Was I asking too much?

[radferth]

Whenever I have used a barghest against my players, they always wipe the floor with him and his goblin stooges. These have ususally been fighter heavy parties, however. Without someone to hold the line against the group your party faced, they would have a tough time against the barghest and goblins, any one or two of which would be able to greatly hurt your party in melee. With the party you described, I would think they should immediately run any time their clever plan doesn't work, as they have no one to suck up melee damage.

 

[VirgilCaine]

Putting all the monsters together screwed this stealthy, ambushy party...

...why fight these guys at that point anyway? Shouldn't the party keep the artifact away from these guys?

 

[Yair]

aside from various bits of math saying the encounter was going to be hard/deadly, there's another thing to consider:

why are a rogue, bard, and wizard facing combat encounters? ...

All true. But for some reason, they don't tend to be subtle. I ALWAYS leave room for diplomacy/intrigue/avoidance, and they sometimes take it, but usually they don't.
They had means and opportunity to avoid/circumvent this encounter, to resolve the matter politically, and so on.
They tend tend to function well (i.e. sneakily) in city adventures, but not in "dungeon locations". Oh well.

 

[sfedi]

Yes, you asked too much,

But the players could have played better.

 

[D-rock]

When your calculating challenges for your party it can be easy to forget how certain types of characters effect the game. A more obvious example of this is fighting incorporeal undead without a cleric or a spellcaster. In most encounters I run, the big tank plays a big role in just providing cover for the others and absorbing damage.(he's sort of underappreciated really) If they had one, and where a level or two higher they would of had a lot better chance to pull through that.

 

[der_kluge]

I think the problem was the rouge in the party. I think you've over-estimated the EL of a rouge. I think if you replaced it with a rogue, you'd have been better off.

 

[lonesoldier]

I think the problem was the rouge in the party. I think you've over-estimated the EL of a rouge. I think if you replaced it with a rogue, you'd have been better off.

A rouge EL depends on circumstance. A crippling sneak attack first turn can severly hamper your chance to come out alive.

 

[der_kluge]

A rouge EL depends on circumstance. A crippling sneak attack first turn can severly hamper your chance to come out alive.

Obviously, the subtle spelling difference is lost on you.

 

[Len]

Obviously, the subtle spelling difference is lost on you.

I assumed that Yair meant a character wearing makeup, i.e. a woman or a bard.

 

[domino]

Or an elf.