Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 gwoutrider Jul 13, 2011 12:54:58	After 2 years, we are just about to finish Paragon and begin Epic. While the game has been a lot of fun, life happened and we have had several characters and players depart. A few months ago, I had a cool idea to tweak the Tiamat encounter (which our optimized party could easily handle it in a few levels, much less 30th). Whenever a character dies and won't be returning, I am having Tiamat collect their souls. Raise Dead and Speak with Dead now fail for them. I have also interspersed some RP sessions where the party's fortressed was attacked (one character was carted off by devils) or contacted by old comrades in need of help. They of course ignored then Where this will come back, is that I picked 5 of the best and most influential past characters and deemed them Champions of Tiamat. First, I leveled them to 30 with inherent bonuses. I then dropped their items and picked flavor based powers only. Finally, Then I gave each a weapon of the appropriate element. My plan is to have the Tiamat encounter start with the battle scene pools where old comrades emerge ready to fight. I will probably have a few past players sit in for the night to help out. My only concern is balance. Tiamat + 5 very toned down Epic characters vs 6 fully optimized Epic characters could be iffy for the party. I plan to playtest once or twice once the party hits 26th level.
#2 nyteskie Jul 14, 2011 12:50:35	Sounds like fun! Personally, I would NOT worry about iffy. This is the last fight of the entire campaign. There should be at least a 50-50 chance that one or more PCs don't make it. If you are really concerned after a play test, try: 1) Two-stage fight - Have the PCs fight their former companions while Tiamat watches, gloating. Once their former companions are defeated, Tiamat attacks. It will deplete their resources and help balance the Tiamat fight. Don't forget to give Tiamat some kind of impenetrable barrier so she isn't caught up too early. 2) Alternate victory - include a side skill challenge in the combat, that would allow your PCs to 'redeem' their former comrades and free their souls from Tiamat; failure results in their souls being sucked with Tiamat's into oblivion. They would have the opportunity to succeed and take their former companions out of the fight well before they otherwise would have been able to defeat them by force of arms alone. 3) Tiamat turns into your former PCs - When she gets bloodied, have Tiamat turn into the party of five spirit beings. You'd probably want to give them some of Tiamat's former abilities, and possibly her aura, so they know that they are some kind of mix of the two.  4) Combination - some combination of the above, i.e. Tiamat turns into the former PCs, and your players can/must engage in a skill challenge to redeem their souls and defeat Tiamat. Best of luck!