Ok, so now for the opposite end of the spectrum.. I'm curious as to which highly-posted encounters your PCs have just walked through, and why. I'll start off with myself with the most unlikely of easy fights... The double invisible stalkers in HoHR. One of our main PCs is a spirit shaman out of Complete Divine, and the chastise spririt ability (auto-damage to Incorp, Fey, or elementals) made mincemeat of them in about two rounds. Only got to knock one PC in the water (The source of the IS's woes) and he simply drank a potion of gaseous form and bubbled on out) Boohoo..
Bozal Zahol was the biggest cakewalk for my PCs when we were still doing the Age of Worms. There he was, buffed to the gills, and one dispel magic later, the most threatening spells were gone. A round of melee combat and it was over. May players still quote the exact inflection I gave to the word "crap" after that fight ended.
Bozal Zahol was the biggest cakewalk for my PCs when we were still doing the Age of Worms. There he was, buffed to the gills, and one dispel magic later, the most threatening spells were gone. A round of melee combat and it was over. May players still quote the exact inflection I gave to the word "crap" after that fight ended.
Yeah, my PCs made mincemeat of him too. They avoided the temple, but ended up fighting him as he fled the city under cover of darkness. Same thing for me.. 30 minutes of adjusting stats, making him 2 levels higher and what not, all to be taken down by a dispel magic and three chops from the Ranger/Fighter..
Seems like the coolest looking or most awesome villians get creamed in 2 turns.. Maybe the PCs see the villians picture and decide "Whoa.. This guy means business. Better bust out our most powerful magic items!" Oh well...
Bozal, Dragotha, the Harbinger, Ilthane, and Buldumech all went down like chumps.
The first round of competition in the Champion's Belt. In retrospect, instead of having one of the other teams form an alliance with the PCs, I should have given my PCs the opportunity to piss off all three of the other groups, then had the other three groups ally to wipe out the PCs first. Anything less than that just wouldn't be a challenge for my bloodthirsty bunch.
The urgulstasta actually went down awfully fast too, thanks to Druid + best Summoning spell + Animal Growth - and despite the fact that I ran the urgulstasta at full strength and fully able to complete the ritual by swallowing Auric (or either of two PCs that had at least one fighter level, or any of about 50 guards and spectators - I had a sort of "dark light" illuminate all the possible targets when the Urgulstasta appeared, so the critter would know who to go after, but Auric had the most Fighter levels so his aura was darkest and he became Target #1).
The Ebon Aspect was down and out in 2 rounds...against a party out of ressources and without a cleric (he died at the hands of the Faceless One...See Obituaries)
The lizard King and the first round of the Champions Games were incredibly easy too.
My party defeated the entirety of the blackwall keep adventure in a little under 4 hours - and none of them dropped below 3/4 health. Amazing what two clerics can do with command (approach) and hold person...
Other then that, in HoHR none of the dopplegangers could touch the PCs, even the greater one, (forgot his name).
ditto on the Encounter at Blackwall Keep. Also, every Kenku theyve fought died a horrible death at the PCs blade easily (to include Darl's henchwoman).
Pretty much the whole of the Champions Games was a cake-walk for my PC's. I guess part of it was the controlled environment that they could explicitly prepare for, knowing they could cut lose and not have to conserve resources (except they tried not to reveal all their best tricks too early, so opponents who prepared for them would get a surprise).
The first fight was super easy, they picked off the elves with Evard's then mopped up the others after they fought each other. The next fight looked really tough on paper, I added a 12th level Theldrick and a Blood Golem of Hextor to Pitch Blade, but the wizard/druid took out the golem with grease and Theldrick was taken out from range (so much for anitlife shell), then the dwarves were taken out in turn, one by being pushed over the height restriction (my players are pretty cunning). The fight against Madtooth was funny, as they didn't buy the story about the salamander so chose spells as normal, and the first action was the druid/wiz using scintillating sphere on it (coincidence, she took this a long time ago as she doesn't like fire spells). So next round, seeing lightning slows it, she casts call lightning, and so the two fighters (now hasted, thanks to the ring of spell storing), who have charged in, mop up poor madtooth in no time at all, and madtooth only gets a single action each round. The last fight, the wiz/dru takes out Auric before he even moves, with dominate person. The golems were a bit slow, and Khellek got about one useful spell off the whole fight before his confusion back-fired and a lucky roll means the "confused" PC fighter put a heap of arrows into the evil wizard and he was dead. Of course, in the middle of this was the Ulgurstasta, which surfaced on about round two, but somehow my group blasted this to pieces in short order, before it even got close enough to try and swallow anyone (except maybe a golem). Yep, my players were on fire for about three weeks of gaming there, it seemed like they were really hitting their straps and their opponents were struggling to catch up.
At the end, they joked that the average number of rounds each fight took was about two, and hardly ever took a scratch in return. In fact, the only real trouble they in that adventure had was underground, where that Demon was fought twice and both times the PC's retreated (via dimension door). Eventually they gave up and moving on as the games were finished and they let the authorities etc in the city know something evil still lurked below that they didn't seem to be able to kill. Yep, that demon was certainly the only part of that adventure that wasn't a cake-walk; it had no real weaknesses and they just couldn't pummel it hard enough for long enough (didn't help that both times they encountered it, one PC was missing). The room full of Spwawn and Mohrgs - scintillating sphere took out nearly all the spawn then hit and cleave took the rest before they even moved. The oozes - killed before even closing the distance.
Currently, the group is finding it a bit more difficult, but that's mostly because we've almost always got a player missing so two PC's and one cohort makes it tougher. The one session we had everyone present, the group easily mopped up the rest of the Gathering of Winds too. But I'm sure the Spire won't all be a cake-walk...
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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ditto on the Encounter at Blackwall Keep. Also, every Kenku theyve fought died a horrible death at the PCs blade easily (to include Darl's henchwoman).
I loved how the kenku in the maze were such soap bubbles. My players were pissed at the hit and run tactics, and when they finally connected and killed a kenku in one hit, they felt a lot better.
Of course, this lead them to act rashly, which lead them to leave the back line unprotected.
And we all know how that ends...
Not too many cakewalks here. My party didn't have too much trouble with Filge. The kenkus weren't too hard, but they were not supposed to be--just tricky until you figure out about the secret passages. The battle outside Blackwall Keep was the biggest cakewalk--enlarge paladin and let let 'im go! The kobolds in the egg chamber were easy, but did induce the paladin to slip and break an egg. A couple of the random encounters in the swamp were tough but some were very easy. The regular doppelgangers in the basement of the Sodden Hold were pretty easy, but the fake prisoners almost killed the real one before the party could protect him. All of my BBEG encounters have gone well, from DM's perspective--PCs challenged pretty close to the limits of their power, but only one party death to date.
I had one of those "DnD" moments last night. My Party was facing up the cr20 tree in Tilagos. They walk up to it, there's a few things done back and forth, and they begin to realize that things are about to go very very badly for them. They are average party level 13 after all.
Then the dread necromancer casts destruction on the tree. I laugh and, I kid you not, say "Well, it could always roll a one on its save.." I roll and down comes a one, just as slick as you please.
Tree of doom dead, end of fight. Just like that.
Biggest cakewalks?
1. Filge.
2. Bozal.
3. First battle of CB.
4. Pitch Blade.
5. Shukak.
Encounter at Blackwall Keep; the big fight at the keep.
Despite the module noting that the superior numbers of the lizardfolk gave them a huge EL and the PCs had no chance, the lizardfolk were no threat at all. The common lizardfolk need a 20 to hit, and the leaders weren't much better.
Geoff.
Interesting that two of you have mentioned Pitchblade as cakewalks. Pitchblade TPKd my PCs, forcing us to re-tool the entire campaign with a new set of PCs.
I think the addage in boxing must apply here where "Matchups make the fight."
Encounter at Blackwall Keep; the big fight at the keep.
Despite the module noting that the superior numbers of the lizardfolk gave them a huge EL and the PCs had no chance, the lizardfolk were no threat at all. The common lizardfolk need a 20 to hit, and the leaders weren't much better.
Geoff.
The exact same thing happened with my PCs. I mentioned it on these boards a while ago, and someone (Erik Mona?) said, "There are times when the PCs are SUPPOSED to kill the enemies easily," clearly contradicting the stress of the adventure itself. (The adventure makes it clear the PCs are NOT supposed to be able to win.) Oh well. You live and you learn, I guess.
I had one of those "DnD" moments last night. My Party was facing up the cr20 tree in Tilagos.
Tree of doom dead, end of fight. Just like that.
Now that you mentioned it, that was a huge cakewalk for my party too. Everyone else was hundreds of feet away, while the wizard teleported right outside its reach and just kept blasting it full of fire spells. All its spell-like abilities either 1) needed Will saves, at which the wizard was nigh-unbeatable, or 2) were too low-level to affect the wizard. She ended up destroying it all on her own before anyone else even got near enough.
the lizardfolk were so weak, calling the battle a cakewalk would be putting it nicely.
The battle with PB surprised me; from looking at the stats I figured it would be a tough fight. Here's how it went (what i remember anyways):
round 1: PB charges PCs. Drusfan hits for 20+ points of damage. Pharbol sunders the cleric's magic sword. PCs retaliate with call lightning and begin summoning. Pharbol is hit with a tanglefoot bag.
Round 2: Pharbol hit with another tanglefoot bag, can't move. Summoned polar bear grapples Drusfan.
Round 3: PCs lay beatdown on PB. Game over.
Yeah, My PCs kind of walked over PB. Couple of flamestrikes and three summoned dire wolves end up tripping em and keeping them down almost the whole fight. Pretty much all the arena fights were easy except for the last, and that's only cause ugly appeared. (He killed 3, 4 including Khellek!)froghemoth had a sheer coolness factor going for it(barrier peaks and all), but got nerfed by freedom of movement spells.
It seems like there are four spells that pretty much nerf everything in the game: Deathward, Freedom of Movement, Mindblank, and True Seeing.... and my PCs know this. Grrr...
Probably gonna swap out Dragotha's spells so he doesn't go down like a chump...
Now that you mentioned it, that was a huge cakewalk for my party too. Everyone else was hundreds of feet away, while the wizard teleported right outside its reach and just kept blasting it full of fire spells. All its spell-like abilities either 1) needed Will saves, at which the wizard was nigh-unbeatable, or 2) were too low-level to affect the wizard. She ended up destroying it all on her own before anyone else even got near enough.I had one of those "DnD" moments last night. My Party was facing up the cr20 tree in Tilagos.
Tree of doom dead, end of fight. Just like that.
Yeah, the Night Twist and the Octopus tree (whats with nearly identical encounters in the same mod, btw?) are easily defeatable by old fashioned kiting. A guy with a good will save (or death ward) will eventually kill the Night Twist once everyone figures out what is up.
Of course my party out clevered themselves, advancing to withing 200 ft under cover of silence and then coming out of said silence one by one to make, or fail, the will saves. Given a choice, it seems like my pc's will take the more complex and obtuse route every time.
Filge.
My game's cleric sneezed ... and Filge's undead rolled over.
Yeah, My PCs kind of walked over PB. Couple of flamestrikes and three summoned dire wolves end up tripping em and keeping them down almost the whole fight. Pretty much all the arena fights were easy except for the last, and that's only cause ugly appeared. (He killed 3, 4 including Khellek!)froghemoth had a sheer coolness factor going for it(barrier peaks and all), but got nerfed by freedom of movement spells.
It seems like there are four spells that pretty much nerf everything in the game: Deathward, Freedom of Movement, Mindblank, and True Seeing.... and my PCs know this. Grrr...
Probably gonna swap out Dragotha's spells so he doesn't go down like a chump...
we're auric and khellek really easy to beat? i'm asking because i'm about to run the final battle and I want it to actually be a challenge. Looking at their stats, I think my pcs will walk all over them, so I am considering bumping them to 12th level, adding another 6th level fighter, and getting rid of the golems.
I've said it before and i'll say it again, and again, and again. Antimagic field + Dragotha = yikes.
we're auric and khellek really easy to beat? i'm asking because i'm about to run the final battle and I want it to actually be a challenge. Looking at their stats, I think my pcs will walk all over them, so I am considering bumping them to 12th level, adding another 6th level fighter, and getting rid of the golems.
I've said it before and i'll say it again, and again, and again. Antimagic field + Dragotha = yikes.
Auric was no chump, but a flying, fireballing Khellek simply got dispelled, dropped to the ground (nasty fall damage), and tripped by a couple of summoned Dire Wolves. Once Ugly appeared, Khellek was already unconcious and the thing's bristle aura simply shredded him.
If you think your PCs are gonna fight Auric's band without incursion of Ugly, I suggest giving Khellek a Con boost somehow. A potion of bear's endurance isn't a lot of money to experienced adventurers. I know the adventure is written as is, but I sometimes liketayloring encounters to make it more fun for the players.(Like giving Dragotha an anti-magic field spell or two... good idea)
"Ugly" will appear during the final battle, having been released by Raknian, who will also join the fight with Okoral. At this point, I am hoping that the two teams will work together to defeat the Apostle and Raknian.
I like running the adventures mostly as-written, but I don't have a problem with making changes if I think an encounter is too challenging or not challenging enough. I will certainly be changing some spells and feats for Khellek, and a couple feats for Auric. If they are 12th level, I'm going to make Khellek a double wand wielder (2 wands of scorching ray...OUCH!) and give Auric bounding assault, leap attack, and so forth.
The Harbinger, by far. Party simply put up Antimagic Field and walked in slicing and dicing. Over within the first round.
Bozal Zahol was the biggest cakewalk for my PCs when we were still doing the Age of Worms. There he was, buffed to the gills, and one dispel magic later, the most threatening spells were gone. A round of melee combat and it was over. May players still quote the exact inflection I gave to the word "crap" after that fight ended.
That is EXACTLY what happened to me last night. They charged in, he rolled low on init, the first fighter bounced off the anti-life shell, the cleric dispelled it, the archer criticaled him, and the ogre stormed in and butchered him.
I just flipped my init card for him in the air and said, "Well, sh*t." He never got to act.
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My players haven't gotten very far yet, but one encounter stands out. In Drakthar's Way, the vampire discovered the party heading for his throne room. He created 5 swarms of bats and sent them ahead, while trying to sneak up to the party. If he had stayed out of the fight and let the bats have all the fun, he might've lived, but that wasn't in his tactics. Long story short, one lucky hit from the paladin's Smite made him go poof.
The party walked over the goblin ambushes, too. I think the worst thing they ran into were the shocker lizards that put the rogue to -8 first round, since he didn't tell the cleric that he was already hurt. Next round, both lizards were dead and the rogue was saved.
My players haven't gotten very far yet, but one encounter stands out. In Drakthar's Way, the vampire discovered the party heading for his throne room. He created 5 swarms of bats and sent them ahead, while trying to sneak up to the party. If he had stayed out of the fight and let the bats have all the fun, he might've lived, but that wasn't in his tactics. Long story short, one lucky hit from the paladin's Smite made him go poof.
This sounds like it is from a Shackled City adventure, rather than an Age of Worms adventure.
we're auric and khellek really easy to beat? i'm asking because i'm about to run the final battle and I want it to actually be a challenge. Looking at their stats, I think my pcs will walk all over them, so I am considering bumping them to 12th level, adding another 6th level fighter, and getting rid of the golems.
I've said it before and i'll say it again, and again, and again. Antimagic field + Dragotha = yikes.
Auric & Khellek was the toughest fight of the Champion's Games, and possibly the toughest overall (Zyrxog may have been tougher).
My group had 5 PCs, a cohort, an animal companion, & the paladin's mount, so I made a few changes. I gave A&K each a level increase, but probably the biggest change I made was changing out some of Khellek's spells--I replaced all his 3rd level spells with Dispel Magics to counterspell the party's mage invoker (certainly more firepower than Khellek, but not as sneaky or calculating). I figured by now he'd have a chance to watch the PCs in the previous fights, & thus be able to prepare for whatever they could throw at him.
Most of the party, including the invoker, failed to save against K's opening assault with a Confusion spell, which would've ended in a TPK (okay, maybe not "kill") did I not have a house rule allowing non-confused PCs to spend a full-round action "shaking" another PC out of confusion. The PCs eventually won, but it was a tough fight.
As for "cakewalks" (or fights that ended a little too fast):
1. The Ebon Aspect
2. Most of Encounter at Blackwall Keep
3. Bozal Zahol (I like Tito's stuff, but poor choice of names--too much like "Bozo")
3. The Apostle of Kyuss (mainly to DM having bad grapple rolls)
I'm not sure if it's because I ran him improperly, but Krathanos the Shackled Conqueror just went down like a chump. Bardic Knowledge plus good rolls on Knowledge Planes= uber prepared party resisting his fire and lightning (prot/elements) and healing the 100+ damage he'd do on a full attack. He started out as it suggests, grandstanding (power attack +20, miss).He then moved to open the cages and got intercepted by summoned Huge Fire Elementals that crisped the apes. He unleashed a meteor swarm and repeated Chain Lightnings, but these got evaded or nerfed by above spells. He doesn't really have a way to heal... does he? By the time the gargoyles joined in, he was missing well over half and being flanked by summoned monsters of all types and a group of beefed hitter PCs with aligned Lawful weapons. What really screwed him up was the curse of the hexblade (which he failed against), coupled with her dark summons (reducing saves, AC by 6!), and a couple of critical fumble rolls on attacks (open dice) followed by a failed save (FORTITUDE, HIS BEST!!!) against a Bigsby's Grasping Hand Stun attack. He got Punked!!! Oh well, can't wait to throw Darl and co. at them...
Make sure Darl is on the "up and up" on your PCs little tricks. In my campaign, there was little about the PCs he did not know.
Make sure Darl is on the "up and up" on your PCs little tricks. In my campaign, there was little about the PCs he did not know.
Yeah, for every Commune the party has cast, Darl has cast three about them. Vecna is the god of secrets, right? :)
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The Froghemoth was most likely the biggest surprise cakewalk for my group so far (but in a good way). I beefed him up, giving him 8 extra hit dice, gargantuan size, stoneskin and Resist Energy electricity but it mattered little.
They divined the delay tactics and where not thrown off by the whole salamander deception. Dispel Magic, Freedom of Movement on the two warriors, a critical power attacking great axe (107 points later) as well as an empowered orb of force as well as some other nasty stuff and the Froghemoth in all his glory was toasted. Surprisingly funny but good tactics and rolls from my group and they were absolutely cheering.
To add to the cakewalk element, I built the match-up as "unfair", "you believe Raknian has changed the creature match-up to kill you guys off" and so on. With such weight of expectation as well as the size of the creature, the group were real worried. Lot's of fun!!!
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
Well, Harrowdroth, the big bad Nightmare of the Thorn Vale, just went down like a chump. My PCs have discovered the spell Brilliant Aura from the Spell Compendium, which turns all their weapons into brilliant energy (8th level cleric/7th level druid). This one spell seems to help them walk through all the random encounters as well as Harrowdroth. He hid behind the steam, charging the party, dropping one PC into the abyss. Next round, party closes, hit with attacks, smite evils, snake's swiftness spell that gives everyone free attacks, and two rounds of attacks before the thing is dead. It got to do one cool thing (the charge)... Oh well, at least I gave 2 PCs nightmares while they tried to divine his location..
Moral here is Brilliant Energy+Power Attack=Quickly Dead Monsters. Definitely gonna up the challenge on the last trial they have: the tree.
We just finished the first Module. I have to say The whole submerged portion of the Dungeon. The Ghoul went down to the Fighter's Long Spear reach AoO and the following normal attack before getting a single attack off. :)
And I was worried about them drowning or being paralyzed while underwater etc.
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Well, Harrowdroth, the big bad Nightmare of the Thorn Vale, just went down like a chump. My PCs have discovered the spell Brilliant Aura from the Spell Compendium, which turns all their weapons into brilliant energy (8th level cleric/7th level druid). This one spell seems to help them walk through all the random encounters as well as Harrowdroth. He hid behind the steam, charging the party, dropping one PC into the abyss. Next round, party closes, hit with attacks, smite evils, snake's swiftness spell that gives everyone free attacks, and two rounds of attacks before the thing is dead. It got to do one cool thing (the charge)... Oh well, at least I gave 2 PCs nightmares while they tried to divine his location..
Moral here is Brilliant Energy+Power Attack=Quickly Dead Monsters. Definitely gonna up the challenge on the last trial they have: the tree.
Err... doesn't Brilliant Energy only ignore armor, but is still highly affected by natural armor? I don't believe it's very effective against non-armor wearing foes....
Moral here is Brilliant Energy+Power Attack=Quickly Dead Monsters. Definitely gonna up the challenge on the last trial they have: the tree.
Bear in mind that brilliant energy ignores armor bonuses but not natural armor bonuses. This caught me by surprise too.
I'm still only partly through TFoE, but so far I'd have to say Filge. A lucky turn roll from the party cleric (using Disciple of the Sun) and all of Filge's zombies save the bugbear are destroyed. This is followed by several nicely rolled blasts to Filge from the warlock, and the necromancer is on his knees begging for his life within two rounds.
On the upside, they agreed to take him into the Dark Cathedral and he is waiting for an opportune time to strike...
Moral here is Brilliant Energy+Power Attack=Quickly Dead Monsters. Definitely gonna up the challenge on the last trial they have: the tree.Bear in mind that brilliant energy ignores armor bonuses but not natural armor bonuses. This caught me by surprise too.
Big whoops on my part then... I totally did not catch that, and am now hitting myself for it. It would have been very helpful in the Battle of the Brilliant Energy Blades (Fight versus Darl, both sides had it, but it was still really close). That's okay though, nothing on the Island has a really great AC besides old Krathanos, so a BE weapon hasn't really mattered so much to the smiting paladin, who can still hit everything without it.
Our party did Kyuss in one round.
Or more correctly, our Magister (a class from AE) did Kyuss in one round. Owned!!
Except that I don't think hold person actually would work on lizard folk, would it?
My party defeated the entirety of the blackwall keep adventure in a little under 4 hours - and none of them dropped below 3/4 health. Amazing what two clerics can do with command (approach) and hold person...
Other then that, in HoHR none of the dopplegangers could touch the PCs, even the greater one, (forgot his name).
Almost done TFoE, and the only pushover so far is the Temple of Hextor, which I thought would be tough, but they rolled right through it, and didn't even think to push to statue over to climb up (but they didn't really need to with 2 pt of spider climb and 1 pt of levitation).
The Faceless One, The Lizard King, Ebone Aspect, and the lame necromancer form "Whispering Cairn" were all one round wonders.
We had a harder time with elementals guarding Zozials true tomb.
Lizard folk at the seige of BK were such a push over that the party just buffed the half orc barbarian, silenced him and let him take the lair solo.
he was like a magically quiet Brock Sampson. we named the tactic the "Nogu Bomb". it was sick
My PCs dropped Bozal Zahol in one round. He never got to act, either. The whole of the Champions Games was a cakewalk for them, and I beefed up every single team they faced.
The alkilith ate them for breakfast, though.
They dropped Ilthane, and Zyrxog like chumps, too.
Ilthane was holding her own, and then in the final round:
flying barbarian lands a greataxe crit
flying monk stuns and trips Ilthane, sending her to the ground
ranger/rogue charges and lands another greataxe sneak attack crit on the stunned, prone Ilthane
No more dragon.
I actually had several fights go from "we're all dead" to "oh that was easy" in the course of a single round.
The Harbinger, by far. Party simply put up Antimagic Field and walked in slicing and dicing. Over within the first round.
Ditto, here. Our wizard shot him with Antimagic Ray (Spell Comp, I think) and that was that. I decided to allow him to at least retain some dignity, by letting my cleric blast him straight to wherever spell weaver liches go when they're utterly destroyed.
Though two other "cakewalks" of note would include the oculus demon and "The Overgod" from TPoR. The oculus demon got his eye blasts off, but thanks to our dragonwrought (Races of the Dragon) kobold unintimidated by a paralyzing gaze, a prismatic orb (or ray? I forget) randomly sent him to Arborea, of all places! The Overgod's demise was a surprise. After our elven fighter/wizard dealt 52 points of damage to it, courtesy of +2 holy spiked chain that critically hit, the spell Critical Strike (Spell Comp--the Overgod was flat-footed), and the cleric's spell Blessing of the Righteous (PHB2, I think), I was reminded that the Overgod would have to save against massive damage. No prob, w/a +22 mod, but wouldn't ya know it? A natural one.