What the hell happened? RHoD (spoilers)

[klofft]

My players are still chugging through the RHoD. At this point, it is expected that they would be a party of 4 8th lvl characters. My party is 6 avg. 7th level characters.

In the Ghostlord's lair, they met the lich while attacking its tree in the Shrine of Blight. They were dutifully scared of the thing, but had resolved themselves to destroying him. I, in turn, in my mind had resolved to having to kill them all.

But it didn't happen. They destroyed him. And with relative ease. What happened? What did I miss on this lich's sheet that made a lone spellcaster supposedly that scary against a whole party?

1st round - Not having been hurt yet, the lich just touched one of the human clerics. The cleric made his saves.

2nd round - The party, having thrown some heavy firepower at the thing (reduced to about 1/2 HP), it moved into the room to blightfire everyone. It did decent damage, but not killing damage.

It never got a 3rd round.

What's missing here? It's fear effect only works on 5 HD or less creatures. It had no resistances to fire (my party's preferred energy type) and few strong defensive spells prepared (and a limited number of actions to cast with anyway). The party made it clear that they had the phylactery, so I didn't think it appropriate that he run (plus his personality suggested to me that he would be confident that he could destroy all these people - when that proved not to be the case, he never got a chance to retreat).

Thoughts?
C

 

[Quartz]

I don't have the module, so I can't give specifics, but shouldn't it have had a few protective spells up before the start of combat?

 

[klofft]

That is true, I did forget that. However, looking over his prepared spells, the only defensive buff he had was Resist Energy. Presuming he cast that, and prudently chose fire (as adventurers are fond of fireballs, for instance), at most that would have granted him one more round. Another blightfire on everyone would have done decent damage again, but still would have killed no one.

The evoker doing the most damage to him also had Protection from Energy (Fire) up. It would make sense for the lich to target him (as he appeared to be the biggest single threat). But all the lich's big attacks would have done little or nothing. (He is also an elf, so he is immune to the paralysis of his touch).

 

[Shazman]

Lone BBEG's shouldn't fight party's by themselves, unless they are a dragon or powerful outsider. The ghostlord should have been buffed via scrolls and potions. If he didn't have them, you should have given him a few. I believe he is also supposed to have at least 2 bonedrinkers with him. That would have evened the odds a bit. Anyway, it's no big deal. The party will need all of the exp and equipment they got from him for the final stages of the module. The Ghostlord might have been a pushover, but there are some battles coming that will make them cry.

 

[DragonLancer]

Klofft, welcome to why the CR and EL system (and all that goes with it) doesn't work. Your party breezed it, while another group might have had trouble with it. The important thing to ask is did your players have fun? Sure, the fight only lastd two rounds but was there a big smile when the opponent went down?

 

[klofft]

Oh, the party did have fun, and I'm totally cool with that. They were scared, they fought, they persevered, and they cheered when they won. That was all good. But I confessed that I thought he was a bit easy, and they agreed, and I was just wondering what happened.

Shazman, there is nothing in the adventure as written that says he's accompanied by bonedrinkers and it wasn't my intuition to ADD buffing scrolls or potions when I was convinced he was going to mop the floor with them! But you are right; they've let one Wyrmlord and one dragon get away so far, so the end of Brindol will be very tough on them.

 

[talien]

1st round - Not having been hurt yet, the lich just touched one of the human clerics. The cleric made his saves.

If you've ever read the Idiot's Guide to D&D (a must have, IMO), the first thing it says when dealing with casters is "put a fighter in his face."

That touch attack first round was a very bad choice for the lich. Sure, he could "only" get one spell off. But what those spells are could be significant.

I don't have the adventure, but off the top of my head, Evard's Black Tentacles and Web, if those spells are cast in the first round, change everything. This is how I structure all my offensive casters:
1) Slowing spells, incapacitating spells, powerful fear-type spells.
2) Damage, damage, damage spells
3) Touch attacks, weak Hail Mary type spells, 0-level spells if the fight drags on for that long.

The first third of spells gives the caster time to cast the second third of spells. The third set of spells aren't usually practical unless people are incapacitated anyway.

I've found in D&D that as the PCs get higher level, these fights could go either way for about two rounds. By the third round, it's very obvious who's going to lose. If the PCs fail their saves to the first third of spells, it can buy the caster up to ten rounds of combat.

All it takes is one fighter to make his saves, reach the caster, and end it...a fighter in his face.

 

[Bayushi Seikuro]

The evoker doing the most damage to him also had Protection from Energy (Fire) up. It would make sense for the lich to target him (as he appeared to be the biggest single threat). But all the lich's big attacks would have done little or nothing. (He is also an elf, so he is immune to the paralysis of his touch).

The first problem I see is the line about the elf being immune to the paralysis. Elves are immune to magic Sleep effects; not paralysis. YMMV.

 

[Shazman]

Spoilers




The lich was a druid/blighter lich, not your typical wizard lich, so he didn't have most of those spells on his list. When my party met him, he was flanked by two bone-drinkers. The DM might have thrown them in. Anyway, you aren't really supposed to fight him. The smart thing to do is cut a deal with him to stay out of the war if you return his pylachtery to him. He's an unspeakably evil undead creature, but all he really wants is his pylachtery.

 

[klofft]

The first problem I see is the line about the elf being immune to the paralysis. Elves are immune to magic Sleep effects; not paralysis. YMMV.

Ah, yes. True. I was equating the elven immunity to ghouls to all paralysis. My bad. However, no elf was actually touched anyway.


And, as Shazman points out, he had few buff or battlefield control spells. I didn't supplement him because I didn't think the party would fight him or win if they did fight him (which is also why I went light and used a touch attack first). I haven't DM'd for 7th level characters in 10 years (and thus never in 3.5), so there is a LOT I'm still (re-)learning about running bad guys (especially those with magic).

If I had it to do over again, after he got whacked with the fireball, I would have cast Stinking Cloud and retreated to the room with the bonedrinkers (5 of them were still there). But like I said, I thought it was appropriate to play the lich as overconfident, thinking a single blightfire would put some fear into them.