A few weeks back, I had posted this thread about my upcoming encounter with 4 PCs invading a goblin lair. The session had broken after the PCs had waltzed through the first two waves of guards...
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?threadid=212457
So, I wanted some advice on what goblins would do if they had several minutes to prepare for the players.
Well, it was a great combat that lasted the entire session - the goblins were waiting en masse a few rooms behind the guard station. The PCs charged into the room, only to find that some goblins had been hidden in the corners of the room where they couldn't see them
Because a couple of them had charged into the room, this effectively cut off the party's elf fighter and the human rogue from the rest of the party.
The rogue ran into the goblin leader and took some serious damage. The cleric managed to catch up to him and be in position to heal, while casting shield of faith on himself.
The party was a very good defensive party, but they don't deal out a lot of direct damage... so, the players eventually got into almost a standoff situation where neither side could really finish off the other. The cleric with his shield of faith and the elf with his armor and high dex eventually made it to where they could be the sole two players facing melee with the goblins...
Then, the goblins brought out their nets, and quickly trapped the cleric on one. He was then thumped for some serious damage. The NPC ranger quickly moved up to try to save the cleric from being overwhelmed, but then got hit by a critical hit and taken down to exactly 0 hit points. I made the decision as the DM that he would use his last action to cut the cleric loose from the net, which he did... and then dropped to -1. (once ffreed, the cleric healed him right up...)
By that time, the two sorcerers who were behind the party and lobbing their spells at the goblins got blitzed from behind by some goblins sneaking around through a hidden door. One of them got dropped to negatives, while the other took some heavy damage, but luckily had taken Toughness at level 1 and was still up.
The party looked to be overwhelmed at that point, but then a mysterious voice shouted, "get out of there ya darn fool kids" out of thin air, and the goblins behind them suddenly started acting strangely - a few ran off, a few started fighting with each other, and another just stood there and did nothing. (Confusion spell from a local fey creature who had been shadowing the party...)
The party did try to make an exit, but were blocked off. The cleric then managed to work his way back to stabilize the NPC sorcerer and the next round, he managed to crit the goblin leader and killed him.
Since the party was now all standing and a bunch of goblins were dead, most of the remaining goblins fled, and the PCs made quick work of the last few.
But, it was a very good combat overall and I got some good ideas from here. Three of the six good guys (4 players and 2 NPCs) were down to below 0 and another two were close to it.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?threadid=212457
So, I wanted some advice on what goblins would do if they had several minutes to prepare for the players.
Well, it was a great combat that lasted the entire session - the goblins were waiting en masse a few rooms behind the guard station. The PCs charged into the room, only to find that some goblins had been hidden in the corners of the room where they couldn't see them
Because a couple of them had charged into the room, this effectively cut off the party's elf fighter and the human rogue from the rest of the party.
The rogue ran into the goblin leader and took some serious damage. The cleric managed to catch up to him and be in position to heal, while casting shield of faith on himself.
The party was a very good defensive party, but they don't deal out a lot of direct damage... so, the players eventually got into almost a standoff situation where neither side could really finish off the other. The cleric with his shield of faith and the elf with his armor and high dex eventually made it to where they could be the sole two players facing melee with the goblins...
Then, the goblins brought out their nets, and quickly trapped the cleric on one. He was then thumped for some serious damage. The NPC ranger quickly moved up to try to save the cleric from being overwhelmed, but then got hit by a critical hit and taken down to exactly 0 hit points. I made the decision as the DM that he would use his last action to cut the cleric loose from the net, which he did... and then dropped to -1. (once ffreed, the cleric healed him right up...)
By that time, the two sorcerers who were behind the party and lobbing their spells at the goblins got blitzed from behind by some goblins sneaking around through a hidden door. One of them got dropped to negatives, while the other took some heavy damage, but luckily had taken Toughness at level 1 and was still up.
The party looked to be overwhelmed at that point, but then a mysterious voice shouted, "get out of there ya darn fool kids" out of thin air, and the goblins behind them suddenly started acting strangely - a few ran off, a few started fighting with each other, and another just stood there and did nothing. (Confusion spell from a local fey creature who had been shadowing the party...)
The party did try to make an exit, but were blocked off. The cleric then managed to work his way back to stabilize the NPC sorcerer and the next round, he managed to crit the goblin leader and killed him.
Since the party was now all standing and a bunch of goblins were dead, most of the remaining goblins fled, and the PCs made quick work of the last few.
But, it was a very good combat overall and I got some good ideas from here. Three of the six good guys (4 players and 2 NPCs) were down to below 0 and another two were close to it.
Did your players enjoy the fight? Were they on the edge of their seat? Did their confidence in walking through the place settle in?
