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View Full Version : Very Hard Adventures (D&D 3.5, not counting ToH)



Lord Loss
2010-07-28, 06:57 AM
My players are the luckiest schmucks out there. No matter the challenge I throw at them they surpass it with ease, due to their amazing luck. So here's my request. Some adventures WOTC official or not, that are hard as heck. They are currently level 2, but these adventures can be for any level between 4 and 10 seeing as I have a few things planned for the moment.

A few things they're known for

3 level ones took out around five Worgs
2 level Ones took out a Quaggoth and Two weretigers in an enclosed space. They were meant to run. Instead, they won They had help, but it only arrived at the very, very end of the battle.
Devious planning. If they can use something to their advantage, they will use something to their advantage.

Thanks in Advance!

hamishspence
2010-07-28, 07:01 AM
I think I remember seeing something about City of the Spider Queen not granting enough XP to level-up fast enough to be at the expected level for facing the Big Bad, if you start at the listed typical level.

So, playing that as written, may lead to a pretty challenging final fight.

It does, however, start somewhat after Level 10.

Hmm- maybe pick all the more over-CRed monsters and put them into a homebrew adventure?

Lord Loss
2010-07-28, 07:02 AM
I think I remember seeing something about City of the Spider Queen not granting enough XP to level-up fast enough to be at the expected level for facing the Big Bad, if you start at the listed typical level.

So, playing that as written, may lead to a pretty challenging final fight.

Thanks! I happen to have the adventure, but have never read it. Also, the Underdark will be an important part of the campaign, so this is excellent!

hamishspence
2010-07-28, 07:04 AM
While the adventure is 3.0, the Players Guide to Faerun free online web enhancement updates the stats of all 3.0 Faerun monsters to 3.5, so that should solve revenants, keening spirits, etc.

potatocubed
2010-07-28, 10:28 AM
Anything written by Greg Vaughan slings 'balanced encounters' out of the window pretty much from the word go.

Diarmuid
2010-07-28, 10:36 AM
It's Forgotten Realms specific, but Cormyr: Tearing of the Weave was written by someone who must hate D&D players.

It's aimed at 4th level but uses so many combinations of "shadowy illumination" and various other forms of miss chance and NPC's with "Hide in Plain Sight" that it was an absolute horror show. My players hated almost every minute of it and we barely finished it, skipping about the last 20% just to get it over with. There is an absolutely ridiculous mechanic at the end to completely **** over the party for the last battle that I didnt even use because it was just so wrong.

drengnikrafe
2010-07-28, 01:11 PM
Six characters at 7th level fighting roughly 124 creatures, including...
14 third level fighters led by a 5th level barbarian, all orcs.
A bard, to give everybody +1.
3 sets of Kuo-Toa (or something like that) to launch lighting every 1d4 rounds.
50 archers.
A minotaur fighter riding a rhino.
3 blaster wizards.
A warlock.

It was just one encounter, I guess, but I'll never forget it.

CockroachTeaParty
2010-07-28, 02:19 PM
I've been running the Savage Tide adventure path, and have had about five TPK's. It's brutal, brutal, brutal. You wind up under equipped, stranded, and forced to fight intelligent enemies in bad terrain, half the time after being ambushed. I've also heard that the Age of Worms path is also ludicrously hard, but I've yet to really see it pull out the big guns.

Tankadin
2010-07-28, 02:26 PM
Doesn't Red Hand of Doom start at around 4th or 5th level? The DM can rack up some pretty impressive kill counts, even against a competent party. I mean, the goal isn't to kill the players and crush their dreams, but RHoD does punish PC mistakes and carelessness...often with dragons.

Lord Loss
2010-07-28, 02:31 PM
I will be looking into this. This sounds good. My players are careless but very, very lucky.

Birstel
2010-07-28, 02:57 PM
I can testify to Red Hand of Doom being very unforgiving, if the players make tactical mistakes, they will pay for it.

ryzouken
2010-07-28, 03:07 PM
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/community/gaming/campaignJournals/killerGMRunsAgeOfWorms

It falls off the deep end at the end, but for the first 2/3rds or so, the above "campaign" underscores just how lethal Age of Worms can be if you pull out the stops.

Savage Tide is fairly rough as well, though my PC deaths in that game tended to focus on a couple of unlucky players. Specifically, I managed to take out one player's character three times, all with snake themed monsters for some reason. Started with a regenerating warforged that bought it thanks to a spirit naga slinging fireballs, next was a warblade that was constricted to death by a giant snake, and his third died to a yuan-ti strike team.

Side note: Legacy of Fire can be very painful if you choose to make it so. I'm running a more forgiving game, pulling punches where needed, but overall I've still got 5 PC deaths before entering the last book.

Really, grab just about any Paizo AP and tinker with it slightly; you'll end up with a hard-mode game for certain.