Hey all! I'm a relatively inexperienced DM, running a modified version of Second Darkness and wanted some people's opinions on a change I made, since I'm not sure if it's going to be too much for my players to handle or not.
Basically, due to plot reasons, there are two extra encounters before the party even reaches Witchlight, AND I've added the tenebrous template to the Akata after seeing people complain they were a little too easy to defeat.
What I'm trying to decide is whether or not to keep the template!
The first new encounter is a CR2 vs a Wild Boar (threatening a gas forge employee they can save). Easy peasy for a APL 4 group.
The second is a CR 3 fight almost directly after that with 2 Shadowgarms. Hopefully surprising but nothing too deadly.
After that, they reach Witchlight and have the Dead Body encounter, but face 4 shadowgarms instead of 4 void zombies, making this a CR 6 encounter.
And of course after that comes the infamous AKATA TOWER SIEGE!
I think they'll be able to handle the tower rolling ok, between a ring of feather fall, boots of spider climb, wand of levitate, etc etc, provided they don't get HIDEOUSLY unlucky.
However, with the tenebrous template attached, the Akata become CR 2 apiece, instead of CR 1.
I know this encounter isn't about defeating every single one or having to face them all at once, but with 24 potential nasties, that still ups the challenge quite a bit.
The template adds:
+2 str, +4 con, +2 cha (making their bite attack +3 and tentacles -2 and upping their HP to 19)
+6 nat ac (so a total of 21)
Bite dmg increases to 1d8 + 1d6 cold dmg
It also normally adds bristles that have contact poison, but I am choosing to leave those out.
So between adding extra fights that could have worn down their resources, no way to tell the siege is coming, and the added template, is this going to be way too likely to cause a TPK?
Cheers!
Im kinda a hard core killer DM but to me it doesnt sound to bad the AKATA were kinda weak
I had them deal with a advanced tough akata around the siege also
Im kinda a hard core killer DM but to me it doesnt sound to bad the AKATA were kinda weak
I had them deal with a advanced tough akata around the siege also
Oh yeah? And they still took 'em out easy? Hmm, I was considering using the "Shadow Creature" template instead (same CR adjustment, but more passive defense abilities and less offense boosts). Buuuuuuuut... I guess... I could just stat up both versions, and be ready to use either one, depending on how they seem to be faring! ADAPTABILITY!
The party's offense is pretty crazy anyway, I swear the fighter does an average of 20 a hit already.
An individual Akata wasn't too much of a threat when I ran this, but the horde of them, seemingly never-ending, was quite difficult. Plus they need some spare hp to survive ... what happens next.
Depends on your party of course.
An individual Akata wasn't too much of a threat when I ran this, but the horde of them, seemingly never-ending, was quite difficult. Plus they need some spare hp to survive ... what happens next.
Depends on your party of course.
Well, my guys are pretty well set to handle the NEXT BITS since one has a feather fall ring, another has spider climb slippers, a third has a wand of levitate, and the last is the tank and there may even be a spiderclimb potion wandering around, SO... They oughta be able to ride that thing down the hill without TOO much trouble.
The tank is a really heavy hitter, which is one of the reasons I wanted to beef up the Akata (well, that and I want them to hit level 7 by the end of the adventure). At an average 20 dmg a hit, he'll prolly be able to take them out quick, even with a template... And that's not even bringing in the others capabilities...
my party was fairly well optimized so they didn't have much trouble, although the Kineticist hilariously rolled a 1 twice in a row vs. Void death. unfortunately, I had an investigator handing out buffs which made them pretty much akata proof; So I built Akata Packs, using the troop rules; in retrospect I may have made them a bit too strong, they hated those things.