I'm a relatively new GM, and need some ideas on how to create and run an encounter I had an idea for.
I have a party of 6 PCs, they'll all be level 1, and most of them are new players, although they're seasoned board gamers so are good at thinking strategically. They're on a fairly standard intro quest, and need to collect 5 McGuffins of Power from the Forest of Scary Stuff, which basically translates to 5 encounters in which I want to demonstrate the kind of things you can do in a Pathfinder game.
Here's the description of an encounter I want to run:
One of the McGuffins is tied up and hanging from the branches of a large tree in a particularly dark part of the forest (low-light). The ground around the tree is thick with mud, making the 50ft walk to the base of the tree a slog (difficult terrain). The party will need to traverse the clearing, and climb a short way up the tree (Climb DC10) to retrieve the McGuffin.
However, the clearing is not empty. It's crawling with dozens of massive insects: cockroaches and centipedes, crawling over one another, completely blocking any route to the tree.
A single, small patch of sunlight penetrates the forest canopy, and appears to be the only area that's bug-free; it seems they don't like the light.
There's a few ways I can see the party approaching this. Using torches or an item with Light cast on it will keep most of the cockroaches away, but the Giant Centipedes will still attack; this will allow them to cross the clearing, fighting off centipedes as they go, while one of them climbs the tree to recover the item. Or they might try climbing through the forest canopy, and while there's less bugs up there, it's certainly not free of infestation, and the light has less effect.
So, my questions...
- Is it even a good idea to throw an "endless horde" type encounter at a bunch of novice level 1s? I don't want to kill them, but I want to encourage creative solutions to the problem. I'll pull punches to prevent party deaths, although I want them to feel overwhelmed and desperate as they move towards the tree (think of that bit in King Kong).
- Giant Cockroaches and Giant Centipedes are both CR1/2. I'll probably aim to make this a CR3 encounter (with 6 PCs, that makes it a APL+1 encounter), assuming they use a light source to keep most of the bugs away. The guidelines state that I can throw 4 bugs at them (800XP encounter, monsters are 200XP each).
If I throw bugs at them in waves (2 centipedes in round 1, another in round 3, a centipede and a cockroach in round 4, etc), how does that affect the challenge rating? Is it a good idea to plan out waves like this? How many bugs can I realistically throw at them while still expecting them to be constantly moving towards their goal?
- If they take the canopy route, how would I handle fighting in the treetops? I thought something along the lines of a Climb check to keep their balance if they get hit, but how would I handle movement and positioning of the party while in the tree?
Beyond that, does anyone have any other suggestions for this encounter?
Thanks in advance for any help!
I suggest you to prepare your players in regard of the centipede poison. At level 1, nothing is an autosave and that dex damage is a problem. You could give them some Antitoxins, +5 to saves is good.
Torch handling isn't a problem, as players could drop (or launch!) torches to keep away whatever isn't needed to be killed. The arcane caster should have a free hand for those torches.
For the fight, given the enemies and the players, I don't expect them to be minmaxing nightmares so an insect is going to be dropped down in 2-3 rounds (this is assuming 1 vs 1 fights), but it will depend on luck. Good tactics can mean instakills (expect enlarged melee combatants and flanking rogues, they can deal 2 dices of damage and together with a decent static bonus to damage it isn't hard to deal 9 damage). Take a moment to choose the position of your insects, as this can make a difference (looking at the squishy wizard and at the unprepared archer). If you throw things by using waves it will become very easy, as 1 vs 6 is not a threat.
The tree: you can add a 3rd dimension, applying bonus and malus depending on the position, and a different cost for movement.
CR system is overrated. If your fighter is clean from damage after a fight and he has not used any of his resource, he is not mechanically different than before. If during the fight it happens to become too easy, add stuff or apply smarter tactics, since it won't be funny. If they are in trouble, have some of the insect run away for the light. You are God, and you are looking at that event, so you can change whatever it happens.
Excellent, thanks for the advice.
I was planning to put some potions to remove poison somewhere, but the Antitoxins might be better, it'd require some planning and give them a use for Knowledge Nature.
As for light, the party's favourite trick seems to be having the cleric cast Light on an object, and then have the wizard use Mage Hand to levitate it above them. Obviously that's not so good in combat, but I can foresee the wizard throwing lit objects all around to clear them some space.
I'll probably start the encounter with 2 centipedes, and then add more of them and some cockroaches as and when I think is best for the drama. I kinda want the number of attackers to steadily increase, so that they have a sense of urgency to grab the mcguffin and get out as fast as possible. Plus once they're in the swarm, they can be attacked from any angle, so I can definitely pick on the vulnerable PCs if I'm feeling mean. ;)
Thanks again for the help. I'd appreciate any more input anyone has, though!