Lucifer Went Down to Golarion

[Third Mind]

So, Lucifer went down to Golarion, he was looking for a soul to steal. He was in a bind, because he was way behind and he was willing to make a deal...

Blah blah blah it's a fiddle fight. You get the point. Now to my question. How good does one need to be, to defeat Lucifer (I suppose from the frog god listing) or the best demon available in an opposed perform (strings) roll?

From the looks of the frog god material, Lucifer, who if I recall correctly was originally head of the music department in heaven, doesn't have a single rank in any perform skill. That being said he does have a high CHA for a +12 bonus to his rolls. So, in theory, if one had a +23 to their perform skill, they could consistently "out perform" Lucifer by taking 10 (if not rushed, interrupted and such) right?

Are there other supernatural beings who would pose even more of a challenge in this particular skill challenge?

Side Note: I do realize ole Lucy would probably disintegrate you with but a look after you won, just curious how much it'd take to be the best performer around. Preferably with taking 10, to make it look easy. Or rather, what the least amount necessary would be.

[Petty Alchemy]

I'd say Lucifer would cheat with Mass Charm Monster on the judges, but the bard would have a chance to countersong it (even though it's not a sonic/language-dependent spell).

I'm not familiar with homebrew superbeings such as the one you linked, but you could easily make one with ranks in Perform, as well as an item that offers a hefty competence bonus.

[Third Mind]

So, I guess my question more specifically is then, what might be the magic number to defeat whichever creature is best at Perform? Like a solid number one could stop at and just take 10? Barring cheating by the opponent of course.

I'm fine with paizo only material. I just used the 3rd party Lucifer as a familiar reference. I.e. "Beat me in a piano off and win this thing, don't and I get your soul," sort of thing.

Thanks for the reply.

[Bob Bob Bob]

You can search the d20pfsrd for "Perform (string)" and then limit it to the bestiary. Lots of humanoid opponents though. My favorite so far is Grig Swarm who carries hundreds or thousands of tiny fiddles. The winner of the fiddle contest though is the Wind Yai. I can find higher performs (one of the Kami has a perform (percussion) of +30) but for a fiddle contest the Wind Yai is the winner.

[Alleran]

He can get the effects of a Moment of Prescience, which he can then apply to his Perform check. Don't count that out.

[Third Mind]

Awesome. Thanks for all the info Bob! That Wind Yai is quite skilled indeed. With a +28, the highest it can get is 48 total. Which is extremely high. And now, thanks to the search suggestion, I can figure out all kinds of "best performer in the ________ arts" sort of build. Now to go about figuring out how to make the best violinist ever. Beating a possible 48 consistently should be a challenge.

A good point about the Moment of Prescience Alleran. It's easy for me to miss things with so many abilities.

So, in paizo material it seems thus far the Wind Yai is the best string instrument user in this case. But Moment of Prescience would give a +25 to his perform roll, giving him a total of +37 total as far as I can tell now. Quite tough. Interesting.

Thanks everyone.

[Bob Bob Bob]

Missed one, Thanatotic Titan. It can pick any Perform and has +30. Ditto the Peri.

For the winnner of a debate we have the Ancient Imperial Dragon who is somehow better than Wyrm or Great Wyrm at +36 oratory.

Epic opera battle goes to the Great Wyrm Sky Dragon at +36 sing.

Pun contest goes to the Great Wyrm Copper Dragon at +34 comedy.

Asurendra show that there's no armor check penalty for dancing at +33.

The best actor appears to be the Deposed Queen of Succubi Caizel at +26. Still loses to the +30s.

Epic saxophone battle goes to the Trumpet Archon (duh) at +20 wind instruments. They still lose to the +30s up top though.

I'm now down to CR 12 so they'll never beat the +30 from the Titan and the Peri.

[Nermal2097]

Also, according to the song a band of demons join in when the devil starts playing. Would they be adding +2's from Aid Another actions?

[Kazaan]

Also, if you actually listen to the music being played, it's quite clear that the Devil won the contest as his playing was objectively better. But since he had so much fun, he "admitted defeat" as an excuse to leave Johnny alive and come back for another round later (though, 'The Devil Came Back to Georgia' wasn't quite as good in my opinion).

[Rerednaw]

There are a few bard builds floating around there. Depending on which level your character will be, perform skill modifiers can exceed what's been posted for monsters...

Though since you will be facing Luci what's stopping him from:
"Wow! What a great performance! I only Wish my performance was better!
...and suddenly it was.

[Majuba]

Best out of the PRD I found was the Doomsayer (Bard 20) from NPC Codex, with +31.

However Lucifer is definitely an optimal opponent. For the Wish, he could wish for a magic fiddle with +2 enhancement bonus to Intelligence (Perform(string), Hillbilly), and let's conservatively give it a +5 competence bonus to the check.

That would give him +HD (30 or so, can't check the link atm), +25 Moment of Prescience, +12 Charisma, +5 competence, and +8 aid another (band of demons), comes to +60, for a possible check of 80 or so. +71 needed to take 10 safely.

PRD:

Queen: +9
Princess: +6 or +10
Noble: +10
Cloud Giant: +8
Jorogumo (spider woman): +10
Lillend: +16 (+17 for Broken Soul Lillend)
Fossegrim: +21 (CR 4!), Bestiary 4
Spellsword (Bard 16): +22
Rival Explorer (Bard 18): +25
Doomsayer (Bard 20): +31

[Third Mind]

Bob Bob Bob wrote:

Pun contest goes to the Great Wyrm Copper Dragon at +34 comedy.

Wait wait wait wait... hold on. You're telling me the best comedian in (official paizo) Golarion... is an old dragon? That's. That is amazing. I mean. I'm just imagining a warrior, approaching this dragon, sword raised in fear when the dragon turns to the warrior with a huge pair of fake glasses, with a human nose attached to the bridge saying something like, "Is that a sword in your hand or are ya just happy to see me?"

In any case, with wish, moment of prescience and a band of demons aiding him, that is what I'd finally expect from Lucifer. Now I'm wondering if it can be defeated by a PC. I feel the answer is yes, if they put most everything into it. I'm thinking wizard, using the trait that makes one CHA skill use INT instead picking a perform skill just to start. Then a bunch of magic and magic items to boost alongside ranks and maybe a feat or two.