For a bit of context, I usually DM, but my friend wanted to try it out. Because no one in our group has played through The Lost Mines Phandelver, we decided to let him run that. We had a party of four level 3 members (just after the Redbrand lair), and we were doing the Old Owl Well Sidequest. As we arrived near the old well, our paladin sensed that there were a bunch of zombies nearby. We quickly made a plan to lure all the zombies to the tent that was near the well, so we could burn it down and deal with all of them at once. Our sorcerer cast minor illusion on the inside of the tent, creating a shadow that could be seen from the outside (it was noon) and a human scream as bait.
Unbeknownst to the party, there was someone in the tent already (we had all assumed it was empty or had a couple zombies inside). A CR 1 evil mage walked out, wondering why a phantom scream came from inside his tent. After an extended roleplaying session, a fail on a persuasion check caused the Mage to summon a bunch of his zombies to surround the party. Originally, for level 3 character, 12 zombies (we had already killed a couple stealthily) and CR 1 mage might have been a mildly difficult encounter, but for some reason, the DM couldn't find the stats for the evil mage at the end of the Phandelver packet. And since he's a first time DM, he just went to the monster manual, and just got what he thought was a good replacement: a Lich.
After bringing 2 of the four party members to 0 HP (one of the Lich's legendary actions does 6d6 to everyone nearby if you fail a save with a DC of 18), the remaining two players quickly used some healing potions to restore the fallen to 10 HP, the party retreated back to the nearest town. After visiting the local blacksmith and making a plan, we headed back to the Old Owl Well.
The plan was as follows: since the mage slept in a tent near the well, we approached under the cover of night. Our party set the tent on fire, and then cut the supports, dropping it on him and trapping him. The mage (well, Lich) immediately cast Disintegrate, immediately killing off one of our players. It was at this point that we asked the DM what the CR of this mage was. He said 21. I went to my copy of Phandelver and looked at the encounter. The mage should've been CR 1. After telling our DM, he admitted the mistake and offered to switch the stats quickly.
So that there were no in-game retcons, we kept the HP and AC of the Lich, with spells that capped at level two (still massively more difficult than the original encounter). But, in the most insane combat encounter ever, the boss only got a couple turns. Our wild mage cast magic missile as a second level spell, getting two wild surges in the mix. One of them resulted in him casting magic missile as a fifth level spell, and one gave him a beard of feathers. Apparently the dice were on our side, because most of the missiles hit, and a couple of them were critical hits.
The wild mage did more than 70 damage that one round. A couple more natural 20s later, we managed to take the mage down. For this, the DM rewarded us all with an extra level and a couple magic items. It really was a memorable experience.
(For the record, he's a great DM, he made a first-timer mistake that actually led to a really fun session. We've made sure he knows that all the Phandelver stats can be found in the back of the campaign booklet, and the group is all the better for it.)
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"Players beware, the DM is here!" - Probably Some 80's Cartoon
For a bit of context, I usually DM, but my friend wanted to try it out. Because no one in our group has played through The Lost Mines Phandelver, we decided to let him run that. We had a party of four level 3 members (just after the Redbrand lair), and we were doing the Old Owl Well Sidequest. As we arrived near the old well, our paladin sensed that there were a bunch of zombies nearby. We quickly made a plan to lure all the zombies to the tent that was near the well, so we could burn it down and deal with all of them at once. Our sorcerer cast minor illusion on the inside of the tent, creating a shadow that could be seen from the outside (it was noon) and a human scream as bait.
Unbeknownst to the party, there was someone in the tent already (we had all assumed it was empty or had a couple zombies inside). A CR 1 evil mage walked out, wondering why a phantom scream came from inside his tent. After an extended roleplaying session, a fail on a persuasion check caused the Mage to summon a bunch of his zombies to surround the party. Originally, for level 3 character, 12 zombies (we had already killed a couple stealthily) and CR 1 mage might have been a mildly difficult encounter, but for some reason, the DM couldn't find the stats for the evil mage at the end of the Phandelver packet. And since he's a first time DM, he just went to the monster manual, and just got what he thought was a good replacement: a Lich.
After bringing 2 of the four party members to 0 HP (one of the Lich's legendary actions does 6d6 to everyone nearby if you fail a save with a DC of 18), the remaining two players quickly used some healing potions to restore the fallen to 10 HP, the party retreated back to the nearest town. After visiting the local blacksmith and making a plan, we headed back to the Old Owl Well.
The plan was as follows: since the mage slept in a tent near the well, we approached under the cover of night. Our party set the tent on fire, and then cut the supports, dropping it on him and trapping him. The mage (well, Lich) immediately cast Disintegrate, immediately killing off one of our players. It was at this point that we asked the DM what the CR of this mage was. He said 21. I went to my copy of Phandelver and looked at the encounter. The mage should've been CR 1. After telling our DM, he admitted the mistake and offered to switch the stats quickly.
So that there were no in-game retcons, we kept the HP and AC of the Lich, with spells that capped at level two (still massively more difficult than the original encounter). But, in the most insane combat encounter ever, the boss only got a couple turns. Our wild mage cast magic missile as a second level spell, getting two wild surges in the mix. One of them resulted in him casting magic missile as a fifth level spell, and one gave him a beard of feathers. Apparently the dice were on our side, because most of the missiles hit, and a couple of them were critical hits.
The wild mage did more than 70 damage that one round. A couple more natural 20s later, we managed to take the mage down. For this, the DM rewarded us all with an extra level and a couple magic items. It really was a memorable experience.
(For the record, he's a great DM, he made a first-timer mistake that actually led to a really fun session. We've made sure he knows that all the Phandelver stats can be found in the back of the campaign booklet, and the group is all the better for it.)
"Players beware, the DM is here!" - Probably Some 80's Cartoon
Good job guys! Beating a Lich on lv3 is nothing to snuff at...geez, your Wild mage is a damned hero!
Hadgar Greystone, Lv 10 Duergar Death Cleric.
Call of Cantraxis campaign, Moonshae.
DM: Imperia Regnum
Ancient Rome Theros Homebrew.
Gri'im the Red, LV 7 Orc Druid
Rime of the Frost Maiden Campaign.
Yeah, it was pretty crazy. Definitely a story our table will be recounting for a while.
"Players beware, the DM is here!" - Probably Some 80's Cartoon