What should I tell my players when they say, "We'll gang up on this monster with about 50 of these level 4 paladins."
That will be about 50 Smite Evils which would then bypass Soltengrebbe's DR...
If you've passed this encounter, did any of your players think of this?
I think the way to work this may lie with the concept of DR/epic to rule that out. Also, there's a certain amount of give and take when swapping between mass combat and individual encounters. Soltengrebbe is a party set-piece encounter, not resolved through mass combat. My suggestion is to fit the encounter while in transition to a skirmish or as a extra encounter in a skirmish. I am actually planning to have my party encounter twice. A couple rounds as they emerge from the crypt encounter as a nice little 2-3 round preview then the "real encounter" when the army assaults the armies of Drezen. While the Paladin army fights the mass combat, the party encounters Soltengrebbe in their set piece encounter. It should be noted that I use an alternate statblock presented in the stat block thread so except for some crazy dice rolling, the encounter should be a nice wake-up call to the party about what lies ahead.
Paladin Smite Evil ignores ALL damage resistance. It has not been retconned that Epic DR ignores a Paladin's Smite.
The best method of working with Soltengrebbe is to have him attack right after the group is returning from one of their solo actions (like on the Bridge) and don't have the Paladin Army handy. Or right after a major battle so it's assumed the paladins used their Smite Evil for the day.
Paladin Smite Evil ignores ALL damage resistance. It has not been retconned that Epic DR ignores a Paladin's Smite.
The best method of working with Soltengrebbe is to have him attack right after the group is returning from one of their solo actions (like on the Bridge) and don't have the Paladin Army handy. Or right after a major battle so it's assumed the paladins used their Smite Evil for the day.
That's true but certainly that statement was made far before the thought of any Mythic rules were on the horizon, such is the life of an evolving game. I am not going to argue game mechanics as it was just a suggestion that it was something that could be put in play. Certainly, it would need to be made known to the players prior to that 1st mythic encounter. Best just not to mix the two systems into a single encounter concurrently
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I just straight up told my players that they cannot utilize the army in any encounter intended to be a party fight. It was only useful in mass combat. They complained about this quite a bit, but I made a ruling and enforced it. It probably was not the cleanest way to go about it but it was certainly the intent.
Soltengrebbe is supposed to be the PC's first mythic encounter. What better way to show the significance of the fight than to have the chimera essentially ignore any Smite Evil the paladins could throw out.
Your PCs should basically become Gandalf in Moria as he faced the Balrog. Telling everyone else to flee as this foe was beyond them.
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At least in this campaign, I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to make a ruling that says Smite Evil from a Non-Mythic source does not bypass DR/Epic. This would allow a Mythic Paladin's Smite Evil still bypass DR/Epic.
Whether or not that should be the case in all campaigns, I don't know yet as far as my table is concerned.
I think I'm going to houserule that smite evil from a non-mythic source doesn't bypass DR/Epic... That makes the most sense.
On another note, I was thinking of having Staunton cast bull's strength and protection from good on Soltengrebbe before he sends the creature out.
It should definitely be an interesting fight when it occurs.