First, George, if you're reading this, GET OUT!
Now that that is out of the way, here's the deal.
What I'd like some help with is coming up with bands of kobolds and some "scripted" encounters--ideas of how to use the kobolds so that the fights with them aren't too straightforward and they make some interesting use of the terrain.
So, the important stuff:
I'll have between 5 and 8 players at the table, depending on who can make it (mostly likely 6), all level 4, but hitting level 5 soon, so I'm looking at encounters of CR 3-9. In the party I have an enchanter wizard, nuking magister (3rd party class you can see at the PF_OGC website...basically a sorcerer with a couple of cleric spells), a TWF rogue, a Crane Style Flowing monk, a cleric, a TWF ranger (shapeshifter with claws), an alchemist, and a 2-handed fighter (with Cleave and Cleaving Finish). So, I've got a handful of heavy hitters who can drop most CR 1-2 enemies in a hit or two (or less).
I'm interested in getting a variety of classes into the mix, with bands of kobold warriors supporting 1 or 2 heroic-classed leaders. So far, the only fight I have partly planned out is a fight with a kobold Synthesist whose eidolon is set-up to look and act like a dragon. He has fashioned himself the avatar of the dragon ruling the kobolds.
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If you can get your hands on a copy, you might take a look at how a City invasion was handled in Red Hand of Doom. I think it made for a very playable situation for capturing the idea of an adventuring party dealing with part of the problem rather than all of it.
What I've found useful for prepping for this sort of thing is to write stat blocks at varying degree of strength, and then select what is needed for the CR that you're looking for at game time.
That's kind of what I'm intending/have been doing so far in the campaign. I've been making up a handful of enemies, then putting them together into CR blocks, but I'd like to get outside input to breath a little variety into the encounters, I guess. I try to mix things up a bit, but I've definitely got some circles I run through in my head.
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The most important thing you can do is use the city as an environment for various goals and objectives to stall/thwart the kobold advance... here are some examples:
The party needs to:
1) Break a bridge into the rich district to stop the kobold advance and give nobles time to evacuate their neighborhood, this might be done by holding the bridge while engineers undermine it, or maybe somebody with climb has to clamour down to one or two support pillars with a powderkeg, which once in place can be used to demolish the bridge with a fire-arrow.
2) A temple in the city-center has a secret tunnel out of the city, and hundreds of citizens are packed inside with the Kobolds just outside -- the priests need time to clear the tunnel and lead everyone out... and the party has to keep the kobolds out at least that long. The temple is really secure which could allow a cool siege element, and the priests may have a large store of Oil and other things for rituals that the party could use to repulse attackers.
3) The party is fighting from a higher tier of the town, allowing them to drop all manner of objects and shoot at kobolds running by, firing back from numerous houses, and killing or preventing the kobolds from scaling into this higher level of the town. You could employ cover and spell-fire as main elements of this part, as well as ammunition -- maybe security forces can bring them supplies if they can hold the high ground.
4) Beat the kobolds to, or Eject the Kobolds from, a gatehouse leading into the interior districts of the city, allowing the guards to lock it down and hold that area. Once the Grand portcullis is down it will buy the party some time or allow them to move to other points of contest.
5) There is a Dam, or a great sewage gate in the poor section, that if opened, will flood the poor section of the city (where the kobolds have already taken control, have made their staging area, or are bringing in reinforcements. Breaking/opening the Dam/Gate will flash flood the area killing DROVES of kobolds and throwing their leadership into disarray. It's a desperate plan, but the bold gambit could turn the tide!
6) A Blacksmith has just completed a few Ballistas or Catapults for an out-of-city buyer, but decides to get it to higher ground in the city through narrow streets and steep inclines,(perhaps to the top of a castle or city hall or highest/securest point) to help rain artillery down on the invaders. The party needs to escort the vulnerable machines, which will surely run afoul of advance kobold troops or infiltrators. Getting them safely to a point of advantage will crank up kobold casualties and raise the morale of the defenders considerably.
7) A scout detects the kobolds are slowly wheeling a huge cart of diseased corpses towards the center well (or water supply) -- the cart, which is being protected by a regiment of the most disciplined kobold fighters, must be stopped.
8) Hold the Market long enough for all the vendors and peddlers to escape, or hold a bottleneck in the docks district while innocents, valuable art and other important city materials, and VIPs (nobles) are loaded onto ships. The majority of the kobolds have to be diverted away from the docks or repelled from entering along this main thoroughfare so that the guards and militia overseeing the evacuation can handle whatever kobolds slip through without being overrun.
9) There is a park in a corner of the town with a cave/storm-shelter in it that many citizens have fallen back to as a defensible area. The kobolds haven't found the cave yet, but when they do, and they will, innocents will die. The party needs to clear all the kobolds out of the park (changes the scenery from the city if that gets routine) -- As a secondary objective the party has to escort a small team of rangers and blacksmiths with a cart of bear-traps to the park, and once it is cleared of kobolds, protect them while they cover the park with bear-traps. Just as the traps are deployed, the party sees a huge mob of kobolds moving into the area, they have to fortify, dig in, and turn the trapped park into a kill zone until the kobolds lose heart in crossing the area and thus leave the secret of the cave unfound.
By making the encounters of tactical/strategic significance to the siege of the city, normal random clashes with kobolds can become very memorable encounters! Add a kind of "Military/War" flair to the atmosphere and you might have some very nice sessions ahead!
Thanks, Vicon! Those are some great ideas! I'll definitely use some of those, and am coming up with ideas inspired by those already.
My old GM had a Kobold sorcerer riding inside the skull of an animated giant skeleton while he threw spells at us... and hasted kobold archers shot at us from the skeleton's shoulders, If memory serves.
just sayin'.
This might be coming late but been wanting to try a build like this. I know the CR is one higher but it might make an interesting one kobold encounter. I suggest starting with an ambush from the roof tops with the shortspears then go in with the spear. Of course the specific aspect (black, red, etc) can be switched out and I would keep the damage from the weapons to match the aspect type. Could also switch out corrosive burst for just corrosive and returning.
XP 6400
Kobold Fighter 11
LE Small Humanoid (reptilian)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +1
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Defense
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AC 22, touch 14, flat-footed 19 (+7 armor, +3 Dex, +1 size, +1 natural)
hp 76 (11d10+11)
Fort +7, Ref +6, Will +4 (+3 vs. fear)
Defensive Abilities bravery +3; Resist acid 5
Weakness light sensitivity
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Offense
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Speed 40 ft., flight (20 feet, average)
Melee +1 Corrosive burst Spear +18/+13/+8 (1d6+6+1d6 acid/x3+2d10 acid) and
. . +1 Shortspear +16/+11/+6 (1d4+4/x2) and
. . +1 Shortspear +16/+11/+6 (1d4+4/x2) and
. . Tail slap (Tail Terror) +9 (1d4+1/x2)
Special Attacks breath weapon (30-ft line of acid, 4d6, ref half) , weapon training abilities (natural +1, spears +2)
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Statistics
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Str 13, Dex 16, Con 11, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk +11; CMB +11; CMD 24
Feats Combat Reflexes (4 AoO/round), Death from Above, Draconic Aspect, Draconic Breath, Draconic Glide, Draconic Paragon, Greater Weapon Focus (Spear), Improved Initiative, Lunge, Tail Terror, Weapon Focus (Spear), Weapon Specialization (Spear)
Skills Acrobatics +3 (+7 jump), Climb +10, Fly +16, Stealth +15
Languages Draconic
SQ expeditious (3/day), gliding wings
Other Gear +3 Expeditious Mithral Chain shirt, Chain shirt, +1 Corrosive burst Spear, +1 Shortspear, +1 Shortspear, You have no money!
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Special Abilities
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Bravery +3 (Ex) +3 to Will save vs. Fear
Breath Weapon (30-ft line of acid, 4d6, Ref half) (Draconic Breath) (2/day) (DC 10) Some creatures can exhale a cone, line, or cloud of energy or other magical effects. A breath weapon attack usually deals damage and is often based on some type of energy. Breath weapons allow a Reflex save for half damage (DC 10 + 1/2 the breathing
Combat Reflexes (4 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Damage Resistance, Acid (5) You have the specified Damage Resistance against Acid attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Death from Above Gain +5 bonus on attack rolls when charging from higher ground or flying
Draconic Breath +2 bonus against sleep and paralysis effects.
Draconic Glide +2 vs. sleep & paralysis.
Draconic Paragon Additional +2 bonus against sleep and paralysis effects.
Expeditious (3/day) Gain a +10 enhancement bonus to all movement modes for 1 rd.
Flight (20 feet, Average) You can fly!
Gliding Wings DC 15 Fly check to fall safely from any height. DC 15 to glide laterally 5ft per 20 ft fallen.
Light Sensitivity (Ex) Dazzled as long as they remain in bright light.
Lunge Can increase reach by 5 ft, but take -2 to AC for 1 rd.
Tail Terror Gain tail attack for 1d4 damage and proficiency with all tail weapons.
Weapon Training (Natural) +1 (Ex) +1 Attack, Damage, CMB, CMD with Natural weapons
Weapon Training (Spears) +2 (Ex) +2 Attack, Damage, CMB, CMD with Spears
Hero Lab® and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
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http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/
Consider the legend of Tucker's Kobolds, and rejoice. Be sneaky, apply fire and outflank whenever possible.
http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/
Consider the legend of Tucker's Kobolds, and rejoice. Be sneaky, apply fire and outflank whenever possible.
Gods above.... ITS MARVELOUS! :D
5) There is a Dam, or a great sewage gate in the poor section, that if opened, will flood the poor section of the city (where the kobolds have already taken control, have made their staging area, or are bringing in reinforcements. Breaking/opening the Dam/Gate will flash flood the area killing DROVES...
It's been a while, but was flipping back through old threads and realized that I hadn't come back here with the follow-up.
Ended up using a variant on this, where the players, in talking with some of the ranking members of the city guard, realized that the kobolds were invading, in large part, through the sewers, and that if they broke the floodgate that flushes the system, they could take out many of the kobolds. Basically the way the sewer system works is: there is a large cistern that fills from a diverted portion of the major river that flows by the city, and when it reaches a certain volume it pushes open a floodgate that allows it to drain off a bit, flooding the sewer system under the city, which, in turn, cleans out that system. All of the runoff is filtered through gelatinous cubes, which consume materials and pollutants, before flushing out into the sea in a relatively clean state.
After a good deal of fighting already (some to defend civilians attempting to flee from kobolds, aiding guardsmen, and rescuing people from a burning building), they had that strategy session and headed into the sewers to deal with the floodgate. The alchemist and rogue worked together to form and place a substance that would cause the dam to open, with the hope of being able to get it closed again, since simply breaking it would cause some long-lasting problems for the city.
That worked well.
To add to the encounters, I had kobolds attacking from rooftops and balconies, masses of base kobolds (I think the biggest fight features 24 kobolds attacking at once!), fire occasionally bursting from buildings, and some structures collapsing during encounters--the biggest swarm got half destroyed when the players noticed a building starting to sag and positioned themselves so that the kobolds would be between themselves and the dwelling when it came down. During another fight, one player (the monk) leaped into a burning building to save some people, and jumped out the other side. When the fight concluded, and he still hadn't reappeared, one character rushed in to find him, while another tried and realized it would be her death sentence, and two more were occupied with getting one of the PCs out of his full plate.
The climax of the whole thing was when the players fought a kobold synthesist summoner whose eidolon had the form of a dragon (2 claws and a bite attack--with reach, wings, a breath weapon, and a tail attack), along with some support on the ground. When he was almost dead, he tried to flee by flying away, but the party sorcerer tagged him with a Magic Missile that dropped him below 0, which then lead to his plummeting from the sky and dying when he crashed.
I think over the course of the battle, the players defeated upwards of 100 kobolds, and the players had a great time. I really appreciated the input from everyone!
Sounds like a smashing good time. Thanks for the update!
Take all of the set pieces put forth by Vicon (which are all awesome, by the way) and assign them a certain number of 'Victory Points' (let's say 10 apiece and there a 10 scenes [because you're going to have at least one of your own]) for a total of 100 possible Victory Points.
Then create a range and assign values (for example):
90 - 100: Kobold invasion is thwarted. Minor damage to outskirts of town.
80 - 89: Kobold invasion repulsed. Major damage to a very few key areas or wide-spread minor damage.
70 - 79: Kobold invasion halted. Town is currently besieged. Outlying sectors held by kobolds. A strikeforce (PC's) is needed to break the siege or to create a safety corridor through which citizens can abandon the city and safely escape.
60 - 69: Kobold invasion advancing. Fires rage out of control. Key areas are held by the kobolds. The town is either going to be razed or captured; it really just depends on the kobolds' mood. There's only a slim chance to escape. Who/what do you take with you as you run the gauntlet?
59 or less: Kobold invasion successful. The party is either locked in chains with everyone else (somewhat like Scourge of the Slave Lords) or looks upon the smoking ruin of the city from the hill outside of town.
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NG Colossal army of kobolds (warrior 1)
hp 33; ACR 6
DV 16; OM +6
Tactics dirty fighters
Special darkvision, light sensitivity
Speed 2; Consumption 3
I even made you some kobold heraldry for their shields (far left). :D
This is probably an unpopular idea: have you considered using the the Advanced Race Guide and reimaging your Kobolds?
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NG Colossal army of kobolds (warrior 1)
hp 33; ACR 6
DV 16; OM +6
Tactics dirty fighters
Special darkvision, light sensitivity
Speed 2; Consumption 3I even made you some kobold heraldry for their shields (far left). :D
The image contains and error.
Thanks for the link to mass combat--the kobold invasion has occurred already, but I'll definitely read up on this for the next big-scale battle I have planned (going to be a while), and it'll be useful when I try to assemble my campaign into publishable form.
Sounds like a smashing good time. Thanks for the update!
It was! And no problem! Figured I should come back and let folks who contributed know what the results were like. Still have to do that for the big dragon fight I posted about more recently...
Also, my friend, Kolokotroni on the boards, has terrain pieces--cardboard sections that can be connected to form buildings (even with stairs, doorways, and balconies, and interiors), and urban features--which we used for this to great effect. Kobolds that were above the party were actually on rooftops or balconies, characters could move indoors to ascend stairs, and everyone got a good sense of the visual aspect of confrontations on city streets and open market squares.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't let me go all the way toward providing immersion by setting things on fire... =(
This is probably an unpopular idea: have you considered using the the Advanced Race Guide and reimaging your Kobolds?
How do you mean?
Take all of the set pieces put forth by Vicon (which are all awesome, by the way) and assign them a certain number of 'Victory Points' (let's say 10 apiece and there a 10 scenes [because you're going to have at least one of your own]) for a total of 100 possible Victory Points.
Then create a range and assign values (for example):90 - 100: Kobold invasion is thwarted. Minor damage to outskirts of town.
80 - 89: Kobold invasion repulsed. Major damage to a very few key areas or wide-spread minor damage.
70 - 79: Kobold invasion halted. Town is currently besieged. Outlying sectors held by kobolds. A strikeforce (PC's) is needed to break the siege or to create a safety corridor through which citizens can abandon the city and safely escape.
60 - 69: Kobold invasion advancing. Fires rage out of control. Key areas are held by the kobolds. The town is either going to be razed or captured; it really just depends on the kobolds' mood. There's only a slim chance to escape. Who/what do you take with you as you run the gauntlet?
59 or less: Kobold invasion successful. The party is either locked in chains with everyone else (somewhat like Scourge of the Slave Lords) or looks upon the smoking ruin of the city from the hill outside of town.
A good idea! Incorporating all of the ideas would make for a rather protracted scene (with my group, probably 3-5 sessions), but that could be worth doing.
I had given the party caster a Ring of Sustenance specifically to make it reasonable for me to pit the players against an ongoing adventuring "day" involving a great deal of attrition. It kind of sucks to run out of spells and not be able to do anything, especially if you're looking at multiple encounters like that, and ESPECIALLY when it's the GM planning things that way, and not foolhardiness on the parts of the players.
So, when the PCs went to blow the floodgate in the sewers, the sorcerer took two hours to rest--kind of sucks having to miss a scene, but it also helped reinforce the scale of the conflict. For the alchemist, I just made sure to drop LOTS of alchemist's fires and acid flasks--not as potent as her bombs, but at level 4 and 5, not so much weaker that she was really hurting.
I think that, if I were to run this again, instead of having the scale you employ there, I'd scale it so the players have to complete about half of the objectives for a successful, if desolate, conclusion to the invasion for the PCs, perhaps assigning each scenario degrees of success in themselves, and offering choices the players can make between options, with some being worth more than others.
For example, Help Set-up Ballistas to work on repelling the kobolds attacking the city walls from outside, or Blow the Floodgate to flush the invaders entering through the sewers, where the first will have a smaller impact on the kobold forces, but will not cause collateral damage, while the second will be devastating to the kobolds, but also have a lot of fallout. So, maybe the siege weapons task is worth 5 points, and the flooding worth 8, if pulled off successfully, but then break them down further by attaching a time frame, or degrees of success with skill checks. Maybe the PCs get sidetracked too much by combat to get the weapons set-up in time to hamper a large portion of the army, or, as had happened when I ran this, the players can destroy the floodgates, causing damage to the sewage system, or find a way to get them open, then reclose them without damaging the gates.
This could be accomplished both through descriptions of advances the players notice, and on point guardsmen or commanders laying out tasks that they are trying to accomplish and giving the PCs a choice of which they wish to tackle.
I think it would be interesting for the players to ultimately fail to repel the invasion, especially since doing so doesn't actually dramatically alter the next portion of the adventure (as I have it written up), but DOES change their motivations. I think I may employ this later when it's time for some of the battles with the undead army--the PCs may be successful in their roles, but ultimately fail to prevent disaster, and have to then beat a hasty retreat, possibly trying to salvage something of the defeat in the process, or need to try and pick up the pieces afterward.