The way the rules are writen it seems that past a cirtain threshold its almost impossible to defeat a strong enough opponent no matter how many gang up on him.
a level 7 or 8 fighter in strong armor can pretty much walts into a goblin cavern and melee down every enemy that faces him.
how do I mitigate this. suppose 20 standard goblins were fighting a level 7 fighter.
is there a collection of rules for swarming the opponent such as 5 goblins 'assist' a 6ths goblins grapple check to bring down the fighter and pin him while the others attack him while pinned?
or maybe they all squeeze into his square to hamper his movements?
if in a cave I figure that they can squeeze together behind shields taking full deffence actions while goblins in the back attack with spears and ranged weapons but in this case they are more likley to simply take forever as they just make it harder for the fighter to hit them but not impossible.
ultimatly I am trying to figure out how a bunch of smaller creatures could take out an advanced player in some way other than making a bunch of attacks and banking on nat 20s.
There is no RAW answer. Once you get to to about 7CR's above an opponent don't expect to lose.
There are no rules for swarming or squeezing into his square.
Assisting an attack helps, but they have to be alive for the assist. A level 7 fighter can one-shot the basic goblin that is in the book. If he has a reach weapon and spiked gauntlets then they are in even more trouble.
You would have to use advantageous terrain. Look up Tucker's Kobolds for an example.
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Aid another and flanking can go a long way.
Environment can help too; take a look at how weather conditions and other hazards affect combat. To put it simply...it can be quite balls.
Spreading out into several groups and using ranged attacks from a distance, possibly alternating hiding and attacking to aim for flat-footed armor class. Goblins already have a good Stealth modifier, and distance pumps that pretty fast.
It will quite literally be an uphill battle for the goblins without special gear or a leveled leader, but then again, goblins really aren't supposed to pose a significant threat.
Level up the goblins. Its only a cake walk until the goblin barbarian comes seein who's picking on HIS goblin tribe.
Give the goblin shaman (plural) some wands/scrolls, etc to help slow the fighter/whittle him down.
Use ledges with archers (rangers?) to poke at him with arrows.
Use traps. (pit traps are fun, especially filled with things.. like acid..)
At some point if you just.. keep the CR the same then of course the one guy can just mow them over. Of course- this same guy gets practically no loot and absolutely no XP. No challenge = no xp, afterall.
(we actually did this once.. went back to a cave complex we'd cleared out as lowbies to reclaim it as a handy base. the DM didn't even roll the dice.. just told us approximiately how many bodies we piled up and asked how we were going to discard of them and then we went about cleaning the place up)
-S
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Well, for one thing, if they are on home turf, the fighter should be made to squeeze everywhere he goes, and be prepared to get hit from all sides in a warren of tunnels. Perhaps aid another plus a bull rush into a pit trap, that sort of thing. Narrow tunnels meant for goblins into which he hast to squeeze, meanwhile goblins stab him with spears through murder holes which give them improved cover...
I actually want to try to run something like this, so I will be glad to know what others think!
The thing is, goblins, kobolds, etc., are usually presented in terrain favorable to medium sized adventurers - ancient ruins, abandoned forts, etc. I think that if you made your solo adventurer venture into a goblin den, you would have to think about designing it as the goblins would. It could be a real chamber of horrors!
Im sorry I should have mentioned. Im not sending a solo adventurer into a goblin den and not really looking for tactics.
this is purly a rules question. I want to know if there are any RAW mechanics for simply overwhelming an opponent.
doesn't really matter if they are human, goblin or other, and doesn't really mater who the single enemy is.
at this point are you saying there is no option for it?
what if the many weak opponents spam trip until they get a nat 20 tripping the strong guy. then a bunch of weak guys just pile on forcing the grounded strong guy to lift all of the weak guys or attempt a grapple check against each one to get them off. then all of those weak guys attempt a pin when one weak guy gets a nat 20 to pin the others can attempt a coup de grace.
does that work?
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Each goblin trying to grapple adds +2 to the main grappler's roll. A goblin bard in the back inspiring courage gives everyone a +1, and if there's a goblin there to cast bless, or even better, prayer? Even better.
Aid another is your best friend for a scenario like this.
EDIT: Better yet, a level 7 fighter?
So 24 CR 1/3 goblins makes for a CR 7 encounter, which should be relatively easy for the man. Give each of them a few alchemist's fire. Have fun. :)
First off, this is what the Fighter is supposed to do. Would you also ask how a creature can overcome an illusion cast by a Wizard 7-8 CR higher? That said, teamwork feats really shine with NPCs:
Swap Places makes it easier to move in fresh goblins and save ones which are damaged (if they survive).
Pack Attack gives you pseudo spring-attack.
Gang Up isn't even a teamwork feat, lets you get flanking easily when you have lots of little gobbos.
I recently threw a swarm of Gnolls at my players.
They went in thinking "No problem"... they left victorious but bloody.
The fighter with his armor is still fighting 24 goblins. Statistically, someone is going to roll a twenty or worse yet the fighter might roll a one. If the goblins dog pile (grapple) him or start using "aid another" (+2 attack rolls) you may run into issues. If he successfully kills 2 every round he will over those 12 rounds take roughly 175 attacks in return.
If the goblins are smart they will hit and run perhaps only allowing one kill per round. That will be much worse for the fighter (300 attacks), but still his hit points alone should get him through it or not.
Once again. not looking for ideas on how to run an encounter or class balance issues also so not asking about tactics, feats, or special tools.
This is purely a mechanics question. Dont worry about the races or even the level other than the fact than the one is significantly more powerful than the many.
Just asking how a mob of low level opponents could take out a high level opponent using RAW.
It appears that sufficient use of aid another and good rolls can lead to the weak guys pinning the big guy... but i cant find any rule that specifically states that pinned = helpless so im not sure if a pinned creature can be coup de graced (although a bunch of guys attacking a pinned creature at least get the benefit of -9 AC for the pinned guy.
Pinned is not helpless, but it is unlikely for that to happen in a game away with there is an entire party. I am assuming you are using a battle map. In which case only a limit number of people can assist on the grapple anyway.
Once again. not looking for ideas on how to run an encounter or class balance issues also so not asking about tactics, feats, or special tools.
This is purely a mechanics question. Dont worry about the races or even the level other than the fact than the one is significantly more powerful than the many.
Just asking how a mob of low level opponents could take out a high level opponent using RAW.
A low level mob situation is 100% NOT a mechanics question, because mechanically a bunch of stupid level 1 morons rushing onto their enemies blades will lose EVERY TIME. You will have to use tactics. There is no RAW way of saying "you face 50 level 1 goblins, you auto lose, insert coin to continue."
I recall reading once that a good way to increase the survivability of any NPC in an encounter was to give it a level of Monk and a potion of wisdom.
Items are also a good solution. Tanglefoot bags have already been mentioned, if you don't mind digging into 3.5 there's Eggshell grenades, which are guaranteed blindness as a touch attack aimed at the tile you're standing in. Alchemist Fire and Firestones are also good. A smokestick could be used to force the fighter to start making fort saves as he fights, or make him take AoOs to pick up the stick and throw it back.
Choosing beneficial battle locations is also another good one. Make the fighter go prone to crawl through a tunnel.
Pretty much the only "raw" solution I know to this is the Tucker's Kobolds scenario of just pure tactics.
Come to think of it, the Heat Armor spell is available at a pretty low level, isn't it?
@norren: mechanics, not scenario
@wraithstrike: your right it likely would not happen I was just looking at the mechanics of the matter. on a side note. the goblins can take the squeezed condition to pile more creatures into a 5 foot square
@glutton: it IS a mechanics question because the only reason it sounds stupid is the fact that there is no mechanic designed to make it make sense.
as it is now 20 goblins get slaughtered by a single level 7 or 8 fighter for no other reason than mechanics.
personally the idea that a mob of humanoids could not take down a single humanoid opponent by pilling on, grabbing his arms and legs, knocking him down and slitting his throat is stupid also.
i guess once you have them PINNED you can then tie them up in which case they are THEN helpless and can be coup de graced.
exp mechanics isn't my strong suit, but I believe once an opponent is below a certain treshold, you don't gain any exp for him, thus it should! be that they can't really be dangerous (exceptions under the right circumstances exist, but that ups the challenge rating I believe).
So RAW assumes (but does not state) that what you want is not possible.
Swarms might be useful here as someone mentioned.
Did you really expect to find design decisions done in 3.0 (I guess) in PF RAW?
Did you really expect to find design decisions done in 3.0 (I guess) in PF RAW?
????
i dont catch your meaning
It's really hard to separate mechanics and scenario in this, the two are so... intertwined.
I think the Pin and hogtie solution you have is just about the only one without going into scenario building.
I recall my DM mentioning that 5th ed is supposed to be looking into addressing this very mechanic, the designer has expressed his distaste with this very issue.
OP: Have them build a thing called deadly trap, or represent them with different stats - modify swarm to make a mob (It used also be in DMG2 for 3.5).
@norren: mechanics, not scenario
@wraithstrike: your right it likely would not happen I was just looking at the mechanics of the matter. on a side note. the goblins can take the squeezed condition to pile more creatures into a 5 foot square
@glutton: it IS a mechanics question because the only reason it sounds stupid is the fact that there is no mechanic designed to make it make sense.
as it is now 20 goblins get slaughtered by a single level 7 or 8 fighter for no other reason than mechanics.
personally the idea that a mob of humanoids could not take down a single humanoid opponent by pilling on, grabbing his arms and legs, knocking him down and slitting his throat is stupid also.
The squeeze rules do not allow you to put more than one creature into a square. They just allow you to fit into smaller than normal spaces such as a hallway for a creature one category size smaller.
@blue_the_wolf
the fact that "power" increases faster than linear existed already in D&D 3.0 (probably earlier). Those who created it knew full well that it was near impossibly for a lvl 15 to be killed by 15 lvl 1, or probably even 150 lvl 1 creatures.
That is how the system was build, I highly doubt it was coincidence. However you very rarely find such intentions in the rules, especially those made so early on when a system is created.
It is a bit like the suspension of disbelief that is an integral part of the system, but RAW doesn't really tell you straight forward that even your lvl 1 barbarian has nothing to do with what a real world strongman can lift.
your all correct.
like i said i was just looking for a way to work it out mechanically.
at this point I am going with
trip > grapple > pin > tie up > coup de grace
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3.5's races of the dragon had AWESOME tactics mentioned for kobolds.
i took out a group of 5 level 10 character (each with a +2 la on top of that) with level 3-5 kobolds using flankin, aid another, bull rush, trips, ect and pushed them off a cliff. granted it took about 30 kobolds, and most of them died, but it worked
is it possible to do that with larger than tiny creatures?
i though the OTHER thing about a swarm was the fact that the creatures are so small they effectively ignore AC.
I will have to look into the swarm rule
Or you can make them to ooze (or ooze-like creature), that will have base creature vulnerabilities and skills with ranks and will attack with single attack... (appropriate to HD - assuming that the creatures in the mob are automatically helping each other to achieve that)
This reminds me of a situation in the old Knights of the Dinner Table comic. The game they played in the comic had an 'overwhelm' rule or something along those lines. If you had enough people tackle one person you overwhelmed him and held him helpless on the ground. The characters in the comic used the rule to wreak havoc on the DM's campaign by gathering a bunch of bums and having them tackle anyone dangerous. So keep that in mind. A rule like that can be easily abused. But levels are an abstract idea anyway and purposefully so. Heroes and villains don't get taken down by the faceless masses they are saving/oppressing/defeating.
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Im sorry I should have mentioned. Im not sending a solo adventurer into a goblin den and not really looking for tactics.
this is purly a rules question. I want to know if there are any RAW mechanics for simply overwhelming an opponent.
doesn't really matter if they are human, goblin or other, and doesn't really mater who the single enemy is.
at this point are you saying there is no option for it?
what if the many weak opponents spam trip until they get a nat 20 tripping the strong guy. then a bunch of weak guys just pile on forcing the grounded strong guy to lift all of the weak guys or attempt a grapple check against each one to get them off. then all of those weak guys attempt a pin when one weak guy gets a nat 20 to pin the others can attempt a coup de grace.
does that work?
A goblin weighs about 40-45 pounds - let's say 50 including his poor, crappy gear.
A character with Strenght 18 (your average Joe the Fighter) can lift a Heavy Load of max 300 lbs. So that averages... 6 goblins, grappling with claws and bites and scratches (not necessarily on the fighter, but also on their comrades, goblin-style).
The seventh goblin to gang up will push the lifting ability of Joe the Fighter way over its limits and make him crash to the ground (as a DM I'd allow STR checks, however), crumbling under a pile of frenzied critters, overeaging to stab the longshank.
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This reminds me of a situation in the old Knights of the Dinner Table comic. The game they played in the comic had an 'overwhelm' rule or something along those lines. If you had enough people tackle one person you overwhelmed him and held him helpless on the ground. The characters in the comic used the rule to wreak havoc on the DM's campaign by gathering a bunch of bums and having them tackle anyone dangerous. So keep that in mind. A rule like that can be easily abused. But levels are an abstract idea anyway and purposefully so. Heroes and villains don't get taken down by the faceless masses they are saving/oppressing/defeating.
*LoL* Thank you for bringing that up. That was my first thought as well.
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To the OP, part of the problem is the mechanics are in the game (some posters here are giving you examples of how the RAW can be applied to do what you want), but you just need to realize the scope of the game you're playing when you wonder why it's not easier to do at the CR difference you're discussing. You see 3.0-PF isn't Warhammer. It's more "Starts as Warhammer, Ends as Exalted" (I read that on the forums here once, and I think it's one of the best explanations of the relative power level I've heard)
Using game rules, real world humans have never achieved higher then level 6. Ever. That Level 6 isn't even once in a generation either, it's literally a handful of individuals in the history of all mankind. (Note: The general math actually supports it at about level 5, but some areas of human endevor dabbled into level 6, so I round up) As low as level 2 is statistically one in several hundred in the real world, level 3 is top of their field in a nation. Hell, Einstien stat'd out would only be level 4 tops as an Expert. In the whole world right now it's doubtful more then a handful of individuals are level 5, and likely no more then a few hundred of six and a half billion at level 4.
Even the vast majority of fiction, which doesn't have to deal with trying to please gamers that want to live vicareously through their characters, is low fantasy and represents a level barely above our world. Aragon? He is represented by about levels 5-8. Gandalf? About levels 11-13 [He can technically work at 9-10, but it seems stretching]. Conan? 5-8 range as well.
So once you pass level 5-6, you stop playing real world, and in PF it's not a path to low fantasy, it's stepping towards high fantasy. What you... or even the most MMA/Navy Seal/Powerlifting-combined human champion could do in the real world... ceases to be the limit, or the logic on which something making sense can rest. You have to start understanding that magic is now part of even the purely physical in the game world, and the physics of that world start to bend to reflect it (much as they do for dragons flying). As one of my friends puts it, past level 5 or so, every class in DnD begins to be like the Monk... even if you're not using "magic", you're still magic because what you can do isn't real anymore.
>... and that's why your Fighter kills so many Goblins so fast while being so perfectly able to hold off being grappled, by design in the rules (perhaps not 'perfectly', but far beyond what anyone in the real world bound by non-magical realm altered physics could do).<
In a nutshell, your level 7 example choice... or arguably a level 6... isn't human anymore. You're already looking at someone that has stepped beyond what is physically possible in this real world we live in. The reason that mass of Goblins can't take him down in the rules... certainly without invoking a massive number of side rules, and even then not having a perfect chance... is that you're picturing real world limits and physics to a purely physical person. At that point though, you've stepped into high fantasy, and everything is supernatural to some extent. The same suspension of disbelief that lets you be okay with a dragon flying, or magic spells, is now a natural part of even pure melee classes in those worlds at those levels. You have to either accept that, or be misunderstanding the power level deliberately in the game system. [And this goes back to 1st Ed ADaD if you're old enough to remember it]
So in a way, your answer is you're not going to have a real world logical answer. You could stack rules, and yes you could probably even pull it off, but never to the point you'll find it believable if you're seeking gritty realism like Warhammer that (attempts) to mirror the real world, the levels you've listed is when PF starts to step into Scion or Exalted, and at that CR difference between foes it's highlighted boldly.
You can use the SWARM template to create a swarm of any kind of creature.
Some of the rules are confusing but maybe this helps.
In 3.5 there was something called a mob (same as a swarm but for creatures larger than tiny) in the DMG II I think. I don't know if something like that exists in Pathfinder.
As our GM handled these sorts of things I dunno exactly how it went, but I guess it is similar to the swarm template (poster above me linked to it).
Just that a mob takes full damage from weapons and it can grapple.
There were also rules for Archers. A group of archers could make volley shots instead of direct attacks and just rain a square with arrows. Characters in the square had to make a reflex save to evade.
There are no rules to automtaically say a bunch beats high level if that is what you mean. You just have to use the rules that are there for them to make use of their numbers.
Flank +2, a couple aid another +4, charge +2 = +8 to hit
Several level 1 sorc's in back with level 1 ray for touch attack and/or true strike.
A few level 1 cleric or oracle for things like bless.
Tanglefoot bags, thunderstones, smokesticks, fireworks, nets, and alchemist acid, fire, frost.
Low ceilings so he has to crouch.
In a swamp so he sinks in his heavy armor.
Rocks/arrows from high on the cliff/trees.
Goblins and especially kobalds would use lots of traps.
In large area spread out, the ones he charges run away and the ones he doesn't shoot at his back.
magic missile. wands thereof, en mass. lethal to anyone who doesn't have the spell shield.
If there are at least 100, you could use the Kingmaker mass combat rules.
I recently did an ecnounter with a one BBEG guy Barbarian 11th level and 12 Skald Bards. The Barbarian really wasn't much of a threat on his own and the bards didn't seem like they'd do much until I started nailing the party with 12 sound bursts a round for 2 rounds. Doesn't seem like much of spell but I was hitting 2-3 players for 1D8 and save or be stunned. The save was easy enough to to make at DC 15 but not automatic by any means. The party was APL 10 and this encounter was CR 13. This encounter almost turned into TPK. Left 1 play dying but he was stablized, 2 with less than 10 hit points and the sorcerer came out pretty much unscathed as he unscathed.
This same party ran into a random encounter with 2 chimeras, a CR 9 encounter. Should have been really easy but I ended up killing their cleric with this encounter. Got a surprise round on the players hit them with two breath weapons and the cleric failed both saves due to poor reflex save and low rolls and being down a bit on hitpoints.
In another encounter I had the player encounter a group of low level monks, that was problematic. The fight could have turned bad. I kept using trip and reach weapons.
In another encounter the party ended up fighting 36 level 3 warriors in terrian favorable to them. It didn't do much other than eat up a lot reasources. Now one was close to death but it left the group at 50% hit points and down a lot of spells. This fight was CR 14 encounter with the terrian. Of course the players weren't supposed to kick down the front door like that. There were easier ways into the complex.
So mooks can be dangerous, you need to be careful.
Something to consider...
When full suits of plate mail were developed, a knight thus armored WAS virtually invulnerable to the attacks of poorly-outfitted peasant armies. It took another knight wielding heavy, specialized weapons to seriously threaten him. I have read accounts of knights being dragged off their horses by a mob of shock troops and being pinned down on the ground for as long as half an hour without being killed.
There is definitely a historical precedent for these kind of power imbalances on the battlefield.
There are no rules to automatically say a bunch beats high level if that is what you mean.
your the second person to say something like that. why does any one think I want an auto win of some sort.
I dont even have a scenario for this situation its purely an academic questions about mechanics.
@golem and trainwreck: what about his armor. a fighter is usually running around in pretty heavy gear meaning it wont take 6 to surpass his heavy load. also when the mob knocked down a knight he was not getting up.
@shoulderpatch: your right. but that does not mean that there should not be a mechanical way to tactically defeat an enemy that is not smart enough to, say, keep the enemy from surrounding them.
I find it interesting that almost every one here is willing to accept that the fighter should win hands down and the weak ones should use all sorts of elaborate tricks and tactics in order to win. I feel that even at a level disparity the fighter should be required to use SOME sort of tactics.
yes... at some point it becomes simply a matter of stats and a 15th level fighter by raw can literally just clear out an entire town of hundreds. But I still think its reasonable to have a mechanic of some sort that allows reasonable masses to defeat a reasonably higher level opponent. even if its only a 5% chance to win.
trip > grapple > pin > tie up > coup-de-grace
seems to be the only way to do it at this time without special feats, tools, or other home brew mechanics and rules.
sure its wonky, sure you should be able to coup-de-grace at pin and sure usually it will just result in a whole bunch of weak creatures getting slaughtered and every body wondering what happens to the pile of bodies.
but it works for now.
your the second person to say something like that. why does any one think I want an auto win of some sort.
Because you said by RAW when it is more of tactics issue than a rules issue, and people don't normally read the entire post before replying.
Other people will probably say the same thing. I would worry about correcting everyone. They will see your intent if they feat further down the thread.
There are no rules to automatically say a bunch beats high level if that is what you mean.your the second person to say something like that. why does any one think I want an auto win of some sort.
I dont even have a scenario for this situation its purely an academic questions about mechanics...
I didn't really think that was what you were asking, but I wasn't sure because it sounded like you weren't interested in the tactics ideas.
...I find it interesting that almost every one here is willing to accept that the fighter should win hands down and the weak ones should use all sorts of elaborate tricks and tactics in order to win. I feel that even at a level disparity the fighter should be required to use SOME sort of tactics...
It's little different than the fact that a decent fighter can beat a rino to death with a club pretty easily. The mechanics just don't cover that situation well.
But really, This is just a facet of every fantasy game I have ever seen. Look at all the legends, all the stories, all the martial arts movies, almost all the books, etc... The hero takes on armies of mooks (that usually approach 1 or 2 at a time). No one wants to imagine their super capable hero being taken down in a dogpile. It's just not fantasy-heroic.
Sometime have a serious conversation with an expert, who really has training, and has been in alot of hand-to-hand combat situations. They are very careful to avoid vastly outnumbered situations because in RL they can be lethal.
But I haven't seen any game system that does a good job of modeling it.
sorry.....I am at work and have lost all ambition to do anything constructive today, so please just skip the rest of this post if you are actually looking for a serious answer.
You have been warned.
8th level fighter in armor walks into a goblin cavern and starts hacking away. The goblins realize they can't harm him and run to the neighboring kobold tribe. (We are talking Keep on the Borderland here, aren't we?) Thekobolds are concerned that the fighter will come for them next, and go visit the stupid, but strong ogre who lives next door, pay him off with a couple pigs and a VERY large bag of copper coins, painted with gold spraypaint. The ogre goes over to the local steading of the hill giant, where he trains with them until he is a 5th level barbarian ogre, at which point he returns to the kobolds, who are hosting the goblins at a feast, and joins in the feast.
Known to the kobolds, because they are sneaky gits, the fighter sneaks into the kobold lair during the feast and begins to kill the goblins, who the kobolds sat nearest the entrance they knew the fighter would be coming through. The 5th level ogre barbarian rages and goes to help his goblin friends, while the kobolds decide to make a retreat with the left over copper coins the ogre left under the table. On their way out, they dump some sleep poison into the oleander blossom mead, hoping that if the ogre doesn't succeed in killing the fighter, the cardioactive glycosides in the oleander mead will, once the fighter drinks it in celebration, or that maybe, just maybe, the sleep poison will knock the fighter out.
At which time the kobolds will sneak back into their den, strip the fighter naked, give him a "Koboldz waz heer" tramp stamp tattoo, and leave the fighter in the middle of the town square. They then give his armor in tribute to the hobgoblin warchief (who happens to be a level 10 cavalier who rides a basilisk), and tell him that some mook over in the village who has a tramp stamp with something written in Draconic, has been saying that he's been in the warchief's harem.
Luv it Chris!
but gold spraypaint?!?
sorry.....I am at work and have lost all ambition to do anything constructive today, so please just skip the rest of this post if you are actually looking for a serious answer.
You have been warned.
8th level fighter in armor walks into a goblin cavern and starts hacking away. The goblins realize they can't harm him and run to the neighboring kobold tribe. (We are talking Keep on the Borderland here, aren't we?) Thekobolds are concerned that the fighter will come for them next, and go visit the stupid, but strong ogre who lives next door, pay him off with a couple pigs and a VERY large bag of copper coins, painted with gold spraypaint. The ogre goes over to the local steading of the hill giant, where he trains with them until he is a 5th level barbarian ogre, at which point he returns to the kobolds, who are hosting the goblins at a feast, and joins in the feast.
Known to the kobolds, because they are sneaky gits, the fighter sneaks into the kobold lair during the feast and begins to kill the goblins, who the kobolds sat nearest the entrance they knew the fighter would be coming through. The 5th level ogre barbarian rages and goes to help his goblin friends, while the kobolds decide to make a retreat with the left over copper coins the ogre left under the table. On their way out, they dump some sleep poison into the oleander blossom mead, hoping that if the ogre doesn't succeed in killing the fighter, the cardioactive glycosides in the oleander mead will, once the fighter drinks it in celebration, or that maybe, just maybe, the sleep poison will knock the fighter out.
At which time the kobolds will sneak back into their den, strip the fighter naked, give him a "Koboldz waz heer" tramp stamp tattoo, and leave the fighter in the middle of the town square. They then give his armor in tribute to the hobgoblin warchief (who happens to be a level 10 cavalier who rides a basilisk), and tell him that some mook over in the village who has a tramp stamp with something written in Draconic, has...
*LoL*
This thread needed to be locked after that post. No one else should have been allowed to follow up. It won the thread.
*Hands trophy to CM*
You have to either accept that, or be misunderstanding the power level deliberately in the game system. [And this goes back to 1st Ed ADaD if you're old enough to remember it]
With respect to goblins (and normal humans) you may be right, but with respect to something slightly tougher (e.g. orcs with spears), even a 9th level AD&D 1E fighter will kill only 2 orcs a round. If mobbed and surrounded by orcs, the fighter will be killed after a long battle (about 17 rounds, during which he'll kill 34 orcs) but he is going to lose against a full orc lair, and maybe against a large orc warparty. Even a 20th level fighter will probably lose, because he doesn't have double the HP of the 9th level guy. Of course, this assumes that the fighter doesn't have some flashy magical item that will turn the tide. Large numbers of weak foes matter more in the earlier editions - provided that they have at least 1 full hit die.
The best way to simulate a bunch of creatures overwhelming someone would be aid another for CMB checks. You could even start out with 7 goblins aiding one for a disarm check, for a total of +14 on the check. Representing them helping wrench the sword out of the fighter's hands. Other very useful combat maneuvers are the dirty trick (for blinding) or even just making the fighter waste a move action, thus preventing full-attacks.