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Hey all, so my group is perhaps two sessions away from the final showdown with Ileosa. They're still in the castle and have yet to face Togomor and Sermignatto. I changed things around a little bit allowing them the opportunity to find Venster's body and retrieve the Harrow Deck of Many Things. It seemed a good way to end the last session.
Luckily, no campaign shattering things came up. Quite the contrary I now have 4 evil clones of the party's thief running about unbeknownst to them.
However, one card did come up: the paladin (Which basically gives the party member a holy avenger that they can use once to summon a paladin 2 levels higher then themselves to aid them in one encoutner).
While I'm not going to change anything I am somewhat concerned about the last battle with Ileosa. Its already a six person party. While not all characters are crazy tough, a few are, particularly the fighter (two-handed weapon specialist, power attack and a few other feats like Leap Attack). The fighter single handedly mows through encounters with Serithtial. Which is fine at this level that is what they're supposed to do and I can usually still give them challenging encounters.
However, with now 7 characters on the good guys side that last encounter is not looking so good. My thought is to save Sermignatto until this battle. Though I wonder if that might be compensating too much? Fo folks who ran the final battle how deadly, challenging is it?
Also remember that this paladin doesn't have to be min-maxed. Just create a normal paladin and he won't influence the outcome of things too much.
Hey all, so my group is perhaps two sessions away from the final showdown with Ileosa. They're still in the castle and have yet to face Togomor and Sermignatto. I changed things around a little bit allowing them the opportunity to find Venster's body and retrieve the Harrow Deck of Many Things. It seemed a good way to end the last session.
Luckily, no campaign shattering things came up. Quite the contrary I now have 4 evil clones of the party's thief running about unbeknownst to them.
However, one card did come up: the paladin (Which basically gives the party member a holy avenger that they can use once to summon a paladin 2 levels higher then themselves to aid them in one encoutner).
While I'm not going to change anything I am somewhat concerned about the last battle with Ileosa. Its already a six person party. While not all characters are crazy tough, a few are, particularly the fighter (two-handed weapon specialist, power attack and a few other feats like Leap Attack). The fighter single handedly mows through encounters with Serithtial. Which is fine at this level that is what they're supposed to do and I can usually still give them challenging encounters.
However, with now 7 characters on the good guys side that last encounter is not looking so good. My thought is to save Sermignatto until this battle. Though I wonder if that might be compensating too much? Fo folks who ran the final battle how deadly, challenging is it?
Check out my conversions, if anything for the strategy.
I would add four more simulacrums of Illeosa (2 for each party member above 5) and one more wraith.
Illeosa is a rough fight. Mind fog into song of discord with other bards dirge of doom-ing means the party has to make a DC 31 with a -13 on their will save.
And then confusion and slow bombs from the simulacrums, dominate persons from the Crown of Fangs itself, quickened charm monsters from Illeosa in addition to her regular spellcasting, and then when they get into base-to-base with her, she drops her dancing weapon and it makes full-attacks independant of her actions... she's honestly very powerful. Especially since she can easily have mislead, mirror image (with minimum 6 images), displacement and stoneskin all up at once.
Remember she knows who failed their save versus mind fog and who made it, so she's going to focus-fire those who failed with her debuffs until they succumb. Her quickened charm monsters are definitely the winner here. Especially since charm monster puts her one opposed Charisma check away (she has a 36, so only a +13 vs. the common dwarf fighter's -1...) from convincing someone to try to grapple down their friend, or to try to disarm their friend, or to start cutting the leather straps on their armor... or to begin to buff her with their spells...
She's one of the only AP final bosses that could honestly end the fight without killing a single member of the party.
Those who are charmed are on her leash for the next 18 days, aka for the rest of their life. Those who are dominated are on her leash for the next 18 days, aka for the rest of their life...
Remember that she gets a turn, all of her simulacrums get a turn, the crown of fangs gets a turn, and her rapier gets a turn. She should stick with one performance just so she can keep using quickened charm monster. If she dominates someone, she can have them do the most frustrating thing possible if she needs to keep moving away from the PCs... just stand there. No new will save allowed. Excellent.
Even if the PCs have the almighty protection from evil up, she can just area-of-effect remove it with greater dispel magic. : )
For your party, specifically, make them regret giving the fighter and his low will save the item that takes away her regen and more importantly allows her to die. Dominate him and then have him go back to Korvosa. A move action well spent! And not at all outside her character... play smart, not strong. She's a bard, for god's sake!
And if you feel that even that's not enough, give her ring of spell-storing protection from spells in it, have her use that along with stoneskin when she casts it, and have her change her contingency from cure "i'm dead next round" wounds to heal instead, keyed to go off when she goes under 10 like usual. Watch the eyes roll when she miraculously recovers to 180 hit points the second she dies! : )
EDIT: Example:
Okay. Illeosa starts laughing about how powerful she is. Make will saves. If you fail, you're mind fogged. Jim the paladin, you don't have to save because you've got protection from evil.
Alright. These four naked Illeosa clones are singing, these four are making this kind of scary groaning, rasping noise. You've got -3 to attacks, skills, saves, etc...
Okay... everyone make four will saves... let me know if you fail any. If you fail, stop rolling. Okay... now every make four will saves... if you fail any, stop rolling. Those who failed the first, you're confused. Those who failed the second, you're slowed. Oh, you're confused and slowed? That sucks. Again, you're fine, Jim.
*the entire party babbles incoherently, Jim flails around, kills one simulacrum out of 6*
Now make a will save again everyone... okay, who failed? Alright. You've got a 25% chance to act normally and a 25% chance to attack your party members. If you can act normally, you have a 50% chance to be forced to attack your nearest ally with the intention to kill him. Wait, if you're confused and someone attacks you, doesn't that make you guys fight it out exclusively for the entire duration of confusion? Well, that's alright. You'd only fight for the next 17 rounds.
Okay, Jim the paladin. You're the only person who isn't forced to fight a party member. I guess it's all you versus Queen Illeosa. Oh, and these dread wraiths that come out of the floor. What's your touch AC again?
*TPK*
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Wow, thanks IceTitan for a very thorough review, well laid out. It sounds much deadlier than the writeup for tactics given. I suppose some more close reading of her spells is in order. I think its fair to say even with 7 good guys they should be hard pressed even with their protections.
Well we'll see how it goes hopefully there'll be a balance between incapacitating players but still giving them ways to react/solve. It still feels like it may well be a very swingy battle.
Wow, thanks IceTitan for a very thorough review, well laid out. It sounds much deadlier than the writeup for tactics given. I suppose some more close reading of her spells is in order. I think its fair to say even with 7 good guys they should be hard pressed even with their protections.
Well we'll see how it goes hopefully there'll be a balance between incapacitating players but still giving them ways to react/solve. It still feels like it may well be a very swingy battle.
Remember that even though I just talked her up like she's Muhammed Ali and Bruce Lee's amalgamated clone, she's still got to be played in complete opposition to how she was written. She has the potential to be very, very strong, so just keep that in mind. If you think the PCs are going strong when they enter the Everdawn Pool, go at them, but don't go too hard. My tactics are a very serious path to a very quick TPK, and more decidedly they're not actually what she does! Be careful with them.
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Icetitan, consider you note heeded. In the final analysis I'll run the encounter so that while challenging, and epic its the players having fun that matters. This has probably been the highest body count D&D campaign that I've ran but no TPKs. Once or twice during this campaign they teetered on TPK but I've been pretty good about working things in so that they have a way out. Well thanks for the tips!
I wonder where the tipping point from "normal campaign" to "near-TPK-land" is. So far the group has suffered one casualty, in the Dead Warrens, when the Rogue didn't manage an DC 11 fortitude save vs. paralysis.
But I am beginning Escape from Old Korvosa now and in the very first encounter, against the two Red Mantis in Vencarlos home, the players dominated. I think the Rakshasas later on will be a problem, but by cursorely looking at the encounters in the future, I haven't seen them being much more deadly than other high-level stuff I did in the past. The Demilich could be a problem, but with a Paladin and his "aura of all-smiteyness", he should go down quite fast.
Anybody want to tell me which are the really dangerous encounters in the AP? :)
Remember she knows who failed their save versus mind fog and who made it, so she's going to focus-fire those who failed with her debuffs until they succumb.
[minor threadjack] The rules say "Likewise, if a creature’s saving throw succeeds against a targeted spell you sense that the spell has failed. You do not sense when creatures succeed on saves against effect and area spells."
Is there something in particular about mind fog that makes it work differently?
Remember she knows who failed their save versus mind fog and who made it, so she's going to focus-fire those who failed with her debuffs until they succumb.[minor threadjack] The rules say "Likewise, if a creature’s saving throw succeeds against a targeted spell you sense that the spell has failed. You do not sense when creatures succeed on saves against effect and area spells."
Is there something in particular about mind fog that makes it work differently?
Didn't know that area-of-effect spells were outside of that rule.
Well, then I would say... the drooling. Definitely the drooling.
Anybody want to tell me which are the really dangerous encounters in the AP? :)
Skim the obituaries. Anything people have died to in there is dangerous. Some more than others based on prep time.
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I wonder where the tipping point from "normal campaign" to "near-TPK-land" is. So far the group has suffered one casualty, in the Dead Warrens, when the Rogue didn't manage an DC 11 fortitude save vs. paralysis.
But I am beginning Escape from Old Korvosa now and in the very first encounter, against the two Red Mantis in Vencarlos home, the players dominated. I think the Rakshasas later on will be a problem, but by cursorely looking at the encounters in the future, I haven't seen them being much more deadly than other high-level stuff I did in the past. The Demilich could be a problem, but with a Paladin and his "aura of all-smiteyness", he should go down quite fast.
Anybody want to tell me which are the really dangerous encounters in the AP? :)
There are quite a few but ones that standout.
Escape - Fungal guardians at the entrance to the Arkona dungeon. No one died but it was by the skin of their teeth for everyone.
Vimanda while not deadly her own was able to draw the party into numerous traps in the labyrinth.
The party got the prisoners and left the Arkonas alone. I imagine any party setting out to exterminate the Arkonas could easily bite off more than they could chew.
Ashes - Don't get me wrong the battle at the end is deadly especially as the party has to keep going. By the time they get to the Mantis leader they'll be vulnerable. Granted I added a dragon just for kicks so hard to gauge as written.
Scarwall - This is a serious meatgrinder. The encounter with Nihil was probably the deadliest on its own but Kleestad is no push over (unless the party is rested and ready.) I skipped over the demilich.
Crown of Fangs - Mavrokeras put half the party out of commision for awhile. Togomor if used differently as presented in the book is also vicious particularly with Sermignatto.
I'll pay special attention to these encounters. The group will get to the Emperor of Old Korvosa next week ( and get to know Laori, heeheehee ^^ ), so the Arkonas are up soon.
Thanks for the information! :)
10 Deadliest Enemies in CotCT
10. Vreeg: If you play him right, he's a tough cookie for a group of low level characters. He caused 1 PC death.
9. Chained Ghost. I was using Turin's stats for this baddie. Almost TPK
8. Cindermaw: After hearing about how other groups seemed to walk through this threat, I gave him more HD, added on a couple templates, and let him rip. It was an epic encounter worth the Dreamsayer's retelling.
7. Rolth: Played him as a pure debuffer. My PCs HATED that. I had to refrain myself from laughing as the paladin struggled to move with 1 str.
6. Vampire Spawn: Two PC deaths and the players now have to contend with a vampiric Grau Soldado in CoF.
5. Arkona Rakshashas: I customized all of them and gave them class levels. The orangutan headed sorcerer almost TPK'ed my group.
4. Nihil: Nasty.
3. Cinnabar: As someone mentioned earlier, when she slips in and out of shadows KO'ing PCs as they are dealing with gargoyles, the Cinderlander, and other Red Mantis, they get very upset...
2. Vimanda: Between her flurries and SLA, my parties literally ran like hell after she dropped Vencarlo in one round. She's still around waiting for round 2 in CoF.
1. Lady Andaisan: Last boss in 7 Days; My players were TPK'ed in this fight and I had to pull out the loathsome divine intervention card to resuscitate the campaign
I'm planning on putting the hurt on my PCs when I get around to running Crown of Fangs. What are your guys' most DEVIOUS and EVIL strategies and builds for the baddies in the endgame? (Togomor, Mavrokeras, Queen, etc. etc.)
10 Deadliest Enemies in CotCT
10. Vreeg: If you play him right, he's a tough cookie for a group of low level characters. He caused 1 PC death.
The cleric in my party walked steadily towards him for three rounds. The little derro used all of his nasty spells. The cleric did not care. It was over shortly.
9. Chained Ghost. I was using Turin's stats for this baddie. Almost TPK
Lost most of his good moves since they took on the spirit anchors first. Died in one round. Rolled a 1 on his touch. Effectively did nothing.
8. Cindermaw: After hearing about how other groups seemed to walk through this threat, I gave him more HD, added on a couple templates, and let him rip. It was an epic encounter worth the Dreamsayer's retelling.
Same here. Almost killed the person who got eaten-- and most of the people who weren't! Was pretty good. I heavily suggest making him gargantuan. My PCs were smart enough to find a large rock to stand on when they saw him, so he didn't get the surprise round, but by the time he left it was pretty apparent the party had burnt everything they had to stay alive.
7. Rolth: Played him as a pure debuffer. My PCs HATED that. I had to refrain myself from laughing as the paladin struggled to move with 1 str.
Killed one PC. He was honestly pretty tough, but, wizard. After the PCs got to him he died almost instantly.
6. Vampire Spawn: Two PC deaths and the players now have to contend with a vampiric Grau Soldado in CoF.
Never actually hit anyone they meleed after the negative energy cleric controlled one and had it start fighting the others. I even surprised the cleric with 3 of them and rolled abysmally.
5. Arkona Rakshashas: I customized all of them and gave them class levels. The orangutan headed sorcerer almost TPK'ed my group.
They live infinitely to a party without a good piercing weapon. Normally, they're honestly just annoying. They do pitiful damage, don't have many moves that are strong sans lightning bolt and take forever to die.
4. Nihil: Nasty.
Yes. I added in 4 bone devils for good measure. Funny story about the kyton she summons: At level 12, harm can almost kill it even if it succeeds on its save. "Almost" being 1 hp, which Sergeant Lashton took care of one turn later...
3. Cinnabar: As someone mentioned earlier, when she slips in and out of shadows KO'ing PCs as they are dealing with gargoyles, the Cinderlander, and other Red Mantis, they get very upset...
She was okay. I used Father Dale's conversion. She murdered a PC and then was murdered herself. Was good.
2. Vimanda: Between her flurries and SLA, my parties literally ran like hell after she dropped Vencarlo in one round. She's still around waiting for round 2 in CoF.
You say tomato, I say "natural 1 vs. witch's sleep hex." Her bonus is so high she would have had to roll a 1 to fail. Of course.
1. Lady Andaisan: Last boss in 7 Days; My players were TPK'ed in this fight and I had to pull out the loathsome divine intervention card to resuscitate the campaign
Killed her one round thanks to the entire party bum-rushing her. She died so fast the bard didn't even get to act. She got one greater command off... too bad the entire party has excellent will saves.
I think Belshallam (I made him gargantuan and advanced), Glorio Arkona+Ice Devil+8 Rakshasas+4 bearded devils+Akaruzug with his unhallow tied to dispel magic and Mavrokeras+4 erinyes+the Yallops have been the hardest fights so far for my party. We're running the game until 20, and, well, they like to power game.
Bishop Zev Ravenka is still my favorite. Nothing says "PANIC" like a monster wail of the bansheeing you on a surprise round.
Cool, can you give me a breakdown of how you're going to take them to lvl 20? Also, some tactics for the baddies you mentioned would be nice.
Andaisan was airwalking when they walked in the room and she had quicken channel (channel energy as a free action; we were doing a PF beta/3.5 hybrid). She also had the "pale gem" or something (converts all channeled energy into healing for herself) from Gods and Magic and every 1-5th level buff on the cleric list.
Every round, she'd slam the PCs with a channel negative energy and then followed through with a scythe attack. Needless to say, after the battle, I converted to purely PF rules.
One other key factor that shaped the outcome of these battles is the presence of my younger brother who is a great tactician. (He plays a straight conjurer) and he made some of the encounters in Scarwall into a cakewalk. (Kleestad for instance)
Cool, can you give me a breakdown of how you're going to take them to lvl 20? Also, some tactics for the baddies you mentioned would be nice.
Andaisan was airwalking when they walked in the room and she had quicken channel (channel energy as a free action; we were doing a PF beta/3.5 hybrid). She also had the "pale gem" or something (converts all channeled energy into healing for herself) from Gods and Magic and every 1-5th level buff on the cleric list.
Every round, she'd slam the PCs with a channel negative energy and then followed through with a scythe attack. Needless to say, after the battle, I converted to purely PF rules.
One other key factor that shaped the outcome of these battles is the presence of my younger brother who is a great tactician. (He plays a straight conjurer) and he made some of the encounters in Scarwall into a cakewalk. (Kleestad for instance)
Jees! I tried to run them close to their morale section-- which means that she had air walk up, but didn't go anywhere until initiative. The PCs all beat her (she got a 0) and then rocked her down. Yeah, that sounds really rough. Ridiculously rough for a ~7th level party. No wonder you TPKd. I wish I did that to my PCs, she wouldn't have been a joke then. ><
My post was just to illustrate the subjective difficulty of the tabletop encounters. I noticed on a re-read it seemed very "My group is better than yours! ha ha" but that wasn't my intent at all and I apologize if you took it that way. For Kleestad, my group was in dire straits as well. Two party members incapacitated. Mostly because they suspected things were wrong but I still ambushed them mercilessly.
How I'm taking my group to 20...
I'm adding a Thassilonian dungeon under Castle Korvosa inbetween the Castle section of the adventure and the Sunken Queen in order to fill out the adventure. I finished this up just recently, and it cannibalized a lot from RotRL's Sins of the Saviors. It's also to help to nudge up their treasure totals. I included a PF-converted beholder to illustrate the "ancient-ness" of the dungeon, since the PCs will never run into another one ever again for the rest of their time in Golarion...
After the Sunken Queen, it's really up to what the Harrow deck of many things gives me for plot twists. Whatever it does, I want to have that run 17-18. I know that 18-20 will be the party dealing with the rest of Kazavon's artifacts beginning to find eachother and merge, recreating Kazavon under the careful watch of the cult of Zon Kuthon. Besides that, it's up in the air. Just the PCs taking out the trash, culminating with a fight with Kazavon on the shadow plane in the Hinterlands of Zon-Kuthon, rocketing through space and time on a shard of the Throne of Xovaikain. Level 20 stuff.
It also has to do with CotCT being the final part of my Golarion timeline-- things end in a bang.
I played Belshallam like an idiot. He straight up went into melee with the PCs, started with a crush. He almost made it away with the monk in a grapple, too. He didn't get a chance to breathe, even though I wanted him to, and even though the entire party had death ward so they were immune to it...
For the other monsters, it's fairly straight forward. Base to base full attacks. They're not too special-- I built Glorio as a Dazzling Display into Shatter Defenses rogue, and with his +27 to intimidate he was pretty nice. Too bad most of the party was immune to fear...
This happens to me often.
Spoiler:I'm adding a Thassilonian dungeon under Castle Korvosa inbetween the Castle section of the adventure and the Sunken Queen in order to fill out the adventure. I finished this up just recently, and it cannibalized a lot from RotRL's Sins of the Saviors. It's also to help to nudge up their treasure totals. I included a PF-converted beholder to illustrate the "ancient-ness" of the dungeon, since the PCs will never run into another one ever again for the rest of their time in Golarion...After the Sunken Queen, it's really up to what the Harrow deck of many things gives me for plot twists. Whatever it does, I want to have that run 17-18. I know that 18-20 will be the party dealing with the rest of Kazavon's artifacts beginning to find eachother and merge, recreating Kazavon under the careful watch of the cult of Zon Kuthon. Besides that, it's up in the air. Just the PCs taking out the trash, culminating with a fight with Kazavon on the shadow plane in the Hinterlands of Zon-Kuthon, rocketing through space and time on a shard of the Throne of Xovaikain. Level 20 stuff.
It also has to do with CotCT being the final part of my Golarion timeline-- things end in a bang.
Wow, if you ever finish that, do a write-up how it went down exactly. I could need that one day. :p
Also, won't your players get tired of yet another dungeon after Scarwall, the castle and before the Sunken Queen?
** spoiler omitted **Wow, if you ever finish that, do a write-up how it went down exactly. I could need that one day. :p
Also, won't your players get tired of yet another dungeon after Scarwall, the castle and before the Sunken Queen?
I cut out Castle Korvosa entirely. The Grand Mastaba is less a collection of straight out-and-out combats and more a gallery for strange creatures, puzzles and traps. A good look into ancient Thassilonian magic as well, which I kind of paint as alien and unwieldy in my depiction of Golarion. It's a huge complex full of closet-sized indentures in the walls full of permanently temporal-stasis'd creatures from all over the world. Some parts of the Grand Mastaba are in better repair than others; Some parts have completely broken down into colonies of insane vampires.
And the Sunken Queen isn't quite a dungeon slog... it's a reckoning. :P I think there are five encounters in there total in my write up. I cut out the underwater bits and turned the boggards into immortal Thassilonian guardians.
Still don't know if it will work well, but here's to trying.
** spoiler omitted **Wow, if you ever finish that, do a write-up how it went down exactly. I could need that one day. :p
Also, won't your players get tired of yet another dungeon after Scarwall, the castle and before the Sunken Queen?
I cut out Castle Korvosa entirely. The Grand Mastaba is less a collection of straight out-and-out combats and more a gallery for strange creatures, puzzles and traps. A good look into ancient Thassilonian magic as well, which I kind of paint as alien and unwieldy in my depiction of Golarion. It's a huge complex full of closet-sized indentures in the walls full of permanently temporal-stasis'd creatures from all over the world. Some parts of the Grand Mastaba are in better repair than others; Some parts have completely broken down into colonies of insane vampires.
And the Sunken Queen isn't quite a dungeon slog... it's a reckoning. :P I think there are five encounters in there total in my write up. I cut out the underwater bits and turned the boggards into immortal Thassilonian guardians.
Still don't know if it will work well, but here's to trying.
Sounds interesting. :) Good luck to you!
I hope to continue my CotCT campaign (which will start in August) past the ending as well. I want to give my PC's a chance to take up positions inside the new monarchy, city government. My players have been hinting that they would like something like that, and it would be cool for me as a DM to go their.
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Finished running Crown of Fangs yesterday and brought Curse of the Crimson Throne to its end.
So first, the battle with Ileosa. I used the Queen's stats as is, added two more simulacrums and another Dread Wraith. The minions were an effective screen and the wraiths brought down one of the party members halfway through the battle (which gave him the opportunity to play the summoned paladin, a reborn Mandraivus courtesy of the harrow deck). The cleric and the fighter wielding Serithtial courtesy of fly made a beeline to the Queen. Most of the battle stuck to this pattern as the rest of the party dealt with minions, healing, buffing, recasting dispelled spells etc. and the fighter, cleric and later the paladin going toe to toe against Ileosa.
Overall, the Queen was boxed in courtesy of protection from evil. The Queen exhausted her greater dispels as the battle progressed using some targeted dispels against protection from evil and a few area dispels. She was able to get off some quickened charm monsters that got a hold of the Serithtial wielding fighter and the ranger (both of which were later dispelled in the following rounds). Essentially she was not able to keep dispelling as the party with a good bulk of spellcasters had a greater capability of casting more protection from evil.
I actually shortened the combat reducing Ileosa's hp as the outcome was all but certain.
Overall the battle was big, and epic enough that I think most of the players got what they wanted from the showdown. That said, it felt a bit weak that the Queen was essentially undone by this overpowered 2nd level spell. I was aware that protection from evil would be one of the things that Ileosa would have to look out for but I thought with her number of greater dispels she'd be able to knock the party off balance for a greater period of time than she did. Her defenses are great and she can't be overwhelmed but all of her offensive abiltiy lies in compulsions.
If I had to run the battle again, I'd keep two of the Furies as elite minions, and I'd be tempted to make Ileosa a sorcerer still focused on charm, confusions etc. but with some more varied spellcasting ability so as not to be completely gimped by protection from evil. I liked the evil bard concept as its fairly unique but the final villain can't afford to essentially lose their all of their offensive abilities. Its either that or just make her a dragon....
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Some overall thoughts on the campaign:
-the first half is solid, gritty and was very memorable. Myself and the players really digged Korvosa, its details, the feel of the city. The first two adventures were fantastic stuff particularly Seven Days.
-the second half after leaving Korvosa is good but just too long. I had been tempted to change things a bit more but was too busy so stuck to the book but shortened as much as I could. I know this was a common complaint. After the first three adventures I was looking forward to a few adventures outside of the city but after playing through them I realized the same thing.
-Serithtial. Yep, the whole get the magic sword to kill the baddie is a fine plot device but I felt that it might've put too much emphasis on the character who has it as then it becomes about supporting that character so he can get the swing in against the Queen. I think it would've been better to have found another device to defeat the Queen (one that encompasses more of an active group effort) and reduce the sword's role.
-The Harrow Deck of Many Things is a lot of fun!
-This was the second time I've ran a campaign to the higher levels (the other was Savage Tide). Its just not that fun. Lvl 10-12 seems to be the cap. A high level political campaign could work but a slog of high level battles is just draining.
-I think I'm done with APs for a long time, that and D&D. Its far too rules intensive. I'm curious to try out Savage Worlds or well anymore rules-lite RPG. I like Pathfinder but really anything d20 right now does seem to appeal.
I have looked at the Ileosa combat issue and it seems pretty binary to me
either you have protection from evil and her best attacks are thwarted or you dont and you are charmed/dominated due to the high DC's.
is this about right?
I have looked at the Ileosa combat issue and it seems pretty binary to me
either you have protection from evil and her best attacks are thwarted or you dont and you are charmed/dominated due to the high DC's.
is this about right?
Yup.
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I have looked at the Ileosa combat issue and it seems pretty binary to me
either you have protection from evil and her best attacks are thwarted or you dont and you are charmed/dominated due to the high DC's.
is this about right?
yep, which is why in hindsight I would recommend making her a sorcerer still focused on charm, enchantment but with a wider assortment of offensive spells. A party with a good amount of casters capable of casting (and recasting) protection from evil will box her in.
or the other possibility would be to houserule protection from evil nerfing it (maybe a +4 to saves. vs compulsion). Seriously, its a horrible spell for 2nd level.
I have looked at the Ileosa combat issue and it seems pretty binary to me
either you have protection from evil and her best attacks are thwarted or you dont and you are charmed/dominated due to the high DC's.
is this about right?
yep, which is why in hindsight I would recommend making her a sorcerer still focused on charm, enchantment but with a wider assortment of offensive spells. A party with a good amount of casters capable of casting (and recasting) protection from evil will box her in.
or the other possibility would be to houserule protection from evil nerfing it (maybe a +4 to saves. vs compulsion). Seriously, its a horrible spell for 2nd level.
already houseruled away the immunity granted by protection from evil. ...and it is a 1st level spell, go figure. The 3rd level spell (magic circle) lasts forever at high level
IMHO The whole dominate sos issue is a problem - but it aint fixed by making a 1st level spell that grants immunity