Hey all! I'm looking for some advice. (duh)
So let's just dive into it.
Currently, my group is at level 5. Their Classes/AC's are as follows:
Barbarian - AC 22 (20 when Raging)
Inquisitor - AC 22
Warrior/Witch - AC 25 (Mithral Full Plate and spells)
So the advice I need on this has to do with encounters. When I write them up, I have to make them harder or the adversaries from the Beastiary and the GM Guide can't hit them.
It sucks when your Mobs have +4 to hit and either can't hit or can't hit without a nat 20.
This also means I end up having the main baddie focus on the Witch/Warrior while the rest take pot shots at the Inquisitor or overly focus on the Barbarian.
What can I do? Do I alter the baddies stats to increase their to hit? Do I add spellcasters to avoid having to hit has much? Do I focus on destroying their armor (which would get old fast)?
Also, I am looking on advice to add more fluff beyond constant encounters.
Preliminary thanks to all!
How is the witch dealing with the 25% arcane spell failure. Also, try enemies that hit touch AC.
Are you trying to make encounters only out of large numbers of small monsters?
I glanced at the list of monsters by cr 5 and everything had a much higher than +4 to hit and multiple attacks. Most of the things with less than 50% chance to hit your party had other good special abilities.
Would you mind giving an example of an encounter in your game that was too easy?
RPG Superstar 2013
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Use NPC encounters. You can build a band of rangers with favored enemy (your party) and hide in the bushes.
Give them a bard or cleric with buffs for everyone. An orc bard with a group of orc barbarians will challenge a level 5 party just fine.
Use invisibility.
The touch spells suggestion is strong, low level casters have plenty to choose from. I dig blur or mirror image or mage armor & shield combined with touch spells.
Spells of any kind are strong if the trouble is party AC. Focus on spells that allow no save or against their weakest saves. Cast charm person on the barbarian before he starts raging, so he can rage on the party. Your whole party sucks for the Reflex saves, so give them fireballs with amped caster levels. Even a big bad barbarian respects 6d6 at 5th level.
Wow. Well, lemme try and sort through this.
@clawoftiamat - He primarily uses his Hexes, bow or sword, but I'm going to have to remember the spell failure more often (it's actually 35% because of his shield) :I
@Breakfast - For this plot it is primarily Humans and Undead they have to deal with. More larger numbers of NPC's (trying not to get out actioned)
@Everyone else (and the aforementioned) - Thanks for the advice. You've given me a lot to think about. (though as I said before, the problem with single monsters is that they all get ganged up on by the party.)
One more thing, the Barbarian, when raging her average hit is around 25 AC. :O
Wow. Well, lemme try and sort through this.
@clawoftiamat - He primarily uses his Hexes, bow or sword, but I'm going to have to remember the spell failure more often (it's actually 35% because of his shield) :I
@Breakfast - For this plot it is primarily Humans and Undead they have to deal with. More larger numbers of NPC's (trying not to get out actioned)
@Everyone else (and the aforementioned) - Thanks for the advice. You've given me a lot to think about. (though as I said before, the problem with single monsters is that they all get ganged up on by the party.)
One more thing, the Barbarian, when raging her average hit is around 25 AC. :O
For CR 5, you have several options. You can do 5 CR 1's, 10 CR1/2's, 2 CR 2 and 1 CR 1, etc. You can divide it up however you want. Just keep in mind that the CR of everything you're throwing at the party so you don't overwhelm them. :D
Well my current problem seems to break down to this:
If I have 5 CR1's, they can't swing hard enough.
If I have 2 CR2's and 1 CR1, they can't swing hard enough.
Etc....
Etc....
(Mind you that I don't have my book in front of my to see what the actual to hit of a monster's specific CR equals and I don't have the little multiplication chart for adding multiple creatures of the same CR to find out what their total CR is.)
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What are their saves like?
Cos if they are so-so, use Spells and other powers on them.
My most recent adventure have the whole party pretty tough in the AC department and were doing pretty well until one fireball-like spell KILLED our Sorceress. We got her back, but only cos we are lv 10 and got emergency spells prepared.
So if you can't hit them in terms of AC, why not go after their other defenses like their saves? Remember, not all abilities/powers are spells or spell-like. Even a anti-magic Barbarian can't do much if the attack is not a "spell".
if its an APL 5 party, keep in mind throwing CR 6 and 7 encounters at them is entirely reasonable. 2 CR5s is a CR7 encounter, and will have plenty of attack bonus.
Well my current problem seems to break down to this:
If I have 5 CR1's, they can't swing hard enough.
If I have 2 CR2's and 1 CR1, they can't swing hard enough.
Etc....
Etc....
(Mind you that I don't have my book in front of my to see what the actual to hit of a monster's specific CR equals and I don't have the little multiplication chart for adding multiple creatures of the same CR to find out what their total CR is.)
In my experience for 3 or 4 pcs, the sweet spot is 2-5 enemies in a combat, but even with 5, one of htem is the 'big' monster with a bunch of minions to help them out.
Also keep in mind you are allowed to use CRs higher then your average party level if you feel you arent challenging them enough. CR is not an exact science, as every party is different. Most of your encounters though for this party should be CR 5 or 6.
You also dont need a multiplication chart for adding multiple creatures together. You just pick the CR of the necounter (say 6) and that xp total (2400) is your 'budget' for the encounter. Pick enemies who's xp total adds up to 2400 and you have a CR 6 encounter. For instance 2 CR 4 enemies would work well for this kind of party. A barghest should be able to get hits in with 3 +10 attacks on your witch, or Centipede Swarm bypasses the need for attack rolls of any kind. Dont forget about things like an Owl bear[url] that can use combat manuevers instead of straight attacking to go after high AC foes.
Remember if you have an undead heavy campaign you can add the skeleton template to things like the owlbear to them to bring them into them. Or an advanced template and skeleton template applied to a constrictor snake which could grapple high ac foes.
A CR 3 [url=http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/owlbear.html#_owlbear]shadow would also be helpful in challenging a party with a high ac because it makes touch attacks.
One other question.
I was looking through the Bestiary and my questtion is about the listing under melee.
For this question we will use this example:
Melee: 2 claws +7 (2d6+4)
Does that mean:
A) This monster gets two claw attacks, both at +7
B) This monster gets one claw attack at +7 and another but you have to add the off-hand penalty
C) It gets one +7 attack, and it's using it's two claws to do so
What's the answer?
BTW thanks to all for all the help. It has been immensely useful!
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The answer is "A" assuming it gets a full attack, though it would still get +7 when making a single attack.
In beastiary the hit bonuses is always calculated for a full attack, but when the monster is making a single attack you should be aware whether or not it uses natural attacks because they act a little differently.
Are you using standard wealth by level because mithral plate of speed costs around double what level 5 gets.
Are you using standard wealth by level because mithral plate of speed costs around double what level 5 gets.
I never said it was "of Speed".
Hey all!
Has part of the ongoing plot I am running, I wanted to add a side story for a player of an Inquisitor of Calistria.
They are headed to Riddleport next, and I figure it would be good for him to hear about "corruption" at the Temple there.
Any ideas of what would be a good "corruption" against Calistria he could find out about?
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16
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Someone celibate?
Joking aside, possibly the influence of another faith is making its way into the church (perhaps a cleric of Norgorber is working inside to promote violence against those who were wronged).
As an alternative to corruption, perhaps make an encounter with some blasphemers who are against the faith of Calistria? Some good RP opportunities can be had between the inquisitior and a LG cleric of Iomedae against some of Calistria's teachings.
Hello all, I am back again!
Took a break from GM'ing and now I picked up Ultimate Equipment and I am starting the game back up.
So, I have a question regarding something I read in Ultimate Equipment.
On page 134, in the first section, it says:
"A single weapon cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents, including from character abilities and spells) higher than +10."
I am wondering what the "character abilities and spells" exactly means.
Does it mean that if a character has a +2 from an ability that they can't add stuff up to +10 on their weapon?
Or does it mean that the best attack bonus they will ever get is +10 total?
That's where I am confused.
Any help is appreciated.
Hello all, I am back again!
Took a break from GM'ing and now I picked up Ultimate Equipment and I am starting the game back up.
So, I have a question regarding something I read in Ultimate Equipment.
On page 134, in the first section, it says:
"A single weapon cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents, including from character abilities and spells) higher than +10."
I am wondering what the "character abilities and spells" exactly means.
Does it mean that if a character has a +2 from an ability that they can't add stuff up to +10 on their weapon?
Or does it mean that the best attack bonus they will ever get is +10 total?
That's where I am confused.
Any help is appreciated.
Okay. I got this one.
Before this line was added, there was an absurd way of breaking the game. For 48,000g - you could add the spell "Litany of Defense" continuously to a piece of armor: granting an effective +15 bonus to the armor (10 to AC and 5 to special abilities). This line was added to prevent this perversion of the game.