H2 -- oops, nearly a TPK....

[Stormtalon]

I really should have left well enough alone, I guess. But, I had 8 people in the party, so I thought that the Murkelmoor fight needed to be beefed up a wee bit. I thought wrong.

Party was (all 4th level):

Dragonborn Pally
Minotaur Swordmage
Dwarf Cleric of Melora
Tiefling Warlock (Fey)
Tiefling Rogue
Rogue of which race I forget
Eladrin Wizard
Dragonborn Warlord

I only added ONE thing to the fight -- a Beholder Gauth. Level 6 Elite -- and a weakish one at that. Still, they saw the eyes, and the floating and the potential for zappage -- and it threw 'em. Couldn't focus on a single target to save their lives. That and the dice were NOT with them, either. Ironically, the only creature they DID manage to kill was the Gauth.

Technically, only three of them died -- but the party had had issues with tough fights before; was all the first 4E chars they'd made, so they weren't exactly optimal. The survivors fled & scattered and it was pretty much clear that, "Yeah, these guys are no longer a going concern. D'OH!"

Next session -- reboot; new characters, new campaign, a fresh start. It's for the best.

 

[Victim]

Flying ranged/reach attackers can provide disproportionate trouble.

 

[Stormtalon]

Well, they can -- if they can hit anything. The Gauth wasn't very good at that. The real killer was the Duergar Theurge -- caught the party clustered with her fire/knockdown Burst 2 and followed up with hitting EVERYONE with her poison/blind Burst 2 the next round. 3 rounds later, they both recharged at the same time.

Yes, they let an AoE caster go mostly unscathed for the good part of 5-6 rounds. THAT'S what did 'em in, really. I think their brains went "EEK! BEHOLDER!" and forgot about the other threats in the fight.

 

[Hereticus]

It looks to me that the party should have won the battle.

My guess is that the players did not use their powers to the best of their abilities, or the dice favored the Gauth big time.