PotA - speed up needed

[Nailen]

Hi all,
Appreciate they most moved on from PotA a while back, but I've been running my group through it for what feels like ages. Campaign fatigue is beginning to set in with player and DM alike so I'm pondering ways to speed it up.

Current situation is that the air and water temples are clear and Aerisi is dead. They are pretty much done with the earth temple and will got 10th level when they do.

My thoughts are to have an NPC encourage them down into the Fane rather than the fire temple, and have them meet Gar Shatterkeel.
With him down, the PC who is attuned to windvane gets a vision/dream of Marlos and Vanifer arguing and facing off. One dies and the other goes to complete the summoning.

With the party at 11th level I think Imix and Ogremoch will be way too powerful for them. So, I am thinking of ways it could be a bit more balanced but still a 'deadly' encounter.
I could tone down Ogremoch - reduce AC and HP and attack bonuses etc to something more like CR 16. Possibly reduce damage dealt as well.
Similar with Imix, and then I remembered that they have a water orb of destruction that they saved from one of the scripted cult attacks. If that was set off in the Weeping Collossus it could be epic..!! A lot of steam (everything obscured) but I think Imix could take damage or some other negative effect from that much water...
I could also add some cool weaponry (oathbow for example) or give them access to a massive stash of potions..
Also wondering on how to make sure they work out that the elemental weapon needs to hit/attack/be thrown through the portal to dismiss the Prince. I thought the weapon and portal could either glow the same colour or have some faint light connection...
If anyone had read this far, I'd love to hear what you think....
Cheers!

 

[dave2008]

Sorry I haven't run the adventure, but I wouldn't recommend making the Princes weaker. Depending on how many PCs you have and their optimization / player skill a party of 11th lvl PCs can probably take one of the Princes.

FYI, there is a whole thread on enhancing PotA. You can look at here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?466332-Enhancing-quot-Princes-of-the-Apocalypse-quot-(Practical-stuff-to-try-at-your-table!)

 

[Nailen]

There are 5 in the party.
Elf Monk, Dwarf fighter, elf/half elf ranger (can't remember!), Gnome rogue/wizard and elf druid/barbarian.
The druid/barbarian is looking sub optimal.. The fighter, monk and ranger dish out a ton of damage each round, only one at range though, which wouldn't be good against Imix.

 

[LordEntrails]

Wratched up the tension. Start having chaos happening throughout the valley. When they go into towns, rumors and stories of tragedies. When they are in the wilderness, wild untamed elementals can be seen, the destruction of x leaving its marks upon the land.

If they have befriended any NPC's, the tales of woe get back to them that someone has been kidnapped, or killed or their farm destroyed. Get them emotionally involved.

Don't make them do any more sidequests. When they get to the last stronghold, it's abandoned and they just have clear the temple. Group the enemies up a little, so it's not a bunch of small fights, but rather a few larger ones. When the fights are going in the party's favor, have the cultists surrender or flee. After all, the stories they have heard of the avenging party by this time must be terrifying.

By seeing consequences and results, they will no longer feel like they are slogging through fight after fight or dungeon after dungeon.

 

[S'mon]

d/p

 

[S'mon]

I'm about to start running PoTA (bit late!) - my group will only be playing 1/4 weeks for about 5 hours, so I definitely don't want them to have to clear every bit of every level. I would definitely want the Princes to be super tough to impossible - if anything they seem a bit underpowered to me. This will be a sequel to my 4e Loudwater campaign, in which Ogremoch's avatar Stonefang alone was Epic tier; I think 4e has him around CR 33-34 Solo which would be around CR 24 in 5e I reckon. Maybe higher since CR 24 in 5e is an ancient red dragon, which is CR 30 in 4e.

 

[5ekyu]

Rule I always follow is "Evil does not play well with others." Most of the cults iirc have issues with at least one other. As things start looking bad esp with two of four down, seems like at least one elemental cult goes to plan B(etrayal) and starts covering its tracks, calling in markers and getting set to be the last elemental power standing.

If that means selling out the third to cut deal with rulers and meddlesome heroes, well, gosh darn, too bad we are not evil... oh wait WE ARE EVIL.

Apocalypse averted, heroes heroic and evil slips into the shadows to plot again.

 

[dave2008]

I'm about to start running PoTA (bit late!) - my group will only be playing 1/4 weeks for about 5 hours, so I definitely don't want them to have to clear every bit of every level. I would definitely want the Princes to be super tough to impossible - if anything they seem a bit underpowered to me. This will be a sequel to my 4e Loudwater campaign, in which Ogremoch's avatar Stonefang alone was Epic tier; I think 4e has him around CR 33-34 Solo which would be around CR 24 in 5e I reckon. Maybe higher since CR 24 in 5e is an ancient red dragon, which is CR 30 in 4e.

FYI, I have made tougher versions of the Princes here: 5e Epic Updates - Elementals

 

[dave2008]

There are 5 in the party.
Elf Monk, Dwarf fighter, elf/half elf ranger (can't remember!), Gnome rogue/wizard and elf druid/barbarian.
The druid/barbarian is looking sub optimal.. The fighter, monk and ranger dish out a ton of damage each round, only one at range though, which wouldn't be good against Imix.

Ok, with 5 PCs I think you should probably be just fine against Imix (he is only CR 19) if the group is prepared. Ogremoch might be a bit tougher. However, you know your group the best. I would take @LordEntrails suggestion and then don't change anything with the Princes themselves.

 

[MechaPilot]

One of the easiest ways to speed up PotA is to have one of the cults attack their opposite. The earth and air cults despise each other, so do the fire and water cults.

Frankly, the air cult is the weakest. If your party is well into the adventure and hasn't crushed them yet, have one of the other cults wipe out the air cult. Or, if your group is on the weaker side, have either the fire or earth cult be destroyed by one or more of the other cults.

Another way to speed this up is to remove one layer of dungeons. Each cult has their facade dungeon (a tower, a keep, etc) in the hills, and then their temple of elemental evil dungeon below the hills. Maybe some of the cults are still using their facade dungeon as a base to excavate their part of the temple. Doing this will require moving the cult leader to the facade dungeon, but relatively little else.