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| #1volcanon2Mar 02, 2009 1:43:46 | So the PCs are in the upper ring of hell and have to wait for the insane wizard to open them a portal outta there. While they are waiting for the wizard, they get attacked in waves by various damned souls and swarms of demons (they managed to anger Orcus in a bit of a mishap, so there's good reason for them to care more than just the usual "lets kill them"). Party level 5, and its a bit homebrewed, as this area of hell is just a really hot wasteland full of mimics and things that want to kill you. (and slavedriving demons and extremely greedy merchants). So with that in mind, I want it to be a fairly "epic" battle with something like 4-5 waves with no rest in between. They don't need to be able to kill all of the monsters, just survive until the portal opens. They are on a cliff, with a sheer drop on one side and a gradual slope down the other side, basically they are "king of the hill". 1) How many rounds should I have until the portal opens? 20? 2) Assuming the waves gradually increase in strength, what might be a good starting wave and a good "second last wave"? The final one will be unbeatably ridiculous mostly just to scare them into actually running away. |
| #2mostly_ghostlyMar 02, 2009 2:12:29 | I don't really have much to say on your specific questions, but here are some suggestions: Usually periods of rest (even if they're short) actually highten the tension and anticipation, and if you let them build defenses it'll give them a chance to do something other than fight for a little bit. Also, I find defense encounters (whether in RPGs or computer games) the most fun when you can use tactics to thin out the enemy's numbers. Make sure that you give players the opportunity to prepare for the assault, because that means they can utilize terrain, draw the monsters into choke points, etc. |
| #3Keiichi_mMar 02, 2009 5:48:08 | I don't really have much to say on your specific questions, but here are some suggestions: I agree with a lot of this, I say slam them with two maybe three encounters in a row and then give them a five minute rest while they think "Are we done? did we make it" and sit nervously, heal, reprepair wondering if they've earned their sanctuary then hit them with the fourth encounter which is kind of a prelude to the swarm that's coming where it looks like it might just be a really hard fight that they can win and then just as they get the upper hand and have four all but dealt with five comes over the hill. Before the battle let them set up a defensive position, one of the reasons that the party is always ambushed or walking into traps is because they're the attacking force and the defending force is waiting for them, now it's their turn to set up any traps (If they have something on hand that's quick.) create fortifications, prepare ambushes and pray. I say have the portal take seven-eight minutes to open (20 rounds combat plus a five to six minute rest) and the first couple waves should be really week, I don't know the level off hand but the first encounter should be Very Easy/Easy by the definition of the encounter builder and then the third one should be the high side of easy or the very low side of a medium encounter. like don't throw anything hard at them, it's more of an endurance fight they're going to start running out of healing and encounter/daily powers by the middle of round three. round four can be a hard encounter, since they're really not supposed to finish it anyway, just hold it for another 5-6 turns. I suggest something like solders, maybe one brute. not too much damage, just high AC and hitpoints, you don't want to kill them just draw that last battle on a couple of turns. |