Most difficult encounters?

kreatyve

I realize that everyone is geared differently, and each class has it's on strengths and weaknesses, but what are the most difficult to kill foundry encounters? I'm wanting to make an "Elite" quest, but I honestly don't know what the hardest encounters might be.

Also, can you have the mobs just standing around until the person walking by is right on top of them? Meaning, change the distance that a class draws aggro? Perhaps make something an NPC or non-combative til the player gets close? Evil, I know, but just an idea I had.

eldarth

From Authors Anvil Encounter Matrix

"Solo" monsters are the toughest we can use - 7 health "segments"
Pick an encounter that has a "Solo" monster in it (one of the "hard" encounters).

You can also use "Ambush" special AI nodes (1 per creature) and the creature will attempt to "hide" at or near that spot and ambush PCs when approached.




[TH="align: left"]Encounter Name[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Racial Class[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Attack Type[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Role[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Difficulty[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Weapon Type[/TH]


Plaguechanged Maw
Abolithic Sovereignty
Mixed
Brute
Solo
Punch


Shocktroop Devil
Ashmadai
Melee
Brute
Solo
Sword and Shield


Magma Brute
Fire
Mixed
Brute
Solo
Fire


Fomorian Witch
Fomorian
Ranged
Controller
Solo
Magical


Fomorian Warrior
Fomorian
Melee
Skirmisher
Solo
One Handed Mace


Fomorian Totemist
Fomorian
Ranged
Controller
Solo
Magical


Hulk
Foulspawn
Melee
Brute
Solo
Magical


Thoon Hulk
Mindflayer
Mixed
Brute
Solo
Arm Blades


Ogre Savage
Ogre
Melee
Brute
Solo
Two Handed Club

kreatyve

Thank you, Eldarth. That's exactly what I was looking for.

orangefiree

eldarth wrote: »

From Authors Anvil Encounter Matrix

"Solo" monsters are the toughest we can use - 7 health "segments"
Pick an encounter that has a "Solo" monster in it (one of the "hard" encounters).

You can also use "Ambush" special AI nodes (1 per creature) and the creature will attempt to "hide" at or near that spot and ambush PCs when approached.




[TH="align: left"]Encounter Name[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Racial Class[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Attack Type[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Role[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Difficulty[/TH]
[TH="align: left"]Weapon Type[/TH]


Plaguechanged Maw
Abolithic Sovereignty
Mixed
Brute
Solo
Punch


Shocktroop Devil
Ashmadai
Melee
Brute
Solo
Sword and Shield


Magma Brute
Fire
Mixed
Brute
Solo
Fire


Fomorian Witch
Fomorian
Ranged
Controller
Solo
Magical


Fomorian Warrior
Fomorian
Melee
Skirmisher
Solo
One Handed Mace


Fomorian Totemist
Fomorian
Ranged
Controller
Solo
Magical


Hulk
Foulspawn
Melee
Brute
Solo
Magical


Thoon Hulk
Mindflayer
Mixed
Brute
Solo
Arm Blades


Ogre Savage
Ogre
Melee
Brute
Solo
Two Handed Club

Don't forget the rimefire golem. (Thayan encounters only. Winterforge ones are only elites.), iron golem, and bone golem from the Thayan encounters.

ladykathleen55

Nice list. It will help when I am creating Act III

kithlis

orangefiree wrote: »

Don't forget the rimefire golem. (Thayan encounters only. Winterforge ones are only elites.), iron golem, and bone golem from the Thayan encounters.

Yep. I think Eldarth was pulling from the Authors Anvil Encounter Matrix - really great for finding stuff, but not updated since Mod 2. So the Thayan groups are missing.

mrgiggles651

If you want to create a foundry for elite characters you are going to have to stack encounters, no "hard encounter" is hard for elitely gearscored characters, my CW routinely takes no damage from encounters unless I am careless. And that is with an 11k gs, gs goes much higher than that. My gwf takes damage, but heals so fast he's at full hit points without taking any potions after defeating lair bosses in dread ring, even Jawbone. His gs is around 10.5k.

kreatyve

With a 50 encounter limit, and the size of my map, it's going to be hard to stack anything in the numbers that I wish to. The project is currently on hold due to teleporter issues anyway.

antonkyle

kreatyve wrote: »

With a 50 encounter limit, and the size of my map, it's going to be hard to stack anything in the numbers that I wish to. The project is currently on hold due to teleporter issues anyway.

It's worth noting that any map can be duplicated and then the encounters refreshed. There is no reason why a map transition must be attached to a change of map. What I mean by this is that if you were doing an arena style quest for example. Half way through you could add a map transition attached to refreshment or something. spawn in the same location on a duplicate map and then start over with the encounters and what not.

I can't help with portals though. My own experience is that it takes much in the way of fine tuning in 3d edit mode and is never perfect. I actually think the invisible clicky one is the best working portal and you can attach it to a fake portal for the looks if you want.

orangefiree

It might be worth noting that it is possible (Though to do this, you need to have a separate map just for each boss.) to use guard mob timers to make some "adds" for a boss encounter. I have one in my campaign's part five. (Pretty easy, but it uses the basic mechanics.) If you are looking to make the challenge in the bosses and not the trash mobs, this might be interesting to use.
If you want to see the example, I would be willing to release a preview of the quest for a few minutes as the boss fight itself is finished. (You can do them a lot harder then my example, it is just an example of the result and not the actual difficulty maximum.)

myrmecoleon

orangefiree wrote: »

It might be worth noting that it is possible (Though to do this, you need to have a separate map just for each boss.) to use guard mob timers to make some "adds" for a boss encounter. I have one in my campaign's part five. (Pretty easy, but it uses the basic mechanics.) If you are looking to make the challenge in the bosses and not the trash mobs, this might be interesting to use.

I did this in the Chartreuse Halls - it's a decent effect, and you can make a number of things trigger off the timer (e.g. adds, effects, traps, even dropping terrain). The difficulty with this is it really falls apart for groups, because those groups will typically be able to kill the "boss" before all the timers trigger (one timer might be short enough for this not to matter, but certainly multiple sequential timers are likely to run into this problem). This might also have a problem with solo scaling later on, if there's gear creep. It's definitely a worthwhile effect, though.

orangefiree

myrmecoleon wrote: »

I did this in the Chartreuse Halls - it's a decent effect, and you can make a number of things trigger off the timer (e.g. adds, effects, traps, even dropping terrain). The difficulty with this is it really falls apart for groups, because those groups will typically be able to kill the "boss" before all the timers trigger (one timer might be short enough for this not to matter, but certainly multiple sequential timers are likely to run into this problem). This might also have a problem with solo scaling later on, if there's gear creep. It's definitely a worthwhile effect, though.

Yes, I ran into that issue during my first use of it where my rogue killed the boss before the timers triggered. (It was very interesting to deal with on my 6k gear score cleric though.) If you add enough guards in the timer room though, it can happen pretty fast though. Oh, and expect a review on "Charteuse Halls" very soon.
Edit: Well, I guess I can't review your quest as soon as I would like to, I can't find it in the search.

myrmecoleon

If you'd like to take a look, it's NW-DGZ9J6Y2M (only searchable under the Best tab because it's so old!). Be warned, though - it's very bare bones and I mostly used it to test out some ideas with timers (about 14 in all!), so the storyline is, frankly, tacked on and there are a few encounters which really aren't well thought through.

eldarth

myrmecoleon wrote: »

I did this in the Chartreuse Halls - it's a decent effect, and you can make a number of things trigger off the timer (e.g. adds, effects, traps, even dropping terrain). The difficulty with this is it really falls apart for groups, because those groups will typically be able to kill the "boss" before all the timers trigger

I did something similar in Arena of Calimport -- only I "protected" my "boss" until they were defeated -- much like the Dread Ring skirmish.

celantra

kithlis wrote: »

Yep. I think Eldarth was pulling from the Authors Anvil Encounter Matrix - really great for finding stuff, but not updated since Mod 2. So the Thayan groups are missing.

Well I just may have to get I there and do an update. I was mistakenly told that there where not any encounter updates. Ill take a look soon as I get a chance.