3.5 Red Hand of Doom Campaign Journal

[Anarxes]

Pickett, Masen, and others, please STAY OUT.

Hey guys, very long time lurker, first time poster, and fairly newish DM. I was hoping to have a place to post my own thoughts on this campaign as it is played and also a place for advice from DMs much more wise than myself.

Note to the mods: I read over the rules and I don't believe this would be in violation of any but if I need to edit anything or what have you please let me know. Love the community here and wouldn't want to start on the wrong foot. =D

Anyway, to the campaign.

So this is really my first time seriously DMing, though I have done one off games in the past and worldbuilding can be something I obsess about daily. My group ran through the Sunless Citadel recently to warm up and now it seems we are playing a fairly optimized Red Hand of Doom set in a fairly generic fantasy setting (I will work out the specifics of the material plane later if the game goes so far, but I'm not terribly concerned as I'd really like to continue the adventure post RHoD with Expedition to Castle Ravenloft or The Demonweb Pits).

I decided I'd post my thoughts here not only for posterities sake but to try to reach out for any ideas (I love constructive criticism).

What follows is the party, starting at level 5. Starting Character wealth is 10,500 gp.



Imlyreth Keldryn, Magic-blooded Unseelie Fae Gray Elf Beguiler 5, of the winter court. We rolled for stats, and they are suitably heroic, and this guy is walking around with 20s in Int and Cha, and an 18 in Dex, but his Con is garbage. Took Power Word Pain for his first advanced learning, and straight out of the handbook he has taken an Anklet of Translocation, Gloves of the Starry Night, and a Headband of Intellect +2 (this is whats bumping his Int to 20.)

Armdur Gravelflayer, Dwarf Overwhelming Attack Variant Monk 2 / Warblade 3. The 'tank' of the group, as far as I can tell so far. Swimming in hit points, but I don't think his AC is necessarily in a place to do that just yet.

Canon, Human Evoker 5. Played by someone who can only be described as a walking rulebook, he's a very valuable resource to me who I'm trusting to co-DM to a certain extent (trying to limit metagaming as much as possible). With Deafening Spell, Born of Three Thunders, Explosive Spell, and (next level) Arcane Thesis: Fireball, he is fluffed as a drop out of the Bardic College who launches sonic fireballs from a trumpet. I am allowing 2 flaws, so he's feeble and noncombatant. He's banned Conjuration, Illusion, and Enchantment.

Alviss Ashkenaz, Human Swordsage 5. A scimitar fighter from a desert dwelling bedouin-esque race, he has been described as "Final Fantasy protaganist esque". Seems like he's built for damage but his HP is lacking.

We will also have a druid, however that player had to skip our session 0 due to work commitments. I will post basic information once available.

For session 0, we build the characters and I wanted to do something akin to in the opening of a James Bond movie wherein the first session takes place at the end of a particular adventure. As such, the party was contracted by the town Weatherton, which I'm fluffing as 100 miles down the road to the east from Drellin's Ferry, along the north border of the Thornwastes, to deal with hobgoblins who had kidnapped a visiting druid (who is our missing PC.)

The encounter started in a stone hewn ampitheatre within a cave about 12-15 miles outside of Weatherton. Due to limited time throwing this together, the encounter consisted of 1 Bugbear CR 2, two Hobgoblin Lieutenants at CR 4, and the example Half-Black Dragon fighter, straight out of the Monster Manual 1, at CR 6. I didn't want it to be too terribly hard going in as this was just the hook. The ampitheatre itself was covered in bas reliefs of Tiamat, though no one has yet discovered the truth regaring this. The half dragon who I've named Zenrinthrix proved to be a bit of a challenge to the party, almost killing Armdur in close combat. The Bugbear proved to be out of his league, being taken out by a single fireball at the start of combat (Canon's initiative is pretty great), but the half dragon was able to shrug off a lot of the damage (made his reflex saves twice). The hobgoblins were dealt with pretty handily as well, with Alviss taking one to task with some Desert Wind manuevers, but taking some considerable damage of his own, and the other one being dealt with by Imlyreth, with a blinding color surge. I played the half dragon as a bit of a masochist, with the damage he was taking fueling his hubris. When Armdur sundered his two bladed sword, he merely threw it to the ground and brandished his claws, laughing all the time.

I was able to get some good tension in the limited time I had. They had brough Zenrinthrix to 5 hit points from 15, which he then retreated, provoking AoOs which were missed, and geared up to use his breath weapon (which would have murdered Armdur unless he had made his reflex save). Imlyreth hit him with a well placed Power Word Pain. They enjoyed him clawing fruitlessly at his own face to try to remove the mark that just kept burning into his forehead.

They were able to loot the +1 fullplate from the half-dragon, which I'm honestly fine with. It seems like Armdur needs the AC if he is going to serve as the tank. The druid was found and I tossed them the map to Vraath keep, with promises of treasure (yeah, I know it's the default hook for the adventure). Back to town I awarded them a nominal 500gp and free horses. Next session they are headed to Drellin's Ferry.

Hope this isn't too long winded and I would like to update each week if possible. Your thoughts and concerns are welcome.

[AnachroNinja]

I want to wish you luck, be ready to adapt a lot of encounters because your party seems pretty well optimized overall. They will probably steam roll most of the standard ones.

Side note: you didn't mention it so be sure to note the pre-reqs for born of three thunders.

[LordOfCain]

Seems pretty cool so far.

[Anarxes]

I'm a bit of an optimizer myself, and while the Red Hand of Doom handbook warns against an Arms Race, I imagine that is what is going to happen. I want them to have fun, but there is a small part of me (10% or so) that just wants to try to kill them. I'm hoping my own interest in optimizing encounters will help deal with this, but it is absolutely something I've been considering. I'm already looking at ways to increase Koth's difficulty, and the Hobgoblin's will be getting skill and feat overhauls as well as adding warblade levels to the Bladebearers.

edit: Also, I did look over Born of Three Thunders, and he does have the Energy Substitution feat as well as the ranks in Knowledge (Nature).

[Eldariel]

I'm a bit of an optimizer myself, and while the Red Hand of Doom handbook warns against an Arms Race, I imagine that is what is going to happen. I want them to have fun, but there is a small part of me (10% or so) that just wants to try to kill them. I'm hoping my own interest in optimizing encounters will help deal with this, but it is absolutely something I've been considering. I'm already looking at ways to increase Koth's difficulty, and the Hobgoblin's will be getting skill and feat overhauls as well as adding warblade levels to the Bladebearers.

edit: Also, I did look over Born of Three Thunders, and he does have the Energy Substitution feat as well as the ranks in Knowledge (Nature).

You probably know of this already, but there are lots of resources available for pre-optimized variants in e.g. the Red Hand of Doom Handbook for DMs (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?171284-The-3-5-Red-Hand-Of-Doom-Handbook-for-DMs-Major-spoilers!-WIP-PEACH!) so you can use that as basis for possible directions to take the enemies. Certainly, the Wyrmlords in particular can benefit of some touch-up having rather lame feats and vanilla abilities out of the box. And the Dragons can get some cool stuff from Draconomicon in particular, perhaps complete with a category increase. There's a lot for an intrepid tinkerer to work with, particularly with ToB on the table, and you have a party of 5 solid characters so you have some wiggle room. And y'know, if it gets close, that makes it all the more epic.

I too like to use ToB classes (mostly Warblades of different persuasions, but especially Iron Heart) for the Hobgoblins as they're militant, tactical types and it makes the fights much more interesting; Worg Riders should also get reworked into something that gives them actual damage. They don't currently really do anything. I like adding a buffer or two (like a Bard) to the various encounters, to both make the enemies a bit more dangerous numerically and to give the players some priority targets in the backline. Frontline commanders like Song of the White Raven Crusaders or Warblades are also workable.

[Anarxes]

Worg Riders should also get reworked into something that gives them actual damage. They don't currently really do anything.

Any recommendations? My understanding of proper optimization of mounted combatants is limited to say the least.

[Eldariel]

Any recommendations? My understanding of proper optimization of mounted combatants is limited to say the least.

I once analysed them for AslanCross's Eberron-flavoured Red Hand of Doom campaign here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?110022-3-5-An-Eberron-flavored-Red-Hand-of-Doom-Campaign-Journal&p=6095114&viewfull=1#post6095114). The biggest strength of mounted combat are the Spirited Charge damage multipliers and extra mobility, but with the Goblins' strength, their charges are nothing to write home about. Thus, they should probably stick to ranged archery. Basically, Scouts' Skirmish is a rather natural way to give them some damage but sadly the official errata prevents it from being used with mounts. You're free to decide how that works in your game though. Normally mounted combatants can use Composite Bows with the Strength-modifier but these Goblins lack the Strength to get much damage out of it. You can modify them a bit to help there though. They could use the Great Crossbow [Races of Stone] to achieve decent damage numbers, particularly if combined with some damage boosts. They can access Crossbow Sniper [PHBII], which gives them +1 damage (sadly, they'd need 1 point higher Dex for +2, which would require them to be level 4).

My favorite option that's since occurred to me is using Knowledge Devotion [Complete Champion] complete with e.g. Ranger levels. Two levels in Ranger gives them enough Knowledges to pick up Knowledge Devotion on 3 and Knowledge: Local will cover most of the PC classes, and they can pick Collector of Stories [Complete Scoundrel] skill trick for few extra points in the roll. This would make them very effective vs. one type of a humanoid and rather effective vs. humanoids in general with less (depending on how you invest the skill points) vs. other types. Skilled City-Dweller (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) allows picking up Knowledge: local over nature (and Knowledge Devotion makes one Knowledge permanently in-class anyways). It would make them effective harassment/hit'n'run units off their mounts too thanks to their good landspeed, darkvision and good hide/move silently modifiers. They could also carry a couple of Alchemist's Fires for if they make a close pass; between it hitting touch AC and doing 1d6 + 1d6 on subsequent turn, it's actually not a horrible option. A Tanglefoot Bag per group might also be useful - they're an independent skirmish unit so they should mostly be equipped to act alone.


Thus, I recommend picking between Scout (if you rule that Skirmish works with mounted combat) or Ranger 2/Fighter 1. The Crossbow build has some feat problems, so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. For Composite Longbow build (crucially, Composite Longbows can be used mounted unlike normal Longbows), you can change their stats to 12 [14-2] Str, 12 Con, 13 Int over the opposite and make them use Composite Longbow with +1 strength bonus. This would at least raise their Str to +1. They could also use Rapid Shot. Give them Lances for charging if they get cornered as that's still double damage even without spirited charge - a desperation option but with Knowledge Devotion and Favored Enemy working with melee and them having some strength, it can actually do damage now.

Suggested stats
Ranger 2/Fighter 1, with Elite Array putting them at 12/17/12/13/10/6 (if you instead use 25pb, you can give them 18 Dex).

Feats:
1. Mounted Combat
Fighter Bonus. Mounted Archery
Ranger Bonus. Rapid Shot
3. Knowledge Devotion.

Favored Enemy: Human.
Hit'n'Run Tactics Fighter [Drow of the Underdark]: Dex to damage vs. flat-footed enemies within 30' and +2 Initiative in exchange for heavy armor and tower shields (great for rushing on the scene with surprise, moving close to enemies, shooting, winning initiative, shooting with Rapid Shot and leaving).

Skill ranks: Ride, Handle Animal, Hide, Move Silently, Spot, Listen, Knowledge: Local, at least 1 in Knowledge: Nature/Religion/The Planes/Arcane/Dungeoneering (they can afford to cross-class) and the Collector of Stories skill trick; take Tumble, Survival or whatever with the leftover points (Iaijutsu Focus [Oriental Adventures] does work but is kinda weird). They're the outriders and the scouts of the horde. Goblins are well-suited for such tasks.

They should pack some Dragonsbreath Arrows [Races of the Wild] which are a bit expensive and only do 1d4 damage off a small C. Longbow, but with 1 point of bonus fire damage on hit and the enemy has to roll DC 15 Reflex vs. catching fire (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/environment.htm#catchingOnFire). They can be used to torch targets or indeed to great effect vs. non-fire resistant targets.

Overall, they'd look at +8 Knowledge: local and +2 Knowledge: everything else with +5 from Collector of Stories so they get +2/+2 vs. humanoids on a roll of 4 and a roll of 14 would give them +3/+3. A roll of 1-3 still has 'em at +1/+1 and a roll of 19+ is +4/+4. Vs. Humans (their probable favored enemy given Elsir Vale is a human settlement) they'd look at:

3 BAB + 3 Dex + ~2 Knowledge Devotion + 1 Size + 1 Mw. weapon - 2 Rapid Shot = +8/+8 to hit (or +8/+8 Rapid Shot, with -2 for hustling or -4 for running Mount)
1d6 + 1 Str + ~2 Knowledge Devotion + 2 Favored Enemy = 1d6+5 damage OR 1d4+6+Fire - vs. other humanoids, 1d6+3 or 1d4+4+Fire

Melee is at 3 BAB + 1 Str + ~2 Knowledge Devotion + 1 Size + 1 Mw. Weapon = +8 to hit

Dragonsbreath Arrow, C. Longbow: +8/+8 for 1d4+4+Fire, 20/x3, 110' range increment, +3 vs. flat-footed within 30', +2 vs. humans.
OR
Normal Arrow, C. Longbow: +8/+8 for 1d6+3, 20/x3, 110' range increment, +3 vs. flat-footed within 30', +2 vs. humans.
OR
Alchemist's Fire: +9 Touch for 1d6+2+Fire, 20/x2, 10' range increment, +3 vs. flat-footed within 30', +2 vs. humans.
OR
Lance charge: +10 (+1 vs. small) for 2d6+6, 20/x3, 10' reach, +6 vs. flat-footed, +4 vs. humans


This is overall not the worst. Certainly an improvement over the 1d4 damage pewpew. Worgs are pretty fast: they can move 50' a turn at normal speeds and 100' at hustle speeds (-2 to hit for archery). While running, you're getting 200' straight lines, -4 to hit. Mounted Archers always shoot at half their mounts' movement. You generally want to zigzag in and out of the maximum range while keeping your distance, perhaps closing in for the Dex-bonus shots on surprised enemies.

Note that no rule says you have to move in one direction; if you want to shoot near the enemy and move away, your mount can move in a circle around your opponent (or just in a circle around itself) until you get to ½ movement and shoot, and then move away. Mounted Archers should split up as soon as battle is joined and use their mobility to stay safe; no reason to risk AOE spells where not necessary. Once the horde learns of the PC party stubbornly stopping them at every turn (most likely after the fall of the first Wyrmlord), they might also be later used to hunt the PCs specifically as they have various skills related to such. At that point (when the PCs have gotten stronger too) you can have them be accompanied by a mounted Dragonfire Inspiration [Dragon Magic] Bard, which would vastly increase their damage output.

EDIT: Make sure to familiarise yourself with the Ride (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/ride.htm)-skill. Goblins have a racial bonus to Ride and Handle Animal at 5 ranks gives them another +2. This combined with their excellent Dex lets them pull off various maneuvers pretty easily. Most important ones are Spur Mount (for higher speed without penalty to shots or for superfast escapes) and Cover. Mounted Combat-feat also lets them use their Ride-skill to protect their mounts. They can also try Fast Mount after using the mount as Cover with decent chance of success. Cover (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/combatModifiers.htm#cover) allows among others avoiding AoOs and gives +2 bonus to Reflexes-saves.

EDIT#2: Also, I have no clue why they have Studded Leather +1s. Just give 'em Mw. Chain Shirts instead. No reason to stack them up with useless magic gear where mundanes suffice perfectly well.

[Anarxes]

Thanks for the analysis. I will definitely put this to good use. In the meantime, I've mocked up a bard for some support (its not complete with spells accessed and such, and I will keep track of their spell list but I wanted to touch on the things they will be using most commonly.)


Male Hobgoblin Savage Bard 4
LE Medium Humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +8 Senses: Darkvision 60 ft., Listen +2 Spot +2
Languages: Common, Goblin, Draconic

AC: 16 (+2 Dex, +4 Scale mail), touch 12, flat footed 14
HP: 20 [4 HD]
Fort: 2 Ref: 6 Will: 3

Spd: 20
Melee: longsword +4 (1d8 +1/19-20)

Base Atk: +3

Abilities: Str 12 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 9 Cha 14
Feats: Improved Initiative, Extra Spell (Doom, I'm houseruling this as it seems apropos)
Skills: Perform (War Drums) +6, Concentration +6, Listen +2, Spot +2
Possessions: scale mail, longsword, war drums, 2 potions of cure light wounds

Spells:
0- Know Direction, Daze, Flare (3 per day)
1- Expedious Retreat, Cure Light Wounds, Grease (3 per day)
2- Bull's Strength (1 per day)

(I know he would know more, these are the ones I plan to use)

Abilities:
Inspire Courage, Fascinate (again, he would have more, but for brevities sake these are the abilities listed)



Thoughts would be wonderful. Trying to get some stacking buffs/debuffs to try to make the little guys a bit more of a threat if they can set it up correctly.

[Daddoo]

I used the heck out of this some really GOOD stuff in here.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?171284-The-3-5-Red-Hand-Of-Doom-Handbook-for-DMs-Major-spoilers!-WIP-PEACH!

[Eldariel]

Thanks for the analysis. I will definitely put this to good use. In the meantime, I've mocked up a bard for some support (its not complete with spells accessed and such, and I will keep track of their spell list but I wanted to touch on the things they will be using most commonly.)


Male Hobgoblin Savage Bard 4
LE Medium Humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +8 Senses: Darkvision 60 ft., Listen +2 Spot +2
Languages: Common, Goblin, Draconic

AC: 16 (+2 Dex, +4 Scale mail), touch 12, flat footed 14
HP: 20 [4 HD]
Fort: 2 Ref: 6 Will: 3

Spd: 20
Melee: longsword +4 (1d8 +1/19-20)

Base Atk: +3

Abilities: Str 12 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 9 Cha 14
Feats: Improved Initiative, Extra Spell (Doom, I'm houseruling this as it seems apropos)
Skills: Perform (War Drums) +6, Concentration +6, Listen +2, Spot +2
Possessions: scale mail, longsword, war drums, 2 potions of cure light wounds

Spells:
0- Know Direction, Daze, Flare (3 per day)
1- Expedious Retreat, Cure Light Wounds, Grease (3 per day)
2- Bull's Strength (1 per day)

(I know he would know more, these are the ones I plan to use)

Abilities:
Inspire Courage, Fascinate (again, he would have more, but for brevities sake these are the abilities listed)



Thoughts would be wonderful. Trying to get some stacking buffs/debuffs to try to make the little guys a bit more of a threat if they can set it up correctly.

I recommend taking a look at the Inspire Courage handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=9830.0). Off the top of my head, I'd give him Song of the Heart-feat [Eberron Campaign Settings] to give a higher Inspire Courage bonus. Then one of his spells should be Inspirational Boost [Spell Compendium] allowing you to get +3 Inspire Courage. For a War Bard, Healing Hymn [Complete Champion] is much better than Fascinate too. Makes Cure Minor Wounds heal a decent amount, and could vindicate keeping Cure Light Wounds. This would be particularly nice in an outrider group making them easily able to top out after every encounter.

Neither Expeditious Retreat nor Cure Light Wounds are really necessary (could give him a Wand of Cure Light Wounds intended for this purpose; makes for nice loot too). I'd rather pick something like Silent Image to further mess with the enemy, or Instant of Power [the Forges of War] to grant an ally +4 to save, attack or damage as an immediate action. If you want to look through spell options in more depth, Bard Handbook (http://www.joshuad.net/new-bard-handbook/) is here.

The 2nd level spell, Bull's Strength is indeed a fine, vanilla choice. Other options include the potent Glitterdust, Suggestion, Pyrotechnics and Invisibility (though the Horde doesn't employ Rogues so it isn't as useful outside personal escape). Bull's Strength is probably the best choice for a buff but there's something to be said for a Will-save targeting spell that messes with enemy. For flank-buddy/debuffing, Summon Nature's Ally II is not a horrible choice either, though less natural Fluff-wise than many of the other options.

You should also employ Dragonfire Inspiration bards later (at least with Ulwai if you keep her a Bard), and perhaps one with the mounted skills (Ride, Handle Animal) aiding the Worg Rider groups down the line. Units with multiple attacks benefit tremendously of a Bard.

[AslanCross]

Koth's primary problem is his poor feat and spell selection. I am not sure if the module's authors intended this so that it would be possible to capture him (the more dangerous a boss he proves to be, the more likely he is to provoke the PCs into deadly force), but well...he IS a boss fight.

Here is a link (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=9513809&postcount=4) to the post about fixing him.

[Anarxes]

Here is a revised War Drummer. The swift action to resist will saves is great for what I want these guys to do (be an obstacle for the Beguiler).


Male Hobgoblin Savage Bard 4
LE Medium Humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +8 Senses: Darkvision 60 ft., Listen +2 Spot +2
Languages: Common, Goblin, Draconic

AC: 16 (+2 Dex, +4 Scale mail), touch 12, flat footed 14
HP: 20 [4 HD]
Fort: 2 Ref: 6 Will: 3

Spd: 20
Melee: longsword +4 (1d8 +1/19-20)

Base Atk: +3

Abilities: Str 12 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 9 Cha 14
Feats: Improved Initiative, Song of the Heart
Skills: Perform (War Drums) +6, Concentration +6, Listen +2, Spot +2
Possessions: scale mail, longsword, war drums, 2 potions of cure light wounds, Wand of Cure Light Wounds

Spells:
0- Know Direction, Daze, Flare (3 per day)
1- Instant of Power, Inspirational Boost, Grease, Cure Light Wounds (3 per day)
2- Bull's Strength, Pyrotechnics (1 per day)

Abilities:
Inspire Courage, Healing Hymm

[Eldariel]

Actually, for the same money that those silly Worg Riders have their current +1 Studded Leather, they could instead have the Mw. Chain Shirt + a Wand Chamber [Dungeonscape] with Wand of Hunter's Mercy [Spell Compendium] for their bow. Hunter's Mercy makes your next hit on a bow an automatic critical. Swift action to cast. 50 charges. They can use it automatically with no check thanks to having Ranger-levels. That would be an option if you really want to make those guys sting. Also, they should for obvious reasons always prioritise obvious spellcasters. The riders are particularly weak to casters due to their +0 Will-save, and casters are the most threatening enemies for them anyways. And casters often have the lowest AC on these levels anyways, and bows make hitting past the frontline doable. Between their Dex and Armor and size and ability to use their Worgs for cover, the Worg Riders' AC is actually respectable and they have enough HP to take an arrow or two; and they should steer clear of melee range.

As for your War Drummer, that seems more than fine. Remember though, Instant of Power is an immediate action, distinct from swift action. It can be cast on any turn, not just your own. Versatile Spellcaster seems kinda weak with how few 1st and 2nd level spells you have but I suppose it does something. I might still just prefer Song of the Heart myself though - inspiring is his primary contribution and there's a significant difference between +3 and +2.

[Anarxes]

My thought was that, and I don't expect these guys to live long necessarily, that they might, given circumstances, buff Bull's Strength on two combatants. I did ultimately decide Song of the Heart though. Easy enough to refluff given the divine benefactors of the Red Hand.

And I love the idea for these warg archers. The wand chamber would be a nice buff but I'd be worried at that point about suspension of disbelief with my players, visavie the access to so many wands on mere scouts. The alchemist's fire and tanglefoot bags would be great for hit and run tactics though and I love the thought of these guys having them for escape tactics and being self-sufficient units. I do want a nice encounter with urgency regarding these warg riders.

[Fizban]

Hunter's Mercy makes your next hit on a bow an automatic critical. Swift action to cast.
Correction: Hunter's Mercy is a standard action to cast. It's actually worded so that if you did quicken it you still only get the effect during your next turn, oddly enough. Still a perfectly good idea. I went with fighter/scouts for mounted Skirmishing, but they still didn't do much since the only time the party really encountered them was in the keep when they're specifically unmounted and not actually out skirmishing. Fireballs will always pick them off no problem.

Goblin Worg Riders (6) CR 3
Goblin fighter 2/scout 1
LE Small humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +2, Spot +2
Languages Common, Draconic, Goblin
AC 19, touch 15, flat-footed 15; expeditious dodge, use mount for cover
hp 22 (3 HD)
Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +0
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares), or 50 ft. (10 squares) mounted on worg
Melee mwk scimitar +5 (1d4/18–20)
Ranged mwk composite longbow^1 +8 (1d6/×3) or
Ranged 10'-50' skirmish +9 (2d6+2/×3: 4d6+6)
Ranged 60'-100' skirmish +7 (2d6+2/×3: 4d6+6)
Base Atk +2; Grp –1
Atk Options Point-Blank Shot, Skirmish +1d6
Abilities Str 12, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 6
Feats Mounted ArcheryB, Mounted Combat, Point-Blank
ShotB, Expeditious Dodge (+2 AC after moving 40')
Skills Handle Animal +3, Hide +10, Listen +2, Move Silently +10, Ride +16, Spot +3
Possessions combat gear plus +1 studded leather armor, masterwork scimitar, masterwork composite
longbow^1Nowadays I'd cut their formulaic CR down to 2. Note also that I did not count the Worgs as part of the fight, since they're terrible in combat and are only being used to get mounted movement on the goblins.

I'm more worried about that party composition: Unseelie Fae and Arcane Thesis with 0 cost metamagic and flaws are more than what I'd call "well optimized," alongside a pair of martial adepts that don't have their AC and hp up to snuff, and only a druid coming in for support. While the top tiers do seem to have given themselves some restrictions in Beguiler and SR based spells based on a theme rather than raw power, I expect you'll have to lean heavily on those holes in order to survive their powers long enough to give them a fight. RHoD doesn't have any golems native to the scene but adding some is probably a good idea. Meanwhile Druid lacks the same buffing and healing capacity of a Cleric, split between two frontline combatants that you're already worried about-and bringing an animal companion. Monsters which can survive the casters (like golems) will walk all over martial adepts with weaker builds and no defensive buffs.

All that is speculation of course, if this is your usual group then they may well know how to account for it and keep the whole party rolling anyway. There's also the fact that I personally don't like trying to high-op every single generic NPC, under a budget, to match player builds that they simply can't match. I do like the Instant of Power use as a low-level method of trying to resist the Beguiler. Basically the only way I see this going is straight to Wings of Cover spam in every fight, maybe with a side of Alter Fortune since NPCs don't care about xp costs. That kinda works in that it's still matching resource burn to resource burn, with the NPCs theoretically having more resources so the martial PCs are needed to compete. To that end I would suggest looking ahead and preparing some toughened up sorcerers that will be added to most major encounters (I never understood why there were so few of them used to begin with).

Another thing I did was assume that after a few encounters the Red Hand knew the player's tactics. The justification was some special forces snipers I cooked up to shadow them on worgs from outside of spotting range while sending back reports via wand of Animal Messenger on how they fought, which I knew they had no chance of actually stopping. The point being that after a few fights it is perfectly justifiable to throw down Magic Circles to gum up the Beguiler as soon as they see him and use other appropriate buffs.

Finally, I would suggest taking a look at these magic changes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?210623-3-5-Magic-Remix-The-Philosopher-s-Stone) and see if there's any you're willing to adopt. While I doubt you're looking for any nerfs, this is actually the kind of game I'd say it was written for: your casters aren't using any crazy cheese problem spells, they're just going to get a ton of mileage out of the base excesses in the system. Cutting the range on those Fireballs and the duration on the Beguiler's mind control will keep the melee characters much more relevant. Especially in Red Hand of Doom, which takes place mostly outdoors where long range spells seriously invalidate the rest of the party and pretty much nothing is immune to mind control. Failing that, I'd suggest you get those melee guys some flying mounts (not the crappy generic Giant Owls, some serious mounts) so they can reach the battle before it's over and attack foes who manage to stay outside of spell areas, hemming them in.

[Anarxes]

I think the way I will go, in regards to your concerns, is to start including optimized sorcerers. I don't want to mess with magic too much. The beguiler is not a super experienced player, and the wizard has DMed before and he knows I'm willing to put a stop to behavior I find abusive. I don't want to optimize all of the smaller guys, but what I do want to do is add support to them to make them a bit more of a threat.

I really like the sorcerer idea though. It makes perfect sense.

Also, regarding the martial adepts, looking at the Swordsage's character sheet I'm sure his HD was miscalculated, and we will be rerolling those (22 HP with a level 5 swordsage with 15 Con means he would've had to have rolled ones, which I make players reroll anyway.) I have their character sheets (they were only just made last night) so I will be looking for those things. I also plan to aid in this by including some gear that may help. I was planning on replacing the +1 Frost Bastard Sword with a Legacy Weapon perhaps. There's a scimitar in that book that fits perfect with the swordsage, thematically. One thing I would like to know is if any DMs here have any opinions regarding Legacy weapons.

I've also thought about including, as the PCs start to cause problems for the wyrmlords, artifacts that generate antimagic fields. Already this setting would be high fantasy, but I think makes sense given that this cult has access to such artifacts if you fluff it right. I like the idea that perhaps there are unknown benefactors behind the Red Hand of Doom cult, which could be really cool for a later campaign after this. The way I've fluffed the Fane of Tiamat is that it is one point of a giant pentagram put in place by metallic dragon clerics of Bahamut in ages past that binds Tiamat physically to Avernus. This would mostly be in response to the fireballs.

Edit- I've also been considering Evasion for some of the more elite troops. Perhaps including auxiliary troops built for high reflex saves that can avoid the damage entirely. And as they start becoming more familiar with the PCs, a sorcerer in the squad who could cast counterspell could also be a nice counter. In fact, as it would be a signature spell of his eventually granting them circumstance bonuses to the spellcraft checks to counter. I think that'd make plenty of sense and encourage other tactics.

[Fizban]

Consider my concerns dashed then, everything sounds well in hand.

Except Legacy Weapons: those are absolutely terrible. You should not lose points of class features in order to use a weapon that is worse than what you could buy, and their supposed "free" -ness isn't even free because you have to pay a bunch of money for their stupid rituals, which grant and remove feats in ways that shouldn't even be mentioned because all it does is interact with other things that shouldn't be involving feats (begin Dark Chaos shuffle et al). If you like one of the legacy weapons I suggest simply ignoring the whole system and using the scaling weapon however you want. Maybe it levels up automatically and counts as part of your WBL, maybe you power it up with rituals that cost money, whatever.

Use of standing antimagic fields is pretty tricky, I'd wait and see how the game goes before deciding if something of that sort is a good idea. Actually fighting in antimagic fields hoses more than half your party (including the martials since they need magic items as much as anyone else) and I've never thought it'd be fun for anyone. I'd go with golems instead (a Drakestone Golem from Draconomicon could make a suitable boss fight near the end), or some sort of other oddity like Energy Transformation Fields (from Spell Compendium, converts all spells cast within it to something else) or Antifire Sphere build into the structure Wondrous Architecture style (giving everyone within fire immunity).

[Eldariel]

And I love the idea for these warg archers. The wand chamber would be a nice buff but I'd be worried at that point about suspension of disbelief with my players, visavie the access to so many wands on mere scouts. The alchemist's fire and tanglefoot bags would be great for hit and run tactics though and I love the thought of these guys having them for escape tactics and being self-sufficient units. I do want a nice encounter with urgency regarding these warg riders.

Yeah, the Wand Chamber was mostly a way to use the magical gear they have more sensibly. 'cause why would they have 1175gp Studded Leather if they could just wear 250gp Chain Shirts to the same effect?! It's completely fine (and indeed, more sensible: as you said, how the hell is the Horde equipping all its riders with magic gear?) to just cut it out entirely. But you can use the Wand Chambers again later once the Horde begins to go directly against the PCs more; then you can use more tailored and better equipped elite troops vs. them.


Correction: Hunter's Mercy is a standard action to cast. It's actually worded so that if you did quicken it you still only get the effect during your next turn, oddly enough. Still a perfectly good idea. I went with fighter/scouts for mounted Skirmishing, but they still didn't do much since the only time the party really encountered them was in the keep when they're specifically unmounted and not actually out skirmishing. Fireballs will always pick them off no problem.

Wow, it's really been too long. Yeah, Hunter's Mercy is a standard action; still usable but not quite as impressive. Either way, yeah, this is what you get for going off memory. And ya, the riders are rather weak to spells in general. The riders I statted out actually have +6 Reflex (and +6 Fort) and +2 more if they use the Worg for cover, so they have a decent chance of saving for half vs. Fireball, but they lack Evasion anyways so even a bogstandard Fireball is going to hurt. That's why splitting up is absolutely imperative; else it's one Glitterdust/Web/whatever and they're out of the fight. If they split up and rain hellfire upon the casters, it becomes much harder to nail them all (and if they get blinded, they can try to retreat until it wears off).

[Zombimode]

One thing I would like to know is if any DMs here have any opinions regarding Legacy weapons.

I've played in a campaign with several legacy items where all the penalties save the lost hit points were dropped. Personally I would consider dropping even those.

[Anarxes]

Finally put together some warg riders. Love the dragonsbreath arrows, still debating on the tanglefoot bags and alchemist fires.



Male Goblin (Ranger 2/ Hit and Run Fighter 1)
LE Small Humanoid (goblinoid)
Init +6 Senses: Darkvision 60 ft., Listen +3 Spot +3
Languages: Common, Goblin, Draconic

AC: 19 (+4 Dex, +4 Chain Shirt, +1 small), touch 15, flat footed 15
HP: 25 [3 HD]
Fort: 6 Ref: 7 Will: 0

Spd: 30

Melee:
lance charge
+10 (+1 v. small)/ 2d6+6 20/x3
10' reach, +8 v. flat footed, +4 v. humans

Ranged:
Dragonsbreath Arrow
+9/+9 / 1d4+4 (fire) 20/x3
110' range, +4 v. flat footed, +2 v. humans

Composite Longbow (Normal)
+9/+9 / 1d6+3 20/x3
110' range, +4 v. flat footed, +2 v. humans

Base Atk: +3

Abilities: Str 12 Dex 18 Con 12 Int 13 Wis 10 Cha 6
Feats: Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery, Rapid Shot, Knowledge Devotion, Track
Skills: Knowledge (Local): 6, Knowledge (everything else): 2, Ride: 6 (+4 racial, +2 synergy with handle animal), Handle Animal: 5, Hide: 2 (+4), Move Silently: 2 (+4), Spot: 3, Listen: 3
Skill Tricks: Collector of Stories
Possessions: (sm) chain shirt, (sm) composite longbow, (sm) lance, 30 Dragonsbreath Arrows, 30 Arrows, Quiver, 2 potions of Cure Light Wounds

Abilities:
Wild Empathy

[Eldariel]

You can buy half ranks in Knowledges. 12 Int Goblin should have 28 skill points on the first level, 3 on the second and 7 on the third. Thus you could for instance have:
Ranger 1 (28 ranks):
Hide +3
Move Silently +3
Spot +4
Listen +3
Knowledge (local) +4
Knowledge (dungeoneering) +1
Knowledge (arcane) +½
Knowledge (the planes) +½
Knowledge (religion) +½
Ride +4
Handle Animals +3

Fighter (3 ranks):
Ride +1
Handle Animals +2

Ranger (7 ranks):
Spot +2
Knowledge (local) +2
Knowledge (nature) +1 [class skill gained through Knowledge Devotion]

Collector of Stories +2

Total
Ride +15 (5 ranks + 4 dex + 2 synergy + 4 racial) [-1 ACP for fast mount/dismount actions]
Handle Animal +3 (5 ranks - 2 cha)

Knowledge (local) +7 (6 ranks + 1 int)
Knowledge (nature) +2 (1 rank + 1 int)
Knowledge (dungeoneering) +2 (1 rank + 1 int)
Knowledge (religion) +1 (½ rank + 1 int)
Knowledge (arcane) +1 (½ rank + 1 int)
Knowledge (the planes) +1 (½ rank + 1 int)

Hide +10 (3 ranks + 4 dex + 4 size - 1 ACP)
Move Silently +10 (3 ranks + 4 dex + 4 racial - 1 ACP)

Listen +3 (3 ranks + 0 wis)
Spot +6 (6 ranks + 0 wis)

EDIT: Considering they have Ranger-levels, they could have a Wand of Cure Light Wounds, perhaps one per raider group. They're able to use it as well as any of the offensive Wands thanks to their levels and it's much more efficient in the long run (for the Horde) than using Potions. If you wish to give them Potions instead, may I suggest something like Invisibility or Haste?

[Eldariel]

Pardon the doublepost, overall the Warg Riders look quite nice now (with Wands or not and with Alchemical Items or not) and anything I could say is at most a minor nitpicking - I didn't realize your were listing skill ranks in the skill listing. There was however another enemy that appears a fair bit that I'd like to bring up:
An enemy the module really doesn't make the most of, Doom Hand Clerics could actually be rather scary. Particularly since you wanted to challenge the spellcasters in the party, even a lowly 3rd level Cleric does a great job of proving an annoyance. Clerics get a decent number of scary spells from Frostburn. Specifically, Ice Slick is a Cleric-version of ground-cast Grease which also forces enemies to Balance. It can enable the Worg Riders' Dex to Damage vs. Flat-Footed (since Balancing (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/balance.htm) creatures with under 5 ranks in balance are flat-footed) and be a general pest.

There's also the Conjure Ice Beast-spell; Ice Beasts are nasty creatures (you can fluff their appearance as having traits of white dragons in this campaign), which deal 1d6 Cold damage around them automatically within 10' each turn, have a Cold-based breath weapon, 1d6 bonus Cold damage on attacks and can engulf creatures á la Oozes. Of course they take bonus damage from Fire and are immune to Cold. Conjure Ice Beast summons from the same list as Summon Monster, so you can get a 1d4+1 of any 1st level summon from that scroll of Conjure Ice Beast III, and even Conjure Ice Beast I can do some work thanks to the aura + breath weapon; the creature is not impressive but it's disruptive by virtue of existing (taking continuous damage also requires Concentration to cast spells - ice aura could count as such).

Then, outside of those spells, they should definitely have Silence-spell prepared. It's a great spell in general (vs. spellcasters, for moving units silently, etc.) so it makes sense as a spell a Cleric might carry anyways, but it particularly shines here; readied area Silence offers no save and can disrupt casting plus limit casters' operational area on the battlefield greatly.

Other than that, generic mass buffs (Bless is the only decent one I can think of on these levels - most are single-target like Conviction, Resurgence or Vision of Glory), and save-or-X effects (Cause Fear prompts Shaken even on a successful save but has a 5 HD limit, Heartache leaves an enemy helpless and open for Coup de Grace for 1 round). If you want a really nasty level 1 save-or-X spell, there's Seething Eyebane [Corrupt/Book of Vile Darkness] that costs them 1d6 Con but forces a Fortitude-save vs. Blinded + 1d6 Acid damage in 5' AOE. This kinda stuff would match them up with their zealous doom prophecying. As 3rd level Clerics they can prepare Lesser Restoration the day after using the spell so it's not that problematic for them to use. Of course, the party lacks means to cure Blindness at the present but I'm sure you can ensure the availability of some consumable magic items to that end.


You could, optionally, have them each have a Commanded Undead (perhaps some courtesy of Ghost Lord, or something appropriate courtesy of Azarr Kul/Tiamat herself?) as per Rebuke Undead. In a controlled settings it's not hard for them to establish control and, this would allow them to have some 3HD thing each.

Finally, they have useless feats and the Destruction-domain leaves something to be desired - there's no useful 1st level spell for them to have. First, domains: there's stuff like Dragon, Scalykind, Domination, Tyranny, etc. Domination and Tyranny give you Command as a domain spell and +1 DC to your Enchantments. Pride would allow rerolling saving throws. Scalykind would enable Commanding Serpentine creatures. Strength has Enlarge Person as a nice buff. Evil would offer Protection from Good. One really interesting one is Dragon Below [Eberron Campaign Settings]; Cause Fear as a spell and Augment Summoning (remember Conjure Ice Beast?) as bonus feat. And Dragon Below is pretty much Tiamat in non-Eberron cosmology so it fits to the T. They could also instead have some of the Devotion-feats from Complete Champion: Law Devotion is quite powerful at +3 AC/attack, Air Devotion is +1 AC and 50% miss chance vs. ranged.

Finally, for feats, at least one should probably be a divine feat as they have no active use for their Rebuke Undead attempts. Divine Spell Power can be nice though the Clerics on these levels don't have too many good spell level-scaling spells yet (Magic Vestment and Greater Magic Weapon come later). Divine Metamagic could be used to e.g. Empower a Conjure Ice Beast II or Sculpt some of the AOE spells. In fact, Sculpt Spell + Divine Metamagic: Sculpt Spell would probably be rather interesting with Silence and Ice Slick - enables hitting more targets. Picking Sculpt Spell requires another metamagic feat so they'd need the Planning-domain for Extend Spell. However, e.g. Planning + Dragon Below is quite nice for Clerics of Tiamat. It misses out on Law Devotion which would make them a force in melee though.

One other option is damage spells (e.g. Darkbolt [Lords of Madness]) plus Fell Drain [Libris Mortis] + Divine Metamagic: Fell Drain. Negative levels are nasty, and automatically lethal to your average Vale-soldier. It could also be used through e.g. spontaneous Inflicts, making those a lot more scary. Law, Dragon Below, Fell Drain, Divine Metamagic: Fell Drain. Could even use Maximize Spell (they have 4 Turn Undeads by default so one Maximized spell) to get 3 1st level summons out of Conjure Ice Beast.


Short: A bunch of scary spells exist that could beef these guys up (not overwhelming due to the relatively low save DCs though). Particularly the AOE spells are bound to be good in a war situation due to the numbers on both sides, so I'll specifically mark those out. They could use e.g.
[b]1st level
Heartache
Seething Eyebane [Book of Vile Darkness] - AOE component
Ice Slick [Frostburn] - AOE component
Conjure Ice Beast I [Frostburn] - AOE component
Bless - AOE component
Cause Fear (tho if PCs level up and the horde becomes aware of them, probably switch this out)
Command
Resurgence [Spell Compendium]

[b]2nd level
Silence - AOE component
Conjure Ice Beast II [Frostburn] - AOE component
Darkbolt [Lords of Madness]
Close Wounds [Spell Compendium]


Suggested domains:
Dragon Below [Eberron Campaign Settings]
Law (traded for Law Devotion [Complete Champion])
Evil
Planning [Spell Compendium] (for Extend Spell to access Sculpt Spell)
Tyranny [Spell Compendium]
Strength

Suggested feats:
Law Devotion [Complete Champion]
Divine Metamagic [Complete Divine] + Sculpt Spell [Complete Arcane], Empower Spell or Fell Drain [Libris Mortis] (perhaps Extra Turning through Undeath-domain [Spell Compendium] or as a feat)
Divine Spell Power [Complete Divine]

If they had a bit more Charisma, you could also consider giving them Divine Resistance/Divine Cleansing [Complete Warrior].

[Anarxes]

Thanks for the feedback. I actually just ran Session 1 last night, and while I'm going to do a full write up, here are some preliminary thoughts.

-We had some changes to the party, so this did throw off my balancing. Canon decided against playing a wizard due to balancing issues. I was getting prepared for T1 classes but instead he's taken druid planning to go into stormlord, whilst getting rid of wild shape and animal companion for lots of ACFs, mostly to streamline the combat (we use a grid). Also I had some temporary players, whose characters I plan to use later on as NPCs if nothing else (a druid and a warlock). As such the initial combat balancing was, wonky and I made some improvised decisions.

-Didn't update the cleric as of yet, but the warblade listed in the handbook was enough to one shot the party's cleric (he was able to be stabilized and healed) (oh yes, the initial druid is now a cleric of bahamut, so had some more restatting.) I'm definitely going to be using Warblade 4 as a template for all of the sergeants bladebearers with different feat and maneuver options. Both Zarr and Uth-Lar are dead, however, so they don't have a whole lot of information about the horde other than what Soranna and Wiston told them.

-The worg riders were a lot of fun, and I liked the initial suspense, but I think I need a way for the players to deal with the mobility. I had them get cocky, as I mean they've been fighting trader's through Skull Gorge to Drellin's Ferry, so they got close enough to player's to charge. The Warlock really helped here. Eldritch spear certainly helps when they are running in and out of range. So encounter balancing with the party is interesting. I'm wondering what is the better option... tailoring the challenge to the party (which I don't really want to do... doesn't really make sense for an army to have such limitations as far as mounted options and such. Party speed is definitely something that merits consideration) or just running as is, maybe killing a player, and setting a tone of urgency. I mean, there is the Staff of Life in the Vraath Keep vault so even if they can't immediately res someone it would be an option in the near future.

Anyway like I said there will be a write up coming tomorrow, but we play until early in the morning and I am a tad out of it.

[Eldariel]

Run it as is, let the players adapt. They have the tools and it should be the Modus Operandi of players to adapt to enemies they can expect to face. They can i.a. get ranged weapons, mounts, prepare longer range spells, or try to ready actions/charge/etc.

EDIT: You can also have the Riders disengage to alert nearby units, to get reinforcements, to keep harrying the party and so on. If the battle is clearly lost, they have no reason to keep fighting and if they're scout-types, it only makes sense they'll escape if able and add to the next strong point, making future encounters more difficult unless the PCs deal with them. That is to say, have 'em GTFO if it's clear the battle is lost; this way the PCs win but at a cost.

[Anarxes]

Alright update time! Sorry I haven't been around to update last week I was out with a sinus infection, which was fun times.

Anyway, Sessions 1 and 2...

For session 1 I had some temporary players, so we were able to mock up a Warlock (level 5, eldritch spear and mortalbane) and a druid. In addition, like I said earlier Canon is now restatted as Sterner, an ACF Druid (Avenging Hunter I think?) and Stormlord.

The first marauder attack was certainly interesting. The standard hobgoblin troops were easily dispatched, and the hellhounds didn't cause much disruption, dying fairly quickly to Armdur's waraxe, but Uth-Lar was able to down the cleric in a single charge with Battle Leader's Charge and Leading the Charge. He didn't die (was able to down a potion while prone) but he spent the rest of the combat prone until an entangle was laid down to prevent any AoOs. The layout as indicated by the module really limited my options with most of the small troops dying in a round or two, but the Bladebearer and Cleric will be fun to bring back for more encounters with a bit of customization.

Drellin's Ferry went well. The beguiler is proving to be a quite potent diplomancer. They end up deciding to take the Dawn Way, with a detour at Jorr's Cabin, which Wiston, who was rather fond of the otherwordly elf at this point, was all too ready to tell them about.

This was where I had the wargs attack. It also made me realize, I could possibly TPK the party if I play these riders in a fully optimized way, if not for Sterner the Stormlord and the Warlock. I was probably a bit too lenient ultimately. I had the goblins get cocky after landing some shots and get themselves into range for readied charges. Didn't really last much longer after that, but I'm excited for the customization ability for these guys in the future.

Jorr was great. I restatted him a bit (Ranger 4/Scout 2 with Swift Hunter) to try to temporarily fill a role in the party (at this point, the warlock and other druid are gone. Also Alviss was a no show so Sterner is now also playing a Trip Fighter named Goro with powerful build (this comes into play a bit, during the hydra). The beguiler is proving to be capable in social situations once again, casting Hypnotic Pattern on Jorr's hounds to get a chance to talk with Jorr. I mean, this aggravated him at first but when they mentioned the goblins they were coming to kill for Drellin's Ferry, he was more receptive.

The hydra died in a round and a half. The party is using spells to provide concealment in positions with no cover so it forced the Hydra on the causeway, where the action economy destroyed it. The hydra also rolled super poorly to hit against Armdur on a charge, hitting only once out of six heads. It's causing me to rethink encounters centered around one boss and certainly making me consider using some redspawn arcanisses during the Koth encounter.

Then, on the way to Vraath Keep, they rested. Rolled a Tendriculos on the random encounter table, but having learned from the Hydra I decided to include two Dryads as well for some SLA support. Well, with the Beguilder being a fae this was a mistake. They leveled up after the Hydra so a glibness spell was able to let Imlyreth talk his way out of the situation with the Dryads (I had the Tendriculos under their control so it really just destroyed the encounter).

At this point I'm learning a lot about this party's balance and thinking of ways to improve Vraath Keep for next session. Koth almost works with just Practiced Spellcaster and some spell changes (Scorching Ray, Fireball are the two I want to use atm). If we end up getting Alviss back we would have 8 players technically, so I will be using Redspawn if that's the case. Any thoughts on Vraath Keep are welcomed.

EDIT-

Figured on a preliminary spell list for Koth, looking for advice. Lately the party has been steamrolling stuff, so here's what I've got...



1st - Mage Armor, Shield, Nerveskitter, Ray of Enfeeblement

2nd- Scorching Ray, Wings of Cover

3rd- Fireball

Along with Practiced Spellcaster, and maybe Versatile Spellcaster, this ends up being two rays with scorching ray and 9d6 fireballs, which at this point I'm alright with.

[Eldariel]

Sounds like good sessions thus far. Yeah, single big enemy encounters are really swingy; either they tear some people up with the few actions they get or they kinda become walkovers. I recommend mostly having ads and using the terrain (the Hydra is only scary when it's a closet troll and the party has to enter the closet; otherwise he gets facerolled). They are pretty rare in this module though and Dragons have means to make up for the action disadvantage (particularly with metabreath feats).

I wouldn't worry about the party's steamroll or the lack there-of. The big fights with the Wyrmlords and the Dragons are yet to come. Indeed, they have yet to face any of the particularly big challenges and the ones they have fought thus far haven't really been as bad as they could've been either. So - see how they do vs. the actual boss-level enemies. Though when designing enemies, I recommend focusing on their defenses - particularly consumables can enhance enemy survivability by a lot.

Speaking of the mooks, I statted up a couple of frontliner leaders (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20989582&postcount=1164) for the Hobgoblin ground units: I recommend using something like the Marshal/Warblade (could be made level 4 for a level 2 maneuver too) instead of the Sergeants to enable the mooks to do some damage. The Crusader is a great frontliner to make life hard for enemy frontliners but not much of a leader. I was envisioning about a 50/50 split between the two with the Marshal/Warblade acting as the unit leader with the Crusader essentially leading the Charge. Then there could be a Bard (using Message) in the backline providing bonuses acting as the overall battle leader. That is to say, Crusader as a Sergeant, Marshal/Warblade as Second Lieutenant and Bard as Lieutenant (and battlefield commander).
I'd alter Koth's loadout a bit. Right now the way you designed him he's basically raw numbers: his defense is AC, his offense is direct damage. His only real trick right now is Wings of Cover, which is certainly cool, but it's just one trick. I feel he could use one AOE control spell (Glitterdust, Grease or some such) and perhaps a tricky spell (Invisibility, Silent Image or some such). Makes him a bit more able to vary his offense and defense based on the scenario. I'm actually not sure you need both, Fireball and Scorching Ray. They do rather similar things. Of course, Invisibility could be a Potion or a Scroll too as it's the kind of thing he'd probably use to escape. Thus you could have it available without having to waste a slot on it. His normal loadout is actually rather more rounded so I'd aim to keep some of that versatility of utility like Charm Person (I definitely recommend keeping that spell).

One interesting option is Manyjaws [Spell Compendium] as a trickier alternative to Fireball (essentially 1d6 per CL but instead of AOE, you split the 9d6 between targets - but they last for up to 3 rounds; force damage with Ref for ½). It would allow making use of the fact that Koth, being a Bugbear, can get 12 ranks in Concentration enabling learning "Swift Concentration" skill trick to maintain Concentration as a swift action for a round. This could also be used with Silent Image or some such. Wind Wall is a decent scrollable spell to expand his alternatives a bit. Could also run Energy Substitution (Electricity) + Born of Three Thunders [Complete Arcane] for awesome effect (a Fireball that's actually Electric + Sonic and knocks people down and stuns them; though dazing Koth for a turn in the process).


Overall though, I'd consider replacing Shield and Ray of Enfeeblement with something he has less of right now. A bit of variety; he's already short on options as a Sorcerer. Versatile Spellcaster seems unnecessary as he's already a Sorcerer and has plenty of daily spells. I'd put his feat chains elsewhere: Born of Three Thunders (perhaps with Quick Recovery [Lords of Madness] to try and negate the Daze - ironically the Will save DC would be self-derived as Born of Three Thunders daze is self-caused).

Thinking of bigger changes, he'd be better off as a Wizard: sadly Bugbears have a pesky Charisma-penalty. Keeping things as is though, I think he needs more Int, at least 10 (more some Strength to Int for instance) - this way, he could get ranks in Concentration, which he absolutely needs. I'd trade Str and Int myself; 12 Str & 12 Int is much more doable (at least 3 skill points per level). Honestly, his current stats would suggest a gish but he isn't built as such; he can't really make use of those physicals.

[Anarxes]

So it has been a while since I've updated. I blame a lack of desire to write for a while but the campaign has still been going strong. I'll recap the past few sessions.

Vraath Keep was... interesting. Some scouting revealed the warg riders, who didn't do much of anything due to a maximized haboob. However they did were not able to scout out the hobgoblins and minotaur, and actually the trip fighter (fighter/monk/swordsage with a chain and potion of enlarge person) made short work of them in such an enclosed space. Every action was provoking AoOs and trip attempts and no one could do anything. So Koth threw a fireball (electricball?) of four thunders and very nearly killed the cleric. Ultimately Koth's scroll of invisibility and flying paid off and he was able to escape with the help of the manticore.

Warklegnaw was about as expected. My party is full of goblin racists, who will attack hobgoblins at every corner, but with other races they will at least attempt diplomacy and they had happened to take the gauntlet from Vraath Keep with them in a cart. Old Warklegnaw ended up pleased and was happy to share his boar with them.

Battle for Skull Gorge was... interesting. The Beguiler started to come into his own here. Major Images of Metallic Dragons were able to draw Ozyrandion away for long enough for the Warblade, with Stone Dragon techniques, to take down the bridge. They didn't even cross it and had no way to get to Cinder Hill. Luckily this allowed me to have a few Hobgoblins escape back to Kharn so I can realistically amp up the combat difficulty a little bit. Koth in my games has some ranks in ride, so has been jumping on Manticores and even Ozyrandion. In fact, the Sergeant and Koth escaped on Ozyrandion, but as the party was headed back to Drellin's Ferry, wounded, I had them sneak attack. To this point, the guaranteed drop of 50 ft from Downdraft is not very fun, and Ozyrandion was cut to shreds in a few rounds, even a size category larger. I guess it's okay to make them feel powerful, and I have great plans for Regiarix (oh man, the things I have planned. Black Dragons are my favorite). They were able to take Koth alive and through detect thoughts get vague descriptions of each Wyrmlord. They then killed Koth as he was tied up and helpless by shoving a wooden holy symbol of Tiamat down his throat. The Cleric went down to Lawful Neutral for that. Not really a good action.

So they make it back to Drellin's Ferry, whereupon they are rewarded with a few magic items (the lack of a wizard was starting to become apparent, so the Halfling who runs the Old Bridge Inn, Kellin I think, gave our Beguiler a Rod of Shadow Weaving) and requested their help in defending the caravan to Terelton. This combat was fun, because I stopped thinking so hard about it, made up the battle map with a bit more cover, and decided that success or failure wouldn't be determined by the party members deaths but by the amount of refugees they keep alive. Round one, four warg riders. Taken care of ridiculously easy by a Briar Web. They got some shots off (the refugees were AC 10 with 5 hp just for my own sanity) and were able to kill a few. Then was the fun party. 4 regulars, with 2 Duskblades and a Spellscourge from MMV. Those Duskblades are fun to roleplay. I had a great time describing to players how they'd run their hand down the blade and it would engulf in lightning or fire. The Spellscourge also did a great job with trip attempts. Ultimately it was the best "Combat as Sport" encounter so far, which is good because the Druid in our party is way more disposed to "Combat as War", but those encounters aren't very fun for me to run.

6 rounds into this skirmish, the Manticore appears. First round, volley of spikes at the refugees. Six spikes, six dead refugees. It all came down to a Reflex save against a Downdraft, which he made. He didn't last much longer though. Flying low, the Swordsage was able to get some nasty hits on him, and a Blinding Color Surge by the Beguiler provided enough cover to prevent the Manticore from doing much else. Ultimately they saved the day with 8 refugees dying out of 30.

They head to Brindol, which thank god because getting the party to go to Rhest without some sort of push is stupid hard. There's not really a natural seque in the book that allows for this. Lord Jarmaath convinces them to go. Before that though, we had a nice little bar brawl at the tavern by the west gate that has a petrified Wyvern. They tried to break up a fight between a half orc and three Sun Elves (the orc had mistaken the fighter for a woman in his drunken state and made a pass at him). The druid tries diplomacy, makes it with the Orc but fails with the Elves ("I DEMAND SATISFACTION" was something I believe I said as the elf) and proceeds to use Aspect of the Werebeast. If you were a group of elves in a tavern, and you see some guy who looks as though he is a Lycanthrope, specifically a typically EVIL Lycanthrope, you would probably attack yeah? Well they attack, but the party is able to put them down non-lethally, which The Lions of Brindol appreciated.

So they then head to the roadblocks in Rhest (we are on day 18 now, so Drellin's Ferry is just now being destroyed by the Red Hand). This encounter played out like some Black Company stuff. Sphere of Invisibility (oh I should mention they have a Gnome Factotum in tow now, new party member) with Zone of Silence plus spider climb meant the two archers were dead turn one. Maximized Haboob on one of the Ogre areas, and an entangle on the other, meant they were very easily dispatched, and the Beguiler, with a wand of Fireball (CL 5) picked up from Brindol caught the entire thing on fire and essentially dealt with most of the sleeping Hobgoblins in the building itself. It was over by turn 3. Like I said, my players like Combat as War, and finding a balance has been the most frustrating part of the campaign for me. I still enjoy it, but it just means I have to do the same with the Red Hand.

In the meantime I've been watching tons of Chris Perkins videos (AI, DCA, the Robot Chicken games) and it has been immensely helpful in getting the pacing down for my games, as well as supplying me with just generally good advice.

Tonight, they meet the Tiri Kitor and probably kill some Greenspawn of Tiamat. I doubt they'll make it to Rhest but we shall see. And if they decide to stay on Rhest Trail, well, the next roadblock won't be so easy.

[Fizban]

If I may take a moment to impose some assumptions and expand upon it, I'm pretty sure the reason most DM's don't like "combat as war" is because it basically goes against the whole point of running a game. To actually run combat as "war" you'd have to perfectly kit out, optimize, and strategically perfect every single encounter of the game with the objective of killing the PCs, which aside from being a massive pain in the butt should also guarantee that sooner or later (and probably sooner), they die and it's game over. People say they do "combat as war," but what they really mean is they're so afraid of losing that they go completely nutzo on every single fight even when they know full well it's not climatic or even particularly well prepared encounter and they're not supposed to be at serious risk. (Which is a thing by the way, a good 60% of encounters aren't supposed to have more than a small chance of killing even one PC.) So, when the DM is running a normal game and the party is pretending every fight is supper sudden death, it's not very fun for the DM at all. I rather think they should all get over themselves, unless your DM has declared war on you (or you're actually running Black Company or a similar game with basically no magic or healing) there's no need to be on a war footing.

As for the rest of the game, you've certainly added a lot of flair. Defending noncombatants is something that should probably show up a lot more, though I expect it's missing for two obvious reasons: it's nigh impossible to do in 3.5, and having who knows how many people die because the system left you incapable of defending them is seriously lame (not that I'd expect a "combat as war" player to care since it wasn't their life in danger). Still a good way of knocking your heroes down a peg if need be. I would point out that 8/30 is almost one in three of those people dead, a devastating loss, while even all 30 dying would hardly impact the full population of 1,150 for the whole town, but as long as you don't run the numbers it probably seems fine.

Having someone call the druid out on the grounds of "he just turned into a werewolf?" Awesome. Letting them not only get away with escalating the situation into violence but congratulating them on "only" beating the other party into an unconscious pulp? Less awesome. Moreso when the apparently trigger-happy druid did it in the middle of a social situation that should not have been over after a single failed check.

That's the second time you've mentioned maximized Haboob, I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be that effective. Even maximized it's only 4 per two caster level, max 20 at cl 10, with a reflex save for half on the first round as long as you leave, which it does not prevent you from doing at all (not blind, no move penalties). I can only assume that it's working because they're continuously tripped from the edge or somesuch. And I'd point out that if the Red Hand was actually treating their war as a war, they'd have immediately sent their best dragon with a squad of their actual high level troops and Greater Barghests (with their own Invs Sphere) to gank the party as soon as it became apparent an adventuring party was wrecking their front.

I do hope you've prepared something exceptionally nasty for them under the lake. I expect the druid will show with Water Breathing already prepared, or if you're lucky he'll go shark all alone. If they row out, a breath weapon from Regi ought to sink them in one or two shots (depending on how you run acid damage vs objects). If they're up to a party of six you'll definitely need to beef up the numbers along with the stats, I'd recommend Skullcrusher Ogres (with Brutal Throw) for your brutes and some sort of sea monster (or even just more Razorfiends) hiding underwater. Add Spirit Lion Barb 1 for Pounce and Maximize Breath if you want to threaten them, and waive the underwater penalties on their wings (which on only penalized due to a technicality).

[Eldariel]

Nice to hear more of this; the campaign sounds quite fun and it's definitely interesting to read on. It's always good to see where the different kinds of designs fall, and how different parties clear the various hurdles thrown their way. Sounds like your calibration is about right. I do recommend giving all the Dragons Awaken Spell Resistance-feat once or twice if they don't have natural Spell Resistance since otherwise they're really a tad too easy to take down. The Spell Resistance they can get isn't extraordinary but it's enough to do its job of either eating some actions or giving a moderate layer of extra defense vs. the easy spell-based attacks. The module gives you rather good tools to have the enemies play "combat as war" too; outriders can just spy the group out, warn the enemy strongholds and go from there. Warg Riders, Dragons and casters' summons/familiars all make for fine scouting tools after all.


If I may take a moment to impose some assumptions and expand upon it, I'm pretty sure the reason most DM's don't like "combat as war" is because it basically goes against the whole point of running a game. To actually run combat as "war" you'd have to perfectly kit out, optimize, and strategically perfect every single encounter of the game with the objective of killing the PCs, which aside from being a massive pain in the butt should also guarantee that sooner or later (and probably sooner), they die and it's game over.

I don't really see it: combat as war basically just means moving the heart of the issue to control and strategy rather than tactics. An unaware enemy will be none the wiser and optimizing such an encounter doesn't make sense in a combat as war-game. On the flipside, aware enemies will engage with the party in an escalating series of traps and preparation which can be tremendously fun particularly when the hall of cards comes crumbling down or a third party intervenes. But yeah, PC deaths will occur; then again, what's wrong with that? Be it combat as sports or combat as war, the tension only exists if the PCs feel they can die.


I do hope you've prepared something exceptionally nasty for them under the lake. I expect the druid will show with Water Breathing already prepared, or if you're lucky he'll go shark all alone. If they row out, a breath weapon from Regi ought to sink them in one or two shots (depending on how you run acid damage vs objects). If they're up to a party of six you'll definitely need to beef up the numbers along with the stats, I'd recommend Skullcrusher Ogres (with Brutal Throw) for your brutes and some sort of sea monster (or even just more Razorfiends) hiding underwater. Add Spirit Lion Barb 1 for Pounce and Maximize Breath if you want to threaten them, and waive the underwater penalties on their wings (which on only penalized due to a technicality).

I actually like a Hulking Hurler Ogre with Area Attack + Knockdown Blow. Hitting an area, forcing saves and knocking people down does a lot of work for making the PCs easier food for the minor enemies (+4 to hit, lack of mobility, softened up). Note, Hulking Hurler range is rather short (10' increment, 20' here) so these are not a replacement for Hill Giants in the siege. I'd envision using units like this as essentially heavy battlefield weapons intended to primarily hit the enemy units and formations rather than enemy fortifications (though if they get within 100', they can do massive harm there). Here's what I statted:
Ogre Battlethrower
Ogre Fighter 2/Hulking Hurler 3

Speed: 30'
AC: 23 = 10 + 8 Armor + 5 Natural - 1 Size
HP: 76 (9 HD)
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +5, Will +5

Spiked Full Plate
Heavy Flail

27 Strength (+5 to Strength-checks for breaking)
11 Dex
16 Con
6 Int
14 Wis
4 Cha

1. Power Attack
3. Point Blank Shot
F. Weapon Focus: Rock
F. Dungeoncrasher
6. Brutal Throw
HH. Really Throw Anything
HH. Snatch Arrows
9. Far Shot

Hulking Hurler Tricks:
Area Attack
Knockdown Blow


BAB +8; Grapple +20

Attacks:
+15/+10 Heavy Flail 2d8+12 (19-20/x2)
+15/+10 Armor Spikes for 1d8+4
Bull Rush for +24. If Bull Rushed to a wall, deal 4d6+16 damage.
+16 600lb Rock for (20' increment) 6d6+8; 10' AOE with DC 26 Reflex, hit Medium- creatures knocked down.

[Anarxes]

Yeah, I totally am ramping things up as combat balance is becoming more apparent. Last session our warblade couldn't make it until later. I took it upon myself to improvise. So he was kidnapped by Greenspawn Sneaks during a rest, and having the party find them while also running into the Tiri Kitor was a lot of fun. Also... depending on the map, Greenspawn Razorfiends are incredibly effective. Also added a pool of acid in their lair, which led to some fun times (I will be honest in that I kinda hoped for an AI Aeofel-esque moment). Greenspawn sneaks are fairly effective when the party is worried about the two Razorfiends in a cave system. I should say, it started like the normal in book encounter, and I played the one razorfiend conservatively, giving it high bonuses to sneak in the bog. The cave system that held the kidnapped party member had two and a cadre of sneaks. Those things got a couple crits and really put the fear of God into the party. But as an aside, the Moon Elf King father of our beguiler is out looking for him, and has sent a dispatch of Moon Elves led by a Warlock to find him (Warlock because of his Fae-Ancestry, it's a Fae Warlock). Watching him use his disguise self slots to hide in Starsong Hill has been pretty entertaining to watch.

Regarding the bar brawl, I kinda agree in a way that there should have been more consequences. I'm still getting comfortable with the social roleplaying, and that's definitely something I would keep in mind. This is really my first serious foray into it, and each session keeps getting better. I've also talked to the druid about the gameplay, and last session was a lot better. Combat as war really makes DMing really hard in a lot of ways, especially if you run encounters as is. All the dudes in the roadblock are asleep? Freaking really?

Edit- Also, I've already statted up a new Reggie in HeroLab. Can I post stat blocks from HeroLab here? I don't want to cause a copyright problem.

[Anarxes]

I do hope you've prepared something exceptionally nasty for them under the lake. I expect the druid will show with Water Breathing already prepared, or if you're lucky he'll go shark all alone. If they row out, a breath weapon from Regi ought to sink them in one or two shots (depending on how you run acid damage vs objects). If they're up to a party of six you'll definitely need to beef up the numbers along with the stats, I'd recommend Skullcrusher Ogres (with Brutal Throw) for your brutes and some sort of sea monster (or even just more Razorfiends) hiding underwater. Add Spirit Lion Barb 1 for Pounce and Maximize Breath if you want to threaten them, and waive the underwater penalties on their wings (which on only penalized due to a technicality).

Any thoughts on Blackspawn raiders? Maybe even a Blackspawn Stalker? At this point a CR 9 creature wouldn't be terrible. I've thrown CR 11 encounters at them in the hopes of getting balancing down right (perhaps not as well played as possible, but well, it's also the beginning of the campaign). I also think CR breaks down with multiple minions. Koth with a Cleric and a Redspawn Arcaniss in tow (The Cleric used Seething Eyebane and popped the trip fighters eyeballs >=D) makes the encounter like CR 11 or 12 but honestly it didn't feel that way. Also Blackspawn serve as foreshadowing for Reggie (who unlike Ozy I've optimized to hell and back with Awaken Spell Resistance and some metabreath feats [As an aside, everyone recommends Scit. Scales, but how the hell do you fit them on a Dragon Chassis until the battle of Brindol or Tyrgarun? Dragon sorc. levels feel underwhelming unless used exclusively for defense]) And a giant Dragon Spider flanked by Dragon Ninjas (ok maybe not flanked, perhaps an encounter for right afterward) sounds badass. I don't know if I'm putting too many dragonspawn here but I mean, if you expand it to be a hatchery for not just greenspawn but all spawn of tiamat it might make more sense.

Edit - I haven't been penalizing the Razorfiends for swimming. I mean, it doesn't really make sense, considering that their wings aren't used for flying anyway. I almost typed flaying and had to tell myself, "no Anarxes, the Razorfiend's wings are definitely used for flaying."

Thoughts are absolutely welcome. Next session is going to be some roleplaying for the beguiler as well as perhaps a dragonspawn attack on Starsong Hill. Maybe the Warlock is working with the Red Hand? I'm not sure, I just need my NPCs to have more secrets.

[Fizban]

Blackspawn Raiders are basically lizardfolk with a weak breath weapon, terrifying for peasants but mooks to PCs. They're only interesting in the ambush when backed up by Greater Barghests, and seem picked specifically because they're pushovers so it's not a wipe.

True Dragon sorcerer casting does indeed suck, people mention Scintillating Scales because it's a no-brainer but that doesn't mean your dragon even has 2nd level spells.

You are confusing CR and EL, though the xp awards are basically the same. Regardless, you have a well-optimized and super aggressive party, so basically anything less than an even fight is going to get wrecked (and CR=level is not an even fight, it's 1/4 of an even fight). Encounters need to have multiple monsters to be interesting, but this means those monsters are individually even weaker. To actually threaten any party, you need an equal number of monsters at equal, or probably greater strength. You've got what, 6 PCs now, at level 7 or 8? That means at least 5 optimized monsters starting at the same level, none lower and preferably at least one higher, and that's just to reach a "50/50" fight that they'll still win thanks to a greater pool of options and burst resources.

There's also the adventuring day: RHoD gives the players most of the agency in starting fights, up until the battle of Brindol at least. How many fights are your PCs actually having in a day? This is actually a pretty big problem in the module, players get used to setting the tone and blowing their spells whenever they want, then the battle comes up and it's a marathon they're not prepared for.

And finally, the simple fact that with three spellcasters capable of area save or lose you basically aren't getting anything through without a surprise round or immunity. This is probably the main reason it seems like adding more creatures doesn't increase the challenge: because it doesn't take any more resources to remove them, there is in fact no increased challenge. You need guys spread out enough that each spell only hits one of them. Again, this is why I hate the "combat as war" mentality, because it's bogus. If you/their foes wanted them dead, an ambush of six warmages (or any other mages) along the road could level them even without serious optimization, in the exact same way they do it. Like I said before, you can't have "combat as war" and "run encounters as is," those are two mutually exclusive statements.

Here's another secret: half of the "combat as war" mentality is just ensuring you only fight one group of enemies at a time. Which is how most adventures are already structured. They'll have some super basic responses to avoid looking lifeless, but that's it. If your monsters alert each other and respond in the same manner as group of PCs would (swarming in from every entrance all guns blazing literally one round later), you get to make them fight the entire day's worth of encounters all at once. They expect to not be outnumbered and outgunned, both because it's a game and because that's the whole strategy. The whole point is "if we fight all those guys at once we're screwed so we make sure we don't," and your objective is to make that happen, that's the war. Four fights is one day, they either need to be so spaced out your buffs expire and your AoEs hit single targets, or set up so that touching one brings all the rest down on your head (or so immune to your stuff that that winning takes effort). At CR=party level, making all four fights happen at once increases the danger to an even fight.

Anyway, more dragonspawn is good, the module doesn't make good use of them to begin with. The Ghostlord isn't even there for a good reason, just because they wanted a lich and undead (and a guy you're not supposed to fight), making that site a second hatchery with bigger badder dragonspawn would make them actually matter. Blackspawn Stalker is better than a normal giant spider but still not great and makes no sense in the water area. If you aren't already, you should give anything with more than two legs a +4 stability bonus on the reflex save for Born of the Three Thunders, but the Beguiler will just mind crush it's +4 will save instead. Actually I think you could justify making them immune to trip while climbing their webs because spider. Take four of those, put them in opposite corners of a 40'x40' room with shelves that keep them out of sight, coat the floor and walls with webs, and note that their Web entry does not make them burn easily so they're actually really hard to burn. Have some cheap smaller spiders hiding in holes around the edges to throw webs and muck people up. Hang the bait in the middle and wait.

Or if you must have ninjas, have one stalker come out first (roaring to alert everyone), then the ninjas, then a second stalker. The ninjas should absolutely be ganging up on people (that is of course what the PCs do), but take note of ninja problems. Ghost Step takes a swift action, walling off pretty much every method of getting multiple attacks while moving except Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian Pounce CheeseTM. But your party has Unseelie fey and Anklets of Translocation, so it's par for the course.

I just said a minute ago that undead were superfluous, but they would actually help. Some mindless creatures to avoid compulsions and stuns, and some Demons to maybe take the edge off the Evoker. Except the module has crappy undead and uses Devils, both not until later.

If the horde has been watching them they should have counters in place by now. Potions of Protection from Good shut down compulsions for long enough to put up a fight. Prone is harder to deal with but there are items for Feather Fall and PHB2 has Stand (which is Feather Fall for being on your butt) so the solution writes itself. Broad spectrum energy resistance isn't really doable with a single spell, but a Potion of Resist Energy of one common type combined with immunity to another helps, you could also pass out Cloaks of Elemental Protection (MiC, cheap 1/day resist 10 vs your choice, and the party can't hoard them either). The Red Hand is also more than capable of casting Stalwart Pact (SpC) on every unit of consequence (instead of thousands of gp in CMW potions), for an extra 20hp and +2 saves when they drop below half.

[Eldariel]

Edit- Also, I've already statted up a new Reggie in HeroLab. Can I post stat blocks from HeroLab here? I don't want to cause a copyright problem.

Yeah, go ahead. Or write them out like I did with the Ogre above. It should be no problem.


Blackspawn Raiders are basically lizardfolk with a weak breath weapon, terrifying for peasants but mooks to PCs. They're only interesting in the ambush when backed up by Greater Barghests, and seem picked specifically because they're pushovers so it's not a wipe.

You can give them some metabreath feats to make them a bit more interesting. Draconomicon is a treasure trove to this end, Clinging & Lingering Breath and Races of the Dragon gives you real gold like Entangling Exhalation, which makes 'em really annoying to deal with. Exhaled Barrier works too. It can all be balanced out with Recover Breath as desired.


True Dragon sorcerer casting does indeed suck, people mention Scintillating Scales because it's a no-brainer but that doesn't mean your dragon even has 2nd level spells.

You can actually use the Loredrake archetype and Spellhoarding Psychosis where you want to give these Dragons some superior spellcasting. Further, they can have consumables of some key spells should it become necessary. But Spell Resistance is already a nice start, as well as Mage Armor and Blood Wind (swift action 1st level spell that allows using natural weapons at 100' range with 20' range increments for 1 round). Shield is also fine as is Protection from Good.


There's also the adventuring day: RHoD gives the players most of the agency in starting fights, up until the battle of Brindol at least. How many fights are your PCs actually having in a day? This is actually a pretty big problem in the module, players get used to setting the tone and blowing their spells whenever they want, then the battle comes up and it's a marathon they're not prepared for.

I don't think this is actually a problem. To get stuff done, PCs generally need to fight and the module forces you to get stuff done. It doesn't control per-day encounters but it does give you an overall timeline, and thus caters to various kinds of days. If the players don't realise they need to conserve their spell slots when it comes to a war, well, there was probably no helping them in the first place. Plus, the module offers nice chances for ambushes, enemy hunting parties and such so the players need to keep on their toes at all times.


And finally, the simple fact that with three spellcasters capable of area save or lose you basically aren't getting anything through without a surprise round or immunity. This is probably the main reason it seems like adding more creatures doesn't increase the challenge: because it doesn't take any more resources to remove them, there is in fact no increased challenge. You need guys spread out enough that each spell only hits one of them. Again, this is why I hate the "combat as war" mentality, because it's bogus. If you/their foes wanted them dead, an ambush of six warmages (or any other mages) along the road could level them even without serious optimization, in the exact same way they do it. Like I said before, you can't have "combat as war" and "run encounters as is," those are two mutually exclusive statements.

Eh, this isn't really fair. "Combat at war" moves the onus from the encounter to everything else. How are those Warmages managing to ambush the party? How do they know where and when the players will pass? How did they go unnoticed; where did the player scouting fail? If players really manage to obliviously walk into a group of six Warmages that knew they were there and weren't harassed at all during their ambush preparations, they deserve to die. This is why a spy like Miha Serani is so extremely worthwhile; with a unit like that, such an ambush would actually be possible to pull off. As such, this module actually caters to such gameplay.

On the corollary, same considerations apply the other way. Why were the PCs able to sneak up on the defenders? What were their scouts doing, how did the PCs avoid the outriders? Weren't the defenders using divination to expect woe? Even a simple Augury would've had them on their toes. The moment you walk into an ambush you've already ****ed up - but there are plenty of ways to avoid that. Things don't just appear out of thin air (except when they teleport, but there are different preparations available for that); everything can be spotted from afar and there's no reason to move clumped together so that you can get AOE'd to death. And scouts should always move ahead and stealthily, be it a bird, a familiar, a Druidbird, a Rogue, a burrower with Mindsight or whatever.

One of the big problems in this module though are Horde will-saves. Aside from the Dragons and the Wyrmlords, the Will-saves are down the drain as a rule. I recommend doing something about it; I personally like using buffing Bard and handing out Potions of Resurgence and Conviction among the minor units. Sadly Doom Hand Clerics are too low leveled to cast Mass Conviction, and Conviction is a touch spell making it hard to Chain in any meaningful manner. The other option is disruption actions from archers and casters to try and stop the spellcasters from getting spells off (like I mentioned, Silence is a golden spell to that end; and readied bowshots can cramp a caster's style).

At the very least though, I recommend reworking the bosses so that they have reasonable overall saves. As written, they all have beyond obvious weaknesses: Koth (Sorcerer) has poor Fort-save, Saarvith (Ranger) has poor Will-save, Ulwai (Bard) has poor Fort-save and Kharn (Favored Soul) & Azarr Kul (Cleric) both have middling-poor Reflex-saves. Worst of all, this is all information players can learn from Koth, or his notes and memos. I personally rewrote them all to have better saves, some rerolls, and some active defenses so that they aren't out of the picture with one poor roll. I used Mystic Ranger for Saarvith and gave him 5th level spells; Primal Hunter, Speed, Instinct & Senses for some sweet bonuses including Improved Uncanny Dodge (plus Evasion from class). Then just pumped his Wisdom for spellcasting (16 + 2 levels + 2 item = 20) & gave him a Cloak of Resistance +2, his save-problems were history (+11 Fort, +15 Ref, +10 Will).

Sadly Rangers don't get any good Immediate Action defenses, but I gave him some summons including Rashemi Elemental Summoning and Greenbound Summoning to both, make up for the fact that the module doesn't include a real enemy Druid and to enable him to combat indirectly. Rest of the spells went into Champions of Ruin/PHBII/Spell Compendium Archery spells (Arrowsplit, Darkfire Arrow, etc.) and of course, all the arrows are poisoned off SNAI Viper Venom (thanks to Greenbound Summoning + Augment Summoning, it's a DC14 Fort-save).


Here's another secret: half of the "combat as war" mentality is just ensuring you only fight one group of enemies at a time. Which is how most adventures are already structured. They'll have some super basic responses to avoid looking lifeless, but that's it. If your monsters alert each other and respond in the same manner as group of PCs would (swarming in from every entrance all guns blazing literally one round later), you get to make them fight the entire day's worth of encounters all at once. They expect to not be outnumbered and outgunned, both because it's a game and because that's the whole strategy. The whole point is "if we fight all those guys at once we're screwed so we make sure we don't," and your objective is to make that happen, that's the war. Four fights is one day, they either need to be so spaced out your buffs expire and your AoEs hit single targets, or set up so that touching one brings all the rest down on your head (or so immune to your stuff that that winning takes effort). At CR=party level, making all four fights happen at once increases the danger to an even fight.

This is actually something the module is pretty good about. Every stronghold aside from the Fane itself involves alarm systems that gather the defenders together and a careless party will fight the whole Skullgorge Bridge, Vraath Keep or Rhest together. The players, should they play tactically sound, have a chance to avoid alarms and fight the enemies in smaller groups but the enemy defenses are fundamentally robust.

[Fizban]

Eh, this isn't really fair. "Combat at war" moves the onus from the encounter to everything else. How are those Warmages managing to ambush the party? How do they know where and when the players will pass? How did they go unnoticed; where did the player scouting fail? If players really manage to obliviously walk into a group of six Warmages that knew they were there and weren't harassed at all during their ambush preparations, they deserve to die. This is why a spy like Miha Serani is so extremely worthwhile; with a unit like that, such an ambush would actually be possible to pull off. As such, this module actually caters to such gameplay.
It's pitifully easy. So the PCs are travellng by road, out in the open, because fully hiding your passage takes effort and no one stealths across friendly territory. The horde knows where they are by any number of methods, from tracking to magic. The warmages are moved by whatever method is most convenient, dragon or magic most likely. They set up surrounding the position, each hundreds of feet away from the target point, each other, and the road itself thanks to Fireball's insane range, with distance penalties and stealth gear ensuring guaranteed failure on spot/listen. The PCs scouting fails because you can't actually travel at speed scouting an area 1,000' across, and no one ever does. Their divinations fail because either A, they aren't using any, or B, any number of other reasons (I'm not arguing about or writing a treatise on anti-divination here, anything the PCs can do the horde can do 5 times). Once the party reaches the designated point, the warmages simultaneously loose a volley of Sudden Maximized Fireballs, with Searing/Energy Substitution to taste, killing most if not all of them in the surprise round. The survivors are unable to kill more than one, maybe two with the most perfect of circumstances, assuming they even win initiative. Unless the surviors have Teleport, they die on round 1.

Situation is adaptable to pretty much anything. Slap them on a big dragon with Invis Sphere and Silence as is so popular and there's no need for an ambush, just gank squad. The horde has an absurd number of high level characters and resources compared to the PCs, which if used intelligently are more than enough to crush them. The game only happens because it's a game.

On the corollary, same considerations apply the other way. Why were the PCs able to sneak up on the defenders? What were their scouts doing, how did the PCs avoid the outriders? Weren't the defenders using divination to expect woe? Even a simple Augury would've had them on their toes. The moment you walk into an ambush you've already ****ed up - but there are plenty of ways to avoid that. Things don't just appear out of thin air (except when they teleport, but there are different preparations available for that); everything can be spotted from afar and there's no reason to move clumped together so that you can get AOE'd to death. And scouts should always move ahead and stealthily, be it a bird, a familiar, a Druidbird, a Rogue, a burrower with Mindsight or whatever.
Because the defenders are garbage, and the DM doesn't want to play that way anyway. The horde has no scouts, no outriders, no seriously documented efforts at ensuring it's people aren't ganked in any but a couple of specific fights. Even Kharn's stated defenses are laughable. And why should they? It is always easier to attack than defend, which is basically the whole point of adventurers. You can't protect everything with actual power, just leave a token force to keep out the riff raff. Then you can send a squad of adventurers (in response, or pre-emptively) to murder your problems, that's exactly how the PCs and their employers always operate. The horde has enough casters to make a dozen parties of equal strength to the PCs, but keeps them all sitting around instead of sending them out to gank the party like they should. The PCs are literally the only force in the region that has any ability to hinder them, there is no reason whatsoever for this to not happen. The horde has one scripted "assassination" attempt, by a group with no stealth skills, or magic, or even sneak attack, just some lame brawlers with buffs and Invis Sphere from Greater Barghests.

"Combat as war" is bogus. Any force strong enough that the PCs must level up before beating it should have killed them already. "Combat as sudden death" could be appropriate (for very small groups of foes very close to your level, against whom you have remained unidentified), but you can't have the PCs be underdogs fighting a war because any group with enough power to make war in a world with DnD magic has enough power to gank the PCs, period. Or you can accept that in order to facilitate a good time for everyone, both sides need to allow breathing room, the DM by not ganking the party and the party by not pushing harder than the DM can keep up with. If you're trying to play out every single spell and tactic the foes are using against every single spell and tactic of the PCs in preparation before the fight, you're not running a war: you're running a battle in a different form. A battle they can win if they have the edge, or lose if they don't, but against an army they would lose same as they would hand to hand.

This is actually something the module is pretty good about. Every stronghold aside from the Fane itself involves alarm systems that gather the defenders together and a careless party will fight the whole Skullgorge Bridge, Vraath Keep or Rhest together. The players, should they play tactically sound, have a chance to avoid alarms and fight the enemies in smaller groups but the enemy defenses are fundamentally robust.
I disagree, it was this module itself I was thinking of with the barely alive description:

Vraath Keep: no one on watch or patrol IIRC, mounted units stuck inside a building, Manticore doesn't fight unless attacked or ordered. If it was run by PCs those riders would be on patrol, worgs within scent of every entrance, and the manticore would go all out the second the alarm was raised. Well actually they wouldn't be in the keep, because it's a ruined pile of garbage: they'd all be in the one good tower with the Manticore/caster dropping from above to flank intruders held at the stair choke.

Skull Gorge: bulk of the forces are stationed on the far side of the bridge, which makes sense if they're expecting a military assault and are using the bridge as a chokepoint, which they are not. Their goal is to protect the bridge, so they should be on the Vraath side to prevent anyone from reaching and smashing it. It doesn't matter if they raise the alarm if all their troops are in the wrong place.

Rhest: default troops are essentially melee only units isolated from each other by bodies of water like a bunch of morons. There's a reason everyone replaces them with ranged attackers at minimum. For bonus points, it is suggested that if he survives the attack, Regiarix will attack the elves for "revenge," except without any DR this would be suicidal even if the PCs ignored it.

Ghostlord: Varanthian has cornered herself like a moron. The monks and the wyrmlord have a watch and a reasonable response, except they corner themselves in a room with a single exit, small enough to nuke into oblivion, and are not nearly strong enough to "keep an eye on the ghostlord" or stop anyone strong enough to deal with him anyway. The Ghostlord himself is obviously not meant to be fought, even if he does have a watch set (I don't remember one) it doesn't matter anyway.

Battle of Brindol: The giants are scripted to ignore the PCs in favor of attacking the wall, instead of paying attention to the fact that they're dying. IIRC, Abithriax also just flies around burning until attacked, giving the PCs buffs plus a free round like a moron, and then fights to the death. Instead of say, deliberately avoiding them so he can burn stuff in peace. Skather finally brings some sense back with his mage ambush, which even with the stock sorcerers can easily be one of the most deadly encounters yet, simply because they actually drop surprise AoEs and SoDs for the first time in the module. But then Kharn shows up, explicitly packing a bunch of ogres, and tells them to stay out of it.

Fane of Tiamat: and of course, the Fane where instead of immediately piling every single occupant into the halls, they pretty much just ignore you because dungeon.

Can you end up fighting those encounters all at once? It requires more than carelessness, a deliberate intent to screw things up. You'd have to let the worg riders exit their room and deliberately aggro the manticore. Wait for the troops to cross the bridge. I don't think there's even a way to get all of Rhest actually fighting you properly. The giants and red dragon are scripted to ignore you, and the fane won't aggro unless you run down the hall flinging open all the doors.

[Eldariel]

It's pitifully easy. So the PCs are travellng by road, out in the open, because fully hiding your passage takes effort and no one stealths across friendly territory. The horde knows where they are by any number of methods, from tracking to magic. The warmages are moved by whatever method is most convenient, dragon or magic most likely. They set up surrounding the position, each hundreds of feet away from the target point, each other, and the road itself thanks to Fireball's insane range, with distance penalties and stealth gear ensuring guaranteed failure on spot/listen. The PCs scouting fails because you can't actually travel at speed scouting an area 1,000' across, and no one ever does. Their divinations fail because either A, they aren't using any, or B, any number of other reasons (I'm not arguing about or writing a treatise on anti-divination here, anything the PCs can do the horde can do 5 times). Once the party reaches the designated point, the warmages simultaneously loose a volley of Sudden Maximized Fireballs, with Searing/Energy Substitution to taste, killing most if not all of them in the surprise round. The survivors are unable to kill more than one, maybe two with the most perfect of circumstances, assuming they even win initiative. Unless the surviors have Teleport, they die on round 1.

Situation is adaptable to pretty much anything. Slap them on a big dragon with Invis Sphere and Silence as is so popular and there's no need for an ambush, just gank squad. The horde has an absurd number of high level characters and resources compared to the PCs, which if used intelligently are more than enough to crush them. The game only happens because it's a game.

And you can't think of any way for PCs to make sure that never happens? Azarr Kul himself is probably not involved since he has better things to do in trying to open the gate that's way too high level for him and none of the other Horde casters even know Scrying (Ulwai is of level but doesn't have the spell). Just make sure nobody ever escapes and the story won't reach the Horde and they won't know what they're dealing with. Alternatively, feed the escaping mooks false information with illusions; make the Horde think these attacks are performed by some Forest Giant group or a Silver Dragon or whatever.

The Horde lacks robust communication lines and mobility - they use oldfashioned messengers and marching, like a medieval army would. The words of a random Warg Rider aren't reliable (it is easy enough to implant some false memories as well). Not a single mage in the whole Horde can Teleport for instance. They lack strategic mobility and all the dragon assets are already tied to various objectives. Leaving the Bridge, Fane, Rhest or the Horde without Dragon support for a day would be rather risky from the Horde's point of view, as would taking the a large group of the high level arcanists the Horde holds. They wouldn't do that without absolute certainty that the PCs are actually a threat and that they will be traveling by this road and that the ambush actually works. It seems unlikely that the PCs are the only hostile party at works, just the only one we're actually aware of.


Because the defenders are garbage, and the DM doesn't want to play that way anyway. The horde has no scouts, no outriders, no seriously documented efforts at ensuring it's people aren't ganked in any but a couple of specific fights. Even Kharn's stated defenses are laughable. And why should they? It is always easier to attack than defend, which is basically the whole point of adventurers. You can't protect everything with actual power, just leave a token force to keep out the riff raff. Then you can send a squad of adventurers (in response, or pre-emptively) to murder your problems, that's exactly how the PCs and their employers always operate. The horde has enough casters to make a dozen parties of equal strength to the PCs, but keeps them all sitting around instead of sending them out to gank the party like they should. The PCs are literally the only force in the region that has any ability to hinder them, there is no reason whatsoever for this to not happen. The horde has one scripted "assassination" attempt, by a group with no stealth skills, or magic, or even sneak attack, just some lame brawlers with buffs and Invis Sphere from Greater Barghests.

Outriders are mentioned to exist, just not statted out. It doesn't take an awful lot to add their patrol routes and enhance the encounters a bit. Yeah, by default the whole module is geared towards "kick the door down"-types of people but at the same time notes are made pretty much everywhere on the general composition of the Horde, the various plots and internal alliances going on, etc. Trivial to account for the chance that they can locate the party (the area to scout is quite vast), play them out, see if PCs Spot them and have them report in and ready the keep if they conclude the players are indeed a threat. Similarly, PCs have to play the game of stamping down the scouts and making sure the word of them never reaches the high command. That just takes some minor modification to account for all the living events in the world; but the base campaign lays a solid foundation there too. Just few additions here and there and voila.

Commando units (which is essentially what the PCs are) function first and foremost by hiding their existence, location and movements. That's how a combat-as-war party should operate in this campaign, as in war; there's no way they can take on the enemy itself so they must do what they can while making sure they remain hidden. If they're detected, located and considered a threat, of course they have no chance but they have every chance to make sure that doesn't happen - locating them in particular with the level of divination available to the Horde is pretty darn difficult. I don't see any way for the Horde to access high enough level magic to negate that, aside from again Azarr Kul who has better things to do (like casting 9th level spells as a level 11 Cleric). The Horde is big and clunky; word travels slow, communications are inefficient and it's hard to hide Dragons. Invisibility only lasts minutes/level and none of the arcanists in the Horde know the spell. They lack the divinations to discern the exact moment of the PCs' arrival.

It takes days for message to reach the Horde proper from outriders for instance, and there's no way to discern the validity of the statement. Even something like Zone of Truth barely helps if the outrider himself believes what he saw.

[Anarxes]

As an aside, I really appreciate your guys thoughts. I love that this campaign (that I honestly think is being run at an amateurish level but maybe I'm underselling my DM ability) is sparking such discussion. Never change Giantitp! I was wondering what you guys thought about running a githyanki tied campaign, maybe ending in the Dungeon #100 adventure after the RHoD campaign has ended? One... I LOVE Gith (Zerai and Yanki) ever since I played Planescape Torment and I think the link to Tiamat isn't insignificant. Of course we're talking about a gap from level 10-12 to level 16-18 but I've always been looking towards the future with campaigns like this.

Also, here is Reggie. Maybe the AC is too high. Maybe bracers of armor +4 are too much. But anyway here he is.


REGIARIX CR 9
Male Young Adult Black (Young Adult Black +16)
LE Large Humanoid
Init +4; Senses Blindsense (60 feet), Darkvision (120 feet), Keen Senses (Ex), Superior Low-Light Vision (x4); Listen +17, Spot +20
Languages Common, Draconic, Infernal
---------------------
AC 29, touch 10, flat-footed 29
. . (-1 size, +4 armor, +1 deflection, +15 natural)
hp 208 (16d8+48); Damage Reduction (5/magic)
Immunity to Acid (Ex), Immunity to Paralysis, Immunity to Sleep, Water Breathing (Ex)
; Spell Resistance (19)
Fort +13, Ref +11, Will +11
---------------------
Speed 60ft., Flying (150 feet, Poor), Swimming (60 feet)
Melee weapon Bite (Young Adult Black) +19 (2d6+4) and
. . Claw x2 (Young Adult Black) +14 x2 (1d8+2) and
. . Tail Slap (Young Adult Black) +14 (1d8+2) and
. . Unarmed Strike +19/+14/+9/+4 (1d4+4) and
. . Wing x2 (Young Adult Black) +14 x2 (1d6+2)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +15/+10/+5/+0; Grp +23
Atk Options Breath Weapon, 10d4 acid, 80 ft line (DC21) (Su), Frightful Presence (DC22) (Ex)
Combat Gear (none)
Spell-Like Abilities:
. . At-will-Spell Like Abilities
---------------------
Abilities Str 17 Dex 10 Con 16 Int 12 Wis 13 Cha 18
SQ Age - Young Adult (Ex), Enlarge Breath, Flyby Attack, Natural Spellcasting (1st), Shape Breath, Subtype - Water, Type - Dragon
Feats Awaken Spell Resistance, Enlarge Breath, Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Insightful Reflexes, Shape Breath
Skills Concentration +14, Diplomacy +16, Escape Artist +10, Hide +12, Jump +15, Listen +17, Search +16, Sense Motive +18, Spot +20, Swim +30
Possessions combat gear plus Amulet of Mighty Fists +1, Bracers of Armor, +4, Ring of Protection, +1
---------------------
Age - Young Adult (Ex) Dragons gain abilities based on their age.
Blindsense (60 feet) Sense things and creatures without seeing them.
Breath Weapon, 10d4 acid, 80 ft line (DC21) (Su) You have a certain type of breath weapon.
Damage Reduction (5/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Darkvision (120 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Dragon Overland Movement (Ex) Dragons are strong fliers and can cover vast distances quickly.
Enlarge Breath Breath wep is 50% longer (and wider if cone). +1 rd to recharge.
Flyby Attack You can take a standard action during your move action while flying.
Flying (150 feet, Poor) You can fly!
Frightful Presence (DC22) (Ex) Taking some dramatic action can frighten or shake foes in range.
Immunity to Acid (Ex) You are immune to Acid damage.
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to Paralysis.
Immunity to Sleep You are immune to Sleep effects.
Keen Senses (Ex) Dragons see 4x as far as humans in shadowy, 2x better in normal light.
Natural Spellcasting (1st) Dragons cast spells as sorcerers of the indicated level.
Shape Breath Breath wep can choose to be either line or cone. +1 rd to recharge.
Spell Like Abilities (Sp) Holder
Spell Resistance (19) You have Spell Resistance.
Subtype - Water Subtype for creatures with affinity for water.
Superior Low-Light Vision (x4) See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Swimming (60 feet) You have a Swim speed.
Type - Dragon Unless otherwise noted dragons have these features.
Water Breathing (Ex) Breath water, use spells, breath weapon and abilities freely underwater.
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The only spells of consequence are Blood Wind and Shield.


Note that I made this in HeroLab and if there are glaring errors I apologize. Lone Wolf does God's work, though.

[Elder_Basilisk]

A lot depends upon how you plan for your party to encounter Reggie and what level they will be, but you may have gone a touch overboard.

I'd assume that the party will be 6th or 7th level when they face Reggie. Probably 7th if they level like the guy on the RHoD thread specified:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?171284-The-3-5-Red-Hand-Of-Doom-Handbook-for-DMs-Major-spoilers!-WIP-PEACH!/page39

Now, if you run the adventure static (which is not how I plan to do it), your party is going to run into Reggie as an EL9 encounter in his lair. Right after running into an EL7 in the belltower, an EL 7 on the town hall roof, an EL 5 on the townhall boardwalk, a potential EL 7 in the razorfiend hatchery, an EL 6 in the Ettin guardpost, an EL 8 in the interrogation room (Nurklenak), and an EL 7 in Saarvith's HQ. EL 9 is in theory a tough fight for a group of 7th level characters but doable, even after all the other ELs--at least in part because a lot of the encounters should be really easy for their EL if you run them all static.

However, if you run the encounter as one big rolling encounter, the EL math says it would be EL 11-12 without Reggie. Toss two ELs onto Reggie and you're looking at a clear 12 by the numbers. Maybe drop one because all the monsters won't engage at once and some of them have unfavorable terrain (not that it's easy for the PCs either). Still, at EL 11, the EL math says you have a pretty significant chance of a TPK.

But everyone knows ELs can be wonky and some of those ELs (hobgoblins in the belltower, ogres on the boardwalk and town hall roof), probably aren't really a serious threat to level 7 PCs. On the other hand, if you play your Reggie to the max, combined with an effective version of Saarvith, you could have something that the PCs can't beat. So, ask yourself, how will the PCs beat him?

With SR 19, seventh level casters will probably have close to a 50/50 shot of having their spells do nothing at with 208 hp, they probably won't be beating him down with damage spells. With Shield, he'll be packing an AC of 33 and with Blood Wind, he should be able to strafe with his breath weapon and full attack with Blood Wind at will without ever closing to melee range. (Downdraft could fix that if they beat SR), Diving into the water won't help the PCs since he's aquatic. My guess is that the best move for PCs would be to dispel his magical protections and downdraft him into a group of melee fighters but that will depend on your party and their capabilities.

So, how likely are PCs to be able to deal with that? Mass Resist Energy or maybe mass conviction/recitation with a lot of PCs who have evasion may be able to help them deal with the breath weapon. If all his attacks hit, he'll deal 48 points of damage--AC of 25+ will knock that down to a much more manageable 24. On the other hand, if a good version of Reggie is there, he should be able to pump the damage through the roof again. Comparing the non-ToB martials, at 7th level, you're probably looking at +7 BAB, +4 or +5 strength, maybe a +2 weapon, weapon focus for another +1 for +13-+15 to hit. At the low end, that's needing a 20 to hit Reggie and at the high end If the PCs drop a haste, a recitation, and an inspirationally boosted bardsong (+2 total), that could go up to +21 to hit, but they'll still need to roll a 12 unless they dispel the shield (pretty standard tactic) in which case it's a 9-11. An archer on the high end (18 strength, 20 dex, +2 bow) will be dealing 1d8+8 or so (much more with weapon specialization+ranged weapon mastery, or favored enemy, but playgrounders don't generally value those feats) so a full attack at +19/+19/+19/+15 and will average around 25 points of damage per round excluding criticals. That's 9 rounds of fully buffed attacks for my hypothetical archer to drop Reggie. If we have a melee fighter with a greatsword and armbands of might or something like that, a two point power attack might give +19/+19/+15 for 2d6+15 for about 31 average damage per round. That's 7 rounds of fully buffed attacks to take him down. On the other hand, it's barely three rounds of full attacks if three melee monsters chug potions of fly and surround him or if he is downdrafted into their waiting arms. Opportunity attacks while attempting to escape, random damage from spellcasters, or criticals could easily push that down to two rounds.

His grapple is also "only" +23, so a reasonably well optimized grappler may be able to grapple him into oblivion--or at least ineffectiveness. (24 strength (base 18+2 size, +4 enhancement) enlarged full BAB/Monk with Improved Grapple starts at +20 or +21 depending on how much BAB he sacrificed; if you allow attack mods such as the aforementioned haste, recitation, and bardsong to boost grapple, he should have a decided advantage--otherwise, sticking a ray of enfeeblement (especially empowered) and/or Ray of Exhaustion to Reggie should produce the same result).

So, all considered, my verdict is: maybe. A well prepared and pretty well optimized party that gets a break on an SR roll might be able to take Reggie (and even an improved Saarvith might not be much help if Reggie is cornered by melee beatsticks). However, if your party lacks that coordination and damage output (or grappling optimization), then your improved Reggie could be a TPK waiting to happen. Heck, even if your party is that good, but encounter him in the open with an improved version of Saarvith riding him and the other monsters running interference, there is a pretty good chance that Reggie and Saarvith, Nurglenakt, the razorfiend, or the horde of hobgoblins and ogres et al take out a key component of the "defeat Reggie" plan and TPKs the party.

I'm not terribly familiar with ToB so you probably have a better idea than I about how this could work for your party but based on the other posts (a beguiler in the group, a druid, and two martial adepts with relatively weak defenses), I don't think your party will have a very good chance against this version of Reggie. (Relying on SR spells and beguiler spells is a big hinderance between Reggie's SR and saves and without Recitation, bardsong, or significant attack bonus buffs and without a lot of potential for serious combat healing (normally playgrounders say combat healing it is suboptimal, but this is the kind of fight where a 24-36 point heal (cure critical--possibly empowered) gives a fighter another full attack or two and could be the difference between winning and losing), I suspect they may have trouble laying a glove on your enhanced Reggie).

[Fizban]

@Eldariel
Essentially the first half is saying that the horde doesn't have any of those abilities or tactics, but the second half is saying you should give the horde those abilities and tactics. If you run them as written, they do not respond intelligently and PCs going full commando will trivialize them, mentioning "outriders" doesn't mean anything without details on how they monitor the PCs, it's not written. If you alter them, as everyone does, then they have the resources to do whatever they want. Scrying is not necessary and is generally the least useful, the more popular method is Divination spam. The horde has seven clerics of seventh level, capable of casting Divination and Sending. They also have hundreds of creatures that can track by scent, and thousands of gp in garbage items they could turn into real power. One dragon ride to drop off a disguised guy at Dennovar for scrolls and they can fill any gaps.

It doesn't matter if it's possible for the PCs to defend against this or that, unless they already were from day one, and let's face it: no one actually does that from day one, even if one guy is trying there's always someone who gives no *'s. If the horde is in full "war" mode, popping multiple Divinations every day looking for trouble the way people say uber-casters should, they know the moment the PCs are on scene and the next day the gank squad is on the move. And that's without modifying their stats.

The existence of abstract Divination magic means that you cannot commando your way through a war in DnD just by leaving no witnesses. If both sides are being played to their fullest, "treating it like a war," then before you even do anything there's the threat of Divination revealing your presence. You have to fight a battle against that, with magic of your own, in order to avoid being ganked, and it's a fairly direct battle where the side with more numbers and more resources will win. In "combat as war," you literally cannot interfere in a war without taking on their entire magical intelligence division personally, and the Red Hand has more than the PCs do at the start of the game. So they lose. Anything less means accepting that the DM is pulling their punches, and once again demands that the players do the same, and lo, combat becomes "sport."

Not that I'd say these players are going all-out, they've got cheese sticking out but one person is clearly optimizing a "bad" idea on purpose by playing an evoker, and there's a Monk. But they're also clearly driving harder than the DM is fully comfortable with and should really take more brawls at face brawl-ue.
As for the rest, what Elder_Basilisk said. Without access to your party's character sheets, neither we nor yourself can properly evaluate how that fight will go (though I will continue to needle that "combat as war" shouldn't care about if they can win, that's the definition of "sport," and also good DMing). I will point out that if they're 7th level, the Evoker could very well have access to Assay Resistance, which negates any level-appropriate SR almost completely and removes the real weakness of evocations. They've also been fighting a lot of extra side stuff and could very well be 8th by this point, which would give the Beguiler access to the much vaunted Solid Fog, as well as Locate Creature for dragon-warning.

I would expect this party to either wait until the dragon is gone, or attack the dragon singly without engaging the rest of the location. He still gets Saarvith for support, but that's two against six (including 3.? casters).

[Anarxes]

Don't have the evoker anymore. Current party is 7 Beguiler with a Rod of Shadow Weaving, 2 Monk/4 Warblade/1 crusader who is the tank, Evoker is playing the Druidic Avenger 7, Swordsage 7, and a Cloistered Cleric/Factotum whose character sheet I still need to check out, as well as a Cleric 4/Church Inquisitor 3.

I need help though. I will be getting character sheets in a moment (I need to finally compile these on my laptop) but essentially, they are at one of the Lizardmen shacks around Rhest and will be attacking next session. They decided to scope out the place for a while and Reggie and Saarvith went hunting (rolled a 1 on the 1d4, so they'll be baaaack). Just wondering some ways you guys might make this a hard encounter. Swimming Razorfiends seems obvious. I want them to have an oh **** moment in open water (not a whole lot of them have ranks in swim. The druid does though).

So anyway, I will get those character sheets but just wondering if you guys had an preliminary ideas. Should be a good night though.

[Elder_Basilisk]

Hmmm. A few thoughts:

1. Have the lookouts keep lookout. If the PCs don't disguise themselves, turn invisible, swim underwater or something, it will be obvious that they are not lizardmen fairly quickly. Now, the guys in the belltower may not be very alert and may not be very good but you can improve them with just a little effort. A group of regulars who are archers with point blank shot, precise shot, and rapid shot and masterwork mighty bows can lay down some serious fire on a group of PCs who are stuck in a boat, some of whom probably have to row or pole (and thus are moving very slowly and may be unable to take advantage of their dex donus). Heck, since they aren't firing into melee most of the time, Precise Shot is optional. Point Blank and Rapid shot are enough to make them a threat on the approach.

Add a bard with inspirational boost and (if you're feeling nasty) a backported luring cavalier with the Volley Fire teamwork feat to hand out to all the hobgoblin archers (volley fire gives +1 to hit for every attack against the target by another character with the volley fire teamwork feat to a max of +4; for a mass of archers, it very quickly means +4 to all their attacks until they switch targets) and that group in the bell tower is a bona fide threat.

Now, you'll probably want some beef so that the warblade isn't just a cat among pigeons as soon as he gets there and plunges into melee, so:
1. Give them all tanglefoot bags and backup longswords. Nail him with a tanglefoot bag for an extra round or two of attacks at range while he cuts it off.
2. Keep the bladebearer and make some improvements. I think you made Uth Larr a martial adept of some kind or other and he was pretty effective in the intro. Re-use his improved stats.

Now, how about the rest.
Lizardman huts. They worship Reggie as a god, so when the hobgoblins sound the alarm or when Reggie sees the PCs, have them all get in their canoes and converge on the PCs. 6 lizardmen are not a significant challenge. 54 lizardmen might be--especially if you stat up a couple of them--maybe a blackscale lizardfolk barbarian as their chief and a lizardfolk druid as their shaman. A bard to bang on some wardrums from the shore is always a good bet too--the sound should carry across the lake. So, either during the battle with the hobgoblins or when Reggie is coming, the lizardmen all launch into the water and there are canoes converging from everywhere. If nothing else, it's a good, dramatic scene.

Town Hall. The ogres on the roof are pretty lame but even if you don't upgrade them, they should be able to spot the PCs fighting at the bell tower and alert the rest. I believe that skullcrusher ogres are a popular upgrade. Hurling bits of boulder should give them a good chance to sink the canoe and force the PCs to swim for it.
The ettin and Nurklenak should be ready to engage the PCs.
Nurklenak. Don't forget to have him inspire courage. Give him inspirational boost at first level to make it better. Cure light wounds is terribly useful for him. Then, to make things tougher, give him haste at 3rd level. He's pretty good at bluff even without glibness. Four hasted, inspired skullcrusher ogres and a hasted ettin should be a much more decent fight.
But, if you are feeling like you need some improvements, a 3rd level cleric with scrolls of mass conviction, recitation, and mass resurgence should help against all the save or sucks coming from your spellcasters.

If things go bad, you could have the greenspawn join the fight--Nurklenk might even summon her telepathically. She has great movement, can breath underwater, and has spring attack, so there's no reason to expose her to a non-readied attack or spell. She can spring out of the water, make her attack, then go back into the water to escape line of sight and line of effect. She can use her breath weapon from underwater too so there's no need for her to expose herself in order to use it.

And Reggie and Saarvith (assuming you give Saarvith some upgrades) have good ranged attacks and the ability to strafe indefinitely. Heck, Saarvith can even hold his breath while Reggie swims underwater if need be in order to get away.