Forge of Fury (Warning, spoiler)

[Vanye]

Well, I've been running the WOTC module Forge of Fury for a couple of months now (short sessions, 3 hours a week). and the party is currently 6 members strong, all 4th with a 5th level cleric/fighter (4/1).

They encountered the roper last night.

They survived, but only because I removed the things spell resistance, and removed 3 of it's hit dice. Damn that thing is lethal. They didn't kill it, but it fled after getting hit twice in one round with alchemist fire that did maximum damage each (rolled 6, it took 12, for a total of 24 hp).

Luckily for them most of them made their saves vs the strength drain, or were barely affected, but if I hadn't weakened it, it would have killed them outright.

It's my fault, I didn't re-read the section and check the roper, so I didn't realize how lethal that is, but there is no way in hell a party of 3-4th level characters is going to survive against that thing, long enough to get away, if it's smart. At least it doesn't have combat relfexes....*shudder*

 

[diaglo]

that's why it has a warning in the module. the party is supposed to flee.

if you, the DM, know that they are stupid idiots then you are told not to put it in the adventure.

most lessons are learned the hard way.

 

[DWARF]

That's WotC's "Adventurer's have to learn that not everything they run into in a module is fodder for Xp."

 

[Balgus]

So .. was this a question? cause I can't find it anywhere. or was it just a vent and caution to DMs.

When I DMed FoF, I had the roper made a deal with the PCs to trade their captured comrade for two other corpses. SIncehe was only hungry and want food, it was obvious that fighting would weaken him, and having a trade 2:1 would be beneficial for both.

PCs got 1/2 Xp for getting away from encounter, but only by submitting to roper.

And yes- there is almost no way they could have beaten a roper- played at full. It is a CR 10 for cryin out loud...

I think it was thrown in there for the PCs to find out that there are fights they can win, and some that they should run away from.

 

[Vanye]

So .. was this a question? cause I can't find it anywhere. or was it just a vent and caution to DMs.

The latter. Sorry, thought that was obvious.

I think it was thrown in there for the PCs to find out that there are fights they can win, and some that they should run away from.

It is. I think it's a poor way to do it, personally, but that is more or less why it's in there. Properly played, that thing could kill a standard playtest party of that level in just a few rounds. Just surprising that they put something in that characters of that level should be killed by within 3-4 rounds. Barely enough time to realize they're up against something they can't handle.

 

[Seule]

The problem with using a roper as a cautionary monster is that it grapples. By the time a party realizes the combat has started, half of them will likely be immobilized by Str drain, and grappled with basically no chance of escaping. My party made a deal with it, and provided the corpse of the bear they had killed earlier as an easier (barely) meal.
Due to circumstances (the roper is on the other side of a dangerous stream) I'd rate the encounter at ECL 11 or 12. Very deadly.

--Seule

 

[Gizzard]

It is. I think it's a poor way to do it, personally, but that is more or less why it's in there.

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.

Basically, if things are going well for him (and they should be since Mr. Roper is much more powerful than the standard party) then he's looking at 1-3 snacks already within his grasp. What can the party offer him that he would consider taking? Certainly food is difficult, he's already got food in his tentacles. And an adventurer in the tentacle is worth two promised later... ;-)

The best suggestion from the DM group that I talk with was that the Roper could need some particular item or an emissary to some particular power group in the dungeon. So he would see the adventurers as a way of achieving a greater end and therefore not eat them. But this still doesnt teach "fleeing" to the party; the Roper kicks their butts and then spares them to be his servants for a bit.

My thought was that the Roper could be replaced with a Golem which guards the cell area nearby. The Golem could be programmed to never leave the area; once he starts kicking the party around they'd actually have an option to flee. Sure, he'd probably kill a character or two, but so will Mr. Roper.

-edit-

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.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

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.

I had used the ol' "demon-masquerading-as-beautiful-girl" routine one too many times on my party by the time we did FoF, so they saw right through that one Oh well. I still had some fun charming half the party and making them protect their new girlfriend from the party members who had "gone crazy" and "thought that she was a demon."

 

[mkletch]

We beat the roper with three 5th level characters.

The Fighter-Rogue was Str 0, the 1/2 orc cleric had a Str of 4 and almost drown in the stream since he was over-encumbered, and the Fighter 4/Diviner 1 (on the way to arcane archer) did not take a single hit. The cleric was really our front line fighter-type, and did about 50% damage, the archer did a bunch of damage, and the grappled rogue-fighter got a critical hit with an alchemists fire rightbefore becoming helpless. It died before it could eat her.

It was probably the tougest encounter of the whole adventure path, relative to the level of the characters involved.

As for the succubus, my archer got kissed, but made his save to avoid permanent level loss. She escaped, but we would have all died otherwise. It was an interesting roleplaying encounter.

-Fletch!

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Ropers are also though fairly immobile so that works in its favor as this type of monster. The party is fine as long as they spot the monster before they cross the water.

The problem with using a roper as a cautionary monster is that it grapples. By the time a party realizes the combat has started, half of them will likely be immobilized by Str drain, and grappled with basically no chance of escaping. My party made a deal with it, and provided the corpse of the bear they had killed earlier as an easier (barely) meal.
Due to circumstances (the roper is on the other side of a dangerous stream) I'd rate the encounter at ECL 11 or 12. Very deadly.

--Seule