hah man i just ran kill bargle tonight, and my group of a lvl 1 cleric lvl 1 sword sage/1psion and lvl 2 fighter tore him a new one. we went into his sanctuary ......i shortened the quest so we fought him right after the kobold cheif. he opened up with wall of fire and my SS/psion just anihalated him with a mental attack, he then summoned a water ele, and the cleric cast sanctuary on it to keep it away from us. bargle hit the cleric with a fire ball, nearly killing him. and my character ran in for an avenging strike that nearly was a critical. all and all......he wasnt so tough =)
Casting sanctuary on the water elemental would only protect it. It would not have prevented the elemental from attacking.This is a new 4e Sanctuary...
yea it new it prevents your target from getting attacked and also prevents its from attacking
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Oh are you playing 4e already? No?
Sanctuary
Abjuration
Level: Clr 1, Protection 1
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: No
Any opponent attempting to strike or otherwise directly attack the warded creature, even with a targeted spell, must attempt a Will save. If the save succeeds, the opponent can attack normally and is unaffected by that casting of the spell. If the save fails, the opponent can’t follow through with the attack, that part of its action is lost, and it can’t directly attack the warded creature for the duration of the spell. Those not attempting to attack the subject remain unaffected. This spell does not prevent the warded creature from being attacked or affected by area or effect spells. The subject cannot attack but may use nonattack spells or otherwise act.
Sanctuary does not prevent the warded creature from attacking but if it does it breaks the spell. A summoned creature will fight for the summoner whether warded by sanctuary or not.
I feel compelled to respond, as one who faced Bargle decades ago and has used him as a villain in many games since...
Bargle is a cunning, nasty wizard and has survived through countless threats against his life in the world of Mystara. I encourage any DM running this module to play him as such. He'll try to kill the party if he can, and run away if he can't he will not stand around and get killed without significant party preparation and effort.
Now, it looks like the DM for this particular game cut some corners and gave the party an easy fight, perhaps to increase the enjoyment of the game. That's no problem and is the DM's prerogative as the person who must judge what the group as a whole will enjoy. However, when player as written in the adventure, it's almost impossible for an APL 2.5 party to kill Bargle (a CR 7 full-caster), especially in so few rounds. Even without some creative use of "4.0" magic, he has significant magical protections active when the party enters, can lay out a massive amount of damage (compared to level 1-2 characters' hp), and has even more defenses planned if the party gets close to taking him out.
Indeed. This adventure inspired me to call up a couple of my HS-aged cousins and start them playing. They messed it up early, but that might be due to my efforts to portray a high level wizard and his kobold minions as intelligent and proactive. Bargle got away. (One of the PCs uttered the rapidly-becoming-famous phrase "Man, bargle's a d**k!") They're exiling themselves to some place called "Far Shore," but they've sworn revenge against Bargle, and will certainly meet him again (thanks "Critical Threats!"). Good Times!
The problem is, with his defenses it would be nigh impossible to have even damage him in that amount of time, as detailed in the spoiler...
He'd more likely simply let the party waste some attacks on the mirror images (he'd have 1d4+2) to summon that water elemental as stated in the module, but if the party was a serious threat there's no reason he'd not defend himself as above. Let one party member come through that 5' corridor into his throne room, then block the path with a wall of fire. Allow the water elemental to kill the lone party member, aiding with magic missile and/or hold person. When the fire is about to die down (assuming no character was silly enough to take the 2d6+7 points of damage from walking through) cast invisibility and wait for the remaining party to barge in. Drop a fireball dealing on average 24 points of damage (enough to kill almost any 2nd level character. Then lay down sleep and/or charm person if anyone somehow survived. Bargle would be able to do this fairly easily and not take any damage at all from a APL 2.5 party, but if they did hit him, he's got a potion of cure moderate wounds as needed.
Note that you cannot ready an action outside of combat.
Could he ready an action in the surprise round (if he got one)?
WHOA looking back at that issue i didnt see the mirror images i knew he had levitate and gaseous form, hmm maybe i should make him into a lich =D that would be interesting to have him come back with a fiery vengance, with new stronger minions instead of kobolds, any one have any ideas....because i would love to have my party think he was cake and then be in for a suprise, any one have any ideas for his new minions ????
Could he ready an action in the surprise round (if he got one)?
Better to use the standard action actually casting a spell as opposed to readying an action to cast a spell should the PCs do something (which, of course they will).
Well the nice thing about readying an action is it moves your initiative. Bargle could ready a big spell for the first person to act, and get his initiative up to the top (unless he rolled high already). That way his escape might be easier to machinate.
Note that you cannot ready an action outside of combat.
Combat has begun--Bargle has the Surprise round thanks to his preparations. Bargle (at least the Bargle I "know") would favor a readied action so he can taunt the party before destroying them. This penchant is borne out by the module text having him heckle the group before attacking. He's not worried about efficiency in combat, as he's pretty sure of his victory.
WHOA looking back at that issue i didnt see the SPOILER STUFF OMITTED, hmm maybe i should make him into a lich =D that would be interesting to have him come back with a fiery vengance, with new stronger minions instead of kobolds, any one have any ideas....because i would love to have my party think he was cake and then be in for a suprise, any one have any ideas for his new minions ????
Simply have him raised from the dead. Bargle was in the employee of powerful patrons that could easily do this. He was nowhere near powerful enough to become a lich, however. Also note that in his Mystaran incarnation, Bargle was somewhere in the neighborhood of a 14th level Enchanter (15th level OD&D Magic-User, so he had 7th level spells). The version in this adventure is Bargle in his younger years. He had a history of killing other magic-users to steal their spells. If you really like Bargle, consider picking up a copy of The Grand Duchy of Karameikos (an OD&D product, but filled with easy-to-use campaign goodness; it's in the Mystara section of this very website...) and/or Karameikos, Kingdom of Adventure (the AD&D conversion of that particular nation). Yes, I'm a Mystaraphile...