Hardest encounters
- Thread starter ricardo440
- Start date
thecasualoblivion
First Post
Worst time the party ever had was against a Balhannoth. That thing is pure evil, especially when played by a DM who is a tactical master, like me. They even found ways to screw it over and it still wrecked them.
malraux
First Post
This encounter came close to wiping my level 5 party.
Oni Mage - deleveled to level 5
Irontooth level 3 (yes, he easily survived KotS, so I had him pop back up as part of later machinations)
Greenscale Darter - level 5
Bugbear Strangler - level 6
I will say that the party discovering the bugbear's special ability was really a surprise, as the fighter was using a heavily damaging encounter power and ended up dropping the rogue instead. The evil GM grin was large that time.
Oni Mage - deleveled to level 5
Irontooth level 3 (yes, he easily survived KotS, so I had him pop back up as part of later machinations)
Greenscale Darter - level 5
Bugbear Strangler - level 6
I will say that the party discovering the bugbear's special ability was really a surprise, as the fighter was using a heavily damaging encounter power and ended up dropping the rogue instead. The evil GM grin was large that time.
Doctor Proctor
First Post
Yeah, the Hobgoblins have been pretty rough on my party too. We're doing KotS and we just ran into them last session. I got a Longsword +1 from the Adventure, so I'm currently at a +10 to hit. So for me, they're not too bad at all.
Our Ranger, on the other hand, is having a lot of trouble. He spread his stats out way too much, and only has a 14 for his Dex. So at level 2 he's got a +5 to hit, which means he has to roll a 15 (17) just to touch them. Even with getting two rolls from Twin Strike, he misses most of the time.
Irontooth (KotS)
Bye
Thanee
We didn't have too much trouble with Irontooth once I was able to get to him. Two words: Villain's Menace.
Gruns
Explorer
So far...
The Group I DM for just hit level 8, but by far the things that cause the most trouble are Artillery that targets Reflex. The main tank, err umm, defender in the group is a Plate Mail/Heavy Shield paladin, so his AC is above average and he can go toe to toe with any melee types. When the Flame Orbs start flying though, he is hard to miss.
I suppose a group of mostly Dex strikers might find the opposite to be true, though...
Later!
Gruns
The Group I DM for just hit level 8, but by far the things that cause the most trouble are Artillery that targets Reflex. The main tank, err umm, defender in the group is a Plate Mail/Heavy Shield paladin, so his AC is above average and he can go toe to toe with any melee types. When the Flame Orbs start flying though, he is hard to miss.
I suppose a group of mostly Dex strikers might find the opposite to be true, though...
Later!
Gruns
We had a particularly difficult fight in mounted combat against shifters.
The Shifters would charge (provoking several OAs from the PCs). As per mounted combat rules we could target the rider or the mount. If we chose the rider, this would allow the Shifters to use their Short Sword Riposte power against the attacker for each OA attack that was incurred due to the fact that it is a free action and NOT considered an immediate action. We found they hit us more often than we hit them.
Until we chose to attack the mount instead we were getting pummeled. We kept wanting to attack the rider but in this instance the mount would have been the better choice.
The Shifters would charge (provoking several OAs from the PCs). As per mounted combat rules we could target the rider or the mount. If we chose the rider, this would allow the Shifters to use their Short Sword Riposte power against the attacker for each OA attack that was incurred due to the fact that it is a free action and NOT considered an immediate action. We found they hit us more often than we hit them.
Until we chose to attack the mount instead we were getting pummeled. We kept wanting to attack the rider but in this instance the mount would have been the better choice.
My players hates Controllers of all sorts.
They already faced a TPK, basicly by the hands of an Orc Eye of Gruumsh (and several other stuff), which kept lowering their AC by 4 every turn (minor action too) making them easy targets for the other orcs..
Now, when they see a "mage" type sort of critter, it quickly becomes their priority target.
Soldiers are kinda hard too, but when there's one, it's easier to just ignore him and take care of the rest of the critters, then alone, not so tough.
They already faced a TPK, basicly by the hands of an Orc Eye of Gruumsh (and several other stuff), which kept lowering their AC by 4 every turn (minor action too) making them easy targets for the other orcs..
Now, when they see a "mage" type sort of critter, it quickly becomes their priority target.
Soldiers are kinda hard too, but when there's one, it's easier to just ignore him and take care of the rest of the critters, then alone, not so tough.
thecasualoblivion
First Post
Thinking about this, the most dangerous enemies of PCs are in almost all cases players. PCs get into more trouble and danger through the stupidity and mistakes of the people playing them than any quality the monsters have.
Thinking over my 4E career(90% of which came sitting in the DM's chair), most of the scary situations and actual deaths came from player stupidity above all other concerns.
Thinking over my 4E career(90% of which came sitting in the DM's chair), most of the scary situations and actual deaths came from player stupidity above all other concerns.
Daniel D. Fox
Explorer
A mix of Brutes, a few Skirmishers to swoop in and out with alphastrikes like sharks mixed with Hazards have put my group near-death more than twice now - and I built the encounter on Moderate. 
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