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Is a fully buffed Goblin Stickylord, CR 6 alchemist (p. 111 of the Monster Codex) too mean for the following: level 5 human fighter (sword and board), level 5 human bard, level 5 half-orc alchemist, level 5 human ranger (archery build, guide archetype)?
I originally thought it would be a pretty good battle royale against a former opponent (they chased away but never killed Mogmurch from We Be Goblins back when the party was level 1), but if I did my math correct, the Stickylord has AC 31 and can fly when fully buffed.
I'm not sure about posting statlines, but the party's primary way of dealing with high AC is the half-orc's own bombs, but the Stickylord has a pretty insane touch AC as well.
I am not sure how much information I can post regarding statblocks from Paizo published material, or I would provide more details.
Enemies that have time to buff to that extent in advance have their CRs bumped appropriately. If the enemy also has favorable terrain, this could easily be a CR 9 encounter.
Regarding stat blocks, the Stickylord is in the PRD, so you're in the clear there.
CR9? the base opponent is a CR5. Favorable terrain is basically a +1, at the most a +2 if you are adding an extra 1 for...self buffing? yes?
Yeah, I think your instincts are correct. If the Stickylord has time to fully buff, he's going to be ridiculously hard to hit. Your party members will be lucky to survive three direct hits from his bombs. The bard might be able to get a Hold Person or Glitterdust to hit against the Stickylord's weak Will save, but I don't see any way they can debuff him enough to take him out.
I think they'll need a way to meet him, escape the encounter with the knowledge they got their butts whipped, and have to find a way to catch him without buffs and/or ways to counter them.
CR 6 foe, maybe a CR 8 at worst (ill-prepared party vs. solo fully prepared in favorable terrain) could make things messy for the PCs. Given that they're looking at fire damage and a foe with a beatable Perception bonus, this isn't a lock for a fully buffed 'boss' unless the PCs are sloppy.
CR9? the base opponent is a CR5. Favorable terrain is basically a +1, at the most a +2 if you are adding an extra 1 for...self buffing? yes?
The base opponent is CR6. It's also described as buffing for as much as 3 rounds of combat. While the CR system is generally ok at estimating the difficulty of unbuffed encounters, this one is straying into the realm of "need a nat 20 to hit + ability to fly" for the fighters after all of those buffs, plus the ability to wipe the floor with the party if they do not have sufficient buffs themselves (resist/prot energy, in particular). This is something the CR system is not equipped to deal with properly.
It's always worth remembering that there are threads like this.