So the party is about to go up against Krathanos next session. Last session they approached his tower and were intercepted by the gargoyles, who demanded that they follow them to be presented to their master.
Deciding that they would rather not not deal with Krathanos and the gargoyles at the same time, they party decided on a preemptive strike and attacked the gargoyles. The gargoyles concentrated their attacks on the unarmoured Monk and landed a few lucky criticals and managed to down him. Other than that, the battle was pretty one sided and it was really just a depletion of resources on behalf of the party to whittle them down.
Then part way through the battle, Krathanos emerged fromhis tower. Angered that the gargoyles started the fight without him, he cast chain lightning at the whole group, downing 1 of the remaining gargoyles and damaging some of the party.
This is where we ended it (it was getting pretty late) and we are starting off the next session right with combat.
All this is a lead in to Krathanos and his tactics:
Sunder - I just wanted to clear up a few things
- On his opposed rolls, he gets +4 for Improved Sunder and +4 for 2 handed weapon. For Size difference, do they mean the creatures size, or the weapon? this would mean the difference between another +8 or +12. Either way, he will probably hit on most of these attacks.
- If he fails to destroy the weapon in one hit, does the damage still remain? i.e. he bypasses the hardness and manages to do 5 points of damage to a 10 HP weapon. Does this mean on his next hit, he needs to only do another 5 HP of damage?
- It states that you add +2 to hardness/+10 to HP per +1 enhancement. Do we simply count the actual +'s, or do we take into account other abilities as well? i.e. A Holy Avenger is considered a +5 sword. So we add 10 to hardness and 50 to hitpoints. Do we need to add anything for the 'Holy' ability?
- Adamantine weapons. It states that they ignore hardness up to 20. Is this the same as ignoring the first 20 points of hardness? Or does this mean that it must overcome the total hardness of any weapon that has a hardness of 20 or more?
I use a Holy Avenger as an example as the primary fighter of the party is a paladin wielding a Holy Avenger who likes to charge as her initial attack. If there were ever a weapon that Krathanos would attempt to sunder, it would be that. :)
For Size difference, do they mean the creatures size, or the weapon? this would mean the difference between another +8 or +12. Either way, he will probably hit on most of these attacks.
I believe it's for both. A huge creature (+8) wielding a gargantuan weapon (another +4, for being one size category beyond huge) ought to get a +12 on opposed attack rolls for sunder attempts, if I read my rules correctly.
If he fails to destroy the weapon in one hit, does the damage still remain? i.e. he bypasses the hardness and manages to do 5 points of damage to a 10 HP weapon. Does this mean on his next hit, he needs to only do another 5 HP of damage?
Hardness applies for each hit, so yeah if after hardness is applied the weapon takes 5 more damage, it's wrecked.
It states that you add +2 to hardness/+10 to HP per +1 enhancement. Do we simply count the actual +'s, or do we take into account other abilities as well? i.e. A Holy Avenger is considered a +5 sword. So we add 10 to hardness and 50 to hitpoints. Do we need to add anything for the 'Holy' ability?
Nope. Special qualities like holy, bane, flaming, etc. do not increase hardness or hit points of a weapon.
Adamantine weapons. It states that they ignore hardness up to 20. Is this the same as ignoring...
Adamantine weapons do not ignore adamantine objects' hardness. It's "ignores hardness up to 20" but it does not ignore hardness 20.
Properly run, Krathanos should cream most of the PC's. I wish you well in stomping a hole in them most resoundingly:)
Properly run, Krathanos should cream most of the PC's. I wish you well in stomping a hole in them most resoundingly:)
I am not too sure about how easily he can stomp them into the ground. I think he is going to make them sweat, but the party is really good at dealing out a lot of damage, really quickly. I know the tactics as written are to give the party an easier time (i.e. spend a round laughing at the PCs), but I think I am going to run him full out and simply stop short of killing the party...leave them 1 or 2 left to gather the party and retreat...or wipe them out and have the Druids bring them back as Champions of the Order of the Storm.
Here are my planned tactics.
Round 1: Cast Chain Lightning (not quickened, already done as his entry into combat)
Round 2: (a) As an Attack of Opportunity, attempt to sunder the Paladin's Holy Avenger. (Again, knowing the party, I know that the Paladin will either charge or attempt to close with the Titan).With Power attack 15, he will have an attack of +42, and do average damage of 72, just enough to sunder it)
(b) Move into the best spot and cast Word of Chaos which will deafen most of the PCs in range and also stun them for 1 round. Basically a free round of combat for the Titans and gives the remaining 2 Gargoyles a good chance to do some damage. (Given the -2 to AC and loss of Dex Bonus due to Stun)
(c) Quickened Chain Lightning
Round 3: Either Maze the Sorceror (Not sure if he will need to with SR of 32) or Full attack (Power attack 20) the Paladin and quickened chain lightning
Basically I want to get the idea across to the party that they need to stop going right into combat just because they detect that the creatures are evil. Especially at this level, they are going to be in trouble if they simply resort to fighting every time. :) I am looking forward to this combat...
Hmmm... just be aware those are not the best tactics for him. Word of Chaos and Etherealness are two spell-likes that should cause your PC's a lot more grief as they are difficult of not impossible to counter.
Hmmm... just be aware those are not the best tactics for him. Word of Chaos and Etherealness are two spell-likes that should cause your PC's a lot more grief as they are difficult of not impossible to counter.
Ok..will look into Etherealness...
Question about broken weapons...how would the Paladin go about fixing her Holy Avenger?
Question about broken weapons...how would the Paladin go about fixing her Holy Avenger?
She needs to find someone capable of making the sword and pay him half the sale price of the sword (as well as wait 1 day per 1,000 gp).
This is for you fellow DMs: Planned tactics are nice, and his first action in combat made the PCs wet their pants, but can be twarted oh-so-thouroughly by Otto's irresitible dance... :)