A little concerned about the party's upcoming Nualia fight...

[Story Archer]

When they hit the bottom level of Thistletop, everyone in the party will be 4th level, and will include:

Human 3rd level Paladin of Sarenrae / 1st level Oracle (Ancestor)
Human 4th level Oracle (Black Blood/Spellscar)
She draws spells from the Sorcerer list instead of the Oracle list.
Half-Elven 4th level Spirit Summoner
Eidolon and he both build as Falchion-wielding warriors who fight side-by-side.

In addition, the party will include Shalelu rebuilt as a switch-hitting 4th level standard Ranger and possibly Orik as a 4th level standard Fighter, depending on how they deal with him.

Now barring unforseen events, I expect the PC's to first fight a group battle with a prepared Tsuto, Lyrie and Brauthazmus at the bottom of the stairwell leading to that level while Nualia looks on from down the corridor on the other side of the trap, observing the player's tactics. At what she considers an opportune moment she will send her Yeth Hound (who flies, remember, so it won't trigger the trap) to assist in the fight.

If the group defeats the bad guys decisively, Nualia will meet them in the corridor (especially if the trap splits the group up). If brought below half her hit points she has a strategy in place: she will flee down to where the Shadows lurk and cast Obscuring Mist, hoping to draw the Shadows out and the party in. She'll be subject to the shadows attacks as well but she has a Restoration spell saved for that purpose. Her plan will be to emerge once the PC's enter and attack any who try to escape the mists, possibly augmenting the Shadows battle with the PC's using channeled negative energy. As a last resort she casts Sanctuary and flees.

That's the plan, anyway. the thing is, I rebuilt her as a solid 6th level Warpriest (20 point buy, Strength and Evil Blessings) and, statted out, she looks pretty tough. With her buffs up, she looks something like this:

AC 19 (22 w/Shield of Faith)
HP 45 (57 with Sihedron Medallion's False Life)
Fort +8
Ref +5
Will +10

w/Divine Favor, Bull’s Strength, Strength Surge, Power Attack:
+13 w/Flail for 1d8+15
+12 w/Claw for 1d6+7

Between her tactics (which I determined long before) and her statistics, do you think that's too deadly of a fight? I prefer to play my bosses smart and I want the fight to be memorable, but I abhor TPK's. What do you think?

[Phntm888]

I think the damage might be a little high. Going from 5 - 15 a hit with the bastard sword to 16-23 a hit with the flail makes a sizable difference. Depending on how their HP rolls went, she could do a lot of damage in a couple of rounds. Her AC is also higher, making her harder to hit, although her HP is a little lower so she'll take fewer hits to down.

My party had a similar first room to yours, with a prepared Bruthazmus, Lyrie, and Tsuto, with Nualia observing from the trap hallway. After they downed Bruthazmus and Tsuto, she cast Obscuring Mist to cover Lyrie's retreat down the hallway. Nualia's only stat block modification was max hp, and I was able to bottleneck my party in the entryway to the observation room. Lyrie and Nualia together threatened to drop both the fighter and the rogue, and the Cleric burned all of his healing while the Druid used about 5 or 6 CLW charges from the wand, plus a couple of healing potions. No extra damage or heavy stat modification, and 2 of my players were in danger of dropping, and it cost a lot of healing.

Otherwise, I think things look pretty good.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Yeah, easy on the damage. And maybe consider shifting Bruthazmus out of the final fight, or at least bringing him in a round or two late.

The Yeth Hound targets Will, and you've got a bunch of strong-Willed PCs. Of course, at low levels you can always get zapped, but don't be surprised if it doesn't panic anyone.

Lyrie is Chaotic Evil and not particularly brave -- if the PCs are clearly winning, she should bolt, accompanied by Nualia's curses. Note that if you keep Lyrie alive, that gives you a chance to run The Lyrie Scenario a few sessions later when the PCs are ~6th level and bopping around Magnimar.

Let us know how it goes!

Doug M.

[Mark_Twain007]

If your paladin still has a smite left I would think they would be fine. Personally I think all book end boss fights should have this worry that they are too powerful, because I like my players to really feel like they are fighting someone who kicks a lot of ass.

That being said, if you are afraid of a TPK, there is always some GM roll fudging available to you. Missing some hits, or not getting a critical when you roll a 20.

I ran the fight a written for my party, but I removed the Shadows in the next room afterward, so it eased up the whole dungeon a bit, but the boss fight was still hard.