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9 months ago ::
Sep 27, 2012 - 12:58PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Mar 13, 2008
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I'm set to run Lair Assault: Kill the Wizard on Saturday and I was wondering if people could give me some pointers. It'll be my first time DMing a Lair Assault and I want to give the players the challenge they deserve. Killing them without overly obvious focus fire is a bonus  Spoiler:
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Couple of questions:
1. Has anyone actually seen a party survive these things? It's probably just because it's my first time DMing one of these, but damn.
2. Does anyone have a good configuration for the Brute squad and some tactics to share that would make it very interesting for the players?
Heroic Dungeon Master
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9 months ago ::
Sep 27, 2012 - 3:44PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Jun 12, 2009
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Not to sound too much like a villian of some sort but.....
Attack downed PCs. Yep, use your valuable resources to kill them. No chance of them being revived by a troublesome leader, and you might get an emotional reaction, in the form of another PC running over to save the downed PC, against his better tactical judgement.
We summoned a devil once. All we used was the D&D books, too. It was pretty kwazy.
God of Arrested Development and Intelligence 
Resident Left Hand of Stalin and Banana Stand Grandstander
Pie-Cooling-On-A-Windowsill of the House of Trolls
In the morning HK'll be sober but you'll still be a meatbag.
I know I misspell "Danke" in my posts. It's an inside joke.
"Ten cents gets you nuts." -George Michael
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''Being president is like running a cemetery: you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening.''
—Bill Clinton
Marketing and design are two different things. For instance the snuggy was designed for people in wheel chairs and marketed to people that are too incompetent to operate a blanket.
You are not a moral man. There are not enough middle fingers in the world for you.
Why do I get a silly PG-13 man giggle going everytime I see Fist Of The Forest ?
When she was 8 years old, yeah, yeah she was. Sicko. And we all know you only like Harry Potter cuz of what a huge Equus fan you are. 
How do you know about that? I only told one person.
Well, it's like this: Marie gets around.
I do not understand. I can't give a game to a friend?
You can, but only once. That friend can't give it to anyone else. The holy corporation has spoken. Stop complaining and give them all your money.
But how will they know?
I do not play video games.
then why do you care? 
Why do you care that I care?
i'm curious
You are? Cool! Here is a hornet's nest. Stick your [redacted] in it to see what happens.
And do not call me a Yank. I am a Québecois, basically your better.
I heard samsung is making shoes that are making you run faster too.
Liar. Hipsters don't run. It's too mainstream.
Actually, Santa just didn't like you. However, you weren't on the Naughty List, so he had to give you something "better" than coal.
I'd take coal. Heating your house is expesive, and engery cost arn't going down.
Mabey if i beat enough homeless people, i won't have to be cold this year. 
"Heroes"...I wish I had those. I remember in my first-ever campaign one PC went around shootin all the unconscious baddies in the head to gain Dark Side Points...
Whaaaaaat?!??
Wow...way to waste perfectly good potential slaves.
Er...no wait I mean..uh...something not evil!
(Quotes screwed up on the next one, won't give the poster's name. It's in the Best Lines thread on the D&D forum)
First, an experience from a game I played in a few years back. Our DM didn't like 3.5 as a whole but liked parts of it. So he hands us a big ass rules packet for his modified FR campaign, complete with quotes from important NPC's on the front. I can't remember most of the HRs, just that some how gods like Cyric and Bhaal existed at the same time, despite the obvious problems there. In the end the game became a problem more because of the railroading than the HRs, but it ended with this classic line, after our ranger tried to disarm the strange woman following us WITH HIS BOW: DM: You just killed (insert random noble sounding name here) JP: Was she important? Jack: Dude, she's quoted on the front of the rules packet!
"Why in the wide,wide, world of all things irrational would I help you?
-Daniel Jackson
"Fun will now commence."
-Seven of Nine
"Excellent."
-Mr. Burns.
Whey is a crotch.
Cut the last encounter on your way out after dealing with the Darth. He's the BBEG. Treat him as such. Play up that Darth Revan is THAT much of a badarse. When the shuttle landed, I had no less than 13 JEDI MASTERS step off the shuttle. The PCs were slack-jawed. After the meetup with Bastila (as she's carrying Revan's body), only TWO jedi masters remained with her. Let me tell you, the player whining about not getting to fight Revan himself shut up pretty quickly when he saw that.
There's so much you can do with insanity, especially when it has alot of resources.
1. Cleric cast protection from fire on Tank.
2. Tank goes in and get surrounded by enemies.
3. Wizard cast fireball and blows them up.
4. ???
5. Profit
I go by the saying," If it ain't friendly fire then it's not working."
And the greatest post moderation of all time...
I gave that (Content Removed) a to-scale Lego replica. (Content Removed) love to-scale Lego replicas.
(ORC_Cerberus: Edited - Vulgarity is against the Code of Conduct)
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9 months ago ::
Sep 27, 2012 - 3:52PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Aug 19, 2007
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1. The first time? A decently-optimized party can probably do it with a bit of luck, but the odds go up after that since they know what they're facing.
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I am the Magic Man.
(Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.)
I am the Lawnmower Man.
(I AM GOD HERE!)
I am the Skull God.
(Koo Koo Ka Choo)
There are reasons they call me Mad...
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9 months ago ::
Sep 27, 2012 - 4:09PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Apr 14, 2010
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I've only ran the very first LA twice, but my experience is that you won't need to try too hard to kill them if the group is even moderately optimized.
Against optimizers you pull dirty tricks: kill folks, delay until monsters can do an awesome one-two combo together, make good use of hazardous terrain and 'gotcha' effects, that type of stuff. It's Lair Assault, you're allowed to do so.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 28, 2012 - 10:42AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Jun 15, 2004
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Killing them without overly obvious focus fire is a bonus
Spreading the damage around at first is actually optional. The party will initially have healing, which tends to be more efficient if used on a downed PC (since negative HP's disappear when healing is used).
Has anyone actually seen a party survive these things?
Yes. Usually on the 3rd time through.
anyone have a good configuration for the Brute squad
The last option (option 6) is the toughest configuration.
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9 months ago ::
Sep 29, 2012 - 11:20AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Mar 13, 2008
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So I DM'd it and I fried my players quite efficiently. The party heavily underestimated the Lair Assault and went into it without the foreknowledge that it would only be one large encounter with no short rests. This meant they didn't optimize appropriately. They also didn't do a lot of party optimization, which didn't make things easier for them and they were with only four. Spoiler:
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They did manage to enter the dungeon quite easily (never seen a Nail of Sealing used so efficiently), by locking the Apprentice in the bedroom with all of them and the Iron Hounds out of the bedroom. However, inside the dungeon my mistake was rolling for the configuration, which ended up being 6. I probably shouldv'e gone with the configuration of Spoiler:
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all Ape Demons, instead of the one with two extra Elites , considering the party, but it was my first time and I underestimated the Lair Assault as well. They ended up using interesting stall tactics, but the end was inevitable and two PC's turned to ashes. But everyone had a blast and they figured they could make a way better party for next time. I'll be waiting to DM that as well 
Heroic Dungeon Master
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