Hey All, so the party in my home game is about to hit Epic Tier, most likely at the next session. Currently they are in (or rather under) the capital city in the main nation, and opposing armies have laid siege to said city. During the most recent session, wherein the party had gone underground to prevent the release of a bound primordial, the siege was able to break the outer defenses of the city, and as such, the fighting has spilled into the city's streets. So, what I am looking for now is some insight/assistance in running the next session.
The basics are that there are three sides to the battle. You have the good faction consisting the nation and its armies as well as any allies its been able to assemble (this is the side the PCs are on). Then there's an aberrant faction that is laying the groundwork for opening a massive portal from the Far Realm. Finally there is an undead faction that used to be allied with the aberrants, but has since broken off to pursue its own course. Suffice it to say, there's no love lost between any of the factions.
So, in short, here's my basic idea, but I want some assistance in coming up with some specifics:
I plan on running this as a massive skill challenge -- possibly even a skill challenge consisting of skill challenges (i.e. must succeed on 4 skill challenges before failing three in order to save the day).
Some thoughts for actions that the PCs could take include:
Inspire: Diplomacy or Intimidate check to rally the forces and thus boost the defense/attacks
Negotiate: Diplomacy or Bluff to convince members of an opposing faction that the third faction is the better target
Triage: Heal checks to assist injured civilians/soldiers
Attack: Use an attack power on enemy forces to try to drive them back
Strategize: History check to determine good tactics and relay those to the defenders
Barricade: Dungeoneering or possibly Thievery check to create makeshift defenses
My goal is to try to make it so that everyone in the party has something to contribute, which is one of the reasons why I put in the attack option. Because the party is damn near epic, I also planned on having the enemy targets primarily be swarms (i.e. zombie swarm, foulspawn swarm, etc.) and make the spacing more or less relative -- so a PC can wade up to a swarm of foulspawn and drive them back single handedly (potentially).
All that being said, what problems do you foresee, what other actions can you envision? Should any of the above be considered minor success? If I turn this into a Skill Challenge of Skill Challenges, I would make each individual challenge represent one stage of the battle. For example, the first challenge would be to get the defenders to stop panicking and regroup. Then they'd look to protect civilians, followed by trying to drive the invaders out, etc.
FWIW, the party consists of a warpriest of the Raven Queen, an Avenger/Covenant Agent of Erathis, a Vampire/Assassin, a Swordmage/Coronal Guard, a Ranger/Battlefield Archer (who has been separated from the party) and a Fighter (can't recall the PP off the top of my head).
As always, any help is much appreciated.
On a side note, the final encounter of the Paragon Tier will likely involve encountering, and defeating once and for all, one of the primary leaders of the Undead faction who has been harassing the party literally from day 1 of the campaign.
The basics are that there are three sides to the battle. You have the good faction consisting the nation and its armies as well as any allies its been able to assemble (this is the side the PCs are on). Then there's an aberrant faction that is laying the groundwork for opening a massive portal from the Far Realm. Finally there is an undead faction that used to be allied with the aberrants, but has since broken off to pursue its own course. Suffice it to say, there's no love lost between any of the factions.
So, in short, here's my basic idea, but I want some assistance in coming up with some specifics:
I plan on running this as a massive skill challenge -- possibly even a skill challenge consisting of skill challenges (i.e. must succeed on 4 skill challenges before failing three in order to save the day).
Some thoughts for actions that the PCs could take include:
Inspire: Diplomacy or Intimidate check to rally the forces and thus boost the defense/attacks
Negotiate: Diplomacy or Bluff to convince members of an opposing faction that the third faction is the better target
Triage: Heal checks to assist injured civilians/soldiers
Attack: Use an attack power on enemy forces to try to drive them back
Strategize: History check to determine good tactics and relay those to the defenders
Barricade: Dungeoneering or possibly Thievery check to create makeshift defenses
My goal is to try to make it so that everyone in the party has something to contribute, which is one of the reasons why I put in the attack option. Because the party is damn near epic, I also planned on having the enemy targets primarily be swarms (i.e. zombie swarm, foulspawn swarm, etc.) and make the spacing more or less relative -- so a PC can wade up to a swarm of foulspawn and drive them back single handedly (potentially).
All that being said, what problems do you foresee, what other actions can you envision? Should any of the above be considered minor success? If I turn this into a Skill Challenge of Skill Challenges, I would make each individual challenge represent one stage of the battle. For example, the first challenge would be to get the defenders to stop panicking and regroup. Then they'd look to protect civilians, followed by trying to drive the invaders out, etc.
FWIW, the party consists of a warpriest of the Raven Queen, an Avenger/Covenant Agent of Erathis, a Vampire/Assassin, a Swordmage/Coronal Guard, a Ranger/Battlefield Archer (who has been separated from the party) and a Fighter (can't recall the PP off the top of my head).
As always, any help is much appreciated.
On a side note, the final encounter of the Paragon Tier will likely involve encountering, and defeating once and for all, one of the primary leaders of the Undead faction who has been harassing the party literally from day 1 of the campaign.