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View Full Version : 4e arena - random effects - balance advice please



Der Großmann
2013-04-11, 11:08 AM
I'm looking for some balance in a combat encounter.

The group is at level 10, and will have 2 fights coming up [usual amount we get to play per session] and we have come to enjoy having more aspects to encounters, such as defending a caravan, destroying an evil device, etc.

They are in the underground castle of a false-god, who has been defeated above ground by the heroes, but now has lured them to his domain where he plans to toy with them, and then kill them.

He has already tried killing them under the guise of a "game" which was more like a death trap.

Now he is going to invite them to fight in his Chaos Arena [working title].

The group would start in one corner, and have different villains in the other ones, and in the middle would be the statue of a Beholder.

I plan to divide the arena into four, and roll two d4s on its initiative [or that of an enemy] and have it launch an "attack" on those parts of the map.

Then it rolls onc more d4 for each quarter. EG:

1. Deals x damage on all creatures in the area.
2. Heals x amount
3. Inflicts x status effects.
4. Terrain-effect. Difficult terrain maybe?

Some final info: the group will not have any particular AOE spells, so I can probably use a smaller map. And HPs range from ~58 to 100

So, questions:


What damage would make sense for this level? Straight up amount, eg 10, or a dice roll. A d10 or d12?
Do you think this would work on smaller and larger battlefields? I am tempted to have the final fight against the boss [not a solo] in a similar arena, but larger.
Have you ever done something like this?