I'm going to be hosting the third game of my homebrew campaign soon and I want it to end with a climatic encounter against a barbed devil in the middle of a burning town. With the exception of Delm, everyone lives in the town and each and everyone of them have a vested interest in protecting it and the citizens (whom they grew up with) therein.
- Delm Halfheart, Mysterious Factotum (8th-level human rogue)
- Hihachi Belacqua, Town Engineer (8th-level half-elf fighter)
- Rogar Ironside, Sheriff/War Veteran (8th-level dwarf paladin)
- Selfane Golfbound, Dragon Sorcerer (8th-level human sorcerer/dragon disciple)
I'm looking for advice on how to make this encounter memorable and challenging. I know 4 on 1 encounters tend not to go well for the 1, but I nevertheless hope to make this battle exciting for the players, at the very least.
The PCs will encounter the devil in the midst of their hometown as their town burns down around them (the fire and smoke being hazards in their own right). Between the paladin's smite evil, their hero points, and their oils of bless weapon, I don't think the creature's DR will be a problem for them.
Some ideas I had already considered:
- Use Produce flame at range. The damage isn't much, but gets nasty quick when three are thrown in a round as a full attack. Them being touch attacks ensures they will most likely all hit.
- Pyrotechnics may well blind the entire party for a few rounds, giving the creature a chance to teleport elsewhere or put the hurt on.
- Town survivors make great hostages/means of luring the paladin away from the fight (as he will want to save them)
- Falling, flaming debris may divide the party and or/the monster at a convenient (for the GM) moment.
- Hitting the party tanks will be relatively difficult for the devil at times, however, grappling ANY party member normally is near auto-success.
- Hold person at will and an encroaching blaze of fire can be potentially devastating against the party. (Can a held person still fly via the fly spell?)
- Teleport at will means the devil should never be within the party's range for long unless he chooses to be.
- Major image allows the devil to trick out the PCs (such as by creating illusions of their loved ones being imperiled in order to lure them into a trap, or by some time, etc.)
Still, I'm looking for something more. Help.
Your only doing APL+3. I would go for APL+4. Especially as your using hero points, and especially as the PC's appear to be on a higher point buy (quick guesstimation- 25?).
I prefer to use tactics to make it more challenging rather than messing with the numbers.
And yes, they are 25-pt buy, which is a norm for our play groups.
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I'll be interested to know how it goes, but without pulling stuff from thin air like falling debris etc. an APL+3 isn't really a climactic encounter of the campaign, unless their characters are somewhat gimped.
Just my opinion, and i'd like to read an account of what you did and how it went just to sate my curiousity.
Stay in the flames (immune)... make the PC's come to him. Make use of his Major Image to lure players into dangerous areas.
Your only doing APL+3. I would go for APL+4. Especially as your using hero points, and especially as the PC's appear to be on a higher point buy (quick guesstimation- 25?).I prefer to use tactics to make it more challenging rather than messing with the numbers.
And yes, they are 25-pt buy, which is a norm for our play groups.
Make surrounding the npc difficult. Use the monster superior reach (glaive) plus his immunity to fire to make melee as difficult as possible.
I would personally place the fight inside a burning building (rather than the middle of the town). Maybe the town hall or somewhere else meaningful to the party. This way, your players would need to be concerned with the fire + falling debris (1d4/1d6+plus chance of catching fire?), but not the monster (DR+fire immunity). Teleport away to relocate if needed.
Also ... the longer you make the fight, the most effective the infernal bleeding ability will be.
Just my 2 cents.
Before the game begins, draw five locations that the devil will teleport to. It will give you incentive as a GM to make sure that you use that teleport with a minimum amount of game flow disruption. Having to find the devil should be part of the experience. I'd use a party member's house, a church, a marketplace, an orphanage, and... an alchemist's shop for explosive fun.
Use stampede rules for fleeing people.
Before the game begins, draw five locations that the devil will teleport to. It will give you incentive as a GM to make sure that you use that teleport with a minimum amount of game flow disruption. Having to find the devil should be part of the experience. I'd use a party member's house, a church, a marketplace, an orphanage, and... an alchemist's shop for explosive fun.
Use stampede rules for fleeing people.
"explosive" is always fun.
;)
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Bring a chicken, a tub of axle grease and plunger.
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o_o
oh..
..I seem to have misunderstood the thread's title.
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Briefly before bed:
O,o?
Looking more like "BegninPervert" if ya ask me. :oP
Make surrounding the npc difficult. Use the monster superior reach (glaive) plus his immunity to fire to make melee as difficult as possible.I would personally place the fight inside a burning building (rather than the middle of the town). Maybe the town hall or somewhere else meaningful to the party. This way, your players would need to be concerned with the fire + falling debris (1d4/1d6+plus chance of catching fire?), but not the monster (DR+fire immunity). Teleport away to relocate if needed.
Also ... the longer you make the fight, the most effective the infernal bleeding ability will be.
Just my 2 cents.
It's a BARBED devil, not a BEARDED devil. :P
O,o?
Looking more like "BegninPervert" if ya ask me. :oP
O-o I edited to be vaguely on topic!
Now, could you please pass me the rubber gloves...
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-Give him a potion (or two) of haste, especially if you're going to do Produce Flame. A potion of invisibility could be nice, too. You can go invisible, grab a party member, grapple him, and impale him.
-Scorching Ray is also a barbed devil ability, and you can use that at range on the guys you can't hit. It might do more damage than Produce Flame, because you get two rays.
-You have a martial-heavy party. Barbed devils are good in a melee, but chances are he's not as good as your party, so don't be afraid to retreat via teleport to places that the party can't easily follow (up to a second story, behind burning debris) and hit them with ranged fire attacks.
-But if the party is better at range than at melee, using the 'smoke' ability of pyrotechnics will force the PC's into melee. It'll also make those pesky reach weapons pretty useless, unless the PC's can see through smoke somehow.
-I like the falling debris idea, and whatever combat zone you choose, that should have a CR value. Maybe you could add a few fireball traps and burning hands traps to add interesting terrain in your fight?
Hamatulas are nasty, nasty opponents that can easily fight above their CR value under the right circumstances.
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How prone is your group to getting frustrated? Using *too* smart of tactics against some groups I've GMed for can frustrate them to the point of quitting, but I'm going to assume you've got some level headed players who are pretty good at problem solving.
I'm going to second the recommendation of making the devil hard to get to- use teleport to get to the top of burning buildings which might collapse at any minute, teleporting elsewhere at just the last moment.
Standing directly in the flames can make for a good defensive tactic and some awesome description opportunities. "The spiked fiend grasps the tongues of flame surrounding him as if they were solid as steel, and hurls them at you hatefully."
I know you've said you'd prefer to alter tactics than beef the monster up, but would you consider rebuilding the monster at the same CR? I'd recommend trading out Alertness and Improved Critical for feats that make the thing tougher. Toughness and possibly Great Fortitude come to mind.
Hmm, this is a tough one.
The devil has decent ranged attacks, but a resist fire will basically make them useless. I think the ranged attacks might be more useful in destroying the town, and killing townsfolk.
While good in melee, the fighter and especially smite'in paladin are really nasty! If either gets enlarged, that really puts the devil at a big disadvantage.
I see the devil doing well fighting on rooftops. In addition to the burning building underfoot, it also allows the devil the chance to 5-foot step off the roof. DR will take care of the falling damage, and by the time the party catches up, the devil can teleport to the next area.
A jail would be a natural place for the devil to fight. There can be all kinds of advantages to be gained when you can just slam a door and teleport away, leaving someone locked in a burning jail cell.
You might want to switch a few feats around as well. Cleave is tough to use against PCs, and alertness is unlikely to come into play. Improved natural weapon claws would be good, as would combat casting. I personally don't like Hold Person (coup de grace on a PC is - lame to me) so you could consider trading it out for a different spell like ability.
To keep it interesting I would also add a few imps, and a handful of skeletons or something. Wouldn't really up the CR, but it will keep things interesting, and help cut down on the frustration of trying to kill a creature that can just teleport away. Or you could be cruel and have invisible imps reading to disrupt casters and stuff.
Finally, the devil should have access to a few nice items, such as a horn of evil, a few javelins of lightning, and a robe of bones or something. The devil will also need a fallback location - I recommend the local church - where he can guzzle healing potions (unholy water?) and wait out crippling debuffs.
One last thing. Let the players do what they do best. The fighter should get to tear things up with his bastard sword, the paladin should smite the hell out of some stuff, etc, etc, etc. Make the encounter work so they NEED to use their skills and abilities, not so that they can't.
Have fun burning down the town!
It's a BARBED devil, not a BEARDED devil. :P
Make surrounding the npc difficult. Use the monster superior reach (glaive) plus his immunity to fire to make melee as difficult as possible.I would personally place the fight inside a burning building (rather than the middle of the town). Maybe the town hall or somewhere else meaningful to the party. This way, your players would need to be concerned with the fire + falling debris (1d4/1d6+plus chance of catching fire?), but not the monster (DR+fire immunity). Teleport away to relocate if needed.
Also ... the longer you make the fight, the most effective the infernal bleeding ability will be.
Just my 2 cents.
My bad, I was distracted.
In that case it is even easier since the fiend in question is more powerful and smarter.
I would :
1)lure character into the building (hostage screaming or major image)
2) hold person against fighter
3) scorching ray vs pally or full-round vs rogue (and see if fear kicks in)
4) repeat 3 as much as needed
5) pyrotechnics (targeted close to sorcerer, if possible) and teleport away to a safer location.
6) repeat till you wear them down.
A soon as the fiend understands the threat, do not let it be flanked by rogue+paladin or he'll die fast.
Unholy blight if you need to distribute dmg
Again sorry about the mistake.
edit : reorganized my thoughts
How prone is your group to getting frustrated? Using *too* smart of tactics against some groups I've GMed for can frustrate them to the point of quitting, but I'm going to assume you've got some level headed players who are pretty good at problem solving.
I'm going to second the recommendation of making the devil hard to get to- use teleport to get to the top of burning buildings which might collapse at any minute, teleporting elsewhere at just the last moment.
Standing directly in the flames can make for a good defensive tactic and some awesome description opportunities. "The spiked fiend grasps the tongues of flame surrounding him as if they were solid as steel, and hurls them at you hatefully."
I know you've said you'd prefer to alter tactics than beef the monster up, but would you consider rebuilding the monster at the same CR? I'd recommend trading out Alertness and Improved Critical for feats that make the thing tougher. Toughness and possibly Great Fortitude come to mind.
I was already considering switching out some feats. Toughness is a good idea, as it would give him a little extra durability.
Some of my concerns are limited to the following:
- The sorcerer has resist energy and the party will be approaching the town after the devil has caused some havoc (which means they might see the flames and smoke of their home from as much as ten miles away). If they are smart, they will all have fire resistance 20 prior to entering the town. If so this will make the scorching rays, produce flame, and environmental fires trivial.
- The sorcerer can also cast the fly spell, which he has used both on himself and his fellow party members in the past. I highly expect the characters to be able to outmaneuver the devil with the sole exception of his teleport abilities (which will cost him a round each time he uses it).
Could you tell us a little more about the town?
Special locations, business, resources, etc?
My thought is that the devil will use the resources of the town, and that the players might have to secure different locations in order to limit the devils resources. e.g. secure the temple to remove the devils supply of healing. Or secure the magic item shop to remove the devils supply of items, etc.
Also, as a CR 11, that devil can have some good stuff, especially single use items. You could even crank up UMD, and use some wands of different types.
Make sure that your party doesn't know *how* many enemies they face. With major image, there should be several about. Additionally, whenever he teleports, there is no reason for him not to be replaced with an illusion of himself, so that the party may not immediately know that the real devil is not there any more.
Another good use of major image: make a building *appear* more stable than it is (i.e. hide the amount of damage that has been caused to it already) - then have the devil teleport away just as it collapses, leaving the party trapped / split.
This definitely not what I expected when I see a title for 4 on 1....
This definitely not what I expected when I see a title for 4 on 1....
I know, right? Only so many holes...
DVDA!
Could you tell us a little more about the town?
Special locations, business, resources, etc?My thought is that the devil will use the resources of the town, and that the players might have to secure different locations in order to limit the devils resources. e.g. secure the temple to remove the devils supply of healing. Or secure the magic item shop to remove the devils supply of items, etc.
Also, as a CR 11, that devil can have some good stuff, especially single use items. You could even crank up UMD, and use some wands of different types.
Areas of the town that have been established in past sessions are...
...the tavern and inn.
...the blacksmith.
...the bakery shop.
...the temple of stars.
...the mayor's mini-mansion.
...the sorcerer's tower (belongs to the PCs, only 3 story building in town).
...The PC's personal homes.
...The midwife's home.
...The herbalist's shop.
...The homes of two or three other important NPCs.
There is far more to the town (pop. 1500), so I can add whatever I want on the fly, really. Whatever I establish, the PCs knew about, however, as their characters live there.
Game is in 1 hour. Wish me luck!