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Mauril Everleaf
2009-09-01, 05:46 PM
I recently joined a group who are running a 1-20 campaign. We started last week. We are playing with the Pathfinder rules as a basis, but filling in with pretty much as much 3.5 stuff as anyone could want.

The issue for me is that each player is also required to DM at least one adventure, four to five sessions minimum. I have some experience DMing, just not with 3.5/Pathfinder. I did some DMing in 2e and some in 4e, but not with 3.x. So I need help building some fights.

The adventure that I had planned revolved around a necromancer who has taken over a small town. So I need some basic groups of level appropriate undead to build some encounters around and then I need a decently fearsome necromancer.

The party in question is a bit large featuring a favored soul, a bard/sorcerer, a fighter/crusader, a rogue/fighter acf thug, a blasty wizard, a twf ranger and a cleric. My character, an archivist, is likely to not make an appearance. None of the characters are particularly optimized.

Thanks for the help!

Drothmal
2009-09-01, 06:11 PM
If you don't have a lot of time to prepare, my best advice to you would be looking into the wyvern-umberhulk and Gray render zombies (CR 4,5 and 6). Just make them medium sized instead of large and use them as you regular human-like zombies (you can justify the different levels by saying that the necromancer modified them differently, making them different colors and stuff).

You can use specters (CR 6).

Likewise, use the ettin skeleton (CR5) as your stantdar skeleton after you reduce him to medium. Make skelelon hounds with the chimera skeleton (CR4) and have a pre-boss fight with a young dragon skeleton (CR 8)

All of these are in the MMI, so they should be easy to use

Mauril Everleaf
2009-09-01, 06:59 PM
I've actually got plenty of time to prepare, I just don't have the 3.5/PF experience to properly use that time.

Darcand
2009-09-01, 07:03 PM
I would go for a simple four-five combat format. Few ideas..

-A skeleton swarm, maybe 30 strong in the town square with undead pouring out of every window and door. A classic rolling mob encounter, dawn of the dead style. Players love butchering large numbers of weak enemies.

-A hit and run Wight or Wraith that haunts the PCs as they make their way through the town.

-Ghoulish rat swarm that infects PCs with Ghoul Fever with it's bite attack.

-A heavy hitting zombie, maybe a minotaur or hill giant? Backed up by skeletal archers on the second floor of the building behind it.

-For the necromancer, I like to use clerics. Pile on the AC and partner him with a couple of Power Attacking baddies that he can provide with flanking bonuses/ aid another. Since you're playing PF rules his channel negative energy lets him harm the PCs while healing his minions. Use his spells to buff up the undead and hinder the PCs.

awa
2009-09-01, 07:24 PM
I would point out that you shouldn't use large groups of basic zombies or skeletons. While a horde of zombies might sound like a good idea their more annoying then dangerous if the characters have decent ac.

One thing you can do is combine basic zombies who at this level are basically a walking wall of meat with more dangerous undead

A couple Ghasts or wights lurking in wait behind small groups of more mundane undead are good, they can try and sneak up and ambush the more fragile pcs who hang back.

wraith and mummy are both cr 5 but they work less well as minions

A weakness Ive found with using a primary caster as a main villain is if their levels to low they get wiped out quit quickly becuase of low hp if its to high they tpk the party becuase their dc are to high. If you give the necromancer some levels in a martial class It increases his ability to get beaten on by most of the party so every one gets a chance to do something with out being over powered. Giving the necromancer a really high Constitution will also help this. (using a scythe in combat is optional)

Remember npcs are what ever level they need to be don't worry about optimization

Foryn Gilnith
2009-09-01, 07:27 PM
A skeleton swarm numbering in the mid-twenties ought to be fine. EL appropriate, according to PenPaperPixel's encounter calculator.

Another_Poet
2009-09-01, 08:13 PM
Here is my contribution.

At one point the PCs see something moving through the forest/darkness/edge of town/whatever. A spot check reveals them to be... wicker? Wicker baskets maybe? Some kind of oversized wicker shields perhaps?

In fact, they are giant wicker containers that are stuffed with brown mold (see spoiler below). They are being pushed forward like giant barricades by teams of zombies/skeletons. The undead are immune to the cold damage, so all they have to do is move the stuff into town and it will start killing people.


Brown Mold (CR 2) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/dungeons.htm#slimes)

Brown mold feeds on warmth, drawing heat from anything around it. It normally comes in patches 5 feet in diameter, and the temperature is always cold in a 30-foot radius around it. Living creatures within 5 feet of it take 3d6 points of nonlethal cold damage. Fire brought within 5 feet of brown mold causes it to instantly double in size. Cold damage, such as from a cone of cold, instantly destroys it.

Could be an interesting encounter. Especially since the PCs will not know at first what is in the baskets, and if they use any fire attacks... hehe.


A skeleton swarm numbering in the mid-twenties ought to be fine. EL appropriate, according to PenPaperPixel's encounter calculator.

By the numbers it seems fine, but when you throw 20 CR<1 creatures of the same type at an APL 5-7 party, the result is cakewalk. The problem is not the EL but the fact that all the zombies/skeles have the same weakness. A couple of turnings or well-placed spells and the undead are blown away, probably in the first round before doing much. Possible exception is if the GM uses amazing tactics (tucker's undead) but otherwise... meh.

awa
2009-09-01, 11:57 PM
also skeletons have terrible accuracy by level 5 the pcs should have around 20 or more ac the skeletons would need 20s to hit so they virtual cant hurt the pcs on the other hand damage reduction means that most pcs wont be able to kill them reliable in one hit so it just drags the combat out unless their willing to waste area of effect abbilities.

herrhauptmann
2009-09-02, 12:03 AM
Out of curiosity, what happens to the character you've been playing when it's your turn to DM? Do you keep using him, but run him as a DMPC?

Mauril Everleaf
2009-09-02, 01:38 AM
I actually plan on him being captured by said necromancer. I haven't worked out why he doesn't outright kill my character, but I'm sure classic villain bravado will have something to do with it.

I am hoping to use the absence of my character as the initial adventure hook. Each DM is allowed to advance the world about three months or so between DMs. I plan on using this time to have my character respond to a call and subsequently not return.