KorvinStarmast
2022-02-26, 10:54 AM
The party is 8 7th level PCs (which can be a challenge to run) who had fallen through a gate into the 'void' where lurking in a chamber beyond in dark passages were some Star Spawn.
1 Star Spawn Seer
2 Star Spawn Hulks
2 Star Spawn Manglers
(xp values per CR are 10,000, 11,800, and 3600 independently; with the factoring table in the DMG the adjusted XP for the encounter is 38,300, while a deadly encounter is 7 x 1,700 = 11, 900 adjusted). 3x+ deadly.
Context:
This encounter was the last piece of a long running regional problem that started with "Viallis Yellowcrest had been summoning aberrations from the void and he escaped during the Published adventure's" - the party chased him down, took him and his illithid nemesis out, (and met some manglers in so doing), discovered that his meddling with the far realm/void let terrible monsters leak into the game world. (my brother's world). They had been pursuing leads for a while, trying to find out how to deal with this series of incursions. They finally ended up in Yellowcrest manner (which was now mostly in ruins, and they found the portal in the basement) The local authorities asked the party to end the threat: some demons, elementals and aberrations had erupting from the basement to the detriment of livestock and trade, not to mention half of the town garrison/militia were now dead...and about half of the local population were refugees, fleeing the area, heading south...the party had run into that aspect of the arc a few sessions back)
1 Marid and 2 water elementals, four shadar kai chain masters, some earth elemental myrmidons, and trying to figure out the gate portal
The party:
Bear Barb, Draconic Sorc, Lore Bard, Devotion paladin, Battle Master, Rogue (AT), Monk 1/Cleric 6(water domain, a low powered home brew, but observant feet), and Monk (Drunken Master).
Significant Magical items:
Wand of Entangle (DC 13) (Bard)
Horn of Valhalla (not usable since 7 days have not elapsed since its last use) (Bard)
Dagger of Warning (rogue)
Robe of the Stars (recovered from Lord Viallis (the bad guy from the Yellowcrest Manor Adventure (sorcerer))
Most of the weapons (there is Shatterspike on the Paladin from Sunless citadel) are able to pierce immunities/resistances but the Monk's bow and the Rogues bow could not.
The party had taken some cold and acid damage in coming through the gate, which I adapted from the Hunger of Hadar spell (The seer's staff has the "on off switch" that activates or closes the gate). They were between 3/4 and full health, depending on the PC.
a. A Mangler and a Hulk responded to the noise of the party coming through the void (quite a ways form the chamber where I placed the star spawn) by sneaking forward, stealth/hide to try and (1) assess what was coming and (2) ambush them if possible.
b. Another Mangler/Hulk pair were a bit further back to be employed if the party was assessed as a threat but they are also the seer's body guard.
c. Seer was well back and around a corner with a chance to move but whose ranged attack was it's primary intended weapon. (And it's a pretty nasty one)
As I ran the numbers later, this looked like a very lethal encounter and maybe the party was going to go down.
With the party not knowing what was in front of them this had the chance to get really lethal ~ the bonus damage for Manglers "if I go first" feature is a heck of a damage boost when it goes into blender mode; that nova had dropped a PC (to within a hair of PC death) in a previous battle under an old ruined temple ~ the party had encountered Manglers before. (Not a hulk and not a seer so far).
DMs, would you expect a party wipe in this case? I was worried that the chances of that were substantial since for the most part this group does a terrible job of scouting. (There is a very social beer and pretzels character to our games, and the number of players who can make it on a given night varies) - and some of the players will have a few cocktails ahead of time, or perhaps some herb, sometimes ... the Monk's drunken master lives up to his PC's sobriquet as often as not
The "DM determines surprise" phase had me assess passive perception versus the mangler's stealth/hide check. As the party worked their way down the tunnel (about 15' wide, and high) in this cold, dark cavern, surprise was the logical result ~ the Highest Initiative the star spawn rolled was a 9. (The first Mangler Hulk Pair) Party initiative varied from 23 to 5. Seer had a 3.
How would you expect this to play out?
(With that many players, on line, and a few interruptions plus two players well into their cups, and one player not there so someone else had to run his actions, the battle took well over an hour to resolve).
1 Star Spawn Seer
2 Star Spawn Hulks
2 Star Spawn Manglers
(xp values per CR are 10,000, 11,800, and 3600 independently; with the factoring table in the DMG the adjusted XP for the encounter is 38,300, while a deadly encounter is 7 x 1,700 = 11, 900 adjusted). 3x+ deadly.
Context:
This encounter was the last piece of a long running regional problem that started with "Viallis Yellowcrest had been summoning aberrations from the void and he escaped during the Published adventure's" - the party chased him down, took him and his illithid nemesis out, (and met some manglers in so doing), discovered that his meddling with the far realm/void let terrible monsters leak into the game world. (my brother's world). They had been pursuing leads for a while, trying to find out how to deal with this series of incursions. They finally ended up in Yellowcrest manner (which was now mostly in ruins, and they found the portal in the basement) The local authorities asked the party to end the threat: some demons, elementals and aberrations had erupting from the basement to the detriment of livestock and trade, not to mention half of the town garrison/militia were now dead...and about half of the local population were refugees, fleeing the area, heading south...the party had run into that aspect of the arc a few sessions back)
1 Marid and 2 water elementals, four shadar kai chain masters, some earth elemental myrmidons, and trying to figure out the gate portal
The party:
Bear Barb, Draconic Sorc, Lore Bard, Devotion paladin, Battle Master, Rogue (AT), Monk 1/Cleric 6(water domain, a low powered home brew, but observant feet), and Monk (Drunken Master).
Significant Magical items:
Wand of Entangle (DC 13) (Bard)
Horn of Valhalla (not usable since 7 days have not elapsed since its last use) (Bard)
Dagger of Warning (rogue)
Robe of the Stars (recovered from Lord Viallis (the bad guy from the Yellowcrest Manor Adventure (sorcerer))
Most of the weapons (there is Shatterspike on the Paladin from Sunless citadel) are able to pierce immunities/resistances but the Monk's bow and the Rogues bow could not.
The party had taken some cold and acid damage in coming through the gate, which I adapted from the Hunger of Hadar spell (The seer's staff has the "on off switch" that activates or closes the gate). They were between 3/4 and full health, depending on the PC.
a. A Mangler and a Hulk responded to the noise of the party coming through the void (quite a ways form the chamber where I placed the star spawn) by sneaking forward, stealth/hide to try and (1) assess what was coming and (2) ambush them if possible.
b. Another Mangler/Hulk pair were a bit further back to be employed if the party was assessed as a threat but they are also the seer's body guard.
c. Seer was well back and around a corner with a chance to move but whose ranged attack was it's primary intended weapon. (And it's a pretty nasty one)
As I ran the numbers later, this looked like a very lethal encounter and maybe the party was going to go down.
With the party not knowing what was in front of them this had the chance to get really lethal ~ the bonus damage for Manglers "if I go first" feature is a heck of a damage boost when it goes into blender mode; that nova had dropped a PC (to within a hair of PC death) in a previous battle under an old ruined temple ~ the party had encountered Manglers before. (Not a hulk and not a seer so far).
DMs, would you expect a party wipe in this case? I was worried that the chances of that were substantial since for the most part this group does a terrible job of scouting. (There is a very social beer and pretzels character to our games, and the number of players who can make it on a given night varies) - and some of the players will have a few cocktails ahead of time, or perhaps some herb, sometimes ... the Monk's drunken master lives up to his PC's sobriquet as often as not
The "DM determines surprise" phase had me assess passive perception versus the mangler's stealth/hide check. As the party worked their way down the tunnel (about 15' wide, and high) in this cold, dark cavern, surprise was the logical result ~ the Highest Initiative the star spawn rolled was a 9. (The first Mangler Hulk Pair) Party initiative varied from 23 to 5. Seer had a 3.
How would you expect this to play out?
(With that many players, on line, and a few interruptions plus two players well into their cups, and one player not there so someone else had to run his actions, the battle took well over an hour to resolve).