So... my group took on Ft. Rannick this week and finished off everything but Lucrecia. In fact, they took down Pappy Jarg without him even being able to swing an actual Melee swing (he bull rushed the Wildshaped druid and three others into a corner, then promptly got entangled, grappled, and generally shredded in two rounds by some very angry crits.) The encounter overall was a win however, as the group was completely spent and greatly enjoyed the way it turned out. And yet... the next night will begin with the group searching the fort and more than likely coming across Lucrecia downstairs. This seems like a somewhat lame way to introduce her to be honest. I am thinking of alternitive ways to handle this encounter, and perhaps you guys can offer some advice or ideas.
So the group expanded from three players to six last week, so I decided to have the extra NPCs wait outside the keep (resting and healing). Currently I have Shalaelu, Jakardros, and Kaven out there. I am thinking of having Lucrecia attempt to sneak away from the keep and discover the NPCs camped out in front of the keep. She can then take them hostage perhaps and somehow use them to make the fight more dificult on the PCs. Perhaps she uses charm monster on Jakandros and Shalalu and forces them and Kaven to attack the group? This could make for a much more interesting encounter. What do you guys think?
Nah. Have Lucrecia seek out the PCs... with several summoned critters. Thus it's not a lone monster facing them, but rather a final encounter that will tax the players. (Don't forget that the summons will have a fairly limited lifespan so they may very well start vanishing within a couple rounds of combat.) You'd probably want to switch out Hold Person for Monster Summoning II in that case (and her summons would last a total of 8 rounds so assuming four summons, the first would last only two rounds - assuming four rounds of casting and two rounds to enter the room with the PCs and attack).
Alternatively you could give her a Sorcerer-made Wand of Monster Summoning IV with 10 charges (lasts for 8 rounds due to the Sorcerer level needed for level 4 spells) and keep her spells the same.
By allowing Lucrecia to be in the Keep and confront the PCs, it becomes the climatic conclusion of the fight. Giving her minions lets her increase her survivability. And she can always Dimension Door out at the end and become a recurring villainess.
I agree. Don't let the PCs find her--let her attack them on her terms.
As alternative, let her approach the PCs in human form (via her shape change SQ) in rag-tag, torn clothes, pleading them to rescue her from this terrible place and ask them to escort her to safety/civilisation (Magnimar?) springing her attack/ambush later (see tangent's post).
Ruyan.
I was thinking more along the lines of having the PCs, thoroughly spent and exhausted, be approached by Kaven who tells them that he and the others found a prisoner downstairs. He tells them a quick story that she is a noble woman from Korvosa (or some such) and that she knows where the ogres are hiding all of their loot. He then guides them out into the courtyard in front of the keep proper and introduces all of them to Lady Lucreczia. In the mean time she has charmed Vale, Shalaelu, and Jakandros with Charm Monster. She taunts the PCs and reveals a few things to them (Kavens involvement in the plot and a little hint about Mokmurian). Then I will have her appeal to their Greed and offer them riches beyond their dreams if they will serve her. When that fails she will Dimension door to the top of the keep wall and create a major image of herself casting a spell to collapse the entrance to the keep, baring them from reaching her by ground. Four rangers are then encouraged (via opposed charisma checks, to either kill Kaven, or to defend her from the PCs, while she rains down spells from above (I think I will use the Summon Monster wand advice, although I may bump it up to 3 or even 4 since I am running a group of six players who seem to be fairly beefy.) After 5 or 6 rounds of Summoning / spellcasting from above she will Dimension Door back down to the group and begin to tear into them melee style with her daggers. Then once things get out of hand, she tries to Dimension door back up to the top of the wall and taunts/threatens them, perhaps casts another spell or 2, and them uses her last casting of Dimension Door to get safely back to Mokmurian.
What do you guys think?
Brilliant. I'd run it that way!
I like it when the big bad comes along as damsel in distress and hits the do-goodders double.
Nitpick: Dimension door will not get her back to Mok. Just give her a scroll of teleport.
Ruyan.
not to derail the thread but i have heard mention of Monsters using Charm Monster on People elsewhere as well, wouldn't they have to use Charm Person? this has confused me a little for awhile now but never enough that i remembered when I'm around my CRB (such as now:)
Charm Monster
School enchantment (charm) [mind-affecting]; Level bard 3, sorcerer/wizard 4
Target one living creature
Duration 1 day/level
This spell functions like charm person, except that the effect is not restricted by creature type or size.
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No... Charm monster is simply a charm person spell without the target restrictions built into the lower level one. Oh and it is a higher level spell with a higher level save DC... mwahahahahahaha. And... as it happens... a spell that Lucrezia is able to cast At Will!
Ok... Now I need to plan out what monsters she will summon. At one point I had a list of all possible choices for Summon Monster at each level. Does anyone have a comprehensive list, preferably including the new Bestiary 4 stuff?
You could go for a hellhound, or for multiple dretches (1d3 each try). Or for that matter, 1d4+1 lemures.
unfortunately I think that those choices would be woefully underpowered against my group. I may have to DM Fiat something a little stronger. I am thinking... perhaps a Gibering Mouther and a couple of Babu, or a Vrok. The Vrock might be overkill... I have six players with a decent amount of combat ability. Even drained they managed, through a string of crits, to destroy Ole Pappy Jargrath in three rounds... and that was with the Barbarian sitting on the sidelines exhausted. The Combat Casters are mostly tapped, but still have wands. The rogue is always a threat if he can get a flanking position (which he almost always can), and the Druid is running full feral mode in Dire Lion form and still has some spells up her sleeve (including 2x call lightning and 4 uses of the lightning lord domain ability... and naturally it is quite stormy out). And to top it off... the pally still has at least one smite, and his sword bond to use. Perhaps I should do Two Vrock... covered in dynamite.
In that case you'd need to give her a Staff of Summoning... or Scrolls of Summoning. The Staff would give you Monster Summoning VI which would allow 1d3 Babau per summons. Unless you want to handwave the level limitation for wands and claim that Thassilonian wands could include higher level spells than normal wands.
I'd gotten around that with Xanesha by giving her several Sorcerer levels, so if you add two levels to Lucrencia you could easily have her provide her own summoning without use of magic items.
Personally I'm not only going to make Lucrecia a higher level sorceress but also toss in some Mythic as well. But that's because my group is large, high-rolls for stats, and also just got their first Mythic Tier. ;) (I'm getting around the stat issue by not having them get stat bonuses for the even Mythic Tiers.) (Though the Cohorts are non-Mythic so they won't be as big a threat.)
Interesting idea with the staff. However, I think what I am going to do is just DM Fiat a Thasalonian magical item. A Lantern of the Abyss. It is a one time use item that can serve as a temporary repository for summoned creatures. When shattered against the ground, it releases them as if they were summoned immediately. That way the PCs wont have an item that might unbalance things later on, and yet I can still provide them this challenge.
I will just say that Lucrecia has been pumping any scrolls of summoning that she can find into it.
Well I have to admit, I have a large party of 11, and they were rolling through Ogres way to easily, so I had added some Hill Giants to the mix. The party had come in through the waterfall, and then via the first door out of the caverns and into the courtyard.
They quickly took out all the Ogres and Hill Giants in the courtyard, and were in a position where they held it with Ogres and H Giants on the walls. Right about the time they were finishing off those opponents I had Lucrecia enter the scene from the same door they had used. She was able to put some hurt on the party with fireballs before gating out. It all went pretty well, and made for a very cautious party as they explored the Fort.