Help!!
I'm not an experienced GM and I have been running Kingmaker.
We're at the end of the second book and I need to redo the final encounter. Players are all 6th level. A more experienced DM (now a player) will take over starting with the 3rd book.
Situation:
(Metagame- three of 6 players did not show up, including the cleric and the fighter, as well as a ranger. Fighter will be out of town for a month, ranger just quit coming, and cleric had to work. Only had sorcerer, bard, and druid. Next game in two weeks. Will probably have cleric back.)
Party was returning from last adventure site, discovered town had been attacked.
Elemental shaped druid tracked beast to lair, but did not enter.
Party utilizing lyre of building to create large pit which they plan to lure the beast into, helped by illusion spell. (pit in town hex)
Plan is to use milita and players to blast beast when it falls into the trap.
Planned on using the beefed up encounter from the 'Kingmaker for 6 players' thread, but now must redo entire encounter to take into account the different tactics planned.
How do I make this a memorable, or at least, challenging encounter with just the beast and a pit?
Help!!
How do I make this a memorable, or at least, challenging encounter with just the beast and a pit?
First question would be whether or not they'll be doing the Pit and the O-Bear at the lair or somewhere else.
I'd have first suggested, with only three players, that you have the beastie hurt to begin with from his attack on the town. But with the pit idea, it's possible that they'll take down the beast without the "help".
A lot depends on placement of the O-Bear trap, how deep and wide it is, etc. But here are some general suggestions on ideas:
Beast is able to start climbing out of the pit. Players have X time to do enough damage for the beast to fall back in before he's out and tearing up the place.
Players have to lure the beast out to begin with, which could be very stressful...
There *are* other baddies in there. Mayhaps they come to investigate. At a really inopportune moment...
"Baby" O-Bear is no longer starving. And he's a grumpy teenager instead. He, too, could come a'calling.
Just a few thoughts. If you'd like more, say the word...:)
Greetings, fellow travellers.
The pit will be in town, as Cornielius wrote, so the idea of the other inhabitants coming to investigate becomes unlikely.
BUT: I would think the players will want to investigate the lair - treasure! - of the beast after they (think they) are down with it - what if the OB had a mate?
Let them have their triumph in town and let the crowd cheer them all the way. Make them feel proud, important, heroic,... and bring them down a notch again with a cave still filled with monsters.
As far as I understand, you'll be short a couple of players for the next session(s). So I would use the beefed-up version for 6 players for the in-town encounter and the normal version for the OB cave.
Ruyan.
I'm not sure I understand, how close to the town (with the pit) is the lair? Can they lure the OB that far? How about, while they are luring it, another group of people unwittingly attracts its attention and it starts to attack them, unless the heroes intervene, these new people will be killed (a group of pilgrims, a family out on a camping trip, some thrill seekers playing "chicken" with the owlbear, a brokedown caravan (with kids)). Or go with the above suggestions from ChrisO or RuyanVe.
Challenges for the party:
1) Digging the pit big enough. It's a really big owlbear and will just hop out of a lot of standard pit traps. The lyre is a pretty powerful item for 6th level characters, nearly equivalent to the entire recommened WBL for any single character. If they sacrificed other stuff with more routine utlity to buy it, no problem with rewarding them in game play.
2) Luring the owlbear to the town. It's lair isn't close and it only attacks the town in the first place under magical compulsion. It may be compelled to do so again, but not necessarily when the PCs are expecting it. If they want it to be a real ambush, they have to have a way to lure it, or at least a way top predict when it is coming.
3) Luring the owlbear into the trap after it gets to the town. This likely means having both a way to get the owlbear to go where they want rather than where it wants to go, and a way to disguise the pit trap.
4) Minimizing civilian/militia casualties and collateral damage. Citizens and rulers usually aren't too keen about battles fought in town due to the high probability of collateral damage, and the militia will die fast if the owlbear gets close enough. If the battle goes well, no problem, but if the beast is able to inflict significant casualties or destroy more of the town, the PCs will have townsfolk questioning their judgment in deciding to fight in town.
5) Keeping the beastie in the pit. It's big and strong. It won't just sit there helpless to be shot down.
If the PCs can overcome all these challenges, they deserve the victory.