The 3.5 Red Hand Of Doom Handbook for DMs [Major spoilers!] - WIP, PEACH!

[Elder_Basilisk]

Based on their proposed plan, depending on how quickly they move, they will either run into the main horde at cinder hill of in transit at the bridge or even at vraath keep or some other location in the witchwood if they are slow.

The most likely result is that they realize the scale of the army they are dealing with and decide to update their warnings and skip the whole decapitation attack plan.

If they don't do that, they would need to evade the Red Hand army's patrols (no mean feat since they have lots of wolf riders and will probably send out heavier patrols when the PCs blunder into a wolfrider patrol and obliterate it) and then survive the random encounters (and some of the mountain random encounters could tpk a 6th level group all by themselves) and find their way to the fane. But even if they hit 7th or 8th level by the time they get to the fane, I wouldn't think much of their chances of anything other than becoming a notch on the blue dragon's kill stick and the probability that they would kill Azarr kuul is about zero. 7th or 8th or even 9th level party vs half dragon 12th level cleric in unhallowed area with substantial backup is not going to happen.

So, I'd play it out but I'd make plans to run the rest of the adventure after the inevitable tpk based on what Norro Wiston, Sorranah Anitah, and Lord Jaarmath recruit to help them defend the land based on the map the players almost certainly show them.

[Elder_Basilisk]

On the other hand, if the PCs do manage to kill Azarr Kuul, depending on the timeline they could well end up having defeated Azarr Kuul and facing the Red Hand occupying the ruins of Brindol under their new high Wyrmlord Kharn.

[kuhaica]

So, started the battle and due to some... previous shenanigans that my party have due to elsewhere in my campaign, I've been forced to change up the encounter a bit. I tailored many out of the box stuff to challenge my part as its 6-8 players with an average of 7 plus 2 dedicated NPCs, one on par with the PCs one being a Cohort.

Due to some high diplomacy checks, and using some powerful artefacts that were acquired months prior. The parties 'leader' managed to bring forward a small but elite mercenary company. As the DM, I was pretty surprised, but let it happen as the player in question did cheese anything and had achieved all of this legitimately. I hate myself for making teleport circles. Anyways due to said mercenary the first wave was a breeze, with half of the militia with the Pc's dying and two archers. The second wave nearly killed to PC's and broke most of there remaining defences. Now I'm going to the third wave, and I want to change the wave itself. I'm positive just having Abithriax will be enough to break morale in the defenders and party, as soon as an I mentioned the Huge Dragon at the end of our session they were wanting to retreat. Doubly when the Ballista and Scorpios they shot at it seemed to do nothing (Due to Rolls, pretty sure a good hit from the Ballista would hurt).

So, I was thinking about adding some Erinyes, some more wyverns and few more opponents, something of an honour guard for Abithriax. Would make the fight at Brindol a little interesting if I did this, but I'm hesitant as adding a few CR8 Outsiders may tip the balance too much.

Along with this, the addition of roughly 250 elite soldiers has greatly tipped the parties favour. Of course, they can't go adventuring with an army, but at the battle of Brindol may need some huge tweaks to ensure this army will not overbalance things too much. As already due to it the party may have a shot at defeating the third wave and hold off a portion of wave four.

So any more suggestions and help would be appreciated.

Spoiler: Part Comp and NPCs

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I use a combination of PF and 3.5 in my campaign to make martial characters more effective and keep the zany aspects my group enjoys from 3.5.

Party Comp
- Level 7 Human Cavalier
- Level 7 Half-Elf Fighter
- Level 7 Human Fighter
- Level 7 Elf Sorcerer
- Level 7 Orc Barbarian
- Level 7 Hafling Ranger
- Level 7 Human Alchemist
- Level 7 Hafling Rogue
- Level 7 Fighter/War Blade (NPC)
- Level 5 Human Cavalier (NPC)

[Eldariel]

The only real difference from the default is that they have two and a half times as many characters as the campaign expects. It's pretty easy to either scale the enemies accordingly (Dragonspawn and Outsiders do indeed make perfect sense, though just doubling the number of normal monsters works too) or buff them up a bit, or do a bit of both. Juvenile Abithriax is fine but perhaps make him a Loredrake [Dragons of Eberron], give him Blood Wind [Spell Compendium] to go with the obvious Mage Armor, Shield and Scintillating Scales. High AC is pretty strong against a large number of martial types. Perhaps give him Lingering Breath and Clinging Breath [Draconomicon Metabreath feats] combined with Entangling Exhalation [Races of the Dragon] to truly enable his fire to wreak havoc. Remember that Hill Giants can throw boulders from a total of 600' away. Ones with Farshot can throw them from up to 1200' away so they can easily provide a steady, constant bombardment on the party's position. Perhaps a Hulking Hurler Ogre or two to go with them - much shorter range but huge wallop.

Similarly, you can just optimize Kharn a bit. Clericzilla going all out can truly make life miserable for martial types. Delay Death means they just can't kill him, Contingent Revivify + Healing Armor so he can get right back up after dying, and just stacked up high reach high damage high defense ball of stats. Alternatively, a caster Cleric can target all their weak points. They have exactly one character with good Will-save; spells like Confusion could just wreck the party. I really wouldn't worry about the campaign being too easy; the party is woefully short on campaign altering magic in their line-up and this battle is wiping away much of their assets for ultimately relatively little real damage to the horde (aside from if they do manage to take down some of the high tier monsters or NPCs). While beefing up the city defenses will of course make the Horde bleed much more, few enough non-named characters are going to be stand in the way of the big hitters from either side.

[kuhaica]

-SNIP-

Thank you, I'll be sure to take it into account. I was planning on giving Abie some meta breaths however the lore drake will make him a little more formidable. So, I'll try out that change to him and the Giants I completely forgot about, I think it's time for the Red Hand to finish up the Defenders. Thanks quite a bit for that suggestion.


Also to clear something up. The party isn't well optimised so certain encounters have just wrecked them. While some are a breeze. For example the maurdader attack was a breeze, they where just surprised by the hell hounds. While Skull gorge was a breeze, mean while Varths keep was a challange soley because i gave the minotour some barbarian levels. And they didn't expect to fight something that can dish out so much damage.

[Shin Ji]

Thanks for your thoughts, Elder_Basilisk!

One of the problems with an army in D&D is that they need to be able to react quickly to changes in the situation, but they have no easy way of communicating barring very high level magic. You're limited to your fastest flyers going back and forth with messages, right?

But what if there was another way? I was looking at the Pyrotechnics spell. It's low level, so cheap to put as some sort of trap on a flaming crossbow bolt or something, and if it goes off reasonably high above the ground, esp at night, you could see it for dozens of miles or more!

So I'm thinking the PCs holed up in the keep in my game might find themselves best by a lot of winged reinforcements soon.

[Shin Ji]

As promised, some of the stats I've come up with for the various members of the army!

First, I kept the regulars as Warriors, since they are supposed to be standard sorts, but I did tweak them a bit.

Spoiler: Regulars

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HOBGOBLIN REGULARS , FIRST WAVE (5)
LE Medium Humanoid (Goblinoid). Hobgoblin Warrior 2
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +3
Languages Common, Goblin
AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 18
(+1 Dex, +6 chainmail, +2 heavy steel shield)
hp 13 (2 HD)
Fort +5, Ref +1, Will −1
Speed 20 ft.,
Melee Mwk Longsword +4 (1d8+1/19-20) (bonus on charge led by Corporal = # participating)
Ranged Mwk Longbow +4 (1d8+1/x3)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +2; Grp +3
Abilities Str 13, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8
Feats Improved Initiative
Skills Acrobatics +3, Handle Animal +2, Stealth +2, Perception +3

They operate in squads of 5 regulars, led by one Corporal, a 2nd level Crusader.

Spoiler: Corporal

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HOBGOBLIN REGULARS , CORPORAL CR 1
LE Medium Humanoid (Goblinoid). Hobgoblin Crusader 2
Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +2
Languages Common, Goblin
AC 22, touch 11, flat-footed 21
(+1 Dex, +9 mwk full plate, +2 heavy steel shield)
hp 21 (2 HD) (can delay 5 points)
Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +1
Speed 20 ft.,
Melee Mwk Longsword +6 (1d8+1/19-20) (+1 for Furious Counterstrike and teamwork bonus above)
Ranged Mwk Longbow +4 (1d8+1/x3)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +2; Grp +5
Abilities Str 16, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 12
Feats Improved Initiative
Skills Acrobatics +0, Handle Animal +5, Stealth +2, Perception +2

Items: Armband of Elusive Action (800 GP - ignore an AoO 1/day imm action)
Maneuvers: (2 chosen randomly at start, with 1 added each round)
- Vanguard Strike: Attack successfully and all allies get +4 to hit for 1 rd.
- Stone Bones: Attack successfully and get DR 5/adamantine for 1 rd
- Charging Minotaur: Bull Rush as a charge for an extra 2d6+3 damage
- Leading the Attack: As Vanguard Strike, but morale bonus
- Douse the Flames: Attack successfully and no AoO from opponent hit
Stances:
- Iron Guard's Glare: -4 to attack my allies
- Bolstering Voice: +2 morale to Will saves on my team, or +4 morale vs fear.

Bladebearers are of course Warblades.

Spoiler: Bladebearer

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UTH-LAR, HOBGOBLIN BLADEBEARER CR 4
LE Medium Humanoid (Goblinoid). Hobgoblin Warblade 5
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +6
Languages Common, Goblin
AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 17 (Uncanny Dodge)
(+3 Dex, +4 chain shirt)
hp 50 (5 HD)
Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +2
Speed 30 ft.,
Melee Mwk Greatsword +11 (1d12+5/19-20)
Ranged Mwk Javelin +10 (1d6+4)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +5; Grp +8
Abilities Str 16, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 10
Feats Improved InitiativeB, Knowledge Devotion, WF (Greatsword)
Skills Acrobatics +13, Handle Animal +9, Handle Animal +6, Perception +6, Knowledge(local) +9
(16 result gives an extra +1 to hit and damage)

Items: Acrobat Boots - grant a +10, +15, or +20 to speed. 900 gp.
Gloves of Fortunate Striking - reroll attack 1/day. 2000 gp
Potions of Enlarge Person and Bull's Strength (not included in statblock)
Maneuvers:
- Tactical Strike: Attack successfully, get +2d6 damage and all allies adj to opp get free 5' step
- Sudden Leap: Jump as a swift action.
- Leading the Attack: As Vanguard Strike, but morale bonus
- Iron Heart Surge: Remove effect, get +2 on attacks until end of next turn
Stances:
- Leading the Charge: Allies do +5 damage on charge attacks
- Bolstering Voice: +2 morale to Will saves on my team, or +4 morale vs fear.

Instead of making Zarr a cleric, I went with a Dragonfire Adept, just to test it out. It was kinda a joke in practice, but I think that was because my players are so focused on long range damage.

Spoiler: Shaman

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ZARR, DOOM HAND SHAMAN CR 5
LE Medium Humanoid (Goblinoid). Hobgoblin Dragonfire Adept 6
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +11
Languages Common, Goblin
AC 24, touch 14, flat-footed 21 DR 2/magic
(+3 Dex, +5 +1 mithral chain shirt, +3 +1 darkwood shield, +2 natural, +1 deflection)
hp 50 (5 HD)
Fort +10, Ref +6, Will +7
Speed 30 ft.,, fly 30 ft
Melee None
Ranged Breath Weapon 3d6 fire or sickening or slow for 2 rounds, 1 if they save. DC 19
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +3; Grp +8
Abilities Str 8, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 12
Feats DragontouchedB, Improved Init, Ability Focus (breath), Flyby Attack
Skills Perception +11, UMD +10, Athletics +8, Convince +10, Knowledge (Arcana) +10

Items +1 Vest of Resistance, +1 mithral chain shirt, +1 darkwood heavy shield, +1 Ring of Protection
Potion of Reduce Person, Wand of Shield
Invocations: See the Unseen, Endure Elements, Draconic Flight

I made the Sergeants Warmages, since I think it fits well with the Hobgoblin way of life.

Spoiler: Sergeant

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HOBGOBLIN REGULARS , SERGEANT CR 3
LE Medium Humanoid (Goblinoid). Hobgoblin Warmage 4
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +4
Languages Common, Goblin
AC 18, touch 13, flat-footed 15
(+3 Dex, +4 mwk chain shirt, +1 light steel shield)
hp 22 (4 HD)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +4
Speed 30 ft.,
Melee Mwk Spiked Gauntlet +6 (1d4)
Ranged Mwk Light crossbow +6 (1d8/19-20) or ranged touch +5
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +2; Grp +5
Abilities Str 10, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 12
Feats Improved Initiative, Precise Shot
Skills Spellcraft +10, Convince +8, Perception +4, K(arcana) +10, K(local) +10

Items: Arcanist's Gloves - 2/day boost CL of 1st lv spell by 2. 500 gp
Bracers of the Entangling Blast - 3/day, spell does 1/2 dam, but anyone damaged is entangled for 1d3 rounds. Does damage equal to the spell level each round entangled. 2000 gp.
Spells: 2nd lv (4/day) - Fireburst (4d8+3), Pyrotechnics (blind within 120'),
1st lv (7/day) - Hail of Stone (4d4+3, 5' radius, 140' range), Magic Missile (2d4+5), Burning Hands (4d4+3), Shocking Grasp (4d6+3), True Strike, Accuracy (doubles range of weapon).

The Veterans I made Duskblades, pretty much straight from MMV, but with a few minor tweaks (True Strike!)

Spoiler: Veteran

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Hobgoblin Veterans are Hobgoblin Duskblades (MMV) with the following changes
Feats : Improved Initiative, Knowledge Devotion, Power Attack
Skills: (Int is 14), Acrobatics +9, Athletics +9, K(local) +9, Spellcraft,+9 (16 to get +2, 26 to get +3)
Spells: Replace Burning Hands with True Strike
Attack bonus is +6 + bonus from Knowledge Devotion.

Finally, I thought the Manticores needed riders. So, meet the Impalers! A girl gang of Half-Orc Warlocks. This statblock uses my new rules I'm still in the process of developing, but it should mostly make sense.

Spoiler: Manticore Riders

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IMPALER (MANTICORE RIDER) CR 4
LE Medium Humanoid (Orc). Half Orc Warlock 5
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +1
Languages Common, Orc
AC 25, touch 16, flat-footed 21
(+4 Dex, +5 Chain Shirt, +4 Shield, +2 Deflection) - also 20% miss chance
hp 22 (5 HD)
Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +4
Speed 30 ft.,
Melee None
Ranged Eldritch Blast +7 (3d6) (5d6 w/Mortalbane)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +3; Grp +3
Abilities Str +1 , Dex +4, Psy +0
Feats, Mortalbane, Precise Shot, SF(UMD)
Skills Use Magic Device +11, Wilderness Lore +8

Items:. Wands of Entropic Shield, Shield, Silent Image, and Shield of Faith. +1 Chain Shirt
Invocations:
- Eldrich Spear: 250' range on energy blast
- Summon Swarm: Spiders! 1d6 dam DC 11 Fort vs Nausea, DC 11 For save or lose 1d3 Str
- Frightening Blast: DC 11 Will vs Shaken.

[Thanos92]

My question is about the concrete origin of the spawn. MMIV says that they can hatch from eggs (sometimes randomly, sometimes blessed by Tiamat itself) deposed by chromatic dragons, but, if I understand correctly (as the Forgotten Realms paragraph states), they can also be summoned. In the Red Hand of Doom we have to suppose that Azar-kull has summoned lots of them in different places (such as near Rhest) but he still hasn't got enough of them? (So he wants to pay a bloody tribute to Tiamat, destroying the vale to have more of them and become even more powerful).

[Elder_Basilisk]

My understanding of the RHoD story is that the original spawn were summoned but that the Red Hand is also trying to breed greenspawn razorfiends at Rhest. Presumably they have a bluespawn hatchery somewhere else. The blackspawn seem sufficiently humanoid like that I presume any breeding project would be too long term for it's results to be relevant to the Elsir Vale campaign which would mean that all the blackspawn in the adventure are summoned (or called to be precise).

It's not clear whether the plan is to summon exclusively spawn through the portal or whether he's going to summon devils or some mixture. (It might actually be more interesting if the portal actually transformed existing creatures into spawn rather than summoning new spawn from hell, but that might make the final summoning of the aspect a little harder to explain).

[Thanos92]

My understanding of the RHoD story is that the original spawn were summoned but that the Red Hand is also trying to breed greenspawn razorfiends at Rhest. Presumably they have a bluespawn hatchery somewhere else. The blackspawn seem sufficiently humanoid like that I presume any breeding project would be too long term for it's results to be relevant to the Elsir Vale campaign which would mean that all the blackspawn in the adventure are summoned (or called to be precise).

It's not clear whether the plan is to summon exclusively spawn through the portal or whether he's going to summon devils or some mixture. (It might actually be more interesting if the portal actually transformed existing creatures into spawn rather than summoning new spawn from hell, but that might make the final summoning of the aspect a little harder to explain).

Yeah, I understand. It's just the idea of summoning/calling eggs that confuses me.

[Elder_Basilisk]

Yeah, I understand. It's just the idea of summoning/calling eggs that confuses me.

I figured that originally, it was creatures that were called (not eggs) but then someone realized that, now that they had a critical mass of the creatures and the spawn reproduce by more familiar means so, they could breed the creatures rather than having to summon them.

[Thanos92]

Hi all!

Here again asking: could it be too strong to use Divine Metamagic on Azarr-kul?
I was thinking of using it as a Sunscorch Half-Dragon Hobgoblin Cleric 11. Maybe using feats as Initiate of Tiamat or something like that to make him more coherent.

[Shin Ji]

Confused about a minor thing. On the map the players find at the keep, it mentions the attack on Drellin's Ferry happens day 5. It's day 11 I think in the text. Is this map just inaccurate?

[Elder_Basilisk]

Whether it is too strong to use divine metamagic on Azar kul will depend on your party and how you play the game.

If your party is a paladin, 2 fighters, rogue, Inquisitor, and a cleric cohort and the optimization is somewhere around "better than iconics" then adding divine metamagic could well be over the top. (Heck, the whole final battle setup might be over the top). On the other hand, if your party is using nightsticks and divine metamagic persistent spell and you think incantatrix is the baseline for a character who doesn't suck, then DMM on Azar Kul might not be going far enough.

[Eldariel]

Hi all!

Here again asking: could it be too strong to use Divine Metamagic on Azarr-kul?
I was thinking of using it as a Sunscorch Half-Dragon Hobgoblin Cleric 11. Maybe using feats as Initiate of Tiamat or something like that to make him more coherent.

Definitely not too strong for a mid optimization party with spellcasters, but it does make him much, much harder to beat traditionally. He's completely outclassed in terms of action economy usually so he needs something to keep him in the fight and DMM: Persist is a good option to that end (so are few other DMM comboes but Persist makes the fight more of a drawn-out brawl). He can use caster level boosters so losing all his buffs to a couple of GDMs should be unlikely and you can tailor the buff level to the party. In one end you have the 1000+ damage attack character with immunity to practically everything and vast power. In the other you've got a souped up character of the level with some neat tricks up their sleeve (if you make him Cleric 13, you can give him Fortunate Fate for a round 2 effect, and some Pacts and such for things that power him up as the fight goes). That said, it's rather draining on slots and means he probably needs to use martial combat as one of his big tricks - make sure to save some offensive spell slots to spice things up.

One of my own favourite ways to urn him is as a summoner. He's essentially channeling Tiamat and he's in a place that could be considered to amplify summoning (I gave the gate in progress the effect of maximizing all the Summon spells summoning lawful evil or neutral evil creatures), and getting some Devils in the mix really evens up the action economy and their SLAs can do a great job messing with the players. And summons are very interactive spells. Conveniently, Cleric 7/Thaumaturgist 4 is quite doable. This gets him Contingent Summons for the extra summons right out of the gate. With Fiend Folio and Fiendish Codex II, he actually has a great list of stuff to summon even if you don't bump him up to 7th level spells:
- Spined Devil [FCII] (SMIV)
- Filth Imp [FF] (SMIV)
- Euphoric Imp [FF] (SMIV)
- Black Abishai [FCII] (SMV)
- Amnizu [FCII] (SMVI)
- Pain Devil [FCII] (SMVI)

SMVII obviously adds Bone Devil with that delicious At Will Wall of Ice to the list, which is a gamechanger for the fight but I'd only bump him up to 13 if I were running the campaign for a decently optimized party. Also Steel Devil [FCII] with the Greater Command at will for SoL spam, albeit at a low DC.

EDIT: Pathfinder of course completely turbocharges any Summons he might use. PF Summon Monster line is about one-two levels stronger than its 3.5 counterpart on average. Of course, Summoner Azarr also should use mass buffs like Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, Recitation or company. Evangelist would be an interesting PF version.

[Thanos92]

Whether it is too strong to use divine metamagic on Azar kul will depend on your party and how you play the game.

If your party is a paladin, 2 fighters, rogue, Inquisitor, and a cleric cohort and the optimization is somewhere around "better than iconics" then adding divine metamagic could well be over the top. (Heck, the whole final battle setup might be over the top). On the other hand, if your party is using nightsticks and divine metamagic persistent spell and you think incantatrix is the baseline for a character who doesn't suck, then DMM on Azar Kul might not be going far enough.

I see. My players are very not so expert, they're: Paladin/Fighter, Ranger/Scout, Rogue/Swashbuckler/Swordsage, Sorcerer. They do not optimize too much their builds so I guess DMM could make Azarr kill too strong.
This way, which feats do you think can be a good choice? Making him a quite challenging fight (of course spells choice will change a lot) but not overwhelming since there're no too broken builds? Thanks.

[Shin Ji]

What levels are they?

[Thanos92]

What levels are they?

Probably by the time they get there 10 or 11.

[Elkad]

Confused about a minor thing. On the map the players find at the keep, it mentions the attack on Drellin's Ferry happens day 5. It's day 11 I think in the text. Is this map just inaccurate?

Day 5 of the invasion plan. Which is not day 5 of the campaign.
And it isn't considering the delay if the army has to go around the bridge (assuming the players destroy it)

[Shin Ji]

Day 5 of the invasion plan. Which is not day 5 of the campaign.
And it isn't considering the delay if the army has to go around the bridge (assuming the players destroy it)

Ah, that makes a lot more sense. Man, I gotta get me that timeline printed out in front of me (maybe get an actual DM Screen too!) so I can keep things straight. My mind was spinning trying to figure out how the whole army can be in DF by day 5!

But, if nothing else, it lit a fire under my PC's butts, and they had a super fun battle at the bridge. Brought that sucker down with a bag full of acid flasks, and some help from Ozzy. Ozzy tried to brace it in the end, and the whole thing fell on him. Good times, good times.

[Shin Ji]

Surprisingly, falling down the gorge is only 7d6 damage, and the max from stuff falling on you is 20d6. My upgraded Ozzy can take that and smile, though he'll take a bit to dig himself out. REVENGE!

[ksbsnowowl]

Man, I gotta get me that timeline printed out in front of me...

Just make an Excel file.

First column is just a blank line for you to put an "X" for when the day has finished (I would also make a "/" [half an "X"] for the day currently in progress).
Second column is Days (of the campaign, not the invasion).
Third column is Red Hand events (where they reach at the end of marching that day, what city they sack that day, etc).
Fourth column is PC events (that you'll fill in as the campaign progresses).

That way, you know the Red Hand's expected movements, and where they are on any given day.

Have a separate tab with the exact same lay-out, but factoring in the delay from the PC's destroying the bridge. If the party devises some other means of delaying the Horde, make a new tab and shift the Red Hand's actions to the appropriate days.

When I ran a revamped version of RHoD in a Norse-themed gestalt game, the phases of the moon played an important part, and it was in extremely northern climates leading up to the winter solstice. Thus, I included extra columns detailing the phases of the moon, daily High and Low temperatures, wind conditions (direction & speed), weather conditions (cloudy, sunny, etc.), and I also included columns for the times of the start of dawn, sunrise, sunset, and the end of dusk (this was exceedingly important, because by the last week of adventuring, at my equivalent of the Battle of Brindinford, the time from the start of dawn to the end of dusk was barely more than 6 hours, and sunrise to sunset was only 2.5 hours).

I had the electronic file I could alter, and I had a print out that I kept with my gaming books, so I could mark off days & make notes during the game sessions.

[Thanos92]

Considering my 4 players (Ranger/Scout, Paladin/Grey Guard, Sorcerer, Rogue/Swashbuckler/Swordsage) will probabily arrive at the final encounter around level 10-11th, i thought about a
Sunscorch Hobgoblin Half-Dragon Cleric 10/Dragonfire adept 1.
I think I'll use Divine Metamagic with Quicken Spell, bringing Turn Undead up to 15 uses, this will let me use 6 spells in 3 rounds. The strategy will be having them to deal with some minor monsters, like some Spawn of Tiamat, while I'll use Antilife shell or others barriers (still not prepared) to have Divine Power, Righteos Might, Divine Agility, ecc. Once ended this buff part (no more than 5 buffs, obviously I'll consider how they are doing with the other monsters), I'll fight them in melee.
The Dragonfire Adept level will be used just for flavour, combining his Breath Weapon with the spell Dragon Breath (different chromatic references, to recall the idea of Tiamat).

What do you think? Too much? Too easy?

Thank a lot.

[Eldariel]

Considering my 4 players (Ranger/Scout, Paladin/Grey Guard, Sorcerer, Rogue/Swashbuckler/Swordsage) will probabily arrive at the final encounter around level 10-11th, i thought about a
Sunscorch Hobgoblin Half-Dragon Cleric 10/Dragonfire adept 1.
I think I'll use Divine Metamagic with Quicken Spell, bringing Turn Undead up to 15 uses, this will let me use 6 spells in 3 rounds. The strategy will be having them to deal with some minor monsters, like some Spawn of Tiamat, while I'll use Antilife shell or others barriers (still not prepared) to have Divine Power, Righteos Might, Divine Agility, ecc. Once ended this buff part (no more than 5 buffs, obviously I'll consider how they are doing with the other monsters), I'll fight them in melee.
The Dragonfire Adept level will be used just for flavour, combining his Breath Weapon with the spell Dragon Breath (different chromatic references, to recall the idea of Tiamat).

What do you think? Too much? Too easy?

Thank a lot.

Trying to challenge a party of level 10-11 characters with an essentially level 10 Cleric feels difficult. Boss should have at least one spell level on the party to have options they don't have available - hell, Antilife Shell is level 6 spell so he doesn't even have access. Definitely buff him up to at least Cleric 11. I also don't think you need Dragonfire Adept; he's already a Half-Dragon so all you need is the Dragon Breath-feat [Races of the Dragon] to be able to use the breath every 1d4 rounds (enabling you to use Metabreath feats and Metabreath Spells - if you gave him the Spell-domain, he could Greater Anyspell for any of the Wiz/Sorc 5 or lower breath enhancement spells like Dispelling Breath, Breath Weapon Substitution, Blinding Breath or company). I'd make him Cleric 12, even. No new spell level but a feat, a stat buff and slots. Though again, I do recommend 4-5 levels of Thaumaturgist; the lost BAB and such is fairly irrelevant in the face of Divine Power, while being able to use Contingent Summons and perhaps have a Planar Ally to get extra minions into the fight to hold the fort while he buffs seems to go with the plan you have for the fight anyways.

Remember, the party isn't meant to win by default. Let them bleed and feel like they earn their victory. Since it's the climax of the whole campaign, character deaths are more than okay. They'll probably win by the sheer amount of action advantage but you can make them bleed for it pretty well. Also let him use all-day buffs like Greater Magic Weapon and Magic Vestment. Potions are also okay, and I do think you want him to prepare Heal at least once. Though some offensive spells would not go amiss either - some variety to the mix.

[Thanos92]

Trying to challenge a party of level 10-11 characters with an essentially level 10 Cleric feels difficult. Boss should have at least one spell level on the party to have options they don't have available - hell, Antilife Shell is level 6 spell so he doesn't even have access. Definitely buff him up to at least Cleric 11. I also don't think you need Dragonfire Adept; he's already a Half-Dragon so all you need is the Dragon Breath-feat [Races of the Dragon] to be able to use the breath every 1d4 rounds (enabling you to use Metabreath feats and Metabreath Spells - if you gave him the Spell-domain, he could Greater Anyspell for any of the Wiz/Sorc 5 or lower breath enhancement spells like Dispelling Breath, Breath Weapon Substitution, Blinding Breath or company). I'd make him Cleric 12, even. No new spell level but a feat, a stat buff and slots. Though again, I do recommend 4-5 levels of Thaumaturgist; the lost BAB and such is fairly irrelevant in the face of Divine Power, while being able to use Contingent Summons and perhaps have a Planar Ally to get extra minions into the fight to hold the fort while he buffs seems to go with the plan you have for the fight anyways.

Remember, the party isn't meant to win by default. Let them bleed and feel like they earn their victory. Since it's the climax of the whole campaign, character deaths are more than okay. They'll probably win by the sheer amount of action advantage but you can make them bleed for it pretty well. Also let him use all-day buffs like Greater Magic Weapon and Magic Vestment. Potions are also okay, and I do think you want him to prepare Heal at least once. Though some offensive spells would not go amiss either - some variety to the mix.

Thanks a lot. My bad for Antilife Shell, I made a mistake there. Maybe yes, Cleric 11 is better, I thought about it but I didn't want to make him too strong. Maybe I'll play with minions to make the whole encounter feel painful.

[Shin Ji]

Thanks a lot. My bad for Antilife Shell, I made a mistake there. Maybe yes, Cleric 11 is better, I thought about it but I didn't want to make him too strong. Maybe I'll play with minions to make the whole encounter feel painful.

THe BBEG should be able to, under optimal conditions, outright kill more than one party member in a single round.

Of course, it's the PCs' jobs to make certain those optimal conditions don't come to pass.

[Eldariel]

Thanks a lot. My bad for Antilife Shell, I made a mistake there. Maybe yes, Cleric 11 is better, I thought about it but I didn't want to make him too strong. Maybe I'll play with minions to make the whole encounter feel painful.

I wouldn't worry. Action economy so heavily favours your party that as long as he isn't completely untouchable, he probably isn't too strong. He can and should deliver pain; he's dealing with about 4 times his own HP in toughness and 4 attackers so he needs to do about 4 times a single character's damage to really keep up (or his output should roughly be the party output vs. him). It's entirely up to you what he uses the higher spell level for after all; Antilife Shell isn't going to break the game.

[kuhaica]

So, been a little while. Anyways, the Party managed to fend off Abbi, mostly because the Mercenary band distracted him. So they got to experience the final wave as Abbi went ham on the Mercs. The party thankfully got the hint that it was time to run away and did so, sending the remaining mercs with the refugees.

Meanwhile, the party went up to the Rhest on their own accord which was nice. To say the least, I took the idea of a wizards manor with different tiers to make some areas more advantageous than others to heart. Threw two Razernfiends at the group, and watched in horror as three characters where dead from sneak attacks, one from being drowned before true combat. Then watched as I rolled open crits over and over again. It was a Tpw.

About half the party was done with the campaign and someone else is now running their own game after that. However, two players and a new player wanted to continue so we are continuing that which is interesting to say the least. Going from an 8(10) man team to a 6.

Rest of the Rhest went pretty smoothly, party nabbed all the treasure with there bags of holding, didn't even realise they had a phylactery until getting to brindol.


Now, my band of misfits has just delivered the gold to the hammerfist holds. But they have a good chunk of time until the hand attacks Brindol. Especially because they convinced the elves to do hit and runs on the Hands army, slowing them down by a few days.

So, what sort of activities should I throw in there? I was thinking about having the dwarves be dealing with some problem, much like how I've stated that Dennovar is dealing with there own threat and thus isn't able to send aid.

Any other ideas would be lovely.

Spoiler: Side Note

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My players found the Green Razerfiend hatchery, and instead of killing the eggs, decided to keep them and raise them for good... I don't know how to react to this.

[aReallyGreatAxe]

Spoiler: Side note

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Sounds awesome! My group kept one and made the (very high) checks our lovely DM had us make to tame him. He was useless until the final battle, where the three casters buffed him to hell and back for laughs, thinking maybe he’d scratch Azar.... he killed the Aspect of Tiamat.

Glad we weren’t the only ones to try this!

[thorr-kan]

kuhaica, react to it with skill checks and roleplaying. It's a valid tactic on their part and great outside the box thinking.