prufock
2017-12-08, 10:06 AM
First of all, if Lord Leon Maxwell, Lady Maleera Whiterose, Ambassador Gnaam, Oliver Swift, or Ragar Whitebranch are reading this, please stop now. Return to the previous screen, do not pass go, do not collect $200. That out of the way...
My long-running campaign is in the last arc, gearing up toward the final showdown between several different factions. We have an infernal army marching on the kingdom, an anti-theist priest and his followers desecrating all temples regardless of alignment, a demi-god wizard who just wants to find his wife's spirit, and a few other minor happenings. The PCs are currently level 17. By the end of the campaign, I expect the PCs to be level 21 (NOTE: NO EPIC SPELLCASTING). I have little experience playing at this level; I want to challenge the PCs with difficult fights, but not overwhelm them. I have several ideas, but I'm unsure if they are too over the top, and would appreciate some feedback on how to balance these things. I tend to really push the PCs' limits.
Apologies in advance if this ends up being a little long; I'll put separate parts behind spoiler tags.
While they have pretty well-build characters, they aren't really on what I would call an "optimized" playing field. They're built pretty well, but we don't have a lot of daily buffing, metamagic abuse, etc. Still, they tend to steamroll encounters of ECL equal to party level, even up to 1 or 2 ECL above party level.
Gnaam, warblade with a barbarian dip. He's the most "optimized" of the group, as a Battle Jumping, Leap Attacking, Karmic Striking, Power Attacking, Robilar's Gambiting, Shock Trooping charger. He's a one-or-two-trick pony, but they are powerful tricks, as he's able to basically off anything I throw at them in one round IF he can get to them. In that sense, he's a glass cannon type; if he's successful, enemy is dead. If not, his AC is, I think, 2. The binary nature is somewhat annoying, but given reach, spells, status effects, terrain control, and his low will save, he's not overly difficult to shut down when necessary. The big failure would be if he gets dominated and one-shots his teammates.
Leon, straight Knight 17, no plans to multiclass. Has a flying horse that often deals more damage in combat, but his role is more of a damage sponge than a damage dealer. For what he is, he's fairly effective, especially with granting teammates additional saves against effects and all that, but his more defensive nature makes him less of a physical threat. He has a 14th-level healer cohort as well.
Maleera, warlock/wizard/eldritch theurge. I believe she will be finishing off her build with more wizard, which will just get her 9th-level spells at level 20. Plays as a blaster type with some utility tricks. Adding eldritch blast damage to spells and vice versa makes her fairly versatile, though.
Oliver, rogue/master of masks (with a homebrew fix to make it a 5 level class). Plays the sneaky type well, and MoM class gives him some additional flexibility. Good stealth and social skills.
Ragar, straight druid 17, no plans to multiclass. Has a beast of a fleshraker for animal companion. He's probably got the highest kill-count of the party, due to insane weather-controlling area spells. This guy is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most difficult to counter.
The Big Bads
This guy is a sorcerer/incantatrix/ur-priest/mystic theurge focused on transmutation with Reserves of Strength to break HD caps. For the first encounter with him, he isn't even there, instead using Project Image from hiding to monologue. He will use a split, doubled, ocular spell to turn 6 of his followers into CR 13 aberrations, a total ECL of 18, which should be a minor challenge for them. I decided to go with a bunch of lower-CR creatures to reduce the one-shot potential from the Gnaam. They are in an enclosed space (about 60' w x 120' l x 30' h) throne room to cut down on Ragar's area effects. The PCs are level 17. The aberrations are:
6th-level wizard aboleth mage (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/aboleth.htm#abolethMage)
anarchic half-farspawn pseudonatural monstrous crab (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040221a) (advanced to 14 HD, technically an outsider but changing the fluff)
beholder (MM)
neothelid (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/neothelid.htm) (reduced to 18 HD)
rukanyr (FF, advanced to 14 HD)
truly horrid umber hulk (MM, reduced to 16 HD)
My main concern is actually the Rukanyr, with its 10 attacks per round on a full attack, decent damage (especially the 4d6+10 slam), some of which include poison or stun (DC 28). My second concern is that Gnaam will be enslaved by the aboleth mage.
This encounter, if it happens at all, will be a straight-up battle with the mage. He has persisted buffs to make him a decent combat threat in addition to his spells. Likely will focus on using things like Avascular Mass, Heat Drain, Harm, Baleful Polymorph, and terrain controls. Contingency to teleport away when he's in trouble. The PCs will likely be level 18 or 19.
The final encounter with the Antitheist will be him using Shapechange and Reserves of Strength to become a Gibbering Orb (CR 27). The PCs will be level 21 by now. Is this even a winnable fight? I'm concerned with the DC 40 Insanity and 48 AC. The eye rays I'm actually not too concerned about, since the save DCs are relatively low. This could end up being one of the final encounters of the game. Should I reduce its HD to reduce overall CR and save DC of Insanity?
Bending the rules a bit to give this guy some divine rank 0 abilities despite not having any outsider levels. This will take place in his stronghold in Hell. He is a level 24 wizard (build not finalized yet). He will have some weaker demon lackeys, and a Shield Guardian advanced with class levels in a debuffer type build (hexblade, paladin of tyranny, binder) that sucks up damage for the wizard. I'm not actually too worried about this one, though the ECL is about 25, the PCs will be level 21. While I do optimize my baddies a bit, I try not to have them use too many ridiculous combos above the PCs abilities. After all, it would be pretty easy to get an area effect DC 40 Dominate Person, but that would just be unfair.
I have reduced the xixecal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm#xixecal) to 50 HD for about CR 26 instead of 36. The charger might be able to put this down in 2 rounds by this point, and that's kind of the point. I want to give him his moment with his ridiculous build, so I'll let him basically split a living mountain in half. In fact, he might be the only one fighting this while the others deal with the demi-god and shield guardian. I've reduced the effect of some things, like a smaller range on dire winter, and only 1d6 damage per round, 2 points of CON drain per hit instead of 4, and DCs and damages reduced relative to HD. No summoning dragons, either. Because of its size, I'm going to limit how many of its attacks it can use on a single character (stamp only those on ground underfoot - most PCs can fly - can't bite and claw the same PC). The biggest problem with this one is actually the Blasphemy. Even at a reduced CL of 25, that will paralyze all PCs for 1d10 minutes with no save.
I may decide to reduce him to 44 or 45 HD, thus reducing his overall CR to 23, and that caster level to 22, which would only leave them weakened and dazed, which is a little more fair.
This is a Hellfire Wyrm (MM2) with size increased to colossal adding +2 CR for CR 28. This is an unbeatable encounter, so I plan to reduce HD to bring it back to CR 22-24 ish. Any input on this monster?
Inspired by flux slime, this is a living spell with disjunction, antimagic, and insanity-like effects. I'm not sure exactly how this will be built, but it's probably the very last encounter of the game. Basically, it eats magic - hit it with a magic weapon, it's disjuncted; get engulfed by the mass, antimagic field; get hit by a tentacle/pseudopod, you're insane. Also dispel magic as an at will SU ability. I want this thing to be badass, but not overkill.
Whew, that was... a lot. Congratulations if you made it this far, and many many thanks if you have any feedback.
My long-running campaign is in the last arc, gearing up toward the final showdown between several different factions. We have an infernal army marching on the kingdom, an anti-theist priest and his followers desecrating all temples regardless of alignment, a demi-god wizard who just wants to find his wife's spirit, and a few other minor happenings. The PCs are currently level 17. By the end of the campaign, I expect the PCs to be level 21 (NOTE: NO EPIC SPELLCASTING). I have little experience playing at this level; I want to challenge the PCs with difficult fights, but not overwhelm them. I have several ideas, but I'm unsure if they are too over the top, and would appreciate some feedback on how to balance these things. I tend to really push the PCs' limits.
Apologies in advance if this ends up being a little long; I'll put separate parts behind spoiler tags.
While they have pretty well-build characters, they aren't really on what I would call an "optimized" playing field. They're built pretty well, but we don't have a lot of daily buffing, metamagic abuse, etc. Still, they tend to steamroll encounters of ECL equal to party level, even up to 1 or 2 ECL above party level.
Gnaam, warblade with a barbarian dip. He's the most "optimized" of the group, as a Battle Jumping, Leap Attacking, Karmic Striking, Power Attacking, Robilar's Gambiting, Shock Trooping charger. He's a one-or-two-trick pony, but they are powerful tricks, as he's able to basically off anything I throw at them in one round IF he can get to them. In that sense, he's a glass cannon type; if he's successful, enemy is dead. If not, his AC is, I think, 2. The binary nature is somewhat annoying, but given reach, spells, status effects, terrain control, and his low will save, he's not overly difficult to shut down when necessary. The big failure would be if he gets dominated and one-shots his teammates.
Leon, straight Knight 17, no plans to multiclass. Has a flying horse that often deals more damage in combat, but his role is more of a damage sponge than a damage dealer. For what he is, he's fairly effective, especially with granting teammates additional saves against effects and all that, but his more defensive nature makes him less of a physical threat. He has a 14th-level healer cohort as well.
Maleera, warlock/wizard/eldritch theurge. I believe she will be finishing off her build with more wizard, which will just get her 9th-level spells at level 20. Plays as a blaster type with some utility tricks. Adding eldritch blast damage to spells and vice versa makes her fairly versatile, though.
Oliver, rogue/master of masks (with a homebrew fix to make it a 5 level class). Plays the sneaky type well, and MoM class gives him some additional flexibility. Good stealth and social skills.
Ragar, straight druid 17, no plans to multiclass. Has a beast of a fleshraker for animal companion. He's probably got the highest kill-count of the party, due to insane weather-controlling area spells. This guy is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most difficult to counter.
The Big Bads
This guy is a sorcerer/incantatrix/ur-priest/mystic theurge focused on transmutation with Reserves of Strength to break HD caps. For the first encounter with him, he isn't even there, instead using Project Image from hiding to monologue. He will use a split, doubled, ocular spell to turn 6 of his followers into CR 13 aberrations, a total ECL of 18, which should be a minor challenge for them. I decided to go with a bunch of lower-CR creatures to reduce the one-shot potential from the Gnaam. They are in an enclosed space (about 60' w x 120' l x 30' h) throne room to cut down on Ragar's area effects. The PCs are level 17. The aberrations are:
6th-level wizard aboleth mage (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/aboleth.htm#abolethMage)
anarchic half-farspawn pseudonatural monstrous crab (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040221a) (advanced to 14 HD, technically an outsider but changing the fluff)
beholder (MM)
neothelid (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/neothelid.htm) (reduced to 18 HD)
rukanyr (FF, advanced to 14 HD)
truly horrid umber hulk (MM, reduced to 16 HD)
My main concern is actually the Rukanyr, with its 10 attacks per round on a full attack, decent damage (especially the 4d6+10 slam), some of which include poison or stun (DC 28). My second concern is that Gnaam will be enslaved by the aboleth mage.
This encounter, if it happens at all, will be a straight-up battle with the mage. He has persisted buffs to make him a decent combat threat in addition to his spells. Likely will focus on using things like Avascular Mass, Heat Drain, Harm, Baleful Polymorph, and terrain controls. Contingency to teleport away when he's in trouble. The PCs will likely be level 18 or 19.
The final encounter with the Antitheist will be him using Shapechange and Reserves of Strength to become a Gibbering Orb (CR 27). The PCs will be level 21 by now. Is this even a winnable fight? I'm concerned with the DC 40 Insanity and 48 AC. The eye rays I'm actually not too concerned about, since the save DCs are relatively low. This could end up being one of the final encounters of the game. Should I reduce its HD to reduce overall CR and save DC of Insanity?
Bending the rules a bit to give this guy some divine rank 0 abilities despite not having any outsider levels. This will take place in his stronghold in Hell. He is a level 24 wizard (build not finalized yet). He will have some weaker demon lackeys, and a Shield Guardian advanced with class levels in a debuffer type build (hexblade, paladin of tyranny, binder) that sucks up damage for the wizard. I'm not actually too worried about this one, though the ECL is about 25, the PCs will be level 21. While I do optimize my baddies a bit, I try not to have them use too many ridiculous combos above the PCs abilities. After all, it would be pretty easy to get an area effect DC 40 Dominate Person, but that would just be unfair.
I have reduced the xixecal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm#xixecal) to 50 HD for about CR 26 instead of 36. The charger might be able to put this down in 2 rounds by this point, and that's kind of the point. I want to give him his moment with his ridiculous build, so I'll let him basically split a living mountain in half. In fact, he might be the only one fighting this while the others deal with the demi-god and shield guardian. I've reduced the effect of some things, like a smaller range on dire winter, and only 1d6 damage per round, 2 points of CON drain per hit instead of 4, and DCs and damages reduced relative to HD. No summoning dragons, either. Because of its size, I'm going to limit how many of its attacks it can use on a single character (stamp only those on ground underfoot - most PCs can fly - can't bite and claw the same PC). The biggest problem with this one is actually the Blasphemy. Even at a reduced CL of 25, that will paralyze all PCs for 1d10 minutes with no save.
I may decide to reduce him to 44 or 45 HD, thus reducing his overall CR to 23, and that caster level to 22, which would only leave them weakened and dazed, which is a little more fair.
This is a Hellfire Wyrm (MM2) with size increased to colossal adding +2 CR for CR 28. This is an unbeatable encounter, so I plan to reduce HD to bring it back to CR 22-24 ish. Any input on this monster?
Inspired by flux slime, this is a living spell with disjunction, antimagic, and insanity-like effects. I'm not sure exactly how this will be built, but it's probably the very last encounter of the game. Basically, it eats magic - hit it with a magic weapon, it's disjuncted; get engulfed by the mass, antimagic field; get hit by a tentacle/pseudopod, you're insane. Also dispel magic as an at will SU ability. I want this thing to be badass, but not overkill.
Whew, that was... a lot. Congratulations if you made it this far, and many many thanks if you have any feedback.