Best way to up CR in Battle Market?


Legacy of Fire


Hey all.

I started this campaign with two PCs, and I had them roll 2nd lvl characters so they wouldn't get slaughtered out the gate. Then, we grew to four characters, but I didn't slow the leveling down as much as I should have. So now, I have four 5th level characters entering the Battle Market for the first time, and I am worried that they will trounce Kardswann and his goons easily.

From those who have been through, what is the best way to add some challenge to this portion (and to Xulthos?). Add a lvl to Kardswann and his goons? Add more goons? Gnoll Snipers on the upper stories? Rogue Jedi roaming the halls? Help!

For those interested, the party is:
lvl 5 Halfling Fighter
lvl 5 Halfling Ranger
lvl 5 Gnome Sorceror
lvl 5 Dwarf Cleric

(Yes, all short. Hilarious!)


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Well, one thing I've been considering is adding a group of gnoll females and pups (in game terms, female gnolls are straight-up gnolls, perhaps lacking armor, while pups have the young template).

While the genders of the gnolls aren't explicit in the adventure, Classic Monsters Revisited has left me feeling that all of these gnolls on guard duty are probably male. The Kulldis tribe doesn't have much of a future, it seems!

In my case, however, I'd been thinking about putting these extra gnolls next door, in the palace Kardswann keeps locked up; just another way he and his master keep their new minions on the leash.

Liberty's Edge

We had 6 4th level PC's go in and it was a challenge. You have all of the goobers on the first floor, then I added a few gnoll archers on the levels above. Kardswann is no slacker. With invisibility and fly, he can deal a few nasty blows. I also added a gnoll sorcerer, 3rd level for some magic missle fun.


John, you'll have to let me know how that goes down. It looks like our next playable date is October the 9th, so I've got some time to plan.

I like the idea of the Gnoll sorc, Dave! I'm gonna have to crack open the Bestiary and craft one up. Random question from a newbie GM, would a Gnoll Sorc get a bloodline just like anyone else?

Thanks all!

Liberty's Edge

Sure he would. The extra racial HP allow him to live a little longer than the average 3rd level sorcerer. Make the players come to Kardswann, and if they leave a few behind down below, then he can take the fight to those slackers and make the others return down. Have some fun with it.


So my party has 5 players, instead of the suggested 4, and they managed to recruit a lot of allies going into the final battle market fight. So while they were the right level, they needed a little more to keep the pressure on while they tried to deal with Kardswann.

So, I added some hyena's being kept in a couple of the market stalls on the first level that the gnolls could release. I also added a couple of antagonists from one of the character's backstory, a couple of rangers and a higher level witch who represented a nomad tribe that wanted to trade with Kardswann and his gnolls. These three didn't stay to fight, but did some damage on the way out the door and helped move a sideplot along, which was good.

Steve


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
tocath wrote:
John, you'll have to let me know how that goes down. It looks like our next playable date is October the 9th, so I've got some time to plan.

You'll probably beat me to it; my next game night is week after next, and then I'll only have time for two sessions before mid-November! My players will probably still be rooting around the outskirts of Kelmarane by the time you take on the battle market.

Dark Archive Contributor

Just drop everything in the market as quick as you need to. The best part of this adventure is that if the PCs are drawn into a fight, everything in the building is likely to join in. Kardswann, the strangler, the bugbears, and the gnolls ought to be plenty even for 5th level PCs...


I decided to go with a Gnoll Cleric instead of Sorc to keep in line with the idea that Gnolls struggle with Arcane magic.

Gnoll Cleric:

GNOLL CLERIC CR 2
Male Gnoll Cleric 3
CE Medium Humanoid (Gnoll)
Init +0; Senses Darkvision (60 feet); Perception +4
--------------------
DEFENSE
--------------------
AC 17, touch 10, flat-footed 17. . (+6 armor, +1 natural)
hp 41 (5d8+10)
Fort +7, Ref +1, Will +5
--------------------
OFFENSE
--------------------
Spd 20 ft.
Melee
. . Masterwork Cold Iron Morningstar +4 (1d8/20/x2) and
. . Unarmed Strike +3 (1d3/20/x2)
Special Attacks Destructive Smite +1 (5/day), Storm Burst (5/day)
Spell-Like Abilities Storm Burst (5/day)
Cleric Spells Known (CL 3, 3 melee touch, 3 ranged touch):
2 (2/day) Hold Person (DC 14), Shatter (DC 14), Spiritual Weapon
1 (3/day) Cause Fear (DC 13), Obscuring Mist, Bane (DC 13), True Strike
0 (at will) Bleed (DC 12), Resistance, Spark (DC 12), Virtue (DC 12)
--------------------
STATISTICS
--------------------
Str 10, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 6
Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 13
Feats Extra Channel, Improved Channel, Toughness +5
Skills Acrobatics -5, Climb -5, Escape Artist -5, Fly -5, Perception +4, Ride -5, Spellcraft +5, Stealth -5, Swim -5
Languages Gnoll
SQ Aura (Ex), Channel Negative Energy 2d6 (3/day) (DC 11) (Su), Cleric Domain: Destruction, Cleric Domain: Weather, Spontaneous Casting
Combat Gear Masterwork Cold Iron Morningstar, Chainmail; Other Gear Potion of Cure Light Wounds
--------------------
SPECIAL ABILITIES
--------------------
Channel Negative Energy 2d6 (3/day) (DC 11) (Su) A good cleric can channel positive energy to heal the living and injure the undead; an evil cleric can channel negative energy to injure the living and heal the undead.
Cleric Domain: Destruction
Cleric Domain: Weather
Darkvision (60 feet)
Destructive Smite +1 (5/day) (Su) You gain the destructive smite power: the supernatural ability to make a single melee attack with a morale bonus on damage rolls equal to 1/2 your cleric level (minimum 1). You must declare the destructive smite before making the attack. You can use
Spontaneous Casting The Cleric can convert stored spells into Cure or Inflict spells.
Storm Burst (1d6+1) (5/day) (Sp) 30' Ranged touch attack deals 1d6+1 nonlethal damage and inflicts a -2 to hit penalty for 1r.

Liberty's Edge

Out of curiosity, what did you make the Cleric a worshiper of? Lamashtu or another god?


Kalraan wrote:
Out of curiosity, what did you make the Cleric a worshiper of? Lamashtu or another god?

Given that his domains are Destruction and Weather, Rovagug must be his patron.


catmandrake wrote:
Kalraan wrote:
Out of curiosity, what did you make the Cleric a worshiper of? Lamashtu or another god?
Given that his domains are Destruction and Weather, Rovagug must be his patron.

Yup, this Gnoll cleric is a Rovagug follower. I figured msot gnolls would be worshippers of Lamashtu, but some would seek out Rovagug as well.


Tocath, I'm glad you found your solution. I have sot of the opposite problem in that I'm running for 8 players and through excellent role-playing and actually tithing to Almah 10% of the monetary tresure they've found to date, they've gotten the merchant princess to assign three of the mercenaries to them as permanent guard/scouts (so far, they've assigned them to lower risk, protect the spell caster jobs).

As a result, I've had to flesh out these three as full stat characters. They're about a level behind the PC's at this point and by player decision, the NPC's are getting full-share treasure and exp from any encounter they actually participate in)

With an 11-way split of the exp, I going to have to really bulk up the available exp in order for the PC's to have a fair chance at the Battle Market.

We're started to clear the lower town ruins (B1-B7) at this point, but the PC's have had several side-trips to sites in the surrounding region. They've already been to the following places:

  • The Pesh Fields, where they killed the dust digger on night 2, before the gnolls tried to kill Oxvard on night 3. The gnolls were almost commic in their attempts to summon the beast. Wisely, the PC's used a scroll of silence 15' to cover the noise and afterwards burried the digger back in it's hole and smoothed over the area. The gnolls tried everything they could to get the digger to surface, even to the point of picking up big rocks and dropping them near the poor cleric.
  • The Old Shrine, where I ran the excellent Set Piece encounter.
  • One Day 5, the whole team happened to be back at the Monestary healing up from the Shrine when the harpy makes her flyby. The ranger was on guard and she carries a crude spyglass (part of the players original equipment). The ranger alerted the whole camp that a "huge bird" was headed thier way and the initial round of missle attacks was significantly more than the harpies 31 hit points. I may introduce her twinn sister, as the encounter with her in her lairis just too funny and I'm going to run it if at all possible.
  • On the next day, they were scouting the hills north of town, as the ranger was sure that's where the harpy had came from. Needing an encounter, I quick stated a heavy wagon drawn by six oxen and protected by 10 bandits (W1's and 2's) lead by a disreputable 1/2 orc merchant (T4). The wagon contained slaves destined for the Battle Market. It was a close fight, but the players survived and rescued the six slaves (all Com1's for now, but I can always make one a replacement character if I need one).

That's where it stands as of our last session, which ended as the PC's were approaching the village. I'm still going to need several extra encounters to bring the PC's up to strength for the Battle Market fight. Any suggestions for extra encounters in town or in the surronding area? I've already toyed with a den of Femals and pups in the unmarked, in-tact building SW of B8. Other than that, my creative juices are runing low and I need your help and suggestions.


So, one player didn't show up, and I ended up very nearly killing the party!

I left out the gnoll cleric when it became apparent that the party was using less than effective tactics and quickly accumulating deadly wounds. Six Gnoll rangers on the upper level dropped two of the party to negatives in the space of a few rounds, and no one was using cover to their advantage. Someone finally figured out that getting off the stage and away from the hole in the ceiling was a good idea.

I'll be saving the Cleric for next session! Mwuuhuuhahahaaa!

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder Adventure Path / Legacy of Fire / Best way to up CR in Battle Market? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Legacy of Fire