Q-man
02-15-2011, 09:00 PM
I'm curious if any other DM's have had issues with Controller classes in their campaigns. There's nothing wrong with the role's mechanics, when played properly they can be extremely effective. The specific problem I'm having is that they suck the life out of my encounters.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about: The encounter I designed pit the group against an undead mage, which was a solo controller monster. The room had several prisoners of the undead mage which he could drain their life essence to make his attacks more powerful, as a minor action he would drain the captive and add +2d8 necrotic damage to his attacks. The idea was that the undead mage would slide around the room draining the captives and blasting the party, using his controller powers to keep him out of trouble. It seemed like it would be a lot of fun; a mobile battle and a compelling role play reason to pin down their enemy.
Enter the controller, in this case a Seeker. His first attack is Grappling Spirits which slows the target and denies him shifts. My undead mage hadn't even gotten to the first captive and my plan had been ripped apart. With the mage unable to move none of his abilities were very useful and there was no way for him to reach the captives. The battle immediately became a standoff where the party just rolled dice until the mage was dead.
Here's another example: The party is facing off against a bunch of Lurker and Skirmisher monsters. The interesting part was that lining the walls were a series of gaping portals which the monsters could use to teleport through, to immediately get from one wall to another. The idea was to have the monsters bounce from the front lines of the party to its softer back lines to threaten the cloth wearers.
Enter the controller, this time its a Wizard. First attack is the Visions of Avarice power, which creates an illusion that can be use to drag all monsters in a burst toward the illusion. If that wasn't enough the power could be sustained and reused every turn. The end result being that the monsters could never get to the portals to bounce around and the fight quickly became dice rolls until the monsters were dead.
I can't fault either the classes or the players; they did exactly what they should have done to give their party a massive advantage in the fight. What I'm curious about is if anyone's found ways to work around this problem.
There's two angles I'd like to take with this.
1) Either encounter types that still allow the controller to do their thing, but don't become boring because of it.
2) How to express to the players that the controller just made a brilliant move and removed the teeth from these foes. Preferably without blatantly saying that and ending the combat early, something more in character.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about: The encounter I designed pit the group against an undead mage, which was a solo controller monster. The room had several prisoners of the undead mage which he could drain their life essence to make his attacks more powerful, as a minor action he would drain the captive and add +2d8 necrotic damage to his attacks. The idea was that the undead mage would slide around the room draining the captives and blasting the party, using his controller powers to keep him out of trouble. It seemed like it would be a lot of fun; a mobile battle and a compelling role play reason to pin down their enemy.
Enter the controller, in this case a Seeker. His first attack is Grappling Spirits which slows the target and denies him shifts. My undead mage hadn't even gotten to the first captive and my plan had been ripped apart. With the mage unable to move none of his abilities were very useful and there was no way for him to reach the captives. The battle immediately became a standoff where the party just rolled dice until the mage was dead.
Here's another example: The party is facing off against a bunch of Lurker and Skirmisher monsters. The interesting part was that lining the walls were a series of gaping portals which the monsters could use to teleport through, to immediately get from one wall to another. The idea was to have the monsters bounce from the front lines of the party to its softer back lines to threaten the cloth wearers.
Enter the controller, this time its a Wizard. First attack is the Visions of Avarice power, which creates an illusion that can be use to drag all monsters in a burst toward the illusion. If that wasn't enough the power could be sustained and reused every turn. The end result being that the monsters could never get to the portals to bounce around and the fight quickly became dice rolls until the monsters were dead.
I can't fault either the classes or the players; they did exactly what they should have done to give their party a massive advantage in the fight. What I'm curious about is if anyone's found ways to work around this problem.
There's two angles I'd like to take with this.
1) Either encounter types that still allow the controller to do their thing, but don't become boring because of it.
2) How to express to the players that the controller just made a brilliant move and removed the teeth from these foes. Preferably without blatantly saying that and ending the combat early, something more in character.