Assess these encounters for a 4th level party of...

[rickyh]

Assess these encounters for a 4th level party of...a Wizard Conjurer, A Necromancer (per Black Libram) and a Thief.

So the apprentice Necromancer wants to become a lich at some point and is from a lowly house in the Drow Underworld and not making much of her life. She and the Conjurer are going to try and free the Thief (who knows her way to the surface) and escape the city.

On the way from the city to the surface I am having them face off against a drow patrol out to catch them. A trap with falling rocks. There will also be an encounter with a bridge and an underground river. Some giant ants (optional, they can allow them to cross and the ants will do so peacefully) A medium spider and two small spiders (another optional encounter the pcs will know about before hand. Some kobolds as they get near the surface. And finally at the surface exit/entrance an Ogre and a couple of kobolds.

Summary

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Players - No: 3 - Level: 4. Thief, Necromancer, Wizard

Ants:

No. Workers 8 at 4hp

No. Solders 2 at 9 hp

exp: 92

20 gp gem

Drow Patrol:

Leader: 15 hp - 57 eps

2 archers - 8 hp (shortbow) -24 eps

1 Skirmisher type 8 hp -12 eps

93 ep total. Treature 28gp

1 medium spider at 15 hp - 96 exp

3 small spiders 36 eps - 2 hp each

132 ep total. 32 silver. Potion of cure light

Ogre 22hp

2 kobolds 4 hp

total 146 eps - treasures 122 gp

Kobolds:

7 at 4hp each

63 eps. 67 coppers and a couple of shortbows

Trap 2d6 + 2 falling rock damage.

100exp.

Reason I'm asking for an assessment, is this is my first time playing C&C in sometime.
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"Knowledge, logic, reason, and common sense serve better than a dozen rule books."

-- E. Gary Gygax

[alcyone]

If you already know what the PCs are, just play it solo a few times.

If you post the PC stats and tactical map info, maybe others of us who are bored can do the same.

Was talking to Go0gleplex about this in chat; when assessing baddie difficulty, you need to consider number appearing, number of attacks, possible damage in one attack, and HD, probably in that order. The more attacks, the better chance the PCs are going to get caught standing there taking blows until their init comes up.

Be sure you are ok with the damage any one attack/trap can do. Are you ok with it killing one or more players outright? If it's the sort of trap they trigger because they are stupid, go for it. If it's the sort they trigger for not being clever, I'd hold back a bit.

The party in this case are 2 smooshy types and 1 not-so-crunchy. At 4th level the smooshys can probably cast spells long enough if they choose them well. The thief is going to have a hard time getting the drop on anyone without a fighter to soak up some of the hurt. 3 characters without a healer are not going to do well on subsequent encounters; they really should seek a cleric or stock up on some other sort of healing, or at least take these encounters a couple at a time with some visits to HQ between.
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Sir Aergraith Aethelmar of Cyrswud, CaCS,OotF

[Relaxo]

Looks tough.

Good though.

It's more about narrative and making it exciting. It's ok for the PCs to flee every encounter if they still escape and/or make it to the surface. You can't kill everything. Just make it fun and remember YOU are the rule book. If they don't botch horribly and get a TPK in the first two encounters, I'm always comfortable fudging things to promote the fun.

Now, consider the patrol... one of those fighters gets what the party is doing and decides to defect and turn on the patrol and wants to leave w/ the pcs! instant fighter...

also instant paranoia... can they trust him?

Maybe don't decide right away. (evil CK laugh)

Aergraith makes valid points, if the PCs lose initiative and are outnumbered, it can get ugly fast. (This however, is always true)

[serleran]

It is generally not possible to predict the result of random dice rolls and the decisions of the players... but, if the monsters are played to their best, the party could be in for a serious beat down if they don't react well and respond with intelligence. Drow, especially, can be very nasty opponents.

However, a party that thinks before they do something should be able to defeat these encounters, it becoming easier with magic or flaming oil.
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Serl's Corner

[Breakdaddy]

Yeah it's a doable, if tough, run for the PCs. The big CK not-so-secret is that if you need to you can just go ahead and adjust hit points of the baddies on the fly if you see it's going badly for the PCs because you overestimated their power. If it's going badly for them because they did something ignorant or through bad luck then KILL THEM ALL AND LET CORTHAIN SORT THEM OUT!!!11!111111

[CKDad]

It's also difficult to assess without knowing what kind of equipment and spells your party has. If the wizard has a wand of magic missiles with even a few charges, for example, things get a lot easier for the party.

It also depends a lot on your players. If they're the kind who don't know any tactics beyond frontal assault then they'll be in for a rough time. Given the classes I suspect that's not the case though. A stealthy party (or one that runs away and is comfortable with running away) will fare much better.

BTW, will the thief have access to the drow sleep poison? That will open up a lot of options for the party - for example, if she would have a chance ambush the patrol leader and put him to sleep, that will shift the odds a lot. Of course, if the patrol has it and the initiative rolls go poorly, lights out in one or two rounds is a distinct possibility.

Otherwise, the folks up-thread have addressed the other questions I'd have. From the information given it certainly looks challenging but not impossible, as long as the party has some chance to either hide or run away.
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"I don't wanna be remembered as the guy who died because he underestimated the threat posed by a monkey."