Help me design a high-level encounter

[Infiniti2000]

I'll skip the long story, but this weekend my group will enter the final "dungeon" to obtain the Shield of Prator (otherwise known as the shield of the sun). I have chosen the main adversary to 'defend' it, a deathdrinker demon (CR 18, MMIV). A rough sketch of the location will be a natural cavern with splotches of rough terrain (difficult movement), and several chest-high, semi-formed stalagmites. On these stalagmites will be unconscious victims of medium levels (commoners, experts, perhaps an adventurer or two). Most of the time, the deathdrinker will stay more than 10ft from the victims, but every once in a while he wonder close to them; like, oh, when he's injured. The bottom of the cavern will be filled with about 2-6 inches (5-15 cm) of contact poison.

Specific help requested:

1. Any suggestions on the poison? It need not be terribly potent, as I think the concept is interesting enough on it's own.
2. What action would it be to 'fling' a victim into the poison? Move action? Attack (not necessarily a full standard action)?
3. Any ideas for minions other than the recommended (i.e. boring, already used) dread wraiths and elite vampires?
4. Any story ideas as to why this creature is guarding the shield would be very helpful. Obviously, I have some but have so far kept things vague for the party, and so I could change things easily enough. I didn't want to mention anything here so as not to blemish any other ideas.
5. I could also use some suggestions for the dungeon layout, perhaps on-line maps. I've only vaguely defined it as a cave and I don't really want to change that, but it could certainly lead elsewhere.
6. Anything else to spice up the encounter? I was thinking of putting in a permanent dispel wall as the heroes enter the area. On the other side would be a permanent private sanctum (or forbiddance?) and possibly even a greater anticipate teleport. The downside to that is obviously whatever I put in there cannot interfere with the deathdrinker's teleporting! The party wizard is looking, er, I mean, I'm looking forward to using that.

The party consists of a 17th level halfling druid, 18th level dwarf cleric of Moradin (one racial sub I think), 18th level fighter (non-buffed AC 34, weapon mastery or something like that), and an 18th level fighter/ranger (forgot the breakdown) who's really good with a bow and TWF (the holy bow is gonna cause some hurting, and his two holy wounding melee weapons). There's also a 17th level wizard/archmage, but he's not joining in this weekend, so I have to tone it down a little.

(Yes, remarkably none of these PCs have taken prestige classes. Those who have read my RttToEE logs know them.)

 

[blargney the second]

What EL are you aiming for, and how good are your players?

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Not familiar with the monster, but I'll help where I can

1. Not sure. Let me make a new suggestion, though. Something a DM did in one of our games when we fought Orcus's leiutenant was to use a modified grease spell the was all blood with load of puss and other nasty things floating in it. Renamed it the "blood of orcus." It worked like normal grease, and anyone that fell in had to make saves against catching disease once each round they were in it (or the moment they fall in). For all I know, that's an actual spell. Certainly cool, though.

2. The only "legitimate" ways to do this are the Snatch feat, Setting Sun maneuvers, or the Fling Enemy feat (Races of Stone). Awesome Blow and Knockback (also RoS) would let you smash someone a distance instead of fling.

6. Chances are, they'd detect the dispel wall as they approached it (cantrip and all). Anticipate Teleport would be a good idea to punish them for teleporting in, if they try that. It's a demon, so if you'd like to add some fun randomness, you could place the entire area under the effects of a (greater?) rod of wonder, with a random effect occuring each round within it.

 

[Vorput]

1) Black Lotus Extract? (DMG). Might be too deadly- in which case maybe Sassone leaf residue?

2) I'd say it has to be a standard action- anything less seems like too much (especially since it can already drop quickened dispels and teleports). Mechanically it'd be a bull rush I suppose?

3) Deathbringer (MM2) was the first thing to come to mind, but that's probably too powerful. A few spellstiched (MM2) Devourers perhaps? In this case- a poison which caused wisdom damage would synergize well with their confusion and suggestion abilities. 2-3 of them scattered about the room as the deathdrinker teleports around would be quite the challenge.

4) Bound there by a greater demon? Or an Abyssal Lord? Doesn't really fit with what a Deathdrinker is. Perhaps he's trying to siphon power from it somehow? Perhaps he's waiting to discover what the quest is that the LG deity wants done is, so that he can subvert it? Maybe he wants to corrupt it so he can use it.

6) Dispel wall is a good idea- will depress them when any effects that make it through there fall to the demon's dispel ability. Some sort of illusion magic covering up the contact poison? Anticipate teleportation would hurt the deathdrinker, so I'd avoid that. Maybe an antimagic field in the contact poison- would make it harder for those flung in to get out. Bank of solid fog in the poison?

 

[green slime]

I'd favour a spellcasting ally:

Telekinesis could surely Bullrush people into the pool of ichor/poison/blood/acid?

Repulsion could hinder PC's from approaching...not sure what you would want to do with that, but I'm sure you could gain some advantage. Especially if invisible or ethereal (does repulsion extend into/from the ethereal plane? If not, the "transdimensional spell" feat should help with that).

Repel wood handles most of those pesky pointy non-metallic arrows.

Repel Metal or Stone forces a creature in armour away.

A simple gust of wind would cause the halfling some grief, at least while he remained halfling-sized (prone).

I suppose other minions could include skeletal warriors (of whatever type you like), emerging from the poison to trap the PCs: They try to grapple them (aid another +2 for each beyond the first) and drag them under: In addition to the poison/acid damage, the PCs can fight underwater for a number of rounds equal to their Con score, and because of the murkiness of the fluid are efficiently blind and muted (hard to turn undead with your mouth full of poisonous seaweed). Fort save DC10 +1 / round after the initial Con rounds brings on a definite sense of panic.

I'm always fond of plants as enemies: if skeletal warriors seems to common, change it to some kind of blood-sucking (Con draining?) plant/seaweed creature. A kind of Stirge-like Shambling Mound. Makes the drowning challenge even greater:

The druid enters the room, makes a Knowledge (Plants) check DC 35: "No! The dreaded Abyssal Blood-algae of Drakk-Nur! Stay well away from the pool!"
*Swoosh-kersploosh" (sound of Dwarf being telekinetically pushed into the brine)

And the brine/poison/acid makes fighting the algae fun: less damage (-2 to hit, half damage (underwater), no crits (plant type), Con drops madly, Poison starts taking effect, screams of frustrated players....

Alternatively, you can have hoards of Stirge-swarms gliding through the air... Stirges are really one of the nastiest creatures in the book. Turning them into a swarm would be just terrifying. The palyers will willingly throw themselves into the pool to avoid the swarm.

 

[Infiniti2000]

What EL are you aiming for, and how good are your players?

EL 18-19ish. I generally ballpark how tough an encounter is based upon my knowledge of the PC's abilities. And, my players are well seasoned (and not in a dragon food sort of way). After a few rounds of buffing the druid is especially difficult to hurt (she learned to keep a ring of counterspells with a greater dispel magic in it after a BBEG hit her with a quickened targeted GDM followed up by a DC 29 destruction).

 

[Infiniti2000]

I like the ideas. A greasy but shallow poison pool sounds like fun. Although most of the PC's have flying capabilities, maybe I'll throw in a grabbing-type spell-stiched (thanks Vorput) undead with low ceilings. I like the poison because the demon is immune to it as well as any undead. Undead minions are a must, of course, but I fear that any will be quickly killed by the cleric. Ah, no matter. Any time spent on minions is not time spent on the demon as he moves about kicking some major ass.

Hmm...the PC's enter and get ready to do battle. A spell-stitched something-or-other lays down a solid fog, enabled the demon to teleport + kick-ass without fear of the opponent running away. Without any arcane help (no capes of the mountebank or anything), someone will have to burn an action to dispel the fog (not difficult considering the source). Another croney with telekinesis to pull the heroes further in?

green slime, I love the idea of the abyssal plant thing. Maybe the plant is the 'nest' of the demon with several spell-stitched minions. I'll have to work up the stats for it, but maybe if I start with, say the violet fungus (advanced), add fiendish, and then tweak it (lower hit points, add some spell-like abilities, etc.)

As for the story, I'm still not sure. Hmm...let's modify the artifact a little to make it intelligent. Perhaps the demon has indeed found a way to live off it, a never-ending source of power fueled by Pelor himself. Pelor, of course, will be gratified for someone ending the shield's torment (and keeping the demon from sucking away Pelor's power). The shield could be severely weakened for a while (days, weeks, months - I'll work on that), regaining its abilities over time. Or, maybe Pelor could immediately infuse it with more power if the heroes agree to take on a quest right away.

...

 

[blargney the second]

This is going to sound weird, but I think using the mounted combat rules is the way to go: animate the poison. Make it a creature that the demon rides. You could even describe that in any number of cool and cinematic ways.

1) A solo monster has a serious action disadvantage, so having a mount helps even things out.
2) The mount can move the demon around, helping it get the most out of its actions.
3) The mount is always close to the demon so the creatures that die due to it benefit the rider.
4) You can always have the poison collapse into a pool after it dies. While it's alive it'll at least have a chance at affecting any flying enemies.

A relatively simple way to go would be to make it an appropriately-sized water elemental and just infuse it with poison.
-blarg

 

[Infiniti2000]

Okay, so the final encounter will be a greenvise (MMII) advanced to 28HD and made fiendish, the deathdrinker, several gray render zombies, and a blanket of poisonous sassone fungi (stats from BoVD). The fungi will also help the greenvise "see" as it uses the death fog. The deathdrinker has been modify slightly (no great cleave) and given a ring of major acid resistance (so it can handle the acid fog). The zombies will be damaged by it, but they will also be healed by the deathdrinker. The deathdrinker will try to maneuver while not damaging the greenvise. Stats for these guys are given as attached (not that I've houseruled PA to be limited to +5, requiring Imp Power Attack).

Additionally, a powerful rakhshasa will be "around". He'll not attack unless attacked. This is a semi-recurring villain. His stats are also attached.

I have about 30 minutes to work him into the plot and I probably will not be able to get back to this thread in time. I'll post a quick synopsis of the encounter later.

 

[Infiniti2000]

The heroes came in, cautious as usual. No one rolled a spot check high enough to see the greenvise (37 hide check), but that was of little consequence. The fighter fly in to confront the demon (taking a full move), but the plant grabbed him out of the sky. The demon was tossing GDM's everywhere. One round he hit the cleric with a GDM and then a quickened GDM, removing almost all buffs. The next round he quickened greater teleported to the cleric and took a full attack with +5 on PA, killing him outright. Later, the ranger suffered the same fate. It was the fighter who saved the day, however, hitting the demon with about 5 criticals in the span of two rounds. Even the DR 15 was insufficient to stop the blood flow of about 90 hp per crit (thanks to power attack and a brilliant blade courtesy of the druid). The druid was mostly ineffectual, but helped out with a flanking elder fire elemental and several support spells. Oh, the fighter also killed the plant before it even got off the death fog, thanks to the weapon mastery feat that allows him to use his weapon in a grapple, despite being in its mouth and moments from going down its gullet.

The heroes got the shield, freed the imprisoned planetar (who spent most of its remaining energy reinvigorating the shield), and got the next quest all at the same time. Time for the next artifact (one per PC) so that the heroes can defeat the BBEG of the whole campaign and we can switch to 3.5.

PS. What happened to the sorcerer, you ask? Oh, well, he was following the party in and was surprisingly never noticed. He decided to help the heroes out a little in return for several favors. I admit to a little bit of deus ex machina (only a little), but there were good story reasons involved and I hated having the cleric's player sit out for most of the combat (no one likes that).

Thanks for all your help! I hope you find the stat blocks useful.

PPS. I modified the shield slightly to make it intelligent and to raise the SR to 25. SR 15 is an insult at this level. SR 25 isn't even difficult (equal to an aura spell).