Tactical Challenge #5: 10th level party of four in a subterranean deadly fight

[MaxWilson]

Please don't post on this thread just to say "this is too difficult for 10th level" unless you've tried it at least once and failed.

Hi guys,

This is a continuation of a series of tactical challenges originally spawned by @da newt. This goal: practice your tactical skills by solving a shared problem jointly with other players, while also helping DMs refine their intuition for how close a party really is to a TPK.

The rules for this challenge:

(1) Roll up or otherwise create a four-person 10th level party, using any WotC-published non-UA sources you like and any stat rolling method you like including "choose your own stats." Try to make it similar to a party that you'd actually play or run for. Note: I will say in advance, because you would know this already about the campaign, that the challenge consists of two parts, and the first part is a Deadly x2 fight (at least on paper) and the second is Deadly x4, but they can bleed into each other. Getting a short rest in between them is not impossible but not easy without specific preparation.

(2) Then look at the scenario in spoilers. It's pretty simple, simple enough that you can probably ToTM it if you don't want a grid. There is no hidden information in this scenario--you may assume that your scouts/Arcane Eye/whatever have already uncovered all of the monster positions. If you commonly use house rules such as a group initiative or different rules for hiding or obscurement (e.g. no advantage for unseen attackers at range), you may use them. Play this scenario out with the same rules and practices you would actually use at the table--but if these variants wind up being important to the outcome please mention them in step #3.

(3) Then run the scenario and post back on this thread whether you won or lost, how many PCs/HP/spells you used up, and how you did it. You may re-try multiple times with the same party until you find tactics that work for you, but if so please try to mention failures as well as successes.

Spoiler: Scenario details

Show

This scenario is a subterranean dungeon crawl. You're coming from a 500' deep pit to the the northwest and retreat is not an option unless you're prepared to take 20d6 falling damage if necessary. To keep the scenario simple, when the combat begins you must have one character (or familiar, minion, etc.) on the red X to trigger hostilities. You may place other characters as far behind the character in front as you wish, anywhere between the red X and the map entry point (the pit). Furthermore, you may cast spells before leaving the entry point and proceeding to the red X. When combat starts, monsters will enter the hallway from three directions as illustrated.

No one is surprised by the start of combat. You know the monsters are there, and the guard monsters are insanely paranoid enough to always be expecting trouble. (They may also have noticed your scouting.) Your objective is to spend an hour uninterrupted in the map room studying the information it contains. To this end you will have to kill all the monsters.

The monsters are initially in two groups, but if there's an extended disturbance from outside (if the outer guards are still fighting, gibbering, and shrieking after three rounds of combat), monsters in the map room will exit the map room as illustrated and join the fight.

The area is in complete darkness, filled with the sounds of shrieking cacophany and what sounds like a throbbing heartbeat from the walls, which are moist and slippery.



You've met these monsters before and know their capabilities, although perhaps by another name. I'm giving a default name below because I have to pick something, but know that whatever it is you choose to call the monsters, I as DM would adopt your name for them when talking to you.

"Inbred Cannibal" is a filthy, gaunt-looking humanoid which gibbers and shrieks and scratches insanely as it charges toward you gnashing its teeth. CR 1/4 monster with 17 HP, disorients and drives you mad just by being nearby. Its bite is poisonous. See Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes: Star Spawn Grue for stats, or ask me in a post below if you don't have it and need more details or look in the spoiler below.

"Scorpion-Troll" is a shiny-grey-carapaced, 9' tall monstrosity with hugely muscled arms too long for its body, swinging loosely like meathooks anchored to its enormous shoulders. It has no face, almost no head except for a slightly-rounded protrusion like an upside-down bowl of rice atop its shoulders, and seems to see in all directions at once. It's CR 10 with 136 HP. See Star Spawn Hulk for stats, or ask me see below.

"Scarecrow-bug" is a spidery, six-armed humanoid figure wrapped in a gaunt robe, with glimpses of silvery claws or perhaps knives from within the robe. It is deceptively fast, capable of blurring speed in short scuttling bursts, and hard to see in the shadows. CR 5, 71 HP, use Star Spawn Mangler stats.

"Grandpa Ghost" is an derisive nickname born of bravado for an anything-but-decrepit adversary. You fear these creatures greatly. Capable of phasing through walls and launching tremendously powerful psychic blasts, this... living vacancy can only be seen out of the corner of one's eye, as a faint psychedelic strobing like when you close your eyes for too long, but from a particular spot. When you look directly at it, it is no more visible than a blind spot. Capable of phasing through objects and mind-reaming with powerful psychic blasts, it is a CR 13, 153 HP, Int 22 monster and the ultimate commander of the monsters in this lair. Its mission is unknowable but you plan to exploit its hunger for knowledge. See Star Spawn Seer for stats.

Spoiler: Stats for monsters

Show

Inbred Cannibal (Grue), CR 1/4. Str 6 Dex 13 Con 10 Int 9 Wis 11 Cha 6, AC 11, HP 17 (5d6), 30' move. Immune to psychic damage. Darkvision 60', passive perception 10. Aura of Madness: any non-aberration within 20' has disadvantage on saving throws, and also on attack rolls against creatures that aren't inbred cannibals. Can bite for +3 to hit, reach 5', 2d4+1 piercing, plus DC 10 Wisdom save or attack rolls against target have advantage until start of inbred cannibal's next turn.

Scorpion-Troll (Hulk), CR 10. Str 20 Dex 8 (Dex save +3) Con 21 Int 7 Wis 12 (Wis save +5) Cha 9, AC 16, HP 136 (13d10+65), 30' move. Resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, slashing from nonmagical attacks, immune to charmed and frightened, reflects psychic damage (effectively immune to psychic damage, but instead of ignoring it, each creature within 10' takes that damage instead), thoughts and location can't be detected by magic. Darkvision 60', Perception +5, passive perception 15. Multiattack: two slams for +9 to hit, reach 10', 2d8+5 bludgeoning each. If both hit same target takes 2d8 extra psychic damage, must save DC 17 Con or be stunned until end of target's next turn. Additional action option is Reaping Arms (recharge 5-6), one slam (+9 to hit, reach 10', 2d8+5 bludgeoning, DC 17 Dex save to avoid going prone) against each creature within 10.

Scarecrow-bug (Mangler), CR 5. Str 8 Dex 18 (Dex save +7) Con 12 (Con save +4) Int 11 Wis 12 Cha 7, AC 14, HP 71 (13d8+13), 40' move/40' climb. Stealth +7, resists cold damage, immune to psychic, charmed, frightened, prone. Can hide in dim light or darkness as a bonus action. Darkvision 60', passive perception 11. Claw attack at +7 to hit, reach 5', for d8+4 slashing damage, plus extra 2d6 if the attack roll has advantage, per hit. Can multiattack with two claw attacks, or Flurry of Claws (recharge 4-6) for six claw attacks all against one target, plus a bonus action 40' move without provoking opportunity attacks.

Grandpa Ghost (Seer), CR 13. Str 14 Dex 12 (Dex save +6) Con 18 Int 22 (Int save +11) Wis 19 (Wis save +9) Cha 16 (Cha save +8), AC 17, HP 153, 30' move. Resists cold, bludgeoning/piercing/slashing from nonmagical attacks. Immune to psychic, charmed, frightened. Darkvision 60', Perception +9, passive Perception 19. Can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. Anyone it moves through takes 1d10 (5) psychic damage once per turn, but if the Ghost itself ends its turn inside an object it takes 1d10 (5) force damage.

Grandpa Ghost has two attack options, both compatible with Multiattack. Comet Staff is +11 to hit, reach 5', for d8+6 bludgeoning plus 4d8 psychic and a DC 19 Con save to avoid being incapacitated until the end of target's next turn. Psychic Orb is +11 to hit, range 120', for 5d10 psychic damage. Multiattack can be two Comet Staff attacks or two Psychic Orbs. Collapse Distance (recharge 6), action, Ghost chooses one creature it can see within 30', DC 19 Wisdom save. On success, target takes 3d12 psychic damage, otherwise target is teleported up to 60' to an unoccupied space the Ghost can see, and all other creatures within 10' of the target's original space take 6d12 psychic damage. Bend Space is a reaction: when the Ghost would be hit an attack, it teleports and changes places with an Inbred Cannibal/Scorpion-Troll/Scarecrow-bug it can see within 60' of it, and the attack hits them instead of the Ghost.

As mentioned above, if the combat is still ongoing at the end of round 3, Grandpa Ghost and the other creatures in the map room will exit the room and join the fight. Otherwise they will remain in the map room for thirty minutes and then exit to begin patrolling, re-initiating hostilities as soon as they discover the PCs' presence.

Suggested Tactics:

Utterly fearless but also pragmatic, Scarecrow-bugs aim to exploit their terrifying Flurry of Claws at every opportunity. On rounds when Flurry of Claws is not available, they will try to Hide in dim light/darkness, making a regular Multiattack if that is possible without taking more than one opportunity attack, otherwise Dodging. (Remember: successfully-hidden creatures cannot be seen and so do not take opportunity attacks.) On rounds when Flurry of Claws is available, they will use it as long as there is an opportunity to attack at advantage on all attacks, either due to their first-round Ambush, to a Scorpion-Troll's Stun or Reaping Attack, or to an Inbred Cannibal's Confounding Bite. They will also Flurry of Claws if it becomes clear that no further sources of advantage are likely to become available (e.g. all the other monsters are dead). They prefer soft (unarmored) targets to hard targets but prefer Flurrying a hard target to not Flurrying at all. They prefer to hit-and-run, ideally ending their turn 40' or more away from the nearest enemy, as long as they are still able to Flurry when it is time.

Scorpion Trolls preferentially attack hard targets with their Multiattack, but when surrounded by three or more enemies will use Reaping Attack. They will remain in melee to draw fire. When the Grandpa Ghost is present, Scorpion Trolls will attempt to move to a position with lot of enemies around so the Ghost can exploit Psychic Mirror.

Inbred Cannibals straightforwardly attack whatever enemies they see and attempt to bite them to death. Their role is to distract and to die. Their lives are not valued by the Grandpa Ghost. In rare circumstances a Ghost may order Inbred Cannibals to Dodge, in order to remain living distractions longer, but only if there are only one or two of them left. Otherwise it doesn't care.

Grandpa Ghosts have a number of powerful psychic AoE attacks to which the other monsters are all innately immune or better. If four or more enemy targets are within a 10' radius of a single creature, or if three or more enemy targets are within 10' of a Scorpion Troll, it seeks to Collapse Distance to injure as many targets as possible, even if that means Collapsing Distance on a an Inbred Cannibal (who is immune to the damage anyway), preferring small and weak-looking targets like familiars and Inbred Cannibals over large or strong ones like armored knights or even weapon-wielding humans. If it targets an Inbred Cannibal, the Cannibal will be moved into opportunity attack range of the softest (unarmored) enemy target in range. If it targets a PC or one of their allies (such as a familiar) it will try to move that character to where it is surrounded and outnumbered by enemies. It will attempt to exploit Collapse Distance and the Scorpion Troll's Psychic Mirror property to double the damage to those around the target.

When Collapse Distance is not available, the Ghost prefers to fling Psychic Orbs at Scorpion Trolls that are within 10' of at least two enemy targets, in order to exploit Psychic Mirror. Otherwise, the Ghost attacks spellcasting enemies with its staff, or flings Psychic Orbs directly at them if it is too far away. If enemies are within line of sight, it attempts to end every turn during combat inside of a rock wall if possible, accepting the damage, even if that requires taking one or two opportunity attacks. On its turns, it will gradually move towards spellcasters if it can in order to be able to incapacitate them with its comet staff, but this is lower priority than keeping itself safe from attack.

Did you run this scenario? If so, what happened? Did you win or lose, were there any casualties, and how did you do it?

I'll post my own results, party and tactics after a few other people have had a chance.

-Max

[Unoriginal]

Please don't post on this thread just to say "this is too difficult for 10th level" unless you've tried it at least once and failed.

Hi guys,

This is a continuation of a series of tactical challenges originally spawned by @da newt. This goal: practice your tactical skills by solving a shared problem jointly with other players, while also helping DMs refine their intuition for how close a party really is to a TPK.

The rules for this challenge:

(1) Roll up or otherwise create a four-person 10th level party, using any WotC-published non-UA sources you like and any stat rolling method you like including "choose your own stats." Try to make it similar to a party that you'd actually play or run for. Note: I will say in advance, because you would know this already about the campaign, that the challenge consists of two parts, the first part of is a Deadly x2 fight (at least on paper) and the second of which is Deadly x4, but they can bleed into each other. Getting a short rest in between them is not impossible but not easy without specific preparation.

(2) Then look at the scenario in spoilers. It's pretty simple, simple enough that you can probably ToTM it if you don't want a grid. There is no hidden information in this scenario--you may assume that your scouts/Arcane Eye/whatever have already uncovered all of the monster positions. If you commonly use house rules such as a group initiative or different rules for hiding or obscurement (e.g. no advantage for unseen attackers at range), you may use them. Play this scenario out with the same rules and practices you would actually use at the table--but if these variants wind up being important to the outcome please mention them in step #3.

(3) Then run the scenario and post back on this thread whether you won or lost, how many PCs/HP/spells you used up, and how you did it. You may re-try multiple times with the same party until you find tactics that work for you, but if so please try to mention failures as well as successes.

Spoiler: Scenario details

Show

This scenario is a subterranean dungeon crawl. You're coming from a 500' deep pit to the the northwest and retreat is not an option unless you're prepared to take 20d6 falling damage if necessary. To keep the scenario simple, when the combat begins you must have one character (or familiar, minion, etc.) on the red X to trigger hostilities. You may place other placers as far behind the character in front as you wish, anywhere between the red X and the map entry point (the pit). Furthermore, you may cast spells before leaving the entry point and proceeding to the red X. When combat starts, monsters will enter the hallway from three directions as illustrated.

No one is surprised by the start of combat. You know the monsters are there, and the guard monsters are insanely paranoid enough to always be expecting trouble. (They may also have noticed your scouting.) Your objective is to spend an hour uninterrupted in the map room studying the information it contains. To this end you will have to kill all the monsters.

The monsters are initially in two groups, but if there's an extended disturbance from outside (if the outer guards are still fighting, gibbering, and shrieking after three rounds of combat), monster in the map room will exit the map room as illustrated and join the fight.

The area is in complete darkness, filled with the sounds of shrieking cacophany and what sounds like a throbbing heartbeat from the walls, which are moist and slippery.



You've met these monsters before and know their capabilities, although perhaps by another name. I'm giving a default name below because I have to pick something, but know that whatever it is you choose to call the monsters, I as DM would adopt your name for them when talking to you.

"Inbred Cannibal" is a filthy, gaunt-looking humanoid which gibbers and shrieks and scratches insanely as it charges toward you gnashing its teeth. CR 1/4 monster with 17 HP, disorients and drives you mad just by being nearby. Its bite is poisonous. See Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes: Star Spawn Grue for stats, or ask me in a post below if you don't have it and need more details.

"Scorpion-Troll" is a shiny-grey-carapaced, 9' tall monstrosity with hugely muscled arms too long for its body, swinging loosely like meathooks anchored to its enormous shoulders. It has no face, almost no head except for a slightly-rounded protrusion like an upside-down bowl of rice atop its shoulders, and seems to see in all directions at once. It's CR 10 with 136 HP. See Star Spawn Hulk for stats, or ask me.

"Scarecrow-bug" is a spidery, six-armed humanoid figure wrapped in a gaunt robe, with glimpses of silvery claws or perhaps knives from within the robe. It is deceptively fast, capable of blurring speed in short scuttling bursts, and hard to see in the shadows. CR 5, 71 HP, use Star Spawn Mangler stats.

"Grandpa Ghost" is an derisive nickname born of bravado for an anything-but-decrepit adversary. You fear these creatures greatly. Capable of phasing through walls and launching tremendously powerful psychic blasts, this... living vacancy can only be seen out of the corner of one's eye, as a faint psychedelic strobing like when you close your eyes for too long, but from a particular spot. When you look directly at it, it is no more visible than a blind spot. Capable of phasing through objects and mind-reaming with powerful psychic blasts, it is a CR 13, 153 HP, Int 22 monster and the ultimate commander of the monsters in this lair. Its mission is unknowable but you plan to exploit its hunger for knowledge. See Star Spawn Seer for stats.

As mentioned above, if the combat is still ongoing at the end of round 3, Grandpa Ghost and the other creatures in the map room will exit the room and join the fight. Otherwise they will remain in the map room for thirty minutes and then exit to begin patrolling, re-initiating hostilities as soon as they discover the PCs' presence.

Suggested Tactics:

Utterly fearless but also pragmatic, Scarecrow-bugs aim to exploit their terrifying Flurry of Claws at every opportunity. On rounds when Flurry of Claws is not available, they will try to Hide in dim light/darkness, making a regular Multiattack if that is possible without taking more than one opportunity attack, otherwise Dodging. (Remember: successfully-hidden creatures cannot be seen and so do not take opportunity attacks.) On rounds when Flurry of Claws is available, they will use it as long as there is an opportunity to attack at advantage on all attacks, either due to their first-round Ambush, to a Scorpion-Troll's Stun or Reaping Attack, or to an Inbred Cannibal's Confounding Bite. They will also Flurry of Claws if it becomes clear that no further sources of advantage are likely to become available (e.g. all the other monsters are dead). They prefer soft (unarmored) targets to hard targets but prefer Flurrying a hard target to not Flurrying at all. They prefer to hit-and-run, ideally ending their turn 40' or more away from the nearest enemy, as long as they are still able to Flurry when it is time.

Scorpion Trolls preferentially attack hard targets with their Multiattack, but when surrounded by three or more enemies will use Reaping Attack. They will remain in melee to draw fire. When the Grandpa Ghost is present, Scorpion Trolls will attempt to move to a position with lot of enemies around so the Ghost can exploit Psychic Mirror.

Inbred Cannibals straightforwardly attack whatever enemies they see and attempt to bite them to death. Their role is to distract and to die. Their lives are not valued by the Grandpa Ghost. In rare circumstances a Ghost may order Inbred Cannibals to Dodge, in order to remain living distractions longer, but only if there are only one or two of them left. Otherwise it doesn't care.

Grandpa Ghosts have a number of powerful psychic AoE attacks to which the other monsters are all innately immune or better. If four or more enemy targets are within a 10' radius of a single creature, or if three or more enemy targets are within 10' of a Scorpion Troll, it seeks to Collapse Distance to injure as many targets as possible, even if that means Collapsing Distance on a an Inbred Cannibal (who is immune to the damage anyway), preferring small and weak-looking targets like familiars and Inbred Cannibals over large or strong ones like armored knights or even weapon-wielding humans. If it targets an Inbred Cannibal, the Cannibal will be moved into opportunity attack range of the softest (unarmored) enemy target in range. If it targets a PC or one of their allies (such as a familiar) it will try to move that character to where it is surrounded and outnumbered by enemies. It will attempt to exploit Collapse Distance and the Scorpion Troll's Psychic Mirror property to double the damage to those around the target.

When Collapse Distance is not available, the Ghost prefers to fling Psychic Orbs at Scorpion Trolls that are within 10' of at least two enemy targets, in order to exploit Psychic Mirror. Otherwise, the Ghost attacks spellcasting enemies with its staff, or flings Psychic Orbs directly at them if it is too far away. If enemies are within line of sight, it attempts to end every turn during combat inside of a rock wall if possible, accepting the damage, even if that requires taking one or two opportunity attacks. On its turns, it will gradually move towards spellcasters if it can in order to be able to incapacitate them with its comet staff, but this is lower priority than keeping itself safe from attack.

Did you run this scenario? If so, what happened? Did you win or lose, were there any casualties, and how did you do it?

I'll post my own results, party and tactics after a few other people have had a chance.

-Max

Very interesting challenge. Must say I've accidentally not respected the first step, though.

Spoiler

Show

Between this and other threads where you mentioned them, it seems the Star Spawns are among your favorite monsters for 5e.

Question:

-What's your policy for magic items/costly equipment/rare material/corpses for necromancy in this challenge?

[MaxWilson]

Very interesting challenge. Must say I've accidentally not respected the first step, though.

No worries, just do your best to create a party without thinking about the specific challenge. Since you're post #2, could you please spoiler-protect your post body or delete the monster name to avoid giving away details? I will spoiler-protect my reply:

Spoiler: Reply

Show

Between this and other threads where you mentioned them, it seems the Star Spawns are among your favorite monsters for 5e.

Question:

-What's your policy for magic items/costly equipment/rare material/corpses for necromancy in this challenge?

They are indeed one of my favorites. I like Purple Worms, Mind Flayers, Skulks, Orcs, Goblins, Onis, Young White Dragons, Air Elementals, Earth Elementals, Fire Elementls, Summer Eladrin, Neogis, Neogi Masters, Hobgoblins (including Iron Shadows and Devastators), Trolls (all varieties), a bunch of other stuff... and Star Spawns.

On magic items and costly equipment: similar to how I don't care what stat rolling method you use, I don't really care how you come up with your equipment lists, just do what you've seen be usual at your tables for 10th level parties and state it when you create it.

However, when it comes to corpses for necromancy, I'm going to say the nature of the scenario effectively rules them out. They wouldn't make it up to where the scenario occurs. Neither would mounts, except those that can be summoned at the top of a cliff after the PCs have already scaled it, and of course flying mounts or those that can climb walls (with or without help from spells). If you need to cast a spell to get your mount into the scenario, count that against your spell points/expended in the scenario.

If your magic items or spells would let you get corpses into the scenario, then fine, use your best judgment there and what you've seen be usual. This isn't a competition.

After a few posts we can stop worrying about spoilers but for now please consider it.

[Gtdead]

I will post my tactics first, and then I will edit the post to include the round by round.

I'm using excel to simulate dice.
I roll normal dice with the "=randbetween(1,20)" formula. I refresh the formula once and keep the result.
For the attack rolls and possible advantage I will use the formulas "=max(randbetween(1,20),randbetween(1,20))" and min for disadvantage respectively.

I will start with a very standard party and if I think it's impossible to win, I will optimize later. I'm going to use gear that even a lvl 1 party can afford and I will add Plate later if I think I have to.

Spoiler: Party #1

Show

I'm going to use a fairly boring/standard party with as few gimmicks as possible to keep the dice rolling simple. No familiars, no multiclassing. I'm using pointbuy.
My party moves in a tight 2x2 square formation and the meatshield will be the first to reach the spot. Fighter and Cleric (left to right) in the front, Sorcerer and Rogue (left to right) in the back.
The only preparation will be a Light spell on the Fighter's weapon from the Cleric which is standard practice in the Underdark. Party doesn't try to be stealthy anyway.

Samurai Fighter, Vhuman, Chainmail (16+1 = 17 AC), Glaive, Defense Fighting Style
Lvl1 - GWM
Lvl4 - STR
Lvl6 - STR
Lvl8 - PAM
20/10/16/8/14/8

Arcane Trickster, (Wood) Half Elf, Studded Leather (16 AC), Rapier
Lvl4 - Mobile
Lvl8 - Alert
Lvl10 - ASI: DEX
8/18/16/12/13/10

Shadow Sorcerer, Vhuman, Subtle/Twin/Quicken, Naked (12 AC)
Lvl1 - Alert
Lvl4 - ASI:CHA
Lvl8 - ASI:CHA
8/14/16/8/10/20

Life Cleric, Vhuman, Scale Mail + Shield (18 AC), Dagger
Lvl1 - Res: CON
Lvl4 - ASI: WIS
Lvl8 - ASI: WIS
8/14/16/8/20/10
----------------------------

Rolled initiative:
Fighter: 8, Total: 8+0 (dex) = 8
Rogue: 12, Total: 12+4 (dex)+5 (alert) = 21
Sorcerer:15, Total: 15+3 (dex)+5 (alert) = 23
Cleric:11, Total: 11+2 (dex) = 13
Inbred Cannibals:19, Total: 19+1 (dex) = 20
Scarecrow Bug:2, Total: 2+4 (dex) = 6
Scorpion Troll:16, Total: 16-1 (dex) = 15
Grandpa Ghost:8, Total: 8+1 (dex) = 9

Initiative Order:
Sorcerer
Rogue
Inbred Cannibals
Scorpion Troll
Cleric
Fighter
Grandpa Ghost
Scarecrow Bug

----------------------------

Spoiler: Tactics P1#1

Show

Tactics:
At this moment I haven't studied the enemies and I don't really have a clue how hard this is going to be, so I'm just going to do some number boosting and use heavy positioning against the melee enemies. I want to keep things very simple and not use gimmicks.

The goal here is to create a defensive position by nuking the hell out of the lone Scarecrow Bug and use that tunnel to hide my sorcerer and my fighter, then Block the path with the Cleric and cast a Spirit Guardian while dodging like crazy.

Since my sorcerer rolled high initiative, I will start with a twinned Haste. The targets are going to be Cleric for the AC and Rogue for Speed and increased chance to land a SA, I'm not going to do prepared reaction SAs in my first attempt, I may do it in my next attempt if I fail. After casting haste he will position himself as far as possible from the cannibals.

Rogue goes next, so he is going to unload on the northeastern Bug. He will also disengage (mobile) and move opposite from the cannibals.

Now it's the cannibal and troll turn, but the best targets the can find are the Fighter and Cleric so we are probably fine.

Cleric will position himself to cast the best possible SG and dodge, Fighter will unload on the bug, using action surge if need be. Between the rogue and the fighter, there is enough average dpr to kill the 14 AC bug.
If everything goes well, then in the next turn, the party will position themselves in the tunnel like this:

Sorcerer in the back
Fighter in front of him
Cleric in front of the fighter

Sorcerer will be safe in the back and probably out of vision to continue concentrating on haste.
Fighter will use his reach to attack behind the cleric
The cleric will dodge and hold the bottleneck with his stacked AC, Dodge and SW while SG kills the swarmers.

The rogue with haste will just run around the battlefield. He has 45 base speed (wood half elf + mobile), 90 with haste and 180 with Haste: Dash. So he literally can stay 90 ft away from the battle and every turn rush in, BB and get back at 90 ft. Melee enemies can't possibly reach him so they will be forced to go after the Cleric.

Rogue's damage priority will be Bug > Troll > Grandpa.

Spoiler: Summary

Show

Summary:

Preparation and Items and Rules of Engagement:
The party starts with a Light cantrip on the Fighter's Glaive.
The items the party has access to are the same that a lvl 1 fresh party would reasonably have.
The party has knowledge of the enemy positions. Walks in a 2x2 formation towards the trigger.

Important points:

• Everything except Grandpa is melee. Spells like Spirit Guardians, Spike Growth and Walls are extremely effective, especially considering that you will be fighting in a choke point. Also Trolls being large works in the party's favor.
• Initiative Order also affects the encounter heavily. Cannibals won initiative and swarmed my party, creating a zone with difficult terrain when they died to AoE. This made things very hard for the Trolls and Bugs.
• Low CHA saves and aberration types make the encounter very weak to the Banishment spell. Being level 10 characters, upcasting the spell as level 5 is a sound tactic.
• Grandpa's Collapse Distance is exceptionally hard to shut down. The damage is not deadly by itself, but it has a high DC and it's enough damage to break concentration. Casters without CON proficiency are pretty much doomed.
• Trolls and Grandpa are resistant to weapon attacks and immune to Shadow Blade. This complicates things. However their base defenses aren't abnormally high for a level 10 party.

How I used enemies:

Cannibals: All but one would swarm the party. The one would stay close enough to affect at least one weapon user with it's aura and dodge.
Bugs: They would try to stay safe for the most part and use their Flurry of Claws on the squishiest target they could reasonably reach.
Trolls: Fastest path to the closest enemy.
Grandpa: Collapse Distance when available, by targeting the target with the highest damage potential. (Damage meaning both numerical and breaking concentration effects)

Problems with this approach:
Cannibals: They are squishy and 20 ft range isn't enough to stay safely away from the majority of AoE attacks. Out of the 10, only one managed to survive a single hit from Spirit Guardians and died to the next attack.
Bugs: Since I used Spirit Guardians and had a PAM Fighter ready to AoO anything that gets into his range, it was impossible for them to find good targets. SG is a dome so it affects climbers too. One bug managed to use Flurry of Claws against my Cleric once, did 9 damage, and lost half his health to SG and PAM AoO, making it absolutely irrelevant after that, since it would just die passively if it attempted it again.
Trolls: 30 ft /2 = 15, which means that they can only move a single square while inside the Spirit Guardians because of the difficult terrain created by corpses. First time they reached SG they were out of range, second round they could only attack the Dodging Cleric. Fighter preferred to attack and run away, triggering AoO, because unless they hit 2 times in succession, their damage is relatively weak.
Grandpa: While a strong enemy regardless of tactics due to Collapse Distance, it's very vulnerable to party positioning. Granted the space is limited, so chances are that he will do some damage regardless (unless the target saves). Sorcerer was my most vulnerable character and was concentrating on the most volatile effect. As long as I kept him safe, everything would be fine.

Resources used:

Resolution 1: This was the highest cost run but it also triviliazed the encounter. I followed my tactic of using Haste and SG but mid fight I switched to Banishment, both upcasted to level 5.
Sorcerer: 2 Level 3 Slots, 1 Level 5 Slot, 3 Sorcery Points
Cleric: 1 Level 2 Slot, 2 Level 5 Slots
Fighter: 1 Fighting Spirit, Action Surge
Rogue: Nothing

Resolution 2: This was the best run resource wise.
Sorcerer: 1 Level 2 Slot, 2 Level 3 Slots, 5 Sorcery Points
Cleric: 1 Level 2 Slot, 1 Level 5 Slot
Fighter: 1 Fighting Spirit, 1 Action Surge
Rogue: Nothing

Resolution 3: This was the almost worse case scenario where I lost a lot of health.
Sorcerer: 2 Level 2 Slots, 2 Level 3 Slots, 9 Sorcery Points
Cleric: 1 Level 2 Slot, 2 Level 5 Slot, 1 CD
Fighter: 1 Fighting Spirit, 1 Action Surge, Second Wind
Rogue: Nothing.

I'm not used to running complex scenarios by myself, so each round was taking a very long time only to end abruptly by me either figuring out the Banishment weakness or having lucky rolls. So I decided to to a "branching" style where I would identify key moments in the fight (like an important Save, or a crit), and roll back the fight to replay them using a different roll, making sure that luck wasn't a factor.

Spoiler: Snapshots of the Encounter

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To further illustrate the point about difficult terrain and initiative order, I kept 2 snapshots of the map. I did the best I could to recreate the map, it's not perfect. Also every enemy was stacked on one cell in the beginning of the fight so I wouldn't have to bother with the logistics of them getting out of the room.

https://ibb.co/6BsxVQg
https://ibb.co/Lz1vmLq

D = Corpses that create difficult terrain

Spoiler: Resolution P1#1

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Cannibals are pretty terrifying. This aura is very strong, so I decided to hard counter it.
Sorcerer casted Haste on Cleric and Rogue, then run opposite from the west bug.
Rogue and Fighter attacked the north bug, fighter had disadvantage, but left it with ~20 health, so I decided to gamble and not use resources yet.
My cleric upcasted a lvl 5 Spirit Guardians. These monsters have crappy WIS saves, and the average damage is 22.5 so I reasoned that my chances are good to oneshot both the hurt bug and all the cannibals.

I was right, cannibals and the first bug didn't got any turns. They died at the start of their turns from SG. So now I'm left with the troll, the bug, 15 ft of difficult terrain due to corpses. (A)

I plan to unload on the Troll, but notice that it has resistances to weapon damage and immunity to psychic, so I decide to bring my sorcerer and upcast a banishment. Enemies fail both saves, I get my Sorcerer to safety. I run the Rogue away from the combat and put the fighter next to the spot where the Grandpa will come while getting the Cleric ready to intercept with SG.

Cannibals rush, they die. One is left alive to dodge. Sorcerer and Rogue pass the turn, and at that time I think that I want to banish again. I'm about to banish the Troll and the Bug, but I decided to try for the Grandpa and Troll. Both fail the save, I Haste:Dash the Cleric to the other side of the map, pass the round.

By now the fight is over, I throw a fireball with the sorcerer for fun, kill the cannibal, then finish off the bug with Fighting Spirit. Game over. (I could probably kill them perfectly without spending resources but it didn't matter at this point)

Edit: I made a mistake, didn't account for the lost turn when I broke Haste concentration. However this wouldn't change anything. Rogue could take some damage because it would be near enough to the fighter for a collapse distance to worth it, but that's the worst that would happen. Also I probably missplayed the bug, I had it dodge behind the troll for cover and get in range for an attack. If it was hidden I wouldn't be able to banish it. Although bugs were mostly irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Edit2: I replayed the fight and it was as I said, Rogue took some heavy damage because I transfered him near the hidden bug that used Flurry of Claws. He took 60~ damage. Not enough to kill him though and in the next turn he went after the Bug and afflicted it with BB. Rogue has 180 movement with Haste so there was nothing more the enemy could do to him. Fighter also took some damage but nothing serious, he saved for half. Cleric Banished grandpa again and it was the end of the fight. Grandpa is fairly unlucky with his cha saves but I don't feel like running this again.

Spoiler: Resolution P1#2

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Continuing from (A), I decide to go forward with killing the troll. It already took 25~ damage from SG so I bring the Sorcerer out of hiding, throw a quickened scorching ray and a firebolt for 30~, get back. Rogue did 25~ damage through resistance and Cleric casted SW and attacked with the Haste action (this thing triggers Divine Strike, I never noticed, mostly because Cleric is a really bad haste target, but I needed the AC). Fighter attacked 2 times with GWM, both connected for 20~ damage. It died on it's round from SG, overkilling it by 2. This could be worse if it survived with 1 hp or something, but it didn't really have any viable targets other than the dodging cleric.

Bug can only reach the cleric, and since it hasn't done much till now, I decide to try a Flurry of Claws, as expected, it deals 9 damage. It also takes some damage for being in SG and a PAM AoO from the Fighter. It's already at half health. I don't really know what to do with it, so I take it as far as possible, waiting for claws to recharge. It will probably just die if it attacks again through SG + PAM AoO.

So now I'm preparing for the big bad. The problem is that he will come into play after my last character acts, so I'm thinking that I have to gamble again. Grandpa can't really move at all with SG and the corpses, so he can either do a ranged attack against the cleric or the fighter with +2 cover, or throw a collapse distance on either cleric or fighter. Fighter hits all 4 if he misses the save. So after I make short work of all the cannibals with the cleric (damn this guy really slays, he even killed the dodging one without any trouble), grandpa comes out of the wall and casts collapse on the fighter. Samurai's WIS prof + indomitable passes the check and now we are at a spot where the new Troll and Bug will never get in range (climbing doesn't help against SG because it's a dome, it has to dash and it really doesn't have good targets because it will have to land on the corpses to chase after anything other than the cleric), the other bug will die if it tries to enter SG. (B)

I bring the sorcerer out of hiding and do the nova again, this time with Fighting spirit. Grandpa survives the turn by the skin of his teeth and the only thing he can do is to either attack ranged at disadvantage or melee the Cleric at disadvantage. Cleric is the most valuable target to break concentration so I go for it, one attack connects, doesn't break concentration, party turns to attack the troll. I throw a fireball for good measure, grandpa dies to SW and I suicide the bugs in a kamikaze attack.

I seriously think that while cannibals are terrifying in general, in this particular fight, all these corpses in combination with SG slow break the encounter. I didn't know what to do with the troll and the bug. They were between a rock and a hard place. It's also really difficult to dash because cannibals had won Initiative and swarmed the place, creating a nice buffer zone between me and the troll.

Resolution 3 will continue from (B) where I deliberately fail the save. If sorcerer loses concentration, it's probably going to be a death sentence. I will probably roll back a bit more and cast magic weapon on the fighter from the AT, he passed a turn early where he could cast anything he wanted, but I still hadn't take notice of the resistances. I don't want to do Schrodinger builds but I think I'm going to need this one. I will also try to think a few shenanigans with climb if possible. I don't believe it will help because unless the troll triggers the PAM AoO, Bug is in the 2shot territory, and troll can't get in range unless I decide to not use the cannibals for offense at all.

Sadly I kept the log only of the latest branch but I think 3rd it's going to be the most important anyway.

Edit: Rewrote some parts for better clarity. I played the third resolution and Sorcerer managed to keep his concentration. Party took some damage from Collapse Distance but nothing special, I recasted Spirit Guardians and finished the encounter. Grandpa's juking tactic didn't help him at all because the hasted Rogue can reach him anywhere on the map. I don't feel like running it again atm, at this point it's basically a slow fest where you have to manage the big nuke that isn't enough to kill you in the first place. If I have some time tommorow I will run it again from the beginning with new initiative rolls.

Edit2: I noticed that I made this even harder than it had to be. The second group got activated during the third turn, not after.

Edit3: I made quite a lot of mistakes in using the monsters with the most obvious being that I misread the Flurry of Claws ability. It can use the bonus action before the attack when I thought that it could only used it after. Also the location where I spawned Grandpa Ghost was way too advantageous for me and completely nullified his tactics, allowing the Fighter to do a number on him. This was an honest mistake but it trivialized the fight so I will give him a more advantageous position in my next run.

Spoiler: Second Attempt, Initiative and Specifics

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Initiative: For this attempt I won't roll, instead I will use the initiative modifier to determine order.
Rogue
Sorcerer
Bug
Cleric
Grandpa
Cannibal
Fighter
Troll

In my previous attempt I activated grandpa in third turn. I wasn't supposed to do that, which complicated things, but technically it made the encounter harder, although I got him stuck in a compromising position due to a combination of difficult terrain and spirit guardians.
This time I will activate him at the start of the fourth round by stepping into the fray and have him act according to his initiative.
For this run I'm not going to use any volatile RNG abilities. I'm not going to use anything with less than 70% success chance unless it's damage or a persistent effect (like Grease for example).

Spoiler: Second Attempt

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Round 1:
I started the fight with Rogue and Sorcerer nuking the **** out of the northern Bug. They killed it fairly easily although I kind of made it harder than I had to. I should had just casted Animate Objects since I ended up doing it anyway. I wasn't so sure how to tackle this and I didn't want to cast Haste again. The second Bug came out of the woodwork and attacked Fighter (being the lowest AC that still hadn't taken a turn) for 81 Damage, then it moved away. That's more like it, at long last these things could do something. Part of why they sucked so much in the first playthrough was because they rolled the lowest initiative.

Cleric move a bit and casted a Lvl 5 SG that hit everything. It covered both entrances and it got the Bug too. All the cannibals died, bug and troll took some damage. Fighter went after the bug, getting just in range to attack with his Glaive.

Round 2:
Since Bug had taken enough damage to have good chances to die from SG, I decided to go after the Troll. Rogue did a BB, but I wasn't sure what was the best course of action with the Sorcerer. I did some quick calculations and I had good chances to kill it. I decided to go full out on it with Animate Objects (not necessarily the highest possible damage, but I wanted something persistent for the next rounds. Cleric did an upcasted lvl 4 SW and a Toll the Dead, Fighter attacked with GWM (without Fighting Spirit). Thankfully it died with an overkill of 5, otherwise I would be forced to take an AoO with the Fighter, so it can die to BB.

Round 3 (Preparation):
Since everything was dead, Rogue was free to cast and used Magic Weapon on the Fighter. Fighter gets a Channel Divinity and a Healing Word from Cleric bringing him back to high health. He isn't at any danger atm cause the third Bug doesn't have enough speed to reach him. Sorcerer casted a Mirror Image, moved a bit to the back and everyone else, along with the Animated Objects got in formation.

The tactic is to cast Heightened Blindness on Grandpa. If he succeeds in saving (16% chance to do so), Cleric will cast one too (total of 6%~)
Grandpa Enters the Area, starting the:

Round 4:
Grandpa nuking turn.
1) Rogue Steady Aim BB, 23 Damage
2) Sorcerer casts Heightened Blindness, Grandpa rolls 7, fails and is Blinded. Attacks with AO for 24 Damage
3) Bug cant reach Cleric or Fighter due to SG, gets closer to the Fighter and Hides.
4) Cleric attacks with SW and throws a Guiding Bolt for 29 Damage
5) Grandpa's Turn:

He takes 13 Damage from SG making it a total of 89. I tried to have him attack the cleric twice from range but he missed both attacks and then entered the wall, but he was left with 10 Health from the AoOs, which means he is done for, he will die passively to anything. So I rolled back the fight and decided that the best course of action is to try and incapacitate the Fighter instead. With these rolls he can hit the fighter in melee with the second attack which leaves some wiggle room for the monsters. So I continue from there:

Fighter takes 28 damage and rolls 17 for the CON save which is a success (24 total). He can enter the wall at the opposite side and only take AoOs from 4 Animated Objects for 14 damage and 5 force damage from ending the turn inside the wall.. (I wish I would have thought of it sooner instead of rolling back the fight)
Rolls 11, fails the save and is still Blinded.

6) Cannibal turn and I don't really know what to do with them, no matter what they do, they can't deal damage because they will just die to SG. The only reasonable action is to have them past the turn and try to break Cleric's concentration with either the Troll or Grandpa later so I pass the turn.
7) Fighter doesn't really have much to do here. I move him towards a better position and prepare an attack.
8) Troll moves towards the Cleric

Round 5:

I'm thinking something crazy for this round, to make the Sorcerer tank the Grandpa. He is the defacto best target now, he is in range, so I will move all the minions in a way that will maximize this endeavor. It's also funny because the previous troll died in such a way that liters the place with difficult terrain. I can actually trap him outside of the wall. There is only one possible tile but he is subject to 2 AoOs from Rogue and Fighter and doesn't have line of sight to Sorcerer

1) Rogue can't do much at this point. He gets near Grandpa's wall and prepares an attack.
2) Sorcerer goes for the Banish on the troll. It's the most impactful thing he can do at the moment. He casts banishment, troll rolls a 13 and fails the check. Sorcerer uses the bonus action to move the AOs in a way that it makes Grandpa impossible to find a non difficult terrain tile. This way Grandpa will spend 10 movement to come out but he won't have enough movement due to SG halving his speed.
3) Bug still doesn't have a target. The best thing it can do is try to attack the Cleric with Flurry in hopes to break the concentration, but it's pretty much a death sentence for it at this point. I decide to have it wait on more turn because even if it manages to cast it, Cleric can recast it before Grandpa comes back. It now has a few targets but no advantage.
4) Cleric moves back to create cover for Sorcerer and Dodges just in case.
5) Grandpa comes out on a Animate Object tile, deals 5 damage to the 4 of them and takes 24 damage from SG. He is out of reach of the prepared attacks (he would die otherwise) and attacks the Sorcerer with Psychic Orb.

Sorcerer has 12 AC + half cover = 14
First roll 5+11 = 17, Sorcerer casts shield.
Second roll 8+11 = 19, Sorcerer takes 28 damage, Conc DC 14, rolls 10 and saves.

Grandpa rolls 3 and fails to end Blind.

6) Fighter attacks Grandpa with GWM (yay overkill), deals 38 damage. Grandpa dies.
7) Cannibals dash and try to swarm, they all die to SG the moment they enter. (I won't bother any more with them, I park one of them just outside the SG for the aura, he will die next turn)

Round 6:

Sorcerer casts fireball at the lone Cannibal, deals 30 damage, it also cleaves the Bug (totally not intentional ^^), Bug saves for half. Then sends AO to attack it, everything connects, Bug takes 57 damage and dies.

Party is victorious.

At this moment I wonder if I misplayed the Bug again. So I will roll a Flurry of Claws against the Cleric to see if it had any chance of breaking the concentration.
And holy ****! It actually got a critical with disadvantage! Talk about karma.
Cleric takes a total of 23 damage, rolls 2 Conc saves against 10 DC and passes them both with flying colors (11 and 19 respectively).

So I think this concludes this challenge for me. I had a lot of fun figuring out ways to counter these monsters. Thanks to MaxWilson.

[MaxWilson]

I will post my tactics first, and then I will edit the post to include the round by round.

I'm using excel to simulate dice.
I roll normal dice with the "=randbetween(1,20)" formula. I refresh the formula once and keep the result.
For the attack rolls and possible advantage I will use the formulas "=max(randbetween(1,20),randbetween(1,20)" and min for disadvantage respectively.

I will start with a very standard party and if I think it's impossible to win, I will optimize later. I'm going to use gear that even a lvl 1 party can afford and I will add Plate later if I think I have to.

Spoiler: Party #1

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I'm going to use a fairly boring/standard party with as few gimmicks as possible to keep the dice rolling simple. No familiars, no multiclassing. I'm using pointbuy.
My party moves in a tight 2x2 square formation and the meatshield will be the first to reach the spot. Fighter and Cleric (left to right) in the front, Sorcerer and Rogue (left to right) in the back.
The only preparation will be a Light spell on the Fighter's weapon from the Cleric which is standard practice in the Underdark. Party doesn't try to be stealthy anyway.

Samurai Fighter, Vhuman, Chainmail (16 AC), Glaive, Defense Fighting Style
Lvl1 - GWM
Lvl4 - STR
Lvl6 - STR
Lvl8 - PAM
20/10/16/8/14/8

Arcane Trickster, (Wood) Half Elf, Studded Leather (16 AC), Rapier
Lvl4 - Mobile
Lvl8 - Alert
Lvl10 - ASI: DEX
8/18/16/12/13/10

Shadow Sorcerer, Vhuman, Subtle/Twin/Quicken, Naked (12 AC)
Lvl1 - Alert
Lvl4 - ASI:CHA
Lvl8 - ASI:CHA
8/14/16/8/10/20

Life Cleric, Vhuman, Scale Mail + Shield (18 AC), Dagger
Lvl1 - Res: CON
Lvl4 - ASI: WIS
Lvl8 - ASI: WIS
8/14/16/8/20/10
----------------------------

Rolled initiative:
Fighter: 8, Total: 8+0 (dex) = 8
Rogue: 12, Total: 12+4 (dex)+5 (alert) = 21
Sorcerer:15, Total: 15+3 (dex)+5 (alert) = 23
Cleric:11, Total: 11+2 (dex) = 13
Inbred Cannibals:19, Total: 19+1 (dex) = 20
Scarecrow Bug:2, Total: 2+4 (dex) = 6
Scorpion Troll:16, Total: 16-1 (dex) = 15
Grandpa Ghost:8, Total: 8+1 (dex) = 9

Initiative Order:
Sorcerer
Rogue
Inbred Cannibals
Scorpion Troll
Cleric
Fighter
Grandpa Ghost
Scarecrow Bug

----------------------------

Spoiler: Tactics P1#1

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Tactics:
At this moment I haven't studied the enemies and I don't really have a clue how hard this is going to be, so I'm just going to do some number boosting and use heavy positioning against the melee enemies. I want to keep things very simple and not use gimmicks.

The goal here is to create a defensive position by nuking the hell out of the lone Scarecrow Bug and use that tunnel to hide my sorcerer and my fighter, then Block the path with the Cleric and cast a Spirit Guardian while dodging like crazy.

Since my sorcerer rolled high initiative, I will start with a twinned Haste. The targets are going to be Cleric for the AC and Rogue for Speed and increased chance to land a SA, I'm not going to do prepared reaction SAs in my first attempt, I may do it in my next attempt if I fail. After casting haste he will position himself as far as possible from the cannibals.

Rogue goes next, so he is going to unload on the northeastern Bug. He will also disengage (mobile) and move opposite from the cannibals.

Now it's the cannibal and troll turn, but the best targets the can find are the Fighter and Cleric so we are probably fine.

Cleric will position himself to cast the best possible SG and dodge, Fighter will unload on the bug, using action surge if need be. Between the rogue and the fighter, there is enough average dpr to kill the 14 AC bug.
If everything goes well, then in the next turn, the party will position themselves in the tunnel like this:

Sorcerer in the back
Fighter in front of him
Cleric in front of the fighter

Sorcerer will be safe in the back and probably out of vision to continue concentrating on haste.
Fighter will use his reach to attack behind the cleric
The cleric will dodge and hold the bottleneck with his stacked AC, Dodge and SW while SG kills the swarmers.

The rogue with haste will just run around the battlefield. He has 45 base speed (wood half elf + mobile), 90 with haste and 180 with Haste: Dash. So he literally can stay 90 ft away from the battle and every turn rush in, BB and get back at 90 ft. Melee enemies can't possibly reach him so they will be forced to go after the Cleric.

Rogue's damage priority will be Bug > Troll > Grandpa.

Just want to make sure because you may not have seen it, since I only see you mention one in your initiative order: there are two bugs outside (one in corridor, one sniffing fungoids with scorpion troll--plus a third in the map room that doesn't activate yet), not one, and BTW they can climb walls.

[Gtdead]

Just want to make sure because you may not have seen it, since I only see you mention one: there are two bugs, and BTW they can climb walls.

Yes I am aware, that's why they are rogue's priority target and I have pam reaction, hopefully they will die before they can reach my sorcerer. I may have to take an AoO to position myself better but I will work it out when I run the scenario. I use group initiative btw, hopefully that's alright with you.

[MaxWilson]

Yes I am aware, that's why they are rogue's priority target and I have pam reaction, hopefully they will die before they can reach my sorcerer. I may have to take an AoO to position myself better but I will work it out when I run the scenario. I use group initiative btw, hopefully that's alright with you.

Okay, cool. Make sure you read the Aura of Madness text on the Inbred Cannibals before you do the fighter's turn--he will probably be attacking the bug at disadvantage, or neutral if he uses Fighting Spirit.

Sorry if that's starting the obvious.

Sure, group initiative is fine--whatever is normal for your table. This is a learning exercise including learning which rule variants are popular.

[Gtdead]

Okay, cool. Make sure you read the Aura of Madness text on the Inbred Cannibals before you do the fighter's turn--he will probably be attacking the bug at disadvantage, or neutral if he uses Fighting Spirit.

Sorry if that's starting the obvious.

Sure, group initiative is fine--whatever is normal for your table. This is a learning exercise including learning which rule variants are popular.

No it's fine, I'm not familiar with these monsters so stating the obvious is a good idea. One last question, in my party description I'm using a Light on the Fighter's weapon as preparation. It's standard practice on non darkvision weapon users when I don't use stealth. Is that ok or should I add it in combat?

[MaxWilson]

No it's fine, I'm not familiar with these monsters so stating the obvious is a good idea. One last question, in my party description I'm using a Light on the Fighter's weapon as preparation. It's standard practice on non darkvision weapon users when I don't use stealth. Is that ok or should I add it in combat?

Standard prep is fine. You can take as much time as you reasonably need to after climbing out of the pit, before approaching the point where the bug is guarding (red X). If there are other spells you'd like to precast like Bless, Haste, etc., that's fine too. Remember, you know (from familiars/Rogue scouting/whatever) that these monsters are there.

Remember that the bugs can climb walls. I'm not sure how high the tunnel is, but let's say roll d6 and on 1-3 it's only 5' high, bug can't crawl above cleric and fighter to get to the sorc (assuming they get stacked as desired in the tunnel, which could be tricky with that initiative order). On a roll of 4-6 there's enough room that it could get through overhead, at the potential cost of opportunity attacks if it's not Hidden or Flurrying.

Let me know if you need detailed stats on the monsters. I am cognizant that not everyone owns every WotC book.

BTW I don't think the Arcane Trickster will be able to kite his way past a Large monster in a 10'-wide-at-the-most tunnel. There's just not enough room. You might have to try going in circles around the map room instead.

[Dork_Forge]

I've not rolled this out yet, but my thoughts on the matter:

Spoiler: Tactics

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Party Composition (point buy, tasha's maleable stats):
Half Drow Celestial Chainlock, maxed charisma, Devil's Sight, Agonising, Repelling, Gift of the Ever Living, Cloak of Flies
V. Human (Walorck lite:Devil's Sight) Wild Fire Druid (notable spells: Spike Growth, buncha healing ones
V.Human (Warlock lite:Devil's Sight) Paladin Oath of the Watchers
V.Human (Tough) Goliath (Dex+Int) Psi Warrior Fighter (Blindfighting)

Note: All party members start with 10THP, the Warlock starts with 15THP

Strategy: Everyone stays within the Paladin's auras, the Wild Fires fire thingy goes and triggers the combat, leading the nasties into a combination of spikegrowth and Darkness. The Warlock uses Repelling Blast to maintain distance and maximise Spike Growth, healing is doled out as necessary.

What follows is the scene from Aliens with the autoturrets, allowing them to get close enough to whittle down their number advantage in the small corridors and leverage Darkness and Spike Growth to even the playing field. The Warlock is based on my Wolverine build and can act as a bulwark, Cloak of Flies acting as auto damage as it holds off the enemies and pushes them back into the Spike Growth.

The Psi Warrior can mitigate any particularly nasty damage, the Paladin Auras help push the team to top of the order and help against saving throws. If things get dire then the Paladin can try and turn them, giving reprieve to heal up and restart buffs/control spells.

In my games I allow parties of level 8 to get two uncommon items of their choice, this party is two levels higher and could justify at elast a rare, but I'll stick with the uncommons to be reasonable. The Warlock grabs a Rod of the Pact keeper and Pearl of Power, someone would have a Wand of magic Missiles. At the moment I'm not fussy about the rest.

[MaxWilson]

I've not rolled this out yet, but my thoughts on the matter:

Spoiler: Tactics

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Party Composition (point buy, tasha's maleable stats):
Half Drow Celestial Chainlock, maxed charisma, Devil's Sight, Agonising, Repelling, Gift of the Ever Living, Cloak of Flies
V. Human (Walorck lite:Devil's Sight) Wild Fire Druid (notable spells: Spike Growth, buncha healing ones
V.Human (Warlock lite:Devil's Sight) Paladin Oath of the Watchers
V.Human (Tough) Goliath (Dex+Int) Psi Warrior Fighter (Blindfighting)

Note: All party members start with 10THP, the Warlock starts with 15THP

Strategy: Everyone stays within the Paladin's auras, the Wild Fires fire thingy goes and triggers the combat, leading the nasties into a combination of spikegrowth and Darkness. The Warlock uses Repelling Blast to maintain distance and maximise Spike Growth, healing is doled out as necessary.

What follows is the scene from Aliens with the autoturrets, allowing them to get close enough to whittle down their number advantage in the small corridors and leverage Darkness and Spike Growth to even the playing field. The Warlock is based on my Wolverine build and can act as a bulwark, Cloak of Flies acting as auto damage as it holds off the enemies and pushes them back into the Spike Growth.

The Psi Warrior can mitigate any particularly nasty damage, the Paladin Auras help push the team to top of the order and help against saving throws. If things get dire then the Paladin can try and turn them, giving reprieve to heal up and restart buffs/control spells.

In my games I allow parties of level 8 to get two uncommon items of their choice, this party is two levels higher and could justify at elast a rare, but I'll stick with the uncommons to be reasonable. The Warlock grabs a Rod of the Pact keeper and Pearl of Power, someone would have a Wand of magic Missiles. At the moment I'm not fussy about the rest.

Hahaha, that Aliens image is quite apt. Do you think the Scarecrow-bugs' ability to climb will be an issue for Spike Growth? To me that seems likely, which is also very apt for Aliens. Edit: actually on consideration, given the tactics in post #1 it seems like the bugs are just going to be Dodging/Hiding at first since they can't gain advantage when you're in Darkness. I guess it's up to the Inbred Cannibals, Scorpion Trolls, and Ghost to break concentration on Darkness!

I look forward to hearing how it went!

[Dork_Forge]

Hahaha, that Aliens image is quite apt. Do you think the Scarecrow-bugs' ability to climb will be an issue for Spike Growth? To me that seems likely, which is also very apt for Aliens. Edit: actually on consideration, given the tactics in post #1 it seems like the bugs are just going to be Dodging/Hiding at first since they can't gain advantage when you're in Darkness. I guess it's up to the Inbred Cannibals, Scorpion Trolls, and Ghost!

I look forward to hearing how it went!

At heart I'm a camper/turtler, and I'll be damned if I won't eek out a defensible perimeter whereever I end up, be it some random inbred cave or the defunct Der Riese Nazi facility.

I don't see climbing being much of an issue, though I'll ask the DM: If you have a non spider climb, climb speed and you get pushed, does that push you back along the vertical surface or would it break your climb?

Edit: I'll get firm stats together for the PCs and start rolling it out later after some sleep

[MaxWilson]

At heart I'm a camper/turtler, and I'll be... if I won't eek out a defensible perimeter whereever I end up, be it some random inbred cave or the defunct Der Riese Nazi facility.

I don't see climbing being much of an issue, though I'll ask the DM: If you have a non spider climb, climb speed and you get pushed, does that push you back along the vertical surface or would it break your climb?

Let's say it would knock you off the wall at the end of the push, so you'd take 2d4 from Spike Growth and land in the nearest unoccupied square to 10' from where you started. Additional pushes would cheese grater you along the floor. Does that sound physically reasonable?

How do you feel about jumping over Spike Growth? My feeling is that it's kind of cheap, obviously not intended to work that way, best ignored. (Maybe the spikes are 3' high.) You?

[Dork_Forge]

Let's say it would knock you off the wall at the end of the push, so you'd take 2d4 from Spike Growth and land in the nearest unoccupied square to 10' from where you started. Additional pushes would cheese grater you along the floor. Does that sound physically reasonable?

How do you feel about jumping over Spike Growth? My feeling is that it's kind of cheap, obviously not intended to work that way, best ignored. (Maybe the spikes are 3' high.) You?

I think the climbing ruling is very reasonable, as for jumping, I'm not opposed to it in general re: Spike Growth, however I feel like in this scenario the tunnel height sounds too restrictive to permit jumping it (long jumping a pit is one thing, clearing spikes on the floor requires some clearance). Based on your ruling of tunnel height though I have to ask, is the Scorpion-Troll not going to be squeezing?

[Gtdead]

Max, are these monsters considered outsiders (their type is aberration)? Cause I cheesed your encounter with upcasted Banishment. I even banished Grandpa.

[da newt]

I don't own MToF - could you post bad guys stat blocks please?

What are the walls / floor / roof / doors made of? (loose earth, rock, flesh, other)

Do 'moist and slippery' walls/ceiling inhibit climbing (diff terrain or chance to fail)?

[shipiaozi]

I assume characters have no half plate, plate and magic items. They could pre-cast hour long ability but not minutes one.

Spoiler: my team

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All of them are close to certain character I played, and probably the best 4 characters team in my opinion.

vHuman Rune Knight9/Divine Soul1
12/20/16/8/8/13
HP92 AC17 init+5
Feat: Crossbow Expert, Sharpshooter, Dex+2, Dex+2
Extra Attack(2)
Second Wind(1/short),Action Surge(1/short),Cloud Rune(1/short),Stone Rune(1/short),Hill Rune(1/short),Favored by Gods(1/short)
Action Surge(1/long),Giant’s Might(4/long),Runic Shield(4/long)
Hand crossbow+1: +7,1d6+16
2:Bless, Healing Word, Absorb Element

vHuman Valor Bard 10
10/16*/14/8/8/20*
HP73 AC17 init+5
Feat: Cha+2, Cha+2, Lucky
Longbow: +7, 1d8+3
Bardic Inspiration(d10, 5/short rest)
4: Find Familar, Healing Word
3: Lesser Restoration, Silence, Hold Person
3: Catnap, Hypnotic Pattern, Dispel Magic, Speak With Dead
3: Find Greater Steed, Dimension Door, Polymorph
2: Animate Object, Synaptic Static

vHuman Twillight Cleric 1/Time Wizard 9
10/10/16/16/8/13
HP74 AC19 init+3(2k20)
Feat: Inspiring Leader(+11), Lucky, War Caster
chornal shift(2/long), momentary stasis(3/long)
4: Cleric-Bless, Shield, Absord Element, Gift of Alacrity
3: Misty Step, Dragon's Breath, Knock
3: Counterspell, Fireball
3: Polymorph, Conjure Minor Elementals
2: Animate Object, Wall of Force

vHuman Forge Cleric 1/Divine Soul 9
14/10/16/8/8/16
HP74 AC19 init+5
Feat: Alert, Lucky, War Caster
Cantrip: +6,1d6+2+d8
Favored by Gods(1/short)
Sorcery Points(9,Quicken,Twin,Empowered Healing)
4: Cleric-Bless, Absorb Element
3: Spiritual Weapon, Prayer of Healing
3: Counterspell, Fireball, Revivify
3: Death Ward, Polymorph
2: Animate Objects, Greater Restoration

Pre-cast buff: Inspiring Leader, Gift of Alacrity, Conjure Minor Elementals

Spoiler: Encounter One

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The team rolled high init with lucky, they spend 0HP, 1lucky, two animate object, one fireball, one action surge and one rune.
They killed everything except Scorpion-Troll before their turn and control the Troll, monsters don't even get any action.

Spoiler: Encounter Two

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Monsters rolled low init again... so I don't think it would be very different
It's 1:00am here, so I would finish the encounter and try it later tomorrow, but in general I think these monsters lacks meaningful abilities to threat a lv10 team.

[MaxWilson]

Max, are these monsters considered outsiders (their type is aberration)? Cause I cheesed your encounter with upcasted Banishment. I even banished Grandpa.

Sure, why not? Let's say if you can keep concentration on Banishment for the full minute, their minds won't come back. The flesh will come back but it's no longer dangerous at that point, won't do anything but quiver and gradually disintegrate back into the original organic raw materials.

What did you use for the material component?

I look forward to the writeup.

I think the climbing ruling is very reasonable, as for jumping, I'm not opposed to it in general re: Spike Growth, however I feel like in this scenario the tunnel height sounds too restrictive to permit jumping it (long jumping a pit is one thing, clearing spikes on the floor requires some clearance). Based on your ruling of tunnel height though I have to ask, is the Scorpion-Troll not going to be squeezing?

He'll be squeezing in the 5' wide sections but there are also 10' wide areas that he's fine in. I drew the cave on a grid but not TO a grid, if you know what I mean, so use your judgment to determine which cave segments require squeezing. It should mostly be the stuff to the north and east.

I don't own MToF - could you post bad guys stat blocks please?

What are the walls / floor / roof / doors made of? (loose earth, rock, flesh, other)

Do 'moist and slippery' walls/ceiling inhibit climbing (diff terrain or chance to fail)?

Sure, I'll edit the OP to add stat details in the spoiler. AFB, give me an hour or so.

Walls surfaces/etc. are made of extruded intestinal tissue. Beneath that was originally rock, now it's closer to rock-hard flesh, at least for the first couple of feet. (Transformation is ongoing.) PCs won't know this exactly but they'll know that stone magic doesn't work on it.

Moist and slippery walls are not harder to climb than stone walls, just more disgusting. Scarecrow-bugs have no difficulty at all climbing them. (Their hooks dig into the tissue, leaving behind bleeding marks.)

I assume characters have no half plate, plate and magic items. They could pre-cast hour long ability but not minutes one.

Spoiler: my team

Show

All of them are close to certain character I played, and probably the best 4 characters team in my opinion.

vHuman Rune Knight9/Divine Soul1
12/20/16/8/8/13
HP92 AC17 init+5
Feat: Crossbow Expert, Sharpshooter, Dex+2, Dex+2
Extra Attack(2)
Second Wind(1/short),Action Surge(1/short),Cloud Rune(1/short),Stone Rune(1/short),Hill Rune(1/short),Favored by Gods(1/short)
Action Surge(1/long),Giant’s Might(4/long),Runic Shield(4/long)
Hand crossbow+1: +7,1d6+16
2:Bless, Healing Word, Absorb Element

vHuman Valor Bard 10
10/16*/14/8/8/20*
HP73 AC17 init+5
Feat: Cha+2, Cha+2, Lucky
Longbow: +7, 1d8+3
Bardic Inspiration(d10, 5/short rest)
4: Find Familar, Healing Word
3: Lesser Restoration, Silence, Hold Person
3: Catnap, Hypnotic Pattern, Dispel Magic, Speak With Dead
3: Find Greater Steed, Dimension Door, Polymorph
2: Animate Object, Synaptic Static

vHuman Twillight Cleric 1/Time Wizard 9
10/10/16/16/8/13
HP74 AC19 init+3(2k20)
Feat: Inspiring Leader(+11), Lucky, War Caster
chornal shift(2/long), momentary stasis(3/long)
4: Cleric-Bless, Shield, Absord Element, Gift of Alacrity
3: Misty Step, Dragon's Breath, Knock
3: Counterspell, Fireball
3: Polymorph, Conjure Minor Elementals
2: Animate Object, Wall of Force

vHuman Forge Cleric 1/Divine Soul 9
14/10/16/8/8/16
HP74 AC19 init+5
Feat: Alert, Lucky, War Caster
Cantrip: +6,1d6+2+d8
Favored by Gods(1/short)
Sorcery Points(9,Quicken,Twin,Empowered Healing)
4: Cleric-Bless, Absorb Element
3: Spiritual Weapon, Prayer of Healing
3: Counterspell, Fireball, Revivify
3: Death Ward, Polymorph
2: Animate Objects, Greater Restoration

Pre-cast buff: Inspiring Leader, Gift of Alacrity, Conjure Minor Elementals

Spoiler: Encounter One

Show

The team rolled high init with lucky, they spend 0HP, 1lucky, two animate object, one fireball, one action surge and one rune.
They killed everything except Scorpion-Troll before their turn and control the Troll, monsters don't even get any action.

Spoiler: Encounter Two

Show

Monsters rolled low init again... so I don't think it would be very different
It's 1:00am here, so I would finish the encounter and try it later tomorrow, but in general I think these monsters lacks meaningful abilities to threat a lv10 team.

Interesting! Thanks. Would you mind explaining a bit more about what "control the troll" means and what eventually happened to him?

Maybe this says something about the importance of recon/intel and winning initiative. I don't think these monsters lack the tools to be a threat, although they are definitely supposed to be beatable.

[Merudo]

Regarding the battle map:

Spoiler: Scenario details

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Do you have a version without the text and arrows? It would make it easier to turn into a VTT battlemap.

[MaxWilson]

Regarding the battle map:

Spoiler: Scenario details

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Do you have a version without the text and arrows? It would make it easier to turn into a VTT battlemap.

I just drew the one version, sorry. Should have drawn the arrows in a distinct color.

[Unoriginal]

What is your position on the player choosing what creatures they summon for spells like Conjure Woodland Beings?

Maybe this says something about the importance of recon/intel and winning initiative. I don't think these monsters lack the tools to be a threat, although they are definitely supposed to be beatable.

How narrow the passages leading to the "start of the fight" room are is a major factor, IMO (as it allows more or less the PCs to dictates the terms of the engagement), but the prep time, the fact they start with all their ressources and can spend them all are even bigger factors as to why the scale is in the PCs' favor.

Not to mention the mostly straightforward tactics most of the opponents rely on.

If this was an ambush in a tunnel with only two ways out, it'd be incredibly more dangerous for the PCs

[MaxWilson]

I don't own MToF - could you post bad guys stat blocks please?

@da newt I have added the stats to the OP, in the spoiler section, right below the monster descriptions and before Suggested Tactics.

What is your position on the player choosing what creatures they summon for spells like Conjure Woodland Beings?

Sometimes I've done random tables, but generally I let players tell me what they're trying to summon and pretty much give them what they ask for unless those beings are totally foreign to their location--if you try to summon Sprites I'll generally assume that you know how to speak words and imagine scents that are pleasing to Sprites, and I might give you one Boggle and seven Sprites but I won't give you eight Blink Dogs.

However, I consider Pixies to be CR 2 so you only get one from a 4th level Conjure Woodland Beings. (But this also means you get more XP if you fight against a team with Pixies on it.) There's just no way those things are CR 1/4 as written! A dozen grimlocks and nine grimlocks plus three Pixies do NOT have the same threat level.

That's my position, but as I said in the OP, if you have house rules or whatever feel free to use them, just report them in your results if they are important to the outcome.

How narrow the passages leading to the "start of the fight" room are is a major factor, IMO (as it allows more or less the PCs to dictates the terms of the engagement), but the prep time, the fact they start with all their ressources and can spend them all are even bigger factors as to why the scale is in the PCs' favor.

Not to mention the mostly straightforward tactics most of the opponents rely on.

If this was an ambush in a tunnel with only two ways out, it'd be incredibly more dangerous for the PCs

I agree, but ambushes are also kind of contrived, and they fall apart if the party makes an effort at recon.

RE: resources, by the time you get to the Deadly x4 fight you probably don't have all your resources any more.

IME players who know what they're doing can handle multiple Deadly x3 or x4 encounters in a row without dying, and even casual players who just do what comes naturally (e.g. don't recon ahead as described above) have pretty good odds of winning a Deadly x3-4 encounter just through sheer die luck. It's not until Deadly x5-6 that the odds start to be tilted against the PCs, to the point where they are more likely than not to lose, using straightforward casual tactics like attack-attack-attack and Fireball. As you say, this is intended to be a relatively straightforward encounter with beefy glass cannons, not a super-complex uberfight.

Spoiler: More on ambushes

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I hate it when you scout ahead and the DM just makes bad things happen to you by fiat anyway, even if you've already checked things out (or the converse: makes bad things happen to the scout no matter how stealthy they are). I don't run my games that way and in this scenario for the sake of a common starting point I'm willing to grant all the PCs a similar presumption of competence: whether it's by Rogue or by invisible familiar or by druid wildshaped into spider or by Arcane Eye, when this scenario starts you already know what you're facing.

The alternative would have been to start you off below the cliffs with patrolling Scarecrow Bugs walking up and down the corridor and stuff, but in this case let's just assume that the cliff is outside their "territory" per se. Gotta start somewhere.

This scenario is kind of an ambush in a way, for players who allow themselves to be ambushed--you can see some of the posters definitely do set themselves up to be surrounded by monsters when the fight starts, instead of having one character/creature on point and the others hanging behind or invisibly lurking in the shadows. That's a choice and a playstyle and I respect that and look forward to seeing the results.

Spoiler: Turtling

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I'm curious to see how the turtle strategies (e.g. Dork_Forge) turn out when all the dice are rolled. I think the major risk there (besides losing concentration on Darkness) is that the turtling is slow-ish to inflict damage and may not kill all of part #1 before Grandpa Ghost activates, and not only does he have personal capabilities that can damage creatures in Darkness, he is also smart enough to pull everybody back behind total cover (the intersecting corridors) instead of letting them do their instinctive charge over Spike Growth. When your objective is to reach the map room and you KNOW there are half a dozen beefy monsters waiting around the corner for your spells to run out (and maybe doing other things while they wait), IME tension goes way up. So, I'm curious among other things to see how fast those turtle strategies wind up killing the bad guys.

It's very interesting to see the wide variety of approaches to both builds and tactics.

[Gtdead]

Sure, why not? Let's say if you can keep concentration on Banishment for the full minute, their minds won't come back. The flesh will come back but it's no longer dangerous at that point, won't do anything but quiver and gradually disintegrate back into the original organic raw materials.

What did you use for the material component?

I look forward to the writeup.

I used a candle. Underdark creatures and all.

[MaxWilson]

I used a candle. Underdark creatures and all.

Nice, I like it.

What happened, generally speaking? Was it like, "Won initiative, Cleric Banished both Manglers, then wizard Fireballed the grues, and Fighter mostly killed the Hulk. All bad guys dead or gone by round two, then held Banishment until it was all gone, then hid and waited for Ghost et al. to exit the map room and banished Ghost and Mangler before they could do anything (thanks to Pass Without Trace and unlucky Charisma saves), repeated Fireball + Hulk kill"? That's what I'm imagining right now based on your description.

[Gtdead]

I edited my first post.

[Dork_Forge]

Spoiler: Turtling

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I'm curious to see how the turtle strategies (e.g. Dork_Forge) turn out when all the dice are rolled. I think the major risk there (besides losing concentration on Darkness) is that the turtling is slow-ish to inflict damage and may not kill all of part #1 before Grandpa Ghost activates, and not only does he have personal capabilities that can damage creatures in Darkness, he is also smart enough to pull everybody back behind total cover (the intersecting corridors) instead of letting them do their instinctive charge over Spike Growth. When your objective is to reach the map room and you KNOW there are half a dozen beefy monsters waiting around the corner for your spells to run out (and maybe doing other things while they wait), IME tension goes way up. So, I'm curious among other things to see how fast those turtle strategies wind up killing the bad guys.

I'm getting things set up with the intention of rolling out in a little bit so not long to wait, just a note though:

Spoiler: More on turtling

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When I first came up with the strategy I stopped considering this as two separate encounters and accepted that it'd be all at once. That may end up being pretty unwieldly, but the natural bottle neck and easy access to control (Spike Growth and Repelling are so, so cheap) feels like it will go a long way to neutralise the numerical advantage. Then the party I've constructed as a whole is pretty meaty and has deep pockets as far as healing and damage mitigation are concerned. Should they fall back behind cover the Wildfire spirit can be deployed (potentially alongside another summon) to re-engage whilst the party aoe and/or potentially advance the 'shell' deeper into the dungeon. I'm toying with the idea of the Paladin having a Mastiff (from FS) to act as fodder in the case of them holding off, would you say that it would be reasonable to carry a Mastiff up the cliff?

[MaxWilson]

I'm getting things set up with the intention of rolling out in a little bit so not long to wait, just a note though:

Spoiler: More on turtling

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When I first came up with the strategy I stopped considering this as two separate encounters and accepted that it'd be all at once. That may end up being pretty unwieldly, but the natural bottle neck and easy access to control (Spike Growth and Repelling are so, so cheap) feels like it will go a long way to neutralise the numerical advantage. Then the party I've constructed as a whole is pretty meaty and has deep pockets as far as healing and damage mitigation are concerned. Should they fall back behind cover the Wildfire spirit can be deployed (potentially alongside another summon) to re-engage whilst the party aoe and/or potentially advance the 'shell' deeper into the dungeon. I'm toying with the idea of the Paladin having a Mastiff (from FS) to act as fodder in the case of them holding off, would you say that it would be reasonable to carry a Mastiff up the cliff?

[thinks] I don't know. 500' is a long way to carry a dog on your back. For the sake of argument let's just say that if your Str is under 18, you should spend the spell slot re-summoning the Mastiff at the top. If the paladin has Str 18+ though he could carry the dog without problems, not need to re-cast at the top. Does that sound reasonable as a snap judgment?

[Dork_Forge]

[thinks] I don't know. 500' is a long way to carry a dog on your back. For the sake of argument let's just say that if your Str is under 18, you should spend the spell slot re-summoning the Mastiff at the top. If the paladin has Str 18+ though he could carry the dog without problems, not need to re-cast at the top. Does that sound reasonable as a snap judgment?

Oh entirely, you also made me reread the spell, I was remembering it as a longer duration cast (Paladins in my games tend to only cast it on long rests), 10 minutes is no biggie if we are triggering the start of the encounter ourselves.

[Gtdead]

So after running it quite a few times by now, the most important thing that I took out of the whole experience is that metagame knowledge can triviliaze even extremely hard encounters.

I can safely say that without metagame knowledge about these monsters, which would be the case if this was an actual game of DnD, this fight would be waaaaaaay harder. Immunty+ to psychic is very dangerous. The reason I picked AT in the first place was Shadow Blade. I don't even want to know what would happen if I didn't know about psychic mirror. A shadowbladed rogue deals around 30 dpr on average which would take 1/3 of my cleric's and fighter's health. Such a mistake, along with the grandpa joining and doing any aoe, could potentially cause a TPK.

The encounter reinforced my view that optimizing for winning attrition battles is the best way to build in this game. I also remembered why I like Cleric so much in this edition.

I've updated my first post for clarity and posted a small summary of the third resolution. I will give it one more go tomorrow when I have some free time but I will do something different:

I will set a standard initiative order for everyone. No more rolls. It will be Dex+Feats for everyone
I will autofail every concentration check if the damage taken on a single hit is higher than 20, the WIS check of the primary target of Collapse Distance and all the saves for half.
I will also add magic weapon to the rogues loadout. Up till now I never really had a good reason to do it, but after running this encounter I think that Shadow Blade isn't the one true answer to every resistant enemy.

[MaxWilson]

Okay, I ran my battle and it took a lot longer in clock time than I thought (over an hour and a half) even though it didn't feel that long, which is always a sign of a fun battle IMO. My results first:

My party spent 20 spell points on up-front preparations (summoning). During the battles another 14 spell points were expended for Erupting Earth V x2, and 74 total HP were lost, mostly on summoned elementals. Surprisingly, the only casualty this time was a conjured sprite.

Spoiler: My build/tactics[/spoiler

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I wanted to try something I've always wanted to do, a newbie-friendly strategy that's almost as straightforward as an all-Barb party: an all-Moon Druid party. But I also like monks, so instead of pure Moon Druids I made it three goblin Moon Druids (Gaz, Kal, and Teft) and a human Elemental Monk (Shallan).

In actual games I roll stats but for this I did standard array for the goblins just for fun, point buy for the monk.

Three Goblin Moon Druids: Gaz, Kal, and Teft
Str 8 Dex 16 (14) Con 17 (15) Int 12 Wis 13 Cha 10, AC 16, HP 83, Skulker feat, Resilient (Con).

One vhuman Elemental Monk: Shallan
Str 8 Dex 20 (15) Con 14 Int 10 Wis 16 (15) Cha 8, AC 18 (+4), HP 73, Defensive Duelist feat, ASI: Dex 18, Dex 20. Unarmored, carries a staff and torch.

Spoiler: House rules

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Custom initiative, "everybody declares [in order of Int, lowest first] and then everybody acts," in order to encourage cooperative tactics and reduce artifacts of initiative order. E.g. a Scarecrow-bug can declare an intent to wait until a Scorpion-Troll completes its stun attempt and then mangle the victim if they got stunned, instead of being out of luck if the Scarecrow-bug goes first. In this fight I don't think it made a difference to the outcome but it does make it feel more realistic and easier to run, since instead of making sure everybody acts in a specific order on each turn I just need to make sure everybody got a reasonable action.

Also I use DMG spell points, and grant an extra +1 on ability checks (only) if you have an odd ability score. The latter turned out to be crucial-ish on turn 1 of the first battle because it let the Dex 17 Fire Elemental JUST BARELY beat the Dex 18 Scarecrow-bug's initiative (18 + 4 vs. 17 + 4) on Flurry of Claws, which was the difference between taking only 21 HP of slashing damage and presumably taking a whole lot more psychic damage. Actually now that I think of it, PHB rules let players break ties, so I guess that one would have gone to the elemental anyway, except that I hate that rule--I resolve initiative ties with a tie-breaking roll. Oh, and I don't let unseen attackers have advantage on ranged attacks, only melee, but that probably wasn't important to the outcome--might have turned a few futile Produce Flames into small amounts of damage but that's it.

One more minor House Rule: for creatures like Air Elementals who do extra damage when flinging creatures into a wall, instead of doing the MM's way ("flung 20 feet, if you hit a wall you take d6 damage per 10 feet you were flung") I do it the opposite way: take damage for distance you didn't move. If you hit a wall immediately after travelling 0 feet, that's 20 feet of damage, 2d6. If you travel 19' first and then hit a wall, negligible damage since almost all the energy is spent. I don't think this rule made a difference in this fight, it would have been 1d6 damage either way.

Overall I think this would have played out pretty much the same under PHB RAW, although it would have been more mental effort to run. Also, Erupting Earth would definitely not have been upcast to level 5 under PHB rules--it would have been left at level 3--but as it turned out that wouldn't have changed the results.

Spoiler: Events and what happened

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In order to keep things simple and newbieish, the intention was to use a Fire Elemental summoned by Gaz as point, an Earth Elemental summoned by Kal as vanguard right behind, and have Kal and Gaz in air elemental form right behind them, blocking the tunnel, with Shal and Teft (not wildshaped) right behind them, to keep them safe until the Scarecrow-bugs could be neutralized because those things can inflict 160+ HP in a single round if you're not careful. Teft summoned 8 Sprites with the intention of using them to poison enemies and give them disadvantage, and because I thought that flying missile-equipped wouldn't detract too much from the "four elemental tanks" feel that I was going for.

Fight 1, round 1: both the fire and earth elementals rolled high on initiative and dealt significant damage to the bug charging the fire elemental before it retreated into a corner, having inflicted "only" 21 HP on the fire elemental. The Scorpion Troll emerged and swept its meaty hands through the air trying to kill 4 sprites and the earth elemental, but miraculously hit only a single sprite, killing it. Teft tossed an Erupting Earth V onto the Scorpion Troll, four Inbred Cannibals, and our own Earth Elemental in hopes of killing the Cannibals, who at the time were mobbing the Earth Elemental and Fire Elemental as the most visible targets (since everyone else was hidden including Shallan). He killed two Inbreds and damaged the others, which those inbreds and two others were mostly bouncing off the elementals' armored hides, doing minimal damage to the earth elemental and none at all as it happened to the fire elemental. At this point, a Bug who had previously been waiting for an opportunity (delaying) in the fungoid room to the south dashed out the door, intending to strafe Teft (a spellcaster!) with Flurry of Claws. Unfortunately it ran right into a hidden air elemental (Kal) between it and Teft, and spent its Flurry of Claws on the air elemental doing minimal damage (8 HP total), then hid again in the shadows and retreated a short distance into the darkness. Kal made his concentration save and kept control of the Earth Elemental. Then Kal and Gaz, who had also been delayed, made their own strafing runs: Gaz hit the first, wounded Bug for some more damage, and Kal moved into the space of three Inbreds who had survived Erupting Earth and killed all three of them with a whirlwind, flinging them all into walls. Shallan shot the Bug, hitting with one arrow for 10 points of damage.

The sprites, following orders, split their fire amongst the hulk and the manglers (when they appeared), doing minimal damage and unfortunately poisoning no one.

Fight 1, round 2: at the beginning of this round, the wounded bug which was heavily damaged and set on fire on round 1 died from fire. One Bug and the Troll were still alive. The Bug delayed, looking for an opportunity to Flurry. Shallan put down her bow and went to stun the Mangler, seeking to quiet it before the Ghost in the map room could hear the chaos outside, but she could not find it in the darkness (Search action failed to beat Mangler's Stealth-22 from last round). Kal and Gaz as air elementals used their Primal Strike to hammer through the Troll's damage resistance, and the fire elemental engulfed and burned it too, setting it on fire. Teft chucked Produce Flame at the Troll and missed. The again split their fire but failed to poison any enemies.

The Earth Elemental pursued the hidden Bug(located via Tremorsense) and attacked it, and the Bug retaliated by striking it with its claws (3 slashing damage) and hiding again in the darkness. [Rules error on my part: I probably should have allowed the Earth Elemental an opportunity attack here even though the Bug was hidden, due to Tremorsense. But maybe I was right not to--Tremorsense isn't quite the same as sight.]

Fight 1, round 3: PCs barely managed to finish off both wounded monsters before they managed to act (partly because the Bug was delaying until the Troll had acted, in hopes of getting a juicy Stunned target to Flurry on).

This gave the PCs time to set up an ambush for the Grandpa Ghost when it came patrolling. Everybody hid as best as they could in the shadows (I gave everyone mutual Help: advantage on Stealth rolls), which combined with disadvantage on vision rolls from darkness was enough to let about half the party including the Sprites beat the Ghost's passive Perception of 19. When it popped out of the wall, all it saw was a poorly-hidden goblin (Teft, with an unlucky Stealth roll), a Fire Elemental, and an Earth Elemental trying to conceal itself.

Fight 2, round 1: Instead of Dodging (which automatically wins initiative) while trying to retreat back into the wall, the Ghost instead attempted to blast Teft with its Psychic Orb and duck back into the wall, while commanding its minions to Dash towards the fight. Unfortunately for the Ghost, despite its excellent initiative roll of 22, Shallan rolled a superb initiative of 25 and managed to stun it, which also (since the Inbred Cannibals had not yet arrived) let everyone else hammer it at advantage for a full round. At the end of this round the Ghost had taken 103 HP of damage and was both stunned and on fire.

The rest of Fight 2 isn't interesting enough to relate. The Ghost remained stunned, and was dead by the end of round 2, while the Scarecrow-bug was denied a juicy advantaged target to mangle (because elementals are immune to the Inbreds' poison and the Troll didn't manage to stun anyone, although it did find a way to move into position to use Reaping Arms on Shallan and both the earth and fire elementals--but it missed Shallan, and the Earth Elemental was not knocked prone, and fire elementals cannot be knocked prone).

At the end of the fight, Kal's air elemental form was down 8 HP, the fire elemental was down 26 HP, the earth elemental was down 38 HP, Teft was down an additional 14 spell points (20 total), and Shallan was down 5 ki. Kal and Gaz had both spent 7 spell points before the fight.

Lessons learned:

Some of the tactics I expected to be effective were not--the Sprites had almost no impact on the fight at all. On the other hand, the Fire and Earth Elementals were both about as effective as I expected (fire counters weapon resistance, earth tanks), and the fire elemental took far less damage than I feared due to never suffering an advantaged Flurry of Claws. I was pleasantly surprised that at least this time, the dreaded Scarecrow-bugs didn't manage to get advantage against a single target, which turns out to be partially due to the convenient fact that elementals are immune to Inbreds' poison. [Oops! major rules mistake on my part, it's not poison-based at all! As I now, ad hoc after the fact, retroactively grant a guesstimated one advantaged Flurry of Claws against the Earth Elemental and one against the Fire Elemental, that adds 65 more damage to the Earth Elemental and 53 to the Fire Elemental, although it would have inflicted 50 damage on the Bug as well because to my utter surprise the Fire Elemental rolled five 10s in a row, 5d10 = 50, on its retaliation damage]

So anyway, if not for the rules error I probably should have ended the fight with a heavily-damaged earth elemental and an almost-dead fire elemental, but all the PCs at full health.

Anyway, my other takeaway was that Goblin skulker air elementals underground are soooo much fun! I was expecting Earth form to be the most fun, but it turns out that when you fit through tiny spaces without squeezing, and you have 90' of movement and +9 to Stealth and Nimble Escape, you can strafe enemies pretty much anywhere in a tiny tunnel complex like this one (even if they are mostly surrounded already by others) and still be back in position at the end of your turn to block a chokepoint protecting the squishies--or hidden somewhere else in the darkness ready to strafe from a different direction next turn. And since being hidden = unseen and unheard, and unseen = disadvantage to attackers, attackers have disadvantage too. The other surprising thing which I hadn't really experienced before was finding that against tightly-packed enemies like Inbred Cannibals, Whirlwind is actually a great ability, at least in Theater of the Mind. Whirlwind wound up being more effective than Erupting Earth! Instead of having Teft stay in caster form and spam Erupting Earth, I'd actually have been better off just having him shift to Air Elemental form too and spam Whirlwind for AoE. Obviously this works better against a mob of hungry cannibals than it does a disciplined group of hobgoblins in skirmish formation or something, but since I knew in advance that it was going to be hungry cannibals in melee, I should have anticipated this.

Note to self: an AoE for 3d8+1d6ish+2 (19) targeting a DC 13 Strength save is worth using if you've got it! Especially against weaklings with Str 6.