Extra encounters from Fort Rannick to Sandpoint in book 3

[JakobDK]

Hello everyone,

My group consists of 6 players which means they're a bit behind on loot and xp. To redeem some of this I've made a few encounters which are optional for them when they have to

Spoiler:

Race to Sandpoint to defend it from the Giants' raid

They're writting to fit my group, our rules and as my DM notes, but I figured it never hurts to place the stuff here as well in case it might inspire a fellow DM.

Three Events:

These three events are meant to slightly delay the characters before they reach Sandpoint as well as putting them into situations where they have to decide between prioritizing Sandpoint, the beleaguered lowlands of Varisia, or their greed for loot.
The events assume that the characters chose to stay at Fort Rannick, and are summoned to Sandpoint with the news that giants have been sighted approaching. Speed should be essential for the events to have the greatest effect.
Each event can be skipped by the PCs and if done so they arrive in time to help defend Sandpoint as described in the adventure. Each event interacted with imposes a penalty for the characters, or more correctly a boon for Teraktinus, and increases the risk of the raid on Sandpoint to be a success for the giants.
Since the system mechanic about the raid is to get as much done in as few rounds as possible, the penalty for the characters is to have to defend against stronger invaders thus requiring more rounds to keep up with the round-by-round description of the raid on Sandpoint described in the adventure.
There are three events. If the characters decide to interact with any one of the events they reach Sandpoint just as the raid on Sandpoint has begun. If they interact with two of the events then Teraktinus is given maximum hit points. If they interact with all three events then Longtooth is given maximum hit points.
With his flying abilities Longtooth should be able to make the best out of the additional hit points. Also, if the characters only interact with two of the events then Teraktinus will appear much more to be a significant NPC as he is much tougher. This is why Longtooth is given maximum hit points last.

Foraging Ogres
1st event

The road to Sandpoint runs through a small hamlet called Chast where one of the giant scouting parties are foraging. The hamlet itself is nothing more than a smoldering ruin, and the few ogres are instead to be found foraging the cattle out on the pastures. The characters can easily sneak around the hamlet and ignore the ogres or they can decide to take the time to kill them. There are no survivors in Chast to rescue.
The Ogres are divided into two groups with 500 feet of open field and a living fence which obscures all visual contact between them.
Group A consists of 3x skullcrusher ogres (Monster Manual III). If the characters decides to engage them, two of them will take up the challenge while the third will run away to warn group B.
Group B consists of 4x skullcrusher ogres and “Crunch”, the leader of the scouting party.
Crunch CR 10
Male Skullcrusher Ogre Warblade 5
CE Large giant (Giant’s Stance)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Listen +7, Spot +8

Defense
AC 22, touch 10, flat-footed 20
(+6 armor, +1 Dexterity, +2 natural, +3 shield, –1 size)
hp 129 (8d8 +5d12 +63)
Fort +14, Ref +4, Will +4
Uncanny Dodge

Offense
Spd 30 ft.
Melee +1 Warhammer +24/+19 (3d6 +19 19-20/x3)
Ranged rock +15 (3d6+15)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Rock Hurling (3d6+15)

Statistics
Str 30, Dex 13, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +11; Grp +30
Feats 9 Power Attack, Weapon Focus (warhammer), Improved Crit (warhammer), Weapon Spec (warhammer), Weapon Mastery (warhammer), Improved Toughness,
Skills Hide –2 (+6 in rocky terrain), Listen +9, Spot +8, Survival +12
Languages Common, Dwarven, Giant
SQ rock catching, wild empathy +4
Gear +1 Breast Plate, +1 Warhammer, Bag of Holding I (5 sets of caltrops, 1 whip (for disciplinary use),8 human skulls), 3x tanglefoot bags, +1 heavy steel shield, net, potion of shield of faith, potion of barkskin, potion of bull’s strength, potion of cat’s grace, 345g.

Initiator level 9 (Maneuvers known: 6, Readied: 4, Stances: 2)
Stances:
Stonefoot Stance
Giant’s Stance*

Maneuvers:
Steel Wind
Charging Minotaur*
Mountain Hammer
Bonecrusher*
Bonesplitting Strike*
Elder Mountain Hammer*
 
Hungry Tiger
2nd event

The group encounters fleeing ogres who offers meaningless resistance. When investigating the site they are fleeing from, they see a wounded advanced dire tiger with the Warbeast template. It prowls on a ledge where it tries to defend its meal, an ogre leader. A spot check from the characters reveals the information that in the ogre’s belt still hangs a well-made warhammer (which could be magical). The tiger will defend its meal, but the encounter can be resolved without fighting with the usual means appropriate against the animal type.

The warhammer is a large warhammer +1, and the tiger pelt can be sold for 150gp in Magnimar.

Advanced Warbeast Dire Tiger
Size/Type:
Large Animal

Hit Dice:
22d8+48 (110 hp (wounded))

Initiative:
+3
Speed:
50 ft. (8 squares)
Armor Class:
19 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +7 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 16

Base Attack/Grapple:
+16/+30
Attack:
Claw +26 melee (3d6+10)

Full Attack:
2 claws +26 melee (3d6+10) and bite +21 melee (4d6+5 19-20/x2)

Space/Reach:
10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:
Improved grab, pounce, rake 3d6+5

Special Qualities:
Low-light vision, scent

Saves:
Fort +18, Ref +15, Will +12
Abilities:
Str 30, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills:
Hide +7*, Jump +14, Listen +6, Move Silently +11, Spot +7, Swim +10

Feats:
Alertness, Improved Natural Attack (claw), Improved Natural Attack (bite), Run, Stealthy, Weapon Focus (claw), weapon focus (bite), Improved Critical (Bite)
Environment:
Warm forests
Organization:
Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating:
10
Treasure:
None
Alignment:
Always neutral
Advancement:
17-32 HD (Large); 33-48 (Huge)
Level Adjustment:
—
Dire tigers prey on just about anything that moves. They will patiently stalk a potential meal, striking whenever the creature lets down its guard.
Dire tigers grow to be over 12 feet long and can weigh up to 6,000 pounds.
Combat
A dire tiger attacks by running at prey, leaping, and clawing and biting as it rakes with its rear claws.
Improved Grab (Ex)
To use this ability, a dire tiger must hit with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can rake.
Pounce (Ex)
If a dire tiger charges, it can make a full attack, including two rake attacks.
Rake (Ex)
Attack bonus +23 melee, damage 3d6+5.
Skills
Dire tigers have a +4 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks. *In areas of tall grass or heavy undergrowth, the Hide bonus improves to +8.

Beleaguered Villagers
3rd event

They catch up with a group of refugees who are fleeing on the road to Sandpoint. Their burning village can be seen in the distance, where a warband of ogres are foraging on the cattle. The village has a single stone building, the chapel, where a group of villagers have hidden, but the Ogres knows they are in there and they are preparing a large pot and firewood for some human stew.
When the PCs arrive, they see four ogres who have prepared a battering ram. Another two ogres are preparing the pot, while three ogres are securing some cattle nearby (1 round away). Finally, there’s the Ogre Baws™!

8x ogres
1x ogre chef
1x Ogre Baws

“Food-Baws” Ogre Chef (CR 5)
Large Giant Savage bard 4
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 6, Wis, 8, Cha 12
HP: 26 (4d8 + 4d6 + 24), Init: +0
Large Club (and gong) +10/+5 (1d8/x2)
AC 17 (Hide armor)
Fort +11, Ref +3, Will +4
Feats: WF (club), Improved Toughness, Melodic Casting, Haunting Melody (30 ft, DC 13 or shaken)
Inspire Courge (+1 hit & dmg)
Spells Known: 3. Spells per day: 3 (2).
1st: Grease, Unseen Servant*, Sleep

“Food-Baws” has already used an Unseen Servant spell to help him prepare the cooking. If attacked, “Food-Baws” signals the Chump-Gong which makes all the nearby ogres excited as they recognize the sound as being the signal for cooked food. This activated “Food-Baws” inspire courage ability.

“Big Baws” Ogre Baws (CR 10)
Large Giant, Half-Troll Ogre Barbarian 2, fighter 2
Str 32, Dex 10, Con 25, Int 4, Wis 10, Cha 5
HP: 132, Init +0
Attack: 2x Claw +19 (1d8 +11), Bite +17 (2d6 +5)
Rend: 2d8+15
AC 16 (-1 size, +9 natural, -2 rage)
Fort: +15, Ref +1, Will +1
Feats: Improved Natural Attack & Weapon Focus (bite, claw), multiattack, power attack
Special Qualities: Fast Healing 5

Loot: Various looted valuables for 2500g (500 of which belongs to the village)

[HangarFlying]

Awesome! Don't know of I'll have the need of this (haven't started yet), but it's good to know there are options available if needed! Thanks.

[Old Drake]

Okay, I like those events, but the time limit is ludicrous. Even a ten round combat is only a one minute delay. For overland travel that's nothing.

[Joey Virtue]

Yeah I was confused cause it was 3.5 not Pathfinder

I give my bad guys almost max hit points anyway and Bosses like thouse two would get max HP

[JakobDK]

It's always nice with some feedback.

I also, per default, give all named NPCs max hit points. I've actually also given all named NPCs in these encounters max hit points (the tiger has lowered hit points as it is wounded). I usually also remake them to at least optimize their feat selection. In my own version of these encounters I add stone giants to the attack on Sandpoint both to increase the amount of hit points necessary to keep up with the round by round raid but also to further increase the xp rewards as the characters of my players are behind.

The time limit imposed by the encounters were the cause of much thoughts, and I advice GMs to adjust it to their groups. I know my group will spend time on scouting on the ogres in Chast before taking any action. They will debate if it is right to kill the "innocent" dire tiger and I am sure they will try to scare it away or use animal-related magic which might not already be prepared.

Additionally, each encounter will take resources from the party. Both the dire tiger and the Big Baws are offensive enough to perhaps force the characters to use memorized spells like healing - which in return puts them in the dilemma if they should rest or not before reaching Sandpoint.

If you know your party doesn't spend much time discussing, scouting, talking to survivors, then you can always come up with some time limits yourself. The real function of the time limit is to add a new perspective on all actions they might consider, but you could always say that skinning the tiger takes half an hour (time vs. loot), or that Chast is a 30 minutes ride from the main road (time vs. saving the Varisian uplands). Each time-consuming activity, almost no matter the amount of consumption, should or could be a roleplaying opportunity.

You, as the GM, already know that it doesn't make a difference how much time they spend, as any interaction with the encounters (other than discussing if they should act or skip) makes the characters arrive just as the Sandpoint raid has begun.

If you want to tweak it differently then you are welcome to do so. I don't want the characters to arrive in the middle of the raid, as I want the players to experience the round-by-round encounter that the raid is. So instead I impose on them the time penalty and make it harder for them to keep up.