Kopru question -- am I missing something?

[office_ninja]

Their speed is listed as... 5'. Terrifying in the water, certainly, but is a horde of kopru in Golismorga really a threat on land with such speed?
Is there some special environmental condition I'm not reading that allows them to not be so slow when the PCs encounter them in Golismorga?

[Stebehil]

I haven´t found anything suggesting that the kopru gain any special advantage there. Ulioth uses "Raise Water" to offset this penalty in Holashners Ziggurath, but the others are not so lucky - otherwise, it would not have been mentioned explicitly, I think. So, the kopru are slow in this encounter.

Stefan

[James Jacobs]

office_ninja wrote:

Their speed is listed as... 5'. Terrifying in the water, certainly, but is a horde of kopru in Golismorga really a threat on land with such speed?

Is there some special environmental condition I'm not reading that allows them to not be so slow when the PCs encounter them in Golismorga?

There is.

There's basically 3 places the PCs can encounter koprus in "The Lightless Depths."

1: As an encounter in the ruins themselves. These koprus are being carried by troglodytes, and the encoutner itself isn't intended to be a challenge as much as just flavor.

2: At the ziggurat of Holashner. Most of the koprus there are slow, and once they use their dominate person attempt they'll be a minor factor. The main menace here are the kopru behemoths. They still walk slow, but they also have potions of fly, which give them MUCH better maneuverability.

3: Ulioth, the boss kopru. He's encountered inside the ziggurat of Holashner, where his slow speed is less of a factor because he'll likely be encountered in a smaller room. Also, he has plenty of spells to use at range. And finally, one of his first actions is to cast control water in his room to fill the room with water, so he'll be swimming while the PCs will be treading water.

[Demiurge 1138]

Well, the kopru scout encounter says that they're carried on palenquins by troglodytes, so their speed is effectively 20ft (I'd assume that the trogs would be somewhat encumbered by their charges). And the kopru behemoths that attack the PCs at the Heart of Madness have potions of fly, which would give them a zippy 60ft move speed.

EDIT: Beaten to the punch! Curse you, Jacobs! :)

[ericthecleric]

Those koprus are a major threat if a diversion isn't staged (trying to avoid spoilers).
Let's put it this way: If a PC would succeed against a single Dominate Person effect by rolling a 6+, that corresponds to a 75% chance of success (or 0.75). If that PC is subject to EIGHT such effects, he or she has to succeed on every single saving throw, or they'll be dominated. The chance of making every save for that PC would be 0.75 to the power of 8, or 0.1, or just 10%.
And note that that assumes a PC with good Will saves. If the PC would succeed on an 11+ (ie. half the time at each attempt), then the odds of that PC making every save is 0.5 to the power of 8, or 0.003, or 0.3%. Game Over.

[office_ninja]

Okay, that makes more sense. I was just imagining the 50+ kopru guarding the ziggurat getting annihilated by a single archer with protection from evil. If they have potions of fly, that certainly changes things.

Thanks!

[Peruhain of Brithondy]

I was a bit puzzled by casting control water in a room that has another chamber beneath it, reached by a hatchway in the floor. Won't the water drain out pretty quickly?

Overall, though, this is quite an interesting adventure. H.P. Lovecraft meets D-1 "Into the Depths of the Earth" and D-2 "Shrine of the Kuo-Toa." Whoa! Nostalgia trip!

[James Jacobs]

Peruhain of Brithondy wrote:

I was a bit puzzled by casting control water in a room that has another chamber beneath it, reached by a hatchway in the floor. Won't the water drain out pretty quickly?

Overall, though, this is quite an interesting adventure. H.P. Lovecraft meets D-1 "Into the Depths of the Earth" and D-2 "Shrine of the Kuo-Toa." Whoa! Nostalgia trip!

The entrance to the lower chamber isn't quite water tight, so yeah, eventually the water'll drain into the lower room. But as long as that entrance remains closed, the water won't drain quickly enough for it to matter.