[possible spoilers below for #4 - Fortress of the Stone Giants]
My group (4-5 players at 10th and 11th levels, 25-pt buy) made it most of the way through the library level of Jorgenfist. After rough fights against the headless lord and a wonderfully pain-in-the-neck Scanderig, they've unanimously voted to rest/heal/regain spells (they know Mokmurian is a big hat and is yet to come). Using Stone Shape and Secure Shelter, they've created a sanctuary in one of the cleared rooms.
However, this means that Mokmurian (who know they're coming + group makeup/tactics) also has time to rest and prepare fully...
Here's my question to folks who have run this encounter - the group, as a result of lucky decisions, avoided a bunch of the encounters on the previous level, including both lamia and Lokansir, the uber-hill giant. Both are described as special servants of Mokmurian, and Lokansir is said to be his closest ally.
It seems to make sense that Mokmurian might summon Lokansir to help him in the fight. However, Lokansir seems like a lot to add to an already tough encounter, but it's mostly becuase he's soaking up damage (and actions).
I'm looking to make Mokmurian a truly terrifying challenge (the group is quite powerful, and has powered through a lot of the baddies in the campaign so far), but I'd also definitely want to avoid a campaign-ending TPK.
Any thoughts? (and thanks for reading to the end here!)
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If they've been powering through things, they may have forgotten that retreating and fighting another day is a viable option. Though, admittedly, you might have to tell them this directly. If they've made the mistake of camping in the bad guy's home, they would be stupid to not even consider the possibility that the BBEG'S would prepare a "welcoming" party for them.
Mokmorian is not dumb. At the very least, he would have the choke points from where the characters will emerge covered. He might be proactive and attempt to root the PCs out of their sanctuary directly. Either way, yeah, there is a high TPK potential unless you nerf the encounter.
So, once the fight starts, remind them that running is an option (if they don't think of it), and allow them to retreat--though, there is no reason why you can't make the retreat difficult.
This is the fight that TPKed our group when we played Rise of the Runelords back in the 3.5 days. My wizard was the only survivor, and that's because he of dimension door+teleport ...
The way Mokmurian is written, he can VERY easily wreck a party. The ranges in the room are rough (you have to spend time closing to get into close range for spells, for example), and Mokmurian has things like Solid Fog to get in the way of that.
We had a team of five; favored soul, blaster sorcerer, wizard, ranger archer of doom, and i forget the last guy; great stats (generous rolled), decent gear, good spells, etc. Just as a point of comparison with your group.
Now, our group wasn't able to fully buff before fighting him (while he was), so YMMV. We also had to contend with some more of those Hounds of Thindalos things (the ones that teleport in corners); they escaped when we first encountered them and came back to murder our archer halfway through the battle.
It might not be a bad idea to have the PCs fight Lokansir FIRST; maybe they encounter him patrolling the halls on Mokmurian's level. This could force them to expend some resources before fighting the big guy.
If they fight them both at the same time, it may be a TPK even if they buff first.
Mokmurian is a pretty formidable end boss. I would actually raise his CR a bit given that his listed CR counts each level of mystic theurge as one CR. If you think the party can handle it, go ahead. Mokmurian seems terrifying enough for an end boos though.
Weird, our group which was not optimized taught him and a lamia matriarch ( I think zaneesha) it was a hard fight but no where near a tpk.
I cannot remember how we did it though I remmber a pebble with silence on it and throwing it at him when he cast a spell we also tried to figure outvtge effect of starting a hurricane inside the tunnels then thought better of it.