Is this a fair encounter?

[Kafkonia]

Yarrrr, there be spoilers of a sort for the DCC module The Golden Palace of Zahadrin

Spoilers, I say!

SPOILERS!
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Fair warning

I'm going to be running this DCC module as a short adventure or possibly the start of a new campaign. There will be six ECL 15 PCs, with at least two or three evil ones, as well as at least one evil cohort -- putting it slightly above the target range of 4-5 14th level PCs.

One of the encounters as it stands calls for a CL 15 blade barrier to go off in a tomb if the PCs fiddle with the flagstones. There is a shield guardian present, but it only attacks followers of a certain (almost-forgotten) god.

I'm considering replacing the trap with something a bit more flavourful, since it's in the sepulchre of a religious hero and the defiling PCs would be evil -- specifically, I'm thinking of a CL 15 holy word spell, and changing the shield guardian's instructions to attack anyone who sets off the trap. Most of the PCs would just be deafened (although one or two with LAs would be blinded) so they wouldn't be at that great a disadvantage.

With the make-up of the party (including a Dread Necromancer and possibly an Ur-Priest), some of the other encounters (such as the undead) won't be quite as difficult for them as it would be for your typical group, so I want to challenge them without being totally unfair.

 

[szilard]

My concern about this is twofold: (1) that you are specifically targeting the evil characters here and (2) that you are replacing a trap that can be overcome in multiple ways (disarming it, making a save, standing in the next room, having a ton of hit points, etc) with one that can only be overcome by being disarmed.

Also, consider the resources that will be used up in overcoming blindness/deafness after the fact. Are these resources that the PCs will have or can acquire?

-Stuart

 

[shilsen]

I may be missing something, but I'm not seeing why there's even a question about it. IME, it's a very easy encounter. The non-good PCs will be minorly incommoded for a few seconds, assuming nobody would be disadvantaged for long, and a shield guardian (the CR 8 one from the MM, right?) would be mashed by a single ECL 15 fighter-type even if he was blind.

 

[+5 Keyboard!]

Just curious... All DCCs have a Scaling the Adventure section that covers making changes to the adventure for smaller or larger groups (or lower/higher levels). What does it recommend for larger/higher level groups?

 

[Kafkonia]

Just curious... All DCCs have a Scaling the Adventure section that covers making changes to the adventure for smaller or larger groups (or lower/higher levels). What does it recommend for larger/higher level groups?

It doesn't make any recommendations regarding this area. Most of the scaling up recommendations are of the "add more monsters" variety.

 

[+5 Keyboard!]

15th level PCs are hardly going to be challenged by a normal shield guardian. Is the one in this adventure advanced or have any special abiliities to make an appropriate challenge? Not seeing what you're reading, I'm just making some blanket suggestions here. First off, I think you could probably replace the shield guardian with a pair of clay golems to really menace the PCs regardless of what their aligment is. Simply have them attack anyone not of a particular faith that was revered by whoever is entombed in that crypt. Don't mess with the trap. It already sounds pretty decent.

You could also make things kinda mysterious by having the golems or shield guardian ignore one of the PCs. Perhaps one of the PCs has some kind of symbol or marking on their gear/armor that kind of resembles the symbol of whatever god was worshipped by their creator. It's always fun to mess with players like that

 

[Rhun]

I may be missing something, but I'm not seeing why there's even a question about it. IME, it's a very easy encounter. The non-good PCs will be minorly incommoded for a few seconds, assuming nobody would be disadvantaged for long, and a shield guardian (the CR 8 one from the MM, right?) would be mashed by a single ECL 15 fighter-type even if he was blind.

I agree with this 100%. Is this some kind of advanced Shield Guardian?

 

[Kafkonia]

I agree with this 100%. Is this some kind of advanced Shield Guardian?

As written, it's a typical CR 8 shield guardian -- I believe it's there more for flavour than anything else; the danger is meant to derive from the blade barrier trap.

I sat down and read the adventure over again last night, and I'm going to leave the trap as written. Flavour-wise, blade barrier is actually the 6th-level spell for the Good domain (for whatever reason...) so it fits the "holy tomb" location better than I thought it did, and if it triggers in the right place it can actually pose quite a problem by separating some of the PCs from one another...

From reading it, I think this is a good adventure, but the proof is in the pudding, so we'll see how it runs.