lycantrope
2013-07-18, 12:54 AM
Hello gitip, first time poster, long time lurker, and newbie DM here looking for an assist in challenging my players without accidentally killing them.
First, the party details. This is our high downtime evil campaign. The metaphorical gang wamted to start a real, make believe gang. Ive allowed all official and homebrew-per-review content, and the players have returned the favor with the following builds:
(note: everyone is playing an la1 race)
The party face: a level 2 marshall focusing on being passable at ranged combat and making epic level diplomacy checks that caused me to immediately nerf diplomacy to something acceptable to all parties. In combat he usually opens with an assured success demoralize.
The party tank: a low op goliath crusader.
The party caster: a level 2 hexblade. Not much of a threat to anyone yet.
The party wild card: a high op dvati swordsage. Front loads damage like a beast, but nearly killed himself in the last encounter with a natural 1.
The skill monkey: a low op spelltheif. So, technically there are no casters in the group yet. Also, for the purposes of the encounter Im asking for help evaluating, the spellthief may not be present due to real life obligations (its always last minute, so delaying the game is not an option).
So, to summarize, its an ecl3 party of melee characters wildly varied in optimization. Its probably more accurate to refer to them as ecl2.5, however, since only the dvati and goliath have drastically affected.combat due to racial characteristics, especially the dvati. One final note: most, if not all, of them have the flaw that gives -4 to spot. This will be important.
The encounter:
Encounter -- gnome manhunter
10 str
17 dex
16 con
13 int
10 wis
6 cha
27 hp
30 speed
13 ac
3 init
6 fort 6 reflex 1 will
7 attack, -5 grapple
Comp longbow 1d6 x3 165 range
Feats:
Endurance, track, pbs, far shot, rapid shot, skill focus hide, weapon focus, noncombatant, vulnerable
Farsighted
Skills
20 hide, 13 move silently, 9 spot
Ive only listed the relevant skills of the enemy. Surely in straight combat they could take this wimp down, but this is a *hard* campaign. The premise is that the party will Stumble upon an arrow filled half minotaur dungeoncrasher hiding behind his cart full of fine plunders. When the party is in sight he will yell for them to take cover, and i will tell them to roll initiative. Both the bull and the gnome will have their intiative prerolled to keep them on their toes, though this will count as a surprise round in the partys favor. Whoever doesnt take cover or hit the deck during the surprise round is likely to get shot with an arrow as soon as its the gnomes turn. Knowing the marshall, its likely to be him as he tries to diplomance his way into the minotaurs stash.
This is where my difficulty in evaluating this encounter lies: the only way i see it being any sort of challenge is if the gnome is two range increments away and sniping while hiding. Maybe one and a half, at least. I see a few ways of surviving this poacher for the group, but Im very much antirailroad when it comes to game running. I guess what im asking is, how likely is the described party to survive this kind of encounter with zero party death if they decide to rush into the line of fire, normandy style? I would allow just about any roleplay solution to work in their favor, but my concern is that the first arrow coming from an unseen enemy in the distance will lead to a head on assault. Any suggestions for improving their survival odds are greatly appreciated. Remember, the highest spot check in the group is likely to be a 1 or 2, so location discovery would likely be limited to the gnome developing an allergy to dm fiat and letting out a loud, poorly timed sneeze when someone is in range to reasonably hear it.
Thank you!
First, the party details. This is our high downtime evil campaign. The metaphorical gang wamted to start a real, make believe gang. Ive allowed all official and homebrew-per-review content, and the players have returned the favor with the following builds:
(note: everyone is playing an la1 race)
The party face: a level 2 marshall focusing on being passable at ranged combat and making epic level diplomacy checks that caused me to immediately nerf diplomacy to something acceptable to all parties. In combat he usually opens with an assured success demoralize.
The party tank: a low op goliath crusader.
The party caster: a level 2 hexblade. Not much of a threat to anyone yet.
The party wild card: a high op dvati swordsage. Front loads damage like a beast, but nearly killed himself in the last encounter with a natural 1.
The skill monkey: a low op spelltheif. So, technically there are no casters in the group yet. Also, for the purposes of the encounter Im asking for help evaluating, the spellthief may not be present due to real life obligations (its always last minute, so delaying the game is not an option).
So, to summarize, its an ecl3 party of melee characters wildly varied in optimization. Its probably more accurate to refer to them as ecl2.5, however, since only the dvati and goliath have drastically affected.combat due to racial characteristics, especially the dvati. One final note: most, if not all, of them have the flaw that gives -4 to spot. This will be important.
The encounter:
Encounter -- gnome manhunter
10 str
17 dex
16 con
13 int
10 wis
6 cha
27 hp
30 speed
13 ac
3 init
6 fort 6 reflex 1 will
7 attack, -5 grapple
Comp longbow 1d6 x3 165 range
Feats:
Endurance, track, pbs, far shot, rapid shot, skill focus hide, weapon focus, noncombatant, vulnerable
Farsighted
Skills
20 hide, 13 move silently, 9 spot
Ive only listed the relevant skills of the enemy. Surely in straight combat they could take this wimp down, but this is a *hard* campaign. The premise is that the party will Stumble upon an arrow filled half minotaur dungeoncrasher hiding behind his cart full of fine plunders. When the party is in sight he will yell for them to take cover, and i will tell them to roll initiative. Both the bull and the gnome will have their intiative prerolled to keep them on their toes, though this will count as a surprise round in the partys favor. Whoever doesnt take cover or hit the deck during the surprise round is likely to get shot with an arrow as soon as its the gnomes turn. Knowing the marshall, its likely to be him as he tries to diplomance his way into the minotaurs stash.
This is where my difficulty in evaluating this encounter lies: the only way i see it being any sort of challenge is if the gnome is two range increments away and sniping while hiding. Maybe one and a half, at least. I see a few ways of surviving this poacher for the group, but Im very much antirailroad when it comes to game running. I guess what im asking is, how likely is the described party to survive this kind of encounter with zero party death if they decide to rush into the line of fire, normandy style? I would allow just about any roleplay solution to work in their favor, but my concern is that the first arrow coming from an unseen enemy in the distance will lead to a head on assault. Any suggestions for improving their survival odds are greatly appreciated. Remember, the highest spot check in the group is likely to be a 1 or 2, so location discovery would likely be limited to the gnome developing an allergy to dm fiat and letting out a loud, poorly timed sneeze when someone is in range to reasonably hear it.
Thank you!