Hmm. Anyway, it was a crazy night tonight. The characters had just made second level and were in-between adventures, so I mixed things up with a random encounter. But it what started as a simple dilemma turned into true insanity!
Ok, so basically the characters, who were stopping over at a small wild-elf enclave, more homestead really. Well, instead of pushing them onto the next leg of the journey, I had them get caught in the middle of a battle between 30 skeletons and an evolved wight riding upon a nightmare vs. an injured juvenile black dragon.
The Elves looked after Thrandour the king of eagles (great eagle) and the PCs had just turned in quest reward. The eagle spoke to them of a black drag9on, and at the end of the session, I had the entire homestead enveloped in darkness. Originally I was going to have an attack by a drow raiding party, but I decided to use the black dragon. In my world Demogorgon rules the underworld and Orcus rules the undead ad they are waging a war for control of a region known as Shalizar.
Anyhow, I had to use the darkness, so at the last minute I decided to use an element of behind the scenes, that of the undead masters capturing and killing dragons to become undead minions, and had a hunt take place right on top of them! The scene opened with the darkness (they had all week to wonder...) and then as the opening rolls they hear a huge crash and make reflex saves to avoid the massive redwood splintered above them in the darkness. The dragon lands at the base of the hill (elven sentinels call out signals of what happens) but Thrandour atacks! His wing is boiled off in an acid blast!
Then the characters go mad! Instead of planning a defense, they rush out of the encampment and the cleric miraculouosly turns 13 of the remaining 25 skellies! Now everyon gets in on it. The undead concentrate on killing the dragon, but the evolved whight also carries a staff of lightning bolt (4d6) The dragon dies. The cleric heals the dragon (!) and together they defeat all the undead! Then get this:
The dragon (who has 1 hp) says "Your reward is to live another day" takes off. They get an Attack of opportunity! Rolls a 23, AC is 22 hits! KILLS THE MO-FO'ing dragon!!!!!! Award 21,000 experience points! (Plus all the undead) I rule them immediatley advance one morre level to 1 xp above 3rd and call it a night.
Man, it was crazy.... but hilariously fun.
I love it when the PCs are victorious over overwhelming odds.
Except when I DM. :-P
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Heh, the last game I played in, there was a death knight that the DM had intended to follow us through a labyrinth(sans David Bowie)as a sort of looming death, and the party just descended upon him.
Though he scared the wizard away right off the bat, we surrounded him and proceeded to beat the unliving stuffing out of him, my monk did have to retreat because the death knight began to focus his attacks on my character(I have a nagging feeling that the DM is trying to take me out for my ridiculous AC), and brought him down to 2 hitpoints. After I fell back to find the wizard, the Cleric pops off a Mass Cure. Great timing, that...
Later on, we encounter a zombie minotaur who was left to guard a doorway. Instead of fighting our way past him, or solving the riddle he posed us to get by, our wizard used Command Undead and the party now had an undead minotaur pet to follow us around. Unfortunately, the minotaur turned to a pile of bones as he stepped through the door, but hey, it was still a lot easier.
He told us after we finished that adventure that we kinda messed up his plans by killing the knight.
He told us after we finished that adventure that we kinda messed up his plans ...
Isn't that what PC's do?
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Isn't that what PC's do?
He told us after we finished that adventure that we kinda messed up his plans ...Some more than most...
We're doing that a lot in EtCG.
You've my 1/2 vampire with the charming gaze trick defusing fights "Hi there, lets not fight." the Bard with his Glibness spell and diplomancer build "Let us through, the boss is expecting us", and the monk with the VoP golden icing everything.
Heck I charmed a cleric of Iuz and completely bypassed a trap. Then bought my new friend a drink and took him to the church of Wee Jas. The DM was kind of mortified with "Well, either they can get him to convert, or as followers of the goddess of death and magic, can make his death quick and painless."
...and the monk with the VoP golden icing everything.
That sounds pretty dirty.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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...and the monk with the VoP golden icing everything.That sounds pretty dirty.
It is. He built it with a partial idea of what VoP allows. When I let him borrow my Book of Exalted Cheese for finishing the build, people thought I was overstating the abuse potential. (I was the first player to bring an Abjurant Cheesewhore to the table).
I think we're beginning to see otherwise.
That said I read EtCG from some time ago and while I don't remember much...
ANother night, another wildly victorious pcs over long odds. I had created an evil party that was meant to harry and batter them and lead them to the quest's goal, and the past two game sessions were the intoduction of these enemies. Well they ent them, and commenced to slay them all!
OK so the PC's are a party of 5 3rd levels and a 1st level, for 16 total levels. The baddies were 4 CR 5s: Were Rat bard/rogue, Yuan ti Wiz 4, Drow cleric 5, Drow Fighter 4. Or somehting I might heve the levels a little meixed, but you get the point. It was in a tavern with an attached 3 story tower. The 3 were in the tower's top floor, while their 'face' the were rat went downstairs to see who entered (town is beseiged by undead). He sees tyhem and changes to hybrid, screams "enemies!" The party reacts and chase him to the second floor where the w/r is tackled and slain. The yuan ti meanwhile casts grease on the stairs up to level 3 and much hilarity ensues. Then they make it to the top o the stairs and simultaneuosly the yuan ti casts 3 magic missiles, and the rower goes dark (DARKNESS) So ends the first session...
Session 2 finds them planning to regroup on the second floor. The barbarian rushes up the stairs, the elf thief climbs out to the thatch roof of the attached inn, and the battles rages on... Yuan ti first summons a gibbering mouther, then whn the barbarian resists his charm attempt (via clerics prot. evil) the yuan ti makes a mistake and turns into a giant viper and strikes. I allow the barb a check to avoid the leap, he gets a 20, snake a 1, so i have the snake land behind the barb on the stairs. He was soon killed...
Meanwhile the drow know something's gone bad, so they are making their escape out onto the roof. The thief, who is doing quite well, hides, climbs, moves silently, the whole bit as she stalks up the roof for a backstab onto the male drow bodyguard.
The drow try for a fighting retreat and make it down to the ground, all set to run, when the flippin' barbarian leaps out of the tower window onto the priestess. Another round of excellent rolls and he winds up landing on her, grappling her, and then unbelievably tries (next round) to swing the drow as a weapon to attack the male drow! It was too much, but more great rolls and he winds up bashing the drowess into the tower wall. All this brutality from my 11 yr old son, his first encounter with the group!
Now the cleric gets into it (buffed with bulls str, etc) and leaps off the roof onto the male, they both take massive damage and are prone, but it allows the party the round it takes to annhiliate the enemy.
Well, I guess it is back to the drawing board!
(I'm lovin' it actually, I just wish I could get a baddie bad-a$$ enough to stick around awhile!)
Anyhow, it makes for some really exciting sessions, and I think everyone is really getting into it. There were other nice little touches too, like that 3rd floor of the tower was a wizrd's study, our resident wizard was grinning the whole rest of the night. And to think they considered burning them out!
I think you're on the right track with using Non-associated Class Levels to advance monsters. The yuan-ti wizard 4 has 8 HD, but is only CR 5! I'd avoid drow, as their CR increase isn't really worth it, and SR is just annoying if used constantly.
For example, gnoll cleric 3s are CR 3, but have 5 HD, since the first 2 levels of cleric are non-associated for gnolls.
What are your PCs? Did the level 1 survive the fight with the CR 5 dudes? WOW!
Sounds like a lot of fun.
What are your PCs? Did the level 1 survive the fight with the CR 5 dudes? WOW!
The characters are as follows: 3rd lvl human fighter, 3rd level human cleric, 3rd level elf wizard, 3rd level elf rogue, 3rd level gnome bard, and the newest addition: 1st level human barbarian. The barbarian survived the encounter, though he took massive risks, going head to head with first the yuan-ti, then leaping out a window to land on the drow cleric.
I can't believe how powerful they are, and I am pretty stingy with the treasure! I literally have started giving all baddies max HP, and usually choose monsters +2 cr or more. I can't elieve my battle tactics are so poor to cause this, but I just don't get it, they sweep the floor with all the necounter, here are a few:
Ist encounter ever(1st level): 6 skeletons and 2 ghouls, handily won. Next was 7 orcs with masterwork short swords. That one got tough, but they eeked past.
Now, it is a party of 6, sometimes 7, so I know they are stronger than average, but I could not believe they killed thse bad gus so easily. I'm glad it was fun but they are gaining XP so fast now! Not to mention the treasure!
I DM for 8. I know what you're going through. Are you remembering to split the XP by 6 instead of 4?
You might want to throw in more lower level mooks. Especially at level 3 or 4, the PC's ACs are probably not too huge, so even CR 1/3 or CR 1/2 warriors have a chance to hurt the PCs. Just a human warrior 1 with 13 12 11 10 9 8 stats and Weapon Focus and Toughness is going to have 11 hps and an attack roll of +3, +5 if flanking or gaining some Aid Another goodness. Use a Dragon Shaman 1 from PH2 as support, and all those guys have DR 1/magic or Fast Healing 1 (until at 1/2 max hp) or Fire Shield 2, or Acid/Cold/Electricity/Fire Res 5, etc. etc. Or a bard giving +1 to attack and damage.
Don't tell anyone but next week is going to be 24 zombies in a graveyard, ha! I cant wait to see how it goes. I am prepared to add another 15 into the mix if needed. Thay have had time to rest, and the mage finally had time to catch up on his spell research!
Do you have something interesting for the bard and rogue to do during the zombie fight? They can't charm or sneak attack them.
Or is there a "zombie master" for them to tackle? Cleric, Necromancer, DREAD Necromancer, Archivist, Warlock, Adept?
Wow I tell you what, they managed to pull off another amazing tale of survival this time...
Unfortunately, as is so often the case, it began with paperwork: looting corpses, Preparing spells, scrolls, and other errata. Magic item lore checks... you name it. Finally I just practicaklly told them what most items were, then i was abrupt: forty-eight hours later, you see your chance to exit the town and make your way to the king's barrow. You arrive at the black iron gates of the cemetary at ten pm. Shuffling sounds can be heard from within - then a woman's shriek and more shambling moans.
ZOmbie attack! They must hack their way through a zombie-infested graveyard at night and save a woman chained to a cross on a tall tomb, then make their way to the Grecian-style temple that is the mausoleum of the ancient king, at the far end, approx. 250 feet. Oh and there were 8 zombies surrounding her, and spotted by Earl the Eagle familiar the next round, 8 more in one milling group, another 8 further on, and finally to either side of the cometary were 12 apiece, for a total of 48 zombies!!! They are third level characters!!!!
(In cidentally, when their initial plan (discarded) involved climbing on top of a ten foot tall monument and killing them all. This was when I decided to change the number of zombies to: infinite) <--Evil!
So, 48 zombies, their plan is to have mage and bard on 10 foot monument, while elf thief in cloak of elvenkind rescues girl. ZOmbies see them climb onto monument, begins a shambling horde of zombies. I made a house rule on the spot: zombies movement is 20', I want them to be shambling, not 28 days later, but mmm I love that 16 hp! The players were surprised at how strong they were!
First couple of rounds is buffing (cleric especially) as the zombies approach and the elf reconnoiters. Then the action starts, zombies go down, fighter has incredible streak of 4 kills in 2 turns with cleave. Then the cleric hit with all his improved abilities and destroyed 5, 5, 9, for a total of 19 in 3 turns, still had 3 more turns memorized. Mage cast no spells but merely shot arrows, bard sang and used magic hand x-bow, (double firing drow bow, able to fire 2/round+1) the barbarian fought his way forwards, not deigning to remain back, and eventually, by about the 9th round (35 zombies killed) the players make a dash for the stairs leading up to the mausoleum, with the stairs descending into darkness...
It was really fun to see the players go hog-wild, and each of them was on either a killing spree, or a saving spreee, or whatever. Then the realization that the fight was unwinnable came... the change came upon them in the 6th or 7th round, every other round, 5-7 would apear on the right of left side, then 12 appeared. So immediately it became getting the slow gnome who was stuck on a perch all the way across the cometary and up the steps, and so began phase 2, the fighting withdrawal, which I must say, they handled with real aplomb. 35 KIA, 10 left, they could stay and slaughter the 10 easily, but they have to ask themselves: would more come, qand if so we need to conserve our strength. Oh, it was a hard choice for some of them, especially the ones who could deal out damage indefinitely, like the fighter. 'Twas the cleric who persuaded them, though the rogue had been calling for it all along, and the game ended 22 minutes late (sorry tim) but with the characters up the steps to the temple.
35 killed! So that means, 10 left standing, and they are 10 turns out (I am arbitrating here) so next week will see 10 rounds of trap checking, door unlocking, searching, etc, then a pause of 1 hour, upon which 25 zombies will descend! If they refuse to go down (which I dont foresee as being a problem, but one must have backup plans) then each hour a zombie horde will attack.
Anyhow, next week will be my coup de grace, as soon as they barr the door (no locks they must improvise against the zombies pushing at the doors, 10 in 10 turns, then 25 more in an hour, they will be confronted with a room with large round stone seal in the floor. They must remove this and descend 50 to the beginning of the dungeon (I am too evil maybe) but that is for later, for now they have 2 rounds to figure out why the large bronze statues are half melted to dust, then 2 rust monsters attadk, surprise! Oh yes, this will be a deadly dungeon....
Maybe the PCs can improvise clubs from the femurs of the zombies????