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Elhann
2013-04-22, 08:10 AM
Hello, Playgrounders.

I'm DMing for a group of friends, and as part of their current adventure, they're going to face the Wight bomb. Or at least, the inital stages. (There are a couple of fans of the Walking Dead, so I'm sure they'll enjoy it :smallamused: )

Thing is, they're going to a very town that has been overrun by a vampire cult, and now most of the townsfolk is either a wight, or fleeing from one. So, if they want to do what they were going to do in the town, they'll have to find a way to defeat about 20 wights (In 3 groups of 4, 8 and 8)

FWIW, the group is level 6, all humans. They're a mercenary band:
# druid with leopard companion. Fairly new to the game, her favourite animal forms are leopard (for double feline action in combat) and eagle (for scouting).
# warblade. Focus on White raven and diamond mind, sword'n'board.
# barbarian. Leaping attack is his best tactic.
# scout. he has the worst luck with his spot checks, but he has good ideas out of combat, and as long as he is able to use his skirmish, decent in combat
# evoker (forbidden necro and enchantment). He is a lightning based blaster, but he understands the strategic value of glitterdust and haste.
# bard. basically, comic relief. The player is a huge fan of Deadpool, and it shows.

The problem, as you can probably see, is that any of them is 6 hits away from turning into another wight. I don't think the scenario is impossible, or that any of them should die (the wights need at least a 15 to hit any of the meleers, and I'd be VERY surprised if any of the others allow a wight to come close to them), but I'm worried about a few lucky rolls causing character attachment problems. As in "I liked my drunk barbarian, and now he is pasty white and I need to roll another character".

Do you know another monster which would fit in this scenario, and still be somewhat challenging to the group without the draining touch problems?
I'm considering swapping some of the wights with ghasts, or zombies. But if you could give me some other options, it'd be great :smallbiggrin:

Thanks in advance!

BowStreetRunner
2013-04-22, 08:26 AM
Hereos of Horror has a template on page 153 called Tainted Minion which might work well for you and give you a great degree of flexibility in creating a diverse set of opponents. Essentially, it is a +1 CR template that you can apply to NPCs and monsters that gives them a few nice abilities, but also has great flavor that should work well with your campaign.