Zaydos
2011-02-12, 03:21 AM
Okay first session of a campaign just (4 hours ago; went out to eat after) ended and my PCs (Level 8 gestalt, no multiclassing on either side, 1 PrC at a time and max 1 PrC per side) fought a few slivers and decided to go to the pair of wizards' home town to restock supplies.
The hometown that I had told them was next on the list of places for the elven army (the bad guys in this game) to attack. I have told them that they will have to really use strategy to win this battle and most likely cannot do more than hurt the elven army before retreating.
In short how do I plan a large scale battle adventure which the PCs will most likely lose without being so powerful they just die?
Below is a more extensive summary of the party and their capabilities.
Catfolk warlock 7//rogue 8: Greater Chausable of Fell Power, 21 AC, Eldritch Glaive, and Craven. Can Walk Unseen. Unfortunately the super elves of this setting have at-will see invisibility; thankfully the elven army is mostly orcs and goblins.
Half-Celestial Marshal 4//Cleric 8: Has Zen Archery, Protection Devotion (3/day), Healing Touch, and Reinforced Wings. 20 AC I think (+8 Full-Plate, +1 Dex, +1 Ring of Protection?); can motivate Dex, Int, and Major Aura of +1 to saves. Celestia Domain.
Human Conjurer 3/Master Specialist 5//Druid 8. Specialized in Summoning (every feat is dedicated to improving summoning, except Natural Spell). No familiar. Has Augment Elemental from Magic of Eberron and Ashbound Summoning from Eberron. Also Rapid Summoning from UA for his wizard summons.
Homebrewed winged-wolf-man race Transmuter 5/Child of the Night 2//Truenamer 8. Uses Kyuedo's fix from these forums (so significantly more useful truenamer). Been a long time since I looked the fix over (I will do that soon). Has some BC (subdual damage + knocks people prone; or single target immobilization), healing, single-target buffing.
Shadow Dragon//Dread Necromancer 8. Will come in part way and has a skeletal triceratops and marilith. 28 AC; has Tomb-Tainted Soul, Corpsecrafter, and Retributive Destruction feats so that if she manages to animate enemy soldiers she'll have exploding zombies. I allowed her to use Advanced Learning to learn Desecrate (I thought it was Necromancy and almost gave it to her for free anyway because they should have it) and she carries the stuff to animate dead 64 HD of undead (she can animate up to 56 more HD of undead without losing control of any of them) and she can turn them into zombie bombs.
The elves in this world have +2 Con, +4 Str, and +6 to everything else, DR 10/cold iron, SR, woodland stride, 40-ft speed, immunity to enchantment and disease, resistance to poison and mind-affecting effects, can speak with animals, see invisibility, detect magic and use ghost sound at will. They have 1/day entangle, and Charm Person 3/day. The more advanced troops have more SLAs (starting at 3rd with invisibility, and gaining [never earlier than a wizard or druid] greater invisibility, dominate animal, tree stride, charm monster, mass charm person, maybe all the way up to Greater Dispel Magic) and they might be able to bum a Control Weather effect off an ally although they don't get that high level in the battle (I'm not throwing anyone above 11th at the PCs).
The PCs can make skill checks to know all the SLAs available to the elves and Charm, Invisibility, and See Invisibility are common knowledge as is their DR and SR (the elves are rather a public force in the world).
The PCs will have a force of winged wolf-men (flight as raptorans; divided into 3 subraces; hot-headed physical warriors, diplomats, and wizard/rogues but all of them got themselves captured already), humans, catfolks, and maybe halflings. The elves will also have orcs, goblins, and monsters as I see fit. The PCs will have the help of at least one human conjurer 3/Master Specialist 3//Druid 6 (the wizard//druid's former teacher).
Also to confirm my elves as evil, evil creatures their front line's battle standards will be still living captured scouts nailed to wood and carried by hobgoblin warriors. I'm thinking this might should force a morale check or give some sort of morale penalty on the PCs' forces (not the PCs themselves)
So any advice on running a battle in which the odds are stacked against the players but not so far that they will just be curbstomped. I want them to hurt the enemy, but ultimately be forced to fall back and abandon the town (giving them extra reason to hate the elves).
Actually any advice on running a battle at all? I've never ran a large scale battle before so anything would help.
The hometown that I had told them was next on the list of places for the elven army (the bad guys in this game) to attack. I have told them that they will have to really use strategy to win this battle and most likely cannot do more than hurt the elven army before retreating.
In short how do I plan a large scale battle adventure which the PCs will most likely lose without being so powerful they just die?
Below is a more extensive summary of the party and their capabilities.
Catfolk warlock 7//rogue 8: Greater Chausable of Fell Power, 21 AC, Eldritch Glaive, and Craven. Can Walk Unseen. Unfortunately the super elves of this setting have at-will see invisibility; thankfully the elven army is mostly orcs and goblins.
Half-Celestial Marshal 4//Cleric 8: Has Zen Archery, Protection Devotion (3/day), Healing Touch, and Reinforced Wings. 20 AC I think (+8 Full-Plate, +1 Dex, +1 Ring of Protection?); can motivate Dex, Int, and Major Aura of +1 to saves. Celestia Domain.
Human Conjurer 3/Master Specialist 5//Druid 8. Specialized in Summoning (every feat is dedicated to improving summoning, except Natural Spell). No familiar. Has Augment Elemental from Magic of Eberron and Ashbound Summoning from Eberron. Also Rapid Summoning from UA for his wizard summons.
Homebrewed winged-wolf-man race Transmuter 5/Child of the Night 2//Truenamer 8. Uses Kyuedo's fix from these forums (so significantly more useful truenamer). Been a long time since I looked the fix over (I will do that soon). Has some BC (subdual damage + knocks people prone; or single target immobilization), healing, single-target buffing.
Shadow Dragon//Dread Necromancer 8. Will come in part way and has a skeletal triceratops and marilith. 28 AC; has Tomb-Tainted Soul, Corpsecrafter, and Retributive Destruction feats so that if she manages to animate enemy soldiers she'll have exploding zombies. I allowed her to use Advanced Learning to learn Desecrate (I thought it was Necromancy and almost gave it to her for free anyway because they should have it) and she carries the stuff to animate dead 64 HD of undead (she can animate up to 56 more HD of undead without losing control of any of them) and she can turn them into zombie bombs.
The elves in this world have +2 Con, +4 Str, and +6 to everything else, DR 10/cold iron, SR, woodland stride, 40-ft speed, immunity to enchantment and disease, resistance to poison and mind-affecting effects, can speak with animals, see invisibility, detect magic and use ghost sound at will. They have 1/day entangle, and Charm Person 3/day. The more advanced troops have more SLAs (starting at 3rd with invisibility, and gaining [never earlier than a wizard or druid] greater invisibility, dominate animal, tree stride, charm monster, mass charm person, maybe all the way up to Greater Dispel Magic) and they might be able to bum a Control Weather effect off an ally although they don't get that high level in the battle (I'm not throwing anyone above 11th at the PCs).
The PCs can make skill checks to know all the SLAs available to the elves and Charm, Invisibility, and See Invisibility are common knowledge as is their DR and SR (the elves are rather a public force in the world).
The PCs will have a force of winged wolf-men (flight as raptorans; divided into 3 subraces; hot-headed physical warriors, diplomats, and wizard/rogues but all of them got themselves captured already), humans, catfolks, and maybe halflings. The elves will also have orcs, goblins, and monsters as I see fit. The PCs will have the help of at least one human conjurer 3/Master Specialist 3//Druid 6 (the wizard//druid's former teacher).
Also to confirm my elves as evil, evil creatures their front line's battle standards will be still living captured scouts nailed to wood and carried by hobgoblin warriors. I'm thinking this might should force a morale check or give some sort of morale penalty on the PCs' forces (not the PCs themselves)
So any advice on running a battle in which the odds are stacked against the players but not so far that they will just be curbstomped. I want them to hurt the enemy, but ultimately be forced to fall back and abandon the town (giving them extra reason to hate the elves).
Actually any advice on running a battle at all? I've never ran a large scale battle before so anything would help.