The setup:
The current Eberron campaign has been going since 4e came out. The campaign has significantly featured a recurring villain, Skather, the dragonborn ninja. He has been driving the PC's nuts for not just one, but two campaigns (he is featured in Red Hand of Doom and really annoyed the crap out of the PCs then too).
He has been defeated on more than one occasion, but his death always involved his body not being found...getting kicked off a crashing airship for example. He has also 'helped' the party for unknown reasons (related to the Draconic Prophecy) that involved him and a red dragon annhilating a legion of the Order of the Emerald Claw who were waiting for the PCs to exit the Mud Sorceror's tomb.
The PCs have been fighting the Talons of Tiamat ( of which Skather is a member) for most of the campaign, with Donarr, a silver dragon patron (and member of the Chamber) giving them missions, and the brother of the dragonborn ranger as his 2nd in command.
During a side quest to the Mud Sorceror's Tomb, the PCs aquired a spellshard with notes on the prophecy and discovered several entries that featured them...in the past and also potential futures.
In particular, one describing how 'the marked man' (referring to a warforged fighter who has a dragonmark) would kill five in one blow, and another, describing that three brothers would fight, and two would die. Finally, another that referred to 'the hand of betrayal' (ie the Hand of Vecna) would be found, and if it was lost, it would mean that Tiamat would rise, and if it was kept, that the Queen of Darkness would reign. (ie Vol would ascend to become a godlike being).
As a setup for the final battle of the campaign, the PCs did two dungeon delves which involved agents of Tiamat (first a gold dragon and his yuan-ti minions, and then a cohort of githyanki). The githyanki had been informed of the fact that the Talons had a traitor in the Chamber and that they would do a massive decaptiation strike in two days. Unfortunately none of the PCs could read Deep Speech, and they hadn't purchased the Comprehend Languages ritual.
They walked back to Stormreach and as they entered the city they were challenged by two dragonborn Talons...and swooping down behind them, an Aspect of Tiamat.
The battleground:
The battleground involved the entire battlemat. It had one large courtyard flanked by several balconies 10ft up, a couple of crowds, a 20ft high ledge to the left of the PCs (with lots of rigging to get up to it) and a 30ft toppled column to the right. The ledge was part of a giant building and on the other side of which a 15 foot alleyway allowed a circular route to the rear of the PCs.
There were also several ruined walls that I specified looked like they weren't really sturdy.
The battle:
I had set this up to be a long combat, as described by the DMG2. The PCs immediately engaged the Talons while the Aspect of Tiamat flew down towards the courtyard, not quite reaching the PCs and not landing. The crowd paniced and fled, but a little 5 year old (looking) elf girl was stuck behind, crying and screaming as the Aspect flew above her.
The warforged fighter then charged ahead, grabbing the girl and taking her to safety away from the fight. While he did this though, he was shot from a hidden Thuranni assassin...who ended up concentrating ALL of his attacks on the warforged fighter, for some unknown reason.
The wilden invoker then surprised the crap out of me with his new 16th level utility power, Pennant of Heaven's Gate. I was shocked to find that it gave any allies (although at the time we thought it included the invoker as well) in line of sight a +6 untyped bonus to all defenses, damage and saves vs. fear. It was also sustainable with a minor.
At this point my jaw dropped. It pretty much was a 'we win' button, at the beginning of what I had imagined as one of the most epic battles that we'd ever played. I wasn't really happy. I've since decided that the power is broken (there shouldn't be any powers that grant bonuses to attacks or defenses that scale with ability mods). The only thing I had that could defeat it was the fact that the Aspect could stun as an encounter power...I just had to hope that I'd roll high enough to defeat the invoker's will. Which I did (whew).
Meanwhile, the PCs managed to dispatch the Talons and took the fight to the Aspect quite competently. On round #3, the PCs were emboldened as reinforcments from the Iron Watch (a Stormreach militia comprised of warforged veterans from the Last War) arrived and attacked the Aspect...ineffectively. At this point the PCs were allowed to regain a spent Encounter attack power.
A round or two later the warforged fighter killed the Aspect, fulfilling the prophecy (killing five heads in one blow). At this point the PC's got to spend a healing surge or get their Second Wind back, regained a spent Daily Attack Power and got a Milestone, and could spend another action point in this encounter.
The dragonborn ranger's brother said "That wasn't so hard was it?" At that point a sword came out of his chest, pushed in from behind by the until now, invisible Skather. That round, the 'elf girl' shape changed back into the real form of an Aurak Draconian, who then threw down a device that created a teleportation. He was then joined by 4 Baaz Draconian minions (and 4 more would arrive each round until the teleportation circle was destroyed via a combat skill challenge) and a Sivak Draconian.
An epic few rounds then began, starting with the PC's just absolutely kicking the crap out of Skater for a round...I think he took about 220 points damage or so in one round...then he spent his Second Wind. While this was occuring, Skather unleashed several of the new Assassin powers (loved it when that came out!), and one power of my own creation, based on the Vashta Nerada from Doctor Who (think microscopic shadowy pirannhas)...that jumped from PC to PC until someone actually started getting eaten. Didn't scare them as much as I thought it would have though.
Meanwhile the PC assassin took out the Thuranni assassin, the warforged fighter locked down the Aurak, the tiefling warlock kept blasting everything he could (while trying to keep away from the Sivak), the kalashtar cleric was a healing monster, the wilden invoker blasting minions and trying to lock down Skather (who I had used Sly Flourish's suggested rules for solos getting dazed and stunned),
Skather thought he had won, when he suddenly realized that the tiefling warlock had the Hand of Vecna, thereby screwing up the manipulation of the prophecy that the Talons of Tiamat had been doing...and as he was distracted, the ranger dealt the killing blow, cutting Skather's head off.
And there was much rejoicing.
This combat lasted 3 1/2 hours and it rocked (at least for me). Several PC's got their Moments of Awesome.
Lessons learned:
1. Don't have the 'big ending combat' right after the PC's level up. They may get abilities that completely surprise you.
2. If you have a power that's supposed to be scary, make sure it was. Ongoing 15 damage (save ends), aftereffect: ongoing 10 damage (save ends), aftereffect: ongoing 5 damage (save ends) just didn't cut it. Modeling the Beholder's disintegrate would have been better.
3. The suggestions in the DMG2 for long combats rock.
4. If you have ledges and round about ways to get around the battlefield, you need to put monsters there to use them. The ruined column and the alleyway didn't get any use in this combat.
5. Long combats don't matter if everyone is having a blast.
Now to deal with the tiefling warlock's doom (he just had to attach the Hand of Vecna...)
6. My players really need to realize that they can use terrain as attacks sometimes (ie knocking over the ruined walls)
The current Eberron campaign has been going since 4e came out. The campaign has significantly featured a recurring villain, Skather, the dragonborn ninja. He has been driving the PC's nuts for not just one, but two campaigns (he is featured in Red Hand of Doom and really annoyed the crap out of the PCs then too).
He has been defeated on more than one occasion, but his death always involved his body not being found...getting kicked off a crashing airship for example. He has also 'helped' the party for unknown reasons (related to the Draconic Prophecy) that involved him and a red dragon annhilating a legion of the Order of the Emerald Claw who were waiting for the PCs to exit the Mud Sorceror's tomb.
The PCs have been fighting the Talons of Tiamat ( of which Skather is a member) for most of the campaign, with Donarr, a silver dragon patron (and member of the Chamber) giving them missions, and the brother of the dragonborn ranger as his 2nd in command.
During a side quest to the Mud Sorceror's Tomb, the PCs aquired a spellshard with notes on the prophecy and discovered several entries that featured them...in the past and also potential futures.
In particular, one describing how 'the marked man' (referring to a warforged fighter who has a dragonmark) would kill five in one blow, and another, describing that three brothers would fight, and two would die. Finally, another that referred to 'the hand of betrayal' (ie the Hand of Vecna) would be found, and if it was lost, it would mean that Tiamat would rise, and if it was kept, that the Queen of Darkness would reign. (ie Vol would ascend to become a godlike being).
As a setup for the final battle of the campaign, the PCs did two dungeon delves which involved agents of Tiamat (first a gold dragon and his yuan-ti minions, and then a cohort of githyanki). The githyanki had been informed of the fact that the Talons had a traitor in the Chamber and that they would do a massive decaptiation strike in two days. Unfortunately none of the PCs could read Deep Speech, and they hadn't purchased the Comprehend Languages ritual.
They walked back to Stormreach and as they entered the city they were challenged by two dragonborn Talons...and swooping down behind them, an Aspect of Tiamat.
The battleground:
The battleground involved the entire battlemat. It had one large courtyard flanked by several balconies 10ft up, a couple of crowds, a 20ft high ledge to the left of the PCs (with lots of rigging to get up to it) and a 30ft toppled column to the right. The ledge was part of a giant building and on the other side of which a 15 foot alleyway allowed a circular route to the rear of the PCs.
There were also several ruined walls that I specified looked like they weren't really sturdy.
The battle:
I had set this up to be a long combat, as described by the DMG2. The PCs immediately engaged the Talons while the Aspect of Tiamat flew down towards the courtyard, not quite reaching the PCs and not landing. The crowd paniced and fled, but a little 5 year old (looking) elf girl was stuck behind, crying and screaming as the Aspect flew above her.
The warforged fighter then charged ahead, grabbing the girl and taking her to safety away from the fight. While he did this though, he was shot from a hidden Thuranni assassin...who ended up concentrating ALL of his attacks on the warforged fighter, for some unknown reason.
The wilden invoker then surprised the crap out of me with his new 16th level utility power, Pennant of Heaven's Gate. I was shocked to find that it gave any allies (although at the time we thought it included the invoker as well) in line of sight a +6 untyped bonus to all defenses, damage and saves vs. fear. It was also sustainable with a minor.
At this point my jaw dropped. It pretty much was a 'we win' button, at the beginning of what I had imagined as one of the most epic battles that we'd ever played. I wasn't really happy. I've since decided that the power is broken (there shouldn't be any powers that grant bonuses to attacks or defenses that scale with ability mods). The only thing I had that could defeat it was the fact that the Aspect could stun as an encounter power...I just had to hope that I'd roll high enough to defeat the invoker's will. Which I did (whew).
Meanwhile, the PCs managed to dispatch the Talons and took the fight to the Aspect quite competently. On round #3, the PCs were emboldened as reinforcments from the Iron Watch (a Stormreach militia comprised of warforged veterans from the Last War) arrived and attacked the Aspect...ineffectively. At this point the PCs were allowed to regain a spent Encounter attack power.
A round or two later the warforged fighter killed the Aspect, fulfilling the prophecy (killing five heads in one blow). At this point the PC's got to spend a healing surge or get their Second Wind back, regained a spent Daily Attack Power and got a Milestone, and could spend another action point in this encounter.
The dragonborn ranger's brother said "That wasn't so hard was it?" At that point a sword came out of his chest, pushed in from behind by the until now, invisible Skather. That round, the 'elf girl' shape changed back into the real form of an Aurak Draconian, who then threw down a device that created a teleportation. He was then joined by 4 Baaz Draconian minions (and 4 more would arrive each round until the teleportation circle was destroyed via a combat skill challenge) and a Sivak Draconian.
An epic few rounds then began, starting with the PC's just absolutely kicking the crap out of Skater for a round...I think he took about 220 points damage or so in one round...then he spent his Second Wind. While this was occuring, Skather unleashed several of the new Assassin powers (loved it when that came out!), and one power of my own creation, based on the Vashta Nerada from Doctor Who (think microscopic shadowy pirannhas)...that jumped from PC to PC until someone actually started getting eaten. Didn't scare them as much as I thought it would have though.
Meanwhile the PC assassin took out the Thuranni assassin, the warforged fighter locked down the Aurak, the tiefling warlock kept blasting everything he could (while trying to keep away from the Sivak), the kalashtar cleric was a healing monster, the wilden invoker blasting minions and trying to lock down Skather (who I had used Sly Flourish's suggested rules for solos getting dazed and stunned),
Skather thought he had won, when he suddenly realized that the tiefling warlock had the Hand of Vecna, thereby screwing up the manipulation of the prophecy that the Talons of Tiamat had been doing...and as he was distracted, the ranger dealt the killing blow, cutting Skather's head off.
And there was much rejoicing.
This combat lasted 3 1/2 hours and it rocked (at least for me). Several PC's got their Moments of Awesome.
Lessons learned:
1. Don't have the 'big ending combat' right after the PC's level up. They may get abilities that completely surprise you.
2. If you have a power that's supposed to be scary, make sure it was. Ongoing 15 damage (save ends), aftereffect: ongoing 10 damage (save ends), aftereffect: ongoing 5 damage (save ends) just didn't cut it. Modeling the Beholder's disintegrate would have been better.
3. The suggestions in the DMG2 for long combats rock.
4. If you have ledges and round about ways to get around the battlefield, you need to put monsters there to use them. The ruined column and the alleyway didn't get any use in this combat.
5. Long combats don't matter if everyone is having a blast.
Now to deal with the tiefling warlock's doom (he just had to attach the Hand of Vecna...)
6. My players really need to realize that they can use terrain as attacks sometimes (ie knocking over the ruined walls)
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