eversilentone
2018-11-17, 10:34 AM
Hi folks,
I'm looking for a bit of advice. I'm DMing for a 2 player party, both players are level 9:
1) Catfolk Swordsage
2) Dream Dwarf Beguiler/Mystic/Mystic Theurge
The Swordsage is a Spiked Chain AOO/trip build and she has pretty high defenses - 25ac, 17 touch ac, high REF (and soon Evasion) and WILL saves. She uses the Pearl of Black Doubt stance (which means she is safer against multiple weaker foes), and also has great mobility and her weapon has the Smoking property (concealment).
I'm struggling to find a way to manage rather than negate the defenses of the Swordsage and would appreciate some advice. They're currently fighting Drow so Faerie Fire helps with the concealment, but I'm having to throw some pretty strong stuff at them to have a chance of hitting her. The problem is that this means those hits which do connect are really big - either crits from lower power foes or big swings - and even though they both have max HP/level I am worried that a streak of dice might wipe her out (we're early in the campaign and I don't want this). Because there are only two of them I need to try to keep the threat level roughly equal (the Theurge just got 4th level Beguiler spells but doesn't yet have 3rd level Mystic spells - I allowed her to Precocious Apprentice for early entry, but on the divine side) - Greater Mirror Image should help a lot with this.
I don't want to turn off the Swordsage's defenses (she's built to be survivable, so I want her to feel that way), but I'm struggling to come up with ways of threatening her in a proporionate way. So far I've got:
1) Negate concealment (e.g. Faerie Fire)
2) Negate Dexterity bonus to AC, mostly to decrease touch ac (e.g. Lock Armour)
3) Target FORT saves (suggestions for non-lethal means would be really appreciated)
Any suggestions would be appreciated. As a party they have fairly low damage output and no burst damage, although the Swordsage is great for locking down an area with a larger number of foes. Am I missing anything? Is there a way or decreaseing touch ac but not reducing overall ac?
Thanks in advance - our next session is tonight so I'd appreciate any assistance possible.
I'm looking for a bit of advice. I'm DMing for a 2 player party, both players are level 9:
1) Catfolk Swordsage
2) Dream Dwarf Beguiler/Mystic/Mystic Theurge
The Swordsage is a Spiked Chain AOO/trip build and she has pretty high defenses - 25ac, 17 touch ac, high REF (and soon Evasion) and WILL saves. She uses the Pearl of Black Doubt stance (which means she is safer against multiple weaker foes), and also has great mobility and her weapon has the Smoking property (concealment).
I'm struggling to find a way to manage rather than negate the defenses of the Swordsage and would appreciate some advice. They're currently fighting Drow so Faerie Fire helps with the concealment, but I'm having to throw some pretty strong stuff at them to have a chance of hitting her. The problem is that this means those hits which do connect are really big - either crits from lower power foes or big swings - and even though they both have max HP/level I am worried that a streak of dice might wipe her out (we're early in the campaign and I don't want this). Because there are only two of them I need to try to keep the threat level roughly equal (the Theurge just got 4th level Beguiler spells but doesn't yet have 3rd level Mystic spells - I allowed her to Precocious Apprentice for early entry, but on the divine side) - Greater Mirror Image should help a lot with this.
I don't want to turn off the Swordsage's defenses (she's built to be survivable, so I want her to feel that way), but I'm struggling to come up with ways of threatening her in a proporionate way. So far I've got:
1) Negate concealment (e.g. Faerie Fire)
2) Negate Dexterity bonus to AC, mostly to decrease touch ac (e.g. Lock Armour)
3) Target FORT saves (suggestions for non-lethal means would be really appreciated)
Any suggestions would be appreciated. As a party they have fairly low damage output and no burst damage, although the Swordsage is great for locking down an area with a larger number of foes. Am I missing anything? Is there a way or decreaseing touch ac but not reducing overall ac?
Thanks in advance - our next session is tonight so I'd appreciate any assistance possible.