Ethdred
2009-11-13, 08:37 PM
Not another campaign journal (I'm far too lazy to keep one going!) but I am taking a party through ROHD and they are substantially over-powered for it. I know it's supposed to start easy and get harder, but this is getting silly - they are 8th level and haven't quite finished Chapter 1 (my fault - I started them off beefed up and then ran the pre-campaign for too long so they were too high level to start). I've been increasing the encounters but still don't feel they are challenging enough. Note: I want to challenge, and ideally scare witless, but not kill, the players!
The party is (in roughly descending order of munchkinness) - all character level 8:
Halfling druid/daggerspell shaper (with a dire bat companion), forget the class division
Half-ogre 4 Barbarian/2 Fighter - going for frenzied beserker, monkey grips a huge axe
Elven Ranger/Occult Slayer - ranged specialist
Tiefling Vow of Poverty Monk (yeah, I know, but he's good enough to carry it off) - grappling specialist
Half-orc cleric - the only true worshipper of the real Gruumsh, sworn to slay all false worshippers
Halfling Warlock - rides the half-ogre into battle
So it's not the most serious party around, but they are surprisingly effective, even without an arcanist. Particular problems I have are:
They all seem to have high AC so I have trouble hitting them, especially with all the mooks around in the module, but I don't want to use really big things that leave them with no HP after one hit
The ogre has 10' reach and bracers that double that for a round, so anything with fewer than about 40 HP is just cleave fodder (and he has Great Cleavage)
The ranger means that any combat that starts at range is basically over before melee (even though the rest of the party are basically pants at distance)
The druid is also the scout and spots basically any ambush or similar that I don't uber-fudge
Because the ogre is not a person, Charm and Hold don't work on him
So what I'm asking is for any help with building encounters that can challenge this motley band. For those who know the module, if you can help with specific encounters (especially making the bosses more effective) that would be really appreciated, but for everyone I'd be grateful for suggestions of interesting monsters that could be pets/bodyguards/cohorts or just wandering monsters, and for orcs (or other giant-class creatures) with class levels to introduce (especially if they use the ToB, as I love that but don't have enough experience with playing it) -any CR from 4-14. (For flavour reasons, I've changed the horde from hobgobs to orcs.)
Books I have access to:
ToB
Complete Warrior/Arcane/Divine
Draconomicon
Libris Mortis
I can also use stuff from the Magic Item and Spell Compendiums, so any hoopy stuff from that can throw the players a curve ball would be good.
Also, for flavour reasons, it would be nice but not essential to introduce some Yuan-Ti
And my party - keep out of this thread!
Go on Playgrounders, make me proud!
The party is (in roughly descending order of munchkinness) - all character level 8:
Halfling druid/daggerspell shaper (with a dire bat companion), forget the class division
Half-ogre 4 Barbarian/2 Fighter - going for frenzied beserker, monkey grips a huge axe
Elven Ranger/Occult Slayer - ranged specialist
Tiefling Vow of Poverty Monk (yeah, I know, but he's good enough to carry it off) - grappling specialist
Half-orc cleric - the only true worshipper of the real Gruumsh, sworn to slay all false worshippers
Halfling Warlock - rides the half-ogre into battle
So it's not the most serious party around, but they are surprisingly effective, even without an arcanist. Particular problems I have are:
They all seem to have high AC so I have trouble hitting them, especially with all the mooks around in the module, but I don't want to use really big things that leave them with no HP after one hit
The ogre has 10' reach and bracers that double that for a round, so anything with fewer than about 40 HP is just cleave fodder (and he has Great Cleavage)
The ranger means that any combat that starts at range is basically over before melee (even though the rest of the party are basically pants at distance)
The druid is also the scout and spots basically any ambush or similar that I don't uber-fudge
Because the ogre is not a person, Charm and Hold don't work on him
So what I'm asking is for any help with building encounters that can challenge this motley band. For those who know the module, if you can help with specific encounters (especially making the bosses more effective) that would be really appreciated, but for everyone I'd be grateful for suggestions of interesting monsters that could be pets/bodyguards/cohorts or just wandering monsters, and for orcs (or other giant-class creatures) with class levels to introduce (especially if they use the ToB, as I love that but don't have enough experience with playing it) -any CR from 4-14. (For flavour reasons, I've changed the horde from hobgobs to orcs.)
Books I have access to:
ToB
Complete Warrior/Arcane/Divine
Draconomicon
Libris Mortis
I can also use stuff from the Magic Item and Spell Compendiums, so any hoopy stuff from that can throw the players a curve ball would be good.
Also, for flavour reasons, it would be nice but not essential to introduce some Yuan-Ti
And my party - keep out of this thread!
Go on Playgrounders, make me proud!