The party (who is level 3) is investigating little Nothics that are spying on the castle of Kyoto. Lord was paranoid that something was happening and they found out it was these little aberrations. They were warned that there was "6 eyes, six spies" by a soothsayer. So they assumed there were 6 of them. However, when one of the nothics ran away, bloody, the party essentially sent the rogue after them while they investigated the castle, researched nothics, etc. With his movement speed, he thought he could follow the trail of blood and kill it real quick. This led to something really cool but also something that is freaking me out a little.
Rogue gets to a clearing with some trees, and is told by a large, booming voice, "Please wanderer, my leg, my leg is hurt, don't kill me" in shitty common. Rogue gets a 1 on perception as well as crap stealth as he insists he wants to move forward. Long story short, he ends up getting hit by a max range, disadvantage, nonlethal boulder by a cyclops and gets knocked down in one good roll (I had taken a dice of damage away from his boulder and greatclub but he still rolled really well).
Rogue ends up tied up in a cave and the party artificer learns as he is researching that nothics in my world like to pair with monstrous races for protection. Party realizes rogue is missing, investigates, find ransom carved into boulder (essentially don't interfere with nothics and drop off 200 PP at a nearby location.
Party is like nah and was able to trace the broken trees and giant prints back to a cave. However, even with a 3rd level mage npc (the soothsayer), and the cyclops asleep, I am worried this could end in a tpk. The cave is extremely defensible. Nothics have hella far truesight so sneaking while theyre on guard is really tougher than normal. I have brought the cyclops down to probably a cr 4-5 in terms of health and damage, but with 2 cr 2 nothics helping, this may be too much.
A friend of mine gave me good advice, that the cave should have some hazard the party of 4+1NPC could use to their advantage. So I have written that not only is the cave cramped and difficult terrain for the cyclops squeezing through every corridor, but when he tries to swing his great club in the cave, he will knock stalactites on himself, or possibly even the nothics. Either way, as much as they want to kite him outside of the cave, for the first part of combat while he is in the cave, he will suffer a health tax anytime he swings, which he gets two, so yeah. Essentially, I don't want the players to feel like I'm making the encounter baby easy so they don't tpk/lose anyone, but I am trying to level the playing field anyway I can because on paper, they are walking into a bad situation, and the combat difficulty should reflect that.
I like the stalactites idea, but i would suggest calling out or the damage that they do. That way the players have a chance to do it themselves and it will feel more like they did it instead of the monster killing itself. You could also make it a little more rescue and get out op, like a retreating combat
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The party (who is level 3) is investigating little Nothics that are spying on the castle of Kyoto. Lord was paranoid that something was happening and they found out it was these little aberrations. They were warned that there was "6 eyes, six spies" by a soothsayer. So they assumed there were 6 of them. However, when one of the nothics ran away, bloody, the party essentially sent the rogue after them while they investigated the castle, researched nothics, etc. With his movement speed, he thought he could follow the trail of blood and kill it real quick. This led to something really cool but also something that is freaking me out a little.
Rogue gets to a clearing with some trees, and is told by a large, booming voice, "Please wanderer, my leg, my leg is hurt, don't kill me" in shitty common. Rogue gets a 1 on perception as well as crap stealth as he insists he wants to move forward. Long story short, he ends up getting hit by a max range, disadvantage, nonlethal boulder by a cyclops and gets knocked down in one good roll (I had taken a dice of damage away from his boulder and greatclub but he still rolled really well).
Rogue ends up tied up in a cave and the party artificer learns as he is researching that nothics in my world like to pair with monstrous races for protection. Party realizes rogue is missing, investigates, find ransom carved into boulder (essentially don't interfere with nothics and drop off 200 PP at a nearby location.
Party is like nah and was able to trace the broken trees and giant prints back to a cave. However, even with a 3rd level mage npc (the soothsayer), and the cyclops asleep, I am worried this could end in a tpk. The cave is extremely defensible. Nothics have hella far truesight so sneaking while theyre on guard is really tougher than normal. I have brought the cyclops down to probably a cr 4-5 in terms of health and damage, but with 2 cr 2 nothics helping, this may be too much.
A friend of mine gave me good advice, that the cave should have some hazard the party of 4+1NPC could use to their advantage. So I have written that not only is the cave cramped and difficult terrain for the cyclops squeezing through every corridor, but when he tries to swing his great club in the cave, he will knock stalactites on himself, or possibly even the nothics. Either way, as much as they want to kite him outside of the cave, for the first part of combat while he is in the cave, he will suffer a health tax anytime he swings, which he gets two, so yeah. Essentially, I don't want the players to feel like I'm making the encounter baby easy so they don't tpk/lose anyone, but I am trying to level the playing field anyway I can because on paper, they are walking into a bad situation, and the combat difficulty should reflect that.
"You will be the world's strongest orphan."
I like the stalactites idea, but i would suggest calling out or the damage that they do. That way the players have a chance to do it themselves and it will feel more like they did it instead of the monster killing itself. You could also make it a little more rescue and get out op, like a retreating combat