So my party have found themselves deep in an abandoned dwarven temple which, centries ago, protected a magical artifact. Artifact has been taken and in its place sits a red crystal pulsing with light.
This Crystal is what I am calling a Teardrop of Orcus, it is formed from his blood turned into crystaline form and given to his favoured followers. They are very rare in my world.
The crystal has a number of effects. First of all when activated it sends out a pulse that causes Necrotic Damage to anyone in it's vicinity, anyone killed by this power is instantly resurrected as a zombie.
Second it then reanimates any residual undead energy, pulling souls back from the afterlife if they are remotely tethered to the material plane, this has meant in this temple that the dwarves who where here, and died long ago after a schism caused them to turn on each other, have been resurrected, as skeletons, wilo wisps, poltergeists, spectors and shadows. The crystal then spends time recharging, and at the same time each day it repeats this resurrection pulse, generally this has no more effect, but if the creatures that had been resurrected are destroyed, they will be re animated, meaning the party either have to deal with the crystal in time or face re fighting everything they fought on the way in.
With each daily pulse it also slowly breaks the walls to the Abys, calling to Orcus, If it was left long enough then Orcus would be able to break through the barrier and manifest himself around the crystal, re absorbing it to his body and using it to anchor to the material plane this is a narriative thing only, there is no way Orcus is coming thorough in the timelines we are talking.
The crystal has been jammed into the holding of the artifact that has been removed (right now the players are convinced that they are one and the same thing) the only way for the players to stop it is to place it back in the lead lined box it came from, which is on the floor in front of the crystal. They can then deliver it to a specialist who can deactivate it and make it inert.
I want the crystal to act as a lair action, it is constantly pulsing, so I am thinking once a turn everyone must make a saving throw (thinking constitution but maybe wisdom) or take 1D4+1 damage?
In addition if a party member simply grabs the crystal then I want there to be an effect, this is a part of Orcus, my initial thinking was 2D8 necrotic damage and the person becomes Stunned as they are bombarded with visions of Orcus and the Abyssal plane he resides in. On their next turn they can attempt to make a wisdom saving throw (DC12) if they succeed they drop the crystal and suffer no further damage and are no longer stunned, if they fail they take another 2D8 necrotic damage. Several party member have mage hand so there are ways to handle the crystal without touching it.
The party are level 3, there are 8 players and as well as the crystal there is an allip, 3 zombies and potentially 1-3 wilo wisps
My question, is that amount of damage from the crystal going to be overpowered?
The party are level 3, there are 8 players and as well as the crystal there is an allip, 3 zombies and potentially 1-3 wilo wisps
So average hit points, assuming +2 constitution for each characters, averages between 19 (wizard, sorcerer) and 31 (Barbarian) hit points.
First up, if the Allip wins initiative it's going to use Howling Babble, and each character will take around 6-12 damage, and half of the party are likely to be Stunned. Given the low level of the party and its resistance to non-magical weapons (assuming they aren't all packing +1 weapons already), as well as resistance to fire, thunder, lightning, acid, and immunity to poison, cold and necrotic, you should consider its hit points to be more like 80. It won't be going down fast.
Will'o'Wisps have better damage output than your players, and can auto-kill them at 0 hit points. They also have similar damage resistances to the Allip, so consider their health as 38 instead of 19. If the wisps win initiative they may easily take out one of the characters in the first turn if they focus. A nat 20 is 18 (4d8) damage.
Taking 2-5 damage per turn from the crystal is going to be painful, but maybe not all that relevant, since the monsters will wipe them pretty fast. If you drop the Will-o-Wisps then it becomes a balanced fight.
1d4+1 seems pretty fair, but this should be flavour rather than something to really hurt them with. It kind of puts the characters on a clock, which I like.
I'd remove the Stunned condition from the crystal and just let them release it. A character who grabs it will probably just die given the Wisps and the Allip.
The party are level 3, there are 8 players and as well as the crystal there is an allip, 3 zombies and potentially 1-3 wilo wisps
So average hit points, assuming +2 constitution for each characters, averages between 19 (wizard, sorcerer) and 31 (Barbarian) hit points.
First up, if the Allip wins initiative it's going to use Howling Babble, and each character will take around 6-12 damage, and half of the party are likely to be Stunned. Given the low level of the party and its resistance to non-magical weapons (assuming they aren't all packing +1 weapons already), as well as resistance to fire, thunder, lightning, acid, and immunity to poison, cold and necrotic, you should consider its hit points to be more like 80. It won't be going down fast.
Will'o'Wisps have better damage output than your players, and can auto-kill them at 0 hit points. They also have similar damage resistances to the Allip, so consider their health as 38 instead of 19. If the wisps win initiative they may easily take out one of the characters in the first turn if they focus. A nat 20 is 18 (4d8) damage.
Taking 2-5 damage per turn from the crystal is going to be painful, but maybe not all that relevant, since the monsters will wipe them pretty fast. If you drop the Will-o-Wisps then it becomes a balanced fight.
1d4+1 seems pretty fair, but this should be flavour rather than something to really hurt them with. It kind of puts the characters on a clock, which I like.
I'd remove the Stunned condition from the crystal and just let them release it. A character who grabs it will probably just die given the Wisps and the Allip.
Thanks for this, the party have already dealt with Wilo Wisps and took 0 damage (my initiative rolling has been awful lol), but I will keep them in reserve, being invisible they can appear if things are going to easy, or just never show up :).
The Encounter Builder tool says that 1 Allip, 3 Zombies, and three Will-o'-Wisps is Deadly. Without the Wisps, it is merely Hard. The bare minimum a D6 class at 3rd level could have is 8, the bare minimum a d12 class could have is 36, so it should do 22 points of damage per round, or roughly 3d8, plus whatever side effects you think will make things fun.
The Encounter Builder tool says that 1 Allip, 3 Zombies, and there Will-o'-Wisps is Deadly. Without the Wisps, it is merely Hard. The bare minimum a D6 class at 3rd level could have is 8, the bare minimum a d12 class could have is 36, so it should do 22 points of damage per round, or roughly 3d8, plus whatever side effects you think will make things fun.
1 Allip, 3 Zombies and 1 Will-o-Wisp is Deadly (3600 adjusted XP). Two additional Will-o-Wisps put the adjusted XP to 6600, putting it well beyond the baseline for Deadly. 'Deadly' is a bit of a loose cap. Personally I find that Deadly encounters tend to be lethal at low level and by the time characters are level 5, the near end of 'Deadly' means 'Medium.'
I don't understand where you get 22 points of damage per round from, assuming you're referring to the damage effect. That's enough to one shot a 3rd level wizard or sorcerer who has 14 Con and can kill every character in the party in 2 turns. Even on 2 successful saving throws the casters still go down. 3d8 doesn't deal 22 damage per round on average so am assuming a mis-type, and the average for 3d8 is 13 damage per round so not sure where these figures come from.
A d6 class at 3th level, assuming no other modifiers, will have at minimum 8 hit points. A d12 class, assuming no other modifiers will have at minimum 36. I can't account for each and every modifier, and you get at least one hit point for each die rolled, so I take what I have there. 8 + 36 = 44. Divide by 2, is = 22. I'm pretty sure I have that much figured. Divide this by 8, you get 2.75. I round this up to 3. And there is where I made my error in math I see. I should have divided by the average a D8 gives you, and that's 4.5 on average. That gives 5d8. I probably missed something of course. I always seem to. Check my math if you like.
As for the damage, isn't the idea to kill at least one member of the party? Why else would you throw a deadly encounter at them? It's not like the Lord of the Undead wants people to stay alive.
So I ran it as I had it with the will o wisps and zombies, 2 characters went unconscious, one of them when he ran over and grabbed the red glowing crystal in the middle of an occult symbol placed on the ground and took 2D8 damage (14 he had 13 hp left).
Will o wisps did pretty much no damage mainly due to me rolling badly,
The allip got its howling babble off twice but with the layout of the room and how it ducked in and out behind a pillar (lots of bows and firebolts on show in the party so lots of holding actions until it appeared) it only got 4 the first time and then 6 of the 8 the second. A couple of the characters where down to very low hit points by the end. combat lasted 5 rounds in total before allip and zombies where dead and then the will o wisps took another few rounds to dispatch, simply because dice rolls where rubbish on both sides lol.
Players loved it, really enjoyed it, there is one room they avoided and are going back to clear next, that has a wight and skeletons/zombies in it. The dead leader of the other faction of this order.
How do you get Orcus to cry in the first place? Or are these tears like allergen triggered?
Lol, you show him living people dancing around :). The name comes from the shape, it is formed from his blood, he cuts himself and forms the blood into one of these crystals that need to then be activated by a ritual.
So I ran it as I had it with the will o wisps and zombies, 2 characters went unconscious, one of them when he ran over and grabbed the red glowing crystal in the middle of an occult symbol placed on the ground and took 2D8 damage (14 he had 13 hp left).
Will o wisps did pretty much no damage mainly due to me rolling badly,
The allip got its howling babble off twice but with the layout of the room and how it ducked in and out behind a pillar (lots of bows and firebolts on show in the party so lots of holding actions until it appeared) it only got 4 the first time and then 6 of the 8 the second. A couple of the characters where down to very low hit points by the end. combat lasted 5 rounds in total before allip and zombies where dead and then the will o wisps took another few rounds to dispatch, simply because dice rolls where rubbish on both sides lol.
Players loved it, really enjoyed it, there is one room they avoided and are going back to clear next, that has a wight and skeletons/zombies in it. The dead leader of the other faction of this order.
Sounds like you had a really good battle and the players played well with held actions to make it harder for the Allip, which is great. Sounds to me like they got lucky with those Will-o-Wisps though!
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So my party have found themselves deep in an abandoned dwarven temple which, centries ago, protected a magical artifact. Artifact has been taken and in its place sits a red crystal pulsing with light.
This Crystal is what I am calling a Teardrop of Orcus, it is formed from his blood turned into crystaline form and given to his favoured followers. They are very rare in my world.
The crystal has a number of effects. First of all when activated it sends out a pulse that causes Necrotic Damage to anyone in it's vicinity, anyone killed by this power is instantly resurrected as a zombie.
Second it then reanimates any residual undead energy, pulling souls back from the afterlife if they are remotely tethered to the material plane, this has meant in this temple that the dwarves who where here, and died long ago after a schism caused them to turn on each other, have been resurrected, as skeletons, wilo wisps, poltergeists, spectors and shadows. The crystal then spends time recharging, and at the same time each day it repeats this resurrection pulse, generally this has no more effect, but if the creatures that had been resurrected are destroyed, they will be re animated, meaning the party either have to deal with the crystal in time or face re fighting everything they fought on the way in.
With each daily pulse it also slowly breaks the walls to the Abys, calling to Orcus, If it was left long enough then Orcus would be able to break through the barrier and manifest himself around the crystal, re absorbing it to his body and using it to anchor to the material plane this is a narriative thing only, there is no way Orcus is coming thorough in the timelines we are talking.
The crystal has been jammed into the holding of the artifact that has been removed (right now the players are convinced that they are one and the same thing) the only way for the players to stop it is to place it back in the lead lined box it came from, which is on the floor in front of the crystal. They can then deliver it to a specialist who can deactivate it and make it inert.
I want the crystal to act as a lair action, it is constantly pulsing, so I am thinking once a turn everyone must make a saving throw (thinking constitution but maybe wisdom) or take 1D4+1 damage?
In addition if a party member simply grabs the crystal then I want there to be an effect, this is a part of Orcus, my initial thinking was 2D8 necrotic damage and the person becomes Stunned as they are bombarded with visions of Orcus and the Abyssal plane he resides in. On their next turn they can attempt to make a wisdom saving throw (DC12) if they succeed they drop the crystal and suffer no further damage and are no longer stunned, if they fail they take another 2D8 necrotic damage. Several party member have mage hand so there are ways to handle the crystal without touching it.
The party are level 3, there are 8 players and as well as the crystal there is an allip, 3 zombies and potentially 1-3 wilo wisps
My question, is that amount of damage from the crystal going to be overpowered?
So average hit points, assuming +2 constitution for each characters, averages between 19 (wizard, sorcerer) and 31 (Barbarian) hit points.
First up, if the Allip wins initiative it's going to use Howling Babble, and each character will take around 6-12 damage, and half of the party are likely to be Stunned. Given the low level of the party and its resistance to non-magical weapons (assuming they aren't all packing +1 weapons already), as well as resistance to fire, thunder, lightning, acid, and immunity to poison, cold and necrotic, you should consider its hit points to be more like 80. It won't be going down fast.
Will'o'Wisps have better damage output than your players, and can auto-kill them at 0 hit points. They also have similar damage resistances to the Allip, so consider their health as 38 instead of 19. If the wisps win initiative they may easily take out one of the characters in the first turn if they focus. A nat 20 is 18 (4d8) damage.
Taking 2-5 damage per turn from the crystal is going to be painful, but maybe not all that relevant, since the monsters will wipe them pretty fast. If you drop the Will-o-Wisps then it becomes a balanced fight.
1d4+1 seems pretty fair, but this should be flavour rather than something to really hurt them with. It kind of puts the characters on a clock, which I like.
I'd remove the Stunned condition from the crystal and just let them release it. A character who grabs it will probably just die given the Wisps and the Allip.
Thanks for this, the party have already dealt with Wilo Wisps and took 0 damage (my initiative rolling has been awful lol), but I will keep them in reserve, being invisible they can appear if things are going to easy, or just never show up :).
How do you get Orcus to cry in the first place? Or are these tears like allergen triggered?
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
The Encounter Builder tool says that 1 Allip, 3 Zombies, and three Will-o'-Wisps is Deadly. Without the Wisps, it is merely Hard. The bare minimum a D6 class at 3rd level could have is 8, the bare minimum a d12 class could have is 36, so it should do 22 points of damage per round, or roughly 3d8, plus whatever side effects you think will make things fun.
<Insert clever signature here>
1 Allip, 3 Zombies and 1 Will-o-Wisp is Deadly (3600 adjusted XP). Two additional Will-o-Wisps put the adjusted XP to 6600, putting it well beyond the baseline for Deadly. 'Deadly' is a bit of a loose cap. Personally I find that Deadly encounters tend to be lethal at low level and by the time characters are level 5, the near end of 'Deadly' means 'Medium.'
I don't understand where you get 22 points of damage per round from, assuming you're referring to the damage effect. That's enough to one shot a 3rd level wizard or sorcerer who has 14 Con and can kill every character in the party in 2 turns. Even on 2 successful saving throws the casters still go down. 3d8 doesn't deal 22 damage per round on average so am assuming a mis-type, and the average for 3d8 is 13 damage per round so not sure where these figures come from.
A d6 class at 3th level, assuming no other modifiers, will have at minimum 8 hit points. A d12 class, assuming no other modifiers will have at minimum 36. I can't account for each and every modifier, and you get at least one hit point for each die rolled, so I take what I have there. 8 + 36 = 44. Divide by 2, is = 22. I'm pretty sure I have that much figured. Divide this by 8, you get 2.75. I round this up to 3. And there is where I made my error in math I see. I should have divided by the average a D8 gives you, and that's 4.5 on average. That gives 5d8. I probably missed something of course. I always seem to. Check my math if you like.
As for the damage, isn't the idea to kill at least one member of the party? Why else would you throw a deadly encounter at them? It's not like the Lord of the Undead wants people to stay alive.
<Insert clever signature here>
So I ran it as I had it with the will o wisps and zombies, 2 characters went unconscious, one of them when he ran over and grabbed the red glowing crystal in the middle of an occult symbol placed on the ground and took 2D8 damage (14 he had 13 hp left).
Will o wisps did pretty much no damage mainly due to me rolling badly,
The allip got its howling babble off twice but with the layout of the room and how it ducked in and out behind a pillar (lots of bows and firebolts on show in the party so lots of holding actions until it appeared) it only got 4 the first time and then 6 of the 8 the second. A couple of the characters where down to very low hit points by the end. combat lasted 5 rounds in total before allip and zombies where dead and then the will o wisps took another few rounds to dispatch, simply because dice rolls where rubbish on both sides lol.
Players loved it, really enjoyed it, there is one room they avoided and are going back to clear next, that has a wight and skeletons/zombies in it. The dead leader of the other faction of this order.
Lol, you show him living people dancing around :). The name comes from the shape, it is formed from his blood, he cuts himself and forms the blood into one of these crystals that need to then be activated by a ritual.
Glad it worked out for you. :-)
<Insert clever signature here>
Sounds like you had a really good battle and the players played well with held actions to make it harder for the Allip, which is great. Sounds to me like they got lucky with those Will-o-Wisps though!