What level characters have been in your campaigns when the fight with Kullen's gang crops up?
The module is 1-3 but are your groups lvl 1, 2 or 3 when they show down against Kullen and his gang.
My reason for asking is that my group started higher - currently human fighter 2/rogue 1, halfling rogue 2, human monk 2 and gnome artificer 1 and they are just about to head to the Land Property so I guess te next session they will face The Gang and I was wandering if I need to level The Gang a bit.
First, while your players investigate Kullen and his gang, make clear that they are tough guys, and that your PCs should be out for a tough fight if they go straight against them. Then you will have to decide if it really is going to be a tough fight or if Kullen's reputation is just wrong (in the end he is level 3 and a commoner is level 1, so for a commoner he really is a tough guy). It depends : If you want to keep the spirit of the encounter, make him and his gang higher level, if you want to make it easy for your PCs, just leave the NSCs as written, so your players can take them out rather easily.
My players, for example, (level 2 at the time) snatched one from the back of the group with a sleep spell, while Kullen and his gang were heading home after washing down their frustration with a lot of cheap beer, then my PCs draged him off to torture him with some money to leave town (which he didn't). They will face him in TFoE, first to arrange a meeting with Smenk and then I decided, that Smenk sends them after the PCs to finish the job either with the cult or the group of heroes. The good thing: either they can help the PCs against the Ebon Aspect, if my players are too weak at that point, or they can make it an even tougher fight, if my players are too strong, or they will serve as a dramatic show piece, when the Ebon Aspect rips Kullen's gang apart. I even think about redeeming Kullen, if the PCs save him, maybe as a Cohort or contact in town...but that depends on the PCs.
My group was level 2 at the time, if I remember correctly. They waited outside the inn until one of the group-members went out alone, then one of the PCs used disguise and Charm Person to get him away from the area and ask him about the opened graves. Never had to face the rest of the group at all :)
My party made friends with Kullen. They offered him up the owlbear that killed Skutch (I think that was his name) and his attitude towards them became indifferent. No fighting necessary.
Had it come to a fight, I think they might've won, and they'd just hit 3rd level.
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my group was 2nd level when facing off against Kullen. I try to keep them at appropriate levels when fighting major foes..
(SPOILERS)
Kullen's Gang....2nd
Filge/Zombies....2nd (burying the bones gets them to 3rd)
Wind Warriors....3rd
Theldrick........3rd
Grimlock BBN.....3rd
Grallak Kur......4th
Faceless One.....4th
Cathedral Beast..4th (but gets them to 5th)
etc.
My party talked their way through Kullen the first time, but then the party bard ran into Kullen at the Feral Dog afterwards while on a gather info foray. The party had let Filge go, and thus Allandrin was unable to cough up the set of necromancer's eyeballs Kullen had demanded. Kullen made to smash his face, but the bard wriggled his way out with a Tasha's hideous laughter spell, embarrassing Kullen in front of his homies and making him more than willing to play assassin when Smenk sent him to silence the party. I leveled up Kullen's gang and had them attack the party (5th level) while they were spending the night at Shank's Rest (sans Allustan, IMC). It was a very tough fight, resulting in my only PC death to date. (Stats for leveled up Kullen & co. available on request).
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we didn't face off against Kullen...well...not all of us. Kullen decided to pick on our half-orc barbarian for ordering a girly drink, and our barbarian sort of attacked Kullen.
Later, when we needed to get information from them, we dealt with only one of them, a straggler who left the bar last. Much to the chagrin of the LG characters in the party, we jumped him and dragged him into the shadows to interrogate him. We bribed him quite a lot and told him that if he told Kullen about our 'interest' in him, we would tell Kullen about the extra gold lining his pouch.
I believe we were L2 at the time.
Just hit 3rd level. It was a great fight, very difficult as written. There were multiple characters taken down between the combination of the guy with the pole arm (reach tripping) and the wizard's ray of enfeeblements.
To make the fight a little bit more challenging, have it take place in a back alley where there is limited mobility so the characters have to move through lots of threatened squares.
I had three second level characters that got by on the skin of their teeth. Kullen dropped the cleric to negatives pretty quick and it wasn't until the ranger got a crit on Kullen and the wizard also got a crit on Bask with an acid flask that it seemed like the PCs had a chance. From there, once Kullen was down, I figured the other guys would run for it.
consider me requesting
peebo@@@@@@@@penchewer........com
Thanks
Sent!