-silly- Yeah, well wait til they meet the zombie ninjas! -/silly-
Your calculations seem about right, assuming a party of 4. One thing you could do is have the zombies go for the easy meal, turning their attention to any character that's dropped by their attacks. That takes some of the pressure off the party (except the poor guy who dropped), and possibly opens up the zombies to AoOs.
The number of zombies really adjucates the difficulty of encounters under Parrot Island. A careful first-level party of four can do just fine under here, though it is exceptionally difficult.
The PCs have a couple of things going for them. First, since the zombies are limited to partial actions, the best they can do if there's any distance between them and a PC is to do a partial charge. This means reusable ranged attacks (any dealing slashing or magic are preferred) will yield victory sooner or later. The map for Under Parrot Island is great, BTW, as the applicable areas fit mostly well on a dry erase board, meaning that you can reveal doors and other rooms with zombies in them spontaneously, to keep up the surprise.
Another advantage the party should take advantage of, should range be insufficient, is to move into a "bottleneck", like the kind leading to P1. Here, the meat shield/most effective fighter should take the point of the assault, while others behind make other actions to assist (such as aid another, cast spells, etc.) The PC will have no more than one zombie attacking him a round, and with a capable healer, they can outlast the zombies. (Here's hoping the fighter packed a greatsword!)
My party earned enough xp to make 2nd level by the time they were trapped on parrot island, and that was just from the Blue Nixie and Vanderboren vault encounters. They pulled that off in one game session. So I think that your party might be a little low on xp. I'd want them to be 2nd level before parrot island as it proves to be a pretty tough go.
My party just finished the vault and have 575 xp (6 PCs 1st session, 5 the second). 4 PCs would have 862. Sounds like your XP is correct. With the pirates being CR1, they're not going to make 2nd level until they leave. Ouch.
Good point about not being able to use the improved grab (bite). If you wanted to give your players a better chance, you might say that a ravenous pirate always wants to grapple so his food can't get away. I probably won't do the "the remaining zombies mobilize" after the first group is defeated. Instead I'll spread them througout the eastern half of the compelx and give listen checks. Hopefully then the PCs can sneak up on them and attack with some surprise as well.
After the near TPK on the Blue Nixie and the nearly invincible iron cobra, I'm going to have a player revolt if I throw another major attack at them.
|
After the near TPK on the Blue Nixie and the nearly invincible iron cobra, I'm going to have a player revolt if I throw another major attack at them.
Be very very careful with the Huecuva then. The DR 10/silver is a vicious thing for an unprepared party. If they haven't found the silver dagger (my party hadn't) and don't have any magic to use on it, they're in deep trouble. My party fortunately had a cleric who had several cure light wound spells and rolled well with them, killing it in two touches.
The zombies are less difficult as long as your meat shields have some form of slashing weapon. Having a cleric for under parrot Island helps immensely, particularly ones with the Sun Domain (greater turning + a good roll dusted four zombies in one action - brilliant moment for the cleric).
Parrot Island is definitely designed to waste under-prepared/over-confident parties. Fortunately, the encounters are designed to be very flexible. (Though, personally, I rolled 1d3 to determine how many zombies appeared in each encounter...was it my fault I rolled 6 [divided by 2] for each encounter?)
The whole TINH adventure is one of the toughest 1st-level adventures I've ever read, but it is good preparation for the challenges to come in the AP. I'd remind DMs to point out useful actions to players who are coming up frustrated from not being able to do their "first level trick" on every monster in the adventure, like hurling alchemist fires, using aid another checks, or fighting defensively.
The first time down my group didn't bring any alchemist's fire, holy water, or a cleric. They also didn't have any healing potions, and between the 4 of them, they possessed only one slashing weapon. They also decided upon the brilliant plan of "let's put out the torches so the guy with darkvision can scout ahead." This resulted in a near-TPK. The second time through, they were much better prepared.
Having a cleric for under parrot Island helps immensely, particularly ones with the Sun Domain (greater turning + a good roll dusted four zombies in one action - brilliant moment for the cleric).
Yeah, "turn early, turn often," as the saying goes. It's the only way through unless you get obscenely lucky.
actually, the parrot island zombies weren't all that bad. For one, the group (only 4 chars initially for that part of the adevnture, then only 3 for most of the run, although these were second level chars, as three of the PCs in the group use a +1 racial template ) immediately retreated to the bottle-neck sections, with the tank taking point (warblade with a longsword + large shield ), and a second char attack usually attacking diagonally, even while suffering from cover given by the corners. Worked like a charm, if somewhat tediously...
Plus, the warblades manouevres (some diamond mind stuff with extra damage, stone dragon strike giving short-term DR and the stone dragon stance ) really provided extra punch.
as for the huecuva.......that sucked major, with no more than perhaps 6 HP left throughout the entire (!) group and everyone being out of magic in the end. Grappling it ( YUCK !) and then attacking the pinned sod for a finish was grand, but yes, that one was.... "close"
Our DM started us all off at lvl 2 in hopes that we wouldn't die early and often. We also have a party of 8, which was moderately detrimental in size for maneuvering through the Parrot Island halls.
Our main problem was that our party consisted of the following classes/weapons
barbarian2 with trident(P)
monk2 with fists(B)
monk/cleric with improved grapple(B) and a khopesh(S)
shugenja2 with a wakazashi(P)and darts (P)
watergenasi ranger1 with longsword(S)
thug/wizard with longsword(S) and longbow(P)
rogue/swashbuckler with rapier(P)
barbarian/dragonshaman with morningstar (BP)
so we have two slashing weapons in the hands of our two lowest hp members. most of us ended up pulling daggers after a round of ineffective combat, and very slowly slashing zombies to bits.
we had managed to find the silver dagger by the time we met the heuceva, who fell prey to the grappling monk/cleric who turned the 9 zombies in the room before imobilizing the heuceva while the swashbuckler dismantled it with the "magical undead slaying" silver dagger
the rest of us got a running battle as the zombies kept fleeing and we tried to 1d4 them to death. we cornered them at last as they were avoiding the water, only to have the turning run out when we were in admidst them all and flanked badly :)
made it out without any deaths, but barely so. I think two of us were going down if not for the draconic healing aura.
My party of four got pretty low, but have made it so far. Only the rogue was second level (who knows why a first level party would split up...) The cleric was successful at almost all his turns which helped against that nasty grapple (then I screwed up and had zombies run into the water. The not entering water should provide a safe haven for the characters, but since I forgot that option ended quickly.) They only had one slashing weapon between them. One saving grace was the monk with a strength of 20-DR five was less effective against him. The fighter could not hit for much (because he is tricked out for trip attacks) and it took him until zombie #6 or 7 before he thought to trip them. voila AoO
So far my party is smashing through the encounter. 3 of the 4 Pcs entered the smugglers cavern at 2nd level. I gave xp bonuses for notable deeds 30xp to 100xp. I also make a game of rolling ability score; 3 xp for highest roll and 5 for lowest roll. 100xp for lowest total score. I also gave a total of 50 xp bonus for "entertaining game play" too 3 of the 4 players on the blue nixie. They have encountered 5 zombies smashing 3 and turning 2 others. The 1st level cleric of Obad Hai failed her first turn attempt against the first zombie they encountered. Then succesfully turned 2 others late on. The party also smashed the 5 crabs quickly. Currently they are held up in the large room resting. The cleric just made 2 level. I think this group it would be tough at 1st level but very do able. It is going to be a cake walk though at second level. They should all be 2nd level by the end of "Peril under Parrot Island", I think.
Yup. Our parties cleric failed TWO turning checks at point blenk range and went down under the maw of a hungry (ravenous even) zombie.
I had the cleric munching zombie failed his save and began feasting, whils the 1/2ling and wizard beat it with sticks for about three rounds....whaich did maybe 3 points of damage in the three rounds I gave the zombie to find the cleric's heart....
so after the zombie was done eatin it stood up, ( more Aoo's) and began trying to eat the wizard
The rest of the party was dealing with the other 2 Z's that came doen the hall from the other direction all this time.
The hecuva went down fiarly easily. After it scared the bard the wizard enlarged the barbarian and hit the H with a max damage shocking grasp.
My PCs had a scary time beneath the isle, though no deaths - there could have easily been a few. Four PCs and an NPC went down into hole -
male human warblade 1
male xeph lurk 1
male kureshim psionic rogue (psionic race with three eyes, from Hyperconscious)
male spellscale bard 1
NPC female human cleric of Wee Jas 1 (turn undead replaced w/varient class feature)
*we grant bonus feats not at every third level but at the same progression as a fighter's bonus feats*
The PCs encountered two zombies, and after a round or two found themselves defending the room directly north of P1 from four zombies, shambling in pairs from the east and west. I think I might have overdone it with four zombies, because the psionic rogue dropped with a chance hit and was almost devoured alive if it weren't for two AoOs landing on the coup de gracing zombie.
Several nasty bites later the PCs hit 2nd level. As they went back-to-back they gained their extra hp, new abilities, etc. Emboldened by their victory the PCs braced themselves as four more zombies crashed into the room, smashing any doors the PCs had forced closed. It was a tough battle, and the lurk fell into negatives once before the last zombie fell.
The psionic rogue was providing ranged support by the door to the northwest, and when he turned to it after the last zombie fell it exploded into splinters, and the undead cleric on the other side entered the combat. I changed the huecuva to a ravenous gravetouched ghoul since I felt it was a little too convenient for the PCs to find a silver weapon to defeat it with. The ghoul proved a nasty customer, quite difficult to hit, and the battle lasted 10 or 11 rounds. He missed with nearly all of his claws, but his bite proved vexing, and luckily my PCs were up to the task of all those Fortitude saves (the bard did suffer from ghoul fever for a day though). They managed to take the ghoul out without anyone getting paralyzed or knocked out.
|
It's amazing how unprepared even the veteran players are in adventures these days. I have a few rules I always use with my personal PCs:
1- always carry a weapon of each type (B, P,and S) whether an axe and morningstar, or a dagger and club, I always cover all bases.
2- always carry at least 1 potion of clw (at least at 1st level).
3- make sure that between everyone in the party we cover all major knowledges and "Face" skills.
The Party I am DMing through this adventure had 6 players and NOT A SINGLE ONE PUT ANY RANKS IN A SOCIAL SKILL!!! They barely found the island (I allowed the whispergnome rogue to reallocate his skill points after a fruitless 2 days in town). Their only healer was a druid which isn't bad but they almost decided against having an arcanist, which leaves a double burden on the Druid.
They came to their senses and had someone play a cleric to backup the druid and the arcanist is a warlock (yuck).
Sorry to ramble but, I started them at 2nd level and they tore threw Parrot Island like gangbusters, with me tossing in a few extra crabs and zombies (I did drop the cleric into negatives twice though).
Everytime the zombies came the cleric turned them all, the party pursued, if anymore zombos got in the way they got turned, all zombos got hacked up while cowering in the corners. Heucuva went down to a couple blasts from the Warlock after scaring off the Dwarf Barb (who blundered into a nest of crabs after taking off, almost got real ugly, shoulda made a momma crab on the fly).
It's hard but fun!
FH
|
hehe, I can't wait till my players get down there. It should be most amusing.
Half-Orc Monk 1 - Fists
Human Rogue 1 - Rapier/Crossbow
Human Psion 1 - Rapier/Crossbow
Human Swashbuckler 1 - Rapier/Shortbow
Human Necromancer 1 - Spear/Blowgun
The swashbuckler has a backup dagger. At least the monk has 18 str, so that should help with the DR.
Although, I did suggest that they get some backup weapons after a miserable showing versus the Iron Cobra. The swashbuckler poked it, then slashed it, then punched it. All to 0 effect. Then he threw oil on it, and the rogue couldn't hit it with her torch.
|
I'm actually playing in this campaign rather than DMing (making diligent efforts to avoid spoilers), and I must say that my party was having a heck of a time against those zombies (creepy buggers, them).
Our party:
1/2 elf Warlock 1-the Face of the party who doesn't have point blank/precise shot
Human Monk 1/Weretiger progression (ECL 2) -bare hands, kama, staff, AC 20 with all adjustments
Tiefling (?)Cleric 1 - morningstar, crossbow, channels negative energy so most spells are CLW
Spiritfolk (water) Barbarian 2 -greataxe but AC sucks
Human Bard 1 -knowledge guy with a short sword
Kobold Artificer 2 -scrolls of magic missile and burning hands (CL2), crossbow, infusions
The initial cluster of zombies really tried our endurance. The Bbn's low AC took her out of the fight quickly and the monk was having dice issues. Eventually, the combination of magic stone from the artificer and a (finally) successful rebuke check turned the tide.
The Hecuva took lots of fire damage from the artificer's burning hands and MM scrolls and was polished off by BBn who had the MW silver dagger from the pool (that is when she recovered from the its cause fear spell). His DR was a pain! Lots of hurting and terror, but no actual deaths. A tough, low-level challenge in a creepy, memorable setting. Lots of fun too!
Now I understand we are going after some group of thugs hiding out in a taxidermist's shop...