My players are in a wee bit of trouble...

[KarinsDad]

I dunno, as a player I'd probably rather nail the guy in 3 hectic rounds than grind through 10-12, which could be a couple hours of play.

Well duh!

But, 3 rounds isn't a challenge and it won't feel satisfying. Players do 3 rounds all of the time. If they wipe him out in 3 rounds, they'll barely remember the fight in 6 months. 10 to 12 hectic rounds with the players having to stay on their toes all of the time? They'll remember that fight for years.

 

[Piratecat]

But, Reymus should be able to figure this out, and start killing off all the low-level allies who are providing the Aid Another bonuses.
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What are the effects of the hurricane? Poor visibility (concealment)? Additional penalties to ranged attacks using projectile weapons?
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Are there any wacky rituals the PCs could use? They have 2 hours. They don't necessarily have to fight Reymus, just prevent him from leaving while they cast their ritual.

I actually like that. As long as there are a whole lot of dead Guardsmen on the ground at the end of the fight, it's not awful if they aren't all PCs. For those of you who have read the book "Legend," I'm picturing Reymus as an evil version of Druss. The PCs are down a bunch of dailies due to an earlier tough fight (lvl 15 solo + lvl 14 elite + two lvl 13s), so they'll be relying more on encounter powers and p. 42's "do something cool" maneuvers.

I think the hurricane will negate missile fire (no big deal, as the PCs aren't arrow users) and any forced movement will be extended two squares in the direction of downwind. Any movement at all upwind will likewise be shortened. This will help the fight slowly move along the roof of the tower.

And while rituals would probably help, we ended last game with the confrontation and rolling initiative. Too late for that!

 

[ashockney]

PCat, 4e is a game of attrition. Make it EVIDENT and scary that they will NOT win this war of attrition under any circumstances.

One way to do that would be - you can't hit me at all. Not very fun, though. I get it.

Another way to do it would be to turn the actions of the party to your advantage. Make his "amazing fighting skills" allow him to "counterattack" if he's attacked. So, sure, you can swing at him, but you're NOT "likely" to hit. When you do, you'll do 20 damage. If you attack, he'll counter-attack, and is very likely to hit, and deal significantly more damage - 30 - 45 a hit, with more dazing/knockdown effects.

I also agree that it would be interesting to play things up like mobility to have him take advantage of the party's weakness. I'm picturing him blowing past the "defenders" and going to the squishy casters in the back, bloodying them in one strike and then threatening the party to stand down or he'll kill them. Force them to make some decisions, and the challenge may be how to get out alive.

Finally, your last post has made one thing abundantly clear. WHY bother challenging him directly once you see his abilities? He's there for the eggs. Destroy them, and band together to defend yourselves. Sure he could likely systematically kill you all, but 30 or 40 on 1, and he'll have no reason to stay to fight. Why take the risk...

 

[Brainwatch]

One question is: Do you want your PCs to defeat the bad guy now? If they do, what next? If your campaign is setup for this guy to be around for a few more levels then finding away to let him escape without a TPK should be a key.

Also, unless the PCs know about those eggs, this sounds like a lose-lose situation. Either the PC face this guy and die (loosing) or they defeat him, but the eggs hatch (PCs still loose).

Sadly, he's sort of behind it. He's ushering in psychic monstrosities that live in mirror reflections and which are possessing people. The tower roof is full of egg sacks (albeit ones that can only be seen through a mirror), and Reymus is trying to buy a little time for them to hatch. It's not critical to his plan, though, and he can write them off if worse comes to worse. Still, he firmly believes that he always wins. Always. It's a flaw.

If you want the bad guy to escape without wiping the PC, you given yourself an out here already. First, you need to find away to make the PCs, and their 30 allies seem dangerous to the bad guy. Perhaps one of their new allies has a ritual that will let them harness some of the power of the hurricane to their benefit.

SO the PCs and allies confront him on the roof. Some monologing ensues where each side says how powerful they are blah blah blah. The bad guy tosses a mirror to a PC allowing them to see thre eggs. then gives them a choice: "Fight me now, and these eggs will hatch before you can defeat me. And what's in those eggs will wipe you and this city out. Or let me go and deal with the eggs before they hatch."

Yes, the eggs still do have 2 hours, but nobody has to know the bad guy is lying.

If they fight him, you're back to where you started, but with a way to make the fight not a TPK, if they let him go, your bad guy lives for another day, and the PC have another reason to hate him.

And if they let him go, then figure out the eggs weren't just about to hatch, so they did have time to kill him and take care of the eggs, they will hate him even more (and maybe you too).

 

[Will Doyle]

Perhaps prepare two or three battlemaps to represent the tower's top floors, and give Reymus some recharge powers that literally punch them through the floor onto a lower level. If your tower's too sturdy for that, have something explode at the start to weaken the foundations.

Then stick a load of hazards and single-use terrain in there:

• Windows that can be opened, pushing creatures caught in their blast.
• Squares of fire - aside from causing damage, roll a save for these at the end of each round to see if they spread, or even collapse through to the level below.
• Weak floors that only collapse if creature are forced onto them.
• Pillars that can be collapsed, bringing down sections of the floor above.
• Invisible eggs - perhaps damaging these could pull Reymus towards them if he's in range?

The idea being that the PCs will try to use the terrain against him, rather than relying on their own attacks.

 

[Stalker0]

I think the aid another rule suggested will help you out here.

With enough allies you should get enough of an accuracy boost that your players will hit. That takes care of the boredom. Further, unless the guy has infinite area attacks, those allies should soak a good bit of damage.

That has given the players enough to make the fight interesting, and give them enough time to run away if they decide to. Past that, as you said, this is not a fight they are supposed to win. Let them find a way from here, or run, or die a heroic death.

 

[keterys]

And, really, if they can find a way to fling him off the roof, they may be in luck.

A task that _might_ be easier if he's a high level standard than an elite or solo of more appropriate level (due to getting a save to not be tossed, depending on whether they have any automatic forced movement)

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Perhaps prepare two or three battlemaps to represent the tower's top floors, and give Reymus some recharge powers that literally punch them through the floor onto a lower level. If your tower's too sturdy for that, have something explode at the start to weaken the foundations.

The idea being that the PCs will try to use the terrain against him, rather than relying on their own attacks.

Blast! "Must spread XP around..." This sounds like a concept that would make a very fun encounter.

 

[Unwise]

I think that the issue here revolves around having the NPC statted out as a fighter. That makes it very hard indeed to judge the power levels involved.

A level 22 standard monster is a level 14 Solo monster using the standard monster progression. I would make him a solo mob, then he will be on par as a challenging encounter for the PCs.

Also, how low level are the NPCs? Level 6 standard = lvl 10 minion = about level 14 swarm. I would say that a group of 30 NPCs equates to at least two rather fearsome swarms. If anything the enouncounter looks too easy if it is against just the one solo guy.

 

[KidSnide]

I think that the issue here revolves around having the NPC statted out as a fighter. That makes it very hard indeed to judge the power levels involved.

A level 22 standard monster is a level 14 Solo monster using the standard monster progression. I would make him a solo mob, then he will be on par as a challenging encounter for the PCs.

That's correct, but he's stated out as a PC fighter, not an NPC fighter. PCs are more powerful than standard monsters of the same level. A group of PCs are supposed to be able to reliably defeat the same number of standard monsters of the same level.

-KS