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Hello all, I was just reading the Maure Castle thread currently being discussed and I came upon people claiming that Eli was a poorly created melee-wizard. I couldn't agree more and I'm desperate for ideas on how to change him. I've taken the NPC out of Maure Castle and placed him into my home-brew campaign. Already the PCs were able to injure him horribly and he was forced to run away after sundering an expensive sword. I was wondering what changes I should make to him to make him better able to handle the PCs?
>> Human: Improved Unarmed Strike
1: Stunning Fist
3: Improved Familiar
6: Power attack
9: Improved sunder
12: forge ring
15: Quicken Spell
A wizard taking Improved Unarmed Strike at first level? That seems very, very unlikely. Eli didn't get his claws until much later in his career. Granted, it makes him more powerful but I think this is min-maxed too much.
Ditto Stunning Fist, Power Attack and Improved Sunder (assuming he didn't have the claws by 9th level).
(And the claws are natural weapons, so why does he even need IUS? Qualifying for something else?)
I think if he had Tensers Transformation, especially a quickened version, he would be a monster. He could hang back and use his spells until exhausted and then trigger TT to finish the party with melee. This would cover any mages weakness - melee. Especially a mage who likes knowledge and hand-to-hand combat.
His an interesting character. Someone who likes melee but doesn't take any martial feats/classes.
My party has just stumbled onto him much earlier than they should have. 2 level 14 characters and 3 level 12 characters. I suspect they are going to get an arse-whooping.
For a thread about spell-list improvement no one has talked about any actual spells :)
I like.
I think I might use some of your non-PHB spells. My players will confront him next month. They have surprised them in the Statuary and get a free round on him. Which may very well mean death for Eli. I hope not as that would be anti-climatic. I have the following ideas currently. I pre-rolled Time-stop which gave him 4 rounds.
1 Click right hand + Quickened Bulls Strength
2 Click left hand + Quickened Blur
3 Stoneskin from Scroll + Quickened Shield
4 Evards Black Tentacles + Quickened Acid Fog (fly above party out of melee range)
He will use the Black tentacles to pin the cleric/warrior as best he can and then use acid fog to do continues damage to those trapped by the tentacles. His rogue cohort will shoot a silence arrow into their midst to stop the cleric/wizard from casting. Once Eli has exhausted his spells he will trigger Tensors Transformation and melee. I am using the kung-fu genius idea you had so anyone he stuns I'll have the rogue attempt to backstab.
Having said that I still made about 1/3 to 1/5 of his spells from the divination school. As I think that would suite his character much more.
Where is Benign Transposition from?
Ahh yes. Had to re-read it. Thanks.
Hey all,
I decided to redo Eli, in order to present a more melee wizard who was throughouly enmeshed with demons & fiends. Plus, my players' pcs are much higher level than 12th level on average at the start of the module, and that means I had to make Eli higher level.
To start off, I made Eli an gestalt npc. That's already some level of evil there since gestalt combos can really be overwhelming. Sooo, with that in mind, I also considered that Eli had connections to various outsiders and a few powerful demons. Thus, I figured the Acolyte of the Skin and the PrC from DMG that improves summoning abilities (which I can't remember off the top of my head on how to spell it) would make sense.
Bottom Line: Eli is a gestalt combo of Wizard/Warlock/Acolyte of the Skin/PrC from DMG that improves summoning.
Most of the Warlock invocations were things like Fell Flight or Devil's Eye. All-round useful invocations that could be used for combat or noncombat. However, I did select Eldritch Spear, Hideous Blow, and Vitrolic Blast.
Nasty thing about that is Eli with those claws can make one standard attack with hideous blow...hideous blow can be combined with vitrolic blast. In conjunction with all that, add in the Stunning Fist (which can be used as part of the standard melee attack, I think). Add in the vile damage from Vile Natural Attack (from Book of Vile Darkness). Keep in mind that a critical hit doubles the damage done by a warlock's eldritch blast. Result: A lot of pain for one pc. >:)
Then again, my players' pcs are not exactly pushovers so it should be a fairly balanced battle. I'll send an e-mail of the statistics and relevant details of my version of Eli if anyone wants it. Oh yeah, I tended to select spells from the Book of Vile Darkness, Complete Arcane, and Libris Mortis for Eli.
[Edit: had to change a few things since I later realised that one of my players tend to spend 50% of his waking hours online surfing message boards, ;) ]
Does one not have to be Lawfully-aligned for the Enlightened First PrC?
Eli Tomorast, Gestalt Acolyte of the Skin10/Fighter2/Thaurmaturgist3/Warlock11/Wizard16; HD 3d4+6d6+10d8+2d10+126; hp; Init +4; Spd 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (good); AC 22 (+2 natural, +4 Dex, +6 armour); BAB/Grp +17/+20; Atk +25 melee (1d12+8, claw) or +22 ranged (1d4+4, +1 returning adamantine dagger); Full Atk +25 melee (1d12+8, 2 claws) or +22 ranged (1d4+4, +1 returning adamantine dagger); SA spells, invocations, fiendish hands, fiendish glare, glare of the pit, summon fiend, eldritch blast 7d6; SQ contingency, inherent bonuses, permanent spells, scry on familiar, summon familiar, DR 10/good, DR 3/cold iron, flame resistant, cold resistant, wear fiend/skin adaptation, fiendish symbiosis, detect magic, deceive item, fiendish resilience, energy resistance, improved ally, augmented summoning, extended summoning; AL CE; SV Fort +13/+6, Ref +10/+4, Will +17/+12; Str 16, Dex 19, Con 22, Int 34, Wis 16, Cha 18.
Skills & Feats: Concentration +24/+6, Craft (alchemy) +20/+12, Decipher Script +20/+12, Knowledge (arcana) +24/+12, Knowledge (architecture) +24/+12, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +12/+12, Knowledge (geography) +13/+12, Knowledge (history) +14/+12, Knowledge (the planes) +24/+12, Sense Motive +8/+3, Spellcraft +24/+12+2; Arcane Strike, Craft Wondrous Item, Forge Ring, Improved Familiar, Improved Spellcasting, Improved Sunder, Improved Unarmed Strike, Malign Spell Focus, Mobile Spell Casting, Power Attack, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll, Stunning Fist (5/day, Fort DC 23), Twin Spell, Violate Spell.
Inherent Bonuses: used multiple wishes to gain +5 inherent bonus to his Intelligence and Constitution scores, and a +2 inherent bonus to all other ability scores.
Chain Contingency in Effect: if affected by a hostile enchantment, a hostile alteration, a curse, or petrification, break enchantment is immediately cast in an attempt to remove the unwanted condition; if affected by a scintillating scales spell, he gain the benefits of a draconic might spell (+5 enhancement to Strength, Constitution, and Charisma, +4 enhancement bonus to natural AC, immunity to magic sleep and paralysis effects, 21 minutes, Transmutation); and if reduced to less than one-third his normal maximum hit points, he is affected by a teleport spell to an secret location
Permanent Spell Effects: arcane sight, comprehend languages, see invisibility, and greater magic fang +5 (once on each hand).
Fiendish Hands (Su): in addition to dealing 1d12 points of damage, the hands grants Eli other powers as detailed below:
Left Hand: At will as a move action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity, Eli can snap the fingers on his left hand to gain a +4 insight bonus to his Dexterity for one minute.
Right Hand: At will as a move action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity, Eli can snap the fingers on his right hand to gain a +3 insight bonus on attack rolls for one minute.
Both Hands in Attack: If Eli hits a creature with both hands, the victims gains a negative level and must succeed on a fortitude save (DC 26) or be paralysed for 2d6 rounds. The Fortitude save to remove the negative level is DC 26.
Both Hands in Defence: As a free action, Eli can clasp his hands together in prayer. This immediately causes writhing black shadows to leap up around him, granting a +5 deflection bonus to his AC. While clasped, he cannot make any attacks with his hands or cast spells with somatic or material components. This lasts as long as Eli concentrates; the effect can be disrupted if he fails a Concentration check. He often keeps his hands clasped during combat when it is not his turn.
Poison (Sp): can use poison 2/day, DC 26, CL 8th.
Flame Resistant (Ex): fire resistance 10.
Fiendish Glare (Su): 1/day, will save (DC 21), as a standard action, glares at anyone within 100 ft. (not a gaze attack, needs only line of effect). If the target fails their save, they are stunned for a number of rounds depending on their current hit points: 50 or less (10 rounds), 51 to 100 (3 rounds), 101 to 150 (2 rounds), 151 or more (1 round). This is a mind-affecting fear effect.
Cold Resistant (Ex): cold resistance 10.
Glare of the Pit (Su): 1/day, as a standard action, can fire 2 rays (each from one eye) to a range of 100 ft. On a successful ranged touch attack for each ray, they deal 8d6 points of fire damage each.
Summon Fiend (Sp): 1/day, summon a babau for 1 hour and it does Eli’s bidding. It cannot use any innate summoning abilities it may have. CL 20th.
Wear Fiend/Skin Adapation (Su): +2 natural AC bonus and darkvision 120 ft.
Fiendish Symbiosis (Ex): type changes to outsider, DR 10/good, can be raised or resurrected normally.
Detect Magic (Sp): can use detect magic at will. CL 11th.
Damage Reduction (Su): 3/cold iron.
Deceive Item (Ex): can take 10 on Use Magic Device checks even if distracted or threatened.
Fiendish Resilience (Su): 1/day, for 2 minutes, as a free action, gain fast healing 1.
Energy Resistance (Su): acid resistance 5 and electricity resistance 5.
Eldritch Blast (Sp): range 60 ft., ranged touch attack, equivalent to a 7th spell, is subjected to spell resistance, deals half damage to objects, deals 7d6 points of damage.
Invocations: DC 14 + equivalent spell level, can cast least, lesser, and greater invocations.
Invocations Known: 8 – 3 least (Devil’s Eye, Eldritch Spear, Hideous Blow), 3 lesser (Fell Flight, Voracious Dispelling, Hungry Darkness), 2 greater (Enervating Shadow, Vitriolic Blast).
Improved Ally: see Thaurmaturgist description.
Augment Summoning: as per the feat, except it applies to all forms of summoning that Eli performs.
Extended Summoning: all spells from the summoning sub-school have their durations doubled, without increasing the spell’s level.
Languages: Common, Abyssal, Draconic, Gnoll, and Undercommon.
Possessions: +1 returning adamantine dagger, ring of wizardry II, ring of intellect +6, Heward’s handy haversack, minor cloak of displacement, boots of speed, flesh ring of scorn (automatic critical hits against non-outsiders whenever threat of a critical is indicated), Boccob’s blessed book, wand of identify (21 charges), scroll of greater teleport, scroll of stoneskin, scroll of tongues, scroll of illusionary wall, scroll of geas, four potions of cure serious wounds, contingency statuette worth 3,000 gold pieces.
Spells Prepared: 7/7/11/7/7/6/6/6/6/5/2 (DC 22 + spell level, DC 24 + spell level for evil spells)
0th [7] – arcane mark, ghost sound, message, touch of fatigue
1st [7] – enlarge person, expeditious retreat, lesser orb of acid (2), magic missile, ray of enfeeblement, true strike
2nd [11] – arcane lock, command undead, invisibility, lesser orb of sound (violated), magic missile (violated, x2), phantasmal assailants, rope trick, scintillating scales, scorching ray (2), web
3rd [7] – dispel magic, dragonskin, gaseous form, greater mage armour (already cast), lightning bolt, magic circle against good (already cast), major image
4th [7] – anticipate teleport, dimension door, dispelling screen, enervation, lightwall, phantasmal killer, wrack (DC 28)
5th [6] – feeblemind, magic missile (quickened), reciprocal gyre, sending, shield (quickened), wall of force
6th [6] – disintegrate, greater dispel magic, mirror image (quickened), transfix, true seeing, wall of iron
7th [6] – greater teleport, limited wish, project image, protection from energy (quickened), summon monster VII, wall of eyes
8th [6] – bestow greater curse, dimension door (quickened), flensing (DC 32), horrid wilting, mind blank (already cast), whirlwind of teeth (violated, DC 31)
9th [5] – arc of lighting (quickened, DC 27), bigby’s crushing hand, burning blood (quickened and violated, DC 28), cone of cold (quickened), time stop
10th [2] – maw of chaos (violated), prismatic ray (twinned and violated, DC 29)
I haven't rolled hit points yet (since it's not important now) but his ECL should be 24 (taking into account both his LA as a gestalt, as defined in Unearthed Arcana, and the +1 modifier that Dungeon Magazine included because of his fiendish hands).
What do you think? Is he good enough to pose a threat to a group of pcs who should be 18th level on average and are munchkin pcs on average?
What's a gestalt npc?
Has anyone else gone through with the Eli encounter yet? (since ~March 1st 2005)
I've begun stating Eli (etc) up, as my players may reach him within the next session or three. (As an aside: I've completely re-drawn the Statuary level, as I feel the Dungeon mag map is not thematically-linked to the core idea of the level and too predictable as the PCs stumble through it. "Gee, is there anything to the north?" :) )
As written, Eli is not particularly powerful. He's got a split personality spell list: it cries out "Stay back and blast!", while his natural abilities (feats, equipment) are tailored for some up-close and personal action.
Neither will be effective in the current format....IMHO. Have others seen it work? Perhaps I'm *way* off base.....tell me about it!
Designer’s thoughts too????
I re-did his list using my own ideas as well as the list from infomatic (above). Also changed his feats somewhat (Kung Fu Genius as discussed above).
He didn't last long as he was surprised by my players. My plan was to timestop, buff up in the 4 rounds I got for melee and defence. Blast the players from the air for as long as possible. Use Evards Black Tentacles to root as many as possible then acid cloud combined with a silence arrow to hurt the casters. Trigger tensors transformation and then melee.
He got upto the evard/acid cloud part before getting knocked out of the sky and subdued by my party. They then put a hat of opposite alignment on him and he became LG. Now he as an ally of the party and is advising them on how to kill Kerzit and destroy the book.
That's where we left it. I didn't min/max him. I left a lot of his spells intact as he is mostly a research guy. But I did add a lot of melee orientated buff spells to his list. He worked out well and if he wasn't surprised I expect he would of killed the party who were only EL 13.
He didn't last long as he was surprised by my players. My plan was to timestop, buff up in the 4 rounds I got for melee and defence.
The surprise would be a "spanner in the works", but I'll let whatever happens happen.
I think your potential buffs could have been alot better.....with Time Stop, he should be filled to the gills with spells! And, with a bit of creativity, I think he could make "bringing him down" with a dispel difficult. I'd list my ideas here, but my players might read these boards, so.....
Anyone else? How can I get a Wiz attack roll higher?
+8 BAB + 5 Str (Draconic Might) + 5 Magic Fang + 1 Lore + 4 Morale (Greater Heroism) + 3 Insight (claw) +8 Arcane Strike (burn a 4th level spell)
You could boost this further (to +43, I think) by replacing Draconic Might with Tenser's Transformation. But I don't think TT is really worth it unless you're out of spells. I'm still working on it, though.
Thanks.
I think TT isn't worth it; Eli needs the flexibility granted by spell casting, and TT prevents that. I'm thinking I may use Quickened True Strikes, and swaping out some of Eli's equipment. Currently his equipment list is...underwhelming. (Why have the dagger? A Ring of Wiz II? Waste! A complete waste.)
The Loremaster Idea is a perfect fit, BTW. Great minds think alike. I'm not sure why the designers didn't do it. ...It's completely in tune with the character concept.
What about Iron Body? That might work out well.....
Iron body prevents spellcasting doesnt it?
Since he likes to melee I think TT is perfect for him - as a last resort which is what I kept it as.
Iron body prevents spellcasting doesnt it?
Nope.
It is harsh on spell casting tho'.
"Iron Body Transmutation Sor/Wiz 8
....... You have an arcane spell failure chance of 50% ....."
Since he likes to melee I think TT is perfect for him - as a last resort which is what I kept it as.
Problem is (IMHO), he doesn't have the AC or HP for melee.....as he's written up in Dungeon mag. He needs some serious help in order to be a threat. Any ideas?
Nice tactics!
But:
"Dimension Door
.....After using this spell, you can’t take any other actions until your next turn....."
So no attack after he DDs behind the mage. Sorry!
Yoowza. Infomatic, your splat-book kung-fu is strong.....
:)
Many thanks -- although I'm strictly junior-varsity compared to most of my players in this adventure.
Just a hunch, but: I doubt it. :)
When I can, I'll post what my players do. My players are on their way to Eli, but....well, they might let themselves get distracted first.
I readily admit I re-wrote and re-drew the 4th level to more suit my tastes....and to bring out more of the "Maure"-ness of the level. I kept most of the room descriptions, just changed where they were on my new map, and added new areas. (The Room of Colorless Fire is still there, for instance.) I also added some new maurids.
For example: there is a troop of "caretaker" golem maurids (medium sized stone - based on MM) that go about repairing any damage and keeping the place clean. They have several nifty spell-like abilities like Wall of Stone, Stone Shape, Disintegrate, Repair Moderate Damage, Phase Door, and Prestidigitation. These repair golems aren't meant for combat, and only attack in self-defense.
Of course, as soon as the PCs saw them, the PCs charged and attacked. (DM cackle of glee)
In another room, the PCs found a former mason/slave (maurid, of course) who just kept saying, "Hungry! So.....hungry!" as he pawed through a (maurid) crate of food. (Why should all of the maurids just be 'monsters'?? Missed design opportunity! Bad Dungeon magazine, bad!)
I also had the Maure protect their Statuary from scrying, teleportation, and entry magic. (Why would *any* high level group of mages _not_ do this? Hello??) It doesn't stop those types of magic cold, just makes it difficult or dangerous. "Teleport Redirect" anyone? :)
....Anyway, there are changes and oddities like that, which may slow the PCs down. But as soon as they encounter Eli, I'll post it on these boards.
Although I had to put my game on *pause*, I have re-written a lot of the Maure Castle as my players' characters were at least 5 levels higher than what the adventure was normally written for...one of the few things I changed was adding in unhallowed spells in some more areas (really, unhallowed covers a large area and it lasts a year). I also had key areas (i.e., sleeping quarters of important npcs) more warded than with a simple alarm spell.
As for Kerzit, he looks cool but I feel that as written, he is not a threat to 18th level pcs who got ACs hitting mid-30's with some effort. I'm going to try changing Kerzit a bit more to get that H.P. Lovecraft feel. I'll change a few of his feats and maybe even alter some of his abilities to make him feel creepier, more intimidating without actually increasing his ability to kill the pcs. If the pcs want to fight Kerzit, I want them to *earn* that victory (not kill the bugger with a cheesy artifact or epic item that other dms have given them).
I've changed Eli as outlined above and I'm fine with it.
Once I finish running the game, I'll post the rest of the changes I made to the adventure.