My gaming group has turned in their character sheets for review before the campaign starts, and here is what I've got:
- Gunslinger
- Magus
- Alchemist
- Wizard w/ focus on rays
- Warpriest
Aside from the warpriest, you might notice that the thing they all have in common is that they can opt to spam a lot of attacks against touch AC. Like, this party will hit touch AC many TIMES more than most normal parties. I don't know if they coordinated on this or what, but I'm mostly OK with it. I want them to get a chance to shine for their decision. So I'm just going to leave most encounters as-is and allow them to curb-stomp them.
However, I would like to alter a few encounters in the first 2 modules, especially because 1 of the players has already played through it and I promised her that I would alter things to keep her guessing. So here is the question: if you were in my shoes, what would you change, and how?
(I am aware that later modules have lots of giants with terrible touch AC, and that this team will likely end all such fights in a single round. However, I'm not mentally there yet -- I know the first 2 modules really well, and I'm not yet sure about the later modules, so I don't want to get ahead of myself.)
My hope is that someone can share with me a few low-level monsters with great touch AC, or some good counters to a team that can almost all exploit touch AC attacks to gain an advantage. Maybe if you're familiar with RotRL, you can even suggest where those monsters should swap in. Is there a bad guy with a particularly terrible touch AC, and you know the perfect substitute? I'd love to get advice from you guys on this. Thanks!
Good question! There was an alchemist and a gunslinger in my group and the ability to hit Touch AC meant they hardly ever missed.
What boosts touch AC? Size, dex and dodge bonuses, deflection bonuses.
Fortunately you already have lots of goblins. Just see if you can give them higher dex, or some deflection bonuses. Maybe a "goblin wardancer" with really jacked-up Dex, Dodge, and Weapon Finesse, could be a credible opponent.
Small air elementals are a possibility, as are fey (perfectly appropriate for the forests around Thistletop, if not so much for inside Sandpoint.)
Concealment/cover foil touch attack just as much as they do regular attacks. Give the goblins smokesticks or something equivalent, and make sure to have lots of misty weather around Thistletop. (Seriously: seashore, cliff -> winds, mists, storms. Use the environment rules to your advantage.)
Use the advanced creature finder looking for small / tiny / fine creatures. Swarms are your friends. So are incorporeal creatures and some oozes.
Examples:
Will-o-wisp: CR 6, Touch AC 26! (plus invisibility, immune to magic)
Stirge SWARM CR6: as swarm it will be immune to the gunslinger's gun and wizard's ray attacks.
Forgotten One. CR 2, Touch AC 18.
Quickling CR 3, Touch AC 19. (with invisibility, natural 20% concealment, evasion, uncanny dodge).
You can always bump up the DEX of these creatures a little too if you need.
You can also use environmental rules to prevent their ranged attacks. Eg: fog / mist. High winds are going to make their ranged attacks harder too. Or extreme darkness. You can also make the ground slippery or unstable, giving them issues with targeting and balance.
Also, consider giving your creatures the Displacement spell-like ability (50% miss chance).
Over the long run I would suggest discouraging your PCs to go all-in on touch tactics. If they try to hyper-optimise for touch just tell them that you'll be modifying more and more encounters to render touch-attacks less effective. They should be encouraged to be flexible not narrow, and punished for not being so. IMHO.
Book 1 contains lots of goblins, a monk, and a tiny Quasit. Seems like touch AC is doing fine? Remember, alchemists have limited bombs and accuracy, and gunslinger have misfires. Book 2 is heavy on rogues.
Also, this book features multiple dungeons where enemies can raise alarms and lead to cascading encounters. Guns and bombs will ensure those alarms get raised immediately and draw multiple enemies. Start playing around with that idea as you plan ahead.
Book 1 contains lots of goblins, a monk, and a tiny Quasit. Seems like touch AC is doing fine? Remember, alchemists have limited bombs and accuracy, and gunslinger have misfires. Book 2 is heavy on rogues.
Also, this book features multiple dungeons where enemies can raise alarms and lead to cascading encounters. Guns and bombs will ensure those alarms get raised immediately and draw multiple enemies. Start playing around with that idea as you plan ahead.
You stole my idea! Yes, add more combatants - which the OP needs to do anyway since there appear to be 5 pc's (AP "targeted" at 4 pc's of 15 point buy.) And one of the easiest ways to do that is to simply have the NPC's employ more effective tactics (many have 'stay in their room until killed' tactics as-written in the AP.)
Yossarian and tonyz made good points as well - touch AC isn't the only way to thwart ranged attacks - concealment, cover, get close in melee to force attacks of opportunity. What happens when the gunslinger gets wet? See hydraulic push. And don't forget the best response: shoot back. Classic military response is ranged attacks of your own.
Lastly, when the pc's kick in the door and the gunslinger starts blowing heads off, he is putting a large, virtual sign on his chest: kill me first. Anything smarter than an amoeba will focus on the most dangerous threat.
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Goblins with Roll With It and Skill Focus(Acrobatics) can achieve a similar function to high armor class.
Goblins with Protector Archetype animal companions and Mounted Combat can do the same thing, essentially. (PC attacks goblin, Protector uses abilities to take the hit, Goblin uses Mounted Combat to negate the hit against his mount.)
Goblins with Roll With It and Skill Focus(Acrobatics) can achieve a similar function to high armor class.
Wow. I hadn't even heard of that, and hadn't considered goblin-only feats. I also found Burn Burn Burn to be useful for some torch-bearers in the module. Maybe I'll swap some feats here & there. Thanks!