Creating an own Encounter

[Zefir]

Hello there.

I could need a little help with creating an Encounter. The current party I master has reached level 10 and now they are on their way to a house which inhabits many different undeads.
I have tried to Level up 3 Flame Skelton and a Corpsewater Bog Mummy and I used a Wraith, Moon for one encounter.
Even thought the groupe missed the healer (he was working) they managed to get of without major wounds.

Now my Problem is, what can I use now to make a more challanging fight. My main problem is that I never reached such a high level either as player or as master. So I ask you if you have some suggestions for what I could use.

The group I master is as follows:
Dwarven fighter AC around 26
Halfelf Warlock Using Fireball or magic missile (Sometimes tries Charm monster but likly in the worst situation for that spell)
Halforc Ranger Multitalent that complains if his dice result is under 30. Skillmonk and machinegun archer.
Human Cleric Rather standard if I have to describe him. Got Leadership so there is a lower leveled fighter with him.

If anything is missing, please ask.

[TheCorsairMalac]

My group usually CRUSHES unintelligent undead. These creatures lack tactics, and so are only threatening in large groups, and then only when the party is caught in the open.

I suggest placing your undead in ways that gives them a tactical advantage. The zombies might be too stupid to use a strategy, but whoever created them probably knows how to get the most use out of them. A few ideas:

Maybe put skeleton archers on high platforms out of reach. With a partial cover bonus and their natural resistance to piercing attacks, someone will probably have to climb the platform to get rid of them with a melee weapon.

Usually players use choke points to kill large groups. Maybe turn that around. Make a well-fortified doorway/hallway that the players need to get through.

Initiating the encounter with a trap adds a level of difficulty. It could be as simple as a trapdoor dropping a party member into the middle of the monsters or a rotating wall suddenly placing undead next to the spellcaster.

You could try a two-pronged attack. At first it looks like a standard tough-guy and minions battle, but once it begins a second tough-guy arrives from behind and tries to drag someone away. If they ignore the kidnapper then they lose the warlock, but if they save the warlock the initial enemies get a few turns to chew on their backsides.

[Geddy2112]

Undead are significantly less powerful if you have a cleric in the party. Unless they dumped charisma, 3-4 channels a day will nuke lesser undead hordes, and being able to turn every spell slot they have into a damage undead spell is fairly nasty. You cant throw a horde of weak things, or a single channel ends the encounter. A single enemy is ganged up on, and the cleric can turn spells to damage, in addition to all the focused power spells. You could throw a really weak horde of zombies or skeletons at the party to draw out their fireballs/channels, letting them face more throughout the dungeon.

So I would throw in 3-4 med strength undead per encounter. They need some kind of damage reduction, fast healing or resistances to slow the damage from the fighters and the ranger. That said, these characters can really only do damage. Keep your enemies far enough apart to prevent them from being hit by a channel or fireball AoE, if possible. A lot of undead have fire resistance, and some are immune-I recommend using these.

Incorporeal undead are strong solo targets because they only take half damage from most of the party's damage, and can hit touch AC-the wizard can still magic missile and cleric cure X wounds for full, but that's just the way it is. I assume the dwarf is in some form of heavy armor, as well as the cleric, so their touch AC will be pretty easy to hit. The ranger will be a bit harder since they are an archer and likely have better dex, but they might still have medium armor giving them the bulk of their AC.

Keep your enemies moving-everyone but the wizard can make two attacks with a weapon per round from BAB alone, so try to negate letting them stand there and bash things. Beware of action economy, and always keep it in your favor-the party has 5 people, and if they only used weapons that is 9 attacks in a round. The cleric and wizard are casting, so it is more like 6, plus 1-2 offensive spells. You might want monsters capable of using dispel magic(like a vampire with class ranks) in case they use the spells haste or blessings of fervor. Both are very powerful force multipliers that can auto win an encounter.

Have your enemies do more than damage- a ghoul is a low level, but they can possibly paralyze. Shadows are incorporeal and do strength damage, allips can hit wisdom, vampires inflict negative levels. Mummies can inflict mummy rot, etc. Your cleric will be able to cure most of this without most effort, but it will drain their X/day resources.

[D4rkh0rus]

CR 10 means that you could effectively challenge them with a CR 15 encounter.

Lvl 1 warriors are 1/3 CR, there's a template called drunken that loves CR by 1, so it'd go to 1/6 CR each, meaning, you could pit the party against 60 drunken lvl 1 warriors.
Just make them dwarves and hope they don't get mowed down by Aoe spells.

Have them have a combination of bows, axes and spears, so that they can all attack each round.

Power attack and vital aim, you're looking for those mat 20s

[Zefir]

Thanks TheCorsairMalac, that is a very nice idea.

To give a bit story feedback. The PC visit an old manor to retriev an Item needed to forge a weapon. Right when they arrive they will end up in an undead party containing a whole lot of different undead types. They celebrate the death of a warlock that made most of them undeads including their underlings.
Imagine it like a party and the PC need to get to the VIP area. That way it should be easy to crate hallways with less space and enougth chances to attack from both sides OR a balcony for that case.

Thanks Geddy2112
A good thought. I would have made some one kind encounter, but mixing them up seems more intimidating. I just have to click through every undead to have at least a clue which one can I use.

D4rkh0rus
I had fought them a lesser Version of a Black magga. They fled since they rolled not as good as usal and barly passed the AC and SR.
But also 60 drunken level 1 Fighter aren't undeads at all.