys regularly).
I'm fairly sure this was a "you'll see this again, when you're closer to ready" encounter. One which was enjoyably epic in play and seemingly fun (if frightening) for everyone.
Bonus, such a high level challenge probably netted a great deal of experience.

... I do think your DM has an abundance of drow-love. I wouldn't be too surprised to discover that in his campaign Blade Masters are basic drow warriors. Regardless, he seems to know how to keep the fight playable, and as long as everyone is having fun the game is good.

Good luck.

We did get considerable experience - between that fight, and the encounter leading up to it, we got a total of 18,700 exp. We went from level 9 to 10 afterwards. We got zero gold, and no items at all from the fight though.

Thanks, I think we'll need some (luck).

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

The infamous 3E Oriental Adventures Giant Total Party Kill in my group happened like this. The DM slipped in the wrong column, and one fullround attack and two (great) cleaves later, the party was dead.

Ouch!

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

Agreed, it probably was the key. Whether it was fun or not is up to the group. Fwiw, the DMG (or DMGII) specifically advises against making NPC's the central role in the game. I'm not 100% sure that's what happened, but clearly the party was outclassed by both baddies and NPCs (else they couldn't have survived). The "heroes" were in fact a minor issue in the plot, given the high stakes involved. Maybe this is fine once in a while, but I'd hope it wouldn't continue or even happen again.

I guess I'd say that sums it up. It was fun, just frustrating when as an Avenger, I miss 3-4 turns in a row, (and in stretches at a time), missing on die rolls with ranges of 25-30.

Our one function was to keep the baddies off the mages closing the portal. Our wizard really came through for us - he dropped Grasp of the Grave on one entrance, really messing up the drow there, what with the defenders standing there too. He also managed to hit a couple of the Drow that came through the wall they broke through, with some kind of spell that when they failed a saving throw, they went to sleep. Nice.

Yeah, I hope it doesn't happen too often either. We'll see.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I think the DM gave you an interesting encounter with some great out-of-the-box thinking opportunities. The first time it happens it's really weird, but if you come across it again you can see when you can't use your regular approach.

It might be worthwhile to mention that they are ok geared and quite optimized. Another party I am playing in is much less optimized/geared and can have random problems with encounters...