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So, one of my players has discovered a rather devastating combo.
Take Reverse Gravity on NPCs who cannot fly, either through magic or naturally. Regardless of if they have managed to grab onto something or not, they are effectively immobilized.
Follow this up with Hungry Darkness from Inner Sea Magic. Regardless of how many hit points these NPCs have, they're taking 2 CON damage a turn, which means that generally they have between 6 and 10 rounds to get out, but since they can't move, the PCs can stand back from a distance and giggle while their enemies scream in agony.
So, besides giving everything flight, or making everything undead, what other options do I have?
Spell Sunder.
Spell Sunder.Not a bad idea. More NPC Barbarians are a good thing.
I also recommend archers. Perhaps even archer barbarians with spell sunder.
So, one of my players has discovered a rather devastating combo.
Take Reverse Gravity on NPCs who cannot fly, either through magic or naturally. Regardless of if they have managed to grab onto something or not, they are effectively immobilized.
Follow this up with Hungry Darkness from Inner Sea Magic. Regardless of how many hit points these NPCs have, they're taking 2 CON damage a turn, which means that generally they have between 6 and 10 rounds to get out, but since they can't move, the PCs can stand back from a distance and giggle while their enemies scream in agony.
So, besides giving everything flight, or making everything undead, what other options do I have?
Let the players have their fun for a little while. If they fight in a room then nothing in the spell restricts them from moving back and forth by using the walls and ceiling. All Reverse gravity does is change "up" an "down". It does not restrict backward and forward movement if there is something to propel off of.
All it takes is one baddy to escape so the other bad guys know to choose their terrain carefully.
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Let the players have their fun for a little while. If they fight in a room then nothing in the spell restricts them from moving back and forth by using the walls and ceiling. All Reverse gravity does is change "up" an "down". It does not restrict backward and forward movement if there is something to propel off of.All it takes is one baddy to escape so the other bad guys know to choose their terrain carefully.
He will only use Reverse Gravity if they wind up in a position where they're hovering off the ground helpless because they don't have a surface to stand on.
I wish I could make sure that they're always encountered indoors, with 10' ceilings, but that's not an option some of the time.
Let the players have their fun for a little while. If they fight in a room then nothing in the spell restricts them from moving back and forth by using the walls and ceiling. All Reverse gravity does is change "up" an "down". It does not restrict backward and forward movement if there is something to propel off of.All it takes is one baddy to escape so the other bad guys know to choose their terrain carefully.
He will only use Reverse Gravity if they wind up in a position where they're hovering off the ground helpless because they don't have a surface to stand on.
I wish I could make sure that they're always encountered indoors, with 10' ceilings, but that's not an option some of the time.
Having an idea stomped on is not cool as a player. I do understand that as a GM having players always minimize encounters is not fun either. At the level where reverse gravity comes in having opponents who can fly or cast dispel magic should be an option though.
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Having an idea stomped on is not cool as a player. I do understand that as a GM having players always minimize encounters is not fun either. At the level where reverse gravity comes in having opponents who can fly or cast dispel magic should be an option though.
Definitely, and I'm not out to stomp on the idea, but it has become one of their default "I Win" situations. I am just looking for a couple of outs which would be surprising and make them switch to another tactic so that it isn't "Oh, they can't fly? Okay, the Wizard's got this, everyone else drink some tea."
Hmm, well, I'll be answering this post with the assumption that you'll let the wizard player have some times when you'll let the wizard have his fun. Both Reverse Gravity and Hungry Darkness are 7th level spells, so that's nothing to sneeze at. In fact, you may want to indulge the wizard with many throw away encounters with lots of mooks in order to tempt him to use up his spells on these not so grave fights. Spread out your bad guys/mooks and attack from all sides, if possible, and from far away (hungry darkness is close range).
How good are you at avoiding the 15 minute work day? If you are, then perhaps you can make some missions have some time limits. Mix this with the previous tactic and he might run out (depending on the guy's level). Also, you mentioned that it sometimes takes 6-10 rounds? Perhaps not giving them that long to resolve it might make for a chance of pace as well.
Are any of these mundanes capable of Use Magic Device? If so, you can give them (possibly stolen) scrolls and wands and the like. Or take some of the bad guys to distract them while another group goes around and does whatever evil deed it really needs to accomplish.
Another thing is to vary up the terms of the fight a little bit. For example, using hostages. Since Hungry Darkness is pretty unspecific in who it eats up, that might throw a kink in this plan and cause them to develop the strategy a little bit more. Or maybe throw enemies at them the want to take alive?
If you have mundane bosses with loyal henchmen, perhaps decoys using mundane disguises might be an option in order to confuse and split the party's fire?
Another idea is to give your bad guys indirect means of damaging your foes, like setting off area effect traps (The Cunning Trigger rogue talent, for example) or triggering naturally occurring hazardous terrain features (hitting explosive vents with alchemist fire, or knocking boulders down ledges, for example)
Certain creatures with see in darkness can see even in magical darkness. I imagine dark folk could make for fairly common mercenary types, so if you gave them some levels in fighty archer classes they'd still be stuck and take damage but could see through the darkness.