What is it with these modules on the internet?

[KarinsDad]

Second week of the campaign. Brand new DM. He has a module he got off the internet for low level characters. Six first level PCs.

So, we fight a bunch of Fire Zombies (about 15 or 20 overall) in a tower. The Cleric makes 3 out of her 4 turns in 4 different battles, so we basically waltz through these guys, but not without taking our lumps.

My Illusionist has cast one Magic Missile in the fight where the Cleric missed her turn roll and hit a wounded Fire Zombie and took it out. He has a Shield spell and a Color Spray left. The Cleric is totally out of spells.

We get to the top of the tower with 2/3rds of the party seriously injured after the last battle there. The Illusionist and Cleric are uninjured, the most hit points anyone else has is 4.

We have over a dozen potions that we have found and a magical sword that has done quite well for us.

There is a hidden button (expected since we found a compartment we could not open).

When the Ranger unexpectedly pushes the button, out of the compartment comes a Flesh Golem who on the surprise round, knocks the Rogue unconscious. We are first level with one magical weapon in the group, 2/3rds of the group on the verge of unconsciousness and we have a Flesh Golem to deal with.

My Illusionist attempts to cast a Shield spell, but fails due to the fact that he is wearing Leather Armor. As it turns out, it is probably good that he failed since he was going to attempt to drag the Rogue downstairs and the Golem would have wiped through AC 21 like it was butter.

Practically every round, the Flesh Golem is taking someone out.

My Illusionist picks up the magic sword a few rounds later, throws it the next round, and does 10 points of damage to the Golem. Course, that is not enough, even when others set fire to it.

So, without a weapon that can kill the Golem, the Cleric spends most of her rounds doing First Aid on each downed PC. Within about 4 or 5 rounds, the Cleric and Illusionist are the only two left standing and we head down the stairs. The Golem does not follow.

One PC dies, the rest are seriously unconscious, but the Cleric stabilized them. Note: the DM made a mistake here and had the Golem do only 1D8+5 instead of 2D8+5. Otherwise, there would have been more deaths.


So, the Golem goes back to the compartment.

After preparing more oil and torches, we head back up to see if we can rescue anyone. We check out the room and figure the Golem is back in the compartment. So, we take our friends below, decide to not risk the potions on them, and set up an ambush for the Golem. Just the Illusionist and the Cleric with no spells.

There is a large telescope at the top of the tower, so we take the magic sword, tie it to the end of a quarterstaff and create a makeshift magical spear (i.e. reach weapon). My Illusionist then assists the Cleric on top of the telescope platform (8 feet off the ground, the same height as the Golem). We then push the button, set it on fire some more (we had built a small barricade to slow it up a little), and the Cleric gets to duke it out with it. Since she was so high up, it had trouble reaching her, but she could reach it with her longer weapon.

Needless to say, the Illusionist ran downstairs shortly after the battle started.

The DM has a type of fumble rule, so eventually, the Cleric could not hit the Golem (-4 weapon proficiency penalty), the Golem could not hit the Cleric (the DM was giving her 90% cover bonus to AC since she was standing back and the Golem had to jump up to try to reach her), until the Cleric fumbled and ended up slipping within range of the Golem. Bam. One unconscious Cleric.

It would be nice to say my Illusionist actually set it on fire and destroyed it (it only had a few hit points left), but he was out of oil. When the Golem went back into the compartment, he did manage to do a First Aid on the Cleric (although she just a moment earlier made her stabilization roll).

So, only one PC out of six died.


But, a Flesh Golem against a first level party? Who writes these things?

 

[grodog]

Yuck. Find out who the company was, maybe we can get some feedback to them....

 

[Fade]

How about NOT PUSHING THE BUTTON?

After you retreat from an obviously superior force, it immediately deactivates. Who says you have to kill it just because it's there?

 

[Willtell]

the dead fire, by dark portal games.

 

[Willtell]

the dead fire, by dark portal games.

 

[Percy]

Golem in 1st level adventure

Nice commentary on the adventure. But the responsibility for the thrashing the party received would have to lie with the DM. He should have considered the difficulty level more carefully beforehand, and/or substituted a tough but not undefeatable monster when the party got to the last encounter. The golem chucking people out of the room and into the moat (or whatever) might have gone some way to scaring the players but preserving the characters.

Of course, if the adventurers had been warned in advance by NPCs that the challenge at the tower was likely to be more than they might be able for RIGHT NOW, then maybe they're at fault for insisting on going there.

Generally, though, I think some non-lethal, incapacitation for a low-level party blundering through a more difficult adventure is a better "hint" than turning the PCs into wallpaper.

 

[Kichwas]

Dungeons should be full of things that way out class the PCs. But with ways to avoid them.

The 'ecology' of the dungeon should make sense to it's purpose and not to a bunch of ELs.

You then use the ELs to stage out what encounters the PCs will have easy ways to avoid and which will gun for them.

There's nothing wrong with a Pit Fiend or worse at the bottom of a first level module; as long as all the clues scream out 'don't go down there'.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

No, no, NO!

The fault lies enitrely with the players.

There is no rule that says characters will never encounter anything too tough for them. Who plays like that? Where's the verisimilitude? When a group of 1st level characters walks through the wilderness, do the griffons and dragons and giants instinctively avoid them? "Whoa, hold up there, Sam. They're only 1st level, that wouldn't be fair." "Right you are, Ralph. Better hide until some high-level folks come by-- we wouldn't want these young idiots to rush at us and assume we won't hit back."

Now, as for the golem: First off, as someone else said, Don't push the button! Once, a small mistake paid for with a comrade's life. The second time-- going back in with no spells and only two characters-- sheer folly.

But if you absolutely feel like you have to kill that golem-- and your plan seemed to be working-- why not rest, recover spells, heal up, and THEN try? The next day, or the day after? It's not like the golem was going anywhere.

A golem as an enemy is the epitome of "Computer-Controlled Monster." If you can outwit Baldur's Gate, you can outwit a golem. Apply the same techniques.


Wulf

 

[hong]

Dungeons should be full of things that way out class the PCs. But with ways to avoid them.

The 'ecology' of the dungeon should make sense to it's purpose and not to a bunch of ELs.

That just begs the question of how to ensure the dungeon's purpose matches the party's strength.

There's nothing wrong with a Pit Fiend or worse at the bottom of a first level module; as long as all the clues scream out 'don't go down there'.

Putting a pit fiend (or a flesh golem) in a first level module is dumb, for the following reasons:

1) if the PCs fight it, they will die.
2) if the PCs don't fight it, it's a bunch of wasted work for the DM.

Either way, it's pointless to have encounters that are mismatched to the strength of the party. If an encounter is so strong as to require the party not face it if they want to survive, then it might as well not have been there. Better to remove it altogether, and use the space saved for more meaningful content.

 

[LostSoul]

2) if the PCs don't fight it, it's a bunch of wasted work for the DM.

Unless the PCs encounter it again.