[Heart of Nightfang Spire] Running the meat grinder...

[Klaus]

Advice!

Hey, y'all!

I'll be running HotNS later this year (still have to run tSS and a couple of free WotC adventures) for my party, so I'd appreciate advice from you Spire-veterans.

Here's how I think the party will look like by the time they get into the Spire:

Human Ranger12 (longword+3/shortsword+1, darkleaf breastplate*+2, Spot/Listen/Hide/Move Silently all around +17)
Str 18 Dex 16 Wis 14

Human Cleric 12 (+2 flaming heavy mace/+2 full plate +1 large shield/+2 cloak of charisma) Deity: Pelor (Healing and Sun)
Str 12 Wis 19 Cha 14(16)

Half-Elf Wizard5/Rogue3/Bladesinger4 (+3 rapier/+3 mithral shirt/ring of wizardy I/elven cat familiar**)
Dex 19 Int 14

* Arms&Equipment... acts like Mithral.
** Improved Familiar, basically a lynx with elf traits.

They're of higher level than usual for HotNS, but there's only 3 of them.

Only the ranger is a veteran player, the other two are novices (these are their first DnD characters).

 

[LuYangShih]

They will die unless you lessen the amount or power of the creatures they face. HoFNS is simply too lethal for anything less than a fully optimized party of four.

 

[Jeremy]

Biggest killers in my parties's opinion...

Stat drainers (shadows specificially), caster heavy party didn't have many people with much strength.

Hall of heroes, open the wrong one and everything attacks at once. That was a mess.

Oggunon, oh yeah, absorption baby! Nummy nummy.

Red Bone. 1 little 2 little 3 little pc's... 1 shot, 1 kill. Leave. Repeat.

Mooncalf. Tentacle, grapple, levitate, fling. Sploot.

The things they didn't have trouble with were the girallons (High AC rendered the damage machines useless) and Mr. Stitches. Same problem.

Without a cleric to turn the hordes of shadows, they are going to have a problem unless no one reacts to combat in the next room. Nonmagical attack immunity + 50% chance to ignore magical attacks = Difficult encounter.