I am. But I don't have a printer working right now and I'm not in a position to do most of my reading in front of the computer. The books are more accessable for me.Fair enough.
There's that and then there's the 'buy it now and who knows when we'll get it to you' thing. Not that I have even the slightest reason to be mistrustful of the vendor, I'm just of the opinion that before I lay cash down for something I want to know that its actually available.
And again, VERY excited at the prospect of running this AP.
A general question to put out there for those who have run it, would you give XP for some of the battles where they sent others to fight, specifically...
Our group is just starting Book-3.
I have to give this Adventure Path a big compliment, regarding high (10th) level play:
As other (not named) adventure paths get into high-level play, only the monster's CR goes up, but otherwise it "plays" just like the low level stuff.
But with this adventure path, it actually "feels" like the stuff you would expect at high-levels. You have kingdom sweeping events. You are commanding armies. You are destroying entire churches/religions. You may have demons, ogres, vampires, etc at your command.
Heck - I even have one player's cleric (undead lord) riding a skeletal dragon (Argossarian from book-2).
This has been exactly what we were looking for with high-level play!
Heck - I even have one player's cleric (undead lord) riding a skeletal dragon (Argossarian from book-2)
I'm finishing book 6, and our Necromancer Wizard rides Chargammon fast zombie, Erimanthias fast zombie, or Nyggothr flying bloody skeleton, depending on the day.
Some other players ride on zombie rocs, or zombie thunderbirds. They also have zombie Shoggoths, and a skeletal bandersnatch.
Dimensional Lock and lots of fire resistance.
John Malueg: Have you read Marvel comic classic "The Thanos Quest"? I'll do it the same way Thanos gave The Runner to The Collector. Which is a very Lawful Evil way to do things.
STILL on back-order?
Is there any way to sign up to be notified when it finally becomes available for purchase?
For room 1-22: Second Trial of the Worthy,
It says the two letter 'e's in servant are actually buttons (regarding the inscription "Attend my servants! Who is greater lord than I?"
But the word "servant" only has one (1) letter 'e'?
Another question:
Page 80, "Did the PCs keep their deeds a secret?"
Second sentence asks: "Did Taranae teleport away?"
Who is Taranae?
For room 1-22: Second Trial of the Worthy,
It says the two letter 'e's in servant are actually buttons (regarding the inscription "Attend my servants! Who is greater lord than I?"
But the word "servant" only has one (1) letter 'e'?
I'd just assume it meant the two s's in servants
Another question:Page 80, "Did the PCs keep their deeds a secret?"
Second sentence asks: "Did Taranae teleport away?"
Who is Taranae?
It's supposed to be Taranae. The Emmisary in White (pg. 77)
I'd just assume it meant the two s's in servantsFor room 1-22: Second Trial of the Worthy,
It says the two letter 'e's in servant are actually buttons (regarding the inscription "Attend my servants! Who is greater lord than I?"
But the word "servant" only has one (1) letter 'e'?
I guess the riddle has some hint about the e itself, as he is asking who is a greater lord than I, and E comes before I.
I'd say that there's only one e, and you only need to press one to make it work.
I'd say the riddle isn't very good. I'll have to think about something else (and translate in French too). ^^
Kevin: I imagine Gary didn't see a need to stat him as the duergar fight as a unit and not as individual NPCs. The "unit fights", just like with minions from the evil organization, are all hand-wave/narrative affairs IMO.
These duergar do not join the PC’s retinue but instead fight together as a unit.
On "finding dwarves"... what do you mean? Are you referring to page 50? If so, I took that to just mean any survivors from Event Five.
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Kevin: I imagine Gary didn't see a need to stat him as the duergar fight as a unit and not as individual NPCs. The "unit fights", just like with minions from the evil organization, are all hand-wave/narrative affairs IMO.
On "finding dwarves"... what do you mean? Are you referring to page 50? If so, I took that to just mean any survivors from Event Five.
Fair enough. I figured he'd at least be pointed out as a cavalier or someone who's not just a plain warrior 1 so you could see his leadership abilities, or something to that effect. Now I'm kind of disappointed that the son is just part of the "mob".
No, I'm talking about the +10 bonus you could get by giving them up as gifts. Thought maybe a side quest or something. You need to convince him, but there's no way you'll get that DC. So, you're close, but need that extra +10. You've already killed the Watchwall dwarves, so where do you find more? Maybe the duegar are at war with other dwarves on the mountains. Perhaps if you were raid the stronghold and bring back a few P.O.W.s that could be roasted alive later, maybe he'll help.
Oh! Since dwarves live throughout Talingarde and are not inherently more or less powerful than humans, I would have the party just kidnap some through a minion Abduct Peasants action. If it has to be some "special dwarves" to justify a +10, then just increase the DC to the minion action check.
If you want to make it more complicated than that, you can, but don't need to.
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Oh! Since dwarves live throughout Talingarde and are not inherently more or less powerful than humans, I would have the party just kidnap some through a minion Abduct Peasants action. If it has to be some "special dwarves" to justify a +10, then just increase the DC to the minion action check.
If you want to make it more complicated than that, you can, but don't need to.
My players don't want minions or Leadership other than for the absolutely mandatory parts of the game where they're essentially "forced" to. Otherwise, they want all the glory. That way when they take over, no one can dispute them as being lazy or not having earned their chair on high.
Hence why I'm looking.
In that case, my friend... you're on your own. I don't read the magazines with the modules, so I rely on others (like you!) to suggest possible tie-ins for me. (As it is, I'm struggling with something as simple as a side-quest to introduce a hag into a witches coven two of the PCs want to form.) However, I would just reiterate what I said a few months ago when someone else was asking about the duergar and building up that side-quest into something more substantial:
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In that case, my friend... you're on your own. I don't read the magazines with the modules, so I rely on others (like you!) to suggest possible tie-ins for me. (As it is, I'm struggling with something as simple as a side-quest to introduce a hag into a witches coven two of the PCs want to form.) However, I would just reiterate what I said a few months ago when someone else was asking about the duergar and building up that side-quest into something more substantial:
** spoiler omitted **
I'm pretty much tweaking a lot of things all over so I'm okay with that.
As for the hag, I've got one for you, and it was suggested by another player in Book 1. Don't mind the reference. This was originally meant for the group to do at level 1-2.
My players have finally figured out a balance for healing. While it took a bit of multi-classing and a small gift from the GM (me), it seems to be working out nicely.
To help them out, I added an encounter with a "witch" and her desire to have the corpse of a black dragon shortly after the party completed Thorn's lessons. I liked the idea of giving the party a chance to have earned some items to boost their AC as Gary suggested so the party went into the moors hunting for the inquisitor that hunted them down in the first place. After defeating him and chopping off his head, they encountered a creepy old cannibalistic oracle who offered them a treasure in exchange for the corpse of a dragon. A very young dragon later, they had earned the following item:
Blood Chalice: Constant effect, Aura 30’. Swift action to activate or deactivate aura (Command word) Grants the Oracle of Bones Revelation - Resist Life (Su): You are treated as an undead creature when you are targeted by positive or negative energy. You are not subject to Turn Undead or Command Undead (or any other effect that specifically targets undead), unless you are actually an undead creature. At 7th level, you receive channel resistance +2. This bonus increases by +2 at 11th and 15th level. Creatures in the radius of the item and attuned to the relic receive the benefits of “resist life”. Being attuned to the relic requires a weekly donation of 1 point of constitution (blood) which is ability damage and which can be healed as such. Further powers are said to be able to be accessed with the proper research and rituals.
When the Anti-paladin hit 4th level, it allowed the party to overcome some of the healing issue that Evil Parties experience due to the lack of channeling positive energy.
The barbarian in the group also took a level of "Life" Oracle (he is heading to rage prophet), so while healing can be complicated and for the most part it is nickel and dime healing (1d6 here, 1d6 there..), it seems to be working so I don't have to worry so much about 15 minute adventuring.
Thought that this might be helpful to other GMs who are finding the lack of healing to be a big problem for their parties.
Just adapt the witch to hags (plural), and the reward to a coven.
Kevin: I imagine Gary didn't see a need to stat him as the duergar fight as a unit and not as individual NPCs. The "unit fights", just like with minions from the evil organization, are all hand-wave/narrative affairs IMO.
On "finding dwarves"... what do you mean? Are you referring to page 50? If so, I took that to just mean any survivors from Event Five.
Fair enough. I figured he'd at least be pointed out as a cavalier or someone who's not just a plain warrior 1 so you could see his leadership abilities, or something to that effect. Now I'm kind of disappointed that the son is just part of the "mob".
No, I'm talking about the +10 bonus you could get by giving them up as gifts. Thought maybe a side quest or something. You need to convince him, but there's no way you'll get that DC. So, you're close, but need that extra +10. You've already killed the Watchwall dwarves, so where do you find more? Maybe the duegar are at war with other dwarves on the mountains. Perhaps if you were raid the stronghold and bring back a few P.O.W.s that could be roasted alive later, maybe he'll help.
I can't remember how high was my party Bluff and Diplomacy tgat far into tge AP, but they finished with 50+ in diplomacy (the summoner), doing DC ~65 taking ten. They didn't need the bonus
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I can't remember how high was my party Bluff and Diplomacy tgat far into tge AP, but they finished with 50+ in diplomacy (the summoner), doing DC ~65 taking ten. They didn't need the bonus
Holy crap. My party will be lucky if everyone aided and they managed to get the 35. Only the oracle and anti-paladin are CHA-based and both of their Diplomacy tanks.
I can't remember how high was my party Bluff and Diplomacy tgat far into tge AP, but they finished with 50+ in diplomacy (the summoner), doing DC ~65 taking ten. They didn't need the bonusHoly crap. My party will be lucky if everyone aided and they managed to get the 35. Only the oracle and anti-paladin are CHA-based and both of their Diplomacy tanks.
By level 20 the party summoner had something like:
+10 from Charisma 30+20 ranks
+3 class bonus
+3 circlet of persuasion
+8 racial bonus (absorved eidolon evolution)
+6 skill focus
+4 persuasive feat
+1 from charming trait.
so it was +55, which means autosuccess in DC 56 or less. We joked about that saying that he finished every diplomacy/bluff attempt with "and I'm Papa Smurf" to any lie, just to make the DC higher, because he couldn't fail anyways.
fun fact is we also had a social rogue, a vampire antipaladin and an inquisitor, all of them with high Bluff and Diplomacy (most in the ~30 range), but it didn't matter, as the party face was just two heads and three shoulders above everybody else. Everybody but the summoner was very stealthy too (even the necromancer, who took a trait to make it a class skill and maxed ranks in it)
Perhaps I missed it, but book 2 had a spoiler free (player friendly) set of maps. Is there a set of spoiler free maps for Tears of the Blessed?
- Gauss
Don't think so... And that's indeed something which would have been good.
May be when (if ever) gary comes back.
That is unfortunate, going to have to do a lot of work to make them player friendly. Oh well.
Thanks for the response.
- Gauss
P.S. Where did Gary go?
P.S. Where did Gary go?Unfortunately, he seems to have sealed himself up in his own cave trying to get Throne of Night out on time as he's already a month behind, and his Kickstarter items still haven't all been sent out as of yet.
I would hope that he would learn that people aren't going to buy anything new when they can't reliably get anything old as it is... until Book Three (all of them, really), actually becomes available for purchase, I can't in good conscience trust in any other products they release.
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I would hope that he would learn that people aren't going to buy anything new when they can't reliably get anything old as it is... until Book Three (all of them, really), actually becomes available for purchase, I can't in good conscience trust in any other products they release.P.S. Where did Gary go?Unfortunately, he seems to have sealed himself up in his own cave trying to get Throne of Night out on time as he's already a month behind, and his Kickstarter items still haven't all been sent out as of yet.
That's probably why he's locked himself away. To make amends and to keep releasing everything he's promised to have done.
That's probably why he's locked himself away. To make amends and to keep releasing everything he's promised to have done.I would hope that he would learn that people aren't going to buy anything new when they can't reliably get anything old as it is... until Book Three (all of them, really), actually becomes available for purchase, I can't in good conscience trust in any other products they release.P.S. Where did Gary go?Unfortunately, he seems to have sealed himself up in his own cave trying to get Throne of Night out on time as he's already a month behind, and his Kickstarter items still haven't all been sent out as of yet.
At the moment I'm trying to actually purchase a finished product - unless he's actually physically printing the books himself, I can;t see why he would need to be locked away to make that happen.
And, for the record, I don't expect you to speak for him or to take any of his heat. I understand that you are simply putting the best face on things that you can in the absence of any official voice. I just hate that anyone would have to do that.
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At the moment I'm trying to actually purchase a finished product - unless he's actually physically printing the books himself, I can;t see why he would need to be locked away to make that happen.
And, for the record, I don't expect you to speak for him or to take any of his heat. I understand that you are simply putting the best face on things that you can in the absence of any official voice. I just hate that anyone would have to do that.
And that's fine. Kind of wish I knew him personally so I could go to his place and see what's up, as the games I run at conventions are what he runs at conventions. That's how it was a couple of years ago. However, this year MinionQuest and Throne of Night weren't ready yet so I got to step down and enjoy playing games instead of running them. However, since the first book is out again, I'm being looked at to run them again. I'm hoping to hear from him though so I know what's what.
Book 2 was being written simultaneously alongside Book 1 so I can't help but wonder if he's rushing to finish that since it was so close. And with Bestiary 4 out, he might be thumbing through that to see if he can add a few more monsters into the mix.
I'm guessing, but I know that's what I'd do.
A question about Lord-Abbot MacCathlain's tactics:
Specifically I'm asking about his scroll of greater spell immunity...
What spells would the Abbot choose to be immune to? It is a minimum 15th-caster level scroll, so he could choose 3 spells (under 8th-level).
But the Abbot has not scryed the evil PCs, and by most indications he fled down to the Cathedral catacombs shortly after the invasion began and has not stopped working on the ritual since.
It also looks like he has not had contact with his priests (who are waiting for him in 1-14, and have not clue what he is doing).
So, without any knowledge of the PCs tactics, why would the Abbot use that scroll?
Could he not have spoken with Ara Mithra?
Received a divine portent from Mitra? (Hopefully Mitra would give a heads up to his head honcho priest running his temple!) I mean.. Asmodeous plays a bit of his hand during the invasion (asking for Mr. Giant to be sacrificed), why not Mitra aiding his own?
A commune would go along way (although if one were to say he could do not else but work on the ritual would throw out this angle).
For those running this adventure, what did you do about the Hippogriffs?
I did not use that encounter (the Pact). I didn't think it added anything to the story line (and felt like XP filler).
STILL ON BACKORDER???
Do they really not want to sell this product???
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Just started Book 3 for my group. Lots of bookkeeping and research so far.
From the end of Book 2, the Sorcerer's cohort (Katelyn Mott ~ cleric of Asmodeus) disguised herself as the last sacrifice (can't think of the knight's name off hand), and pulled the last group of heroes away from the Horn.
The idea was if the PCs didn't have the sacrifice they couldn't continue. Sir Richard's party teleported to Ghastenhall before the ruse was discovered.
Katelyn was handed over to the inquisitors for questioning before her trial/execution. The group was given the opportunity to mount a rescue if they wanted. While some were up for it, the player of the sorcerer decided that attacking a courtroom and/or prison to get the cohort out (or silenced...:) was a bit risky, especially as Sir Richard's group was definitely spanking them in the Horn.
The majority of the party travelled to Ghastenhall by boat. They were able to easily convince a group of sailors to do the sailing for them (bad things happening in Farholde made it an easy choice to leave).
The PCs meet with Thrane... and when doing the handover dropped and broke the flask with the Tears of Achlys. [sometimes my players are their own worst enemies... 'hehe I drop the tears... wait no that was only a joke!' *smash*). They managed to mend the flask and recover half of the tears... but not before both Grumblejack (who has levels of Antipaladin) and Thrane were infected. Some of the PCs would have been infected, but they wisely used some of their re-rolls to make their saves. Thrane wasn't too impressed by the party... especially by 'Mr. Butterfingers'.
Unfortunately, they didn't use a remove disease on Grumblejack (who is immune, but a carrier!) so 1/2 of the servants at the estate passed away before they managed to get it eradicated. The witch decided to take the hex 'Cook People' and started making ginger bread men from the local orphanage. Cookies of 'Remove Disease' were high on the list. :)
The PCs met with Fire-Axe and got the start of an army. They managed to sweet talk Raiju and hire him. They attempted to find the Duegar city... however the PCs kind of neglected survival... /sigh. They are considering hiring a dwarven tracker to try and locate the city... we'll see how well that goes.
They also were planning to follow up on the medusa and vampire leads. The info they dug up about the Vale has them concerned... especially about the Phoenix.
No combat this session, just lots of plans and rebuilding (the evil organizations from the Horn were practically decimated). I expect that while there might be some combat in the next session that the PCs will still be arming & equipping for the attack on the Vale.
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I just started prep for oud first session of Book 3.
We closed Book 2 with a big climax, and I gave them the letter of book3 as a teaser.
I expect much planning and individual side trekking before the month is done, and then we shall see how good the assassin is. It will be difficult, but memorable. I plan tot give good guy stat blocks tot the rest of the players while the massa's sin tries to clear out the you-know-what.
Also, Gary, I learned a new word: I thought describing Dessiter as effusive was particularly fitting.
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2nd session for Book 3.
The PCs decided to track down the vampires first. The showed up in the cemetery with some 'gifts'. They made a deal, and the orcish monk seems to like the idea of becoming a vampire.
They then went and fought the medusa. She used darkness to protect herself from those who couldn't see in the dark. Alas, too many of the PCs could see in the dark, so they got to check to see if they turned to stone. 3 of them did. The goblin rogue, the tiefling witch and the tiefling cleric. Oops!
Fortunately they had 3 scrolls of stone to flesh.
The medusa seems to now be the love interest of the orcish monk... it gives a whole new meaning to 'wearing protection'. :)
Lastly they hired a guide to help 'find a lost relative kidnapped by dark dwarves' in the mountains. The found a patrol, and the guide then outlived his usefulness.
They struck a deal with the duergar as well.
While their forces were getting into position, a 3 man team decided to infiltrate the Vale with undectetable alignment. The got some eyeball views of the defences... including the clay golems. They also identified a number of spots to teleport to inside the Vale. And thru clairvoyance they saw the 2 watchers and the gong. A plan is forming!
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We started book 3 yesterday. As with most new books, first session is mostly developing leads and setting up the story - but even the battle-hungry players enjoyed it.
We also had a blast with Mundo's Magnificent Magical Menagerie. They assumed he'd have some 'under the shelf' items and very subtly negotiated for an unholy bow and an unholy rapier.
I had them come back two days later; when the characters returned to the shop, Mundo's face was burnt. He grimly claimed that "negotiations in Dis were...complicated."
But he gave them an 'unholy longbow' and a 'keen rapier'. Magic Aura's, as we know. I thought it'd be nice if the illusion would last until they actually needed the weapons, so I gave Mundo access to Permanency. Imagine paying 12k for two mundane permanent magic aura items.
Before paying, the cleric gave the bow to the ranger who fortunately rolled a natural 20 on his attempt to hit the practice dummy; thus the bow was approved.
Then, the cleric found the rapier to be keen instead of unholy, but he still wanted to Identify the rapier before paying.
We couldn't have that now...so I had someone shout and rattle at the door, as if there were a 'police' raid on the shop. (it seems to me that Mundo would have such a backup plan in place and telepathically communicate with the armored types outside to 'raid' his shop)
Mundo quickly ushered them out the back way, received his payment of 12k, and closed his shop.
quote my players:
"well, you can't always get what you want, but this will do VERY well."
"Wow, money well spent! I would DEFINITELY shop again! No Nonsense, great business."
I guess I should take up poker; I found out I can pull off a pokerface :D
I conned my players out of 75% of their cash and they loved it. They plan to cover their items until the battle against the celestials, and boy oh boy OH BOY will they be surprised... Nothing to do about it then, anymore, I fear... :D :D :D
Next time: follow all leads for potential allies. Hopefully the cleric will forget to cast Identify or allow me to forget he asked long enough for Mundo's con to actually work.
I think using the evil organization to accomplish this would be one method of doing it. Alternately, you can role play it or set up a combat scenario but for level 10 PCs it is probably not that big a challenge for a run-of-the-mill dwarf.
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We started book 3 yesterday. As with most new books, first session is mostly developing leads and setting up the story - but even the battle-hungry players enjoyed it.
** spoiler omitted **...
It's been a while since I'd read this and forgotten about the shop. Went to look it up, and it's Murdo, as opposed to Mundo. I'll have to try and remember that. Maybe have a few cursed items for sale as the real deal.
We played the Battle of SaintsBridge last night and it was pretty awesome. The PCs were almost totally tapped out of resources by the time they reached the Shield Archons. I replaced the final encounter with a single 13th level battle cleric and the battle was pretty epic with him killing half the PCs before finally being defeated (luckily they get better).
The encounters with the Peri and the Phoenix were great.
More details can be found here: WotW Update
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Got most of the Battle of Saintsbridge done. The PCs had some 'death from above', flying units dropping fireballs all over. Made a mess of most of the ground units. And with the medusa flying with her aura of 'stoniness' the celestial griffons plummeted... oops! :)
A couple of PC deaths though. In the battle with the watchers the witch got a little too close for a smite evil pounce. Fortunately the cleric had a breathe of life and managed to get to him in time. Later after defeating the dwarves just around dusk, one of the PCs decided to use his circlet to look like a dwarf on the ground... and the thane's son lopped off his head! Since the PC wasn't helpless it wasn't a coup de grace, however... natural 20 on the to hit, confirmed. One headless monk later... alas the cleric was not close enough this time for the breathe of life.
For next session only the celestials and the priest group remain... and I may have them close ranks for one nasty fight. Especially since the PCs have been dawdling a bit.
Again, everyone seems to be having fun (well the monk who got decapitated isn't quite so happy, but he will be playing the medusa for a bit).
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I am not one who usually posts after action reports but I felt this is a modification to the normal setup so it might be useful to some people. Note: not all of this is RAW as I was converting things and trying to make a storyline fit the rules in the best way possible.
The PCs consist of a Barbarian (Superstition/Pounce build), an Anti-Paladin, an Arcane Trickster, and an Oracle specializing in Undead. Additionally they have 3 "noncombat" cohorts (Cleric, Lore Oracle, and Wizard) they use for support roles outside of combat.
Rather than using the narrative of the army battle I (with the co-operation of my players) decided that we would use at least part of the army rules in Ultimate Campaign and Ultimate Battle.
First, the players did round up the various minions and armies. Present were Bugbears (with both leaders), Duergar, the Nessian Warhounds, the Ogre Mage, the Medusa, and the Vampire Spawn.
Additionally, the players created a number of Gargantuan Necrocraft (4), and an army unit (100) of Bloody Burning Skeletons.
Next, I tried to convert the various minions and "armies" into armies using the UCampaign and UBattle rules.
The Bugbears were split into two units (ACR3 and ACR2). Pretty straight forward. I also gave them Reckless Brutality.
The Duergar were ACR1 but with some significant advantages (poison use, invisibility, etc). I also gave them a bonus against Dwarves.
The Nessian Warhounds were a bit more difficult. Individually each one is an ACR1 unit. They used the Ogre Mage to lead them thus the three got the special ability invisibility provided they stuck together. This came in handy later.
The Medusa was a unit unto herself. She came in at ACR3 and was quite useful against a number of enemies.
I decided to increase the Vampire Spawn to ACR1. The dominate ability I deemed was worth a +1 to both OM and DV as they will turn the enemy against itself.
The Necrocraft were ACR2 each and were constructed of Skeletons. They were given the Bleed, Constrict, and Trample abilities. Note: I used Ultimate Battle's DV boost for DR rather than Ultimate Campaign's.
Finally the bleeding burning skeletons were ACR1.
The Defenders:
The PCs stealthed up to the top of the keep and used Fear to cause the Lammasu to flee. This will come back to bite them later. They killed everyone else.
The Lammasu acted as runners for awhile coordinating attacks. The PCs never discovered this.
I gave the defenders the Battlefield Advantage ability due to this being home turf. However, since this was at night they were penalized either -3DV and -2OM for darkness or -1DV if they had lights.
Generally speaking I also translated the battles the PCs were to fight as the 'core' of each army. Defeat the core and you remove some of the boons and a leadership derived bonus to each army (varied from +2 to +4 to DV/OM). This way the PCs were still relevant to the success of the armies. I also buffed up many of the major NPCs to about level 9-10 with the supporting NPCs being level 6 (usually). My group is rather optimized so this is necessary to deal with that.
Mounted Calvary: ACR2, with armor and weapon equipment. Also had the boons Calvary Experts and Daring Maneuvers as well as Sniper Support from the archer group. In short, devastating. The Calvary destroyed one Necrocraft at which point the players decided to destroy the calvary core. They succeeded and then the army fell without further casualties.
Archers: Unhappy with the sniper support the players sent the Hellhounds and Ogre Mage to deal with them. The Archers were not an army (I had left them as a "core unit" without an army) and so I ran this as a regular melee combat and not an army engagement. Using invisibility they were able to approach and were only detected at the last moment. The Archers fared poorly against the Warhounds.
Dwarven Center: In addition to the Dwarves I added 4 "run of the mill" human army units ((ACR1). These humans were not lead by special leaders and were there to soak up some combat while the Dwarves (ACR2) held the center. The Human armies were dealt with easily while, initially, the Dwarves did little damage but suffered little in return due to defensive strategies and superior equipment.
When the Duergar entered combat with the Dwarves it was slaughter on both sides. The Duergar weakened the Dwarves enough to give other units a chance to hammer away at the Dwarves. Both Duergar and Dwarves died.
The PCs decided to let the armies hammer it out rather than take out the Dwarven leadership. This worked ok for them because of the Duergar.
Serene Order (ACR2): I decided the monks would hide and surprise the first army that 'tripped' over them. They did just that and managed to completely destroy the weaker of the Bugbear armies in the first phase of combat. Afterwards the Serene Order got overwhelmed without the PCs having to intervene to take out the leaders of the Order.
Shield Archons: The PCs decided to march their Necrocraft right up to the bridge where the Archons hammered them. The Necrocraft retreated and the PCs dealt with the Archons rather easily.
Meanwhile, the Lammasu had had enough of the Necrocraft and decided that with the PCs occupied this would be a good time to strike them down. They nearly did that but the cohorts cast obscuring mist and kept healing the Necrocraft until reinforcements (the Medusa) arrived. Eventually the Greater Invisibility ran out on the Lammasu and the Necrocraft killed them easily with the Medusa having provided a distraction for awhile.
Blessed Knights/Griffons and Clerics: I revamped them a bit to Paladin 6 and had their spells be: Shield Other, PFE (x2), and Bull's Strength. They also had weapon Divine Bond and some better equipment (up to NPC WBL).
I gave the PCs advance warning (lights in the distance flying at them very rapidly) based on their glowing weapons. When the Paladins overflew the Cleric army the army cheered in the darkness (were without lights at the time). This was my warning to the PCs that the clerics were in the neighborhood (see below).
The PCs cast obscuring mist to prevent charge attacks and that worked. They had also called in the Medusa to help. In the first round she stoned 3 griffons and 2 paladins. The remaining paladin used Snapleaf to fall safely. Later she would stone another griffon but her opening shot was her best.
Fireballs: I had given the PCs advance notice (via the book in the Keep) that there was a core of clerics that worshipped the fire aspect of Mitra. They discussed casting Resist Energy and then never did so. Oops.
When they brought up an obscuring mist one of the Paladins called for a Cleric to cast fireball to cleanse the area. They burned away the mist and with it some of the PC's health.
Later, when the Paladins were about to die (last two standing) they called upon all of the holy fire the clerics could muster. The PCs almost didnt survive that but they managed to finish the job.
Cleric army proper (ACR2): Afterwards they sent their non-undead armies and the vampires spawn to go deal with the clerics. The Vampire spawn didn't survive of course but the clerics were defeated.
In the end the PCs lost one of the two bugbear armies, a Gargantuan Necrocraft, the Duergar, and the Vampire spawn. They were nearly killed a couple of times but survived it.
The conversion was a bit of work but the I and my players felt it was worth it.