How a Hippy Hurt My Party (Long)

[Xarlen]

I just had one of the longest combats, and it's not even done! Here's how a Druid can really clean house.

The druid is part of some Defilers, a group of blight magic users who are destroying a forest (Though she's not a blightmagic user, but is totally nuts). The PCs want to know where her leader is, and needs to put her down.

11th level Druid vs. 10th level Illusionist, 10th level cleric, 6th level rogue/1 sor half silver dragon, 4th level ranger/3 fighter nat. werewolf (my PNCP).

Surprise round: She is hit with a shortbow arrow, a quarrel, and a maxed out MM. She gets knocked down a good amount of HPs. She fell down, and touched a tree, unleashing a Nature's Ramport (WotC site spell) to make a trench and a barrier the PCs had to climb through. Of course, there was spike growth on the ground, making it more difficult. This was released through a Druid Grove (Motw). I know she shouldn't have got an action, but I set it up like it was a programmed trap.

First round, the PNPC tank cuts herself out of the snare she got int on surprise round. The wizard flies toward the Druid, to zap her with his lightning wand, and the Druid's jaguar animal companion (I used tiger stats because this thing would be buff) hit him in mid air; it was holding its action. The cleric summoned a Giant Eagle, and the Rogue breathed a cone of cold on the druid, hurting her (She was at 39 from 90 points, by this point). She drinks a potion of haste, and gets out of there by casting Transport Via Plants.

Second round, there is an assassin vine in the trees that opens up an entangle (that gets no one but the eagle). Rogue deals with jaguar, mage stabs it (Since it was still clinging to him), and cleric Flamestrikes the asssassin vine. The druid cast Regenerate Serious Wounds (3 points per round of healing), and since she had a heart in her hand (the pcs walked up on her ripping the heart out of a bound drow), she bit open her hand and summoned a blood spirit. A blood spirit is like a water elemental (medium sized), but it's linked to the caster, bestowing a 'Shield other' and also healing the caster as much damage as it deals to someone else. This attacked the cleric.

PNPC rushes over to help cleric with the blood spirit, rogue knocks cat into negative HPs, wizard hits the bloodspirit with an MM, the cleric hits the blood spirit (It is now 1 hp). The Druid casts Waterball(MotW), hitting 2 pcs with 34 points of stun, one with 17, and 1 with none (Dang rogue), and summons a Shambling Mound, while moving around the battle field. This rushes up, into the fray.

Wizard is unconcious, rogue heals him with a potion, PNPC deals with shambling mound, cleric casts Prot from Evil. Druid casts a Wall of Thorns, boxing the PNPC and the cleric in with the Shambling mound, and casts Mark of Frost (BoEM) from a magic item on her (giving another +1 of Nat armor).

Wizard flies over to pepper the mound with his final MM, PNPC fights the mound (and loses her swords from 2 critical failures), cleric heals himself, rogue holds action because she heard the druid approach. Druid comes out of the woods, rogue charges, misses, the druid attacks physically, then steps back and casts Quillfire (MaoF), misses.

PNPC grabs her swords, gets an AoO (lucky damage reduction), cleric zaps it with a Searing Light and kills it. Rogue attacks her with nat. attacks, misses all. Wizard hits the druid with a Shadow Conjed Flame darts, he hits with one, does minimal damage, which kills the blood spirit. Druid steps back, hits him with the ice spear (using up her Mark of Frost), Crits on it, then smacks the rogue with a Languar (Motw), rogue fails bad.

Wizard helps PNPC and cleric out of the hedge hole, cleric heals mage, and the Rogue throws a dagger that misses horridly. Druid runs over to heal her animal companion who's near death (now at 1), and then wildshapes into a Large Bear, while glaring at the party rogue (at this point, haste has failed).

End result: She's at 73 points now, the Rogue is slowed, -4 to Str (-2 each round), the wizard is out of attack spells, and the druid is still pissed off. Session ends.

Yeah, I made some rules flubbs (I didn't know how to compute the strenght loss with Lanquar) but dang if it wasn't FUN! Scared the PCs with the blood spirite, and the fight is *hard*. This is the longest fight we've had, and the most hurt the party (collectively) has been. I'm pleased.

Just felt like sharing.

 

[bret]

Your group needs to learn to use Dispel Magic when someone is hasted like that.

 

[Xarlen]

She was basicly far enough to hit with range spells while hiding in the foilage until she got up ontop of the party.

No, they do not generally use buffing spells or dispels. The cleric has used buff spells very few, few times. Though, he DID have a Freedome of Movement on him; good for him. And made a magical item for the PNPC that has Divine Favor in it. They're old school gamers, suffice to say, and don't think in terms of buff.

It's what I get when I get an RP-centric group.

I tired to show them the beneifts of a nice Dispel Magic by having a wizard in an ambush focus mainly on counterspell, Dispel and non-lethal attacks (like greasing saddles, casting Fear on a horse of the PNPC, blocking the PNPC from the fight with a Wall of Ice), but they didn't get the hint. I guess cuz his single dispel didn't work.

Funny he was the only one *to* die in the ambush...

 

[Xarlen]

Now that I think about it, the players are likely to start ripping a hole in 'em, because of the Mage's lightning wand, and the PNPC and rogue will likely flank her.

 

[Pielorinho]

Once there were some druids
Livin' 'mongst the trees
Pickin' flowers, smokin' joints
Hair down to their knees --

But one day the druids woke up
to a nasty human roar:
for a ranger's crew was cuttin' down
the wilderness next door.

Now our druids were not happy
with mother nature goin' down
So they called their local Pelor priest
and some paladins in town

But the druids' words weren't heeded
Yet they swore they would prevail
So they got some light warhammers
and some sixty-CP nails

No, they sure don't make druids like they used to
They used to live in peace, but now they're spikin' trees
No, they sure don't make druids like they used to
No, druids don't take no crap anymore.

With apologies to Daryl Cherney and Judi Bari.

Great story!

Daniel

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Some nasty suggestions...

If you really want to make things intresting for your players...

1) Have the druid dispatch an animal messenger to tell her master, and any other combatants who would like to know, that the players have arrived. You then have every reason to set some more ambushes for your players.

2) When your druid is finally cornered or in danger of dying, use a wild shape to make your escape. Become a sparrow and fly away (more effective if she can then disappear into a small flock of birds flying away). This allows you to set up a rematch later, and your players will be VERY motivated to beat her down.

3) If the opportunity arised, try going for an Animal Growth spell on the Jaguar (Double HD, more damage).

4) Have the druid/bear attempt an improved grapple attack on either the Rogue or the Illusionist. Unless I am completely misreading the rules (which I just checked), you can do so on a successful claw attack. Being an 11th level druid with BaB +8 wildshaped as a Large Bear,with a Str of 27, the grapple check is + 20 vs Man sized opponents. Go for a Pin using the claw attack, and use the other attacks (1 claw and 1 bite) to Ream your opponent. Here is how the reaming works:

1) Each subsequent successful grapple check automatically deals damage for the limb that established the hold. (MM, page 9)

2) Each melee attack on the grappled creature is at +4 (PHB, page 137). This means that the other claw and the bite will score hits very easily.

3) Your pet Jaguar can also get some easy hits in during this time by joining the grapple. I assume your using the tiger stats on page 203 of the MM. Your Jaguar's grapple check is 19 (claw) or 16 (bite) vs man sized. If it is joining the grapple, the grapple automatically succeeds (PHB 137), and your Jaguar can then do its bite, claw AND rake attacks every round.

The Poor Shmuck who gets victimized then gets to enjoy the following damage until he is no longer grappled. And if both the tiger and the bear are grappling, he has to escape both grapplers. This is nearly impossible for low Str characters since he has to beat both a +20 grapple from the bear and a +19 from the tiger.

Bear:
Claws - 1d8+4 x2
Bite - 2d8+4

Jaguar / Tiger:
Bite - 2d6+3
Front Claws - 1d8+6 x2
Rake (rear claws) - 1d8+3 x2

If that all hits, you have inflicted 2d6 + 7d8 + 33 damage.

If you pin the Rogue, you have no sneak attacks to worry about. If you pin the illusionist, no spells to worry about.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Xarlen]

Well, seeing as the jaguar is at 1 hit point, it ain't happening.

The Druid and her compadres are behing hunted in the forest (By pretty much everything sentient in the forest).

I *want* her to be near dying, because then she'll tell the PCs where 'Father' (The head of the Defilers) are at, and have one of those emotiona moments where she breaks down into tears and clings to one of the PCs like a child.

Seeing as she has that Regeneration spell on her for still a dozen rounds...

And, the Illusionist is going to keep his butt in the air, hammering her with lightning bolts.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Great little story! Druids are nasty. I've got a 14th level druid in another game, and I can't wait for him to really unleash...

 

[Voneth]

Great little story! Druids are nasty. I've got a 14th level druid in another game, and I can't wait for him to really unleash...

Only if your GM lets you be. I just happily retired a 16th level Druid ...

He hardly ever had an animal compainion.
(At one point I literally had a herd following me becuase the GM said I couldn't find any really large animals in the forest. Then on top of that, any undead or demons scared my animals away.

Then he said I couldn't get dire animals -- until MotW corrected him on that. Then after that, it seemed I couldn't be in one place long enough to find a Dire Animal, or I was ambushed while looking for a Dire Animal.)

Druid spells require either some woodlands or space to work.
(I only have Entangle and we are dungeon delving, or we are in a desert. At higher levels we were fighting in small alley ways where a spell effect would hit the opponets AND the party.)

Or the GM realizes how awesome Wind Walk is and then wraps up the campaign in a hurry so as to start us off at 1st level again.
(that part I will take as a compliement)

I would have switched character out a long time ago in the campaign, but we had no cleric, so the GM gave me the clerical abililty to switch out spell slots for Cures and also emphasised I should use meta magic feats to ensure I had Cure spells of some sort at every level. So basicly he wouldn't let me switch out the PC because no one else would take up being a cleric.

... I don't even want to get into how we visited plenty of human and elven nations, but we never had one night's stay at the swamp where my druidic Lizardman grew up in.

 

[Utrecht]

The druid cast Regenerate Serious Wounds (3 points per round of healing)

Yeah, I made some rules flubbs (I didn't know how to compute the strenght loss with Lanquar) but dang if it wasn't FUN! Scared the PCs with the blood spirite, and the fight is *hard*. This is the longest fight we've had, and the most hurt the party (collectively) has been. I'm pleased.

Just felt like sharing.

So that you are aware, the Regenerate Wounds spell will only heal those wounds that occure AFTER the spell is cast - making it a pretty good spell instead of an amazing spell!!!