Flying foes, am I missing something?

[huttj509]

Right, this came up in Curse of Strahd. We had 4 Flameskulls (CR 4) unleashed on us, and they flew up to the ceiling raining magic down.

We're levels 6-7. Our wizard ran out of magic quickly (his cantrip options were fire or cold, both of which flameskulls are immune to, but his 2 counterspells saved us a LOT of fireball damage), our paladin couldn't do much bedises Vicious Mockery, I was able to plink with my shortbow (Fighter, dex bonus only +1, and they take half damage from piercing), the rogue was at least able to sneak attack each round (but with her crossbow, again halved damage), and the bard was alternating between vicious mockery and healing.

It was rough. Really rough. I know 4 CR 4 (1100 xp) comes to a deadly encounter for us, but with them just hanging out at unreachable range it just felt nuts.

We coulda run, but they'd probably just follow (dunno if they were constrained to the area we were in).

[Knaight]

Lower ceilings and similar are always nice, but beyond that it is worth observing that even melee specialists are generally able to use a bow semi-competently. The gap between combat skills characters are good at and those they are bad at has shrunk considerably since 3e.

[gfishfunk]

Retreating to a hallway and forcing them to follow would have worked, possibly.

You are not missing anything, other than more reliable ranged damage, I suppose.

[MrStabby]

Well running is fine if you can run to a place with a low ceiling.

Basically thought this sounds as it should be. You have enemies with special abilities and they are correctly using all of them. It is a deadly encounter and you are having difficulty with it.

Also every encounter need not be fought. Maybe next time scout ahead and find alternative ways round if an encounter looks particularly tough.

[hymer]

An effect that blocks line of sight could have helped you a lot. But it does sound like your group is a little weak in the ranged department. That's something to plan around in the future. Get thrown weapons for the strength guys, have the wizard and bard keep this in mind for spell selection, and have people pick up backup weapons like slings.

[N810]

All your characters could use some sort of mundane ranged weapon as a backup.
(short bows, longbows, crossbows, javelins, etc...)

[MrStabby]

Yeah, spells like fog cloud are good - I believe spells like fireball specify a point you can see.

[hymer]

Yeah, spells like fog cloud are good - I believe spells like fireball specify a point you can see.

I'm afraid fireball doesn't, but maybe they could make the skulls guess, and maybe waste some boom. But most of the other attacks of a flameskull need LoS. At least it should lure them down where the PCs can reach them. Or it could cover a retreat.

[MrStabby]

I'm afraid fireball doesn't, but at least they could make the skulls guess, and maybe waste some boom. But most of the other attacks of a flameskull need LoS, and might lure them down where the PCs can reach them. Or it could cover a retreat.

Yes, a retreat is a valid option. If what you win isn't worth the fight then why bother.

[huttj509]

Well running is fine if you can run to a place with a low ceiling.

Basically thought this sounds as it should be. You have enemies with special abilities and they are correctly using all of them. It is a deadly encounter and you are having difficulty with it.

Also every encounter need not be fought. Maybe next time scout ahead and find alternative ways round if an encounter looks particularly tough.

We were ambushed (after another fight, literally, door was opened (by the enemy) and the 4 skulls were sitting there), and the path behind us blocked. We could have run outside, but if they followed that wouldn't have helped (no ceiling > 20 ft ceiling).

Also, adventurer's league, so party planning can be, um, difficult.

I will say I somehow missed that thrown weapons use Str for Attack and Damage rolls. I think my Gnome needs to check my weight limits, and invest in a bandoleer full of Handaxes and Light Hammers (I have my shortbow for piercing, but daggers could use Strength, Javelins might be a bit harder to justify "and how are you carrying that?").

[MrStabby]

Yeah, things rushing in can be trickier to handle. This is especially true at low level. As you level up make sure you scout/scry if you can. There are going to be some situations where casting arcane lock on a door between two rooms makes some really tough encounters very easy (ok it wouldn't here as to make it work you need to split the encounter - say by half the enemies running through and half being on a different initiative).

Anyway, I ramble.

[Telok]

Check how high you can jump too. Leaping off furniture to grab one may have been possible and just making it 5' up with a reach weapon puts 20' height within reach.

[jaappleton]

I'm honestly unfamiliar with the enemy, but a few potential strategies you could try:

Retreat to a place with lower ceilings... Even if they pass through walls, the enemy would still need line of sight, meaning they have to travel downward toward the party.

Keep a ranged weapon, or a reach weapon. Whips, while only doing 1d4, can be used with either Strength or Dexterity. Should also be pretty cheap.

Get your hands on a Decanter of Endless Water. Get a funnel. Bless the funnel (somehow, via Cleric or maybe Paladin). Shoot the Decanter's water through the funnel to aim it like a hose. Holy water! Hey, it's Strahd, lots of enemies should hate that.

Seriously, flasks of holy water. Throw it like flasks of Alchemists Fire.