My gaming group is participating in the Rise of the Runelords adventure path and our last session featured a battle so ridiculous (in a good way) I felt I had to share it.
And before I begin, a word of caution: I'm -playing- the game, not -running- it so please don't say anything about what happens beyond the part I'm describing. :)
Me and four others are currently Level 1. We had just beaten the Glassworks, and descended into an underground complex beneath it. We wandered a bit until we eventually found a room with two pools and a Quasit who was obviously a summoner of some kind. It's here that we got officially stuck. Now, I'm not sure if this Quasit was designed to be this hard, but he was extraordinarily difficult for us to beat. I mean, come on. We're level 1. But this guy could be invisible... he could fly... he had damage reduction.. hell, he even had SR I think! We literally couldn't efficiently harm him!
Finally, our little gnome druid pulls out all the stops. He summons an eagle. An eagle. But, as I watched, I couldn't help but wonder what he could possible do with it. I mean, if we couldn't hurt the little bastard, what was the eagle going to do?
The eagle grappled it. Proceeded to pin it. They both fell out of the air into the pool. Then the eagle promptly vanished. His summon duration is, after all, only 1 round. ;)
Finally, to ensure the little bastard wouldn't fly out of reach again, the druid's dog (not wolf!) companion grappled it so that the rest of us could wail on it til it finally died.
It was the funniest fight we have ever done. Our DM was shaking his head the whole time.
Now, hilarity aside, I'm wondering if this monster is really meant to be like this. I mean, seriously. Flying and DR at level 1? I just don't see how many people could really defeat this thing without a party of archers (or grappling it with an eagle, hoo!)
I'm just curious if anyone else who has played or ran this part had as much difficulty with the little bugger as we did.
Anyway, cheers to Paizo for a fun and unique experience!
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By that point, you guys should have been level 2. so, feel doubly proud that you killed that little b*#~+ eryleum with 1st level characters
I'm sure it wont kill anyone to mention that she's a Quasit with three levels of Thaumaturge. Many groups have had trouble with her, and the battles have usualy been suitably memorable. Grappling is the key to winning the fight.
Agreed that you shouldn't have still been lvl 1, but probably two, maybe even three. (It's been a while since my group was at that point, but I know they were around there.)
What happened with my group follows...
When my players got there, the monk grappled her and drowned her. :)
Creative Director
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Yup; the reports of how the fight against Erylium went are pretty much coming in exactly how I'd hoped. She can't really do a LOT of damage, but at the same time, doing damage to HER should be just as tough. It's a battle that is intended to bring out alternate methods of fighting, to reward quick thinking (such as using dogs and eagles), and to, in the end, be memorable.
It's also intended to be a battle for 2nd level characters, so yeah, be proud you put her down at 1st! Well done!
Wow. I got a response from the Editor-In-Chief. That's awesome. That really impresses me.
I guess I just want to thank people for responding and whatnot.
If possible, I hope I could post some of my experiences in the future as they happen, if people would care to hear them, that is. These forums strike me as a place that such a thing is more responsive than in some other forums I troll. I know I wish I had posted some of our group's crazy Shackled City adventures back when we were still playing through it.
Anyway, thanks again for a good game.
My party of 7 second level characters, ran away from her and bricked up the entrance tunnel at both ends and asked the town guard to routinely patrol it, they have vowed to never return again.
No one thought outside the box, so they paid the cost of getting there butts kicked by several inches of bad assness (made up word).
Well done to you and your fellow players.
There are loads of entertaining fights ahead of you in this s AP.
Try and avoid the spoilers.
My players fled at level two, returned at level four, and then used the same tactic you described. Except the druid summoned a griffon, and two characters grappled her while the others coup de grased like there was no tomorrow.
I ran this encounter for my group of 5 level 2 PC's last Monday and it basically went the same. Highlight was Erylium's Level 2 summon spell interrupted by an arrow that did one point of damage. I think that helped their chances dramatically.
matt
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Our group encountered the little rat when we were all still first level...
It was fracking hard.
Our party consisted of;
Half Elven Ranger
Half Elven Cleric
Dwarven Wizard
Human Cleric
Halfling monk
It got to the point where the monk was running around killing the Sinspawn while the rest of us surrounded the little beast and tried to beat her senseless. It was rare enough that we hit her and when we did we'd be lucky to get even one point past her DR...
After a time my wizard remembered he had a scroll of Fists of Stone which made it so much easier for him to hit her... Until the little monster turned invisible...
I thank the gods that the first round of her being invisible I critted and made the 50% chance... Splattered her with damn near 25 points of damage.
How in god's name was that a fight for even 2nd level characters?
The only reason we didn't all die really early is that we kept hitting her when she tried to cast a spell or she'd fail her concentration check...
And for some strange reason now we all have cold iron weapons...
Yours is definitely not the first thread regarding Eryleum. There have been a number of threads devoted to her. The most common way she dies is drowning. The PCs concoct some way to get their hands on her and then they hold her under the water in the pool until she stops squirming.
Its a unique...and kinda brutal resolution.
Yours is definitely not the first thread regarding Eryleum. There have been a number of threads devoted to her. The most common way she dies is drowning. The PCs concoct some way to get their hands on her and then they hold her under the water in the pool until she stops squirming.
Its a unique...and kinda brutal resolution.
I'd say wrathful myself.
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When the party I'm running ran into her they were 1st level consisting of,
A human monk,
A half elven ranger
A human paladin
A human wizard - universalist
When they first showed up she called up a sinspawn to help her out. It bit the monk first.
While dealing with her the Monk was under the sinspawns wrathful bite and was busy chasing the party Wizard and Paladin alternatively, I ruled that he would attack a random target each round base on a dice role.
So while the rest of the party is imitating an Benny Hill sketch all over the temple, the Ranger realizing she can't hurt the quasit throw her cloak over it and proceeds to strangle the creature.
Eventually she succeeds just as the Paladin knocks out the Monk and turns to help dispatch the "evil demon".
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My group (I'm a player,not DM, as well) had similar difficulties with the little blighter. We had a party of:
Level 2 Halfling Ranger (archery)
Level 2 Gnome Gold Dragon Shaman (melee & defense)
Level 2 Gnome Druid
Wolf animal companion
We're called "The Little Heroes" by the town. :)
Needless to say, we were flummoxed on how to hurt it. The healing aura of the shaman prevented most of its throwing dagger's damage from doing serious harm (ie kept everyone at half HP), and the limited number of summoned beasties were dispatched quickly. The druid thankfully had faerie fire on her list that day and broke through the SR, so the invisibility was coutnered too. That being said, we couldn't harm it either. The fast healing and DR kept it in good shape and it flew too high to hit with melee attacks. Stalement.
My dragon shaman eventually had a good idea though that broke the stalemate. I readied an action to grab the returning dagger when the demon threw next and put it in my pocket. This forced the Quasit to drop to melee and try to sting us (we were blocking the doors and preventing it from escaping). Many failed grapple attempts later, we managed grab and pin it, then to dragged it to the pool and drowned it. That seemed to do the trick nicely. Fast healing does not bypass drowing. :) Guess that's another vote for drowing. At least we can use the dagger since it's only one size smaller than us.
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I am the DM for my group.
The 4 characters at the time were:
Half-elf fighter 2
Human rogue (ranged) 2
Human shoanti ranger (ranged) 2
Human shoanti favored soul 2
The first time they met the quasit, they were beaten badly (after killing some sinspawn) and retreated. They went back to town and did research on what the hell it was, asking the bards and wizards in town. Found some weaknesses. Bought some cold iron arrows and a cold iron short sword (only things available at the store).
Returned to the quasit and started the fight again. Missed with most of their arrows, and couldn't reach with the sword. Down to almost no arrows, they were banging their heads about what to do. They decided on grappling.
They baited and coaxed the quasit to come closer, her overconfidence having grown after seriously kicking their butts and dropping 2 of them (healed by the favored soul). Finally the half-elf attempts to grapple, missing the first time after jumping off the raised platform and getting a poisoned claw to the face. Gets her the second time, and the rogue and ranger stab her to death using the last of their cold iron arrows as make-shift weapons.
The players were extremely frustrated, but in the end very satisfied they could defeat the quasit. That fight (including the first defeat) took about 4 hours. So much rolling and missing ;)
We took a break from that path after the second book was finished, but it's very good fun. We shall return.
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When our group ran into the little so and so our ranger used his two weapon fighting feat and then managed to score two criticals in a row and then rolled max damage on both attacks. Sliced the flying bugger right in half without so much as a by your leave. It was ridiculous and ridiculously funny at the same time.
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While I understand the frustration at meeting a monster that is difficult to overcome, I think that makes it more memorable and exciting.
On another tack, one of the first things I tell my PC's when I DM a campaign is that someties you are going to encounter things, or at least see things, that are out of your league in terms of killing.
I try to run my campaigns in a "realistic world" manner.
It is a living world, and monsters of high power travel around it the same way the PCs do. Just because you see a stone giant when you are level 3 doesn't mean that it is weakened or somehow a CR3 encounter. If everything you meet can be easily overcome, where is the adventure? Why bother playing? This, of course, is only my opinion, YMMV.
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I am the DM for my group.
Finally the half-elf attempts to grapple, missing the first time after jumping off the raised platform and getting a poisoned claw to the face.
LOL, reminds me of an old Dark Sun campaign I played in. We found this old fortress out in the desert and were trying to defend it from some giants. My character, an elven ranger, leaps of the battlement with his sword in hand, hoping to run his sword through one of the giant's skulls. I missed and got to roll up a new character as consolation.
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Contributor
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Our group got our butts kicked by her, too. But then, we tend to specialize in getting our butts whooped. In the end, we threw the ranger's fishing net over her and then hit her with alchemists fire (which happily bypasses DR). Mind you, this wasn't until after she'd poisoned us, wasted most of our ammo, sent for her giant mutant guard-goblin, and summoned a giant, killer octopus in the septic tank.
Yeah, it was tough. The party got whipped by him in the first session, and then my character joined them for the second - by summoning a fiendish spider (tremorsense) we Webbed it and tried to kill it but the regen was just too much and eventually we were playing hide and seek with a flying invisible opponent. Eventually we got a bunch of nets on poles from town and just closed in till it had to engage, but that was like the third engagement.
I think the entire first book suffered a little from opponents having too many frustrating spells/tactics. Fears, invis/flys, entangles, etc. All legitimate but too much of it turns into PC frustration. It got better starting in Book 2 though. I'd recommend for people running Book 1 to go through and perhaps swap out some of the more annoying spells/tactics. A couple's good but it was like that in every major fight in Book 1.
My group had similar difficulties with Erylium. We had a party of:
Level 2 male warblade
Level 2 male rogue
Level 2 female cleric (Desna)
Level 2 female wizard (my PC)
All humans.
The first time we met Erylium, we arrived there very soon, having explored the dungeon barely (and having fought only with two sinspawn). But our rolls were disastrous. She (and the sinspawn) poisoned us, wasted our spells, summoned fiendish spiders, cast inflict wounds (the rogue fell unconscious and dying)... We kill the sinspawn, but fled very wounded.
The next day we returned, with tanglefoot bags and fishing nets. She met us with a mutant guard-goblin, a sinspawn, and a fiendish spider (after she summoned other spider) Again our rolls were disastrous and she poisoned us, wasted our spells, and her minions hurt us. But we couldn't hit her! We were extremely frustrated. Then the cleric throw a tanglefoot bag at the creature (the last bag!).... and she rolled 20!!! Then Erylium fell out of the air into the pool. We used the fishing nets. Finally the warblade grappled her (we aid him), and we drowned her.
It was tough. And long. It took hours and hours.