Hi all
I´m DMing the STAP and I have some questions, I hope you can help me:
- about the "constrict" ability: if you look in the MM it says that a creature with improved grab and constrict deals damage equal to the natural weapon used to start the grapple plus constrict damage on a succesful grapple check. so, if I use the Lemorian Golem, on a succesful grapple it deals A) 1d8+8+1d8+12 B) 1d8+1d8+12 Wich one is correct?
- A new player has joined the party, now there are 5 PC´s: half-orc warblade (wants to become bloodclaw master), dwarf warblade (wants to become deepstone sentinel), elf cleric/mage (wtb mystic theurge), human crusader (wtb ruby knight vindicator) and a changeling ninja (wtb the pirate PRC in complete adventurer).
I want to up the CR´s, but I´m not sure how much. 1 point? maybe 2?
- I want to include the Jarilith demon (MM2) in the Isle of Dread, or maybe in Demogorgon´s realm. They are cool and the jungle offers a good opportunity to use them. Any advice on this?
thanks!
A creature with Improved Grab and Constrict can do both its slam attack and constrict damage on the initial round that it successfully grapples an opponent after it hits. Thereafter it only deals constrict damage each round that it maintains a grapple unless the creature's description says otherwise.
If you have a larger group, my suggestion is to add 1 or 2 more creatures of the same type to each encounter. For traps, check out pg. 74 of the DMG for ways to alter the CRs. I would suggest only increasing them by 1 if necessary. You increase the CR by 1 automatically if you alter a trap so that it effects multiple targets - a nice way to include more PCs in the "fun" for a larger group.
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The Jarilith demon will get its chance to shine in the adventure path soon enough. I'd recommend against putting them into the adventure before they're scheduled to show up in the campaign though, just to preserve the surprise.
As for increasing difficulty for larger parties, it is indeed generally better to just add more monsters rather than increase monster CRs. The main advantage a bigger party has over the monsters is numbers, but their individual strengths and weaknesses don't increase, no matter how many PCs you have. Swapping out higher CR monsters (or advancing monsters or giving them class levels) can quickly create overpowering monsters for even large groups of lower level PCs. A 7th-level wizard might be a good challenge for a 6th-level party, but if you bump that wizard up to 9th level against a 6 person party of 6th-level characters, cloudkill suddenly becomes a TPK. Likewise, while a 16 HD giant constrictor snake (CR 6) is a pretty good encounter for a group of 4 6th-level PCs, if you go crazy and give that snake the half-fiend template (which deceptively only raises his CR to 9), you've suddenly got a monster that can probably take out a group of 10 6th-level PCs with one blasphemy spell-like ability.
And in closing, yeah; the constrict ability sometimes deals different damage than the natural weapon used to start the grapple (this is a fairly common exception to the rule, often given to monsters that are particularly strong at constricting foes). The Lemorian golem's tentacle attack inflicts 1d8+8 on its initial hit, and then if it establishes a hold, the constriction damage is 1d8+12, for a total of 2d8+20 points of damage in all.
thanks for the answers!
So the jarilith appears in the AP.... good, good. I think is a pretty nasty monster, with so many (and powerful!) attacks. Sure my party is going to have a tough time dealing with it.
Concerning the difficulty increase, I personally don´t want to add more critters because it makes combat last forever, and the added monters doesn´t make the encounter more challenging. If you can´t hit a hero with one monster, it doesn´t matter if you have two... This is my experience. Also my PC´s are slightly more powerful than your average hero, I let them have one 18 and 16 substitute their two lowest rolls (we use the roll 4d6, drop the lowest mechanic) because I don´t like crappy rolls.
As for the constriction, I see I was right about it. Thanks for the clarification, Mr. Jacobs.
I gotta question anyone figure the Party makeup for the Illistrations in Dungeon looks like a Dwarf Fighter, a Monk, a Druid and . . . Im not sure about the cute Blonde Magic user is she a Wizard or a Sorcerer she might be a Warlok.
I gotta question anyone figure the Party makeup for the Illistrations in Dungeon looks like a Dwarf Fighter, a Monk, a Druid and . . . Im not sure about the cute Blonde Magic user is she a Wizard or a Sorcerer she might be a Warlok.
Check out the following thread:
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dungeon/generalDiscussion/doTheIconics FromDungeonHaveNamesIn short, the ST artwork party consists of dwarf barbarian, elf druid, human monk, and human wizard. Previous characters shown in dungeon artwork are: elf (drow) bard, half-elf rogue, human cleric (Wee Jas), human paladin, human ranger, human sorcerer, and tiefling fighter.