Hello! My group is just about to make its approach to Rimeskull in Sins of the Saviors, and then to the Sihedron circle, and I wanted to get some insight and advice on the encounter that is Arkrhyst! I am noticing there is not a lot of discussions in regards to how other DM’s ran this encounter other than obituaries. However, I see others have reported it was a mere hiccup of an encounter.
My current group I am running made Longtooth look like the young dragon that he was and almost made him seem laughable (partially my fault I am sure, but also Longtooth was a smaller portion of the larger encounter). But as an old school player… I truly feel a Dragon should be a very scary encounter! Thus, the reason I seek your advice on how to make this encounter one that can be memorable.
So my question is this. How did you, or how would you run the encounter. Would the fight start outside and work its way into the Runeforge, or the whole encounter at the Sihedron circle.. etc? Was it a cake walk, or TPK? What would you have changed or repeated? What tactics and combat strategies did you find worked best for your group? Any role-play of note?
Ps. while every group is different, I am going to go into the combat with the Dragon having no ideas on the foes he will be encountering… other than they are brave enough or foolish enough to be at Rimeskull and they should pay dearly for coming so close.
Hello! My group is just about to make its approach to Rimeskull in Sins of the Saviors, and then to the Sihedron circle, and I wanted to get some insight and advice on the encounter that is Arkrhyst! I am noticing there is not a lot of discussions in regards to how other DM’s ran this encounter other than obituaries. However, I see others have reported it was a mere hiccup of an encounter.
My current group I am running made Longtooth look like the young dragon that he was and almost made him seem laughable (partially my fault I am sure, but also Longtooth was a smaller portion of the larger encounter). But as an old school player… I truly feel a Dragon should be a very scary encounter! Thus, the reason I seek your advice on how to make this encounter one that can be memorable.
So my question is this. How did you, or how would you run the encounter. Would the fight start outside and work its way into the Runeforge, or the whole encounter at the Sihedron circle.. etc? Was it a cake walk, or TPK? What would you have changed or repeated? What tactics and combat strategies did you find worked best for your group? Any role-play of note?
Ps. while every group is different, I am going to go into the combat with the Dragon having no ideas on the foes he will be encountering… other than they are brave enough or foolish enough to be at Rimeskull and they should pay dearly for coming so close.
First thought it that Dragons should use their (theoretical) superior maneuverability and not subject themselves to any more attacks than necessary. Secondly, they should make extensive use of their magic, both before and during encounters - the dragon is in no hurry, he's lived for hundreds of years if not thousands, and will have no problem peeling back and planning a new assault, possibly waiting until buffs or effects timed out. He'll know that armored types want him on the ground, that casters are the biggest threat an so on.
Got an archer? Snatch him up, fly hundreds of feet up into the air and drop him.
Got a wizard? Snatch him up and chew on him for a while, then circle back.
Got melee types? Use Walls of Ice to separate them from one another and soften them up with spells and breath attacks from afar. Getting around Walls of Ice while you're stuck in a blizzard (4 squares of movement to move one) can be a nightmare.
The most important thing is to know what you can do and to have all of those abilities at the ready.
Invisibility to spy on the PC's from above.
Buff up with Resist Fire, Shield and Displacement.
Blizzard + Snow Vision to deal with Ranged types.
Freezing Fog + Cold Aura + Ice Walking for anyone who wants to close.
Crush on squishies.
Frightful Presence on low Will characters.
Most of all, have fun with it. You're a DRAGON!
I managed to have him do something different each and every round of the three encounters my players needed to finish him.
First time, he opened things up by literally falling on them. The PCs were clustered, so he flew over them and simply fell. Yes, falling damage applied to him, but it also seemed reasonable to apply that to each of the PCs he fell on.
Then he used dimension door to not be there anymore.
He came back once and used his breath weapon. He disarmed the party's barbarian (no, he doesn't have the feat, yes, he has a massive AC that makes it highly likely he can pull this off), then flew away with the weapon. He used a few domes from wall of ice to isolate party members while he mashed others. He used invisibility along with lightning bolt to educate the PCs that their clever resist energy cold was a wasted resource in the second fight.
In short, I played him as the super-intelligent apex-predator that he was. He deliberately never used the breath weapon after the first encounter because the party knew about it. He knew that, so he assumed they would plan around it, and he found other things to do that they wouldn't be prepared for.
Every round, every encounter, a smart dragon should be ahead of (most) PCs. It should be observing the party's abilities and tactics, exposing itself very little. Its methods should evolve to incorporate the party's habits, and only slowly reveal the dragon's own capabilities.
It is difficult to think this way, but it's relatively rare a DM gets to play an apex predator. Yes, Arkrhyst only has Int 16, but he's a dragon that's nearly a thousand years old. You simply can't play him the same way you'd play a troll or orc or zombie.
Those are some great ideas. I agree with both of you, Arkrhyst should be treated 100% as highly evolved Apex predator that has way to much time on his hands...he should take some time to enjoy playing with his food.
I also like the tactics you've mentioned. The blizzard effects to stop the line of site. I had almost overlooked that strategy. The frozen fog combined with the breath weapon can also should be pretty brutal. It should force the group to scatter, and he can keep them that way by walling them off. Divide and conquer tactics after that, grabbing a member off to drop far away and high, or taking away a valuable weapon via his improved sunder or disarm. This would surely humiliate any warrior.
So I am starting to planning him with the mind set that he knows his lair is a entry way of some great powerful importance (the Frozen Cathedral), but is amazingly curious as to what it exactly is. His attempts to enter have not succeeded due to lack of understanding the puzzle, that is the Sihedron Circle. He has not given up, but has simply taken some downtime to ponder the solution as he has lots of time to waste. His lair was placed here as his way to ensure all whom plan to enter must go through him first! If they can even hint at the solution for him, his wait is worth it. Surely no one "can best" him in combat, so he will eventually get into the Runeforge, riddle solved. With that said, to him, the party is just a pawn (until they take his treasure, at that point it would be revenge). So even if they escape and leave Rimeskull, it would buy him all the time he needs to enter the Runeforge. If they drop his health, he simply heals up and enters the Runeforge after them and can't wait to get a chance to catch them coming out of the halls to get his items back.
So any brave enough to approach Rimeskull, obviously get a chance to try and solve the puzzle before he attacks. He kept stumbling on the Necromancer spell line (Does not appear he has any necromancy spells). As soon as they trigger Zutha... Mentally feeling bested by the groups insight in solving what he could not. His ego would play a big part. Trying to show off, he would treat the conquest as almost like a game of cat and mouse.
I will admit I am confused with Arkrhyst tactics in the ROTRL AE, it states that he likes to grab players and breath on them and drop them. While it sounds like a great tactic. He does not have the snatch feet, nor does it list any attack with Grab. Also the Fly By Grab thing has some lengthy debates on the mechanics of it. While I do not mind just house ruling some items, it just does not seem the tactics match the build. Am I missing something here?
I love his answer to flying foes... a simple gust of wind.
I don't think you're missing anything. Technically with a grapple you can move someone, but at a -20 penalty, which I don't think he's likely to pull off. It's cinematic but mechanically very difficult.
Just noticed that in the erratic that the Arkrhyst is listed. Suggestion was to swap Sunder for Snatch feat which makes the Fly By Grab tactic a lot more practical. Just wanted to pass this one.
Should be a fun fight.