Say, do all the rest of you make as many mistakes during combat, especially high level combat? It's frustrating sometimes.
Absolutely - it's one of the things I find most frustrating about DMing 3E D&D. Decent opponents for high-level parties all have a slew of feats, abilities, spells, etc., which I find impossible to keep track of during combat. The players have at least built their characters up over time, and so are accustomed to their talents. This is why I think it's essential to provide detailed tactical advice for high-level opponents in adventures.
As an aside, I'd have been happy to make some monster special abilities count against their feats, so as to reduce the number required for high-HD monsters - and the recurrence of Alertness!
Maybe I'm missing something, but I just reread the Unholy Aura spell, and I don'r see anything in there that would prevent them from attacking Kerzit..
True! I mis-read the spell! It had most of the powers of Protections from Evil, so I assumed it had this power as well.
So, not only are psion constructs more combat-ready than summoned monsters, they're not held back by Prot/Evil! Wow.
Siting another of my errors, the Rog 12/Ftr 2 player pointed out that his rogue did *NOT* die either the first or the second combat. Apparently, it was the Mnk 14 that died both times.
Poor monk! :)
Absolutely - it's one of the things I find most frustrating about DMing 3E D&D. ....(snip)...This is why I think it's essential to provide detailed tactical advice for high-level opponents in adventures.
And yet even these can fall short.
Previously, I had only DMed a few high level "one highters". This is the first time I've DMed a long-running high level adventure. It's quite a challenge.
As an aside, I'd have been happy to make some monster special abilities count against their feats, so as to reduce the number required for high-HD monsters - and the recurrence of Alertness!
I'm afraid I don't follow you. ???
I *think* you're saying you change stuff around a bit. I do that too. For Kerzit, I couldn't help changing a few of his feats around. For instance, I gave him Mobility, so his AC would be in the stratosphere when he provoked AoOs. I figured his style would be to rush around and try to "tag" as many enemies as possible with eiether his Poison or his Wounding ability....to feed on their despair......
That's: "one *nighters*", as in: an adventure that just lasts one meeting, typically about 6 hours long. :) How'd that "h" get in there?
Alrighty: I guess this is my personal thread, eh? I'm the only one posting!
I thought this bit of email exchange between players and I (I'm the current DM) would be fun, for the Dungeon designers, if no one else:
Rog 12/Ftr 2: "My PC didn't die! I just figured you were giving me a break since I was dead the session before, or you really wanted to increase your kill count with a psion.....;) It allowed me to be a little braver than I was planning.
DM: "Actually, I was doing my best at *not* planning for the party's anticipated response. I tried to put myself in Kerzit's head, and think about what this blood-thirsty mage-hating demon would do.
First combat, he did his usual schtick: Charge in and bite or wound as many as possible. If a warrior type got in the way, attack him, otherwise concentrate on the magic users. In Kerzit's mind, they are the *real* pain in the arse!
Second combat, Kerzit was thinking 'I want to kill them all, and - Gosh darn it! - They got away last time. I'll summon a few peons to keep the warriors busy, then eat the magic users....the psion is first on my list, the sorcerer is second! That wizard was easy to drop last time, so he's third.'
In other words, I believe he would essentially overlook the rogue....he doesn't look much like even a warrior type! Size small and all. Kerzit also ignored the Ftr 14 and the Mnk 14, until they got close enough to attack. And of those, he could tell only the Ftr 14 had a weapon that could fully hurt him.”
Psion 14(shaper) : “Heh heh heh.. but <Kerzit> didn't manage <his plan>, did he? That Psion is slipperier than a... well, a "greased scotsman" perhaps.. *lol* Still, there's always next time.. with whatever demons come next.. :)
DM: “Sneaky little psion-esssssss......we'll get them, my precioussssss.... :)
Yeah, that's my only "hang-up": Psions are not balanced with respect to the rest of the party (or the core rules, frankly). But hey: you work with what yer given. :) We're having fun!
As for the Dimensional anchor: if the Wizard had first cast Assay Resistance (from CA), it would have been a very good chance.
So, not only are psion constructs more combat-ready than summoned monsters, they're not held back by Prot/Evil! Wow.
I played a psi-warrior in one game and one of my friends is playing a psioncist/elocator in the game I am running (they are about to face Kerzit).
I find that psi characters are *very* versatile without losing much, if any, power. The psioncist always seems to have a power appropriate for a situation and they can "overload" powers.
I love psi characters so I dont want to say they are broken or overpowered by they are definitly on the high-end of powerful.
Say, do all the rest of you make as many mistakes during combat, especially high level combat? It's frustrating sometimes.Absolutely - it's one of the things I find most frustrating about DMing 3E D&D.
This is one of the reasons I will not ever play a high level game from the get go. Players suffer from the same problem when they start play at say 10th level as opposed to 1st. They always forget little facets or character abilities.
I second the tactics idea. Its one of the reasons I come to these boards as well for various dungeon magazine encounters. To see what other DMs did. Especially when I have to play an NPC who is way more an intelligent than me!
(Psions) are definitly on the high-end of powerful.
No arguement here. They certainly top Clerics, Wizards, and Druids in most situations. Sorcerers don't even hold a candle to 'em, IMHO.
OTOH, I'm interested to see one played all the way thru to level 20.
As for your "high level" comments: It's hard DMing at these levels, but the pay-off is just as good as the lower levels. The real trick (and I think everyone in both of my groups is learning this -- me too) is to plan your options.
Currently one of my groups is in the beginning of (a highly modified) level 4 of Maure castle. So far they've run into Maurids, Demons, and Constructs. There's no "one-size-fits-all" solution to these challenging encounters. In fact, the party's wizard is finding it difficult to stay prepared with the proper list of spells.
ok, so has anyone else realized that arley the weaver is completely under cr'd? hes an 8th lvl sorc ogre magi with only a cr of 12- ogre magi is cr 8 with 8 lvls of sorc should put him at cr 16.
and his spells...6 zero, 4+1 first, 4+1 second, 3+1 third, 2+1 fourth, 2+1 fifth.
an 8th should have 6/6/6/5/3 not even high enough to cast 5th
with a save dc of 12 plus spell level...his chr of 24 should make it at least 17+spell..
also, how does he have a fly speed of 80 when all other magi get speeds of 40?
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arley the weaver is completely under cr'd? hes an 8th lvl sorc ogre magi with only a cr of 12- ogre magi is cr 8 with 8 lvls of sorc should put him at cr 16.
Arley is a wimp, and easily squashed by the PCs typical of this level. His CR is not 16.
Subjective judements aside, there are rules for adding class levels to monsters, and what the resulting CR is. Check out the back of the MM.
Here's the text snippets from the SRD:
"If you are advancing a monster by adding player character class levels, decide if the class levels directly improve the monster’s existing capabilities."
"Class levels that increase a monster’s existing strengths are known as associated class levels. Each associated class level a monster has increases its CR by 1."
"Adding a nonassociated class level to a monster increases its CR by 1/2 per level until one of its nonassociated class levels equals its original Hit Dice."
.........so, the designers assumed the Sor levels were "nonassociated", and thus Arley's CR is 8 + 1/2*8 =12.
And really, I agree with their assessment. The Sor levels don't do much for poor Arley.
Huh. I just noticed Orge mages have only 5 HD. So the CR calc should be: 8 + 1/2*5 +3. After rounding, that looks like CR 13. A mistake!