DDEX1-6: The scroll thief - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Nevvur Mar 17, 2015 19:48:19	Was just running a solo play of the combats in this module in preparation for running it this Thursday for a live group. Using a party of five Level 3 characters, so "strong party." Question about adjusting the difficulty for the Archives... (spoiler) Show Archives encounter suggests changing Shadows to Spectres for this group composition. Though my test group defeated them, the Spectres outright killed one party member, and left others with reduced max HP. The dragon fight at the end is especially perilous, then, nevermind the carrion crawlers between those two encounters. I will note that the Spectres landed two critical hits with very high damage rolls, and characters failed their con saves. Could just be the dice were against the party for my test, but I wanted to hear if anyone else ran a strong (or very strong) party through this module, and the results. My initial thought is to convert only one Shadow to a Spectre, assuming I have a strong party for the live play, or simply increase the number of Shadows to five.
#2 ZHDarkstar Mar 17, 2015 20:58:50	Show I had a party run through it on Very Strong a couple of weeks ago. If you don't have a magical weapon, spells against undead, or a paladin, it can be quite the headache of a fight against the spectres, carrion crawlers, and dragon. If your party needs to long rest instead of short rest after one of those hard fights in the archives, don't be afraid to oversell Ellis' plight throughout his escape plan. You're empowered to adjust the story within reason.
#3 Nevvur Mar 17, 2015 22:09:23	Went back and ran the encounter in question a couple more times. I think it was really just a case of the dice hating the party on my first test run. Thanks for the reminder, ZHD. I run these modules pretty close to the text, but I'll have some ideas prepped to adjust as needed.
#4 Tyranthraxus Mar 17, 2015 22:49:54	You are lucky. I ran this on strong and I couldnt hit a THING. Not once. And the party was full of martial types doing half damage. I was sad.
#5 ZHDarkstar Mar 17, 2015 23:24:23	Spectres are the corner case where Shilellagh/Polearm Master goes from Overly Provolone to the Gouda you can't survive without.
#6 Coredump00 Mar 18, 2015 21:54:24	Yeah, Spectres are a lot harder than shadows. Luckily we turned all three spectres, and just left before they came back.
#7 Avross Mar 20, 2015 5:29:24	Show So I finished this last night...and the party WALKED through the fights with the shadows and the dragon. The shadows scared them, since they immediately picked up on the fact that sapping their Strength to 0 would have killed them...and most of them had Strength as a dump stat. But there wasn't too much challenge for them. A large part of this was the ranger, who had the sharpshooter feat, the Hunter's Mark spell, and a magic bow. He brought the dragon down from 33 to 5 hp with two shots. I considered tripling his hit points so that he'd last a while. If you've got any characters who have figured out how to spike against single targets, these fights won't be as much of a challenge.
#8 Ainulindalion Mar 19, 2015 11:36:09	When I played the module with my cleric, the dragon was monologuing... and we attacked in the middle of the speech. The DM ruled we had surprise, I rolled first init, and then crit with a 2nd level guiding bolt for over 40 damage... The barbarian was next. Needless to say, the dragon didn't last long. So yeah, rolling well versus rolling poorly can really change the modules up.
#9 Coredump00 Mar 19, 2015 13:34:41	The Shadows weren't a problem, the spectres were the problem. ( I have played it twice) The dragon wasn't a problem either time

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

Nevvur

Mar 17, 2015 19:48:19

Was just running a solo play of the combats in this module in preparation for running it this Thursday for a live group. Using a party of five Level 3 characters, so "strong party." Question about adjusting the difficulty for the Archives... (spoiler)

Show

Archives encounter suggests changing Shadows to Spectres for this group composition. Though my test group defeated them, the Spectres outright killed one party member, and left others with reduced max HP. The dragon fight at the end is especially perilous, then, nevermind the carrion crawlers between those two encounters.

I will note that the Spectres landed two critical hits with very high damage rolls, and characters failed their con saves. Could just be the dice were against the party for my test, but I wanted to hear if anyone else ran a strong (or very strong) party through this module, and the results.

My initial thought is to convert only one Shadow to a Spectre, assuming I have a strong party for the live play, or simply increase the number of Shadows to five.

ZHDarkstar

Mar 17, 2015 20:58:50

Show

I had a party run through it on Very Strong a couple of weeks ago. If you don't have a magical weapon, spells against undead, or a paladin, it can be quite the headache of a fight against the spectres, carrion crawlers, and dragon. If your party needs to long rest instead of short rest after one of those hard fights in the archives, don't be afraid to oversell Ellis' plight throughout his escape plan. You're empowered to adjust the story within reason.

Nevvur

Mar 17, 2015 22:09:23

Went back and ran the encounter in question a couple more times. I think it was really just a case of the dice hating the party on my first test run.

Thanks for the reminder, ZHD. I run these modules pretty close to the text, but I'll have some ideas prepped to adjust as needed.

Tyranthraxus

Mar 17, 2015 22:49:54

You are lucky. I ran this on strong and I couldnt hit a THING. Not once. And the party was full of martial types doing half damage. I was sad.

ZHDarkstar

Mar 17, 2015 23:24:23

Spectres are the corner case where Shilellagh/Polearm Master goes from Overly Provolone to the Gouda you can't survive without.

Coredump00

Mar 18, 2015 21:54:24

Yeah, Spectres are a *lot* harder than shadows. Luckily we turned all three spectres, and just left before they came back.

Avross

Mar 20, 2015 5:29:24

Show

So I finished this last night...and the party WALKED through the fights with the shadows and the dragon. The shadows scared them, since they immediately picked up on the fact that sapping their Strength to 0 would have killed them...and most of them had Strength as a dump stat.

But there wasn't too much challenge for them. A large part of this was the ranger, who had the sharpshooter feat, the Hunter's Mark spell, and a magic bow. He brought the dragon down from 33 to 5 hp with two shots. I considered *tripling* his hit points so that he'd last a while. If you've got any characters who have figured out how to spike against single targets, these fights won't be as much of a challenge.

Ainulindalion

Mar 19, 2015 11:36:09

When I played the module with my cleric, the dragon was monologuing... and we attacked in the middle of the speech. The DM ruled we had surprise, I rolled first init, and then crit with a 2nd level guiding bolt for over 40 damage... The barbarian was next. Needless to say, the dragon didn't last long.

So yeah, rolling well versus rolling poorly can really change the modules up.

Coredump00

Mar 19, 2015 13:34:41

The Shadows weren't a problem, the *spectres* were the problem. ( I have played it twice)

The dragon wasn't a problem either time