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Forked - Level-Based Systems and Non-Heroic PCs
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5665177" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>The PCs are 12th, and (given the ingame context) I wanted to combine the wizard fight with a catoblepas (10th elite) and a bunch of Orcus cultists and undead (9th through 12th). </p><p></p><p>If I'd run the wizard as a 19th elite I think he would have done less to the party (because of action economy issues) but been more likely to escape (because they wouldn't have been able to hit him enough). I don't have a strong view on whether that would have been better or worse.</p><p></p><p>As it is, he played very strongly - he had a number of blindness effects (a rechargeable AoE radiant attack, and also the Pluck the Mind's Eye interrupt from Thunderspire Labyrinth, turning him invisible to an attacker) - and to defeat him (as opposed to letting him escape) the PCs ended up using their one wish from a ring of wishes they had found on another plane - the player of the dwarf carrying the ring spent some time thinking up a wording that he was comfortable he would get away with (I hadn't said anything about twising over-ambitious wishes, but this player has many years of D&D training and sound instincts!), and in the end decided to wish that no one in the great hall should have their sight obscured for the next 5 minutes.</p><p></p><p>With their sight restored, the PCs were able to beat the wizard, then handle the other foes (which was helped by using Twist of Space to teleport the catoblepas into the air and then drop it on some cultists).</p><p></p><p>To bring this back to the slightly less-OT issue of metagame mechanics, I also adopted a new approach to resolving attacks by one NPC (the catoblepas) against another (the baron the catoblepas was trying to kill) - let the player who is hoping to save the baron roll a saving throw. Some good rolling meant that the baron survived, shaken but unharmed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5665177, member: 42582"] The PCs are 12th, and (given the ingame context) I wanted to combine the wizard fight with a catoblepas (10th elite) and a bunch of Orcus cultists and undead (9th through 12th). If I'd run the wizard as a 19th elite I think he would have done less to the party (because of action economy issues) but been more likely to escape (because they wouldn't have been able to hit him enough). I don't have a strong view on whether that would have been better or worse. As it is, he played very strongly - he had a number of blindness effects (a rechargeable AoE radiant attack, and also the Pluck the Mind's Eye interrupt from Thunderspire Labyrinth, turning him invisible to an attacker) - and to defeat him (as opposed to letting him escape) the PCs ended up using their one wish from a ring of wishes they had found on another plane - the player of the dwarf carrying the ring spent some time thinking up a wording that he was comfortable he would get away with (I hadn't said anything about twising over-ambitious wishes, but this player has many years of D&D training and sound instincts!), and in the end decided to wish that no one in the great hall should have their sight obscured for the next 5 minutes. With their sight restored, the PCs were able to beat the wizard, then handle the other foes (which was helped by using Twist of Space to teleport the catoblepas into the air and then drop it on some cultists). To bring this back to the slightly less-OT issue of metagame mechanics, I also adopted a new approach to resolving attacks by one NPC (the catoblepas) against another (the baron the catoblepas was trying to kill) - let the player who is hoping to save the baron roll a saving throw. Some good rolling meant that the baron survived, shaken but unharmed. [/QUOTE]
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