I'm thinking of running a game for a WM. The levels are 5-9.
The plan is the party is hired to investigate and potentially stop, some cultists from summoning a demon. The party will venture out to a field and enter the forest where the will be greeted by a Cultist Fanatic, and maybe 6 awakened shrubs. Then they should venture further into the woods and find 1 cultist fanatic and 6 cultists.
I'm trying to figure out an intresting way where the party has the potential to stop the summoning of a barbed devil.
What do you guys think? Does the encounter need balancing? And how do i set up the demon summing?
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"Anyone can smith at the cosmic anvil, yet only I can forge a weapon as good as thee."
A good demon summoning fight comes in two parts - there is the initial stage where the cult is summoning the demon when the party might reasonably disrupt the summoning ritual and the actual demon fight. Have an initiative count for how long it will be until the demon is summoned (3 turns, for example), and if they don’t succeed in that time, the demon arrives. You can play “success” a bit by ear, since the party may try something you did not expect but want to reward. Use verbal queues, like “(when initiative is rolled), the chanting picks up in speed, (before round two) the cultists seem consumed with growing fervour, (before round three) the chanting reaches a crescendo” to indicate how close the demon is to being summoned.
The shape of the second portion (or if it even occurs) should depend on the prior round. Party didn’t kill everyone or disrupt anything? Party fights the cult and demon together. Party disrupted something, such as broke the summoning circle or killed some cultists chanting? Demon is attacking both party and cultists who lost control. Something so, even if they don’t stop the demon, they feel like they made an impact on the fight.
I am also a huge fan of giving summoned demons a bonus action “eat worshiper, gain health equal to worshiper’s health”, particularly if they did something to disrupt the ritual. It is a good way to reward the party for killing and/or injuring cultists in the first round, and makes them feel like they accomplished something, even if the demon still was summoned.
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I'm thinking of running a game for a WM. The levels are 5-9.
The plan is the party is hired to investigate and potentially stop, some cultists from summoning a demon. The party will venture out to a field and enter the forest where the will be greeted by a Cultist Fanatic, and maybe 6 awakened shrubs. Then they should venture further into the woods and find 1 cultist fanatic and 6 cultists.
I'm trying to figure out an intresting way where the party has the potential to stop the summoning of a barbed devil.
What do you guys think? Does the encounter need balancing? And how do i set up the demon summing?
"Anyone can smith at the cosmic anvil, yet only I can forge a weapon as good as thee."
My Homebrew Please click it, they have my family.
A good demon summoning fight comes in two parts - there is the initial stage where the cult is summoning the demon when the party might reasonably disrupt the summoning ritual and the actual demon fight. Have an initiative count for how long it will be until the demon is summoned (3 turns, for example), and if they don’t succeed in that time, the demon arrives. You can play “success” a bit by ear, since the party may try something you did not expect but want to reward. Use verbal queues, like “(when initiative is rolled), the chanting picks up in speed, (before round two) the cultists seem consumed with growing fervour, (before round three) the chanting reaches a crescendo” to indicate how close the demon is to being summoned.
The shape of the second portion (or if it even occurs) should depend on the prior round. Party didn’t kill everyone or disrupt anything? Party fights the cult and demon together. Party disrupted something, such as broke the summoning circle or killed some cultists chanting? Demon is attacking both party and cultists who lost control. Something so, even if they don’t stop the demon, they feel like they made an impact on the fight.
I am also a huge fan of giving summoned demons a bonus action “eat worshiper, gain health equal to worshiper’s health”, particularly if they did something to disrupt the ritual. It is a good way to reward the party for killing and/or injuring cultists in the first round, and makes them feel like they accomplished something, even if the demon still was summoned.