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I was thinking of going all spidery on my players. I was going to have them encounter some ettercaps with a big, old ettercap "queen" that is the head of the group. I was thinking of giving it classed levels. One idea was to make it a little sickly (lower the STR and CON) and put the points into INT and CHA and making it a Sorcerer perhaps or a Druid. I was also thinking perhaps Oracle or Witch, just to play test the final test version here in my campaign.
I was wondering if anyone has done this? If so would you be willing to share your stat block on such a beastie? If you haven't and you are a good stat block crafter please feel free to show off what you come up with.
I have to be careful about what I toss at them. Mind you it is a much bigger party then what normal encounters have been designed for. I take that into consideration when coming up with the CR for an ecounter and so far the just stomp all over what I toss at them.
The party is about 6 (possibly 7) players, perhaps 1 or 2 NPC's that will be along for the ride. Players are 4th level on the average with the NPC's being 2nd level.
I once had an adventure that went to part of a layer of the abyss populated by fiendish ettercap rogues (most had five levels of rogue, but some 'elites' had ten levels of rogue) in a 3.5 game I ran for a long time.
I haven't thought of doing one as a spellcaster, but as I need to practice my pathfinder statblocks anyway... What final CR are you looking for?
ignoring the NPCs btb your group would have an APL of 5, so single CR 8 would be an 'epic' level encounter, however you need to take into account any allies that the boss ettercap might have present during the fight... a single ettercap is CR 3, so for example: a CR 6 Boss, 2 normal ettercaps (cr 3 each), a giant black widow (large giant spider--cr3) and 2 spider swarms (cr 1 each) would make an encounter with a total CR of 8
Ettercap cavaliers riding giant jumping spiders!
Ettercap bard that warbles and chitters the songs of her people!
An ettercap alchemist with sticky bombs! Made from peices of webbed up dessicated body parts!
On that note, a necomancer that reanimates ettercap victims!
And finally, an ettercap witch with a giant fly as her familiar.
When making villains make sure they can't be one rounded. Ambshes, illusions, traps ans minions go a long way towards keeping a baddie alive long enough to pull off a cool stunt or two. If it's a caster (or rogue with UMD) then mirror image is a must, so are summons cast the round before combat begins. Fighter types need fodder to draw fire and with ettercaps being immune to webs the terrain is already in their favor.
Another favorite of mine is hostages! Even one person begging for help in the ettercaps lair should be enough to throw the party off their game. Good luck!
Ettercap encounter (EL 9)
Ettercap queen (2400 XP)
CR 6 NE Medium Aberration
Elite ettercap oracle of stone 5
Init: +7; Senses: Perception +10, Darkvision 60 ft., Low-light vision
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Defense:
AC: 22 FF: 18 Touch: 14 (+2 natural, +3 dex, +1 dodge, +4 armor, +2 Shield) Cmd: 21
HP: 94 (4d8+5d8+36 con, +9 toughness, +5 favored class)
Fort: +9 Ref: +6 Will: +12
Immune: Sickened
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Offense:
Spd: 30 ft., Climb 30 ft.
Melee: Bite +7 (1d6+1+poison) and Claw +7 (1d4+1)
Ranged: Sling +9 (1d4+1)
Bab: +6; Cmb: +7
SA: Touch of acid (5/day, +6 melee touch, 1d6+2), Shard explosion (2/day, 2d6, DC 14),
Poison (DC 16), Traps, Web (+9 ranged touch, DC 16, 4 HP)
Combat gear: Wand of cure light wounds (10 charges), Potion of barkskin, Potion of cure moderate wounds (2)
Spells: (CL: 5, Concentration +7, +11 Casting defensively)
0.(At will)Detect magic, Light, Mending, Bleed, Stabilize, Create water
1.(7/day) Magic stone, Cure light wounds, Bless, Shield of faith, Divine favor
2.(5/day) Acid arrow (+9 ranged touch), Hold person (DC 14), Bull's strength
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Str: 12 Dex: 16 Con: 18 Int: 10 Wis: 17 Cha: 14
Skills: Climb: +12, Craft (Trapmaking): +10, Intimidate: +14, Linguistics: +2, Perception: +10, Sense motive: +11, spellcraft: +6, Stealth: +6, Survival: +11
Languages: Common, Terran, Undercommon
Feats: Improved initiative, Great fortitude, Combat casting, Toughness, Dodge
SQ: Wasting curse, Favored class (Oracle, +5 HP), Spider empathy (+10)
Gear: +1 Studded leather armor, Masterwork heavy steel shield, Cloak of resistance +1, Piece of garnet (50 GP)
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Minions:
2 Ettercaps
2 Spider swarms
2 Medium spiders
For larger group add one small spider for every additional npc or character.
For an easier encounter remove a minion for every character less than 6.
Thank you all for the assistance....special thanks to Mortagon.
Wow...is that ready to go for 6 PC's and 2 NPC's...the minions you mentioned that is? That is amazing.
It should probably be a challenge at least. With large group I find that several low level minions is a good way to equalize the encounter. I must warn you that my players tend to optimize a lot and they work pretty well together. For a less experienced group you should probably cut back a bit.
Another idea I had was to replace some of the minions with traps mentioned in the ettercap description in the bestiary or appropriate CR traps from the core rulebook. Another thing that could increase the challenge would be an exciting location with webs, elevated positions and lots of crazyness. Since the ettercaps and spiders have climb speeds a large chasm with only narrow walkways and bridges could be a fun battle area, requiring the players to use acrobatics and climb checks when fighting their foes.
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Here is what I have planned out...follow along and tell me what you all think.
Players have the assassin in custody from the last quest that tried to kill the baron that they were assigned to be his entourage by their patron the local duke.
In the morning they are to meet up with a group of Church sponsored mercenaries and the mercenaries are to take the assassin to the closest Church court to stand “trial” and then be tossed in the lowest pit they can find until “sentencing” happens. Pretty much if you attack a noble who is in good standing (makes donations) to the Church you are pretty much guilty. The players are to meet up with the mercenaries at the crossroads outside of town.
The players go to the stables and find everyone is maimed and killed and all the horses are killed and appear to be feasted on. Evidence of some spidery creature is present and there is a magical aura to things. A few people are unaccounted for and there are tracks leading off to the deep forest.
The baron they are assigned to tells the players to track down the wee beastie, bring him it’s head and rescue any survivors that were hauled off.
Since the players are late to the crossroads the mercenaries show up asking what happened. Seeing the carnage they offer to take the assassin and leave an agent or two with them to help. I figured why not since the BBEG is an ettercap oracle, have one of the agents be a cavalier on a horse. That way I can test out a cavalier in the game as a NPC.
Players are on the road and come across a slaughtered merchant caravan in a similar fashion to the stables. The merchants are “guild affiliated” thusly magic is more common then in other places in the campaign. They don’t really have a stigma about magic like the rest of the campaign world does. The caravan is being scavenged by….goblins. There is also a strongbox that has been busted open and the runes on it are defaced. The runes were magical in nature. Players see that some of the merchants are still alive and fighting off the goblins. Halfway through the combat some of the corpses raise as undead. After the fight the merchant…or some kind of evidence left point that they were taking an item to be destroyed by the Church that would cause the dead to walk that was found in a set of ruins in the forest. They find out if they find the item placing it in a box of some kind with a holy symbol or vial of holy water will neutralize it.
Players finally track the ettercap and crew to their lair which is an old abandoned elven reconnaissance outpost. It isn’t very big…not a “dungeon crawl” per say…perhaps only one floor worth of rooms. They have to rescue survivors, one has already had eggs implanted inside of it (thank you Dragon Magazine), one is a actually a crazy cultist that encouraged all of this and other kind of twists to the plot as needed. The item is there with the ettercap BBEG. Perhaps before the players get there they encounter a few low level undead at the perimeter a few miles away.
So thats what I got...whatcha all think??? I figured the cavalier is lower level then the players...if they are 4th make the cavalier perhaps 2nd or 3rd. My thoughts are that I don't want to take the spotlight off the characters too much, but I do want the NPC to contribute to things.
sounds pretty good... But does the artifact allow whoever posesses it to control the undead? If it does, you should be sure that your PCs are dedicated to the church to keep them from taking it. This is why I love paladins
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The artifact doesn't allow control of undead. In fact it's just a side effect. Anything that dies, natural or otherwise cannot move on to the other side. They become tethered to their bodies, pissed off and angry. It's more of a "radiation effect" rather then the actual power.
In my campaign world in the small country they are in...in order to be able to gather in a group, go to some unknown tomb, lair or whatnot, raid it for loot, slaughter nonhumans for their treasure and the like you have to have a charter...a license from the local lord or the church...sometimes a powerful merchant family can sponsor you too. If you don't then expect stiff fines, penalties and possibly jail time. Bringing in all that loot destabilizes the local economy as well as possibly introduces magic which is considered a stain and sin by the Church. Nobles as a form of extreme penance are allowed to use magic for "the betterment of mankind and defense of the Principality" so they are given a pass...to a point.
The group is sponsored by a local duke who has tasked them to guard a lower ranking baron for him. The baron is a fighter/sorcerer. He was raised as a “penitent”…a sorcerer that since childhood has served the Church with the promise that if they do they have a shot at heaven in the afterlife. During the Great War he headed up one of the few all fighter/sorcerer combat units that later was disbanded and demobilized.
The group is religious to say the least. Not only is the baron they are assigned to so fearful of sin he doesn’t cast spells unless he needs to and even then asks later for the dwarf to take his confession, he also refuses to have divine magic to be used on him…once again goes to confess he let someone waste it on him. Makes for interesting RP…oh…he is also missing an arm…lost in the war. Once again great RP. We have currently…
- A human paladin of an order similar to the Knights Templar.
- A human monk from an order of religious hermits and friend to the paladin. He is a masochist...of sorts...his order belives in self-flagellation among other things.
- A dwarven cloistered type cleric of the orthodox and largest sect of the Church. We house ruled him from Unearthed Arcana best we could. Gains an extra clerical domain and bardic knowledge ability in exchange for some martial prowess. So far working pretty good.
- A human wizard who is from a noble family. His father owed the Church a tremendous debt and died before he could pay up. So the wizard inherited his debt and has to work it off.
- Half Wild Elf Ranger and secretly a druid. He was modeled after Hawkeye...Last of the Mohicans character...Daniel Day Lewis's character. He is from two worlds and bridges the gap well. They characters with one exception don't know he is a "pagan priest".
- Longtooth Shifter barbarian. The Shifters were one of the first people the humans encountered in the "new world" before the took over. The humans and shifters are to each other like the early settlers were to the Native Americans.
They might have the baron's aid come with them. They assume he is gay but he is not...just effeminate. What they don’t know is he is a great fencer and has levels of rogue instead do just expert. Also as mentioned a human cavalier might come along. Perhaps as a twist maybe he is a “ugly human” and covers himself up many times…he is actually a half-orc.
The player who is playing the wizard is moving…so we already worked out that his debt is paid off and he is taking off. During the encounter on the road with the dead merchants that is where they are meeting two new players that are coming in. Brothers….one wizard and one rogue.
So...how does this all grab you all? Comments???
Sounds like you have given this a lot of thought. I think this should work out pretty well and be fun to play. Good luck and I hope you find use for the ettercap queen I statted up for you.
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Sounds like you have given this a lot of thought. I think this should work out pretty well and be fun to play. Good luck and I hope you find use for the ettercap queen I statted up for you.
I love the stat block. However after reading more about the oracle...do you think you could restat the mystery to be bones? Make more sense that a necromantic item is here possesion.