AtwasAwamps
2010-09-20, 03:17 PM
So, I’m planning out an encounter for my party…it’s sort of a sidequest that will push them to level 10, so they can complete the final stage of their journey to paragon path with the next extended main plot finishing section. It’s basically a clockwork dungeon…they’re going to be sent into this necromantic device entitled a “Soul Clock”, where the spirits of the dead are trapped and used to constantly power rituals of high-end magic. The party’s goal will be to venture into the clock with the help of the magic of a highly powerful dragon and a high priest of Bahamut to strike at the core of the clock.
The clock’s innards will involve a bit of a maze like puzzle, with a number of traps and time-based situations, with a few easy and hard combat encounters mixed in. Many of the enemies I plan on using inside are refluffed to be clockwork creatures. I’m not worried about the general gist of the dungeon…it’s basically a gimmick dungeon crawl.
What I am worried about is the final encounter, which I feel might be too frustrating for the party. I want it to be hard, unique, and memorable…a bit of a “That One Boss” situation. I want them to simultaneously hate the fight, love the challenge, and feel serious victory when its over. Here’s the basic set of the fight. The party is level 9, on the high end of power due to me giving them higher than WBL and some extra powers for the sake of storyline that up their general effectiveness, so call their effective level roughly low-end 10.
The Line-Up
Party:
Chaladin of Bahamut
Swordmage of Shielding
Chaos Sorceror
Feylock
Valorous Bard
Brutal Rogue
Enemies:
2x Runic Gargoyles (Soldier)
3x Dread Guards (Soldier)
1x Wailing Ghost (Controller)
1x Eidolon (Leader)
6x Ogre Thugs (minions)
Fight Tactics/Environmental Challenges:
This fight will take place on a massive gear, giving the party limited mobility (the circle of the gear will most likely have a circumference of 15-20 squares, haven’t worked that out yet). Every d4 turns, the clock will spin, sliding the PCs and the minions around the gear…PCs will get to make an Ath/Acro check, Minions are slid automatically.
Eidolon Tactics:
The Eidolon will start the battle in Hallowed Stance, knowing that the party is coming. Refluffed as the Clock Core, all radiant damage has been refluffed into necrotic/lightning damage. He will play exactly like the Eidolon in the book…sticking to hallowed stance to soak damaging attacks and buff his allies, using his opportunity actions to hurt the party. He will not leave his stance until all his allies are destroyed.
Dread Guard Tactics:
The Dread Guards will start the fight slightly spread out around the Eidolon, moving forward to intercept any targets that start moving towards their “master”. Most likely they will end up bunched around the Eidolon to protect it from damage. I expect the paladin to tie them up and enter a slugfest with all three of them, as I am keeping them ‘undead’…they are basically amalgamations of bones and gears, animated by spirits.
Runic Gargoyle Tactics:
These guys are super-mobile soldiers and I intend to use them as such. They will be using their fly speed to maul the sorc and warlock whenever possible, teleporting back to the Eidolon to defend it if things look ugly. They can also choose to soak damage for their master, giving the Eidolon incredible additional staying power. I have not really refluffed these…they seemed an appropriate defense mechanism for a necrotic-powered clock for some reason.
Wailing Ghost Tactics:
The Controller. She will do her best to delay opponents getting to the defensive structure of the Eidolon and his guardians and keep the party tied up with the minions.
Ogre Thugs:
Refluffed as “Gear Brutes”, they will be your standard ‘get in the way’ minions. Their job is to tie the battle field up with their bodies. In addition, their deaths will activate the Eidolon’s punishing Opportunity Action, spreading damage around the party. I am debating having them “reassemble”…either periodically during the fight or when the Eidolon is first bloodied.
What do you think? Will this be too frustrating for a group? The general idea is that dropping the Eidolon will severely weaken the defense system, but it is extremely challenging to kill. There are a few ways to take apart this strategy, but they aren’t easy. I want to see how the party reacts to this, but I don’t want to give them a situation they get severely frustrated with. They will have a few combat encounters and skill challenges prior to this, but nothing very challenging…there will be a sort of ‘mini-boss’ encounter with a refluffed Bone Golem and some other gear-bots, but they should be able to stomp it, as its very straightforward.
Modifications I am currently thinking of:
Reducing the number of Brute minions and adding in a handful of ranged minions instead (potentially on gear platforms away from the main platform).
Environmental Damage as the fight goes on (gears falling, souls exploding, etc)
NPC Ally for the final fight (They freed the ghost of a follower of Bahamut earlier, if things go badly, I thought I might “add him in” as their own version of an Eidolon…not actively participating in the battle, but plunging into the clock to save them with 5-6 turns of powerful buffs, added damage, and temp HP)
Overdrive Spin – When the Eidolon is bloodied, rapidly do the gear spin mentioned in fight tactics/environment four times to disrupt party positioning and add an element of chaos to the fight.
Comments and ideas most appreciated.
Side note: I intend to play the Magitek Factory theme song from Final Fantasy VI throughout this dungeon. Possibly humming along.
The clock’s innards will involve a bit of a maze like puzzle, with a number of traps and time-based situations, with a few easy and hard combat encounters mixed in. Many of the enemies I plan on using inside are refluffed to be clockwork creatures. I’m not worried about the general gist of the dungeon…it’s basically a gimmick dungeon crawl.
What I am worried about is the final encounter, which I feel might be too frustrating for the party. I want it to be hard, unique, and memorable…a bit of a “That One Boss” situation. I want them to simultaneously hate the fight, love the challenge, and feel serious victory when its over. Here’s the basic set of the fight. The party is level 9, on the high end of power due to me giving them higher than WBL and some extra powers for the sake of storyline that up their general effectiveness, so call their effective level roughly low-end 10.
The Line-Up
Party:
Chaladin of Bahamut
Swordmage of Shielding
Chaos Sorceror
Feylock
Valorous Bard
Brutal Rogue
Enemies:
2x Runic Gargoyles (Soldier)
3x Dread Guards (Soldier)
1x Wailing Ghost (Controller)
1x Eidolon (Leader)
6x Ogre Thugs (minions)
Fight Tactics/Environmental Challenges:
This fight will take place on a massive gear, giving the party limited mobility (the circle of the gear will most likely have a circumference of 15-20 squares, haven’t worked that out yet). Every d4 turns, the clock will spin, sliding the PCs and the minions around the gear…PCs will get to make an Ath/Acro check, Minions are slid automatically.
Eidolon Tactics:
The Eidolon will start the battle in Hallowed Stance, knowing that the party is coming. Refluffed as the Clock Core, all radiant damage has been refluffed into necrotic/lightning damage. He will play exactly like the Eidolon in the book…sticking to hallowed stance to soak damaging attacks and buff his allies, using his opportunity actions to hurt the party. He will not leave his stance until all his allies are destroyed.
Dread Guard Tactics:
The Dread Guards will start the fight slightly spread out around the Eidolon, moving forward to intercept any targets that start moving towards their “master”. Most likely they will end up bunched around the Eidolon to protect it from damage. I expect the paladin to tie them up and enter a slugfest with all three of them, as I am keeping them ‘undead’…they are basically amalgamations of bones and gears, animated by spirits.
Runic Gargoyle Tactics:
These guys are super-mobile soldiers and I intend to use them as such. They will be using their fly speed to maul the sorc and warlock whenever possible, teleporting back to the Eidolon to defend it if things look ugly. They can also choose to soak damage for their master, giving the Eidolon incredible additional staying power. I have not really refluffed these…they seemed an appropriate defense mechanism for a necrotic-powered clock for some reason.
Wailing Ghost Tactics:
The Controller. She will do her best to delay opponents getting to the defensive structure of the Eidolon and his guardians and keep the party tied up with the minions.
Ogre Thugs:
Refluffed as “Gear Brutes”, they will be your standard ‘get in the way’ minions. Their job is to tie the battle field up with their bodies. In addition, their deaths will activate the Eidolon’s punishing Opportunity Action, spreading damage around the party. I am debating having them “reassemble”…either periodically during the fight or when the Eidolon is first bloodied.
What do you think? Will this be too frustrating for a group? The general idea is that dropping the Eidolon will severely weaken the defense system, but it is extremely challenging to kill. There are a few ways to take apart this strategy, but they aren’t easy. I want to see how the party reacts to this, but I don’t want to give them a situation they get severely frustrated with. They will have a few combat encounters and skill challenges prior to this, but nothing very challenging…there will be a sort of ‘mini-boss’ encounter with a refluffed Bone Golem and some other gear-bots, but they should be able to stomp it, as its very straightforward.
Modifications I am currently thinking of:
Reducing the number of Brute minions and adding in a handful of ranged minions instead (potentially on gear platforms away from the main platform).
Environmental Damage as the fight goes on (gears falling, souls exploding, etc)
NPC Ally for the final fight (They freed the ghost of a follower of Bahamut earlier, if things go badly, I thought I might “add him in” as their own version of an Eidolon…not actively participating in the battle, but plunging into the clock to save them with 5-6 turns of powerful buffs, added damage, and temp HP)
Overdrive Spin – When the Eidolon is bloodied, rapidly do the gear spin mentioned in fight tactics/environment four times to disrupt party positioning and add an element of chaos to the fight.
Comments and ideas most appreciated.
Side note: I intend to play the Magitek Factory theme song from Final Fantasy VI throughout this dungeon. Possibly humming along.