Voxel_Fox |
I am notoriously bad at playing the enemy spell casters that make up the enemies of every boss fight in this adventure path, and id like to finally challenge my players with the final boss. That being said, my players are geared to the teeth (their Mystic Theurge has crafted out her ass to make all sorts of shit).
The party consists of
Cleric/Wizard crafter, who has at least resist 30 everything, everyday buffs herself with freedom of movement, protection from evil, arcane sight. Plus she has a staff or something that sends out fireballs that do upwards of 167 dmg in a single hit (this has annihilated the witch fights in the previous book)
Monk with over 40 AC when fighting Defensively. He can also teleport with abundant step, which makes it extremely frustrating when the boss teleports away to heal and he follows and then grabs them.
a halfling rogue with a Invisibility ring, ninja head band, some head piece that protects him from mind affecting effects and compulsion effects, and a corset to help him out of escape artist. He can also hide from basically everything, scent, life sense you name it he can get around it. He can also see invisibility. If he jumps a boss and gets his full round of sneak attacks he can do almost as much dmg as the clerics fireball, and nuke their stats, movement, to hit, and AC.
Fighter Archer who with no special gear only feats manages to also do 167dmg on a full round where every arrow fired hits.
And lastly a Kineticist who SUPRISEEE!! Can pump out an ass load of dmg.
they are all lvl 13 right now. I have never run this fight, and I really need help before we start the next book on nerfing the shit out of my party so that they are nice and soft for the final boss fight. I'm tired of them walking all over every encounter.
Create Mr. Pitt |
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Add more minions. Casters at high levels should always have permananced see invisibility. Casters at high levels may have been scrying you and can prepare for certain tactics. Does the cleric/wizard caster fly? Because pits work again freedom of movement. Dispel magic and chains of light. Lots of great combinations. Don't just try to target your players, unless an enemy has reasons too, but that doesn't mean that any boss isn't prepared and clever (and you should give him synergistic minions to up the action economy and make him stronger).
Voxel_Fox |
Add more minions. Casters at high levels should always have permananced see invisibility. Casters at high levels may have been scrying you and can prepare for certain tactics. Does the cleric/wizard caster fly? Because pits work again freedom of movement. Dispel magic and chains of light. Lots of great combinations. Don't just try to target your players, unless an enemy has reasons too, but that doesn't mean that any boss isn't prepared and clever (and you should give him synergistic minions to up the action economy and make him stronger).
Yes our caster can cast fly, and likes to do so when too many minions are out and about/the terrain gets too messy. Chains of light won't work, the last boss is a Lich. Also, I tried to dispel her Freedom of movement during the last boss fight with the Witch Sisters and was told that it would dispel the protection from evil first? and that I couldn't pick which spell I wanted to counter?
Create Mr. Pitt |
A dispel targeted against the caster attacks the highest level spell first and on down until you've dispelled a spell or failed to dispel them all. Let's say a caster has a fourth, third, and first level buff up. You'd roll a dispel check, 1d20 + caster level, it would attack the highest caster level, second highest, so on until one is dispelled or you're done. Freedom of movement can certainly be dispelled before protection from evil.
Raynulf |
I personally am curious over how a mystic theurge (who is eating a CL loss of at least 3 from their cleric and wizard spellcasting) is pulling off 167ish damage from a staff. A maximized empowered intensified fireball could do that... But that is a 9th level spell (or tenth, I'm on my phone and without convenient access to books).
As staffs do not typically apply traits that lower the SL adjustment of metamagic feats, then even assuming it is a 9th, that is 375 x 17th x 9th = 57,375gp cost to create for 50 shots (minimum cost 11,475gp for 10 shots). That said, I'm not sure whether the rules permit you to.create a staff with a higher CL than you have... And they'd have a CL of 10.
Again, there are combos of feats, traits and a staff that let you cheese out combos of metamagic feats to pull this kind of thing off.... But it is tricky and usually forces you to pick a single spell to specialize in, and requires a higher level of character.
Create Mr. Pitt |
I personally am curious over how a mystic theurge (who is eating a CL loss of at least 3 from their cleric and wizard spellcasting) is pulling off 167ish damage from a staff. A maximized empowered intensified fireball could do that... But that is a 9th level spell (or tenth, I'm on my phone and without convenient access to books).
As staffs do not typically apply traits that lower the SL adjustment of metamagic feats, then even assuming it is a 9th, that is 375 x 17th x 9th = 57,375gp cost to create for 50 shots (minimum cost 11,475gp for 10 shots). That said, I'm not sure whether the rules permit you to.create a staff with a higher CL than you have... And they'd have a CL of 10.
Again, there are combos of feats, traits and a staff that let you cheese out combos of metamagic feats to pull this kind of thing off.... But it is tricky and usually forces you to pick a single spell to specialize in, and requires a higher level of character.
Spell perfection (fireball), rod, and magical lineage can do it, but I think you need to be 15 to get spell perfection. Also the caster level of the cleric buffs shouldn't include arcane casting levels and vice versa which would make dispelling easier.
Raynulf |
Indeed. For CL10 wizard to reliably punch out triple digits on spell damage is... Hard. Using a 5th level slot to memorize Empowered Fireball and then a metamagic rod of maximize would let him throw a 90 damage fireball (not rolled, just 90) about 3 times a day... But that's all his 5th level slots and easily nerfed by a combo of good saves and fire resistance.
Or just absorbed by mooks.
Not familiar with the fight in question, but have you considered having decoys to absorb some resources? Seeming, simulacrum, sculpt corpse + create undead or animate dead, misdirection etc all allow for the option of having a battle which unwary PCs may waste some of their biggest, cheesiest toys on, and force them to tackle the boss on slightly more even terms.
But seriously, check the PCs gear first.
Oh, and feel free to modify stats and add templates and minions (and minions with templates). Your PCs have spent months of downtime (1 day per 1000gp of market value, in fact) pimping out their gear... Dear AA has had the same amount of time to gain a few levels or wishes, build more minions etc.
Ellias Aubec |
When we ran through this AP, we had houseruled that the kinetiscist healer ability could have its bur reduced. This had meant we went through all of gallospire on max health. Afterwards the DM let us know that we were technically supposed to be quite low on resources since you cannot rest within Villik without being disturbed, so spells should be running low by the time you get to the end. Also, no teleportation works properly - you get sent to special portals instead.
Depending on how you have run it so far, the wizard/cleric would likely be quite low on spells/channel by this point.
Voxel_Fox |
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None of those would work with a staff though.
Sounds to me like your crafter might be abusing custom magic item rules without running them by you first. Check their items, make sure they have a source for each one
He is indeed abusing Custom Item rules and not telling me, these are true facts. In fact he has been making items, and casting buffs without telling me. I had to have him physically write them all down last session, cause he pulled a (BUT I ALREADY CAST IT!!)
Raynulf |
Ah. One of those.
If the party are geared up to the eyeballs and significantly over their WBL expectations(which are based on market value, not what it cost the PCs), then they will punch way over their level... And that's not touching the topic of questionable rules interpretations or "forgetting" to track resources at times (I've seen both).
The Inevitable approach would be to ask for their character sheets, determine their actual wealth and then go halfway between the level that lies on the WBL chart and their actual level. I.e. If they're 13th level with the wealth of 15th level characters, treat them as level 14. But that doesn't actually factor in degrees of optimization of character and gear, nor whether everything they have and are using is actually 100% kosher.
So my recommendation here is.... Don't bother nerfing the PCs. Buff the encounters until they feel climatic and like a fitting finale. By your description of the encounters to date, I'd recommend the Mighty template for AA, and a liberal application of extra hit dice and/or the advanced and giant templates for the minions along the way. And possibly more minions.
You, as the GM, are the arbiter and master of what the PCs face. If the published stats don't work for your table - change them.
I ran an campaign with a policy of "Bring anything", and at 12th level had the PCs enter a superdungeon where I literally threw away the MM (it was 3.5), as my 4 PCs were averaging 500+ damage per round. I created wow style bosses with escalating hit points as the PCs rose from 12th to 16th level by the end, with the final "boss" having 10,000 hp... But that was okay as the PCs were averaging 1000-1500hp a round by that point.
Things can get wonky at high levels.
Rhaleroad |
Eat the encounter and call it a lesson learned. This is a group of characters that have abused the rules. Can't take back the broken gear they appear to have made themselves. Now you know to audit character sheets religiously, you are not the first GM that has been railroaded into one players skewed interpretation of the rules. If you are looking for an argument with the crafter, pull out a Staff of Fire from the book and ask how it is possible to do the damage he calls. Metamagics can't be added to spells cast by the staff and no way a GM would allow a custom metamagic enhanced staff to be made.
These are the type of players that are not looking for a challenging encounter, they are looking to destroy any and all encounters and laugh while they are doing it. These characters are not designed to celebrate a great roll or even a good strategy, they are all about the great "rule twist" they came up with.
The big complaint is the caster, but even the Archer is doing way too much for a lvl 10. Rapid Shot/Bab/Multi Shot..4 arrows at an average of 41 per arrow just means abuse. Not sure how a Fighter get +35 damage per arrow. Not saying they are cheating, but they are abusing and fudging rules. Again, too late for the campaign, but at least its only 1 game session left. Enjoy this one and maybe next game be a bit less lenient.
Voxel_Fox |
Eat the encounter and call it a lesson learned. This is a group of characters that have abused the rules. Can't take back the broken gear they appear to have made themselves. Now you know to audit character sheets religiously, you are not the first GM that has been railroaded into one players skewed interpretation of the rules. If you are looking for an argument with the crafter, pull out a Staff of Fire from the book and ask how it is possible to do the damage he calls. Metamagics can't be added to spells cast by the staff and no way a GM would allow a custom metamagic enhanced staff to be made.
These are the type of players that are not looking for a challenging encounter, they are looking to destroy any and all encounters and laugh while they are doing it. These characters are not designed to celebrate a great roll or even a good strategy, they are all about the great "rule twist" they came up with.
The big complaint is the caster, but even the Archer is doing way too much for a lvl 10. Rapid Shot/Bab/Multi Shot..4 arrows at an average of 41 per arrow just means abuse. Not sure how a Fighter get +35 damage per arrow. Not saying they are cheating, but they are abusing and fudging rules. Again, too late for the campaign, but at least its only 1 game session left. Enjoy this one and maybe next game be a bit less lenient.
The archer I feel is easier to deal with, since all they can do is use the bow. One wind wall or any creature that can get into melee with them shuts her down, in fact she almost died twice to Mimics earlier because of this flaw. They managed to literally one shot a Glabrezu demon in one full attack.
Voxel_Fox |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Ah. One of those.
If the party are geared up to the eyeballs and significantly over their WBL expectations(which are based on market value, not what it cost the PCs), then they will punch way over their level... And that's not touching the topic of questionable rules interpretations or "forgetting" to track resources at times (I've seen both).
The Inevitable approach would be to ask for their character sheets, determine their actual wealth and then go halfway between the level that lies on the WBL chart and their actual level. I.e. If they're 13th level with the wealth of 15th level characters, treat them as level 14. But that doesn't actually factor in degrees of optimization of character and gear, nor whether everything they have and are using is actually 100% kosher.
So my recommendation here is.... Don't bother nerfing the PCs. Buff the encounters until they feel climatic and like a fitting finale. By your description of the encounters to date, I'd recommend the Mighty template for AA, and a liberal application of extra hit dice and/or the advanced and giant templates for the minions along the way. And possibly more minions.
You, as the GM, are the arbiter and master of what the PCs face. If the published stats don't work for your table - change them.
I ran an campaign with a policy of "Bring anything", and at 12th level had the PCs enter a superdungeon where I literally threw away the MM (it was 3.5), as my 4 PCs were averaging 500+ damage per round. I created wow style bosses with escalating hit points as the PCs rose from 12th to 16th level by the end, with the final "boss" having 10,000 hp... But that was okay as the PCs were averaging 1000-1500hp a round by that point.
Things can get wonky at high levels.
Its a classic case of "give a mouse a cookie" instead they took my whole f*+~in arm off. Its honestly my fault for not looking into the specifics of what they were up to, but again, 10 levels ago i didn't think that this much abuse was going to happen...
Im gonna take your advice (especially since i'm a huge fan of the WoW boss fight) and buff the main villain to make him feel like an actual boss, and using the suggestion from the actual book, add in the minions it suggested with buffed templates as well.
Baval |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
rule of thumb: never, EVER allow custom magic items.
If you do, make them and price them yourself. Find a price you think is good for that item, then add 50% to it to be sure. Most of the magic items that dont exist dont exist for a reason. You can justify it in world as being a unique item.
CMIs are the quickest way to break the game if they aren't monitored. The chart is not even slightly accurate.
If your crafter buddy complains, let him know youll allow him to use CMIs but that means you can too. Then come to us, and we'll tell you how to make the best ones. Last resort only though, few players respond well to rocket tag.
Raynulf |
My wife (who is GMing Carrion Crown and knows the encounter) suggested a few things... which I'll elaborate in far more detail than she feels is necessary or warranted <_<
1) Pay attention to the weather conditions (p47). Anyone trying to circumvent walking up the tower and suffering the traps and effects along the way is going to need to make some nasty Fly checks to avoid falling out of the sky.
2) Per the Development section (p57), if the PCs are walking up, he will harass them with things like grease, hydraulic push, telekinesis etc
3) On the same page, the mirage arcane effect of the delusionary aura makes it appear that you that you're fighting in an open field... when you're still up on thee 50ft platform. Only reaching the edge of the platform causes the PCs to be able to make a Will save to disbelieve. Noting that AA can also use spells to punt them off and then "trap" the stairs up to fight the remainder/flying at his leisure.
4) If AA doesn't look beefy enough, and your players are somehow able to figure out a means of resting safely for 8 hours (which should be nigh impossible), feel free to have either the nightwalker general here... or even better, Marrowgarth be fought here along side AA. Because what is more epic than fighting a lich riding a dracolich... sorry... "Ravener" <_<
She also comments that while AA theoretically is a CR17 encounter, he really doesn't have enough HP or damage. In fact... let me slap something in spoilers...
From Pathfinder PRD Monster Creation
HP: CR17 expected HP = 270. He is about 30% less than that, even with magic items to boost Cha, which is exclusively to raise HP while undead (if you've read his description, you'll understand why that's odd). He has fast healing 20, which will help a little... but only if he lives long enough - which he won't.
AC: CR17 expects around an AC of 32, which he hits.
Spells: He's not a great spellcaster, really. Dividing his mental stats between Int (casting) and Cha (hp while a lich) has nerfed his DCs somewhat. That said, fire shield is a good way to halve fire damage, as well as mess up melee characters. Note he also has force punch if a PC is near the ledge.
Other Defenses: It is important to note that if a spell fails to beat his SR, the spell is reflected back at the caster... unfortunately this doesn't work on area effects.
Offense: CR expects an attack bonus of +20-27, and an average damage per round (if everything hits) of 67 to 90. His melee ability is severely lacking unless you pull out all the stops with both spell combat and spell strike, and thus requires familiarity with how the Magus class works to be threatening.
A key thing to focus on is:
- His swift action Soul Lash ability, targeting low Ref characters (your theurge, by preference)
- Using spell combat to full attack (noting he'll be hasted) and lob spells as well.
- Spell strike for delivering touch attack spells via his weapon. This basically means he can cast a spell then make a melee attack as a free action, dealing weapon damage plus spell damage (and the weapon holds the charge if he misses). Noting you can use this in conjunction with spell combat, and indeed should at every opportunity.
- Remembering his defenses and the environment, as they are very nasty.
Unfortunately, the monk is likely to be immune to him due to evasion, high Ref save and high AC. The rogue will be a problem as well. The archer he can likely handle if the archer doesn't kill him in one or two rounds.
If you buff him, I'd suggest bolstering his attack bonus (to at least +27 primary) and hit points to... well... enough to last an absolute minimum of 3 rounds. Or give him a dragon to distract them :P
rkotitan |
Not sure how much help it will be but here is my rebuild of the final boss.
Of course I built him specifically to challenge the characters in my game and the most difficult to deal with for me was a mim/maxed Aasimar Archer Paladin of Abadar.
Hope it helps.
SodiumTelluride |
My recommendation is, look for their weak spots. I had a player abuse the custom point-buy I let them use and made a very powerful fighter-- with an Achilles Heel of terrible Will saves. So I had to exploit this same weakness in every combat that needed to be a challenge.
Use this same approach to your players, especially the mystic theurge. Does he have a bad Fort save? Use death effects, ability drain, and negative energy damage. Are his damage spells almost always fire? Immunity to fire. Is the monk's damage-per-hit low? High DR. How's the kineticist's AC? Summon creatures to constantly threaten him. And so on.
Voxel_Fox |
My wife (who is GMing Carrion Crown and knows the encounter) suggested a few things... which I'll elaborate in far more detail than she feels is necessary or warranted <_<
1) Pay attention to the weather conditions (p47). Anyone trying to circumvent walking up the tower and suffering the traps and effects along the way is going to need to make some nasty Fly checks to avoid falling out of the sky.
2) Per the Development section (p57), if the PCs are walking up, he will harass them with things like grease, hydraulic push, telekinesis etc
3) On the same page, the mirage arcane effect of the delusionary aura makes it appear that you that you're fighting in an open field... when you're still up on thee 50ft platform. Only reaching the edge of the platform causes the PCs to be able to make a Will save to disbelieve. Noting that AA can also use spells to punt them off and then "trap" the stairs up to fight the remainder/flying at his leisure.
4) If AA doesn't look beefy enough, and your players are somehow able to figure out a means of resting safely for 8 hours (which should be nigh impossible), feel free to have either the nightwalker general here... or even better, Marrowgarth be fought here along side AA. Because what is more epic than fighting a lich riding a dracolich... sorry... "Ravener" <_<
She also comments that while AA theoretically is a CR17 encounter, he really doesn't have enough HP or damage. In fact... let me slap something in spoilers...
** spoiler omitted **...
Tell your wife thank you for me! This is extremely helpful!
Voxel_Fox |
Not sure how much help it will be but here is my rebuild of the final boss.
Of course I built him specifically to challenge the characters in my game and the most difficult to deal with for me was a mim/maxed Aasimar Archer Paladin of Abadar.
Hope it helps.
Your breakdown of the fight is amazing, thank you so much for posting a link! I'll absolutely have to practice this fight so I don't slip up and forget something.
Voxel_Fox |
This is the gear list i've managed to recover from my players, still waiting on the others to fill it out.
Biddy: Ballin’ ass flask.
-Hands: Reconnaissance Gloves (10 rounds a day),
-Rings: Ring of protection +2, Ring of Invisibility,
-Head: Circlet of Persuasion (+3 to all cha checks),
-Headband: Ninjitsu Headband of Charisma +4 (Sneak attack concealment, +2 to hit while sneak attacking, 1/day auto flat footed target),
-Eyes: Eyes of the Eagle (+5 perception),
-Neck: Amulet of Natural Armor +1,
-Shoulders: Cloak of Resistance +5,
-Chest: Spectral Shroud (24/7 see invisible; see ethereal creatures. 10 min/day of etherealness, cannot attack from the ethereal plane to the material),
-Belt: Belt of Dex/con +4,
-Body: Corset of the Vishkanya (+5 escape artist, 10 rounds per day immediate action +5 additional escape artist),
Feet: Boots of Striding and Springing (+5 acrobatics, 10 movement speed),
-Armor: +2 Mind Buttressing, shadowed mithral chain shirt (+2 resistance bonus on Will saves and renders her immune to possession and mental control (including charm and compulsion effects like command and charm person). If it's donned by a creature already under the influence of such an effect, the creature immediately receives another saving throw, +5 stealth),
-Wrists: Vambraces of the Duelist (+1 ac while dual wielding, 1/round negate penalties for dual wielding for one attack)
Slotless goodies:
-Dark Blue Rhomboid (Alertness, secret power: reduce concealment by 25% on ethereal creatures)
-Dusky Rose (+1 dodge, secret power: Summon three unseen servants per day)
-Masterwork -Thieves tools with a +5 competence enchantment
-Pocketed Scarf (+8 to sleight of hand checks to conceal an object on person).
TL;DR: Sees ghosts, invisible people; reduces enemy concealment by 25% if due to etherealness (So, ghosts mostly), and can sneak attack enemies with concealment. Mostly immune to mind f*$#ery (scan above).
Special abilities: Cannot be detected by scent, period (Mythic, path of the trickster). Dampen Presence: May use the Stealth skill to hide from any creature attempting to perceive you using blindsight or blindsense, even if you are clearly in that creature's perceptual field. Shadow Well (Sp): At 9th level, you can use the Stealth skill even while being observed and without cover or concealment, as long as you are within 10 feet of a shadow other than your own.
Serif:
Head:--Headband:Headband of Wisdom+4
Eyes:--
Neck: Necklace of ki serenity
Shoulders:Cloak of Resistance +5
Body:Monk’s Robes
Chest:--
Armor:--
Wrists:--
Hands: Gloves of Mighty Fists +3
Ring 1:Ring of ki Mastery
Ring 2: Ring of protection +3
Belt:Belt of Dexterity +4
Ioun Stones:Cracked Dusty Rose
Spell Buffs: --
Significant Class Features: Purity of body(Immune to all disease) Tongues of sun and moon(I understand everything, and everything understands me)
Raynulf |
Hmm. Important question: How many mythic tiers do your PCs have (and how many will they have by the time they face AA?)
I ask as the general rule for monsters is that their CR is equal to their normal CR + half their mythic tier, and the same philosophy works on players fairly well. E.g. A 15th level character with 6 mythic tiers is expected to perform somewhat like an 18th level character.
Sort of.
Generally the mythic rules don't raise attack rolls, saves or spell penetration overly much, so flat out using higher CR published creatures (and correspondingly higher SR/AC/DCs) can get frustrating for the players (well, if they haven't optimized their characters out the whazoo), but given the mixture of surges and mythic abilities the PCs will mulch things that are considered 'appropriate' for their level alone.
Expected L13 Wealth: 140,000gp
Total: 217,600gp plus weapons
TL;DR: Depending on weapons, his wealth is about 2-4 levels above what is expected.
Gloves - 2,000
Ring of Protection - 8,000
Ring of Invisibility - 20,000
Circlet of Persuasion - 4,500
Headband of the Ninjitsu - 7,500
.... +4 Cha (16,000 x 1.5 = 24,000)
Eyes of the Eagle - 2,500
Amulet of Natural Armor +1 - 2,000
Cloak of Resistance +5 - 25,000
Spectral Shroud - 26,000
Belt of Physical Might (+4/+4) - 40,000
Corset (really?) - 3,000
Boots of Striding and Springing - 5,500
Armor: Mithral Chain Shirt (1,100), +4 equiv (16,000), Shadow (3,750) = 20,850
Vambraces of the Duelist - 8,000
Dark Blue Rhomboid - 10,000
Dusky Rose - 5,000 (plus 3/day first level spell = more)
Thieves' Tools with a +5 competence enhance = 3,750
Pocketed Scarf - Normally only gives a +4 bonus....
... and no weapon? Given he has rogue BAB I would have assumed he would have some spiffy shortswords to gank things with. And weapons are expensive
Given the above... I'd suggest that everything in the last book needs to be buffed up a minimum of (half their tier) + (1-2 for wealth... probably 2), and then have all HP maximized, rather than the default of taking average. E.g. walking in at Tier 6, everything would basically need +5 CR worth of templates, additional creatures or plain old buffs slapped on. And that's before getting to the final boss.
Noting that as their effective level is higher, you don't need to give them the increased XP.... And my experience with the mythic rules is that you really shouldn't as it makes levelling either too easy (if you don't increase the CR) or too fast (if you increase the CR and XP). Same XP, but much tougher critters.
If this is a mythic party, I'd again suggest the mighty template, plus the agile mythic template to give AA an extra turn per round in which to actually present a threat to the PC.
Voxel_Fox |
Hmm. Important question: How many mythic tiers do your PCs have (and how many will they have by the time they face AA?)
I ask as the general rule for monsters is that their CR is equal to their normal CR + half their mythic tier, and the same philosophy works on players fairly well. E.g. A 15th level character with 6 mythic tiers is expected to perform somewhat like an 18th level character.
Sort of.
Generally the mythic rules don't raise attack rolls, saves or spell penetration overly much, so flat out using higher CR published creatures (and correspondingly higher SR/AC/DCs) can get frustrating for the players (well, if they haven't optimized their characters out the whazoo), but given the mixture of surges and mythic abilities the PCs will mulch things that are considered 'appropriate' for their level alone.
** spoiler omitted **
Given the above... I'd suggest that everything in the last book needs to be buffed up a minimum of (half their tier)...
They only have 1 mythic tier from me buffing the Headless Horseman fight at the beginning of the 5th book. I gave him the agile template for funsies. They had a hard time with that one finally.
Raynulf |
Fair enough. Though I'd give them a ln effective +1 level (for determining creature design, not XP) due to that tier.
Fleet charge in particular is potent, even with only 4 mythic power to fuel it, as it lets you swift action charge, then full attack.
On which note, giving that to AA will help him pull off spell combat much easier. :)
(and I would still recommend throwing +2 to +3 CR onto every encounter leading up to him, too)
ckdragons |
I've run this campaign to completion, and while my group wasn't as OP as yours, they still smacked the last big bad in 2 rounds (I GM cheated by having him with a contingency of heal and teleport so the big bad lasted a few more rounds).
If I were to run this differently, I would have had the winds surrounding the spire play more against the party. Maybe reducing their flight movement to 1/2 (or negate completely) and negate any missile ranged attacks (the bad guys aren't affected by this because the winds are supernaturally created by e-v-i-l). You could also, if I remember correctly, the winds contained evil spirits that would attack any flyers moving into them, so have those spirits partake in the fight. Further, I remember a dragon-type encounter just before the last big bad. Have them encountered together.
Just a few ideas. Hope it helps. :)
Voxel_Fox |
I've run this campaign to completion, and while my group wasn't as OP as yours, they still smacked the last big bad in 2 rounds (I GM cheated by having him with a contingency of heal and teleport so the big bad lasted a few more rounds).
If I were to run this differently, I would have had the winds surrounding the spire play more against the party. Maybe reducing their flight movement to 1/2 (or negate completely) and negate any missile ranged attacks (the bad guys aren't affected by this because the winds are supernaturally created by e-v-i-l). You could also, if I remember correctly, the winds contained evil spirits that would attack any flyers moving into them, so have those spirits partake in the fight. Further, I remember a dragon-type encounter just before the last big bad. Have them encountered together.
Just a few ideas. Hope it helps. :)
I actually really like the idea of the Dragon Harassing them earlier as planned, but leaving sooner to recharge her soul thing, and returning to help her master atop the tower for the final fight.
Raynulf |
So the Staff the caster has is a Fireball Staff, with empower, maximize and intensify built into it. Sounds f~!&ing rediculous, is this actually possible??
If you allow custom magic item creation... yes, but normally subject to GM review. There are staffs with metamagic applied (usually heighten) in the game, I believe.
Fireball is a 3rd level spell.
+ Maximise makes it a 6th (min CL11)
+ Empower makes it an 8th (min CL15)
+ Intensify makes it a 9th (min CL17)
The CL of the item, strangely, is not actually a requirement of crafting it - it just sets the Spellcraft DC (typically 5 + CL, which is a cakewalk). Indeed, as long as he has Craft Staff, he could arguably not need any of the metamagic feats if he raises the DC by 15.
That said such a staff would be 57,375gp (and 57 days) to craft and over 114,750gp market value, but would pump out 15x6x1.5 = 135 fire damage per shot. Noting that it still counts as a 3rd level spell, so would have a DC of 13 + his int, and be negated by a minor globe of invulnerability
... unless he has each shot cost more than one charge, which divides the cost appropriately. 2 charges = 1/2 the number of shots = 1/2 the price. etc
Brandon Hodge Contributor |
Raynulf |
Adivion is a staff magus--give him a staff identical to your PC's custom one and see how they like being on the receiving end of that abuse... ;-)
And if you really, really wanted to be mean (considering that resistances, high saves and evasion abound in this party), tinker with his build to have him pick up battering blast via a magus arcane and make an equivalent CL20 staff with that.
Staff of empowered maximized intensified (+6) battering blast (3rd) x CL20 / 5 charges per shot = 13,500gp to create, 27,000gp market value.
In essence it produces 10 shots of said spell before running out of charges. Each casting produces 4 orbs of force, which are ranged touch attacks with 75ft range.
Each orb deals 63 force damage (7d6 maximized, x1.5), for 252 force damage per casting.
Furthermore, anyone struck by an orb is subject to a bull rush combat maneuver using the CL (20) in place of BAB and Int (+6 for him, I think) instead of Str. Hitting a single creature with multiple orbs gives a +10 bonus to this check per extra orb.
Depending on how many you knock off the platform, you can even throw in the "YOU ARE NOT WORTHY!" line as well <_<
The Steel Refrain |
The monk's gear doesn't seem outrageous to me (though I haven;t compared it against average wealth by level), but a few notes on the ninja's gear:
Mind Buttressing armor enchantment is only supposed to be allowed on medium and heavy armor. Your ninja appears to have ignored that when enchanting his chain shirt. Also worth noting: the resistance bonus to Will saves from that item will not stack with his cloak.
The Ninjitsu headband also does not function precisely as listed. It gives a bonus to hit on sneak attacks and the ability to sneak attacks targets with concealment (though not to ignore the miss chance -- he still needs to roll that). Otherwise it gives a bonus to bluff checks to feint and reposition manuevers, and a free feint or reposition as a swift action 1x/day. It does not make a target automatically flat footed once per day.
Given the nature of the staff he created and the other shenanigans you've mentioned, I would very much like to see the mystic theurge's gear list.