So I'm hoping to run a level-27 one-shot for some players on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I have no idea what to use for the story, or for any non-combat encounters. This is a bit of a problem, since a few of the players are definitely into the RPing. So, anyone want to give me a hand?
Here are the encounters I have so far:
- Encounter level 26
- 2 x sorrowsworn reapers (level 27 soldier)
- 3 x sorrowsworn soulrippers (level 25 skirmisher)
- 2 x sorrowsworn reapers (level 27 soldier)
- Encounter level 27
- 2 x blackstar crusher (level 24 brute)
- 3 x fell wyvern (level 24 skirmisher)
- 6 x son of winter (level 25 minion)
- 1 x phane (level 26 elite controller)
- 2 x blackstar crusher (level 24 brute)
- Encounter level 29
- ancient blue dragon (level 25 solo artillery, downgraded by hand from level 28)
- ancient black dragon (level 26 solo lurker)
- ancient blue dragon (level 25 solo artillery, downgraded by hand from level 28)
- Encounter level 30
- Zebukiel, gray dragon (level 29 solo soldier)
- 2 x rot spewers (level 27 artillery)
- 6 x lich vestige (level 26 minion)
- Zebukiel, gray dragon (level 29 solo soldier)
So, uh, yeah, obviously there are some dragons doing some bad things. Since it's a one-shot, I think my ideal set up is the PCs as hired mercenaries for someone powerful (although it being a gods-vs.-gods thing feels kind of weak; I like more of an Eberron feel where it's super-powerful entities scheming about the fate of the world).
I can also add some traps, either between encounters or inside these encounters, to mix things up. Any skill challenges you can think to throw in would be great, too. Even a typical diplomacy-type one at the beginning (e.g. to get inside, or maybe to bypass some defenses to make the first encounter easier or something). But of course some "disable the evil device all while fighting the bad guys" skill challenges are awesome.
Anything that adds time pressure is probably helpful, so the PCs don't teleport out (or use a magnificent mansion) if they get low on resources.
OK, think that's it; would love any help you can give on a story framework and noncombat stuff
.In their last adventure, the party found an ancient parchment containing a clue to the fulfillment of the epic destiny of [pick one or more players]. The document hints at the secrets of immortality and the nature of time which can be found in the legendary lost horde of an Arkhosian emperor, concealed in an abandoned astral domain previously unknown to the PCs. As our heroes decipher the cryptic message [perhaps a minor skill challenge?] they disturb the fabric of the continuum itself, and are viciously attacked by a pack of Sorrowsworn bent on destroying the scroll and preventing any bids for true immortality by mere mortals.
Fight encounter one.
Following the battle, the players use magic bound into the parchment to travel to the astral realm in question, which is revealed to be a impossibly vast mountain capped by the once-glorious palace of the draconic emperor. The party explores the ancient structure [another skill challenge?] and eventually locates a passage to the emperor's tomb, hidden deep in the heart of the mountain. Before they can proceed, they are again attacked, this time by a Phane who claims their quest distorts his own timeline in the future. He summons allies from many points in time and attacks without mercy.
Fight encounter two.
Victorious, the party travels down to a great cavern within the mountain. The tomb itself is a golden ziggurat, above which circle blazing spheres of cosmic energy [or whatever - they're McGuffins, the next step on the party's destined paths]. As the characters climb towards the peak, two great dragons swoop down from above, swearing to slaughter all those who defile the memory of ancient Arkhosia.
Fight encounter three.
As the last guardian falls, the parchment that started the whole quest sweeps into the air and bursts into a sickening light, expanding into a portal Zebukiel and his allies use to enter the astral domain. Zebukiel temporarily paralyzes the entire party with his Villainous Monologue power and thanks them for helping his plan come to fruition. The parchment was his creation, crafted with the aid of Orcus, who seeks the body of the draconic emperor for use in foul necromantic rituals. The heroes have been Zebukiel's unwitting tools, and by slaying the guardians of the tomb, the heroes have opened the way for him to seize the cosmic powers [or whatever] of old Arkhosia, which will both end his curse and grant him power to rival the gods themselves. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!
Then, of course, the paralysis wears off and the party kicks his ass.
Fight encounter four.
If you want Zeb as a continuing villain, have him flee through the parchment-portal, which flames away into ash as he passes through. If not, just kill the poor thing. Either way, the spirit of the draconic emperor has been awakened by the battle. He manifests, thanks the party for defeating Zebukiel the Arch-Traitor's plans, and offers them both the power they sought from the cosmic spheres [or whatever - just level up already] and a small part of his horde, which is brought forth from his tomb by enough Godforged Colossi to make even the greediest the PCs forget about looting the rest of the joint. He then opens a portal to [wherever you want the next adventure] and bids them farewell as he returns to his eternal rest.
After making note to remember to recruit a few more unemployed ancient dragons to keep an eye on his ziggurat, of course.
So, how did it run for you the first time, anyway? Always curious about other's epic experiences.
.I actually had a stroke of inspiration and put together a whole little story for it, set in a post-apocalyptic Eberron. Kind of Terminator-inspired, really. Like so:
The PCs introduce themselves to the DM, and let me know where they are from and what awesome epic thing they are doing. ("What does level 27 mean to you?") They don't need to be connected or anything, because... in the middle of whatever they're doing, they get pulled through a magic portal! They end up back-to-back in the middle of a ruined tower in what looks to be a desolate wasteland, with five hooded figures. These are:
- Aurala ir’Wyarn, human lich scion of Aundair
- Three, warforged protector of Breland
- Kaius, vampiric king of Karrnath
- Diani ir’Wynarn, blood regent of Thrane
- The Lord of Blades, warforged lord of the Mournland
Kaius explains to the PCs that a century ago, dragons scoured the continent, reducing the nations to rubble and deposing these rulers. "Over time, we have begun to divine some of their motivations. Some say that they had finally deciphered their so-called “Draconic Prophecy,” and were furious at the results, which foretold of their extinction as the “lesser races” rose to prominence." The resistance has been somewhat pitiful so far, barely managing to stay alive and maintain the existence of the lesser races, but a series of recent missions has proved fruitful. One of their agents uncovered a powerful ritual from the days before, which summoned the heroes here; another agent discovered the location of an artifact they have long been searching for, the Mirror of Secrets---which binds the daelkyr abomination Belashyrra, lord of beholders and eye-tyrants, in the underdark of the world.
The deposed rulers appeal to the PCs (which are significantly more powerful than the rulers, making for interesting dynamics), asking them to help retrieve this artifact and possibly turn the tide of battle. There is some urgency, however, as the dragon lord Zebukiel is said to be in negotiations with Belashyrra for her release. The PCs must travel to the Glass Plateau in the heart of the Mournland, and the only way there is via the "Mournland Express," a ghostly lightning-rail that seems to run endlessly and unfailingly every day from the edge of the Mournland into its heart.
The PCs join them for a meal, which was somewhat full of shenanigans (PCs showing off their powers, under the guise of "making sure they still worked in this new universe.") The rulers-in-exile were appropriately deferential and scared. Eventually they prepared for bed, and during the night diplomatic stuff happened. Aurala approached one of the PCs, asking for the Mirror to be returned to her and her only so she could unite the continent under Aundair. (The PC rejected her, and well, what's she gonna do? Made for some fun roleplaying though, and let that PC flesh out his character.) And Diani's child approached our druid, who had fun talking to him and messing with him (he wanted to be a warforged like Three when he grew up, not some stupid regent... so our druid baleful polymorphed him into a tiny warforged!) Finally Three had a bit of a chat with some other party members about what it's like to be such an epic hero, and whether being flesh-and-blood matters, and whether warforged have souls... the like.
The PCs then set out, with overland flight and an invisibility candle, to the Mournladn Express. There were lots of fun encounters with the ghostly passengers and preserved corpses here, including them using thievery to steal the keys to the engine room from a skeleton who was trying to make them the stakes in a game of chance, and finding the cook, who was the only living being on board and had been trapped there for the last 100 years, unable to leave (every time he left, he died, and every time he died, he woke up the next morning back in the train). Then the sorrowsworn attacked, first encounter.
They made it to the glass plateau, where they underwent the second encounter plus a bunch of traps I threw together. These were just generic guardians of Zebukiel's stronghold. I found out that wyverns are pretty darn useless when they're immobilized high in the air with a -7 to their saves. And our druid pulled a truly memorable trick on the phane where she baleful polymorphed him into a bunny, dropped him in a primordial fire trap, then used wall of stone (???) to wall him in completely. That fell under the category of "too awesome for the DM to try to bypass," so we let that be a one-hit kill, and the players were very happy. The blackstar crushers were pretty awesome, BTW; they have good, interesting attacks. And the sons of winter explode-and-create-difficult-terrain when they die was very useful, since they all piled into a 10-foot-wide corridor before dying.
Once this was killed, the floor collapsed beneath the PCs, leading them to an underground cavern where they were mocked by the overconfident "lieutenant" dragons (black---Quetzallus, blue---Exarzellian, both with distinct personalities). Unfortunately it was getting to be 4:00 in the morning by then, so we just skipped that fight ("and after a long, hard, battle, the dragons lie dead at your feet.") Probably good though, as these characters didn't have any consistent source of lots of damage, so it probably would have turned into a slog.
They then made their way through some secret passages to Zebukiel's lair, where he was negotiating through the mirror with Belashyrra. That fight went very well. The lich vestiges in particular were extremely nasty; via their synergy "Orb of Obliteration" ability, they could each stack 20 ongoing fire/necrotic onto all the PCs in a burst 5 (once per encounter). Zebukiel himself was the victim of multiple baleful polymorphs and other such indignities (power recovery!!); he was pretty cool though with all his immobilized -> petrified stuff. When we came around to 6:30 in the morning and he was at like 7/10 hp, but had been baleful polymorphed repeatedly (-7 to saves, always) and the party was threatening to keep him like that as their pet, I had him surrender in exchange for "stop turning me into a frog, please!" Which made the PCs very happy
.-----
Metagame: the PCs had not played epic before, and so the first encounter was quite slow. They also forgot their class features a lot. But things eventually kicked into high gear, and there were a number of "OMG awesome" moments that can only happen in epic that people loved. Thankfully I warned the leader (who was a bard) to stock up on save-granting and healing, so that worked out very well. They lacked a high-damage striker though; they had a chaos sorcerer who hadn't specialized in single-target damage, and a predator druid, which was not nearly enough. So that's something to keep in mind. And their wizard was pretty unoptimized; he was an orb wizard with like 2 save-ends spells, with status effects like weakened or slowed instead of stunned or dominated. As mentioned above, I was surprised at how useful the minions were, even at this level---after all, there are very epic level minions even in existence. And Zebukiel's immobilized -> petrified stuff was much more fun than the typical high-level dragon (or dracolich, ugh) stunning.
Overall my takeaway from this was: 1) encounters will take longer than you think with epic newbies, especially with no high-damage striker; 2) play it by ear, and adjust things to make them maximal fun: e.g. letting the phane die from that neat trick, or having Zebukiel surrender and plead not to be turned into a toad, when the party clearly thought this toad thing was the funniest thing ever, and so having him capitulate was a great capstone to the adventure in terms of maximal fun.