Should I punish my players with a high CR encounter

[rkarnes]

Great advice so far!

Allow the abyssal spawn to be released into the world.

Now, put yourself into the position of the spawn. What would it do? It has an above average intelligence (13), so it will not act totally random and stupidly, it will act to further its own plans. And depending on when and where, it will also act to preserve itself (due to the Con drain of sunlight).

Also, is this akin to a summoning or a gateing? I ask because if it's summoned, then it's only a representation of the creature that is brought forth, not the actual creature. Thus, any harm or death is not permament - just a nuisance because the actual creature is still in it's home plane. If it is a gate effect, then it's the actual creature that has been brought forth - so death is a very real issue for the creature.

So, with all that, the spawn is brought forth. It will rampage at night (to mitigate weaknesses, and leverage its darkvision), devouring and slaughtering all that it wills. Threats will be dealt with as quickly as possible, and without mercy. Those not considered a threat will be snacked upon at its leisure (thanks to its horrific appearance and poison). If it must, it will go about during the day, but it will make heavy use of its at will darkness ability.

Now, while it moves fairly quickly (40'), it will probably revel in the fact that it's been loosed to wreak havoc. It probably won't be picky. That means others can flee and escape. It also means that the PCs need to flee.

Once the spawn has devoured its current location's inhabitants, it will move on. This then allows for a very real, ongoing, threat to develop in the world. One that the PCs can train up to and plan for. They shouldn't try to face the thing at 4th level - and if they do, then they probably need to learn that there are fouler things in the world than orcs.

You have the makings for a memorable and very tense adventure line there. Go for it.

That is exactly what I have started to write up. The monster will be released, go to the village nearby, and began to trash the place. The sun will be rising just over the hill when it happens to be released. I will have a few rounds of darkness, a few rounds of dim light, a few rounds of normal light, and finally bright light (which does con damage).


I will have all the major NPCs involved in the fight, including a level 7 NPC wizard who lives in the village (The party seems to think he's so much more powerful than he is, and watching him get torn up will help clarify that even 'powerful' NPCs are quite human) and a cleric that the party rescued the previous game.

Since the rising sun will be a major factor in the fight, I will include the agency that released the monster. They will give the party an opportunity to kill something, and if they survive they will make excellent allies to the qlippoth.

BTW, the demon (who I realize is not an -actual- subtype demon) was gated, then imprisoned in a prismatic sphere. It took a week for the bad guys to figure out what order of spells to cast in order to bypass the sphere. I intended it to be a cute little puzzle for the players when they decided to release and kill the demon on their own. Here's the spell's description;
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/prismatic-sphere

 

[rkarnes]

Best answer thus far. After this point, come up with some evil plans for the demon to execute. Why did the cult summon him? Have stopping the evil plot to mitigate the damage be the rest of the campaign. This is a great opportunity to have the demon "disappear" and return at the end of an evil plot they are foiling around the appropriate level.

As for what the demon does after being released, I have to sheepishly admit I do not know. I have been collecting quite a little menagerie of BBEG to be honest, since there are several diffuse plot elements that have been seeded. I want to give some denouement for the current set of achievements before I go and give them another nemesis.

There is a -lot- there, though.

EDIT: and as for why he was released; an imp has been whispering in the ears of the group of ex-patriots who released them, so they attacked the temple and released him because they wanted to gain power in exchange and cause a little damage to the land they despise. It's a whole thing. I wanted the ex-patriots to be clearly evil, but still be a little sympathetic, and help explain the complex social atmosphere of the campaign world. Now that they actually accomplished what they set out to do, I think I should increase their role (assuming any of them survive).

 

[rkarnes]

Now they are faced with the first problem of making sure the kids do get to safety and then dealing with the demon.

Actually, the group is already familiar with some of the children and family in the village. That and the fact that I have already established that saving people earns bonus XP has gone a long way to encourage my players to save NPCs when they can. That's my way of trying to encourage them to be heroes, which is lame, I know, but I am going to turn this group of cut-throats and cowards yet!

I will have a reasonable amount of NPC pawns to represent the common residents of the town, some of which will hide, some will run, and some will fight. If they get eaten, no harm, no foul; it's a serious biznits demons is.

It will give the demon something to do other than cream my party and it might illicit a goose-bumb moment of bravery!

 

[rkarnes]

Sorry about posting so many times in a row. I don't really know message board decorum. I wanted to show how I was dividing up the action and the list of NPCs I'll have in the encounter. Anyone have any tips on managing this many NPCs?

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

I'd give my Players a caveat, that they can try to attack it, but that I wasn't going to pull any punches and as it stands they will probably TPK if they run in guns blazing. You give them the warning up front and let them decide what to do, if they can think of something outside the box, then that's awesome.

If I were doing it I'd release it in all its glory. I wouldn't hold back on trying to scale him. They know at this point that they don't "have" to go against it, just like they don't have to try to seek out and destroy a god or ancient dragon. They know better than that.

Part of the fun of this game is the challenge - thinking, luck, and character abilities - if you back down and scale this thing down to where they can defeat it easily then you are doing yourself and your players a disservice in my opinion.

As BriarMonkey said, this could be the making of an epic adventure for your campaign, it could span most of the game as they try to figure out how to manipulate, contain, or destroy the demon and the cultists.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

To make combat go faster:
1) Do your Peasants as a "mob" and all attack during the same initiative
2) Do your more powerful Helping NPCs as another mob to act at the same initiative
3) Have your PCs roll damage and hit dice together.
4) Impose time limits where your PCs need to act within 30-60 seconds or they go into delay and the next in order goes in front of them.

 

[Squire James]

Have the demon "set up shop" somewhere and start sending little abyssal spawn all over the place. The spawn are tough but beatable by the current PC's, and will give them SOME sense of accomplishment before it becomes obvious they need to withdraw. Hang a few abyssal versions of "under new management" signs outside that village.

Now, the main creature plays with his food a lot, so he will not expand and rampage as much as the PC's might think. Then you can stage an adventure or two to track down some demon-slaying equipment, and then it might not be quite so insurmountable.

You'd be surprised how good PC's get at killing things that they ought not be able to kill! I'm sure my DM in a 1e game 20 years ago didn't expect us to ambush an army of 100+ orcs on the way to their lair (the DM told us later he expected us to follow them to their lair and then take them out 10 or 20 at a time). The remaining 6 orcs fled in terror (okay, the caravan with fire oil helped...), and the PC's were not even scratched!

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Release the demon. Show no mercy. You've warned them this thing is out of their league, which is why they needed to stop it from being summoned in the first place. Warn them again, and then let them choose whether to run or die.

On the other hand, if they're beneath this thing's notice, there's no reason for it to single them out. Have it 'waste' attacks on harmless NPCs; if anything, this hurts worse than hitting the PCs. Have it only 'mostly' destroy the town and enslave the survivors, so the PCs still have someone to rescue. Just... less people to rescue. And one or two less every day it takes them to figure something out.

Every day it's in control of the town, its influence spreads.

Failure doesn't have to mean TPK, but it should definitely mean that the world becomes a worse place.

 

[rkarnes]

Show no mercy. You've warned them this thing is out of their league, which is why they needed to stop it from being summoned in the first place.

I may have not done a good job expressing the necessity for speed. I have told them that a powerful demon is there, and that bad guys are trying to release it, but I feel like I have not really rammed home the fact that the demon is a problem, and I never expressed a definite timeline. I wanted the party to make their own decisions, so most NPCs said "Well, on one hand, they are trying to release a demon, but on the other hand; if they were able to release it they would have done it by now. They've been down in that dungeon for days now! Stop them quick, but if you need to rest first, I am not in a position to tell you to do otherwise... brave heroes."

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

This would be a good opportunity to introduce them to the concept that that the campaign world keeps moving regardless of whether or not they are.