Help for the evil side

[Breashios]

I have a good idea how I will handle Saturday’s session, but the community might throw out a surprising option I hadn’t considered. So here goes.

90 evil creatures are coordinating to defend their dungeon as the 6 PCs dive directly at the organizing forces. Twenty-one other evil creatures have been defeated in a lightning strike directly in, including two of the four most powerful denizens of that dungeon. They did this in five individual encounters, on the run, not even stopping to loot or even ensure the opposition was dead. I’m trying to organize a realistic response from the remaining monsters.

Assume the leaders among the monsters know from others scrying on the party in the past that they could have up to 3 Cone of Cold, 1 Wall of Thorns, 1 Black Tentacles, 2 Ice Storms and 9 Fireball/Lightning bolts and that they are convinced the party used at least 1 4th level spell and 4 Fireball and/or Lightning Bolts so far in their attack. (their guess is a bit low in both cases, but not far off. For instance the party has 2 additional fireballs off a magic item, but have already cast 5 third level spells). The monsters are not afraid of Telekinesis, nor of Blight, etc. because they have such numbers. They’ve used ALL the potions that would have been treasure, and buffed completely from available spells that are not concentration. Still I don’t see how the evil forces will stop the heroes. Shouldn’t they just run for the hills?

They won’t run, because they are fanatics to the cause, but even if I block their assault with small teams of defenders, the outcome looks the same as if they just tried to overwhelm the party. Small teams would be used to dry up the party’s spell reservoir. I don’t think overwhelming will work because they don’t have any defense against the cones of cold, not to mention the remaining fireballs. The defenders have 8 spell casters, no counterspell, no dispel magic and limited area of effect spells. There are two sleet storm spells from one caster and four fear spells from two casters. A fourth caster has heat metal and spike growth. The rest have no better than weaker 2nd level spells. I know how to use the spike growth and heat metal and the fear spells could win the mass battle if I am both lucky and they don’t handle the result well. Any other ideas?

[Tetrasodium]

http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/


UNDER CONSTRUCTION
From Dragon 127, pg. 3
Tucker's kobolds

This month's editorial is about Tucker's kobolds. We get letters on occasion asking for advice on creating high-level AD&D® game adventures, and Tucker's kobolds seem to fit the bill.

Many high-level characters have little to do because they're not challenged. They yawn at tarrasques and must be forcibly kept awake when a lich appears. The DMs involved don't know what to do, so they stop dealing with the problem and the characters go into Character Limbo. Getting to high level is hard, but doing anything once you get there is worse.

One of the key problems in adventure design lies in creating opponents who can challenge powerful characters. Singular monsters like tarrasques and liches are easy to gang up on; the party can concentrate its firepower on the target until the target falls down dead and wiggles its little feet in the air. Designing monsters more powerful than a tarrasque is self-defeating; if the group kills your super-monster, what will you do next—send in its mother? That didn't work on Beowulf, and it probably won't work here.

Worse yet, singular supermonsters rarely have to think. They just use their trusty, predictable claw/claw/bite. This shouldn't be the measure of a campaign. These games fall apart because there's no challenge to them, no mental stimulation - no danger.

In all the games that I've seen, the worst, most horrible, most awful beyond-comparison opponents ever seen were often weaker than the characters who fought them. They were simply well-armed and intelligent beings who were played by the DM to be utterly ruthless and clever. Tucker's kobolds were like that.

Tucker ran an incredibly dangerous dungeon in the days I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, N.C. This dungeon had corridors that changed all of your donkeys into huge flaming demons or dropped the whole party into acid baths, but the demons were wienies compared to the kobolds on Level One. These kobolds were just regular kobolds, with 1-4 hp and all that, but they were mean. When I say they were mean, I mean they were bad, Jim. They graduated magna *** laude from the Sauron Institute for the Criminally Vicious.

When I joined the gaming group, some of the PCs had already met Tucker's kobolds, and they were not eager to repeat the experience. The party leader went over the penciled map of the dungeon and tried to find ways to avoid the little critters, but it was not possible. The group resigned itself to making a run for it through Level One to get to the elevators, where we could go down to Level Ten and fight "okay" monsters like huge flaming demons.

It didn't work. The kobolds caught us about 60' into the dungeon and locked the door behind us and barred it. Then they set the corridor on fire, while we were still in it.

"NOOOOOO!!!" screamed the party leader. "It's THEM! Run!!!"

Thus encouraged, our party scrambled down a side passage, only to be ambushed by more kobolds firing with light crossbows through murder holes in the walls and ceilings. Kobolds with metal armor and shields flung Molotov cocktails at us from the other sides of huge piles of flaming debris, which other kobolds pushed ahead of their formation using long metal poles like broomsticks. There was no mistake about it. These kobolds were bad.

We turned to our group leader for advice.

"AAAAAAGH!!!" he cried, hands clasped over his face to shut out the tactical situation.

We abandoned most of our carried items and donkeys to speed our flight toward the elevators, but we were cut off by kobold snipers who could split-move and fire, ducking back behind stones and corners after launching steel-tipped bolts and arrows, javelins, hand axes, and more flaming oil bottles. We ran into an unexplored section of Level One, taking damage all the time. It was then we discovered that these kobolds had honeycombed the first level with small tunnels to speed their movements. Kobold commandos were everywhere. All of our hirelings died. Most of our henchmen followed. We were next.

I recall we had a 12th-level magic user with us, and we asked him to throw a spell or something. "Blast 'em!" we yelled as we ran. "Fireball 'em! Get those little @#+$%*&!!"

"What, in these narrow corridors? " he yelled back. "You want I should burn us all up instead of them?"

Our panicked flight suddenly took us to a dead-end corridor, where a giant air shaft dropped straight down into unspeakable darkness, far past Level Ten. Here we hastily pounded spikes into the floors and walls, flung ropes over the ledge, and climbed straight down into that unspeakable darkness, because anything we met down there was sure to be better than those kobolds.

We escaped, met some huge flaming demons on Level Ten, and even managed to kill one after about an hour of combat and the lives of half the group. We felt pretty good — but the group leader could not be cheered up.

"We still have to go out the way we came in," he said as he gloomily prepared to divide up the treasure.

Tucker's kobolds were the worst things we could imagine. They ate all our donkeys and took our treasure and did everything they could to make us miserable, but they had style and brains and tenacity and courage. We respected them and loved them, sort of, because they were never boring.

If kobolds could do this to a group of PCs from 6th to 12th level, picture what a few orcs and some low level NPCs could do to a 12th-16th level group, or a gang of mid-level NPCs and monsters to groups of up to 20th level. Then give it a try. Sometimes, it's the little things—used well—that count.

Roger E. Moore

[JackPhoenix]

What is the team monster's goal? Why are they in the dungeon, and what IS the dungeon? Group of raiders in a hideout would react differently from cultists defending a temple, a tribe protecting their non-combatants or hired thugs guarding an artifact.

[Armored Walrus]

90 creatures can't overwhelm the party? 90 creatures that know the party is coming and have time to prepare and have used magic items and know what the party is capable of?

Maybe it'll help if we know what the creatures are, but even 90 commoners should be able to overwhelm a typical party eventually, if they surround them and use ranged attacks. 90 attack rolls are going to result in some hits...

[JackPhoenix]

90 creatures can't overwhelm the party? 90 creatures that know the party is coming and have time to prepare and have used magic items and know what the party is capable of?

Maybe it'll help if we know what the creatures are, but even 90 commoners should be able to overwhelm a typical party eventually, if they surround them and use ranged attacks. 90 attack rolls are going to result in some hits...

Apparently, party has a ton of AoE and "dungeon" suggests that there are chokepoints where numbers don't mean much, and limited room to avoid area spells or use ranged attacks from.

[Breashios]

What is the team monster's goal? Why are they in the dungeon, and what IS the dungeon? Group of raiders in a hideout would react differently from cultists defending a temple, a tribe protecting their non-combatants or hired thugs guarding an artifact.

They are defending a temple. They have received standing orders to focus to kill one, then all if they can. They are trying to delay the party - give the leader enough time to summon the ultimate weapon. They are cult fanatics.

[Armored Walrus]

chokepoints are an excellent spot for some of those 90 creatures to break vials of oil and set them on fire, scatter caltrops, collapse corridors, blockade doors, fire through murder holes, etc.

[Breashios]

Also we play RAW (mostly), so there is little chance the monsters can kill a single PC without really hurting the whole group, since a single low heal will end the death saves and they don't have any single attack to take the downed character below 2x max HP.

They could target the down hero, but that is not how we've played either side so far. (we do allow NPCs death saves, so it is not "purely" RAW), and the party does NOT attack down NPCs). Evil NPCs have rolled those 20s and gotten back into the fight or been healed and run off, etc.

There is also a lot of prisoner taking, which while it doesn't seem like that would be fun, it has worked out. The heroes have built and pay maintenance on a prison in their home base town. Also a great way to have the player whose character did not show up that session occupied, but still nearby. He got the short straw on who was watching the prisoners...

[Breashios]

chokepoints are an excellent spot for some of those 90 creatures to break vials of oil and set them on fire, scatter caltrops, collapse corridors, blockade doors, fire through murder holes, etc.

Ok, this is what I am looking for. I'll have to commit to more of a small team strategy to make it effective. Any other thoughts. My concern here is it will slow down the game and be more frustrating than change the outcome, but I'm looking at the fire/caltrops combo favorably.

Thanks.

[strangebloke]

There's Tucker's Kobolds, of course.

It's the realistic option, since real-life castles were basically built on the same concept. Force them to charge through this curvaceous hallway, lock a few dozen of them in a room at a time and pour boiling oil on them, snipe at them through itty-bitty arrow slits.

But to my mind, a 'fun' encounter is a min-maxed one. Every monster is going to deal damage, of course, but every encounter should also have a gimick, a particular save or logistical challenge that they present.

One of the 'encounters' that I ran was a cabal of night hags who were moving around a city in carts and palanquins. They had a bunch of urchins that they'd hired to keep watch on the party and a load of summonable monsters to throw in the party's way any time that they actually got close. Any time the party stopped to rest the hags would assault them in their dreams. (The hags could rest or enter the astral plane without departing from their carts) Without access to high-level teleportation magic, the party was scrambling to catch up with them, and by the end of it all they were feeling utterly drained and useless.

Another fun one is a narrow hallway with tons of hidden doors with slow-but-deadly things like gelatinous cubes or gibbering mouthers hanging out behind them. Watch the party panic and expend way too many resources to avoid a sudden TPK.

There's always the fun 'not-what-it-seems' encounter. Have a cell full of prisoners, with two or three shapeshifting killers mixed in. Present a clear danger that will make the party try to evacuate them, (like a cave-in) and when the party tries to guide the poor slave children out, suddenly a few of them latch onto the wizard and try to hold him in the collapsing room.

A huge, long hallway with a beholder at one end and a iron golem in the middle.

A long wave of alchemical suicide bombers. Ten or twelve of them.

[Armored Walrus]

Specifics would be hard without the map of the temple, and knowing the specifics of what the cultists are capable of. But here are a couple ideas:

Somewhere in your map must be a reasonably large room with only one entrance and one exit. Stack a handful of cultists in the room (space them out a bit so one fireball won't destroy all of them), stationed behind a makeshift barricade made of furniture, with crossbows pointed at the door. Soon as the first player walks in, there's a dozen attack rolls. Once they've all loosed, they fall back out of the room, letting the barricade slow the party down, and fall back to their next position, lighting the barricade on fire as they do.

The exit to that room leads to a warren of hallways; no matter which direction the party goes they have cultists falling back in front of them, shooting as they go, and other cultists coming up behind them and also shooting.

If their goal is to delay the party, rather than slay them, they will barricade doors, so the party has to spend time bashing each one open before they can continue, they will bait them in the wrong direction by firing at them from hallways that don't lead to their goal. They will try to drop chandeliers on them. They will flip tables, hide behind them, and fire crossbows at them from multiple angles. Also,don't discount the 2nd and first level spells your casters have. Look at the ones that do things other than pure damage, and think of how the effects of those spells could be used to delay the party.

With 90 enemies, I don't think you need to be worried about whether you can make it challenging. I think you need to be worried about the fact that if you play it too realistically, you'll end up with a TPK.

[Breashios]

Specifics would be hard without the map of the temple, and knowing the specifics of what the cultists are capable of. ... I don't think you need to be worried about whether you can make it challenging. I think you need to be worried about the fact that if you play it too realistically, you'll end up with a TPK.

Well, I don't think I could get a TPK without extreme luck and poor decisions by the party OR cheating. So I am not really worried about that.

This is the Temple of the Crushing Wave in Princes of the Apocalypse. The party is almost done. There is only this, the Water Node and the Fire Node left. They are Drag. Sorcerer 12th, Moon Druid 12th, Arcane Trickster 11th, Evoker 11th, Abjurer 10th and Paladin 9th. They already know 75% of the dungeon having used an Arcane Eye spell. They ran up the east (right) side of the map then killed the hezrou and mezzoloth and are actually going to initially surprise the cultists, by running over water (water walk) into their flank on the west. The cultists had seen them go behind the double doors to the north and are planning to ambush them as they come back out, with a drop back and draw in plan - now adding caltrops and burning oil. But since the party is coming in on the west side instead of the north, they will react accordingly. I'll try to hold them in the big room with as few opponents as possible, so the Dragon Turtle will be able to do a lot of damage with its breath weapon. From there I will have another fall back position moving south. Repeat.

The only real threat is the dragon turtle. Then there is a single cult priest, two fathomers, two shivers and a lone sea hag. Beef includes two ogres, three trolls and ten lizardfolk brutes I made up (basically 1 CR higher HP and damage lizardfolk) that can just take three average fireballs if they make two of their saves.

[Breashios]

Long ago when I prepared this dungeon location for six characters in the campaign, I added additional opponents and beefed others up. I added a variety of other enemies such as an odd acolyte, one cult fanatic, bandits, thugs and pet crocodiles (in case anyone is wondering how I got to 90+ occupants).

Edit: I do level enemies as time passes in the campaign, have dungeons increase and decrease in power depending on outside events, but will not increase opposition based on party level. What is there, is there.

[Unoriginal]

What kind of equipment and capacities do the 90 enemies have?

[Breashios]

What kind of equipment and capacities do the 90 enemies have?

Just weapons and armor. Some like trolls, just have claws. The spoiler above tells what spell casters there are (not much). Now they have caltrops and oil and any other mundane item you can think would be in a typical dungeon. There are some rooms, walls, passages they can collapse, but most are too well built still to be easily so. Some rope, some fishing nets...but few have proficiency using them as weapons.

As for ranged weapons about half have javelins. There are four light crossbows and one heavy crossbow.

But keep the suggestions coming. I believe this exercise will result in an improved experience in game - has got me thinking about more possibilities.

[Armored Walrus]

hah, can't dig into the spoiler, as I'm playing that campaign now. Also I don't want to leave ideas here that my DM can use when we get that far ;)

[jakarta]

Forget the dungeon.
Send all 90 of them to encircle and attack the party at their campsite. Put the party on the defensive.

Or abandon the dungeon leaving booby traps, let the party enter, then follow the party in after the traps have had time to work.

[Parra]

They could target the down hero, but that is not how we've played either side so far.

You should at least make it seem that way. Getting the Cultists to use risky tactics to try and drag away a downed PC or making a big deal of getting one of the cultists to shout something like "Keep them off me while I slice this ones throat" while standing over a PC and drawing a dagger. Or Even the classic knife to throat 'leave or he dies' threat can change the pace of a fight and put pressure on the PC's that they were not expecting.

I mean I know as DM's we shouldnt be going out of our way to kill PC's, but the PC's dont need to know that.

[Unoriginal]

Just weapons and armor. Some like trolls, just have claws. The spoiler above tells what spell casters there are (not much). Now they have caltrops and oil and any other mundane item you can think would be in a typical dungeon. There are some rooms, walls, passages they can collapse, but most are too well built still to be easily so. Some rope, some fishing nets...but few have proficiency using them as weapons.

As for ranged weapons about half have javelins. There are four light crossbows and one heavy crossbow.

But keep the suggestions coming. I believe this exercise will result in an improved experience in game - has got me thinking about more possibilities.

Well, in that case, the answer is simple:

There are dozens of mooks, and an handful of "elite" foes. The mooks are fanatical.

What they need to do is deplete the PCs' ressources by attacking by small groups, but enough that the PCs think they need to use their spells.

Have the mooks attack by group of 7. Three will have their swords on fire (due to putting oil on them before ligting it) to look as if they're tough, three will have javelins so they have a chance to hit a PC at distance (all focus on one PC who is not the Druid or the Paladin), and the last one will use the Help action to give more chances to one of his buddies to succeed.

A few waves like that will leave a dent in the group. And once they got used to it (after the third wave, most likely), have two groups of 7 cultists attack like this, one at each end of a corridor when the PCs are in the middle.

Also, while the cultists might not be able to collapse the temple's paths, they can certainly block off some corridors with barrels, bags, corpses and other junks. Put one crowsbowman behind such a roadblock, which gives them near complete cover, and have them shoot at the PCs. But keep a few crossbowmen for the "boss fight"

The cultists want to slow down the PCs, and maybe kill them, so any tactic slow them down is good.

Now, after the PCs are bruised and bloodied, they'll reach the room with the water, the dragon turtle, and all this.

First and foremost, if the foes see the caster who's doing Walk on Water, they'll focus fire on them, hopefully while the party is on the water.

Second, you have a Sea Hag that can hide in the water and try to drag a PCs in it to drown them and make them fight in an environment to the Sea Hag's advantage.

In fact, the different cultists should try to throw nets at the PCs, or to lasso them with ropes tied to big stones, and then throw them in the water (or push them, or push the stone and let the rope drag the PC). It's even better for the sea hag, as she'd probably rather hinder PCs from escaping their bonds than fight them upfront, given the choice

Then, you have a bunch of ogres and trolls. Obviously, they will want to focus on the Moon Druid, if able. They should try to wrestle him and choke him. Their secondary target, for the trolls in particular, is the Paladin.

[jakarta]

poison coated weapons. Mix the poison types. Having to track multiple ability damages and recalculate their attacks and skills on the fly will make the fights SEEM more dangerous.