[4e] Effectively DMing monsters with Spider Climb

[Urist Ironblood]

I'm looking at some undead encounters coming up in my campaign, and I have an eladrin ranger and two ranged casters who like to stay in the back of the pack. The fight will be taking place in a large (30' diameter) sewer pipe; I can make it elliptical so that monsters on the ceiling are adjacent to PCs directly below them anywhere in the tunnel, or circular so that along the centerline there is a large gap that precludes attacks from above.

Still, even if I have the terrain I want, how can I best make use of (say) Skulk Zombies and Witherlings to get my party freaking out? Can I use part of a SZ's move to jump down from above, make an acrobatics check to survive the drop, and then use mobile melee and scurry back to the wall? Should I have them attack from above and then drop prone into the water at the end of their turn?

I'd like to use the third dimension a little bit to keep these guys on their toes, but in order to do that I need to have some basic maneuvers planned out.

[Stormthorn]

The forum is a fickle place and no one has posted here. I feel sorry for you, but i cannot aid you, as i am not familiar with 4.0

As far as generaly freaking players out is it possible to douce their lights in that one round/whatever 4.0 uses?

If so then have multiple ones attack and some jump back up and some go down. Wait till the PCs recover and start to look wherever they think the guys went and then hit with the other group. As they'r attention shifts hit them with the group they were searching for at first.

Then have the monsters run away, dragging their dead with them. Leaving the PCs all wound up and disturbingly alone.

At least, that might be how i would play it.

[Mando Knight]

As far as generaly freaking players out is it possible to douce their lights in that one round/whatever 4.0 uses?

It would depend on the ambient conditions and the nature of the light. A torch could probably be extinguished in a sewer with an attack roll vs Reflex (at the monster's vs NAD attack bonus), as a splash of water or such. However, Sunrods are popular, cheap light sources in 4e, so you'd have to have something like a Black Dragon or other magic-darkness-creating monster in order to knock out the light.

[Kurald Galain]

Can I use part of a SZ's move to jump down from above, make an acrobatics check to survive the drop, and then use mobile melee and scurry back to the wall?

You're the DM, so yes, you can do that. Because it's more fun than monsters that drop themselves prone for you.

[Urist Ironblood]

You're the DM, so yes, you can do that. Because it's more fun than monsters that drop themselves prone for you.

Oh, the dropping prone was so they'd be underwater and concealed. They have 6 move, and mobile melee allows them to attack and move three squares as a standard action, all without granting opportunity attacks, so their typical turn sequence would be:

- Start stealthed on the ceiling (6 move remaining, or 3 with mobile melee attack).
- When a player approaches within 2 squares, move 1 toward the player to become adjacent and above; make an attack w/ combat advantage for surprise (2 move remaining).
- Drop down into the water - this vertical movement shouldn't cost a move action (2 move remaining). I may need to make an Acrobatics check to keep them from falling prone at the end of the fall, or arbitrarily rule that 10 feet into thigh-deep water doesn't cause falling damage.
- Move two squares in any direction, preferably towards the walls (0 move remaining in the standard action Mobile Melee Attack).
- Go prone with a minor action, granting concealment under the murky water, and make a Stealth check.
- Use a move action to crawl 2 squares underwater to a new ambush location (ideally into a flanking position).

The next turn would be:

- Move: stand from prone
- Standard: mobile melee in, attack, and out
- Minor: go prone

The ordinary attack is +8 vs. AC / 1d6+5; but with CA the pounce is +10 vs. AC / 3d6+5 (!) damage. Against a cloth-wearer that's almost an auto-hit and somewhere between 25% and 100% of their hit points in a single swing. The idea is that they would move with full stealth across the ceiling, avoiding the front-rank players, and head into the back ranks to deprive the soldiers of their fire support.

I've been nose-deep in the PHB and DMG trying to figure out how legal this is. The only part I'm stuck on is the vertical drop, because (annoyingly) there seems to be no rule on voluntarily jumping downward, except when you're trained in Acrobatics, which the Skulk Zombies clearly aren't.