Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SiCK_Boy 03-30-07, 10:16 AM	I'd like to get suggestions for strategies to defeat an Umber Hulk. I'll give out a round up of our group of characters, with the powers and abilities we have. Also, I don't want to get the exact statistics for the Umber Hulk. I do have a Monster Manual and could check it out, but I'd rather not. Again, I'll describe a previous encounter we had with one, and the kind of powers it displayed. However, if you know of a special power of this beast and can suggest strategies around it, do it without mentioning the power itself in very specific details. My goal is to get suggestions, not a precise stat block and monster description of the creature. So, first fo all, our group. It's the same group from my post on the sickness-afflicted village. There are 6 characters, but one of them (a level 5 fighter focusing on power-attack and cleave) probably won't be there during our next session. So, the other 5 are: A level 6 Paladin. Has a + 2 longsword that can also deal electricity damage. He's focusing heavily on power attack, and has about 60 HP, and AC 20 or 22. A level 6 monk. His combat strategies are centered on fast movement, spring attack, etc... A level 6 cleric of Pelor (Sun and Healing domain), not much strength but a + 2 heavy mace dealing additional damage to lawful creatures. A level 6 sorceress, with access to lightning bolt, magic missile and a ray of fire (level 2 fire spell, needs a range touch attack to hit) as its main attack spells. Can use invisibility for support. A level 6 wizardess, with access to the same spells as above, except she has fireball instead of lightning bolt. She also has Mass Invisibility (not sure about the name, but it makes everyone holding hands with her invisible), and fly. We don't have any other special magic objects usable in the encounter. Here's a description of the location where the encounter should take place: It's the last cavern leading out of a mining underground complex. We came there first from the mine and got out, but now we'll be entering from the outside. The cave entrance is on the flank of a mountain, about half a day's distance from the nearest village. There's a small flat spot before the cavern entrance, not much vegetation in there. Inside, the cavern is huge (maybe 100 by 100 feet, if not more), with huge stalactites and stalagmites occupying the whole place. It makes for bad visibility. There's also at least 1 spot with quicksand (a hole in the ground with the quicksand in the bottom). The whole cavern is lightless, and there's a corridor leading further into the mining complex. During our first passage here, the monk fell into the quicksand, and just while we were reacting to that, an Umber Hulk showed up an attacked us by surprise. We survived because the Paladin got two 20 in a row for his attack, making for an auto-kill (we use that optional rule), otherwise, we would have been slaughtered. Apparently, the creature was hiding somewhere around the stone pillars in the room, and we chose to walk along the wall to be sure we wouldn't lose ourselves. After the first encounter, we retreated inside the mining complex without fully exploring the cavern, and passed through it again the next day. On that second day, we were making fast progress and had spotted the exit to the mountainside when another Umber Hulk surprised us. We made a quick dash for the outside, and it didn't follow us. A few weeks later, the monk went back and tried to lure the Hulk outside its cavern, but it didn't work during daylight. So, that's it for the setup. Now, what do we know of the ennemy? There's an unknown number of Umber Hulks living in that cavern. We hope we'll face only one. The creature has about 100 HP, 3 attacks and can deal about 30 damage per round (enough to kill our fighters in 2 rounds). It should also have some good saves (between +7 and +10), thus making any spell a 50-50 guess at best. The creature moves fast, and is big (large size to be more precise). As well as having its deadly physical attacks, it can confuse us with its look (a la basilisk, but producing confusion instead of petrification), thus making it possible that our own characters will turn upon each other. Finally, from what we've seen, its afraid of daylight, doesn't leave the cavern itself and can detect us via the vibrations we make on the ground (no need of light to see us). Also, I tried using Summon Monster III to call an Hippogrif last time, and it dealt no damage, as well as dying in 1 round of attacks. However, the creature seemed somewhat confused when we turned invisible (I know, it's in contradiction with our info about the vibrations... we don't know the exact truth here). Finaly, if you wonder why we're so zealous in dealing with that creature, it's so we can finish exploring the mining complex and get back a crystal ball we found before but left in place because of some fungus on it. So, let's hear your battle plan suggestions for this fight.
Comus 03-30-07, 11:07 AM	What kind of resources do you have access to? How much gold do you have on hand, all together? Are you close enough to civilization to go back and get supplies (of the alchemical/magical type)? What kind of mundane items do you have? Do any NPCs owe you favors? Are there any humanoid tribes in the area that aren't hostile towards you? I've got a few ideas, but I need to know what I have to work with, first.
Praedoran 03-30-07, 11:41 AM	Protection from Chaos stops Enchantment (Compulsion) effects, confusion falls under this category. Paladin: Job: Tank. I recommend he take full cover behind a Tower Shield and carry a spare for when the first one is broken. After that, Full Defense, sword and shield combo, and everyone should funnel the badguy towards him. All in all, he should be pushing AC 30 or greater and a 50% concealment chance for with buffs. Monk: Skirmisher: Keep mobile to avoid the Full Attack. Use the stalagmites as cover, and stalagmites can be used to cling to and shuriken from. Consider Status effects (Lasso, Whip, Tanglefoot bags, etc. The attack penalty shouldn't be more than the Natural Armor you're negating) Cleric: Healer and Battlefield Aid: Stone Shape is an awesome spell for your terrain. Use low level summons for fodder. Buffs everyone with Protection from Chaos. Wizard: Buffer and Blaster: Spiderclimb the Monk, Displacement the Paladin, Fly on the Sorc, and Scorching Ray/Lesser Orb of Fire it down. Sorcy: Primary Blaster: Just keep up the Ranged Touch attacks. Flight should keep him at a safe distance with enough maneuverability to get in his shots. If things start to go bad, the Paladin can be buffed with Invisibility, then Power Attack the creature.
SiCK_Boy 03-30-07, 11:46 AM	What kind of resources do you have access to? Nothing special except what was already mentioned. We have a few more minor magic items: a ring of feather fall, a ring of water walk (not sure of the exact name), a bag of holding (smaller one) and I think some bracers of arrow catching. The wizardess and the clerics can create some scrolls for added magic power. Also, the cleric has a cloak of resistance + 2 and a green dragon scale armor that gives acid resistance 10. How much gold do you have on hand, all together? Not much. I'd say altogether, maybe about 10 000 gp, but we don't usually pool money except for some spells components for identify, or that kind of stuff. Otherwise, each character gets his share and does whatever he wants with it. Our total money is not distributed equally amongst the characters right now, since each one has his expenses priorities. The cleric is about broke since he made his cloak of resistance. He has access to the craft wand, craft wondrous item and scribe scroll feat. The wizardess has only scribe scroll. The sorceress doesn't have any magic item creation feats. Are you close enough to civilization to go back and get supplies (of the alchemical/magical type)? We are in a small village, about 250 to 400 people. Generally, the DM doesn't give us access to specialized items in the village, only basic stuff. He limited the value of magic items that could be made to 7 000 gp from the basic laboratory in the village's church. However, if we're willing to wait a week or two, we can pretty much order anything we want (for exemple, we wanted long rolls of scroll to scribe multiple spells on a single one... we had to pay in advance and wait 10 days for it to arrive, otherwise we only had scrolls for 1 spell each). As I said, the distance between the mountain and the village is half a day's walk, a day at most. The land between them is mostly a forested area. We don't expect any encounters during travel, so we can assume that the group can come and go easily between the village and the mountain. What kind of mundane items do you have? Only basic stuff. We have a few particular items, including: a pair of masterwork manacles, a few holy water and everburning torches, a small net, some polished steel mirors, and that's about it. We don't have any huge supplies of alchemical items, and probably can't get any easily from town. Do any NPCs owe you favors? We are very well regarded in town since we saved them from orcs poisonning the village well. The mayor (or chief, or whatever) gives us access to just about anything in town (free meals, free lodging, etc...). The church has magical research and laboratory facilities we can use, and there's a few libraries (mostly local history). However, there are only 2 fighters in town, and they are on guard duty. No real fighter or other character class NPCs inhabit the village. We could get help to haul stuff to the mountain from some villagers, but not much more. Are there any humanoid tribes in the area that aren't hostile towards you? None that we know of, and we're not enclined to search the area. There might be hostile orcs, a tribe of fire giants (we spotted one before) and also a minotaur (rumors, no proof) in the mountains.
SiCK_Boy 03-30-07, 11:49 AM	Thanks Praedoran. I'll check out some of the strategies you outlined, and try to figure out if I can use stone shape in an useful way. By the way, one of the spells the wizardess had that I forgot to mention is slow, which we though about using, but we weren't sure it would work effectively (I guess it all hangs on the saving throw).
Comus 03-30-07, 12:09 PM	Note to self: You have been playing rogues too long. While Praedoran was coming up with a battle strategy using the skills the characters have on hand, you were working out the best way to get the Umber Hulk to eat a mule loaded down with alchemist's fire. Alright. Plan time! Step one, buy everyone (except the paladin) a light crossbow. Step two, buy a dozen doses of Drow poison. Step three, coat a dozen crossbow bolts with Drow poison. Step four, Paladin goes first, draws the Umber Hulk into the open, gets out of the way. Step five, everyone shoots the Umber Hulk. Hopefully it fails a save. Also, it's hopefully not immune to poison. Step six, repeat step five twice. Step seven, hopefully Umber Hulk is knocked out. If not, run away for a minute and let it make those secondary saves. If it makes all those, keep running. Actually, wait... Step 3.5 - Everyone buffs up. Pro Chaos, True Strike, anything else that might help. If the wizard has Unluck, she should toss that down at the Umber Hulk. It's kind of a roguey solution, I know. I'll come up with something better later, I'm sure. If only you were willing to collapse the mine...
High Octane 03-30-07, 12:35 PM	Dig a hole, put pointy things in the bottom, cover it with leaves, and have a large boulder teetering near the edge of said pit. I think you can see where this is going. You hide in the pit and pop out and surprise him! What could possibly go wrong?
Stormbrand 03-30-07, 12:39 PM	Simply put, work range. Umber Hulks are big bruisers which shred anything close to them. Moral of the story, don't get close to them. Not knowing the range of confusion gaze is a problem. Work on buffs, mainly blocking the main dangers - confusion gaze and ripping apart. Protection vs Evil helps slightly against both. Anything boosting AC and Will Saves is a must. Check for any spells that could break the confusion once it happens, and arm both Cleric and Wizard with them. Go through, constantly detecting evil with the paladin. Have him summon his mount - if the umber hulk fits so will the warhorse. No need to ride it, but the horse is an extra combatant. Once we have found the Umber Hulk, keep apart and spread out. Monk and Paladin use 5-foot steps to flank without provoking attacks of opportunity, and to allow a clear space to blast lightning bolts. Have the wizard spread as many fly spells around as possible - the thing uses tremorsense, which does not pick up flying creatures. A fun trap to set would be to keep the monk on foot (most maneuverable anyway), special mount on ground, and spellcasters in air. The umber hulk will sense fewer than are there. Simply nuke it from above. Heap all heaviest damage spells on the damn thing as soon as possible. Lightning bolt, Scorching Ray and Searing Light should all be frying the monster on round 1.
On_the_wings_of_TPK 03-30-07, 01:03 PM	with a stick. While it is sleeping.
SiCK_Boy 03-30-07, 01:28 PM	Flying magic users seems to come back often, so we'll most probably use it. As for digging a pit or any such traps, it's pretty much impossible. We aren't able to enter the cavern for a long time before it attacks us, and it's not coming outside (at least, it didn't the last 2 times, so I presume it'll keep the same behavior patern). I really doubt the DM will let us have Drow Poison, but I'll check out what we can get. If I understand correctly, it's some kind of sleep inducing poison? And I'll have to remind the paladin to call his mount. He almost never uses it, and it would effectivly make for a very useful extra combattant (at least much more than a summoned hippogrif).
Stormbrand 03-30-07, 01:30 PM	Flying magic users seems to come back often, so we'll most probably use it. As for digging a pit or any such traps, it's pretty much impossible. We aren't able to enter the cavern for a long time before it attacks us, and it's not coming outside (at least, it didn't the last 2 times, so I presume it'll keep the same behavior patern). I really doubt the DM will let us have Drow Poison, but I'll check out what we can get. If I understand correctly, it's some kind of sleep inducing poison? And I'll have to remind the paladin to call his mount. He almost never uses it, and it would effectivly make for a very useful extra combattant (at least much more than a summoned hippogrif). The pit was a joke I am sure. Espescially since this damn thing can tunnel.