Too Hard?

[Scribble]

Do you think this will result in a TPK?

Ok so party is in the swamp chasing after Wigglums (frog men) They're 5th level

They get to the wigglum base:

4 Skirmishers (level 5)

11 Minions

6 of the minions are manning 2 rock slingers and 1 mud slinger.

Rock slinger requires 2 standard actions to use (can be done by two people) does 3d6 damage and target is pushed 2 squares. (one shot per round)

Mud slinger also requires 2 actions (can be done by two people) and causes the target to be slowed until end of attackers next action. (one shot per round)

There is also a 9th level solo huge brute that doesn't move. (it's a tree basically)

the tree can shake loose minions from it's branches. (wigglums half eaten by maggots) on a recharge 5,6

It also has a smash attack which it can do two times as a standard that deals damage and pushes opponents 2 squares...

it has a ranged attack.

At bloodied it fires out 2 swarms of maggots... (level 3 maggot swarm)

There's also quicksand that acts as difficult terrain to move through. Anyone starting in the quicksand is attacked, and if hit slowed. If already slowed immobilized, if alread immobalized, helpless and then at the bottom... Can make an athletics check to escape 1 level...

Characters can gain control of the rock slingers and mud slinger.

Tree can't move and won't do anything but dislodge minions until directly attacked.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Do you think this will result in a TPK?

Ok so party is in the swamp chasing after Wigglums (frog men) They're 5th level

They get to the wigglum base:

4 Skirmishers (level 5)

11 Minions

6 of the minions are manning 2 rock slingers and 1 mud slinger.

Rock slinger requires 2 standard actions to use (can be done by two people) does 3d6 damage and target is pushed 2 squares. (one shot per round)

Mud slinger also requires 2 actions (can be done by two people) and causes the target to be slowed until end of attackers next action. (one shot per round)

There is also a 9th level solo huge brute that doesn't move. (it's a tree basically)

the tree can shake loose minions from it's branches. (wigglums half eaten by maggots) on a recharge 5,6

It also has a smash attack which it can do two times as a standard that deals damage and pushes opponents 2 squares...

it has a ranged attack.

At bloodied it fires out 2 swarms of maggots... (level 3 maggot swarm)

There's also quicksand that acts as difficult terrain to move through. Anyone starting in the quicksand is attacked, and if hit slowed. If already slowed immobilized, if alread immobalized, helpless and then at the bottom... Can make an athletics check to escape 1 level...

Characters can gain control of the rock slingers and mud slinger.

Tree can't move and won't do anything but dislodge minions until directly attacked.

The first part doesn't really seem problematic. My group, used to dealing with level+3 encounters as the standard battle, would probably walk through it. The only dicey part would be if the entire group got mad at the tree for making minions and decided to do something about it before thinning the original numbers. Also, how much minion control do the PC's pack?

 

[Scribble]

The first part doesn't really seem problematic. My group, used to dealing with level+3 encounters as the standard battle, would probably walk through it. The only dicey part would be if the entire group got mad at the tree for making minions and decided to do something about it before thinning the original numbers. Also, how much minion control do the PC's pack?

Well... I'm not sure right now... We're getting 2 new players tonight, and I'm not sure yet what they're bringing...

The group was two player with 2 characters each, now there will be 4 player 1 characetr each... For ease of not having two people sittin around doing nothing all night I will probably just "retcon" out the old two characters and in the two new ones... (Ohhh noooooo a 4e guy is retconning again ahhhhhh)

I'm thinking things will be ok... Specialy if they get ahold of the slingers...

 

[the Jester]

Sooo... you have:

1 9th level solo
4 level 5 skirmishers
11 level x minions
Artillery weapons (? not quite sure how to rate these in terms of encounter budget)
Difficult terrain

...against four level 5 pcs, two of whom are unknown quantities.

Looks ugly to me. Just against the 9th level solo alone, this would be a tough, tough encounter.

Do the pcs need to destroy the bad guys to win? What's the level of the minions? How many minions can the 9th level tree solo monster shake loose?

I suspect that this will be a "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!" encounter for the pcs at best, especially given that two of them are new to the campaign and won't have had a chance to synergize with their buddies yet. I would not be surprised to see a tpk if you play the monsters well.

 

[Starglim]

I think it's fine for 5th level. The minions on the rock slingers have an attack worthy of a PC, but they're still easy to kill. The party can defeat the encounter in detail, if they're smart, by killing the skirmishers before they approach the tree.

Can the maggoty Wigglums use the artillery? I would suggest not, so that the PCs have the chance to feel they accomplished something by silencing those.

Depending how well your players have built characters, the 9th level solo could be an exercise in frustration. Compare its defenses against your PCs' attack scores and if they need over a 15 to hit, I would consider dialling down those defenses.

 

[doctorhook]

All I can say is that given the number of minions the party could face, the difficulty of this encounter could be vastly altered by the type of Controller the party has. For example, if the party has a decent Wizard who has selected mainly Close and Area Attack Spells, they'll be in a much better position than say, a party who is relying upon a Dragonborn Warlord's breath weapon for crowd control. (This also applies to the Maggot Swarms, who are probably resistant to Melee and Ranged attacks by virtue of being swarms.)

The Level 9 Solo Brute is the other deciding factor in this encounter. Without this guy, the encounter would be Standard, or even Easy; with him, and depending upon the party's tactical competence, it could be a Difficult or even an Impossible encounter. My advice would be to level down the this guy to between Level 5 - 7, at your discretion, of course. This way, the encounter should still be challenging, but you run a much lower risk of a TPK.

 

[Roger]

The tree isn't a monster.

It's a hazard.



Cheers,
Roger

 

[doctorhook]

The tree isn't a monster.

It's a hazard.



Cheers,
Roger

Either way, there's not a ton of difference between the way the two are handled.

 

[Roger]

Either way, there's not a ton of difference between the way the two are handled.

Sure there is. A monster might chase you, or run away. A hazard won't.

The tree has no some sort of ranged attack, but we don't know anything about it. All the party needs to do is stand back and fill it with arrows, while occasionally crushing a minion or two.

 

[Scribble]

Sure there is. A monster might chase you, or run away. A hazard won't.

The tree has no some sort of ranged attack, but we don't know anything about it. All the party needs to do is stand back and fill it with arrows, while occasionally crushing a minion or two.

Well, the encounter started friday night, but I had to put it on "pause" for a bit. It got too late at night and they weren't close enough to being finished...

They're doing... ok so far.

Unfortunately they've had a few really bad dice rolls that let the minions continue peppering them with rocks/mud, and the ranger decided she'd head over to the tree and attack it directly... It's only launched out a few extra minions so far because she only actually directly attacked it once, and spent the rest of her time dealing with some archers...

They took out one rock slinger group so far, and a good number of the ground forces.

They only shot off the slinger they opened once, which was helpfull but only 1 PC was up there at the time, so decided an actuion every other round wasn't worth it.

The tree does have a ranged attack, but it's not that great. I just hope they "smarten up" a little... I think the problem is since we added two new people, they haven't started really thinking as a team yet.

I think once they kill their "good" powers they need to get up onto the slinger platforms and start using them..

We shall see!