Hello, and thanks for stopping in to help.
I've been planning a home campaign for about a year now, and im finally ready to start and have gathered my players, who are now ready to start as well, but as i go over the first mission less than 2 weeks before the start of the campaign (august 2) im starting to have some worries about it being too hard for them...
the premise of the campaign is to make some kind of lasting change in Galt for the better, the early missions are much more structured than the later ones, and we'll see how it all goes, but for now im concerned with the first meeting. the pc's start off in the grand city of Absalom, in a bar where they have been summoned by mysterious letters [from the dm] they are notified that they have unlimited stores of money to achieve their goal, but that they will be watched to ensure that it is used for the correct means, and not for personal desires, and told that before he will fully open his coffers to them they must prove themselves and retrieve one of the Final Blades artifacts of great power. (if you dont know what the final blades are they're guillotine blades that permanently kill a person, and their victims can not be raised from the dead as skeletons, or returned to life through anything, even wish.) so they go on a short wild goose chase that leads them eventually to a large cave system. they fight through a handful of ghosts and devils with the assistance of the BBEG who uses the time to observe their powers and get to know them under a clever ruse. his tactics are then to remove his disguise at a favorable time and reveal to the party that he is the true guardian of the final blades, and a fight ensues.
this is his stat block:
Adrammelech
CR 9 XP 6,400 Male Fiendish Advanced Devil-Spawn Tiefling
Fighter 5/Inquisitor 3
LE Medium outsider (native)
Init +8;
Senses darkvision 60 ft.;
Perception +16
-------------------- Defense --------------------
AC 28, touch 13, flat-footed 25 (+10 armor, +3 Dex, +5 natural) hp 98
(5d10+3d8+53); fast healing 2 Fort +12, Ref +5, Will +9 (+1 vs. fear)
Defensive Abilities bravery +1; DR 5/good; Resist cold 10, electricity 5, fire 10; SR 14
-------------------- Offense --------------------
Speed 30 ft. Melee +2 flaming impact heavy mace +16/+11 (2d6+17 plus 1d6 fire) Special Attacks smite good, weapon trainings (hammers +1)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th; concentration +9) At will— detect alignment Inquisitor Spells Known (CL 3rd; concentration +8): 1st (5/day)—cause fear (DC 16), compel hostility UC, disguise self , wrathAPG 0 (at will)— acid splash, brandAPG (DC 15), detect magic, guidance, read magic , resistance Domains Devil (Evil), Devil (Law), Evil
-------------------- Statistics --------------------
Str 18, Dex 16, Con 21, Int 18, Wis 20, Cha 12 Base Atk +7; CMB +12 (+14 bull rush); CMD 24 Feats Armor of the Pit ARG, Back to Back UC, Improved Natural Armor, Intimidating Prowess, Toughness, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (heavy mace), Weapon Specialization (heavy mace) Skills Bluff +12, Diplomacy +10, Disguise +12, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +11, Knowledge (planes) +11, Knowledge (religion) +11, Perception +16, Sense Motive +18, Spellcraft +12 Languages Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Infernal SQ armor training 1, cunning initiative, hell's corruption, judgement 1/day, monster lore +5, solo tactics, stern gaze, track +1 Other Gear +4 dastard breastplate , +2 flaming impact heavy mace
-------------------- TRACKED RESOURCES --------------------
Hell's Corruption (1 rounds, 8/day) (Su) - 0/8 Judgement (1/day) (Su) - 0/1 Smite Good (1/day) (Su) - 0/1 Teamwork Feat (change 5/day) - 0/5
----------------- Special Abilities --------------------
Armor Spikes
You can manipulate any armor, gauntlets, or shield you wield, causing them to grow spikes. These spikes last only as long as you wear your armor.
Back to Back +2 to AC vs flanking foes if adj to ally with this feat.
Bravery +1 (Ex) +1 to Will save vs. Fear
Damage Reduction (5/good) You have Damage Reduction against all except Good attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Detect Alignment (At will) (Sp) Detect chaos, evil, good, or law at will.
Devil Energy Resistance, Cold (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Energy Resistance, Electricity (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Electricity attacks. Energy Resistance, Fire (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Fast Healing 2 (Ex) Heal damage every round unless you are killed. Hell's Corruption (1 rounds, 8/day) (Su) Touch attack inflicts -2 save vs. your spells and take the worse of 2 rolls for skill checks.
Judgement (1/day) (Su) Variable bonuses increase as the combat continues. Monster Lore +5 (Ex) +5 to Knowledge checks when identifying the weaknessess of creatures. Smite Good (1/day) (Su) +1 to hit, +8 to damage when used.
Solo Tactics (Ex) Count Teamwork feats as if your allies had the same ones.
Spell Resistance (14) You have Spell Resistance.
Spiky Skin Your skin is spiky. Any creature that attempts to grapple you takes 1d4 points of damage.
Track +1 Add the listed bonus to survival checks made to track.
Vital Strike Standard action: x2 weapon damage dice.
Weapon Training (Hammers) +1 (Ex) +1 Attack, Damage, CMB, CMD with Hammers
im worried that he's a bit too potent. the party is 7 members at level 5 and they all start with around 35k worth of items, so its 7 on 1, and as long as they work together they SHOULD be fine, but man my beastie is strong. of course he doesnt kill them unless they get critted or something, but he's got several rounds to study them and learn how they fight and what they do... i dont want to kill them right off the bat, although they'd get free raise deads and such... they're supposed to succeed you know?
I would say it depends on how many encounters (and how rough they turn out to be) before they get to the bbeg. Normally I would just say that 7 on 1 is going to be anticlimactic, but it really depends on how beat up they are by the time they get to the big bad.
7 level 5 PC's is APL 7? So this is only +2 CR over that. You might consider taking the big bad down a bit and giving it some assistance in the form of leftover minions. Keep the overall CR the same but give you more, smaller actions that can impact more of the PCs. Good luck!
I would say it depends on how many encounters (and how rough they turn out to be) before they get to the bbeg. Normally I would just say that 7 on 1 is going to be anticlimactic, but it really depends on how beat up they are by the time they get to the big bad.
7 level 5 PC's is APL 7? So this is only +2 CR over that. You might consider taking the big bad down a bit and giving it some assistance in the form of leftover minions. Keep the overall CR the same but give you more, smaller actions that can impact more of the PCs. Good luck!
bumping
if the party looks like they are losing then fudge ...... DMs job sorta
well joe this isnt an end-boss or anything like that, its a random minion of hell set to guard this area by a wizard too lazy to do it himself. just happens to be that he might end up being WAY too strong for the party, or conversely way too weak. i need to have a set statblock for him so that i dont seem to be making it up as i go, however i cant tell until it actually happens how hard they're gonna hit him. he could die in one round, or he could survive 20 rounds and beat them to a pulp, it all depends on the dice. i know they have the damage to take him, what i dont know is if they'll be able to do it before he kills them, its a very fine line i have to ride and i was more hoping people would be able to say "yes, thats too potent, tune him down." or "no, you should be ok! wreck the efreeti blooded ifrit sorc in the first round or he's gonna die too fast." (my party is currently a switch-hitter ranger, two rogues, a bard, a sorc, a high ac high to hit fighter, and an unannounced maybe divine maybe martial guaranteed to be well built 7th member.)
bump