Brendanicus
2015-03-20, 04:14 PM
So I need help with an encounter for a six-person party of level 5 characters. It's supposed to be just challenging enough to make them think and keep things going for more than 5 rounds.
The Set-Up:
This part I think I've got down, but any suggestions would be appreciated. Players will be riding down a river, deep in a swamp. Their method of transportation will most likely be a raft, pulled by two domesticated hippos (common in this neck of the woods).
However, Goblinoid pirates will be stationed around a section of the river, waiting to ambush travelers. They will have a staggered line of bear traps hidden in the shallow water. When a hippo steps on one and either spooks or stops moving, the Goblins move in to attack.
The Actual Encounter:
Here's where it gets tricky. I don't know how Goblins could challenge the PC's without making them needlessly over-leveled. What I pictured was two teams of Goblins:
Team A would consist of a bunch of Rogues hidden in the tops of trees that grow in the middle of the river. These trees are connected by sturdy vines, essentially acting as tightropes between them. Therefore, a Goblin stationed in one tree could make it to another tree if that's where it was needed for a raid.
Anyway, Team A's job would be to distract the PC's long enough for Team B to arrive. Some would leap onto the raft and Fight Defensively, some would remain arboreal and use bows.
Team B consists of the muscle and those not agile enough to be in Team A. The pirates would keep a canoe hidden in the reeds at the shore. In it would be the less well-trained Goblins and at least one Bugbear Fighter, acting as leadership. They would make their way to the raft while the PC's are fighting Team A, with the Bugbears firing from their canoe the whole time.
If Team B boards the raft, the Goblin peons would Aid Another to Grapple PC's, and the Bugbears would cut down anybody who looks dangerous.
How does that sound? Any changes you would make? I might give Team A a sea-shanty spewing Bard to spice things up.
The Set-Up:
This part I think I've got down, but any suggestions would be appreciated. Players will be riding down a river, deep in a swamp. Their method of transportation will most likely be a raft, pulled by two domesticated hippos (common in this neck of the woods).
However, Goblinoid pirates will be stationed around a section of the river, waiting to ambush travelers. They will have a staggered line of bear traps hidden in the shallow water. When a hippo steps on one and either spooks or stops moving, the Goblins move in to attack.
The Actual Encounter:
Here's where it gets tricky. I don't know how Goblins could challenge the PC's without making them needlessly over-leveled. What I pictured was two teams of Goblins:
Team A would consist of a bunch of Rogues hidden in the tops of trees that grow in the middle of the river. These trees are connected by sturdy vines, essentially acting as tightropes between them. Therefore, a Goblin stationed in one tree could make it to another tree if that's where it was needed for a raid.
Anyway, Team A's job would be to distract the PC's long enough for Team B to arrive. Some would leap onto the raft and Fight Defensively, some would remain arboreal and use bows.
Team B consists of the muscle and those not agile enough to be in Team A. The pirates would keep a canoe hidden in the reeds at the shore. In it would be the less well-trained Goblins and at least one Bugbear Fighter, acting as leadership. They would make their way to the raft while the PC's are fighting Team A, with the Bugbears firing from their canoe the whole time.
If Team B boards the raft, the Goblin peons would Aid Another to Grapple PC's, and the Bugbears would cut down anybody who looks dangerous.
How does that sound? Any changes you would make? I might give Team A a sea-shanty spewing Bard to spice things up.