Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Pobman Mar 15, 2009 11:07:46	Sorry for the lengthy post. My regular group have paused our current campaign to let me try my hand at DMing for a few sessions. The adventure I have "created" is to cover just the first level. I have taken encounters from Keep on the Shadowfell and Menace of The Icy Spire and a couple that I have created myself. However, for the final encounter I want to make it as fun and exciting as possible, so I wanted to see if anybody had any ideas to help me. The final encounter takes place atop a tower. I am painting this: http://www.ccgarmory.com/waarru.html to use as the centre piece of the roof. An evil (level 4) wizard is trying to bring about the Black Frost on the surrounding region, hoping to kill enough people that his god will bestow him eternal life. The opponents will be the wizard and his human underlings (although if anyone has any suggestions, I welcome them, apart from the wizard nothing is set in stone. As the fight takes place atop a tower, I thought about having the wind as part of the encounter. At the end of each round everybody (inc. monsters) makes an acrobatic check. Those that fail are moved one square in a certain direction (natural 1s result in the move and falling prone). I also contemplated having two pieces of floating rock (2X2) detached from the tower roof with a human archer on each. It would be possible for the players to jump onto the floating rock if they so wished (providing they pass a acrobatics/athletics check). At the moment, though, I just have a 16 by 16 grid with the arcane ruins in the centre, it doesn't seem dynamic enough for an end of adventure encounter. Does anyone have any suggestions for intereting terrain, monster ideas, etc. to make this fight dynamic and fun for my players? I start the adventure on Thursday and we play fortnightly, so I have a while. Thanks for taking the time to read this lengthy post.
#2 elf_kid Mar 15, 2009 22:12:21	Well, i´ve been DMing for a while, and i've seen it all for a last encounter adventure for level 1. From a floating witch around a broken towerbell, to a bunny rabbit, witch was bestoed with a curse and will instantly kill enyone that touches it. For starters, i recommend to you, try to keep it simple. Your wind idea is good though it will be dificult if you overlap several stuff togheter, and even more if you dont have the experience. Belive me it is not a simple task. Never the less, you could still keep ypur players going with some cool event, while it doesnt have to be complex. Heres how i would handle a encounter like yours (as a DM naturally): There's a evil Wizard, who is invoking, shalala shalala. No human minions, that takes away some of the fantasy, try goblins, orcs, zombies or hobgoblins. Instead of the floating rocks(Far too complicated for a level 1 encounter), try slowing floor mist that forces the PCs to move slower, or make a acrobatic check just to move or even a str one. Remember level 1 PCs are not strong enought, even at 4th ed, so dont be to hard from the begining. There is always the possibility of the wizard fleeing, if you see your PCs cant handel him, use some excuse like runniong out magic or divine intervention. This will keep a story-line possibility. These are some of my suggestions, i hope i helped you.:D
#3 gregt_314 Mar 15, 2009 22:39:38	Two comments: One, if players do go "over the edge" of the tower as a result of the wind, have them able to catch onto the side, and thereafter make DC 20 Athletics checks to pull themselves up (reduce difficulty to DC 10 if an ally is in an adjacent square to "help"). Being taken out of the battle until they make the check is punishment enough; being killed by the wind is a little too nasty. This approach is generally consistent with scenarios involving lethal drops presented in other published WoTC adventures. Two: Seeing as positioning is so key, have the players really struggling to even get to the wizard. When they get to the top, say "he's five rounds from completing his ritual", and he uses his minor action each round to come one round closer to completion. Players will really have to focus to get to him despite the wind and the henchmen. You might also give him +2 defences versus ranged attacks because of the wind, to emphasise players having to get into melee range of him. When he's bloodied, maybe have the wind double in intensity. I love the wind in the first place. Great example of using environmental hazards to really spice up a battle. Wish I could be in the game!
#4 Pobman Mar 16, 2009 17:22:56	Thanks both of you for your suggestions. They certainly have fired up my brain juices. I'm going to concentrate on my first session (which is on Thursday) and then look at the final encounter again at the weekend. I have plenty of time, but don't want to ignore it completely. Cheers again.
#5 evilkobra Mar 17, 2009 8:24:21	One simple thing that usually works well is to alter the shift and focus of the encounter mid-combat. In this case, one thing you can do is have them be on the offensive at first (trying to prevent the wizard from completing his ritual) and then force them to defend themselves (when the wizard attacks them). I wouldn't tell them the number of rounds they have until the ritual is complete. They should know it's very few, but not exactly how many. Then you can adjust on the fly, let them gain time if they manage to distract him without disrupting the ritual, etc. The key thing is that the wizard is 100% focused on his ritual, and his lackeys' job is to keep the PCs from getting to him. Maybe he has some sort of protective field or barrier that the PCs cannot shoot through, but can deactivate with a few well-placed attacks (and/or skill checks). When the players succeed in getting past the guards and the shield, the wizard is immediately forced to give up his ritual. He knows he cannot complete it while the PCs are out there harassing him so he turns his attention on them. This is a great personal loss to him (though you don't need to make this clear to the players just yet) so he will probably fly into a dramatic fit of rage, which gives you a good excuse to make him fight to the death. You can make this fight as tough as you want - the best part is, even if the wizard kills the entire party, they have already won! So don't pull any punches, as any death at this point is 100% heroic.
#6 squarecircle Mar 17, 2009 8:45:56	You could toss in some rubble (difficult terrain). But don't worry about making the terrain too dramatic, it's fine for a level 1 BBEG. You can always save some tricks up your sleeve for level 2!
#7 Pobman Mar 20, 2009 7:59:19	DMed the first session last night. I think it went well. I definitely have room for improvement as a DM, but everyone enjoyed themselves which is the main thing. The party had been hired by a trade caravan owner to protect the cargo of the merchant that had contracted him to deliver the goods. Needless to say, they didn't get to their destination as they were stopped in the tracks by some Kobolds surrounding the dead bodies of the other trade caravn that uses that route. I used the Kobold ambush from Keep on the Shadowfell, dropping the skirmisher as the party only had four members (plus then, I only had to look at two stat blocks). The party contains a "pacifist Warlord" who spent most of the ecnounter trying to ask people to stop fighting. I think I incorporated this into the fight as well as I could, with the Kobolds becoming less aggressive until the other members of the party started hitting them in which case they ignored him. With the magic staff that drives the caravan broken and the staff from the other caravan stolen, the party attempted to get the staff back. They worked out that it wasn't the Kobolds that had stolen the staff, but ANOTHER gorup that ahd got to the caravan earlier. The Kobolds were combing over the remains of the previous ambush (this made much mroe sense at the table). Tracing the tracks of the attackers, the party were suddenly set upon by a blizzard (The Blizzard skill challenge from Menace of the Icy Spire), which went excellently. This was the first skill challenge my D&D group has done as our regular DM didn't want to shoehorn one in for the sake of it. I would say that it was the highlight of the evening as the person who went first in the skill challenge chose History and rattled off a tale of his Dragonborn ancestors fighting a Blizzard. It really set a high benchmark for others to roleplay out their actions. They passed by the skin of their teeth and therefore had an advantage in the Frost Goblin encounter (also from Menace of the Icy Spire). I nerfed this encounter pretty badly, fearing that because the party only had melee attacks that they would get slaughtered by the ranged attacks,w hile the minions kept them occupied. this was defintiely the biggest mistake on ym part as even though the rogue went very low on HPs, the party never really looked like they were in dnager much. The session ended with them sleeping in the Frost Goblin's cave, ready to stride out to the tower (the only noticeable landmark around) they have seen. Thanks for all of your suggestions, I will be getting the second session organised over the weekend where I will be thinking about the end of adventure encoutner as well.
#8 Pobman Mar 22, 2009 12:48:00	OK. So here is the map for the final battle. Map:
#9 gregt_314 Mar 22, 2009 19:56:43	OK. So here is the map for the final battle. (etc) Okay. Cold-based enemies - Menace of the Icy Spire actually shows how to handle this. As I recall, it introduces a kind of "cold goblin", which is just a normal goblin with Resist Cold, Vulnerable Fire, and cold damage added to its attack. You can do this with just about anything. Some "Ice Bats" might be cool, or "Ice Spiders", or really just icy versions of whatever low level monsters you think it would be cool to use. I like your falling over the edge mechanic - both dramatic and fair, I give it two thumbs up! The wind should probably consistently blow in the same direction. If if changes direction it's not going to be much of a threat, and can possibly be unfair if it changes at the wrong time. Disabling the thingies - depends on how long you want this to take. If you basically just want it to take any player one full turn to wipe them out, let them do whatever they want to them - attack them, Arcana to disenchant them, Thievery to "disarm them", and once they've made a successful roll, say they're turned off. An AC of 18 would be appropriate for weapon attacks, and a DC of 15 for skill checks. If that feels too easy, make them require two rolls instead of one. (You won't want more than two, if you have two orbs). Again, you'd probably want to have the wind screwing up ranged attacks to stop players just nuking them at a distance. I still think this is a really excellent encounter. My only other advice is be prepared to fudge the wizard's HP; if it looks like he's going to go down too easy, stack another 20HP onto him so your players don't feel cheated.
#10 Pobman Mar 26, 2009 7:35:10	Okay. Cold-based enemies - Menace of the Icy Spire actually shows how to handle this. As I recall, it introduces a kind of "cold goblin", which is just a normal goblin with Resist Cold, Vulnerable Fire, and cold damage added to its attack. You can do this with just about anything. Some "Ice Bats" might be cool, or "Ice Spiders", or really just icy versions of whatever low level monsters you think it would be cool to use. I'm thinking at the moment of having an "Ice Drake", 2 "Ice Wolves" and two "Ice Bats". These are a Guard Drake, Grey Wolves and Shadowhunter Bats, with resist cold 10 and vulnerable fire 5. I was trying to make it fantastical, but it might just seem like a menagerie of animals thrown at them. I like your falling over the edge mechanic - both dramatic and fair, I give it two thumbs up! The wind should probably consistently blow in the same direction. If if changes direction it's not going to be much of a threat, and can possibly be unfair if it changes at the wrong time. I'd love to say that I came up with the falling mechanic myself, but I read it somewhere (although for the life of me I can't find it again, so perhaps I *did* make it up!). Yes, as soon as I read what you said, it came to me, the wind should be blowing away from the Wizard! Disabling the thingies - depends on how long you want this to take. If you basically just want it to take any player one full turn to wipe them out, let them do whatever they want to them - attack them, Arcana to disenchant them, Thievery to "disarm them", and once they've made a successful roll, say they're turned off. An AC of 18 would be appropriate for weapon attacks, and a DC of 15 for skill checks. If that feels too easy, make them require two rolls instead of one. (You won't want more than two, if you have two orbs). Again, you'd probably want to have the wind screwing up ranged attacks to stop players just nuking them at a distance. That sounds good. Yes, really I want them to take one round to dsiable them, soi your suggestiosn are spot on. I still think this is a really excellent encounter. My only other advice is be prepared to fudge the wizard's HP; if it looks like he's going to go down too easy, stack another 20HP onto him so your players don't feel cheated. Thanks, I'll let you know how it goes. Right now, I'm preparing for session 2 (I think the final battle will be session 3, possibly session 4). Edit: Actually, scrap that. I've made a big thing about the wind and now i'm having flying creatures? I don't think it will wash. I'll keep the wolves and perhaps add in two swarms of Ice enchanted Beetles. Need something else as well.
#11 Pobman Apr 03, 2009 10:01:08	OK, here is where I am with this now. The NEW map:
#12 Pobman Apr 24, 2009 5:22:32	I ran this on Wednesday. I know other people's session reports are boring to read so I will keep this brief as I thought the guys that helped me might be inerested in how it went. First off,photos The Arcane Ruins went down well with my players. They enjoyed the fight. Unfortunately I got my tactics a bit wrong leading to the fight being a bit easier than I had intended. Plenty of movement thanks to the wind and the fighter kept going prone. The Black Frost mechanic was also good as the characters were never sure where it was going to go. The rogue fell of the roof so I got to use that mechanic as well. The players stopped the ritual in round 5. At the end of each round, to build up what was happening I read a passage from the following list (depending on what round it was). Round 1 The wind suddenly whips up forcing you to keep your balance. Round 2 Clouds start to gather, the sky is now pure white without a trace of blue and the wind is as strong as you have ever experienced. Round 3 The sky darkens as the pure white clouds change to an ugly grey. Rain cascades down, but not a single drop touches the roof of the tower. Round 4 Lightning crackles and flashes down to the surrounding ground. Round 5 The temperature plummets. The wind is not the only factor. A chill seems to originate from within you Round 6 The white streaks of lightning that have been lancing down to the ground are now a murky grey. Round 7 The grey streaks of lightning that are dominating the sky have become black streaks of frost Round 8 Where the frost lances touch the ground, the ground turns black and spreads much like the Black Frost on the roof. (Unless a PC is near the edge, they cannot see this effect) Round 9 The black frost is all you can see on the ground, veins of darkness are creep their way up the side of the tower Round 10 The tower falls to the Black Frost and the game is over. Unfortuantely I only got to read up to round 5. A HUGE thank you for everyone who helped me. It would not have been as much fun without your various ideas.