MadBear
2020-10-18, 11:47 PM
I need help designing an epic encounter for 5 level 10 PC's.
History: The small orc camp (an auxiliary force of the main orc encampment) nearby has been an ally for the last 3 years. They've been invited to a grand celebration as the main force of the Orcs moves in (lead by a Cloud Giant and Ancient Red Dragon). The PC's are invited under the guise that the leaders of the main encampment wants to test their strength and prove that it's worth keeping an alliance. However, in reality he has no love for this small budding kingdom and is looking to crush the PC's during this ceremony.
Setup: The betrayal will take place during the grand finale fight where the PC's tank will be fist fighting an orc who in reality will part way through the match turn into a werebear. The PC will begin to notice that instead of subdual damage, he's beginning to take actual lethal damage during the fight. It's when the heroes retaliate against the werebear and kill him that the Boraag will announce his plans to kill all the humans at the fair, and using an ancient curse will turn all the loyal orcs from the small auxillary forces into zombies.
Goal: I want to encourage the heroes to end up having to flee this encounter. These will be the BBEG for the next 5-8 levels, and this will create an ongoing war in which the heroes will be at a severe disadvantage.
Issues:
1. Outside of just telling them, does anyone have advice for getting heroes to retreat.
2. How can I break this down into more manageable bite size encounters?
3. What backup plans might I keep in the pocket if the heroes decide to go for the good ole TPK (I don't normally pull stuff like this, so hopefully if needed, it won't break immersion too much since I normally let them deal with the consequences. But getting murdered by a Cloud Giant & Ancient Red Dragon doesn't seem like it would end with any of us having fun).
4. How can I help sell the deadliness of the enemies. I want them to hate these guys, and in addition realize their gonna need to get better gear and level before trying to fight them for real (or at least have a better non-ambushed situation when it occurs).
Any help on any of the above would be greatly appreciated.
History: The small orc camp (an auxiliary force of the main orc encampment) nearby has been an ally for the last 3 years. They've been invited to a grand celebration as the main force of the Orcs moves in (lead by a Cloud Giant and Ancient Red Dragon). The PC's are invited under the guise that the leaders of the main encampment wants to test their strength and prove that it's worth keeping an alliance. However, in reality he has no love for this small budding kingdom and is looking to crush the PC's during this ceremony.
Setup: The betrayal will take place during the grand finale fight where the PC's tank will be fist fighting an orc who in reality will part way through the match turn into a werebear. The PC will begin to notice that instead of subdual damage, he's beginning to take actual lethal damage during the fight. It's when the heroes retaliate against the werebear and kill him that the Boraag will announce his plans to kill all the humans at the fair, and using an ancient curse will turn all the loyal orcs from the small auxillary forces into zombies.
Goal: I want to encourage the heroes to end up having to flee this encounter. These will be the BBEG for the next 5-8 levels, and this will create an ongoing war in which the heroes will be at a severe disadvantage.
Issues:
1. Outside of just telling them, does anyone have advice for getting heroes to retreat.
2. How can I break this down into more manageable bite size encounters?
3. What backup plans might I keep in the pocket if the heroes decide to go for the good ole TPK (I don't normally pull stuff like this, so hopefully if needed, it won't break immersion too much since I normally let them deal with the consequences. But getting murdered by a Cloud Giant & Ancient Red Dragon doesn't seem like it would end with any of us having fun).
4. How can I help sell the deadliness of the enemies. I want them to hate these guys, and in addition realize their gonna need to get better gear and level before trying to fight them for real (or at least have a better non-ambushed situation when it occurs).
Any help on any of the above would be greatly appreciated.