Lord Zardoz
Explorer
Previous thread is here:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=222733
Ok, my players managed to surprise me a few ways here. The moral of todays story is that 9th level Player Characters are surprisingly durable.
The players needed to cover about 82 miles to get to Brindol / Oden before the Red hand attacked. Given the flying mounts from act 2, they were able to cover this distance in time. They did have some difficulty though, since Wyrmlord Koth managed to finally locate them, and arranged for the players to be hounded on the way there.
I worked out a system based loosely off of what i had read about 4th edition skill challenges. They had to perform about 32 hours of travel within 2 days, and they had to make skill checks to avoid encounters along the way. Any skill they could justify would work, and a successful check gained them 2 hours. A failure meant complications. The same person using the same skill twice would gain a -2 cumulative penalty, but they could roll for the party, and a night of rest would negate the penalties.
- Easy check of DC 12: Success = 2 hours. Failure = No progress and a difficult fight.
- Normal check of DC 15: Success = Gain 2 hours. Failure = a fight, but still make 2 hours progress.
- Hard check of DC 18. Success = 4 hours. Failure = A fight, only make 2 hours of progress
The players opted to make mostly hard checks. They ended up in 3 fights in the first day, against 6 Sivak draconians, then Ozzyrandion (who survived act 1), and then 3 Worg riders + 3 Barghests. They avoided another fight that would have pitted them against Wyrmlord Koth on the day after that, because Koth landed to prebuff, but the playres managed to out ride him to escape.
Then the players met up with some human soldiers who were outside of Brindol / Oden and behind enemy lines. They concocted a plan to get into the city. The plan was to use a bunch of Summon Monster spells to get 7 Celestial Bison to attack from the North West as a diversion. They would then to charge in themselves from the west creating a 2nd diversion, allowing the human soldiers to breach the lines and get into the city.
This kicked off a running battle where they faced a 5 waves of opponents before making it to the gates.
1) 10 Hobgoblin regulars (13 hp)
2) 22 Hobgoblin Regulars + 2 Bozak Draconians (5th Level Sorcerers)
3) 12 Hobgoblin Fodder (6 Hp) + 4 Ogres
4) 4 Sivak and 2 Manticores
5) 2 Ghost Blood, 2 Ettins, and 2 Bozak
Between some Greater Invisibility spells, and some AC prebuffs by the cleric, they managed to fight their way to the gate, with only the ranger being taken to below 0 Hp. They also made good time. If they had taken much longer, they would have then needed to get past the Red Dragon + Massed Area fire from archers.
I do not think I have ever run quite so many combats in one day. Happily, things managed to move pretty quickly during the attack to penetrate the army encircling Brindol / Oden. The biggest help they had was their choice to just out ride Koth's pursuit rather than stand and fight. That left the spell casters with a large quantity of blasting spells.
I expect to run the Battle of Brindol in 2 weeks.
END COMMUNICATION
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=222733
Ok, my players managed to surprise me a few ways here. The moral of todays story is that 9th level Player Characters are surprisingly durable.
The players needed to cover about 82 miles to get to Brindol / Oden before the Red hand attacked. Given the flying mounts from act 2, they were able to cover this distance in time. They did have some difficulty though, since Wyrmlord Koth managed to finally locate them, and arranged for the players to be hounded on the way there.
I worked out a system based loosely off of what i had read about 4th edition skill challenges. They had to perform about 32 hours of travel within 2 days, and they had to make skill checks to avoid encounters along the way. Any skill they could justify would work, and a successful check gained them 2 hours. A failure meant complications. The same person using the same skill twice would gain a -2 cumulative penalty, but they could roll for the party, and a night of rest would negate the penalties.
- Easy check of DC 12: Success = 2 hours. Failure = No progress and a difficult fight.
- Normal check of DC 15: Success = Gain 2 hours. Failure = a fight, but still make 2 hours progress.
- Hard check of DC 18. Success = 4 hours. Failure = A fight, only make 2 hours of progress
The players opted to make mostly hard checks. They ended up in 3 fights in the first day, against 6 Sivak draconians, then Ozzyrandion (who survived act 1), and then 3 Worg riders + 3 Barghests. They avoided another fight that would have pitted them against Wyrmlord Koth on the day after that, because Koth landed to prebuff, but the playres managed to out ride him to escape.
Then the players met up with some human soldiers who were outside of Brindol / Oden and behind enemy lines. They concocted a plan to get into the city. The plan was to use a bunch of Summon Monster spells to get 7 Celestial Bison to attack from the North West as a diversion. They would then to charge in themselves from the west creating a 2nd diversion, allowing the human soldiers to breach the lines and get into the city.
This kicked off a running battle where they faced a 5 waves of opponents before making it to the gates.
1) 10 Hobgoblin regulars (13 hp)
2) 22 Hobgoblin Regulars + 2 Bozak Draconians (5th Level Sorcerers)
3) 12 Hobgoblin Fodder (6 Hp) + 4 Ogres
4) 4 Sivak and 2 Manticores
5) 2 Ghost Blood, 2 Ettins, and 2 Bozak
Between some Greater Invisibility spells, and some AC prebuffs by the cleric, they managed to fight their way to the gate, with only the ranger being taken to below 0 Hp. They also made good time. If they had taken much longer, they would have then needed to get past the Red Dragon + Massed Area fire from archers.
I do not think I have ever run quite so many combats in one day. Happily, things managed to move pretty quickly during the attack to penetrate the army encircling Brindol / Oden. The biggest help they had was their choice to just out ride Koth's pursuit rather than stand and fight. That left the spell casters with a large quantity of blasting spells.
I expect to run the Battle of Brindol in 2 weeks.
END COMMUNICATION
