First, I am a player on the Kingmaker AP, so NO SPOILERS.
We're about to attack the fort of the Stag Lord, so if you're also playing Kingmaker and aren't at that point yet, BEWARE, there may be SPOILERS AHEAD for you.
I'm a 6th level Druid (got Air Domain, instead of the animal companion to not make the party too crowded). The others are a Barbarian 4, a Bard 6, a Paladin 4, and a Rogue 6.
First thing, since I have the Natural Spells feat, I used Wild Shape to turn into a seemingly harmless raven and flew around the fort, taking a look at first, then decided to wreak some havoc, throwing some area spells in the most crowded zones. I ended up killing a couple of the cannon-fodder bandits and wounding many others, before one of the bigger dudes understood it was the mouthy crow to bring the death on them, so I flew away before they hit me with one too many arrows.
Now.
I don't know what of the following is actually in the book and what was added or changed by the GM, and I don't need nor want to know that, I'm just going to give you a briefing of what we know in game:
- The Stag Lord is said to be incredibly strong, but he's a drunkard and, moreover, he's probably the puppet of some dark unknown man (or entity; I'd suspect a priest of Gyronna, since the fort seems to have been built over a temple to that evil deity); we spilled this out of the mouth of the bandit captain we captured earlier.
- Among the biggest guys who serve the Stag Lord, one is a bit different from the other maggots; a sort of knight in disgrace, if I recall correctly, who still has a bit of honor and doesn't always follow the Stag Lord's orders. But still, he's there with them, so he sure isn't the nicest guy ever. This too was spilled from captured bandits.
- All around the fort except on the trail that goes to and from its gate, there are fast zombies who spawn endlessly. Actually, they seem to come in waves each day, and are limited in number for that day, but it will start all over the next day, if they're killed. We discovered this because, when I scouted as a raven and fled after my little havoc, I noticed a trapdoor just south of the fort (within arrow distance from there). When I told about it to my fellows, they wanted to get close to inspect it, and we just had the time to discover it bears the symbol of Gyronna, then the zombies came out of the ground to attack us. They were few, at first, but then new ones came each round (up to the 4th or maybe 5th round), and the fight ended up being very tough (the bandits even noticed and were shooting arrows at us, and besides, I had already cast all my best spells on those guys).
So, we backed off after that fight to spend a day in curing ourselves. Last session ended with me turning into an eagle and going for a new scouting (saw the zombies all around the fort, and saw the bandits seem very attentive).
At this point, for me the best strategy would be to keep throwing spells at them. I still have surprise, since they can't know if every bird around the fort is a death-dealing spellslinger, and even when that will be gone, with a couple buffs, I could stand/avoid more arrows. So unless they bring out a caster of their own, I will be able to at least kill some more cannon-fodder (there's a ton of them, in there). Personally, I'd keep doing that every day until the remaining bandits don't decide to bunk inside the fort's covered buildings and never come out again (at which point my fellows would have clear way through the main door) or until they pose against me anything that will change the odds (I know, there's the risk they crush me with something as simple as a successful Hold Person spell, but I feel like trying, they didn't show any magic ability yet, and I have good saves).
I'm also aware doing this would be boring for the other players, since I'd be taking all the attention, but from an in-game perspective, I think it's really the best strategy we have.
The rest of the party except the Rogue, though, shows a strong will to go through that trapdoor (hoping we can distract the zombies with a Minor Image from the Bard), supposing that it will lead inside the temple/fort, given the Gyronna symbol/Gyronna temple apparent connection.
Truth is, the GM (who may be playing helpful or cruel, can't know) hinted that's a good option, so they flew on it like pigeons on breadcrumbs; but in-game it really looks like a bad idea. We don't know at all what may lurk down there, the layout (may be a labyrinth or anything), traps, hidden alarms that would make enemies prepare an ambush... it really looks like going into death's mouth.
Also, it doesn't help that most of them really like to play the bold guys who never back off and rush into things straight off, rather than choose safer routes.
Got any advice on the situation? Including the use of Druid spells (up to 3rd level) I may have underestimated, to bring on stage something clever (anything from official books of the core line is allowed; I mean... Ultimate Magic, Advanced Class Guide, and so on, but not Player Companion books, Campaign Settings, etc.).
For example, I had thought about using Soften Earth and Stone on the earth under the fort's palisade, but we'd probably still have to dig though the sand that remains, to actually form a passage, and that would only make the game more complex, rather than help us.
Haha! Prepare for the Stag Lord to F$!# YOU UP!!!
Seriously, he's a badass. My barbarian tried to charge in and attack, but due to stuff, SL got to full attack me twice before I reached could retaliate. It hurt bad.
I think my GM played down the zombies because he didn't want to deal with them, and I honestly don't remember how we got in. Its been some time.
If you want to get through a palisade wood shape is the obvious spell, right? Stone shape if you need to get through something more solid.
When I played thru this I was the one scouting and after I was ambushed the others decided on the frontal assault.
You guys have a bard, a rogue, and you, a shapeshifter, and you didn't want to try bluffing your way in by posing as bandits? If I remember correctly, the bandit leaders in the early encounters wore trinkets identifying them as leaders. My group dressed like the bandit bands they fought earlier, took some loot they'd found and held onto and went up to the gates like "Hey, fellow bandits!" then waited til an opportune time to take out bandits individually late at night and even better, a couple while they were asleep.
With your bard and rogue you should have a decent Bluff bonus somewhere in the mix. You'd have to lay low for a few days to get them to relax at this point, though. But maybe your paladin wouldn't go for that?
Assaulting the fort head on is asking to get peppered with arrows to not much effect. We didn't have a temple of Gyronna under the fort, so I can't say whether that might be worth a try.
If you want to get through a palisade wood shape is the obvious spell, right? Stone shape if you need to get through something more solid.
With Wood Shape I could technically bend the palisade as an inward arc easy to climb, but there are two problems with that: first, I have to touch the target, meaning at least me (maybe the others too) would have to be right under watchtowers, getting arrows on our heads; second, it's one casting per object, and depending on how large each pole of the palisade is, to create a decent passage I'd have to cast it on at least two (maybe more) poles.
You guys have a bard, a rogue, and you, a shapeshifter, and you didn't want to try bluffing your way in by posing as bandits? If I remember correctly, the bandit leaders in the early encounters wore trinkets identifying them as leaders. My group dressed like the bandit bands they fought earlier, took some loot they'd found and held onto and went up to the gates like "Hey, fellow bandits!" then waited til an opportune time to take out bandits individually late at night and even better, a couple while they were asleep.
With your bard and rogue you should have a decent Bluff bonus somewhere in the mix. You'd have to lay low for a few days to get them to relax at this point, though. But maybe your paladin wouldn't go for that?
Assaulting the fort head on is asking to get peppered with arrows to not much effect. We didn't have a temple of Gyronna under the fort, so I can't say whether that might be worth a try.
Eh, subtlety was our initial approach, but we dropped it for many reasons. Roaming the lands, we saw wanted posters with our faces on them, and we suppose the bandits may have made them, in which case trying such subtle approaches would only get us trapped and/or more easily killed. Second, even if they don't know our faces, Bard and Rogue may succeed at passing themselves for bandits, but Barbarian, Paladin and me are really crappy at that, and the Bard doesn't have endless spells to supply to aid disguises. Also, the Barbarian is the "charge anything head on" type, so he'd hardly stay put (the Paladin may have been alright with the plan, as long as he didn't have to do ambiguous or straight evil things... we're not playing Paladins' code as "must never ever ever lie, not even to the worst scum, not even to do the most good of actions", but given the other facts, it doesn't matter much).
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As a side note, book one of kingmaker is supposed to end around level three. If your party is level six or so, it's quite likely that the GM has significantly altered the adventure from as written
I dont remember the details when we fought the Stag Lord... Except that someone died. FE crit is no laughing matter for a low level character.