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Random NPC
2008-10-23, 05:52 PM
SPOILER ALERT!

My group right now is cruising through (or should I say, breezing through) KotS. They just started and even though they made some mistakes along the way, they keep winning without that much of an effort. I want to increase the power level without touching the NPCs by using Tucker's Hobgoblins.

So far they wiped out the first area goblins without effort. The Ranger even killed a helpless goblin with his two swords, screaming betrayal, and alerting the other goblins.

I didn't liked that for a group of LG/CG warriors. So they rest up a little and forget to heal up (the ranger had 10 hp left while the whole group was full) and proceed to the digging site. The cleric says, I kick the door open, and I agree. This gave the goblins enough time to prepare for a surprise round.

Ranger goes in, goblins win initiative. They fill the ranger with holes and the party is left to handle them. And they BARELY do it, mostly because I played it smart, but so did they (Friggen Flame sphere is so damn good) and they did used all their dailies to win.

They left the place, not without taking the loot and proceed to resurrect the ranger. This is where my last session ended.

I didn't want to run the Graveyard battle yet, but I plan to do it as they go out next day. Then I want to have my Goblins fully aware of the coming danger.

What would a group of Goblins like those are capable of doing given that they only have 24 hours to prepare?

chronoplasm
2008-10-23, 06:16 PM
You ever see that movie Home Alone?

Have a door thats heated from the other side. When a player tries to twist the doorknob, that player gets a nasty burn.
Have a door that drops a bucket of acid on someone's head when opened.
If theres a staircase, have a goblin at the top ready to wings barrels and things down suspended by ropes.
Caltrops hidden by straw on the floor.

WirePaladin
2008-10-23, 06:18 PM
Not familiar with the campaign but the classics would of course be... Traps... Poisons... Diseases...

you can change the terrain...add cave slime, choke frost or cloudspore...insert illusions and or slides...hell maybe pop the ranged goblins on a font of power or a pillar of life...heh though


You could have a lycanthropic goblin...nothing says omfg wtf just happened like fighting a little goblin skirmisher who goes were-bear on your ass.
(Though this would touch the NPC's) Apply an Elite template to the leader on the goblin side...

Is the party level right? you using up all the experience for a party of the size and level?

Tadanori Oyama
2008-10-23, 06:25 PM
I think you have some major potential for serious hit and run with the goblins, especailly with Fat Boy at the head of the crew.

KotS has looping passages, the goblins are a little slower than the PCs in most cases but you can keep them ahead of the curve by having them flip stuff over to make difficult terrain behind them. Lead the PCs in circles, use readied actions with crossbows.

My personal favorite is a small creature trick: get the players chasing you in a circle, ideality through a set of rooms, then flip a table over, get behind it to hide, and stay still when the PCs charge past. Give the players their passive Perception to see the goblin as they go past but a decent hide check from the green guys will keep them in the shadow long enough to hit the PCs in the back and then run the way they just came.

chronoplasm
2008-10-23, 06:27 PM
Also, you need pits of punji sticks. Be sure to have the goblins conceal the pits and fill them with rotting meat and other infectious materials to poison whoever gets impaled in the pit, just in case the impalement doesn't quite do the job.

Tadanori Oyama
2008-10-23, 06:34 PM
Also, I feel it is in the spirit of Tucker's Kobolds to make the characters as miserable as possible. Give them descriptions of things that make them uncomfortable.

That crossbow bolt they just got hit with? Made from carved bone, not wood.

Remind them of the unpleasent squish they get when they step on something in the goblin's room and foul smells around them. Describing sounds is a personal favorite of mine.

Forcing squeeze positions is fun too. Players forced to fight while squeezing get panicy fast.

Lycan 01
2008-10-23, 06:40 PM
Tripwires, perhaps? Maybe not even with traps or anything - just have tripwires set up to annoy them and stuff, and then later on when they start just walking through them like they aren't even there, have one set up to a torch beside a bucket of latern oil or something. Midieval IED ftw. :smallbiggrin:

chronoplasm
2008-10-23, 06:45 PM
Heres another idea:

Have the goblins litter the place with dead animals. As the animals decompose, gases will build up within them. When touched, these corpses will burst open blasting the PCs with the rotting stench and juices of death. -2 to attacks and saves until the players get themselves washed off.

Ubiq
2008-10-23, 06:59 PM
A graveyard you say?

How about a bunch of goblins clustered together for an obvious ambush that are revealed, upon closer inspection, to have been a bunch of corpses pilfered from said graveyard?

Do that a few times until they begin to ignore the groups and then have at least a few of them be actual goblins in disguise that ambush the party from behind when they move on. From then on, mix and match groups of pure corpses with the occasional trap and a bunch of corpses with a handful of goblins and a trap or two randomly. The occasional pitfall or two might make them think twice about investigating too closely, but the occasional goblin being in there will require them to do so.

That and have bones and sundry other bits (all the way up to tombstones) thrown at them from the darkness at random intervals.

Hzurr
2008-10-24, 10:26 AM
My group actually finished KotS last night, so here are some thoughts:

Spoilers:
Take advantage of the goblin's ability to move across the glyphs in the Zombie area. Let the PCs chase the little buggers around, while simultaniously having to deal with the zombies and those warded glyphs.

Also, the goblins know things about the creatures further on in the caves section. Have them "accidentally" leave notes about a "treasure" that's at the bottom of the pool in the blue slime's cave. Mention a "secret passage" in the lair of the Kuthy...(those lizard things with 6 legs, however it's spelled).

Consider having them communicate with the hobgoblins in the lower levels, and work with them to plan a trap.

Finally, remember that the PCs are likely to be less cautious in places they've already searched. Odds are they won't bother looking in that pit trap in the first room, so have some goblins hide down there, and sneak behind the PCs.

WirePaladin
2008-10-24, 10:34 AM
keep hinting at a secret door within the room...the layout of the room clearly allows for when...then when they finally find it...goblin privvy area... if they drop a torch it's an important and popular fact that goblin menure releases loads of methane gas...if they scout it out before dropping a torch...well disease checks gallore ^_^