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I have an idea for an encounter. My level 10 heroes are just about to enter an Evil Dojo filled with monks of various levels. The Master of the Dojo who is lawful Evil will offer the party an opportunity to leave with their lives if they can defeat him and his men.
The Dojo itself is just a single large room and the master will clap his hands and 3 or 4 monks will then attack the party members. Every time they defeat the last challengers the Master will send a higher level challenge at them. I've been watching a lot of kung-fu/samurai movies.
I picture it like this. They walk in. The room is filled with monks they line the walls and sit on the rafters. The Master stands on a small platform and congratulates the party on making it this far. The master then offers them a drink and an opportunity to rest. Then he says they must prove themselves in combat or die trying. If they agree he begins the test and sends his white belts (CR 2), then his yellow belts (CR4), orange (CR6), green (CR 8), Purple (Cr9) brown (CR 10) and finally himself (CR 13).
The question becomes. How do I design this encounter to be level appropriate? Does the staggered waves of battle ensure that the CR of the combat never becomes overwhelming for the players? Or is this just a sure fired way to blow all of the parties resources and TPK them?
It would be important for the master to ensure the players know this is a progressive path. Let them roll perception or a straight wisdom check to put together that the colors progress upwards in difficulty.
If your players know they are in a slow march upwards in difficulty, it shouldn't be too hard for them to hold back and fight intelligently.
Have the master ask between each match if the players would like to quit, continue, or rest. Have him inform them that they only get a single rest and so they must consider it wisely.
The overall wave-after-wave isn't a huge problem in Pathfinder. It shouldn't be an issue until the green wave and then they can toss back some heavy healing items and call a rest before brown or black for the final charge up.
One thing that will be an issue is short buffs. Keep track of elapsed time and remember 10 rounds = 1 minute and keep the rounds going for the entire event. You can have them reroll initiative for each wave, but that's probably unnecessary.
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One way to style this would be to engage the sensei in a battle of nerves. He might have three score of monks, and that number will certainly spell the doom of an adventuring party. But the higher battle is to gain the respect of the higher monks and shake the confidence of their dark master.
If the PCs fight with honor, the replacement monks might bow in respect, or give them a minute to catch their breath and heal themselves, or let them pick up weapons that were snatched from their grasp.
And the sensei grows wroth and eventually sees the respect in the eyes of his students, and knows that he must enter the fight immediately to save face.
So, the number of of opponents is variable. If the party fights badly, like fireballing combatants who haven't yet entered the fight, then it might be overwhelming for them, despite their CR.
But if they fight well, and particularly if they can Intimidate the master of the dojo, they can end the waves of opponents early and fight the main threat with more resources unspent.
Be sure to give the sensei levels in Ninja and Assassin, by the way. There must be some reason he wants to watch the PCs' fighting styles.
It would be important for the master to ensure the players know this is a progressive path. Let them roll perception or a straight wisdom check to put together that the colors progress upwards in difficulty.
If your players know they are in a slow march upwards in difficulty, it shouldn't be too hard for them to hold back and fight intelligently.
Have the master ask between each match if the players would like to quit, continue, or rest. Have him inform them that they only get a single rest and so they must consider it wisely.
I think this is going to be crucial. The chance for them to rest once might not be a bad idea... I see it playing out like the fight between the Dread Pirate Roberts and Inigo Montoya
"You ready then?"
"Whether I am or not you've been more than fair"
"You seem a decent fellow I hate to kill you"
There must be some reason he wants to watch the PCs' fighting styles.
The master is an under boss simply assigned to stop the PCs. He however insists on killing them with honor. But there is someone in the room who has been watching the PCs for a while now... She nearly killed them earlier in the campaign and has been watching them since that first encounter.
Will you be leaving the corpses in place or will they be dragged out after each match?
One thing that doesn't get accounted for in large attrition battles is all the difficult terrain created by mounds of bodies. Used properly, these can be a huge benefit in a drawn out battle.
If they are getting dragged out after each wave then it won't really matter a lot.
As Morika mentions, watching the party fight should give later waves more intelligence on fighting styles of the party. If that Barbarian seems to rely heavily on that bastard sword, expect to get it disarmed in later fights. If a wand plays a huge roll in party tactics, expect to snatch it later and so on.
Use sunder, snatch, disarm etc all to good effect. Monks are awesome at Combat maneuvers.
Will you be leaving the corpses in place or will they be dragged out after each match?
One thing that doesn't get accounted for in large attrition battles is all the difficult terrain created by mounds of bodies. Used properly, these can be a huge benefit in a drawn out battle.
If they are getting dragged out after each wave then it won't really matter a lot.As Morika mentions, watching the party fight should give later waves more intelligence on fighting styles of the party. If that Barbarian seems to rely heavily on that bastard sword, expect to get it disarmed in later fights. If a wand plays a huge roll in party tactics, expect to snatch it later and so on.
Use sunder, snatch, disarm etc all to good effect. Monks are awesome at Combat maneuvers.
The bodies will be dragged out each round. The enemy has been aware of the PCs for a while now and should be well aware of their battle tactics.
I think the fun part for the PCs will be the feeling of being utter Bada&&es against the lower level monks. I'm considering using the NPC monks from www.d20pfsrd.com. They have several monster monks of various levels and they should be fun to play.
I thought I'd bring this post back to life in order to say thanks. I just ran this last night and it went beautifully. I used a lot of the advice given and I think my players had a great time. By the last fight they were tired, bloody, and nearly spell-less but had just enough in the tank to win out. Probably the best designed encounter I've run in a long while.
Again thanks.