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Charity
2008-03-28, 09:19 AM
Hi guys n gals n aberrations

I have a game tthis evening and my party are choosing to slogg through the woods rather than take the easy route, they've been at it for a while and I'm looking for a couple of few interesting encounters, I'm about tapped out to be honest.
Tonight there is a L7 Beguiler, a L7 fighter type, L7 Cleric & L7 Duskblade,
I don't want to cut the Beguiler out of the equation with mindless/undead creatures, but no encounters with one enemy with pathetic will save either.
If any of you good folk can spare the time I'll be quite chuffed, and heck if you come here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66784&page=8) I'll even buy you a pint. Can't say fairer than that eh?

its_all_ogre
2008-03-28, 09:38 AM
Aranea are great. low CR but level 3 sorcerers. add a level or two of sorcerer and they can spam invisibility. combine that with ray of enfeeblement, grease and poss mage armour to boost defences?
also you get to run around with a 50 foot speed and they have no fast characters? (scout/barbarian etc) could be worth a laugh!
assassin vine could be fun too, make it bigger by advancing the HD.
even combine the two, aranea driving pcs towards it, after enfeebling them they'll struggle to beat its grapple etc.

Keld Denar
2008-03-28, 09:44 AM
Hmmm, an good idea would be to have 1-2 wild animals chasing a peasent through the woods. Owlbears or a dire bear would be pretty good in this situation for the party level. Alternatively, a small pack of Dire Squirrels (they think we're nuts!) would also be a fair encounter and be less likely to get 1shotted by the beguiler, especially if they spread out of Glitterdust formation.

Alternatively, you could do a swarm. Swarms are mindless, thus immune to the beguilers enchantments, but possibly still vulnerable to creative illusions. Fire ants would be an idea, or even bats/locusts.

Finally, there is the old fallback of an orc (or other monsterous humanoid) raiding party. Give them a strong cleric or wizard leader and some ambush tactics (steep slippery slope with longspears while raining (reduced visibility and ranged combat) would be sweet.

Plants might also make a decent encounter. Assassin Vines, Tendriculuses (Tendriculii?), and Greenvices are decent foes. If they don't fall into the CR range, just advance them or template them. A psudonatural assassin vine would be hillarious, and a decent plot hook leadin to some far realm force corrupting the forest.

Meat Shield
2008-03-28, 09:45 AM
Can you tell us a little more about the politics of the region and/or the campaign? I like the idea of a group of wild elves - 15-20 total, maybe more depending on how capable your party is. Give them all class levels natch. Have a third be archers at least. I'd say make the majority 1st or 2nd level rangers, with a couple 3rd levels led by a five or six.

These guys can be working for the local BBEG, a Duke out of favor with the King, or whatever. Need a reason why they are so far off the beaten path though, hence my first questions.

Addendum: the good thing about this is you can make it a running battle, with the archers wearing them down, and the animal companions helping as well. Make the leader a druid to give them a little more spell casting punch.

Charity
2008-03-28, 09:59 AM
I am running them through the Red hand of Doom, I have Hogoblins with class levels jumping out of the wood work, I have had Direbears, swarms, and assasin vines fairly recently, so I come to you all for inspiration, the encounter tables in RHOD have been thoroughly mined.

its_all_ogre
2008-03-28, 10:14 AM
any green dragons in the area? tribe of ogres led by a half dragon?
alternatively a dragon that is really young and being victimised by ogres, this dragon is not evil which could lead to some interesting encounters?
woods also can be resting places for xeph so these with some class levels and living in harmony with treants could be interesting.
udo root is also interesting if psionics is possible?
of course the old favourite is a half dragon (green) hydra.......it can fly now as well as be multiple headed!!

Charity
2008-03-28, 10:21 AM
I think they might cry if I send a flying hydra at them.
I fancy some of that low level sorcerer stuff, Aranea might be called into action.
Theres plenty of Dragons in the adventure encounters, I don't want to overdo the dragon theme.

Keld Denar
2008-03-28, 10:27 AM
RHoD you say?

What say you about the idea of outsiders?

A small hit squad of Babau or some other minor demon might be an idea.

Alternatively, an idea that's been tossed around over on the CharOp boards, is hit em with an IKEA Tarrasque (a real Do-It-Yerselfer)

The one in questions was something like a 1/2 red dragon acidborn 1/2 golem incarnated construct scrag in a swampy bog. Completely immune to all hp damage and would require some other method to neutralize. Might not fit the setting, but it would be off the beaten path and very interesting to see your players struggle to formulate a plan to eliminate it without killing it.

Another option might be forest giants. They are nice and big, but have insane hide modifiers. Use racial HD to qualify for master thrower and you can palm throw boulders that trip people. Might be a bit challenging since they have a decent amount of racial HD and a really really good str score.

A trio of druids in an area of thick underbrush (difficult terrain/half movement) that summon big hurty things and strafe through the woods might be an option. Abuse the hell out of woodland stride and maybe a heightened Briar Web to really be a thorn in the PCs sides. Make the druids have natural spell and wildshape into the form of their animal companion so that its hard to tell which is which.

Charity
2008-03-28, 10:41 AM
Nothing too demanding on the poor sods we're are not in IKEA Tarrasque territory here, they could meet some Forest giants, there are one or two in the story arc of RHoD.
Druids might be a good move, dunno if I have time to map out too many character level dohickies though.

Adumbration
2008-03-28, 10:45 AM
A couple of will-o-wisps wouldn't be bad, if you have a nice swampy area somewhere near, although they are pretty much immune to magic.

A dire wolf-pack, thinking the PCs are easy meal - fight only until they see that they're losing, then flee. Use trips. Maybe get a Winter Wolf to lead the pack.

Consider a flock of Cockatrices, at least if the cleric can do stone to flesh and has a good save.

A pair of wyverns, perhaps, having a nest on a clearing in the woods. A fight to death or until PCs flee.

You should also take a look at vermin. Giant wasps, ants, bees, praying mantises, beetles, etc. fit the woods pretty well.

I know, I know, not all of these are "Forests" in the environment description, but I doubt that the PCs care.

its_all_ogre
2008-03-28, 10:55 AM
wow! a pack of dire wolves led by a half-dragon (green) dire wolf!
pass that trip check!
(runs off to write some dire wolves led by half dragon into adventure!)

Epinephrine
2008-03-28, 10:58 AM
Druids are nasty in the woods. If they aren't the most careful party they could offend a very touchy/protective druid. Druids don't all need to be kindly old men who talk softly; you can have a vengeful, judging druid who decides that they have damaged his woods, or wants them out, or one that is a bit unstable. Or even a blighter...

You can set them up, an encounter that goes out of control. Fire breaking loose, starting a forest fire (dangerous already!) which the druid has to stop. He blames the party, naturally, and begins harrassing them, perhaps trying to drive them out of the woods.

With summons, wildshape, area control spells, and the ability to strike without revealing himself a druid who decided to mess with them could make life miserable. (S)he could even get away, which drives players crazy, and be a returning foe, pestering them for a wrong they did in his woods, and spreading the words to other druids/fey. The druid doesn't even have to try to kill them.

If you need examples of nasty things druids can do...
Use spells to hide himself (camouflage, forestfold, wild shape that provides benefits) and harrasses them from hiding (remember the long range on many druid spells) - it begins to rain, hard, and lightning starts striking, repeatedly (call lightning (3rd level) is medium range, call lightning storm is long range (5th level, ouch!), cloudburst is long range and bumps the damage up to d10, makes it hard to see.
The druid can be watching them from an animal companion's eyes (Share husk) or a charmed animal, or from a tree (forget the spell) - or from right near them, since calling lightning doesn't require speaking or gesturing, (s)he can stay hidden.

If the druid wants to fight them (why bother, though?) Plant Growth is a nasty way to restrict movement; with a long range and 100' radius effect, it slows movement to 5'. An Entangle spell afterwards will anchor and entangle people, and while in the area (40' radius spread, but it's 1st level and can be Widened if desired) the players would need to save each turn - and at 5' movement they're not getting out anytime soon - and it forces concentration checks for casters. Owl's Wisdom can make the save tougher. If they manage to break free of the Entangle, they get to move 5' and then have to save again on the druid's turn. He can summon creatures onto them to attack if he wants, landing them around the casters for example would be nasty - and many druids will buff their summons, though if the warriors are far from the casters, are entangled, and have 5' movment rates it's probably unecessary - a pack of wolves/crocodiles will do fine, or several hippogriffs, since they fly. If he's worried about ranged combat, the Entangle causes dex loss and penalties on attacks, and a 1st level Cloudburst makes ranged combat even tougher, and supplies a handy storm for lightning. If you feel especially nasty, an AoE damage spell can be used; Vortex of Teeth would probably be a bit much (3d8 damage per round, no save, in a 40' radius), but would certainly show off the power a Druid can wield on foes he has trapped.

Anyway, a single druid of decent level (9th?) could pretty much have his way with the group, which doesn't mean that you have to kill them of course (though he might...) - he may want reparations for the damage they did, a quest done, or simply to torment them a bit. Or maybe it's a chance for the party to use some non-combat skills - bluff, diplomacy and so on, to make a friend, or at least convince the vengeful forest guardia that they didn't start the fire (or kill the animals, or whatever your hook is).