Low Level Bad Guy with a High Level Scroll

[ScotMartin]

Hey everyone. I am reading an adventure in preparation for running it and I came upon an encounter that struck me as... well... "mean". I thought I'd post about it and get some opinions. Now, I'll be leaving out a lot of surrounding details to avoid identifying the specific adventure, just in case someone else happens to be playing it.

(any of my players who happen to be reading this... go away)

In this encounter, the players should be around 6th to 7th level, and they come upon an evil 5th level cleric. This cleric is holding a scroll of Circle of Death and the adventure states it's what he uses on the first round of combat.

Circle of Death
Necromancy [Death]
Level: Sor/Wiz 6
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area: Several living creatures within a 40-ft.-radius burst
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
A circle of death snuffs out the life force of living creatures, killing them instantly.
The spell slays 1d4 HD worth of living creatures per caster level (maximum 20d4). Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first; among creatures with equal HD, those who are closest to the burst’s point of origin are affected first. No creature of 9 or more HD can be affected, and Hit Dice that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted.
Material Component: The powder of a crushed black pearl with a minimum value of 500 gp.

So, the cleric will have to make a caster level check, needing a 7 or higher on a D20 to successfully cast it. If he does, he'll then get roll 11d4 for hit dice (average 27). This means 3-4 of the party members will have to make DC 19 Fortitude checks, or die. Even a 7th level dwarven fighter with a 16 Con needs a 9 or better, and that's a best case scenario.

Extenuating Circumstances: 1. The characters should be expecting trouble, there will be no surprise round for the bad guy. They may hold actions in an attempt to disrupt his spellcasting, but they may also just try to take him down as fast as possible knowing that an enemy cleric at their levels doesn't usually have something so devastating. 2. Buying higher level scrolls is a trick favored by one of the players. So, you could argue what's good for the players, is good for the bad guys.

Anyway, I'm curious what others think. Is this too mean? Would you be okay with this as a player if you ran into it?

Thanks,
-Scot

 

[Crothian]

Of course I'd be okay as a Play because my 6th level cleric is going to have 5 of these in his back pocket!!

 

[Engilbrand]

I might be wrong, but I didn't think that Clerics could cast Wizard spells. Or does he have it as a domain ability? Whatever. Make sure that they understand just how morbid and death oriented things are and have him talk about how powerful he is. When they get close, use the scroll. It sucks, but it happens.

 

[XO]

???

So this "cleric" holds a "Circle of Death" scroll, a handy device for any Sorcerer or Wizard...

Does the cleric somehow have Use Magic Device for the DC 30+ check?

Does he have high Int or high Cha to avoid the other UMD test ?

I think it was meant as treasure, and not as a usable item. Unless the module stipulates to try to use it, which would largely prove the author really is clueless?

No problem.

Go ahead. Party should make it...

 

[ScotMartin]

I might be wrong, but I didn't think that Clerics could cast Wizard spells. Or does he have it as a domain ability? Whatever. Make sure that they understand just how morbid and death oriented things are and have him talk about how powerful he is. When they get close, use the scroll. It sucks, but it happens.

Sorry. Should have clarified, he has a non-standard domain with Circle of Death on the spell list.

-Scot

 

[Skyscraper]

I'm not too fond of this kind of very powerful, one-shot object that the NPC happens to be saving for the PCs. I would assuredly swap this scroll for something else, for example a Summon Monster IV scroll (powerful enough for those levels, get a fiendish dire wolf in there, still requires a check to pull off) together with a couple of potions of shield of faith, one of which imbided by the cleric beforehand.

Sky

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Sorry. Should have clarified, he has a non-standard domain with Circle of Death on the spell list.

-Scot

In which case, he'll still need a Divine scroll of the spell.

Which means he needs a higher-level cleric of his own order to create the spell.

Does he have access to this? If so, you're looking at the potential next BBEG If not, you're cheating.

 

[SolitonMan]

The only thing I would do in this case is to double check that the items for this cleric are in accord with what is to be expected for a 5th level NPC cleric. According to the DMG on p. 115, a 5th level NPC cleric should have roughly 4500-5000 gp worth of stuff. Since the cost of the circle of death scroll includes a 500 gp material component, the scroll alone is worth 2150 gp. This may not seriously impact the rest of the cleric's possessions depending on the specifics of the adventure, but then again, if he is listed as having more value for items than is otherwise warranted, you might consider somehow altering the encounter to account for this. I'll leave the specifics to you.

 

[Black_Swan]

Who cares about the calculations? If this isn't the BBEG and it's some random encounter with a goon then I say ditch the scroll.

Save or die spells should be saved for appropriate encounters. This doesn't sound like one.

 

[GreatLemur]

In which case, he'll still need a Divine scroll of the spell.

Which means he needs a higher-level cleric of his own order to create the spell.

Does he have access to this? If so, you're looking at the potential next BBEG If not, you're cheating.

It's a pre-written adventure. Anyway, the guy's probably part of some big death cult with a much higher-level leader.

Of course, just because it's explainable doesn't mean it'll actually be fun at the table. Hell, are save-or die experiences ever fun?