Bandits at Level 6 (D&D 3.5)

[Chester]

So.....

One of our party members decides to place a 500 gold bet on the party Warforged winning a drinking contest . . . in a tavern in an unknown town. They'd never been there before.

Yes, I explained that betting 500 gold on a drinking contest is like bringing $10,000 to church casino night.

Yes, I explained that such a bet might arouse suspicion, and maybe people would start questioning if betting against a Warforged in a drinking contest is a bad idea.

No, I haven't yet discussed issues with encumbrance based on the amount of gold he claims to be carrying. But that's not the point.

Word's going to travel fast that some newcomers are carrying a ton of gold. They're going to be accosted by bandit, robbers, or what have you.

However, to make this an appropriate challenge, I can't just send common thugs after them. A weakness of mine as DM is that I often make the encounters too difficult or too easy; I have trouble finding a "just right" encounter.

So....can anyone help me out? Just throw a dozen low-level thugs at them and pin them down with archers? Have some tougher brutes accost them? (The encounter would likely happen after they leave the confines of the city, which will happen shortly.)

Thanks!

[Blackhawk748]

Ok i need information, how many party members, what their classes are and what their rough builds are.

[Inevitability]

Kobold bandits. Kobold sorcerer bandits.

The forest road you're seeing? That's a Silent Image. Beneath is a 20 ft. deep pit, which has been covered in repeated castings of Create Trap. Kobolds are ready to pour barrels of oil into the pit and ignite them, while some more kobolds have crossbows ready to take down any flying foes.

[Dr TPK]

Some ideas:

1. They are not only bandits, but cultists too. A cult of Erythnul or maybe even CE cult of Olidammara would not turn down an opportunity to have some random violence at some random place. Are there any good guys in the group? Has (s)he told anyone that (s)he's a good guy? The cultists have heard this, will sacrifice the goodie and earn 0 to 1000000 extra divine favor points. Divine favor points don't exist? The leader of the cult hasn't read that memo.
2. Sociopathic war veterans that have just returned from a war and they want to continue killing. They are very good at it too and can make money in that way. You have some war veterans that keep in touch with each other. One hears about the rich strangers that can fight pretty well. "We already kicked the demon army's butt, we can take their gold too!"
3. A shapeshifter has been close to the PCs all the time and attacks them at the most vulnerable moment when they travel. See Miha Serani, she's in the PDF: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060217a
She's powerful, but won't kill the PCs if she can get the gold. She will let them flee and accepts surrender (make her CN) if she can just get away with the gold.

[J-H]

3 wilderness rogues (level 3) using shortbows from trees, with the Rapid Shot feat. Each of the 4 will be shooting 2 2d6 sneak attacks per round for 3d6 per hit. All 4 are in trees, 15' up, on one side of the road. The party may get partial concealment/cover against them by leaving the road to the other side, but that'll put them in some difficult terrain.

Behind the party:
4 mooks (level 2 warriors) with a mix of weapons: 1 scythe, 1 quarterstaff, 1 longspear (reach weapon!), 1 club+buckler

In front of the party:
1 3rd-level ranger TWFing with sickles
1 3rd-level sorc (cha 14, 4 spells per day, 3 spells known). Backup weapon is a dagger. Spells known: Color Spray (stuns for 1 round at 5HD), Magic Missile, Grease (lasts 3 rounds)
The Leader: 4th-level Warblade wielding a +1 Heavy Flail. Maneuvers readied: Moment of Perfect Mind, Steel Wind, Stone Bones, Wall of Blades
Stance: Stance of Clarity (+2 ac vs 1 foe, -2 ac vs others)

I don't have an EL calculator; you may need to take out the ranger and one or two of the rogue archers to make this reasonable.

Loot:
+1 heavy flail
Least crystal of energy assault (cold), on the ranger
20 +1 arrows
10 cold iron arrows
10 silver arrows
Eternal wand of Light (sorc)
Boots of Stealth (rogue, +2 mwk tool of Hide + Move Silently)
Masterwork buckler
Masterwork longspear
1 everfull mug (it's 12oz ale 3/day)
39 gp, 140sp, 423cp.
Plot hook: The warblade has a battered signet ring that a DC15 K: nobility check will say marks him as a member of a mid-ranked noble family. He also has a folded Wanted: Dead or Alive poster in his vest from a kingdom at least 3 week's travel away. Alleged crimes include theft, blasphemy, and dishonorable behavior. The reward for his head is 5,000gp. The poster has a lot of writing scrawled over it, but heat and moisture have blurred enough of it that you can only make out a few words: "lies," "hope," "betrayers," "give up," and "Melissa."

Tactics: They can either show themselves & demand money (no surprise round), or attack at once. The rogues get a surprise round (1 attack each) as the rest move to block the road. They will try to close with the party at once (except the sorc) but are obviously not well-trained (the spearman will be in front and the rear mooks will get in each other's way). Assuming a 15' wide space, the ranger & warblade will advance down the sides, so there's a line for someone to charge the sorc...at the cost of eating two AOOs.

The rogues will probably be the hardest ones to kill since they have soft cover (+4ac) and are out of range of melee.

[Chester]

Ok i need information, how many party members, what their classes are and what their rough builds are.

Warforged Barbarian / Fighter
Human Fighter / Artificer
Elan Transmuter / Psion
Human Paladin of Freedom / Sorcerer
Human Monk / Cleric


Lots of detailed stuff

That's a lot more detailed than I expected . . . so thanks! :smallbiggrin:

[noob]

The forest road you're seeing? That's a Silent Image. Beneath is a 20 ft. deep pit, which has been covered in repeated castings of Create Trap. Kobolds are ready to pour barrels of oil into the pit and ignite them, while some more kobolds have crossbows ready to take down any flying foes.
You do not yet even know if those adventurers walks at all.
Crossbows are rather weak: You are better off with some scrolls for first round efficiency then using up right after bows for higher damage per turn.



Word's going to travel fast that some newcomers are carrying a ton of gold. They're going to be accosted by bandit, robbers, or what have you.
Realistic bandits would attack people only if they were sure to have no losses in men/women.
There might be no bandits wanting to take the risk if the adventurers looks too much powerful(And being a ragtag group of random people having a lot of money is generally the proof you are a group of adventurers and such kind of thing can be super ultra lethal so mostly nobody would realistically want to fight them)
So either the bandits will be largely overcred (+8 or more) or there will be no bandits because else they will mostly be unsafe and no bandits wants to have an huge risk of dying.

[Tvtyrant]

The "bandits" are a youbg red dragon and a tribe of kobolds which worship him. The leaders of the tribe have class levels, and the dragon wants the gold for his horde.

[icefractal]

While it might not be an appropriate challenge, this seems like a case where going the naturalistic route might feel more plausible, as well as giving the party a way to realistically notice how much **** they're in before it goes south.

There's a whole range of bandits, from well-organized and skilled bands to single unimpressive thugs. The latter are likely to be the first to strike, the smarter bandits watching to see what the party's strengths and weaknesses are - plus, if a crap thug does manage to beat the PCs, the watching elites can just swoop in and take the loot.

So start with a few groups of unimpressive bandits (L1-4 or so), using basic tactics not tailored to the PCs. Also with some more competent ones hiding and watching, which the PCs might spot if they get lucky. Then after they've had time to learn, more elite bandits start attacking, using smarter tactics. There might still be a few random thug attacks interspersed in there. This keeps going until either the PCs have fled, defeated all the bandits in the vicinity, or demonstrated enough prowess that the others decide it's not worth fighting them for 500gp.

[John Longarrow]

I'd have real fun with the party. Level 5 bard in the tavern comes over and starts talking/partying with the party. Bard is trying to get them a little drunk so he/she can use slight of hand to steal from them. Best part, if the party catches them the patrons in the bar like the bard. If the party goes lethal in the bar they will wind up killing a LOT of 'civilians'. That would get the local constable after them.

Trick is use some non-combat options here. Party is being silly in an RP setting. Use an RP response that makes sense.

NOTE: Reasons to go with a bard who's also a pick pocket-
1) They would already be there - easy to explain
2) Patrons would already know the bard (local entertainer)
3) Bard wouldn't just steal from most people, but the party isn't most people. They obviously have waaay to much money
4) Bard can have a massive diplomacy/bluff/sense motive so they should be able to get the party to over indulge pretty easily, thus making it harder to notice getting your purse cut.
5) By 5th level a Bard should have some neat get out of town tricks. Let the drunk party go looking for them after they've just had 1000gp and some goodies lifted. Bard will be long gone and won't come back to town for a season or two.

Combat should be the last option for dealing with this kind of behavior. Just let them find out that going around flashing your wealth in a poor area isn't a good idea.