[Spoiler] End-Game Death

[William Saxton]

Death by Balor:

So I, a lvl 16 Half-Orc Monk with 170 HP, and the rest of my party go up the stairs and find Balor. After deftly avoiding his Rain of Fire spell, we spread out around the room and prepare our attacks. Knowing that I'm the only one that can withstand a few full-round attacks, with Fly and Displacement spells on, I perform a flying charge @ the demon in attempt to keep him away from our squishes.

Tumble check fails, provoking an AOO. Balor swings with his vorpal blade. Rolls against the Displacement and succeeds. Rolls the d20 and...rolls 20. My headless body falls to the ground.

I'm typing this as they are attempting to take the beast down. Doesn't look like they stand a chance...TPK fast approaching.

This blows.

[Mikaze]

Keep us posted man.

Spoiler:

I can't remember anything about a balor in that volume. Did I forget something?

[William Saxton]

Mikaze wrote:

Keep us posted man.

** spoiler omitted **

Update:

The 1 NPC and 2 other players are dead.

1 left standing...Alevra has just shown up.

"Well done, General. Leave this one for me."

[selios]

That should have been "worse" I think...

Spoiler:

Actually, Balor have True Seeing, and don't need to roll against displacement, IIRC...

[William Saxton]

Spoiler:

Well, as it turns out, the DM actually introduced the Balor into the adventure, as it wasn't even part of the original, haha.

Good point about the true seeing.

Oh well, at least it will catapult us into Pathfinder for the next campaign. Gotta love creating new lvl 1 chars!

[Kevin Mack]

He put A balor in? Dear gods man.

[Turin the Mad]

Spoiler:

A 16th level party against a Balor? Kewl.

Tough fight - but hardly a guaranteed loss unless the dice tell a different story. The sheer number of actions a typical party gets will win by attrition as a general rule of thumb.

Spoiler:

The inclusion of the Balor may very well have been the GMs method of dispatching the "old rules characters" to pave the way for both the new rules set and (dare I say) a new Adventure Path! It is often an eye opener to make new 1st level scrubs after playing in the 11th level+ range.

Good luck - and please post an update - did you enjoy the AP, thoughts/opinions/brain droppings and did everyone die horribly - as soon as you can! :)