DarkEternal
2014-06-11, 05:09 PM
Hello, Playground
In the campaign I'm leading the party will soon go against a general that they served before and betrayed. To be honest, it was the empire that betrayed them, but that general doesn't know that and he's blindly loyal to the empire so more likely than not there will be an encounter out of this. Now, the party is level 10(Scout, wizard, Dervish, weretiger with a spiked chain and a hell of a lot of trip attempts and a homebrew character that focuses on using elementals to fight which is very annoying since they focus on ranged touch attacks that deal a crapload of damage and are immune to most stuff). I go on a tangent here, so I'll wrap spoilers around the next.
Anyway. I'd like to make it a challenging encounter since it is sort of dramatic. This guy was basically a father figure to the party for the most of their lives and now they will fight him(at the very least that's the idea, but in DnD...things don't often go as they are planned) to the death. I'd like to make it so that the party can win, but that they at the very least worry or think that it might not go so easily. The problem is the wizard(of course) and the homebrew character. Wizard has some really good crowd control spells(such as Black Tentacles), plus all the Heart spells cast on him so he's basically uncrittable and has a freedom of movement on himself, not to mention he's got that ACF that exchanges a familiar for a short range teleport as an immediate action. The homebrew one has AC like 40, great healing spells(which to be frank is my fault in giving it to him, but it was story related), and has three elementals at his side which have like 35 AC or something and more hp than the wizard of the group(plus all the resistances that elementals usually have), they also hit for 4d6 ranged touch with every blow.
Now, I know I'm ranting but I believe it's important for what comes next. The general will probably be a Warblade, level 13, focused mainly on the Iron Heart school. I was thinking his two liutenants will be paladins that will fight in this fight with him(level 10). I'm mixing some Pathfinder material here with 3.5, so they'll be Pathfinder paladins. One will be with the Oathbound paladin with the Oath of loyalty for the general, basically there to soak damage done to the general and to provide bonuses while also hitting. I was thinking of focusing the other one on spellcasting(including 3.5 spells here). There are some good paladin spells, that would focus on taking out characters out of the fight, or at the very least making it harder for them to join.
Basically, I'd like at least for the first two rounds to be tense before they butcher these guys as adventurers often do. Was thinking of also adding a level 9-10 sorcerer or cleric into the mix, though I don't know which spells I'd take. I'm not too fond of cheesing it up(also, the PC's have saves through the roof already), but like I said, anything for a nice challenge.
Speaking of Pathfinder, to deal with the pesky teleporting wizard, I was thinking of using this in some way or other, maybe strapped on the shield or held on his back or something
(Taken from Pathfinder srd, alchemical stuff)
Blightburn Paste
This heavy stone box measures 2 feet to a side, and the tiny compartment inside is lined with lead. Inside the compartment is a half-ounce of deep green paste. This paste is made of animal fat mixed with ground-up blightburn. Once the box is opened, blightburn paste limits teleportation within 60 feet and irradiates anyone within 60 feet, afflicting them with blightburn sickness (see sidebar for details on both effects). Any creature that touches the paste is afflicted with blightburn sickness (no save), and takes 2d6 points of fire damage per round until the paste is cleaned away with a successful DC 15 Heal check.
Create: Craft (alchemy) DC 30
Blightburn: The mineral blightburn is a green-glowing crystal and burns anyone who touches it, dealing 2d6 points of fire damage per round of contact, and its radiation causes blightburn sickness.
The substance also limits teleportation. Anyone casting a teleportation spell in or teleporting to a cavern with blightburn in its walls must succeed at a DC 30 caster level check.
Which leads to the aftermath. I've given some odd 50k worth of equipment to the general thus far, and that's without including a weapon. I've been thinking of a brilliant energy one(to get pass the pesky AC of some characters), but do I really want to give them over a hundred thousand gold from one character alone? That's without even equipping the others. So, what should I do, is my question to make it interesting, and yet not having to deal with the fallout of giving too much?
In the campaign I'm leading the party will soon go against a general that they served before and betrayed. To be honest, it was the empire that betrayed them, but that general doesn't know that and he's blindly loyal to the empire so more likely than not there will be an encounter out of this. Now, the party is level 10(Scout, wizard, Dervish, weretiger with a spiked chain and a hell of a lot of trip attempts and a homebrew character that focuses on using elementals to fight which is very annoying since they focus on ranged touch attacks that deal a crapload of damage and are immune to most stuff). I go on a tangent here, so I'll wrap spoilers around the next.
Anyway. I'd like to make it a challenging encounter since it is sort of dramatic. This guy was basically a father figure to the party for the most of their lives and now they will fight him(at the very least that's the idea, but in DnD...things don't often go as they are planned) to the death. I'd like to make it so that the party can win, but that they at the very least worry or think that it might not go so easily. The problem is the wizard(of course) and the homebrew character. Wizard has some really good crowd control spells(such as Black Tentacles), plus all the Heart spells cast on him so he's basically uncrittable and has a freedom of movement on himself, not to mention he's got that ACF that exchanges a familiar for a short range teleport as an immediate action. The homebrew one has AC like 40, great healing spells(which to be frank is my fault in giving it to him, but it was story related), and has three elementals at his side which have like 35 AC or something and more hp than the wizard of the group(plus all the resistances that elementals usually have), they also hit for 4d6 ranged touch with every blow.
Now, I know I'm ranting but I believe it's important for what comes next. The general will probably be a Warblade, level 13, focused mainly on the Iron Heart school. I was thinking his two liutenants will be paladins that will fight in this fight with him(level 10). I'm mixing some Pathfinder material here with 3.5, so they'll be Pathfinder paladins. One will be with the Oathbound paladin with the Oath of loyalty for the general, basically there to soak damage done to the general and to provide bonuses while also hitting. I was thinking of focusing the other one on spellcasting(including 3.5 spells here). There are some good paladin spells, that would focus on taking out characters out of the fight, or at the very least making it harder for them to join.
Basically, I'd like at least for the first two rounds to be tense before they butcher these guys as adventurers often do. Was thinking of also adding a level 9-10 sorcerer or cleric into the mix, though I don't know which spells I'd take. I'm not too fond of cheesing it up(also, the PC's have saves through the roof already), but like I said, anything for a nice challenge.
Speaking of Pathfinder, to deal with the pesky teleporting wizard, I was thinking of using this in some way or other, maybe strapped on the shield or held on his back or something
(Taken from Pathfinder srd, alchemical stuff)
Blightburn Paste
This heavy stone box measures 2 feet to a side, and the tiny compartment inside is lined with lead. Inside the compartment is a half-ounce of deep green paste. This paste is made of animal fat mixed with ground-up blightburn. Once the box is opened, blightburn paste limits teleportation within 60 feet and irradiates anyone within 60 feet, afflicting them with blightburn sickness (see sidebar for details on both effects). Any creature that touches the paste is afflicted with blightburn sickness (no save), and takes 2d6 points of fire damage per round until the paste is cleaned away with a successful DC 15 Heal check.
Create: Craft (alchemy) DC 30
Blightburn: The mineral blightburn is a green-glowing crystal and burns anyone who touches it, dealing 2d6 points of fire damage per round of contact, and its radiation causes blightburn sickness.
The substance also limits teleportation. Anyone casting a teleportation spell in or teleporting to a cavern with blightburn in its walls must succeed at a DC 30 caster level check.
Which leads to the aftermath. I've given some odd 50k worth of equipment to the general thus far, and that's without including a weapon. I've been thinking of a brilliant energy one(to get pass the pesky AC of some characters), but do I really want to give them over a hundred thousand gold from one character alone? That's without even equipping the others. So, what should I do, is my question to make it interesting, and yet not having to deal with the fallout of giving too much?