modifying a battle encounter

[Braininthejar]

Long story short: I am in the process of making Baldur's Gate into a campaign. The party is at the end of the city chapter and they are going to go creative, which means the battle against Sarevok's acolytes won't go as planned. I need to modify the encounter.

The party: two druids, a blaster, a bunch of non-caster NPCs. (they get the fun of blowing stuff up, I get the fun of RPing Minsc)

The original story: In the game, the party infiltrates (or just barges into) the large 5 story house containing the HQ of the Iron Throne trading company. At the top, they can get the info that will push the campaign forward, but not before meeting a bunch of fanatics that Sarevok left there  to kill the party when they inevitably arrive.

Planned enemy set-up: Level 8: a fighter (halberd tripper), a ranger (archer - with a heavy crossbow enchanted to reload itself so he can full attack with it) a bard (inspire courage) a rogue (spams invisibility potions) a wizard (close combat : self buffs + trollshape) a wizard (illusionist)
The enemy has used some divinations so they know the party is coming sometimes this week and they know their typical strategy ( which is to stay away from the battle, invisible if possible, spamming summoned animals faster than the enemy can kill them and blasting anyone that might counter this tactic. They also use animal companions to pinpoint invisible foes) - the illusionist will use that last trick himself, using his bat familiar.

The fun begins: A large part of the fun in this campaign comes from watching how the players can derail the original plot. In this case, the party main decision maker is a druid, who doesn't care about politics. Her attitude can be summed up as "You are a rich merchant, the city's apex predator. I can respect that. But now you have attacked my pack, so I will torch your nest". And that is exactly what she is going to do. Of course, a large stone building is hard to set on fire - so what she is going to do is fly there in the middle of the night, summon a bunch of thoqquas on the roof and have them tunnel downwards through the walls. The rest of the team and summons are to wait outside and kill anyone who tries to get out.

Now the campaign-sensitive info I can get them in a different ways, but a final fight of the chapter should be more interesting than watching giant eagles/hippogriffs/dire wolverines flank and kill the villains as they rush out of their lair.

So, what can the acolytes do to put up a fight in this unexpected situation? I have a couple of ideas already but I'd like to hear yours.

[sirpercival]

Hmm... can the bad guys get a casting of Forbiddance?  Just pay for it.  It'll take out the Thoqquas quickly.

[Braininthejar]

Possible. there are priests in the city who can cast that.  But that would:

1 block the stuff I planned to get the party the papers (simultanous infiltration by a third party)

2 create a feeling that I am specifically countering their cool idea because it spoils my encounter. Which I wouldn't like to do since it really is cool. It would be like giving the enemy wizard a scroll of mass fly.

[sirpercival]

Well, either way, the Thoqquas have a +2 Will save, so the illusionist should have a field day with them.  I mean... Color Spray and they're unconscious.  Can the Bard be a silverbrow human and take DFI?  That way the fighting crew are dealing extra cold damage if the Thoqqua go down, and it's a natural choice for a bard to make (not tailoring against the party).

[Braininthejar]

Will a color spray hit them at all? The plan is for them to stay in the walls (they aren't there to attack anyone, just melt stuff as they go - at their speed they should each leave a line of red hot rock all the way from the roof to the ground floor before the summoning ends.)

[sirpercival]

How thick are the walls?  Stone walls aren't likely more than 5 feet thick, and these are Medium creatures so the walls shouldn't block LoE.

Another thing is, are these NPCs really not watching the roof?  That's rather arrogant/stupid...

[Braininthejar]

They have set an alarm spell there, so they will instantly know that the expected intruders have arrived. Its just that they expect the intruders to actually try to get in. Rushing up to the roof the moment the alarm is triggered would have them fighting druids under open sky, something they don't plan on doing.

[kurashu]

If they know the party likes to spam summons, why wouldn't they prep some sort of anti-summon/conjuration? Yes, you are specifically shutting down their favorite tactic, but in this case the enemies know what awaits them if they do nothing.

[Braininthejar]

They definitely will have something to dispel/dismiss the summons. They are more likely to use it on combat summons though. (with thoqqua, they have exactly one round to recognise a line of heat spreading down the wall for what it is and act on the knowledge - on its next move it will pass the floor level.)

Other possible counter-tactics I have come up with include:
- having some illusions ran out of the building first, either taking the heat for one round or confusing the ambushers (by looking like innocent civillians) .
- using invisibility on some of their members, allowing them to bypass the summons and make contact with the actual enemy (though the animal companions will probably intercept them)
- until the bard is silenced, the trollshaped wizard will probably be able to just rip through stuff in his way - bad for him, as it will attract a lot of attention, but it will force the party to deal with the threat immidiately, giving the illusionist another round of battlefield control.
- using the bat familiar to find the invisible casters, allowing the acolytes to attack the enemies that actually matter.

EDIT: going to the mountains for 2 weeks. I will check the thread once I am back

[kitep]

A Protection From Evil/Good/Law/Chaos spell will stop a summoned creature from attacking with its natural weapons - ie, the Thoqqua can't use their slam attacks.