I'm playing in an excellent homebrew campaign loosely based on the Mongoliad Series. Our level 3 party has been conscripted to fight in an arena battle. There are three fights; 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, and 3 vs 3. The first is against a martial arts expert, the second, an armored fighter and a bard, and the third is against two tough looking ladies and a tiger. We have to fight all three battles.
Our party is made up of a rune knight, aberrant mind sorcerer, psi warrior, assassin rogue, and circle of stars druid. We also have two NPCs who we can use in the arena battles, a barbarian and an npc whose class I don't know, but he holds his own with a plank of wood.
Our DM is a strategy nerd and he won't be holding back. We are allowed to use anything we have on our person in combat, and just came across a stash of healing potions, so I know he's gonna make it a challenge. In terms of strategically helpful magic items, the druid has a broom of flying, and we found a bag of beans (big explosion item) last game.
Any advice on whom to pair against whom? The only party member who has expressed interest in the 1v1 is the psi warrior, otherwise everyone has been mum when we try to talk strategy.
If your DM is a "strategy nerd", then you should also be concerned with the weather, terrain, and timing of the bouts.
Is the arena a bare sand pit, or will it change from fight to fight? Will there be different elevations, or obstacles that can be used for cover? Will you have time for a short rest between fights? Will you be allowed to buff your players before they go into their match?
If you're fighting in a sand pit with no ceiling, then the Broom of Flying is basically an instant win button, unless the opposition also has a means of flying.
At level 3, your casters have a few "save-or-suck" options against meleeists, so all they need to do is stay out of the way and not get unlucky. For example, casting Levitate on a Monk takes it out of commission for good. You can then just lob cantrips at it until it dies.
Against a Tiger, or any beast, a Druid can use spells like Animal Friendship to charm it and take it out of the fight.
Against non-flying, low level mobs, Spike Growth is super potent.
At level 3, Sleep is still very effective. (Unless your targets are notably higher level)
If you'll be stuck in a confined space with a ceiling, then you may not be able to run at all. The meleeists will close in immediately, and will start dealing massive damage.
In any case, whoever gets the initiative is going to have a massive advantage. Anything you can do to draw first blood will benefit you greatly.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hellllooooo everyone!
I'm playing in an excellent homebrew campaign loosely based on the Mongoliad Series. Our level 3 party has been conscripted to fight in an arena battle. There are three fights; 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, and 3 vs 3. The first is against a martial arts expert, the second, an armored fighter and a bard, and the third is against two tough looking ladies and a tiger. We have to fight all three battles.
Our party is made up of a rune knight, aberrant mind sorcerer, psi warrior, assassin rogue, and circle of stars druid. We also have two NPCs who we can use in the arena battles, a barbarian and an npc whose class I don't know, but he holds his own with a plank of wood.
Our DM is a strategy nerd and he won't be holding back. We are allowed to use anything we have on our person in combat, and just came across a stash of healing potions, so I know he's gonna make it a challenge. In terms of strategically helpful magic items, the druid has a broom of flying, and we found a bag of beans (big explosion item) last game.
Any advice on whom to pair against whom? The only party member who has expressed interest in the 1v1 is the psi warrior, otherwise everyone has been mum when we try to talk strategy.
If your DM is a "strategy nerd", then you should also be concerned with the weather, terrain, and timing of the bouts.
Is the arena a bare sand pit, or will it change from fight to fight? Will there be different elevations, or obstacles that can be used for cover? Will you have time for a short rest between fights? Will you be allowed to buff your players before they go into their match?
If you're fighting in a sand pit with no ceiling, then the Broom of Flying is basically an instant win button, unless the opposition also has a means of flying.
At level 3, your casters have a few "save-or-suck" options against meleeists, so all they need to do is stay out of the way and not get unlucky. For example, casting Levitate on a Monk takes it out of commission for good. You can then just lob cantrips at it until it dies.
If you'll be stuck in a confined space with a ceiling, then you may not be able to run at all. The meleeists will close in immediately, and will start dealing massive damage.
In any case, whoever gets the initiative is going to have a massive advantage. Anything you can do to draw first blood will benefit you greatly.