Need help advancing Lamm and Spider King

[Cpt_kirstov]

My group decided they didn't trust the guards at the begining of the game, and paid a shiver den to keep Lamm in a stupor for a few months and forgot about him. Then they negotiated with the Spider King at Eel's End instead of fighting (they brought spiders the druid had trained to fight as entertainment, plus a few games of knivesies, and a 32 diplomacy check). But they mentioned to one of the guards there that thy were the ones who had taken Lamm out, and that he was drugged somewhere.

Fast forward to the end of 7 Days to the Grave, they remembered about Lamm and went to check on him.... finding out that the spider king, as the supplier of shiver, easily found Lamm, and took him back to Eel's End. Now they are pissed and want to storm the area, but are level 6 and would walk all over Dervago and Lamm... How would you beef these 2 up for an encounter with 5-6 level 6 characters? From the sounds of it, they currently plan on heading that way as soon as they finish up at the hospice.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Lamm: I wouldn't actually beef him up all that much. Maybe give him another level or two of rogue so that he doesn't collapse at the first blow, but otherwise let the PCs kill him. They'll feel good about it.

Devargo, now... he's originally 4th level; when the PCs meet him, they're probably 2nd. To keep him level-appropriate, you'd want him to be around 8th -- or even 9th, given that your party has 5-6 PCs.

Personally, I'd go with 8th... but then just give him a frickin' army of mooks.

Doug M.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Give the ettercap a couple of PC levels: fighter, rogue, or sorceror, depending on what role you want it to take. If that seems like too much trouble, then just give it the advanced template.

Add more spiders generally. Don't forget that ettercaps are good with traps.

Give Devargo lookouts with good Perception and/or a network of informers across the city, so he has a decent chance of knowing the PCs are coming and being ready for them. It's Korvosa and he's LE, so he could have a friendly imp close at hand. Not a familiar or companion... just an imp who hangs out there, giving him evil advice and torturing the captive pseudodragon. Heck, give him Leadership and make the imp his cohort (you'll have to build some PC levels into it, mind). Then it can cast Commune for him regularly. So he'll have some idea what's in store. If you really want to be nasty, say he's been studying the PCs since their first encounter; he's carefully collected news about them, is aware of most of their abilities and their signature moves, and has deliberately prepared counters for them.

If you've advanced Devargo to be an appropriate foe for the PCs, then he should be a major crimelord with deep pockets and lots of bodyguards and hirelings. He should be a serious challenge and a memorable foe.

Doug M.