Fate of the Norns

Here is my party that is starting their saga next Friday:
1 Enchanter Galdr
1 Eater of Eyes Ulfhednar
1 Rager Ufhednar
1 Death Dancer Maiden of Ratatosk
1 Wanderer Skald

I'm starting to notice that Spiritual damage and Possession is annihilating them. They are getting concerned that Spiritual damage and Possession are broken. I'm playing both aspects by the book, and had to work to hold myself back to not just take over the whole party.

Also, I was advised to make a combat with larger numbers of weaker things, and match the party level with the encounter, I've tried that, and they all still steam roll the combat. And then I switch to using spiritual damage to make it a challenge, and they don;t stand a chance. I'm so confused by this and I'm worried it's going to drive the players away.
I can post their actives and passives if that will help.

I don't to kill this game for them, nor make it impossible for me to oppose them. I feel like this could become either D&d 1st edition, or D&D 2nd edition.

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Wise in measure let each man be,
but let him not wax too wise;
for never the happiest of men is he
who knows much of many things.

The Hávamál, verse 54

Spiritual damage is delicate to work with, as is mental damage. without some defense there, it's extremely lethal.

up the power of your guys, but maintain the number. don't be afraid to hammer them with physical damage

My advice is to use everything in small doses. There are so many ways to interact (intentional design of the system) with another combatant, that everything should be sprinkled with equal measure.

Have a necromancer at the back gating Seith Aberrations, while warriors keep her protected. The players get to see their PF and Parry work well against the physical attacks, but they know that they need to break through sooner rather than later in order to deal with the Spiritual damage source.

Think of the following as a good checklist of effects, and try to use every one before you go back and use something again. Variety adds fun, and puts forth interesting decisions rather than just crunching numbers.

- P damage
- M damage
- S damage
- Degeneration
- Blind
- Impeded
- Vulnerable
- Aura
- Taunt
- Rage opponents
- Shroud opponents
- Area effects
- Range-ray effects
- Ranged combat
- Melee combat
- Swallow (effect)
- Super mobile opponents
- Mounted opponents
- Hindering terrain
- High Healing opponents with Stitch Kindred

You can also add more variety by introducing variable combat terrain. Sometimes make it close quarters, other times wide open. Play with light as well, making areas which are visible, and others that are complete darkness... it's Fimbulwinter after all!

A lot of RPGs have interactions limited only damage, but here you get a lot more options for interactions.

Remember to reward them good team work. They shouldn't feel punished for great synergies between builds. It just means that you need to bring your A-game, and we're here to help.

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https://twitter.com/avalkauskas
https://www.patreon.com/fateofthenorns

Also I started the same kind of way as you did with dweller(player) level vs denizens(creatures) level and that doesn't work. This ended up with 2 TPK and another 1/2 group dead.

Now I got with what can the denizens do as damages / conditions vs what the dwellers can mitigate and vise versa. It if more work on the Norns side but this make it more challenging to the group. Like Andrew says, I also add initiative tiles to represent the lair / realm the players fight ins to create effect, like a lava bubble exploding and giving degeneration or gas to give blind to the players. This create a challenge where the place itself is a denizen but the players will not mitigated that easily

Also they will need to died, if they want to have new perks on their new character.