Whispering Cairn - need help (spoilers)

[Menexenus]

I am running the Whispering Cairn, and my players are about to face the final encounter in the dungeon - the 2 Wind Warriors. Here's the problem I'm having: I think this encounter is woefully unbalanced for a party of 3rd level characters. The Wind Warriors can fly, they have a reasonably high AC (19), they have a good number of hit points (39), and they have a sonic ranged attack! Granted, the range on the ranged attack is very short. But if I play these monsters as written, they will make mincemeat of my party! If played intelligently, they will hover out of reach of the party and keep blasting them with their sonic attack until they are all dead or have fled. (Since the party is 3rd level, they have no ability to fly, no uber-archers, and the wizard doesn't have enough magic missiles to bring down even one of them.)

Did other DMs see a problem with this encounter? If so, what did you other DMs do? I'm thinking of taking away the Wind Warriors' ability to fly. I think that will make things much more reasonable for the party. Does this seem like a reasonable solution? If so, how should it affect the Wind Warriors' CR?

 

[Nightfall]

Uhm maybe you should just test it out and see. I mean maybe your PCs will win. Just give it a shot.

 

[kenobi65]

You might want to consider having them only use their flying ability if it's needed to somehow pursue the PCs (if they're levitating, climbing, etc.)

And, yeah, it's supposed to be a tough fight.

 

[Nightfall]

Ken,

Thanks for the assist.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

I agree

The encounter as written has an excellent chance for a TPK if the DM doesn't impose restrictions on the Wind Warrior actions.

When I ran this, I basically considered the Wind Warriors to be programmed automata, with the following restrictions:

1) stay on the catwalk (in Melee range)
2) no attacking downed, unconscious opponents
3) no leaving the area of the tomb + approach tunnel.

The party had to flee the first encounter with the wind warriors, leaving 1 PC unconscious but stable on the catwalk. The party halfling snuck back, and drug the guys body out to the edge of the tomb using multiple unseen servants, so that he coud be revived/rescued.

The second time around, they hired an extra barbarian, so the party, forwarned and at full strength, was able to beat the wind walkers in a tough fight.

Ken

 

[demiurge1138]

The baseline assumption of the tactics is, I believe, that the wind warriors stay in melee range for the most part, opening combat with their sonic attacks and then moving in to finish with their swords. If the PCs start levitating in turn (it is a 2nd level spell), then you should have them switch back to ranged attacks. But in melee, a 3rd level bruiser with support should be able to take 'em down.

Demiurge out.

 

[Gundark]

I think that you should leave the encounter as written. Yes it's tough, but it's suppost to be. Remind the party that withdrawing and regrouping is an option.

The party had to flee the first encounter with the wind warriors, leaving 1 PC unconscious but stable on the catwalk. The party halfling snuck back, and drug the guys body out to the edge of the tomb using multiple unseen servants, so that he coud be revived/rescued.

The second time around, they hired an extra barbarian, so the party, forwarned and at full strength, was able to beat the wind walkers in a tough fight.

Ken

Even though the encounter is tough a smart group of players (like the one above) can figure out a way to defeat the encounter. D&D IMHO should be a thinking person's game, if something doesn't work then regroup and try something different. As a player I would find the game stale if the same tactics worked over and over and we didn't have to vary what we did.

Just my $ 0.02

 

[James Jacobs]

The wind warrior encounter is indeed a pretty rough one, especially for a party that doesn't have any ssignificant ranged attacks or magic. In this case, I'd recomend just having one wind warrior attack the party, or maybe having the second one attack them once they reach area 25.

One cool (and kind of obscure) tactic that should work against wind warriors is the shatter spell. Their armor is part of their body, and it's made of ceramic plates, so I'd say that targeting a shatter spell directly on them would do damage to them as if they were crystalline creatuers (1d6 per caster level). Even if you don't take this route, targeting one of their weapons with a shatter spell's a handy way to take out their sonic atatck for a round as they take a standard action to rebuild their sword, which gives the PCs a free round of attacks. And ther IS a wand of shatter hidden in the dungeon (in area 11).

 

[Menexenus]

Thanks James, I forgot about the fact that the party has a wand of Shatter.

Thanks to others as well, who suggested (basically the same thing I did) that I should not use the Wind Warriors' Fly ability to its fullest extent.

Nightfall, if you don't have anything useful to contribute, why bother posting? I asked for help and explained why. If you didn't feel like offering any, then why respond?

 

[Aesthetic Monk]

Nightfall, if you don't have anything useful to contribute, why bother posting? I asked for help and explained why. If you didn't feel like offering any, then why respond?

Wasn't Nightfall's point that the encounter might work as written? I'm inclined to think it won't--indeed, the whole adventure (or the two thirds of the adventure my group went through before the mutiny) was something of a grind. However, "run it as is" seems like one defensible option. You could always take copies of your players' characters and try simulating the encounter as written a time or two just to see how it might play out.