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Hello! Looking for a little advice/input. I have a group of 6 PCs who I absolutely must present multiple targets for. They slaughter any single opponent, hands down, no discussion. So I find myself needing to present them with multiple enemies ( at LEAST 2) per encounter.
They've already completed Part One, and are taking some downtime before setting off for Runeforge.
I'm looking to make a running list of creatures/npcs I can add to existing encounters in the name of action economics.
Freezemaw I plan to throw in some younger white dragons, no big issue there.
Some of the named NPCs in Runeforge however, I need input for:
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Ordikin (mithral mage in Vault of Greed) - ??
Zuvuveg (Nalfeshnee demon in same area) - ??
Jordinmandus (Conjurer in Festering Maze) - ??
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Not looking for someone to build followers from the ground up, just wanting input on how to improve these encounters without just slapping HP and templates everywhere.
Actually with Freezemaw, give him a group of Yetis that worship him. So rather than two or three foes, the PCs have a horde of Yetis to absorb attacks. ;)
Zuvuveg should summon something to help him. The Conjurer definitely can do that as well... I'm not sure about the others, but if they can cast Summon Monster spells, have them do so.
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Oh my goodness I LOVE the Yeti idea. Definitely using that one!
Zuv/Conjurer: Yeah. Those just take so long, and with my group, no one gets a free round to just sit around casting a spell. With creatures who
rely on summoning I just automatically give them the surprise round just to be fair to the creature(s).
You could give him one Mythic Tier and the Summoning Mastery ability so his Summoning spells are regular actions instead of full-round castings.
I hesitate on suggesting undead for the Lich and crew as most parties include a cleric and unless you have high-powered undead (or rule that until the Negative Energy infusing the place goes away that Channel Positive Energy just doesn't work) all you've done is create a pile of XPs that are eliminated with one channeling.
Freezemaw:
Tangents Yeti tribe idea is awesome, go with that. But I would be real evil and give them each a barbarian level or two. Or if you don't want to do that much work either the advanced or giant template could be interesting.
Ordikon:
Give him an iron golem bodyguard that is always with him. Or a couple stone golems if you want more bodies.
Zuvuveg:
Summons demons, easy enough. If he knows the pcs are coming (they are noisy, whatever) have him go first in the initiative automatically and use the summon ability. If you think he will still be too weak give the advanced template.
You could also add a trap to the room. Say a symbol of sleep or stunning on the inside of the door frame above the door so they have little to no chance to notice it and blunder into it on the way in.
Jordimandus:
Well his imp is supposed to be patrolling invisibly so if he notices the pc's he goes to warn him. There is only one way into his room so as the soon as the doors open he goes first on the initiative order and leads off with his best summon spell spell.
Besides this tactic you could give him an omox demon servant, and for fun give the demon the giant template.
Azaven the lich:
This guy is certainly going to know the pcs are coming (telpathic connection to his servant, etc.), so he wins initiative automatically and throws out his devourer as listed. the adventure also says that if he needs to he casts stone shape on the wall to release like 1D6 wraiths or something like that, so have that be the second thing he does and target it behind the pcs to pincer them between the wraiths and devourer.
I don't think you will need to add anything here, his finger of death (or two) is likely going to wipe someone out from the get go with that DC listed but if you feel you do need to add something give him three or four clay golems as an entourage.
Festering Maze
Wandering oozes. Enough said.
The Shimmering Veils
Who's to say a simulacrum or two don't randomly wander the rest of Runeforge, seeking out others' stuff, even appearing as a NPC to the players? You could even have a group of them going to the Cages of Lust to request a temporary truce for their master.
The Halls of Wrath
Wandering sinspawn venturing out to the other halls.
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Update: Did the Yeti idea, worked fantastically. ended up giving them two levels of Fighter and Barbarian. With four of them it came up to roughly the equiv of a +1 CR.
Also, at the last minute I came upon a devilish idea: Freezemaw has Invis quite a few times per day...so he cast it on ALL of them, and dropped all four right on top of the PCs while invisible. They hear/feel THUMPs all around them, then suddenly there's Yetis appearing out of nowhere and a dragon hitting them with ice breath. Was good times; Shout out again to Tangent for the awesome idea!
Thanks for the other ideas everybody; they're just now getting into Runeforge, and will have quite a few more surprises waiting for them than they would otherwise. :)