Stavrala and her hag-spawn grunts totalled the PCs, no contest; not even close (3 PCs: human fighter 5/reaping mauler 5/druid 5; elf fighter 1/cleric 14; vampire sorcerer 6/swashbuckler 3/eldritch knight 6; plus cohorts: human rogue 2/wizard 6/prestige bard 5, and anthropomorphic ape barbarian 12).
The hagspawn dropped the fighter in melee, but were finally finished off by the ape. Stavrala healed (harmed) the vampire to 1 hp (knowing she was undead when she breached the antilife shell), then mass cure light wounded her into oblivion. The cleric and bard couldn't seem to penetrate the hag's SR with anything except cold spells (to which Stavrala is immune), and the ape and summoned monsters couldn't breach her antilife shell (which the cleric failed to dispel).
One destruction later and no more bard. Blasphemy dazes the survivors; a slay living wipes out the cleric. Raging ape misses AC 33 repeatedly until brought unconscious with soul scour and then slain. So, one CR 17 hag and four CR 9 spawn annihilated three 15th level PCs (one of which was ECL 23!) and two 12th-13th level cohorts, while remaining essentially unwounded.
Is this a bit much, given the relative CRs? I even gave the PCs action points, which were all that kept them from death even earlier, when the hagspawn captain AND barbed devil are thrown in. At the end of the day, Stavrala was immune to absolutely everything they attempted. I'm thinking the recommended PC level of 15th was too low... unless this party was just incredibly lame?
So, one CR 17 hag and four CR 9 spawn annihilated three 15th level PCs (one of which was ECL 23!) and two 12th-13th level cohorts, while remaining essentially unwounded.
Is this a bit much, given the relative CRs? I even gave the PCs action points, which were all that kept them from death even earlier, when the hagspawn captain AND barbed devil are thrown in. At the end of the day, Stavrala was immune to absolutely everything they attempted. I'm thinking the recommended PC level of 15th was too low... unless this party was just incredibly lame?
Poor teamwork and spell choices seem to be the blame, with a lack of ranged attacks also contributing. You didn't mention what buff spells the party members had running, but Bull's Strength and Divine Favor on the fighter and barbarian should have been the minimum (from a scroll or wand, if nothing else). If the party had less than their full complement of buff spells up going into the climactic encounter, they deserve a thrashing. Against the hagspawn, if the fighter and bard weren't teaming up (grapple and sneak attack makes a wonderful combination), then they were not fighting effectively. For Stavrala, there are the Orb spells from Complete Arcane: ranged touch, no save, no SR. At 15th level, a party should be prepared to face opponents with spell resistance.
I'm sure that others will chime in with other tactics, but the bottom line is that high level adventuring demands intelligent play and good teamwork. Unless the DM pulls his punches, lack of either will result in character deaths.
Poor teamwork and spell choices seem to be the blame, with a lack of ranged attacks also contributing. For Stavrala, there are the Orb spells from Complete Arcane: ranged touch, no save, no SR. At 15th level, a party should be prepared to face opponents with spell resistance.
I neglected to mention that after 3 orbs of electricity (one of them maximized) from the sorceress, Stavrela simply healed herself with her scroll. Back up to full. Agreed on the rest of your comments; buff spells were in place on the fighter and cleric (not that they helped much), but the idiots sort of let the ape cohort stand on his own merits while trying to keep his selfish master from getting whacked out.