Little enemies with big effects

[Pielorinho]

I don't normally like to brag on my monsters bustin all over the PCs, but last night was a lot of fun for me . Two imps, with minimal preparation, almost devastated a party of healthy and powerful third-level characters: by the end of the battle, two party members had a Dex of 0, and a third one had a dex in the low single digits. Only one party member, a healer (Greenbond from AU) was relatively unscathed. This was an EL4 encounter, which should've been a relative piece of cake for the party.

I've only had one similar experience before, when a 6th-level party was plagued for several sessions by an CR6 osyluth. Are those demons/devils just underpowered CRwise? Do they get extra-special benefits from the sneaky tactics I'm inclined to use?

Kobolds, of course, are famous for their killing power against characters. What other experiences have you had with wimpy monsters beating all over the PCs?

Daniel

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Krenshar

Its fun to see all the warrior types run away, leaving the wizards in hand-to-hand combat. That's the kind of thing that makes a DM smile. Well, that and drinking the blood of puppies.

 

[Morpheus]

My personal favorites: Anything with reach and rend (i.e. Trolls, Dire Apes, etc.). The look on a player's face when they close to attack and then get hit by 2 claws with a rend is...priceless. I've eviscerated a dwarf wizard (don't ask) and a night elf ranger with this combo. The only thing missing is Combat Reflexes...

 

[diaglo]

pixies, nixies, grigs, korred, brownies, slyphs...

all those save or die types from earlier editions.

 

[Desdichado]

Its fun to see all the warrior types run away, leaving the wizards in hand-to-hand combat. That's the kind of thing that makes a DM smile. Well, that and drinking the blood of puppies.

Yeah, creatures that really require a front-line melee approach, but which also require a Will save first, are especially rough for their CRs. As for drinking puppy blood, I've found that it doesn't get me nasty enough anymore. I'm on a diet of baby seal blood these days before running a session.

I've actually had pretty good luck with simple things as well in cramped environments where the PCs can't use their abilities to best effect. A group of modified (to be easier(!)) dire badgers put a pretty bad hurt on my party of PCs a few weeks ago, which surprised me a bit. But they were reduced to one guy taking the brunt of the attacks, and the other guys dealing with attacks on the sides from more of the critters. It wasn't until they were able to start getting flanking bonuses finally (and with that, the rogue's sneak attack bonus damage) that they were able to decisively deal with them.

So yeah, I'd say it's probably your tactics.

 

[Piratecat]

I don't normally like to brag on my monsters bustin all over the PCs. . .

Yes you do, you big liar.

That sounds like a blast. The only time I've come close to it was when I freaked out a group of 4th lvl PCs with a single ghoul scampering around a graveyard at night. Hit and run tactics, hiding, and using gravestones for cover really laid waste to the party. I don't think it was anywhere near as effective as your game last night, though!

Nice work. Tactics are everything. I'm guessing that the group didn't know they were fighting imps, so there was no metagaming. Correct?

 

[Pielorinho]

On the contrary: the notes of a mad wizard they'd killed the previous day described the imps, and they knew they'd be fighting little flying buggers with poison and invisibility, and they prepared for the combat by getting bags of flour ready to "dust" the imps with. They still got smacked around.

Part of the imps' success was based on cover: the fight happened in an old meeting room, with a table, a half-dozen chairs, and a bookshelf. The imps were zipping all around the room, hiding behind chairs, crouching atop the bookshelf while they healed, and so forth.

The imps took an initial beating, and they'd been planning on hiding in their little hidey-hole behind the bookshelf until their fast healing brought them up to full; had they succeeded at this, when they'd emerged from the hole, half the party would've been paralyzed. Fortunately for the players, one of them found the hideyhole and started blocking it up, forcing the imps to reveal themselves prematurely; at that point, the PCs converged for the belated kill.

Oh, one other note: imps have a great weakness, their reach of 0', and a great strength, their suggestion spell. They started the battle with a surprise round in which they stung the apparent spellcastery types, and followed in the first round of battle by Suggesting to the fightery types, "Hey, you'll never be able to hit me with that weapon! Drop it and grab me instead, so I won't be able to turn invisible and escape!" The fighter who failed his save spent every round of the fight getting stung on the AoO from the grappling attempt .

Daniel

 

[Cor Azer]

Oh, one other note: imps have a great weakness, their reach of 0', and a great strength, their suggestion spell. They started the battle with a surprise round in which they stung the apparent spellcastery types, and followed in the first round of battle by Suggesting to the fightery types, "Hey, you'll never be able to hit me with that weapon! Drop it and grab me instead, so I won't be able to turn invisible and escape!" The fighter who failed his save spent every round of the fight getting stung on the AoO from the grappling attempt .

That's very cool. Uber even.

My favorites have been the murder of 6 crows that almost decimated my first level party of 6. They've been spooked of animals ever since.

Kobolds - ever present on such lists.

Most recently my party of 5-7 11-13th level characters took the better part of three sessions get secure the first room in a crypt guarded by 6 wraiths. Now, there were some twists, not everyone could make it each session, and the last bit of fighting had a mummy cleric show up too, but mostly - the wriaths. Fun times. (The best, at one point the party decided they were having horrible luck with the miss chances, so the party necromancer summoned some allips to send in incorporeality vs. incorporeality (The allip wis drain would leave the wraiths effectively mindless). Alas, they did not realize there was an evil cleric aiding the wraiths, so when the allips returned, the party was surprised to be assailed by their own tools. Much fun).

 

[Desdichado]

My favorites have been the murder of 6 crows that almost decimated my first level party of 6. They've been spooked of animals ever since.

I'd like to hear that.

Reminds me of that time my party of 6 peasants were TPKed by a cat.

Ok, I never really did that...

 

[Pielorinho]

I'd like to hear that.

Me, too--that sounds wonderful!
Daniel