Rat Bastard in Need of Good Illithid Tactics!

[eXodus]

so here is the stage,

our group of reluctant heroes are trekking through a mountain in hopes of arriving in a valley that will lead them to the orc king that they hope to slay. after taking out one of his elite striketeams in a very climactic battle the leader (a orc Bbn5/Ftr6) fled the battle with only one hit point remaining.

the party will learn next session that they need to track him down as he has the magical key that will allow the group to actually get out of the mountain.

as the orc ran off he ended up being taken by a trio of mindflayers as a slave.

so our party will take on this slave, seven other standard orc slaves and this trio of flayers.

the group consists of a elf evoker11, human bbn2/ftr5/longblade4, elf paladin5/abjurer3/spellsword1, elf ftr6/abjurer2/arcane archer1, halfling rogue3/cleric7.

i have not ran flayers in 3e yet. i want this to be a good battle, full of fun.

please help me live up to the title of 'rat bastard' that these players like to throw around!

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Have the Illithids exploit your weak human tendencies to avoid harming young humanoids. Arm children with daggers and send them out in waves. Even if they can't hurt the players, they lose the ability to use area attacks, and it slows them down to give the Illithids more time to Mind Blast them. Since it's a cone, at the right range, the children will be too short to be caught in the area of effect.

It looks like your party's heavy on good Will saves-- but the Human Barbarian/Fighter is vulnerable. Try to Dominate him early on and have him tear into someone weaker: the Halfling or the Evoker.

If they down a party member, make sure not to CdG or brain eat them. They're more valuable as hostages.

Spread out. It gives you clearer lines of fire on the party, and the Evoker can dish out a lot of damage with area-effect spells. Even with your SR, you don't want to get shredded if he has a good dice day.

edit: The most important thing to remember that to Mind Flayers, slaves are cheap and easy to acquire, so it's no big deal to expend them on defending important (i.e., Illithid) units. They'll want to keep someone between themselves and the party at all times.

Have one of their bigger thralls grapple the Halfling, to get him out of the battle. Armor spikes will help counteract the Sneak Attack.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Have one of their bigger thralls grapple the Halfling, to get him out of the battle. Armor spikes will help counteract the Sneak Attack.

It's only a +2d6 Sneak Attack anyway, but remember that when grappled, you lose your Dex bonus against everyone except the person you're grappling... so the halfling wouldn't get to Sneak Attack the thrall anyway.

-Hyp.

 

[yennico]

It's only a +2d6 Sneak Attack anyway, but remember that when grappled, you lose your Dex bonus against everyone except the person you're grappling... so the halfling wouldn't get to Sneak Attack the thrall anyway.

-Hyp.

I agree with Korimyr the Rat and Hyp.

Use the grappled Hafling as a meat shield between the Mind flayers and the Evoker. The evoker will not want to roast the halfling.

If you want to scare the Halfling Player attack the Halfling while being grappled by another thrall.

Blackmail the PCs.
If the thrall has the halfling grappled, move the thrall with the grappled halfling near a Mind Flayer. The Mind Flayer could easily eat the brain of the halfling but to subdue the other party members, he demands by telepathy that the other party members must drop their weapons, shields, spells etc, if they do not want that this mind flayer eats the brain of their companion.

I see many Abjurers. This means high AC because of shield spells. The shield spell can be circumvented by moving. Attack each PC with at least two slaves from two diffent sides, so your slaves get flanking bonus and if one of the slaves is a level 1 rogue also sneak attack. The direction of the shield spell can only changed once per round, so at least the second attacker of this PC can take advantage of this fact.

Evocation spells: a good defense could be boost the reflex saves by spells or potions (cat´s grace) or magic items (gloves of dexterity, cloak of resistance). appropriate to the value of their NPC gear. The endure, resist elements or protection from elements spells (also as ring) are really usefull againts evocation spells with elemental descriptors.
Against Magic Missiles brooch of shielding.

The mind flayers spread out and use the thralls and innocent victims as meat shields in front of them.

Just my 2 cents
yennico

Edit: Evocation part added

 

[eXodus]

one problem i run into when having baddies take on the party is the paladin can bump her ac up to the low 30's and the saves for evokers fireballs are 21. not too shabby at all. to make matters worse he is kind of a rat bastard himself who would have no problem harming his own partymembers to save his own arse.

 

[Jeph]

one problem i run into when having baddies take on the party is the paladin can bump her ac up to the low 30's and the saves for evokers fireballs are 21. not too shabby at all. to make matters worse he is kind of a rat bastard himself who would have no problem harming his own partymembers to save his own arse.

Then put him in a position where he will hammer his own party members to save his ass. Then, once he's weakened the party, KO them (but don't kill them), use spells/psi to drain their Wisdom scores to 1 or 2, then Dominate them. Later, have the other PCs go after the evoker.

 

[0-hr]

The encounter should go like this

Roll Inits
All the PCs make 3 Will(17) saves or be stunned for 3d4 round.
...
Lots of desperate fighting while the fighters and other low-wis types soak up sneak attacks from minions.
...
The mind flayers are finally killed.

DM announces "Oh, those were just Astral Projections of the mind flayers anyway. So not worth any xp and they'll be back (and at full health) in 30 minutes - and every 30 minutes after that until you are all dead.

Players quit and the DM has the rest of the evening free to play video games.

 

[yennico]

one problem i run into when having baddies take on the party is the paladin can bump her ac up to the low 30's

She uses the spells shield and mage armor to bump her AC to the low of 30´s
1. She casts the spell while wearing armor. Spell failure checks
2. Shield is not a +7 to each side of the char. Use advantage of this.
3. Split the fights: You can use some low level bag guy (the PCs do not know that) first. The Paladin will cast her spells. Later that day (after the duration of the shield spell ) they meet further low level bad guy. Perhaps she will cast another shield spell... At the end of the day the meet the really big bad guys and perhaps she has no spells left
She is a Abj 3 , certainly she will not have a high int. She maximal can cast 5 shield spells/ day (if she uses all her spell slots without any bonus spell by high int)
4. If the bad guys win the ini and she has not cast her spells, charge her perhaps also using the smite good ability if they have this ability
5. Surprise the party by using invisibility. Spot, listen are not class skills for every class First attack of these bad guys are charge combined with power attack.... perhaps with a two-handed weapon

and the saves for evokers fireballs are 21. not too shabby at all. to make matters worse he is kind of a rat bastard himself who would have no problem harming his own partymembers to save his own arse.

21 = 10 + 2 (spell focus evocation) + 6 (Int) + 3 (spell level)
It could be worser if he uses the heighten spell feat

If he always use the spell fireball, he will be known to use this spell. So his enemies can take advantage of this knowledge. (potions, spells, items with resistance agianst fire)

Fireball is very deadly in small closed rooms.... If he cast fireball in this room fireball, his companion will certainly take damage.. They will be not amused

Let somebody of the bad guys charge the evoker. In melee combat he certainly will not cast fireball.

Delay the action of a bad guy who has a higher ini than the evoker to this point: if the evoker starts to cast I will charge him and attack him with my melee weapon.

Place sometimes a bad guy near the evoker and do nothing (delay his action) The evoker will not know why this guy does not start to attack him so certainly will also not cast a spell while fearing the delayed action of this guy

If the evoker does not have any wands, etc. use the summon monster. Several flying Arrowhawks will delay their actions to the point: if the evoker starts to cast a spell, the arrowhawks will use their lightning breath attack.

Just my 2 cents
yennico

 

[daemonslye]

First of all we should examine the required EL of the encounter:

THE PARTY:

(CR11+CR11+CR9+CR9)=CR10 for a challenging encounter
(4xCR10)+CR10[the halfling]=CR12 for a challenging encounter

Assuming you are driving for a slightly more difficult encounter,
I would shoot for around CR13-14;

This can be done through a combo of environmental challenges
and monster challenges including monster pre-knowledge:

THE ENCOUNTER:

Environment:

A short system of caves designed by the Illithids using slaves;

Some factors to consider: Steam (concealment), Slippery floors
(balance checks based on movement speed), dripping slime (for
ambience or add some of the deadlier variety for spice); darkness;

The room: constricted entrance way, round, with many exits
and a high ceiling cloaked in darkness; secret doors that open
behind the party;

Monsters:

(3) Illithids = CR11
(1) Big Orc = CR11/CR8 (assuming half hit points)
(7) Orcs = CR4
Environmental Factors

Total = ~CR13-14

Setup:

Flayers know the party is coming due to their conversations with the big orc;
Flayers are all astrally projected (they will fight to the "death")
The party does not suspect Illithids;
The dripping slime is opaque (foiling invis - "rat bastard technique 1 (RBT1)")
Steam from fissures grants 10% miss for concealment & 20%-50% when near a fissure
Flayers have interrogated the orc regarding the party's tactics (ie. flying
wizards, sneaking halflings, fireballs, archers, marching order, magic items, etc.)
The orcs have been slaves for some time
All of the orcs and mind flayers wear similar hooded robes;

Tactics:

The flayers would likely start by attempting to bargain for the key;
An orc would be waiting (unrobed) in an entrance corridor and controlled
by a nearby illithid (behind a rather thick wooden door); While bargaining,
the illithid will scan the party using detect thoughts; Likely the paladin
will detect dim evil around the room and faint auras behind a door with
no handle; if line of effect is needed for telepathy, a small barred window will
be present; while bargaining, a charm monster or three may be used against
the barbarian (but dont tell the player if successful - make sure to have
the party pre-roll their saves for detect thoughts and charms before you start
the encounter to preserve surprise - assume that a successful detect thoughts
roll will result in the player hearing mosquito like noises - none of this
"caressing of your mind" business);

The flayers will try to get the party to separate. "Two of your number may
accompany me forward with the (magic, gold, whatever), the rest must wait
here." Likely, this will not work and if so, the orc will attempt to
drink a potion that will save it (actually some deadly poison - RBT2);
Clues for the party may be that the orc uses larger words than normal (but its vocal cords still sound orcish).

Then it is off to the fight! After many twists and turns leading deeper
into the mist and slime, the party approaches a room (described above);
There are many exits spaced about the room each filled with a hooded
dude. Concealed by the mist are fissures in the floor waiting to swallow
up the unwary; The flayers float in the darkness above spaced well away
from each other (vines hang allowing them to move slowly) DC25 to spot?;
If you want to
bump the CR into astronomical levels, a couple of the orcs have pots of
green slime to splash on the charging (whoops make a reflex save -
its slippery!) fighters; The big orc opens the secret door (or if made
from painted leaves, just charges through, from BEHIND the party with the
intent to grapple the mage; If anyone was charmed, they are ordered to
grapple (the halfling?); And so it goes.

Wrap up:

Basically, the flayers best chance is to blast then blast then blast, etc.
Forget anything else; If only one is left and there are multiple stunned
people around, then go for the "surrender or I eat his brain tactic"; However,
this takes so long that it is unlikely to work; In either case, when the
flayers are "killed" and they awake in their sanctuary, they will be most
interested to repay the party at a later date... With a few of their friends
and accompanied by the Master...

Hope I did not make too many rule mistakes above and you guys have a
good time either way. It is easy to delete environmental hazards to make
this an easier encounter.

Comments:

I have not found anything showing Illithids have domination - but I am not
looking in the psionics handbook;

 

[mmu1]

It's really hard to set up a climactic encounter with Illithids - something that can Plane Shift at will isn't going to stick around if things are going badly.

Also, unless the Illithids use good tactics, your party will (depending on the abilities and levels of the orcish slaves) easily wipe them out with melee and AOE spells...

But if they do use good tactics, you have another problem, because there are very few 11th-12th level parties than can stand up to being ambushed by three levitating Illithids using Mind Blast and forcing three will saves per round after using their slaves as bait to make sure the party wastes resources.

My suggestion would be to drop the number of Illithids you throw at them, but increase the number (and quality) of the thralls. It's a lot easier to design an encounter that's both exciting and survivable that way.

Edit: Astral Projection is a viable tactic, (and makes the ecnounter impossible, effectively) but only if you assume that the Illithids have been using it from the very start - if they really are on the Material plane, then Plane-Shifting somewhere else and then projecting back to the Material just to fight the PCs might not be practical because of the 5 - 500 mile error inherent in using Plane Shift.