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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 4114360" data-attributes="member: 151">The targeting limitation has been mentioned; SR should also not be ignored.  By 10th level, the party should be coming up against opponents with SR with regularity (including NPCs).  A 1st level spell like FF is often just ignored by the appropriate creatures.  It should work sometimes, but not every time.A large part of your problem sounds like you're suffering from the classic 'Eggshells with Hammers' syndrome, which many D&D creatures suffer from.  That is to say, they can dish it out, but they can't take it.  Try to select creatures with better defenses, including high HP.  I notice that your enemy spell-casters aren't using one of THE most important defensive spells a wizard/sorceror has: MIRROR IMAGE.  Second of all: area and targeted dispels are not cheap shots, now: they are essential battlefield tactics for BOTH SIDES.  Oh, and guess what happens to Summoned Creatures?  If you target an object or creature that is the effect of an ongoing spell (such as a monster summoned by monster summoning), you make a dispel check to end the spell that conjured the object or creature. POP!  A lot of utility spells don't scale very well and can be easily dispelled....including Magic Circles.  And while we're talking about it, Dispel Good is a fine way to send beasties home, too. Wraithstrike is widely considered, as Rackhir noted, to be horribly broken.  Do no use it.  Especially as this opens the door for the players to use it, too.  And as Rackhir points out, this would create a confrontational tone which really benefits no one.  Good start, but needs more urgency.  Unhurried players aren't challenged players.  Give a group with two or more spellcasters five minutes and they'll get across in a variety of ways.  Add in a lava burst or cave-in that traps them and adds a 'get out in time' factor, and you're doing better.  Second, you've stocked the room with average salamanders...at CR6, even with the advantageous environment, these are SPEED BUMPS to a 10th level party, let alone a 6 man party.  Taking away their spears and having them grapple isn't bad, but unless the PCs are forced to cross the floor, they pose no threat.  These guys are fodder for ranged attacking.  Either advance them (more HD, maybe a couple of spellcasters), bolster them with a couple of noble salamanders or make it so that flight and spider-climb is dangerous and problematic.  Otherwise the party can just side-step them and then kill them at range.Alternately, change THESE salamanders up.  Normal salamanders have Multiattack, even though they don't have three natural attacks.  Give them two claw attacks instead of the spear and just substitue the same attack value.  Give them 10' reach to make them surprisingly dangerous.  Have SOME grapple and some attack.  Remember that grappling makes the target VERY vulnerable to outside attack, meaning that the salamanders are opening themselves up to pain from the rest of the party while doing it.Further, make sure you know <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/environment.htm#heatDangers" target="_blank">all the effects of extreme heat</a> on players.  Those melee characters in heavy armor?  They're going to be in for a world of pain without protection against the heat.  Throw in smoke and you've got a crisis.  Sure, most of these effects can be countermanded with magic...but if your spellcasters aren't properly prepared, they'll find out the hard way.Make sure the Rakshasha is shape changed into another form.  His DR 15/Good and Piercing makes him hard to hurt with weapons and his SR makes him resistant to many spells, but his low hp mean that if you use the right kind of attack to bypass that, he's very vulnerable.  Giants are good opponents, especially if you have them Power Attack with their greatweapons.  A massive first strike tends to put PCs on notice to defend themselves.  Make sure to use their Improved Overrun to have them trample on past the defenders to get to the nice, soft spellcasters in the back, especially with their reach.  Alternately, you can have them toss rocks, but this isn't all that effective a tactic, really.  If possible, Have the invisible Rakshasha heal them during battle, as well.The environment isn't bad, but there's a lot of pitfalls here for the dragons...most noticeably that while they are using some clever tactics and they are strong enough to pull them off, they're not using their combat potential that heavily (though they DO have a good, hard to follow escape route) and this scenario favors the ranged attackers more than the dragons, who's poor maneuverability can work against them in the open.It's nasty, no question.  I'm just not sure it's all that fair for the players.  Unless there are signs of what they're going to fight or a chance to flee to a better position, this will create an untenanable "we were screwed and there was nothing we could do" situation.  A better option would be to have to force the players through a series of such tunnels, and ambush them during the second or third out of say, five.  They can retreat or advance to one of the open areas, but now they have to decide how to proceed, knowing the tunnels are shadowy hazards.  This puts them back in control, but still maintains the threat.</blockquote>

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