Making it fair

[AlanBruce]

Greetings! My game has taken a nice turn as the party is currently exploring an old abandoned abbey in some remote ape populated island.



ECL 13 human DMM cleric/druid- this guy buffs up all day and attacks with a starmetal scythe that has at least 3 different enhancements on it. Main damage dealer.

ECL 13 grey elf conjurer- god wizard and occasional blaster. Keeps the group alive with judicious use of contingencies, celerities, and short range teleports to place his friends in advantageous positions. Has the Abrupt Jaunt ACF.

ECL 11 merfolk sorcerer/IoTSV- when she's not flying or being invisible, this mermaid is counter dispelling or dimensionally locking people down for good measure, allowing the main melee to cut them down. Good at what she does, will most likley get better once she acquires more wards.

ECL 11 human cleric- what it says. This guy uses a bow and when he's not shooting people with very good accuracy, he's using great blast spells that compensate with the other cleric's self buffs. Can decimate undead with a good selection of light themed spells like sunburst and lucent lance.



ECL 11 half elf rogue/dread pirate- rogue type. Uses a kukri and rapier. Can't fight undead that well. Against living creatures and if allowed to flank, brutal.

ECl 10 darfellan ranger/leviathan hunter- uses a short spear with an electric enhancement. Solid melee with the cleric/druid, especially when fighting Large or larger opponents.

ECL 10 hadozee bard/virtuoso- he sings, he buffs from afar. He ocassionaly uses haste. Extra damage never hurt anyone. Can use a rapier when necessary.



Vilewight (BOVD) warlock 5 with the evolved undead (LM) and a tweaked version of the Saint Template (BOED), adjusting some aspects to protect against good rather than evil.

Mohrg paladin of slaughter2 *2- these guys are the muscle here. They have Awesome Smite and Divine Might, amingst other melee oriented feats. They can do decent damage.

Ghast gishes *2 (rgr1/sor6/EK1). These guys are sneaky and rely on leap Attack + wraithstrike to overcome high AC.

Heucuva MT *2 (going sorcerer route). These guys cast as 6th level cleric and 6th level sorcerers. They have Divine Defiance, in case any of the casters tries something funny like, well, casting.

Wight rogue3/swahbuckler3 *3- these guys sneak around and try to get in some hits taking advantage of Daring Outlaw and Weapon Finesse.

Bar Lgura (FC 1) *3- these guys are there mainly so the npcs can shine a little and the rogue can get a SA for one. Their abduction ability should completely fail against the PCs (they all have really high will saves + buffs). the npcs… not so much.


The area they'll fight in is Unhallowed with Freedom of Movement. The party has yet to even come close to this fight, having just had their first encounter against a lone mohrg paladin.

I would like the fight to be challenging, but as I write this, it may be too much for the party to handle, so if any could please provide any ideas/suggestions. perhaops cut the number of enemies in half? Take away levels/templates? Would the Unhallowed area's secondary effect (in this case FoM) benefit the enemies, or everyone (heroes included)

Thank you in advance.

[Brookshw]

It's not bad. What role are the npc's likely to play in all this? The bad guys all at once could be fairly tough but they're not invincible, especially if the other npcs are offering info in advance on the type of opponents the pcs are up against.

I wouldn't sweat it too much but the execution could impact things quite a bit. If you're that concerned, stagger the baddies at first til you have an idea how the parties handling them and adjust from there.

[AlanBruce]

What role are the npc's likely to play in all this?

The hadozee uses his Lore ability to give away some information about what they are finding along the way (oddly enough, the two divine casters in the party rolled really low against the mohrg to ID it). He also has UMD maxxed in order to use the various wands the party has entrusted him mid and post battle.

The Darfellan is additional muscle. He may not be able to crit undead, but the party's mage did chain GMW on everyone, making him a solid runner up for damage.

The half elf rogue is there to find and if possible, disarm any traps they should find. He does not have ranks in UMD, so his main conribution is as a skill monkey and when possible, Sneak Attacker.


If you're that concerned, stagger the baddies at first til you have an idea how the parties handling them and adjust from there.

If the players are smart, they'll open up with spellcraft to ID any effects in the area before fighting (oddly enough, they rarely if ever use that skill). I did hand the npc sheets to my players (hadozee, darfellan, and half elf). so that they may play them and use their abilities at their own disposal, jotting down some notes on what they do, but merely as guidelines.

I figured I already had too many npcs to run on my own and they do not mind having an extra sheet to handle.