Efrate
2016-05-28, 03:58 PM
Ok here is the scenario, my 3.5 campaign of 6 years is coming to and end, and through many deaths and people coming and going, we have ended with a very mixed optimization group. I am having issues coming up with encounters that provide a reasonable challenge to the group, and would like help.
Party is:
Ubercharger, fairly well optimized frenzied berserker, able to one shot/one round anything I throw at them.
Seeker of the song, with a highly optimized perform check and a ton of bardic music.
Arcane Heiorphant, reasonably optimized with a nasty fleshraker (no venomfire).
A catfolk two weapon rogue/shadowdancer 1, fairly low op but super stealthy and able to provide a lot of spike damage.
A warshaper fairly low op (tibbit, fighter entry)who grows a fist to punch people as a cat
A killoren ranger who uses a bow to get a single good shot occasionally with hunter's mercy (very low op)
I need to let everyone shine, and am coming up with issues. Party levels range from 15 to 17.
Dungeon is a series of portals connecting various planar locations/demiplanes spread through out the multiverse. Once you go in, you need to go through, its pretty hard to get out.
Encounters so far:
Stepping into the green, the home plane of the fey. RP encounter, using skills and RP to gather information about many things involving said dungeon with an ancient powerful fey lord who speaks mostly in verse.
Plane of air, fighting a very angry earth elemental monolith who is trapped on a sky island. Focuses on pushing people off the island or entombing them in it. Combat, fairy straightforward. Will likely have some mooks to assist, not sure what.
Paragon succubus in a special abilities allowed demiplane attached to the outlands. Essentially a library for a trapped pleasure slave, she is bored, vastly knowledgable, and knows about the next few immediate encounters as well as the BBEG (an epicly advanced great wyrm green dragon who is testing the PCs before allying with them in a bid to kill a god). This can be RP, combat, or a combination of both.
Pseudonatural eryines (epic template) with an absurd ac. This is combat but the run in and wack it strat will not work because of the AC being stupendous. Need a lot of help from casters to make this managable.
A variation on the warding of the dead encounter from the book of challenges (pg. 53). This takes place on the negative energy plane, and is essentially a giant room with every square barring a 10 foot walkway on either side of the room, having a trapped tile with a negative energy effect that varies in strength and has a picture of an undead carved into the floor. 6 pillars support the ceiling and shoot various elemental/spell rays at non-undead randomly each turn. The room is occupied by several undead (unsure on types, spectres, ghosts, vampires, liches all possible). Non-undead Flying over the tiles trigger 2 rays as a proximity trigger each round at the flyer in addition to the one random ray, and triggers the trapped tile as well. Pillars can be broken, or disarmed, as can all the tiles which can also be dispelled (pillars cannot, magic is contained inside), undead make that harder and are healed by the glyphs.
On Mechanus, they have 4 normal iron golems and a max advanced awakened iron golem who is suffering an existential crisis and won't join combat until the others are dealt with. The golem is disturbed by the notion of death and a body at his feet. He's been this way for some time.
On a layer of the Abyss known as the plane of apathy (zahhak from mongoose publishing) they are confronted by ennui and the loss of their passions, and the only way out is to defeat a powerful demon and upset the delicate balance of power on the plane, home to a supposedly dead/sleeping god. They are also all marked personally by Asmodaeus. They will need to be stealthy, diplomatic, or run through a nearly limitless gauntlet of demons.
An encounter on some kind of plane (no idea which) in a lab whereas some kind of highly powerful mad scientist type something has made a lot of weird specimens of things. Thinking esoteric templates and creatures. Maybe the one obiryth(proto-demons) that has thralls? Or perhaps a yugoloth? Either powerful or with quite a few class levels. Lots of hazards and clutter, like vats of acid, odd infernal-esque machinery, and some such. No straight lines, lots of potential environmental issues.
I feel I need 6 to 12 more along these lines, and help filling in the blanks. I want a mix of combat and skill focused encounters, possibly some more RP, and ways to make each particular PC feel useful, but still provide a challenge.
All locations on non-material plane, faerun cosmology however due to the nature of the planes stuff elsewhere is fine.
Please and thanks.
Party is:
Ubercharger, fairly well optimized frenzied berserker, able to one shot/one round anything I throw at them.
Seeker of the song, with a highly optimized perform check and a ton of bardic music.
Arcane Heiorphant, reasonably optimized with a nasty fleshraker (no venomfire).
A catfolk two weapon rogue/shadowdancer 1, fairly low op but super stealthy and able to provide a lot of spike damage.
A warshaper fairly low op (tibbit, fighter entry)who grows a fist to punch people as a cat
A killoren ranger who uses a bow to get a single good shot occasionally with hunter's mercy (very low op)
I need to let everyone shine, and am coming up with issues. Party levels range from 15 to 17.
Dungeon is a series of portals connecting various planar locations/demiplanes spread through out the multiverse. Once you go in, you need to go through, its pretty hard to get out.
Encounters so far:
Stepping into the green, the home plane of the fey. RP encounter, using skills and RP to gather information about many things involving said dungeon with an ancient powerful fey lord who speaks mostly in verse.
Plane of air, fighting a very angry earth elemental monolith who is trapped on a sky island. Focuses on pushing people off the island or entombing them in it. Combat, fairy straightforward. Will likely have some mooks to assist, not sure what.
Paragon succubus in a special abilities allowed demiplane attached to the outlands. Essentially a library for a trapped pleasure slave, she is bored, vastly knowledgable, and knows about the next few immediate encounters as well as the BBEG (an epicly advanced great wyrm green dragon who is testing the PCs before allying with them in a bid to kill a god). This can be RP, combat, or a combination of both.
Pseudonatural eryines (epic template) with an absurd ac. This is combat but the run in and wack it strat will not work because of the AC being stupendous. Need a lot of help from casters to make this managable.
A variation on the warding of the dead encounter from the book of challenges (pg. 53). This takes place on the negative energy plane, and is essentially a giant room with every square barring a 10 foot walkway on either side of the room, having a trapped tile with a negative energy effect that varies in strength and has a picture of an undead carved into the floor. 6 pillars support the ceiling and shoot various elemental/spell rays at non-undead randomly each turn. The room is occupied by several undead (unsure on types, spectres, ghosts, vampires, liches all possible). Non-undead Flying over the tiles trigger 2 rays as a proximity trigger each round at the flyer in addition to the one random ray, and triggers the trapped tile as well. Pillars can be broken, or disarmed, as can all the tiles which can also be dispelled (pillars cannot, magic is contained inside), undead make that harder and are healed by the glyphs.
On Mechanus, they have 4 normal iron golems and a max advanced awakened iron golem who is suffering an existential crisis and won't join combat until the others are dealt with. The golem is disturbed by the notion of death and a body at his feet. He's been this way for some time.
On a layer of the Abyss known as the plane of apathy (zahhak from mongoose publishing) they are confronted by ennui and the loss of their passions, and the only way out is to defeat a powerful demon and upset the delicate balance of power on the plane, home to a supposedly dead/sleeping god. They are also all marked personally by Asmodaeus. They will need to be stealthy, diplomatic, or run through a nearly limitless gauntlet of demons.
An encounter on some kind of plane (no idea which) in a lab whereas some kind of highly powerful mad scientist type something has made a lot of weird specimens of things. Thinking esoteric templates and creatures. Maybe the one obiryth(proto-demons) that has thralls? Or perhaps a yugoloth? Either powerful or with quite a few class levels. Lots of hazards and clutter, like vats of acid, odd infernal-esque machinery, and some such. No straight lines, lots of potential environmental issues.
I feel I need 6 to 12 more along these lines, and help filling in the blanks. I want a mix of combat and skill focused encounters, possibly some more RP, and ways to make each particular PC feel useful, but still provide a challenge.
All locations on non-material plane, faerun cosmology however due to the nature of the planes stuff elsewhere is fine.
Please and thanks.