I'm scared of him.
And I'm the Dungeon Master. My group of 5 now 3rd lvl characters are about 3-4 encounters away from running into him, and they're worn out, and I'm not sure they're ready. The fightiest party member has a +7 Attack Bonus... and with Kaz's Full Plate, that translates into only hitting on a 16. With flanking and a bless, that's still a 13. And any time Kaz isn't dealt more than 5 hp a round... zoop, ground is loss. Meanwhile, my group consists largely of light armor-wearing rogue-multiclassers, (a non-melee-ish) favored soul and a swashbuckler. And no arcane casters... yet (one character's multiclassing into it next lvl.) In general, Kaz doesn't need more than an 11 to hit (with the highest bonus attack of the double-weap.)
I'm hoping the Jzadirune pulverisor automoton who thinks the party gnome is his daddy survives long enough to help even the odds, and I've already decided to move Prickles from the great hall to Kaz's bedroom, but I'm still worried that even 1 on 5 (or with his hobgoblin ughs 3 on 5,) the half-troll/half-dwarf can stomp the party.
And... thoughts? I've considered replacing the full-plate with banded mail, but I worry if that'd be erring too much in the other direction. Then again, he'd rather imprison them than slay them, so it's possibly not too bad if he beats them (since I already have plans for if they need to be freed.)
And they don't have to fight Kaz either. I'd leave him in as a lesson in "fighting is not always the best policy".
I was worried about this fight, too, but keep in mind that you can always have Fario and Fellian arrive to save the day. Alternatively, if things get too nasty, you can have Kaz start dealing subdual damage and just imprison them. My crew ended up taking out Kaz, but having a terrible time with Prickles. He took two of them into negative hp.
--Fang
The answer is easy: If everything looks hopelessly lost for your PC, have our favorite beholder save the day.
Lord Vhalantru pops in, collects Terrem and then starts cleaning the Malachite Fortress of its occupants
Why does he want to kill good old Kazmojen? Simple, the idiot has attracted too much attention on himself as hinted in Vervil Ashmantle’s letter (M11). It’s high time to get rid of a weak link that may somewhat lead back to Vhalantru.
Why doesn’t Vhalantru kill the PCs? First, they don’t have to know that he won’t kill them. Second, because he recognizes them for what they are: a bunch of beginners. They are not a threat and you never know they might prove usefull in the future. Better to keep them alive for the time being.
How to play the encounter? Play Vhalantru as the charismatic villain he is. Think James Bond villain. Make him pop in and then present his excuses for interrupting what looks like a very warm family reunion. He hates to intrude but he came here for two things…. But do not worry he is not here for long …. First, could someone very kindly send Terrem to him. Oh! And could you also remove his chains…Thank you……Second, he starts expressing how disappointed he is with Kazmojen. He is quite wounded to have put such trust in him…very disappointing he is and HE ABSOLUTELY HATES TO BE DISAPPOINTED….then he goes all homicidal on Kazmojen and his crew.
For the PCs, the logical thing would be to get out of here very fast while Vhalantru slaughters Kazmojen’s body guards. Usually at least one of the PC will want to do something heroic against the beholder. That’s not a problem. Have Vhalantru use his sleep ray on him, except that you player doesn’t need to know that. Make him roll his save (which he should fail), describe that his limp body falls to the ground in a great crash and ask him to hand over his PC sheet. Give him a new one and ask him what kind of new class would he like to play?
This should absolutely put the fear of the beholder in the rest of the party. Have then Vhalantru chase them across the whole Malachite Fortress in a mad dash to the elevator. Kill (actually sleep) your PCs one by one to keep them on the move. The climax should be when they are just in sight of the elevator…they run the last few meters that separate them from safety…only to slam into an invisible force wall cast by Thifirane. They slowly turn around to face Vhalantru who his standing there grining and boy with his big teeth of his he sure can grin…All fall asleep.
They wake up a few hours later. All traces of Kazmojen and his crew have disappeared (very handy this disintegrate ray don’t you think) save for area M11(The letter might help them piece a few thing about what exactly just happened) which Vhalantru has overlooked. The remaining three children are safe as well and can be found sleeping in the main room
You see, it is an even better ending than having a straight fight. And what about the irony of owing your life as a PC to a beholder…..
I'm scared of him. And I'm the Dungeon Master.
My advice is to run it as written.
I just ran the fight with 4 PCs of 2nd level. They were getting beaten badly, and having trouble getting any damage to stick to Kazmojen. The players were smart (they're all long time D&D players); When they realized that they had little chance of bypassing Kazmojen's high AC, they started to use tactics such as aid another or grappling to prevent the dwarf-troll from attacking. In the end, i did have Fario run in to help, because things were taking way too long and i really wanted things to end one way or another. They used the aforementioned tactics to help Fario land the killing blow, and no none died.
With your 5 PCs of 3rd level, i think it'll be fine.
Look at it this way: If the PCs win, great. If they lose, well, Kazmojen sells slaves, and any PC that hasn't bled to death is another body for him to sell. You can have Fario & Fellian rescue them. This is what i had planned (before it took the party 4.5 hours of real time to end the fight with mighty Kazmojen).
All of this assumes that the players choose not to negotiate the release of the children, and avoid fighting the powerhouse that is Kazmojen. By the way, Prickles is nothing to laugh at. . .
Greetings,
Thank you all for the replies, imput, and stories of what happened when your parties ran into Kazmojen. Let me address a couple of quotes, then I'll tell how it went:
And they don't have to fight Kaz either. I'd leave him in as a lesson in "fighting is not always the best policy".
That was... a bit of a tough spot, there, really. They'd already gathered that Kazmojen was a slaver looking to sell children for gold, which kind of punched the Lawful Good Favored Soul's buttons pretty hard there ICly. He did not want to negotiate or buy people from a slave-mongerer.
The answer is easy: If everything looks hopelessly lost for your PC, have our favorite beholder save the day.
Actually, something slightly like that happened. Your thought was a rather good one, but I decided to make Big V's act a bit more precise.
My Mods for the Kazmojen fight:
Removed Prickles: (He's still in the dungeon, just in Kaz's bedroom,)
Took Kazmojen's dexterity down by 2 (giving him 1 less point of AC.)
Removed Kaz's bite attack.
It was still an intense and tough fight, and by the time it was over, Kazmojen was down to 6 hit points, was /on fire,/ and tearing people up with his claw-claw-rend attack (because against all odds and modifiers, the party -gnome- disarmed him and made him more dangerous!) It was a very touch and go moment. Since the PCs were hurting bad too, it could have gone either way from that point, based on luck of the rolls.
At that point, I had Vhalantru, whom teleported down and invisibly watched the fight, decide, . o O (What the heck, they did pretty well, and this is a good moment to take out this weak link.) turn visible, and disintegrate Kazmojen on the spot.
I used a line that was surprisingly like what Tabula suggested (especially since I'd planned on him saying it to them well in advance. Neat coincidence!) "I am very Displeased, Kazmojen. It is not in your best interests to Displease me." Of course, he said it after Kaz was dust, mostly for the effect on the PCs. Then, he left with Terrem and left the stunned and awed PCs to deal with the rest of the cleanup.
Too beat up to continue, everyone limped back up to Cauldron with the kids, resolving to go back down once they were healed and rested to make sure all they hadn't missed any slaves (since they didn't find the other kidnappees yet.)
It's also a good idea to have Farian and Fellio ready for a little deus-ex-machina if the PCs suddenly need someone invisible to pour a potion of cure moderate wounds down their throat.
The party I am running ended up deciding to buy the children off Kazmojen in the end, after V showed up and took Terrem away (which neatly interrupted them being soundly beaten on all fronts by K).
They managed to revisit the Malchite Fortress after completing Zenith Trajectory, and took great joy in taking Kazmojen to task for his evil ways.
Reggie.
It's also a good idea to have Farian and Fellio ready for a little deus-ex-machina if the PCs suddenly need someone invisible to pour a potion of cure moderate wounds down their throat.
I feel at this point it is likely best to "come clean." When I say 5 party members, I'm including Fario and Felian into the group. That's why the party is so rogue-heavy. I arranged for the opportunity for the half-elves to pool resources with the PCs and storm Jzad and the M-Hold together. I know that often, including NPCs into the party is considered a no-no, but my players are cool with it. They like having extra NPCs travelling with them to interact with, and get to know, and playfully "pick on," (one PC is a snooty aristocrat - I'm looking forward to the Stormblades.) and to help back them up. And there's only 3 players, so the backup helps.
My advice is to run it as written.I just ran the fight with 4 PCs of 2nd level. They were getting beaten badly, and having trouble getting any damage to stick to Kazmojen. The players were smart (they're all long time D&D players); When they realized that they had little chance of bypassing Kazmojen's high AC, they started to use tactics such as aid another or grappling to prevent the dwarf-troll from attacking. In the end, i did have Fario run in to help, because things were taking way too long and i really wanted things to end one way or another. They used the aforementioned tactics to help Fario land the killing blow, and no none died.
With your 5 PCs of 3rd level, i think it'll be fine.
My Players are plenty smart, and excellent roleplayers (two are theatre majors in college,) but the rules sometimes escape them. I have to admit, my group consists of 2 people who've never played 3rd edition or 3.5, and one player who's kind of an old 2nd Ed vetran who's openminded enough to give 3.5 a fair shake, but it isn't his native system. So... "Aid Another" doesn't exactly leap to their minds, though at least one of them knows it exists as an option. I've been planning doing a sort of battle tutorial for them soon, so I can really get them comfy with their options.
Still, the group survived, and they (in D&D land) do say you have to tailor your game and challenges to your group.
... By the way, Prickles is nothing to laugh at. . .
Yeah, that's why I kicked him out of the auction room. Bad howler, no PC bones for you! ^-^;
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We just finished SCAP a few weeks ago(fridays seem empty now), and Kazmojen was still a pretty memorable fight. He was the turning point where my players shifted from the 'kick in the door and kill things' strategy to the 'we'd better think about this unless we are sure we can nuke them' strategy.
The party had a particularly min-maxed half-orc barbarian who up until that point was doing unimaginable things in melee for their level. The team just busted open the door and the half-orc ran straight for kaz, leaving the rest of the team to handle the smaller guys in the room.
One round later the team was left with barbarian meat and an angry troll/dwarf. The bard quickly stepped up, glaring at kazmogen for killing his guard, and telling him that he had better take that off the price for the kids he has heard are for sale.
All in all it was a pretty memorable scene. The team ended up fighting kaz a little later and better prepared, but it gave a good show that with SCAP a lot of things are going to be tough and sometimes you have to think around them rather then just try and cut through them.
Our favorite, axe-wielding halftroll-slaver has amassed a respectable amount of wealth, stored in his secret vault. Low level characters call such a hoard at lest verrry impressive and some of them (those pesky smart ones) will ask the dreadful question:
“Where did all that come from?”
For the DM that´s a very good question, considering the fact, that old K.´s slavering business doesn´t seem to run especially well - I mean, according to the web-enhancement to Life´s Bazaar, there were a total of 25 cases of dissappearing townsfolk in the last three months, and even when we assume, that old K.´s cronies were behind all those kidnappings, we also know that 13 of these haven´t been sold when the characters enter the scene …
Some of the victims had to stay for a rather long time in those prison cells, where they had to get food and water to remain in shape for reselling, but old K. offers the children at a discount rate of 50 goldpieces for each of them to Pyllrak, who acted on behalf of an interested buyer, who had ordered the children in advance.
What we also know, is, that the dark-creepers and skulks sell their victims to old K. for further reselling.
And, finally, keeping a household consisting of 25 hobgoblin guards and 5 goblin servants costs money, too.
As far as we can tell, old K. has to worry about a lot of expenses, but very little income, but still manages to have a great deal of wealth, which has to come from a previously unknown source …
The belongings of the kidnapped victims are not a very likely source, because the skulks have kept most of the loot for themselves, only valuables the victims kept close to their bodies (for example, Ms. Pikes walking-cane) found their way into the malachite fortress.
Lord Orbius is also a most unlikely candidate for funding old K.s operations, because it is clearly stated in the adventure book, that Lord Orbius only allowed K. to conduct business in exchange for information about current ongoings in the local part of the Underdark – payment of any kind was never mentioned.
- So, we have to ask ourselves, which options for a steady income does a shrewd business-troll like old K. have?
He owns a fortress, employs guards – therefore we can guess, that he gets paid for guarding something valuable, which is most likely stored at the location old K. considers the safest – his treasure vault.
Going through the items of the vault, the most sinister looking are the black, iron, demon-shaped keys – which seem almost to cry out : plot-device, plot-device!
I´d like to use those keys for tie the adventures in Cauldron together, perhaps they are important to some movers and shakers of the underdark, or the guild of the last laugh, perhaps they mean something to the cagewrights, or even to a Cauldronite noble with not exactly noble intentions …
Has anybody out there some further suggestions, leading to memorable side-treks, which doors those keys will unlock?
Let those olde brains storm - yours truly, Claremont the elder, Lord Buckley
I'm playing this with a smaller group (3 players, 1 PC each but they are allowed to gestalt). Fario and Fellian had "joined" the party before they encountered Kazmojen and it would have been a total TPK if I hadn't fudged in the PC's favor.
Looking back at the encounter, I think the biggest problem was Kazmojen's AC (plus I didn't really want to give the PCs access to full plate armor so "early"). High AC and fast healing/regeneration (don't have book handy so I can't remember what it is) are a lethal combination for low level characters. I would downgrade his armor to nothing heavier than a breastplate (and would probably go lighter yet). I also didn't run the encounter with Prickles, but I suspect that it would be absolultely deadly with a howler in the mix. (I've DM'd Return to Temple of Elemental Evil for another group and they widely regarded the howler at the west gate as one of the worst monsters in the CRM.)
Best bet is lower his ac to allow your group to hit at least 40% of the time.
I really enjoyed this fight with my group. I handled it straight with no modifications. I have a reasonably competent group and I knew at the outset that it had the potential to be anywhere from a cakewalk (like if the wizard had landed with a Color Spray), to a solid fight, to a bloodbath depending on how the rolls went.
It started out pretty grim with the monk rushing in and getting stopped in his tracks as Kazmojen, with an obviously readied attack, dealt the monk a blow that took him from max hit points (20) to zero in one fell swoop. You'd be amazed at how that can take the wind out of someone's sails. The really funny thing was when the archer released an arrow that accidentally struck the monk in the back (the monk was between the archer and Kazmojen and thus provided cover and the archer JUST missed) which dropped the monk to -7 and probably saved his life. If Kazmojen or Prickles had hit him again instead of the archer, he almost surely would have dropped to -10 or below.
The barbarian was the next to fall as he tried to toe-to-toe it with Prickles while Kazmojen beat him to death. He killed Prickles but dropped into the negatives and fell out of his rage, dying instantly.
The dwarven fighter then started using Improved Trip to keep Kazmojen on the ground (thus making him significantly easier to hit) which gave the healers time to get the monk back on his feet. Between the Attacks of Opportunity every time Kazmojen tried to stand up and the free attack every time the fighter tripped him successfully, the monk and fighter together were able to whittle down Kazmojen fast enough to overcome his Fast Healing. I was pretty surprised since, as a dwarf, Kazmojen is pretty stable and not easy to trip, but the rolls went to the party and that's just the way it goes sometimes.
The party's wizard spent the entire fight with a readied action preparing to snap off a disrupting spell should Pyllrak appear since they saw him go invisible at the very beginning of the fight.
On the whole, it was a great fight. It started out harsh, gave the group that sinking "we may be up a serious creek here, guys..." feeling, but smart play and good rolls won the day and the group proved victorious. One character died which reinforces the value of the lives of all those who survived. It's just what I was hoping for and afraid might not come to pass.
The group consisted of five 3rd levels and one 2nd level. It was a challenge, to be sure. But they won and that's what it's all about - overcoming a serious challenge by way of wits, skill, and a little bit of luck.
Shannon
