DM Advice - Sticky Situation with a Vermin themed Campaign.

[TheMonkeyFish]

Hey guys! So, going to be honest - this will be the first time that I am going to DM Pathfinder and would like to get some advice for the first encounter. Here is the basic premise of the Campaign that I'm going for: An unnatural force has taken control of Insect and Arachnid like creatures (basically bugs) and are capturing humans for an unknown purpose (At the moment: Assumed to be resources).

Currently, the only restrictions I have for them are having a reasonable background (i.e.: No level 1 god-slayers), and a reason to be entering the countries major capitol city (guild, orders, ect). On their way to the major capitol, they will be stopped at a smaller "gateway" city which is under the effect of curfew, so they won't be allowed to leave towards the capitol until after the night. That night, the city will be ambushed by insect creatures that are unnaturally organized for their species. (if they somehow leave the city under curfew, they'll be attacked at a lesser force by the bugs trying to capture them - instead of having to protect the city itself).

The basic idea I had was reskinning the Cave Fisher and reducing their levels to 1 or so, having them capture fleeing villagers while they are herded by other bugs which are attacking the village. When they successfully capture a certain amount of villagers or a certain number of them are defeated, they will retreat.

My question is: How can I perform this without making the encounter too challenging for a level 1 party of 3-4 people?

[Ganny]

The biggest issue with level 1 is that a good roll on the enemies part can cause a lot of problems (IE: Death).

However, I might suggest swapping things up. Instead of using a cave fisher, you could try using a small collection of Giant Fire Beetles. Given the note that they are kept in cages and used as natural lighting, it gives the beetles a good reason to be in town. Plus, the thematics for a night attack are on point.

A bunch of glowing lights as the beetles move in step, ominously approaching. Its good stuff.

[Shiroi]

Also note that cr1 (3 of the fire beetles) is an [at a time] measurement designed to give a reasonable fight followed by a short regroup before another wave. 3 fire beetles, 15 minutes to find the source of the next screaming and heal, 4 fire beetles, 15 minutes to fortify the tavern doors, 5 fire beetles and they've killed a CR 1, cr1.3, and cr 1.6 battle in the span of an hour.

On top of that, circumstances matter heavily. That second fight with an extra bug is no more challenging because they have time to buff and strategize. The third fight isn't much worse because they have a chance to fortify the terrain in their favor.

The casters will start to run low after the second match, and the party will feel desperate after the third if they aren't rolling well and using their time wisely. Have the city guard mopping up major forces of bugs on the sides, to make it look like a much bigger invasion than they have to deal with themselves in reality, and drive home the point that they aren't strong yet.

Having the bugs initially target NPCs gives them a feeling of heroism in contrast to being saved by the guards, and can introduce characters such as having them save the mayor, the tavern owner, the son of the village chief, or whatever else you want indebted to them.

If the bugs target the NPCs first, remember this and other things like time to buff / favorable terrain / having allies in a specific fight (note that the guards and bugs fighting in the background don't count, as neither team is part of their specific encounter) all count towards REDUCING the CR of the encounter. So the easier you take it on them, giving them help and chances to buff and letting them put high dollar spirits on the ground as flame patch fuel, the more bugs you'll need to throw at them to make the fight on even terms.

Don't be afraid to use DM Fiat to have two more bugs come in on the second initiative cycle because the first lot is losing badly with no chance to retaliate. Increase the next match by 3 or so, or give less prep time, set up nearby allies who appear injured or occupied and may or may not be able to help at a moment's notice (Deus ex machina, but planned in advance and less flimsy if you have to call on it to avoid a wipe). A great DM can change a scene on the fly to make it entertaining and keep the story flowing. You aren't any more bound by your own preconceptions of the encounter than you are by theirs.

With all that in mind, sometimes letting something be a curb stomp can be a good thing. If they refuse to use anything resembling tactics and they party wipe in an instant because they thought they'd just run right into a group of twenty, it may be kind to yourself or their next DM to let them feel the wrath of a wasted backstory in the first adventure. If they bring overpowered murder machines and use battle tactics a seasoned S.W.A.T. commander would be proud of, letting them melt the bugs into a puddle of nope might encourage them to back down their builds a little and invest in more diverse things since they don't have to be so hardcore just to stay alive. It's all in how you want to address it, sometimes you want to let them have the victory and feel like Hercules, sometimes you want a hard pressed and hard won victory, and sometimes you want to remind them that even the strongest hero doesn't willingly place his head in the dragon's mouth for funsies.

[TheMonkeyFish]

Hm... Those seem like rather interesting ideas... And they actually give me some ideas myself! Right now, it seems that we are going to have three PCs. One of them isn't going to be creating his character - so I'll be making him an Archer for the campaign. The other two, I don't know what they are going to do yet. One of them has expressed interest in the Alchemist or Gunslinger class while the other hasn't talked about their ideas yet. They are all either new to the game or haven't had much experience with it, so I don't think that I'll need to worry about Power-play or Over-optimization for the characters. I'll probably end up being the only caster character in the group, and mainly support casting. That being said, they just might have some S.W.A.T. strats, or lady luck might kiss them lol.

Regarding the bugs themselves, I'm actually still thinking about using a modified version of the Cave Fisher. The main reason is that the bugs are trying to subdue and capture humans alive (again - not specifically giving the reason why). They prefer humans alive, but are willing to kill and collect courses if threatened:

Spider, Subdue CR 1/2:

XP: 150
Type: Medium Vermin (Neutral)
Init: +1; Low-Light Vision, Perception +0

AC: 12; Touch: 11; Flat-footed: 11
HP: 8; Fort: +2; Ref: +0; Will: +0
Immune to Mind-affecting effects* (Currently under Hive-Mind)

Speed 20 ft., Burrow 20 ft.
Melee: Bite +1 (1d4)
Ranged: Filament +2 (Special)
Special Attack: Pull (Filament, 10 ft.)

STATISTICS
Str: 10; Dex: 12; Con: 10, Int: -, Wis: 10, Cha: 7

The idea is that there will be 5-10 of these at the edge of the village, grabbing fleeing villagers with the Filaments and dragging them into the forest. Meanwhile, in the center of the village, there will be bugs actively hunting humans and trying to chase or paralyze and drag humans into the forest. Like I said - these bugs are organized much more than what they naturally should be which should give them the hint that something isn't right.

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If the players choose to stay inside the village until curfew has ended and they can continue to the capital city, they will be awaken to the loud screams of the innkeeper. The innkeeper having been attacked by a swarm of insects (x1 Giant Centipede and x2 Sewer Centipedes [CR 1]). The innkeeper will be paralyzed after having been bitten by the pedes, and if the Vermin don't realize the adventurers the Giant Centipede will begin pulling away the body while two more Sewer Centepedes enter the house and they begin searching for other humanoid creatures.

After a short fight, they can leave the house and see the chaos occurring in the village. Villagers running away will be caught by the insects Filaments and pulled into the forest, while others are being chased by the Centipedes with paralyzed bodies being dragged away. At this point, it's basically just damage control while the party would probably try to save those paralyzed or captured - with heavy hints not to save the ones who have already been pulled past the treeline.

After damage control, they'll have time to regroup inside the tavern for a "Survive until dawn" style combat where more and more insects will crawl towards the tavern and actively try to get inside (Starting with CR1 worths of enemies at the beginning and increasing by 0.5 CR each turn after depending on how well or not they fortified the tavern). After the third rounds of spawning, the Royal Calvary will arrive to help save the day from the invasion and they'll only need to finish cleaning up the rest of the bugs already inside the tavern.

I don't think we'll have much more time than that - but that's what I got so far. Whatcha think?

[Shiroi]

I like it, I went along with the firebug idea just because they're a good low level fit for a horde, but honestly these tactics work well for almost any monster all the way up to humans. If the cave Fisher works best for your tactics, and the pulling people seems to be fairly integral, then that's not a problem.

I will say you note in the block they're immune to mind affecting but currently affected...

Since you're already bringing them down in power, you may consider making a toxin (be willing for it to become player accessible if you do this) that renders certain immunities ineffective and damages the bodies of the imbiber. Basically a reason they're hive minded right now when they shouldn't be, and an explanation of their lower CR.

Happy hunting!

[TheMonkeyFish]

Well, to be fair... the Fishers are basically the edge of the campaign, I wouldn't expect them to get stuck within their grasp as long as they confront the insects which are pushing towards them. Ideally, they'll take the hint and try to hide and fortify inside one of the buildings rather than run head first into the treeline.

That being said, I'd still like to keep them low-ish level in case they do something that I wouldn't predict.

Also, regarding that hive-mind note...

Following is the major spoiler for what I have planned eventually.

Plans regarding the plot:

So basically... the whole concept revolves around an idea which I had a long while ago with a video game - somewhat inspired by Starship Troopers. The BBEG is going to be a "Queen" species which has the ability to control insect and arachnid vermin creatures - Even some animals and magical beasts that fit the insectoid description. Hence the reason why multiple low-level insect species are assaulting the town in order to capture live fodder.

You see... I got this idea after reading Horror Adventures... the Queen is unable to reproduce her species directly. I haven't thought of her backstory all the way through, but her "Corruption" is going to be based off of the Hive Corruption from the Horror Adventures book. It won't be a horror themed adventure, but there will be some inspiration taken from this book.

I'll probably make some "Champion" bosses later down the line using the Hive Corruption template on other species. Hopefully it won't serve to be too boring for them.

I hope that brings to light the ultimate goal I have for this campaign. :P

[TheMonkeyFish]

Well... I'll have to keep this on the backburner, looks like one of the players dropped, and the others don't want to play a 2-man campaign. ^^;