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Subject: Almost pulled a TPK tonight

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Fun Guy from Yuggoth
Cthulhufnord
Warlord
Warlord

11113 Posts

Umass Amherst Baby!

08/06/2008 10:38 PM
Two out of five of my party bit the big one tonight fighting a Howling Hag and her Minions. The group is second level; with a Warlock, Fighter, Cleric, Rogue and Ranger. The encounter as it stood was pretty tough. The Hag 300xp and Two Shadow Hounds 500xp. Looking at the DMG 625xp was the suggested amount, however I wanted this to be a tough Boss fight. The additional threat that pushed the encounter over the top was a Gargoyle the group didn't finish earlier in the Dungeon. The Warlock had immobilized it when it was making a flyby attack over a Whirling Blade trap. The Gargoyle assumed stone Form when it realized what happened. When the party left it stuck in the trap it waited till it was healed and then came looking for them. I did fudge a few things in the party's favor. The Balefull Whispers from the Howling hag was affecting her allies as well as the players. Also each time the Hag screamed all of her Allies were hit as well. In the end the Hag escaped through a flaming portal. The Gargoyle realizing it was alone.... turned back into Stone. I'm now planning on having both of them show up as re-occuring Villians.

Pathetic Earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void - without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here. If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe - anything at all - you would have hidden from it in terror.

Most Edumacated
zenthrus
Warlord
Warlord

5132 Posts

SLC, UT

08/07/2008 2:00 AM
Hag + 2 Hounds + Gargoyle = virtually impossible encounter (between 4-5 levels higher than the APL--almost a level 7 encounter). On the easy/standard/hard scale this is a holy-crap we're fubarred. At least you left them an out. Also, your party is very top-heavy (3 strikers). Any of those strikers have multiclass healing? Single-healer parties are pretty vulnerable to TPK since if the cleric goes down it gets really ugly, really fast. I would have had the gargoyle drop out of action rather than continue to follow the PCs. Once they defeated it (stuck it in a trap using good tactics) they defeated it. Having it come back at full health isn't a continuation of the encounter, it's a new encounter (which totally skewed the 'boss' battle). Numerically, I think your 'boss battle' should have gone fine (Hag plus 2 Hounds). It would have been tough but the party should have been able to overcome it. The gargoyle's reappearance was the TPK element.

Knight Warlord a.k.a. Commander (#32) in only 6 months. Where's my pie? Champion of Dwarven Thunderlashers Knight of the Large Dire Chicken Have/Want List Trade References

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Teflon Jeff
Warlord
Warlord

7908 Posts

Sector 2814

08/07/2008 4:01 PM
Yeah, that was a bit over the top.

Official Delegate, Wizards of the Coast Icons Called Shot: Gargantuan Prismatic Dragon "Rejoice, for bad things are about to happen."

Cardboard Carnage
Skirmisher

43 Posts

Montana

08/07/2008 6:48 PM
I like your comment about having them return as a reoccurring villain, that is always a great thing for a DM to do and it gives the future games a good feeling when something from the past returns. I remember a game I DMed years ago (I used to love to DM back in the 80's, everyone loved to play when I was DM because I had some super story telling ability)... We had a halfling killer on the loose in a small town, one thing lead to another and the party ended up trapped in an attic of a house and proceeded to catch the house on fire, thinking the Halfling was in there with him. As the party burned, determined to let themselves die in order to ensure the end of this murderous halfling, they saw the halfling outside in the front of the house laughing as he rode off on his horse. You can't imagine how funny it is to see a group of 5 people trying to squeeze out a small attic window of a burning house. Anyhow, the halfling returned a few weeks later to torment the group again, this time however they captured him and decided to get their own revenge since many members of the party now had scars from the fire. They buried the halfling in a coffin in a deserted cemetery in the middle of nowhere, and left him 6 feet under to slowly die. A year or so later (yes, a year or so of real time), in the midst of a normal adventure (which actually only contained one original member from the attic fire), the halfling made another appearance, apparently either being dug up by someone, or digging his way out. It was a good time. So to get back to your situation and your post, that Hag returning from time to time would be great, it will make for some fun games, but hold off on her a bit and let your group forget about it. :) D.

--- D-Rock Roberts