Forge of Fury (Warning, spoiler)

[Klaus]

My 3 PC party had a tough time, but managed to kill the roper and get the goodies. How was that? Glad you asked.

It all came down to the cleric's summoned thoqqua.

Summoned right next to the roper, so if it tried to use its strands (a ranged attack) it'd grant the thoqqua an AoO.

The ranger, who was sneaking ahead, was drained to Str 0 in 2 rounds (surprise round + round 1).

The wizard/rogue tried using daze on the creature, but the spell resistance blocked it (I described it so the player would realize it was some resistance to spells, not just a successful save).

The cleric threw alchemist's fire on the round the roper was still reeling the ranger in.

But then she summoned the thoqqua, while the other characters kept throwing oil at the thing.

Thoqqua = 1d6 bash + 2d6 fire. Against a roper that's 1d6 + 4d6 per attack! And the rope tried to bite it back, only to suffer 2d6 itself!

The ranger player was rolling for the thoqqa, and managed to get quite some hits in.

It certainly helped that these players went through Sunless Citadel, and almost died facing a thoqqua there...

 

[Aaron2]

Summoned right next to the roper, so if it tried to use its strands (a ranged attack) it'd grant the thoqqua an AoO.

The Roper's strand attacks are reach, not ranged attacks. AoOs won't apply.


Aaron

 

[Vanye]

Agree totally. I dont see when the Roper is ever going to be in the mood to negotiate; and his initial attacks entangle party members so the idea of fleeing (which the encounter is supposed to teach) is hard to implement.

Yup. As I said, I firmly believe that the near-slaughter was my fault, for skimping on prep before last night...

If you havent talked to other DMs about FoF yet, another thing you should be careful about is the little hunny in the room near the end of the module. She also is much more powerful than the average party and she has a distinct set of motivations which will bring about a slaughter in certain cases. You might dig around for old FoF threads, some of these things have been discussed in the past.

Yeah, I already had plans on removing that encounter. Shades of too many 1st Ed modules (the "halfling" in White Plume Mountain, for one...)

 

[coyote6]

The Roper's strand attacks are reach, not ranged attacks. AoOs won't apply.

You sure about that? The SRD lists 'em as ranged attacks, using Dex modifier to figure attack bonus & everything.

My group lost an NPC and a bunch of Str to the roper in the first encounter, but successfully fled. They realized that it wasn't going to be wandering far, so they went ahead and explored the rest of the Forge before they went back for revenge. By then, with a little bardic lore, some Alchemy checks, an old trap on the Mountain Door level, and a 4th level sorcerer with Scribe Scroll and invisibility, they had a plan to kill it. And they did.

 

[Quickbeam]

I had loads of fun with this encounter when I DM'ed Forge of Fury. My group has a habit of splitting the party, and they did not disappoint this time around.

Basically, I had the roper grab the halfling rogue and hold him hostage for entertainment value. The only other party member with the rogue, flees to find and tell the others that the rogue is in trouble. When they return, the roper is licking the halfling's arms, as though savoring a tasty treat...but he hasn't really hurt the PC yet.
The roper spends several rounds taunting the players and beating on them a bit, before they realize their hopeless predicament. After some begging and foolish bribe offers by the party, the roper eventually agrees to release the rogue if the characters bring him four fresh replacements. Our brave "heroes" fulfill the monster's demands (in fact they bring him five freshly slain "meals") and he politely returns the halfling to his friends.

Perhaps not very realistic, but damn fun to roleplay for the DM!! And, the players learned that occasionally their combined might and resources may not always be enough to prevail.

 

[Hatchling Dragon]

By then, with a little bardic lore, some Alchemy checks, an old trap on the Mountain Door level, and a 4th level sorcerer with Scribe Scroll and invisibility, they had a plan to kill it. And they did.

Come now my good, er... doggie? You've been around the boards here long enough to know that you can not drop a line like that and just leave the reading public 'hungry' for more! For shame. Now, if you have this already written-up in a Story Hour thread then please be so kind as to post a link for us?

Hatchling Dragon

 

[Kershek]

The 4 PC party I DM did kill the roper, but barely without losing at least two of them in the process. They were 5th level, built on characters worth more than 40 points, rolled from the character generator demo. They did have normal DMG wealth for their level, if not a little shy.

During the course of the battle, two characters were dragged through the stream by the roper's strands. One of them, the dwarf cleric, wiggled free and was sent rushing down the stream. The rogue had, by that time, put a piton through a rope into the cavern floor and thrown the rope at the stream, and that was what saved him. However, the dwarf had trouble grabbing the rope and was sent downstream. I gave him a reflex check DC 20 as a last chance in getting the rope and amazingly he rolled a natural 20 and grabbed the end of the rope. Without that roll, he would have suffocated downstream.

The rest of the group were drained badly of strength, but they had chopped off most of the roper's strands by then. Then, it was the wizard/fighter that threw alchemist's fire and saw its effects. It was dead in a couple rounds after that, with the half-orc barbarian passed out from strength drain on the floor next to it. I think he was buffed to at least 27 STR from bull's strength and rage at one point.

Afterwards, they got an idea that there could be something worthwhile in the roper's gullet. Thinking back, I may have given them a hint about it, but they found it fair and square. I changed the treasure to a comparable cost item: the Badge of the Svirfneblin (The wizard already had several magic items and the most wealth). I figure a creature trying to sneak around in the caverns got caught. It's helped the rogue out immensely.

The problem that a huge single-item treasure like that causes can be quite taxing on the DM. The players bickered for months on how the wizard and rogue had way more value than the other two characters (the dwarf and barb). It made me feel it was my fault for not switching more magic items in the modules to keep everyone even, but I had to remind myself that they had item creation feats and could also sell magic items.

Eventually, it made us sit down and hammer out a wealth distribution system that pertained to all our campaigns. Those characters are now 7th level and still haven't evened out their wealth, but now as they are finishing Speaker in Dreams, they will find enough loot to make it right. Too bad again it's magic items the wizard can find most useful (lots of wands and bracers), though there are a couple nice weapons in there as well.

 

[Gizzard]

Yeah, I already had plans on removing that encounter. Shades of too many 1st Ed modules (the "halfling" in White Plume Mountain, for one...)

Actually, our party had a lot of fun with it. It just seems that its pretty hard to deal with in an intelligent way; unless you are forewarned, you'll probably walk right into it and once people start getting Charmed theres not much you can do. Pretty much everyone I talked to had it play out the same regardless of the players actions; you end up in the room getting a level or two drained before she gets tired of playing with you. The weird thing is that everyone I've talked to (multiple playgroups) enjoyed the encounter despite its unbelivability/inflexibility. There's a chance to do some role-playing after hours and hours of monotonous attacks by furniture. ;-)

The wizard/rogue tried using daze on the creature...

Daze only works up to 5HD or so, doesnt it? I forget what Mr. Roper is, but we didnt bother trying to Daze him.

The problem that a huge single-item treasure like that causes can be quite taxing on the DM.

Oh yes. Definitely, if you tone down the Roper, tone down the outrageous award for beating him. The Ring is just insane. No doubt there is a Cadre of Evil Wizards & Bards spending some significant part of their time trying to figure out where they could obtain such a cool item. The news that a badly wounded 4th level character has recently obtained the Ring will be welcome indeed. ;-)

 

[RangerWickett]

I was about 1/10th into the Forge of Fury when my players rebelled. Y'know, exploring rooms and fighting monsters is damned boring in a live game. Sure, it's fine in video games, but my players were tired of dungeon crawling, just getting into fight after fight after fight.

I had just recently seen the Simpsons Halloween special where the aliens Kang and Kolos impersonate Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. Bear that in mind. Also, I'd given the PCs a reason to explore down there, namely that they'd been trapped in the forge (which in my campaign was once an Orcish fortress/death-trap), and they were looking for a way out, instead of trying to just kill monsters.

The group gets to the river and crosses it, and the gnomish druid goes first. He sees a stalagmite moving toward him, and it shouts, "I am the great Kolos!" as it peppers him with tentacles, instantly paralyzing him.

Everyone else backs off, thinking they'll be staying out of its range, even though they're not. As the roper, the Great Kolos, begins to pull the gnome in, it shouts, "You shall never find my lord and master, hu-mans! None shall pass me! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

The PCs manage to negotiate with it, to find out that it has been trapped outside the door to the prison cell, where its "Master" died. They also find out that its master was the leader of the Orcish fortress, and she died there centuries ago, putting the roper in front of the door as a guardian so no one would ever get the key to the secret treasure hidden . . . oh, wait. Kolos is quite embarrassed that it has mentioned the secret.

The problem that Kolos has is that the door to the cell has a handle, and despite years of trying, Kolos cannot turn the knob, so he cannot check on his master to see if she's alright (a bit short on the brains, this roper). The party agrees to open the door and let Kolos inside if he'll agree to let their friend free. It agrees to this, and they go to the door, open it for him, and tell him they're going to go in and check to see if it's safe for him. He holds the gnome as 'hostage' while they go in and verify that it's safe (and loot the dead Orc's body for the key to get into the main vault).

And then they say, "Come on in,"and then they run out the door as the roper comes inside, asking if its commander is well. Then it hears the door slam shut behind it, and it looks around in confusion. When its commander doesn't reply to any of its queries, Kolos fumes and tries to open the door, to no avail! How dare they murder his commander! When Kolos opens this door, he shall track them down and destroy them for this crime! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

 

[darkbard]

They survived, but only because I removed the things spell resistance, and removed 3 of it's hit dice.

well, i hope you also significantly reducted the XP award!