My guys are one or two sessions away from finishing Chapter 3 of the Shattered Star AP. On the journey back to Magnimar I plan on using Tarondor's suggestion of an "enemy group" from THIS THREAD.
The enemy group will consist of a very young blue dragon (CR 7) , a Brawler because I love that class. My question is what 1 or 2 other enemy combatants would be helpful to be play tested.
The party consists of 5 PCs, all 10th level. Not super optimized but reasonably so. They have max hit points (house rule) and good gear.
Dwarven Fighter (brother of the bard)
Dwarven Bard (yea, but it works quite well!)
Human Fighter
Human Sorcerer (aberrant bloodline)
Catfolk Oracle
I am thinking that the enemies should be the CR 7 dragon, a CR 7 (8?) Brawler and 1 or 2 CR 7 (8?) ???
Any suggestions for the other two?
-- david
Can you post a sample of their preferred fighting tactics? That would help in determining what you may want to put against them.
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Since you've got a dragon there already, draconic bloodrager seems like an easy pick. I've heard good things about the arcanist and shaman as enemy casters as well.
I'd do bloodrager and shaman, personally. The shaman seems like it'd be great for a follower of Tarondor's boss, probably with Air and Heavens spirits.
As for what needs testing, I don't recall seeing any mid-level NPC testing yet, so I'd say just go with the theme.
Unless the party is in very bad shape for some reason, I'd push the enemy group to CR 8 or 9 each. With five PCs, one average level + 3 fight in a day should be scary, but not fatal. If you don't also give enemies maximum hit points, I'd consider pushing it even higher.
Cheers!
Landon
Can you post a sample of their preferred fighting tactics? That would help in determining what you may want to put against them.
Dwarf fighter - he rushes up and whacks on stuff.
Human fighter - she is more thoughtful, using bow if possible, otherwise whacks on stuff.Dwarf bard (archeologist) - so no performance boosts, but he will use the image power from the first shard as well as a few spells and/or his crossbow.
Human sorcerer - scorching ray first, then other spells.
Catfolk oracle (life) - in combat healing support, or other buff spells mostly. Occasionally moves up and misses with his light mace. (heh).
-- david
Since you've got a dragon there already, draconic bloodrager seems like an easy pick. I've heard good things about the arcanist and shaman as enemy casters as well.
I'd do bloodrager and shaman, personally. The shaman seems like it'd be great for a follower of Tarondor's boss, probably with Air and Heavens spirits.
As for what needs testing, I don't recall seeing any mid-level NPC testing yet, so I'd say just go with the theme.
Unless the party is in very bad shape for some reason, I'd push the enemy group to CR 8 or 9 each. With five PCs, one average level + 3 fight in a day should be scary, but not fatal. If you don't also give enemies maximum hit points, I'd consider pushing it even higher.
Cheers!
Landon
Hmmm... CR7 dragon, CR8 Brawler / Bloodrager (draconic/blue) / Shaman (air / heavens).
Brawler & Bloodrager run up and whack. Shaman casts spells / hex, and Dragon breathes then closes.
Could be quite interesting. Thanks for the suggestions. What about an Arcanist instead of Shaman (or maybe instead of Bloodrager, and only Brawler and Dragon close)?
-- david
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Hmmm... CR7 dragon, CR8 Brawler / Bloodrager (draconic/blue) / Shaman (air / heavens).
Brawler & Bloodrager run up and whack. Shaman casts spells / hex, and Dragon breathes then closes.
Could be quite interesting. Thanks for the suggestions. What about an Arcanist instead of Shaman (or maybe instead of Bloodrager, and only Brawler and Dragon close)?
-- david
I'd lean towards only one full caster, but if you can run two, plus a dragon and another PC-level combatant without it getting bogged down... that speaks very well towards the GM-friendliness of these classes.
The arcanist does have two points in its favor: throwing around lightning bolts in a combat with a blue dragon is hilarious and the arcanist can have something like dimension door or teleport to slip away. I'd probably go for the arcanist if you want more damage up front or the shaman if you want the battle to last longer and everyone to show their stuff.
If you use the dragon as a front-line fighter, having just the brawler and two casters is probably fine strategically. In that case, I'd probably up the dragon to Young to make it larger and more threatening.
I'd consider using it as a skirmisher, though. With a brawler and bloodrager (or two brawlers or whatever), the party's fighters can be kept occupied while the dragon flies over and hits the back ranks.
The last weird option would be giving the dragon some levels of arcanist. It can stay out of range and be a jerk while its minions engage, then make a clean get away if the battle turns against it.
On an unrelated note, remember that blue dragons have a burrow speed. Nothing quite like a dragon bursting out from under your feet to start combat with a bang.
Cheers!
Landon
As for the other two opponents to round out I'd say an archery focused Slayer and will second the idea of a draconic Bloodrager seem fitting.