Figure the PC's will have to deal with a Sinspawn, a level I summoned monster and a level II summoned monster (in our case a Lemure) as well as the quasit.
Now we're talking about (theoretically) a four-man party of 2nd level characters with 15 point buys going up against a creature that 1) can fly, 2) can turn invisible at will, 3) has a ranged attack at a +11 attack bonus, 4) has DR 5/cold iron or good, 5) has Fast Healing 2, 6) has immunity to electricty and poison as well as acid, fire and cold resistance: 10 and 7) the ability to inflict poison with natural attacks. And of course access to 3rd level spells.
How many ranged attacks at that level can consistently deal the 5 points of damage necessary to overcome the DR, +2 more to make up for fast healing and still have some left over to actually hurt the creature?
At that level no one can fly or see invisibility, no one's energy spells would deal enough damage to overcome the energy resistance and no one has access to magic items capable of overcoming the DR.
I'm getting ready to start the AP and I'm curious how party's dealt with this threat, especially ones who actually fit the AP's assumed criteria.
The witch put it to sleep as soon as it attacked. Then they tied it up & coup de gracied it into oblivion.
An ideal result - what would have happened, do you think, had the creature made its save?
They managed to grapple her and stuff her into a sack. At least I think so. I can barely remember it for the life of me.
With those defensive stats I think a line is missing in her "Morale:" section. She seems like she's meant to live another day, though that doesn't seem to be James' intention. She does, however only have second level spells!
I think the key to making this encounter work is to not let it drag on. Don't be afraid to have her dispersal cackling down the halls or hide if she's exhausted her spells and can't get the upper hand. You want to avoid a stalemate. Her Anniversary Edition version is a a LOT better on this front, having a good many more disabling spells and summons to exhaust before she's forced to simply flutter about wasting everybodies time. It makes for a much better encounter all in all.
If your PCs go back to track her down, have them seek help in the town above. Have one of the towns many spellcasters gift them scrolls of align weapon, silence or see invisibility (or glitterdust), or perhaps with a simple net. Give your party the means to take her out of the fight or penetrate her DR rather than let them fight a dull war of attrition when all of her summons are exhausted. Any caster can use scrolls, and a meleer should be able to entangle her after a few attempts, which is a huge boon. Try to put the impetus on them to get creative rather than let them beat their heads against the wall trying to fell her in their first encounter.
Interested to hear what others have to say.
There's a second full thread that was posted a while ago that discusses this very topic.
Groups with paladins or who get lucky on a crit have no troubles with her. Some groups come up with other, creative ways to take her out. LOTS of groups have massive amounts of trouble. You should check that thread, and then heed Twigs: She's designed to get hugely pissed off, waste their resources for 10-15 rounds, then decide to flee (hopefully).
But as a GM, it can be quite frustrating when Tsuto's journal mentions 'the quasit' and most players just let that go. A little research and you learn you'll be needing bows and cold iron arrows, both of which are readily available in Sandpoint, and then that DR doesn't matter any more. Still a hard fight, don't get me wrong, but ponder mentioning that the Curious Goblin has many tomes on monsters, their tactics, and their weaknesses or something to convince the PCs to do some research before diving into the Catacombs headfirst.
Don't forget that "at will" invisibility doesn't mean she can attack and then turn invisible the same round. So she uses up her summonses and her other spells, and then she's reduced to throwing that pesky dagger, and is only invisible every other round at best. From the PRD: "Using all other spell-like abilities is a standard action unless noted otherwise, and doing so provokes attacks of opportunity." So she makes herself vulnerable every time she throws the dagger, as long as the entire group has missile weapons. (Maybe it's just that my group is all veteran Runequest players, but not a single PC, even the sorcerer, would ever be caught without a ranged weapon, so Miss E got pummeled in my campaign.)
I really like Twigs' entire response, and the other thread will give you many more ideas...
How high is the ceiling supposed to be in the Cathedral? I think I overestimated it and my party (whose game night paused when the Barbarian fell into the runewell and is about to change sides) looks like they are on the night train to TPK's ville... murdered by papercuts at the hands of the quasit.
Should she not be tactically sound, due to her insanity?
I have her popping up to cast spells/ hexes, and going invisible to regen whenever she's hurt.
Ugh. This was a nightmare for me, as a GM. First, after slaughtering most of the stuff in the Cathedral and leaving the bodies there, the 4 person party (alchemist, summoner, paladin, rogue) decided to call it a day and come back the next morning.
Sop I figured the quasit would have pulled any survivors (in this case, just the Vargouille) back to the temple, and precreated the sinspawn. So the players didn't get the special effects of the runewell, which in hindsight may have been a bad thing. :D
They actually did fairly well at first, taking out the sinspawn and Vargouille. And they shut the doors, and guarded them. And captured Erylium's dagger, after she had thrown it. And never researched quasits, because they missed the reference on Tsutos's journal.
This made the fight essentially unwinnable - the summoner's celestial eagles could smite, as could the paladin with her bow, to overcome DR. But the rogue and alchemist had no effective means of damaging Erylium, and even the paladin and summoner weren't hitting nearly enough with the high AC and the 50% miss chance. They were using detect magic and detect evil to pinpoint her location so they at least knew where to attack - but that still took 3 rounds of concentration per attack. On the other hand, Erylium didn't really have much in the way of reliable damage either - many of her spells were exhausted, her dagger was gone, and she was down to teeth and claws. (Incidentally, her poison isn't included in her stat block. Or at least I didn't see it.) If she actually got close enough to attack someone, she was visible and in range for the rogue to get in a flanking sneak attack and the paladin to smite with a greatsword instead of a longbow, so she wasn't going to do that very often.
The fight could have dragged on for some time, with her attacking when she was almost at full health and retreating to heal for a minute or two afterwards, and eventually making the party use all their healing resources. Luckily one of my players decided to go for help from the militia, and she escaped.
How high is the ceiling supposed to be in the Cathedral? I think I overestimated it and my party (whose game night paused when the Barbarian fell into the runewell and is about to change sides) looks like they are on the night train to TPK's ville... murdered by papercuts at the hands of the quasit.
Should she not be tactically sound, due to her insanity?
I have her popping up to cast spells/ hexes, and going invisible to regen whenever she's hurt.
I've been hunting for the description of the catacombs (light levels, doors, ceilings etc.) since I saw this thread. It's frustratingly hard to find but I know SOMETHING was in there.
Thanks!