Low-level mooks vs. 8th & 9th level PCs

[carborundum]

In our Savage Tide game the party have finally reached Farshore. For non-ST folks, the party have finally reached the town they will be based in for the next few months. It's a small outpost on the Isle of Dread, and when they arrive it's under attack by pirates. The party are 8th and 9th level and the adventure calls for opponents who are Fighter 1/ Rogue 1.

With party ACs in the 20s, their +4 melee attacks are not going to cut it, but having a raiding party of level 5 duskblades or whatever seems extreme.

How would you make the encounter challenging?
Pump up the bad guys levels anyway?
Add spellcasters?
Add summoned creatures?
Funky tactics?

I've considered tripping, aid other actions etc but even closing with the party will be tricky for these guys. Should I just rewrite it as an attack by elite raiders or do you have other suggestions? What would a 'reasonable' attack force consisit of in your game when the party are tweaked and full of splatbook/ Spell Compendium/ Magic Item Compendium goodies?

 

[akbearfoot]

sounds like you already know what to do...the players will probably not have much fun during a drug out fight with a bunch of tripe...LV2 npcs arent even worth experience for a lv 9.


Just put in a DM designed encounter....an elite squad of pirates, or maybe the pirates paid off a group of Kuo Toa or aquatic trolls or something to help in the attack. They can arrive just as the PCs do, and the wimpy little CR2 pirates can break and run when they see what happened to their big guns. That way they get to enjoy savng the town, without having to spend 40 rounds in combat rolling for non-1s.

 

[roguerouge]

The pirates should attack Farshore residents, not the party. The drama comes from having to save people before they're killed. Encourage the party to split up by hearing several different areas of need. Have four small maps and run them all simultaneously. But make it fast and cinematic. A 9th level character, on their own, is like a party 3-4 levels below their level. A handful of mooks becomes an interesting encounter, especially if they're on the clock.

 

[carborundum]

Ooooh - aquatic trolls - I like it!

The problem with the adventure at the minute is that they sail a lot and every encounter has them at full power. Since we only get to play every 2 weeks, it will take a month to run a series of debilitating encounters before getting to a 'big' fight. We've got used to having 2 small encounters one week and a serious fight the next. Chapter-ending end-battles take two sessions.

Tsss, that's what happens when everyone has a family. We can do 'realistic' fights or we can have semi-ridiculous ones where the place would be wiped out if the PCs hadn't happened to arrive just in time.

More ideas please!

EDIT: Was busy typing when roguerouge posted. Splitting them up and having each simultaneously save folk is great! Once each struggles through their encounter, I can round the night off with the reinforcements

 

[Starbuck_II]

In our Savage Tide game the party have finally reached Farshore. For non-ST folks, the party have finally reached the town they will be based in for the next few months. It's a small outpost on the Isle of Dread, and when they arrive it's under attack by pirates. The party are 8th and 9th level and the adventure calls for opponents who are Fighter 1/ Rogue 1.

With party ACs in the 20s, their +4 melee attacks are not going to cut it, but having a raiding party of level 5 duskblades or whatever seems extreme.

How would you make the encounter challenging?
Pump up the bad guys levels anyway?
Add spellcasters?
Add summoned creatures?
Funky tactics?

I've considered tripping, aid other actions etc but even closing with the party will be tricky for these guys. Should I just rewrite it as an attack by elite raiders or do you have other suggestions? What would a 'reasonable' attack force consisit of in your game when the party are tweaked and full of splatbook/ Spell Compendium/ Magic Item Compendium goodies?

What books are we allowed to use for opponents?

Why only Fighter 1/Rogues 1? How many?
You could have them throw alchemy items: say each has 10 Acid, Fire, Tanglefoot bags, etc.
Maybe one or two has Grease Wands or a couple scrolls of Grease (denies dex because few people have 5 ranks in balance)

Assuming they find a way to deny dex (like above): they could hit Touch AC and still deal sneak attack.

But if you don't want them all doing that.

Have a a couple Level 2 Warlocks (they will spam Summom Swarm every round, don't concentrate, just keep using it again: otherwise swarm is uncontrollable).
Invocations: Summon Swarm and Spider Climb so both can climb masts, etc and not be attacked by melee attacks.

Add in a couple Fighter 1/Rogue 1's (using the throwing alchemy idea)

And then a few Level 3 Binders (Tome of Magic) bound to Rovone: they can auto hit dealing 1d6 damage up to 30 feet away (10 ft per Binder level): this also activates a Ranged Bull Rush at -2 (will rarely work except against weak people), but will make them feel it.

That will a difficult encounter due to the many environment issues: Binders can knock people in water if unlucky, Swarms auto hit + Fiort saves for bleeding, etc, and all the rogues throwing stuff at them.

 

[Talonne Hauk]

Here's what I'd do. As someone stated above, split the party up. But don't play the encounters simultaneously. Instead, pit each pc against a party of pirates run by the other players (Along with maybe a couple of monsters run by yourself). This gives each pc a moment to shine, and keeps the other players engaged.
Because the pirates are being played by the pcs, I'd put in a spellcaster or two, and bump them a level as well.

 

[carborundum]

Here's what I'd do. As someone stated above, split the party up. But don't play the encounters simultaneously. Instead, pit each pc against a party of pirates run by the other players (Along with maybe a couple of monsters run by yourself). This gives each pc a moment to shine, and keeps the other players engaged.
Because the pirates are being played by the pcs, I'd put in a spellcaster or two, and bump them a level as well.

Oh.. that would be fun! Thank you!