Okay, I'm about to run the Hospice at the end of Seven Days. APL is 6.Problem: the party has no rogue or bard. Barb, missile weapon ranger, paladin, sorceror, cleric. Great in combat, much less good at stealth and deception.
They might make it through the above-ground stuff okay. But underground? The first room has a trap that includes an Alarm spell. The odds are good that they'll trip it, alerting the whole complex. There's no easy way they can defeat the inhabitants if they're forewarned.
Also, tips or sugggestions from others who've run this are welcome. I'm making the doctors and Davaulus into alchemists, as per. What else?
Doug M.
My party has no rogue either so they will suffer here, and in the Labrynth in chapter 3.
My party did have a rogue (and defeated the alarm trap) - unfortunately, Dr. "D" previously escaped during the upstairs encounter and raised the alarm in the temple anyway.
The battle in room G8 (as per the "Temple Under Alert" sidebar on page 51) was brutal.
I had to pull a few punches otherwise it would have been a TPK.
Here is what I did:
- Put Dr. "D" on the catwalks in the background. If you convert him to a Alchemist, his bombs are extremely deadly - especially behind a wall of priests. I brought him in after most of his priests (melee shields) had died - he gets only 1 or 2 bombs before someone closes in melee with him.
- Rolth can also be very deadly behind a group of melee-shields. His Ice storm can be devistating. I also picked the "worst" person to target his Lightning bolt on (the barbarian with HPs to spare). When the PCs destroyed all his Animated Dead, I Dimension Door'ed him away.
It was still brutal - those Alchemist bombs can really add up fast.
While it added lots of flavour - I would reconsider converting those npcs to alchemists if I were to do it over again.
First, the Topic/Subject should probably say *Spoilers*.
Experience from 2 play-throughs...
Rolth is the one that escaped both times I played through this AP (I played cleric/assist the 2nd time through.), causing havoc with lightning bolt or ice storm and then dimension door'ing out while we weeded through his minions. One party killed Davalus on the spot, the other captured him and he was executed as a scapegoat after being turned over to the authorities.
Both parties had no difficulty entering the hospice quietly, but immediately turned it into a kill zone on the slightest notion of susspicion from the baddies. Though the 2nd party made this into something of a comedy skit with a gnome sorcerer antagonizing doctors, then running over, around and under patients trying to get away.
As for the door/alarm trap, both parties had rogues which handled it. I would suggest removing some of the trap's potency or having it just be an alarm if you have no rogue. You could even make it an annoying audible alarm so they know they've flubbed... think sinking submarine or smoke detector, lol. I doubt a combat party is going to be very concerned about a few ambushes. The 2 big baddies(other than Rolth & Davalus) seemed somewhat scripted, I doubt they'd have much concern for the alarm, but the Sister would likely be fully buffed on the parties arrival.
I ran the hospice a few weeks ago. There was a rogue in the group but they had split up on the first floor and didn't give chase when the doctor ran to the lower level. The good doctor got away via the elevator, so the alarm was raised. Luckily the group had enough cure wands to push through the pallid princess domain. They managed to choke up a large contingent of clerics jamming up at a doorway and just picked them off.
How did he escape? The PCs should encounter him in his upstairs room, which is a dead end.
Very similar to what Zenomorph 27 (above) described:
The group split-up on the first floor when one of the maidens on the catwalk ran upstairs to warn the others.The party's barbarian (with high speed) tried to catch the maiden, but not before she warned the others. When the upper-floor Alchemists (physisian conversion) and Dr. "D" emerged to hurled bombs down the stairs at him, he retreated to get the others.
Dr. "D" was in a position to retreat down the elevator when the full group tried to force thier way up the stairs through the maidens.
Ice Storm alone is brutal at this level -- 5d6 of damage, with *no save*. And as a bonus, it turns the area into difficult terrain, with half movement and no 5' steps. Ice Storm combined with Davaulus and the others doing their thing... what was the APL of your party?
All of them were Level-6 when they first entered the lower temple. It was a group of 4 PCs with an animal companion for the Urban Ranger. After the big fight with Dr. "D" and Rolth, they leveled to 7.