So my group hasn't had too tough of a time in Spire of Long Shadows, they had the most difficulty with the Swords of Kyuss and Kelvos, the wormtouched. We had one death that was long coming, by a PC that like to take ALOT of gambles. Anyway they have had little difficutly with the Overworm and are heading straight towards the Harbinger. I want to throw the book at them with the Harbinger and see how they do. He will be prepped to the gills with advanced knowledge they are here (As they've made no effort to conceal themselves during the Sea of Worms battle and he's only 40 feet away) In effect (when they bust the doors open for a little telepathic Q&A) are all spells listed in text
with the addition of spell turning (which is swapped out for limited wish,- wish spells dont exist in my games)
I'll probably start off Maze on the biggest the threat ( An archer with an Undead Bane/ Holy bow who just chews up undead)
following up with the Prismatic spray, then Enervation and Sorching Ray in round 3,
I am saving a DC 24 plane shift to the Negative Energy Plane
for anyone that gets throught the repulsion and tries to base him in melee combat.
One question I had about that was IF there was way possible way to survive being transported to the negative energy plane or was it an auto kill? how could one be retrieved from such a fate by their comrades if at all?
Any other advice on running this encounter is appreciated.
I assume you'll make sure he's fully buffed, as per the suggestions in the adventure, but I'd also add in improved invisibility too (can't be too cautious in my opinion). I'd also suggest Prismatic Sphere or Blasphemy as the opener, as Maze can only affect a single target. Given your group are going to encounter him alone, I'd advise you consider it likely he'll get about one round of actions if he's lucky (i.e. if he rolls well on initiative); anything else after that is a bonus, so plan accordingly.
Personally, and I ran this only two weeks ago, my group took about three rounds to get him, and then it took about three more rounds to actually kill him. But I had him come out when they encountered the overworm and the wormcallers, so he could buff while out of sight (but talking to them telepathically) and the PC's were mostly tied up in combating the wormcallers while avoiding and chipping away at the overworm. Once the Harbinger came out to play, so to speak, it was on his terms, but after about a round my group's wizard took him out easily enough with Telekinesis, grappling him and effectively negating his ability to do anything in response. Then the group just hit him with dispel magics, arrows and so on, taking away most of his good buffs; eventually Telekinesis moved to him to within striking range of the fighters where he was easily finished off (single hit) as was the worm (the wormcallers were already dead by this stage, as the strongest fighter had already flown over to melee them just before the Harbinger came out and put his Repulsion spell up).
So in my experience, even with helpers he didn't last long - from memory, he only used about one offensive spell on them before he was grappled (at which point his verbal spells were all Close range, so he couldn't quite use them from the other side of the lake). I wanted to get the Knights of Kyuss into the fight too, in fact they did wander out of their room to have a look, but had no way to fly themselves and no-one else had the chance to help them (the Harbinger was going to, but he ended up being an action or two short of doing useful). If I'd let my PC's find him alone, I think he would have been lucky to survive into a second round, although I guess it would have depended on when his first spell went off and who saved against it.
Lastly, when I ran it, I did have a couple of changes planned, but I never quite got around to scribbling them on my photocopy of the adventure, so I ended up running it exactly as written (except for him joining the fight against the overworm). My plans for change would have helped him survive longer, so I'd advise using them: buff him with greater invisibility (as well as all the other buffs listed), and also have him cast an Enlarged Unhallow on the area (via a limited wish), with Freedom of Movement as its additional effect. I guess if you don't have wishes in your game, you could just have the unhallow be a remnant of old magic from times past, but the ability to avoid grapples and so on is invaluable for the Harbinger as that's the easiest way to nullify spellcasters beyond just hacking them to pieces with weapons.
Had I used these changes, my group's Cleric would have had to use Invisibility Purge as an action before the rest could do much (the mage can cast see invisibility, but that still uses her action and is only personal), and even then the Telekinesis would not have taken the Harbinger out, he could still have got a couple of spells off. Not that I'm saying my group had an easy time, in fact they got pounded by the wormcallers in particular and this plus the overworm's ability to dish out massive damage made them back off mid battle to re-group and heal, but the Harbinger himself never really hurt them (although he did scare them).
Good luck, there's probably a bit more advise in the archives.
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The prismatic spray worked wonders against our party. Too bad the monk was able to force a concentration check that made the harbinger lose the 2nd spray. I also loaded the lich up on Magic Missiles and unleashed a flurry on the monk, almost dropping him. Once the tanks got close to the Harbinger, it was all over.
Buffing would be recommended. But since Mak'ar put up no fight with my group, I would recommend at least expanding the size of the room he's in, possibly allowing for varying levels of terrain, or other terrain-based obstacles, like a ring of worms. If I had to do it again, I'd make it a 90-foot diameter ring, with a pinnacle in the center, like a fountain, with worms all around it. The cubicle he's in by default is actually kinda embarrasing.
Consider giving him extra allies, in the form of his Kyuss Knight buddies. I added a secret passage connecting his room with that of the three knights. Even better, the Swords of Kyuss are truly vicious with their Invocation of the Worm ability--unless your party's gotten smart and is well prepped with death ward.
Mirror Image is a classic, and it forces PCs to use true seeing (a tactic they'll appreciate in later installments of the AP). Mirror Image (and displacement) give evil spellcasters (particularly liches) a better chance of dealing with potentially lethal one-hit/big damage spells, like disintegrate or bolt of glory. Spell turning is a great way to keep him alive, and probably appropriate, but it's one of those spells that your players are gonna hate--for better or worse. At least if forces them to bust out dispel magic first round, rather than fireballs.
Someone else on these boards had suggested the following tactics, which I borrowed (many required changing/adding spells):
- Wall of Force near one end of the room
- Greater Invisibility on him, standing at the OTHER end of the room
- Projected Image of him, standing behind the (invisible) wall of force
He can cast spells through the image once he has targets; better, be can pretend the image is casting a spell but really cast it himself, possibly Maze-ing someone before they discover the Wall.
First round, the fighter-types charge him, slamming into the Wall of Force. Then someone figures out how to dimension door or teleport to the other side of the wall to take one or more fighter-types there, trapping them behind the wall of force unless they have a second teleport spell. Prismatic Spray everyone else from the other end of the room (two folks in my group of 8 failed their save versus the Plane Shift result on this - brutal).
After that, he still goes down fast. Spell Turning helps a lot at this point for stopping spells, as does a combination of Mirror Image and Displacement for stopping melee attacks. And even if he only lasts another round or so, he'll have made an impression...
I Love prismatic spray...
And our wizard also did not made his save vs plane shift - too bad. I decided that he should not have an easy way back as otherwiese the effect of the spell is just of hom having a few rounds of combat off.
As we are playing on Eberron I ruled that Dolurrh, the domain of the dead was his destination. As per the Campaing source book, there is actually no way back from Dolurrh.
However: after spending a few weeks of game time the group finally met their wizward again on their way to Alhaster. All they noticed was his slightly altered attidude and his pale skin... I made him a vampire, the daywalker style, that uses make up to be able to walk around in sunlight. And yes, this opens up a few roleplaying opportunities within the group. The cleric knows but struggles with himself if he should destroy him or save him somehow. Our Psion Kalashtar lady who is in love with the wizard is looking for ways to help him and most others did not yet noticed...