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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DrunkonDuty" data-source="post: 5346483" data-attributes="member: 54364">As has been said up thread the heroes reputation has most likely proceeded them. So it is fair to have tactics prepared against them. (Up to a limit of course.) Alarms and guards are basic and should be used in all situations. ANd by used I mean USED. An alarm alerts the whole castle. Everyone loads up for the big fight. 1. Large PartyThe basic answer to this is more foes. But more mooks won't be much use unless they're buffed out the wazoo. This due to the PCs high AC. If mooks need a natural 20 to hit then having more of them aint gonna help much. Mooks can be useful for trying other tactics like Grapples and Trips. YEah, not very likely to succeed but if they keep trying they might get lucky. So you need a few more lieutenant level bad guys, who get buffed out the wazoo. Have a look at the PC's ACs, work out what attack bonus is required to hit them, say, 40% of the time (that's a natural 13 and up on the roll.) Take into account things like flanking bonuses (this is what mooks are for), buff spells and terrain advantages. Make sure there's a place for the fight that is big enough to bring your numbers to bear (Great Hall of the Castle.) Of course you could get some tailored bad guys, ones specifically aimed at exploiting the weaknesses of the party. Again, within limits.  eg: Without knowing your party's actual character classes, let's say there's a big bad barbarian who always leads the charge. The evil lord has gone out and hired his own big barbarian type to fight him. Fights between big bad barbarians are like a return to the state of nature: nasty, brutish and short. PLus players like going up against their opposite number and winning. 2. 2x Dedicated HealersHealers tend to hang at the back. A rogue of two sneaking up from behind is a good thing here. As the battle is in a castle there should be mulitple ways to move around and the bad guys should know the terrain; they should be able to Run (that's x4 basic move there) through corridors to get at the rear of the party. They'd also be good at distracting fireball-ing mage types. If the spell casters are in the thick of the fighting make use of Attacks of Oportunity to disrupt spells. 3. High HPWith 2 healers and high HP the group should be able to get back up to high HP totals between fights without much problem. So don't give much time between fights. The castle is on alert, that means when alarms go off troops scramble and start looking for the intruders. WHen they find the PCs someone runs off to get reinforcements.  The fight should turn into a series of waves of attackers hitting the heroes. Maybe with a round or 2 respite between some waves, but maybe not. Good troops will rush to the sound of the battle and you're map should tell how far away various units are. Work out arrival times based on distance and move speeds. (Again, Run action is x4 move.) 4. Extremely High ACTactics can help here: flanking bonuses, higher terrain, trip attacks, surprise atacks to remove dodge bonuses. De-buffing: dispel magic is awesome; fire off a few AoE Dispels and you should start taking down buff spells. And, as said, buff your troops. Maybe not the mooks but lieutenants for sure. If you do want a cheap and easy buff for the mooks, go the Bard. A 1st level bard gives a +1 Hit and Damage to all allies. Takes an 8th level one to give a +2. 5. Specialised Fireball Tosser*Once again, enemy hitting the heroes' rear echelons. Even just mixing up the bad guys in amongst the heroes so that AoE spells hit the heroes as well as the bad guys can help. And a specialised Abjurerer with loads of Dispel Magics memorised can neutralise a mage. You can counter spell any spell with Dispel Magic.  Caveat: Now of course in all fairness the Heroes should have the chance to learn about some of this stuff. From spies they can be told things like 'The castle is on high alert' and 'The Count has hired a lot of new muscle.' That sort of thing. NOt too much detail but enough to put them on their guard.  Cheers. *heh heh heh</blockquote>

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