So, I have to ask... Has anyone's group managed to defeat Kyuss yet? I realize that it's still early, and most people probably aren't too close the the penultimate encounter of the campaign. Having read Kyuss's stats, though, I'd love to hear if anyone has managed to actually defeat him, and if so, how.
sorry, my players didn't even start the second adventure..><
My players successfully completed the Age of Worms campaign and defeated Kyuss about a month ago. The final party roster:
Xylithxeric, male human conjurer/alienist/fleshwarper
Laftilith, male elf fighter/champion of Corellon Larethian
Izzil'trix, male rilkan chaotic incarnate (Magic of Incarnum)
Ahliss, male aasimar favored soul/contemplative
Xylith used a gate spell to call a titan barbarian (the one from the Wormfood article) and Izzy used a similar incarnum ability to call a black slaad (from the epic level handbook). The two called creatures went into melee with Kyuss along with Laftilith, whose high attack bonus allowed him to hit most of the time. A few damaging spells from Xylith (orbs of force and fire that don't allow spell resistance) as well as buffs from Ahliss helped the party make quick work of Kyuss. It was a bit anti-climactic, but we all had a good time which was the important thing. :)
Izzil'trix, male rilkan chaotic incarnate (Magic of Incarnum)
You played with a high-level Incarnate? How cool! What was he like in play?
Cheers!
Izzil'trix, male rilkan chaotic incarnate (Magic of Incarnum)You played with a high-level Incarnate? How cool! What was he like in play?
Cheers!
He was fairly balanced, it seemed. All of his soulmelds gave him great defensive capacity, especially against undead, but he couldn't really deal out large amounts of damage. He turned out to be a damage soak and a support character, filling the role of party rogue with the trapfinding soulmeld and the social skill soulmeld (I don't recall the names) as well as using his aura and other melds to buff the party. Once he was able to use the gate ability of the planar chasuble, he was able to lend more oomph to the battles, though nothing more than a wizard of his level could do.
Our group just finished AoW. Kyuss in one round. Poor bastard didn't know what hit him.
Our group is using both the Core rules, Arcana Evolved and the Spell Compendium.
The Magister (Arcana Evolved) took some core book spells as unique spells. First round went like this.
Magister (first in initiative order) already had the Sphere of Annhilation out prior to initiative and was buffed with a number of spells, the most significant being Spellmaster from AE.
Magister cast Time Stop and got the max number of rounds.
Round 1 of Time Stop - moved sphere of annhilation onto Kyuss using the Talisman of the sphere.
Round 2 of Time Stop - cast variant Meteor Swarm from AE book using Spellmaster for the spell to take effect in 3 rounds. Spell was empowered using a Greater Rod of Empower. Used Brandish Magic Might (AE) to assist in beating Kyuss Spell Resistance. For a quick action, set off a three Scorching Rays held in a Major Spell Matrix (self) as a sequence to go off in 3 rounds using Spellmaster. Used Brandish Magic Might to help beat SR.
Round 3 of Time Stop - cast variant Meteor Swarm from AE book using Spellmaster for the spell to take effect in 2 rounds. Spell was empowered using a Greater Rod of Empower. Used Brandish Magic Might (AE) to assist in beating Kyuss Spell Resistance. For a quick action, set off a three Scorching Rays held in a Major Spell Matrix (Magister Staff) as a sequence to go off in 2 rounds.. Used Brandish Magic Might to help beat SR.
Round 4 of Time Stop - cast variant Meteor Swarm (AE) using Spellmaster for the spell to take effect in 1 round. Spell was empowered using a Greater Rod of Empower.
Drop out of Time Stop
Kyuss is hit by the sphere of annhilation and goes from 660 hit points to 330. All the spells cast that had a duration to take effect due to Spellmaster (you can delay the onset of a spell effect for up to three round among other effects) now go off at the same time.
Magister resolves all the rolls to ranged touch attacks and to beat spell resistance. Given the buffs and items on the magister, over 75% of the attack make the require rolls to beat SR and to hit Kyuss's impressive range touch armor class. Kyuss takes some 650 hit points of fire damage.
Kyuss goes down. Party looks at Magister in shock. Magister says "He wasn't so tough ...."
Our group just finished AoW. Kyuss in one round. Poor bastard didn't know what hit him.
Our group is using both the Core rules, Arcana Evolved and the Spell Compendium.
And my group wonders why I don't let them use Arcana Evolved, no matter how good it is.
And my group wonders why I don't let them use Arcana Evolved, no matter how good it is.Our group just finished AoW. Kyuss in one round. Poor bastard didn't know what hit him.
Our group is using both the Core rules, Arcana Evolved and the Spell Compendium.
My only problem with using supplemental/non-core books like Spell Compendium or Arcana Evolved is that to be "fair", as a DM I really should be using those books for the baddies too. Although that being said, with beating down Kyuss on the first round + Time Stop... not sure what the nascent God could of done differently, other than have more minions (with AE skillsets as well?) to run cover for him.
Magister cast Time Stop and got the max number of rounds.
Round 1 of Time Stop - moved sphere of annhilation onto Kyuss using the Talisman of the sphere.
Round 2 of Time Stop - cast variant Meteor Swarm from AE book using Spellmaster for the spell to take effect in 3 rounds. Spell was empowered using a Greater Rod of Empower. Used Brandish Magic Might (AE) to assist in beating Kyuss Spell Resistance. For a quick action, set off a three Scorching Rays held in a Major Spell Matrix (self) as a sequence to go off in 3 rounds using Spellmaster. Used Brandish Magic Might to help beat SR.
Round 3 of Time Stop - cast variant Meteor Swarm from AE book using Spellmaster for the spell to take effect in 2 rounds. Spell was empowered using a Greater Rod of Empower. Used Brandish Magic Might (AE) to assist in beating Kyuss Spell Resistance. For a quick action, set off a three Scorching Rays held in a Major Spell Matrix (Magister Staff) as a sequence to go off in 2 rounds.. Used Brandish Magic Might to help beat SR.
Round 4 of Time Stop - cast variant Meteor Swarm (AE) using Spellmaster for the spell to take effect in 1 round. Spell was empowered using a Greater Rod of Empower.
Drop out of Time Stop
Kyuss is hit by the sphere of annhilation and goes from 660 hit points to 330. All the spells cast that had a duration to take effect due to Spellmaster (you can delay the onset of a spell effect for up to three round among other effects) now go off at the same time.
Magister resolves all the rolls to ranged touch attacks and to beat spell...
Am I missing something here? I don't have AE, but the description of Time Stop in the SRD says "While the time stop is in effect, other creatures are invulnerable to your attacks and spells; you cannot target such creatures with any attack or spell. A spell that affects an area and has a duration longer than the remaining duration of the time stop (such as cloudkill have their normal effects on other creatures once time stop ends.
Meteor swarm is instantaneous and therefore has no duration--I presume the feat you cite provides some kind of a delay, but does not give an instantaneous spell duration. Your player targeted Kyuss while time stop was in effect. Based on the wording above, I would not allow that to happen--it's clearly a violation of the spirit of the rules (time stop is supposed to give you time to buff, shape the battlefield, summon allies, or flee) if not the letter. I would also rule that since moving the Sphere into Kyuss' square effectively constitutes an attack, that could not be done while under the effects of time stop.
Of course, you're the DM, and what you say goes (and it's done now, so you can't very well change it--I'm just interested in seeing if others agree with my interpretation of the rules, so I know what I should do if I'm faced with a similar call).
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I think you are right - while Time Stop is in effect, the character affected cannot interact with anyone or anything else. Of course, this further serves to illustrate how utterly imbalanced this spell can be if misused - also, see the Circle of Eight TPK in the prequel to "Vecna Lives!".
Still, the blast-o-rama on top of the pyramid was pretty cool...
Also, don't forget that this guy has time stop too and probably a wish spell. Also, this guy is a deity. He knows that the wizard has the sphere out and ready to attack. If I were DMing that situtation, I would have had Kyuss ready an action to cast time stop to buff, travel to a place removed from combat for a number of rounds equal to the length of their defenses, and return with a quickened dispel magic to clear up any left over spells before unleashing hell on four 'heroes'.
Bottomline: It is very anticlimatic to play a ignorant deity. He has had many many many centuries to plan this and I don't see him rolling over to four beings with a small ball. I am not saying make it impossible, but any mage type that does not go to great lengths to hide a weapon as powerful as the sphere deserves to get it taken.
One can argue the finer points of the wording and intention of Time Stop and Spellmaster. The end result would still be the same - the Magister would have just used Area spells with Spellmaster and could have amassed enough fire damage to finish Kyuss.
Even if not, the rest of the party still would have one full round of actions before Kyuss could do anything (and technically by the module, 2 rounds since they stopped despair in the town and destroyed the negative energy machine below the graveyard) and they had the means to do alot of beatdown if the magister did not bring Kyuss down.
That was confirmed. Just to see 'what if', after that session, we did the Kyuss battle again without the Magister doing the Timestop thingy. And the result was the same - Kyuss was KOed in one round.
And to be clear, I am not disappointed or anything like that. My group had a blast of fun playing AoW and they worked hard to make characters that had that kick ass capability. Whether it was Kyuss in one round or Kyuss in five rounds, the big guy was going down. I watched their planning for every contigency (They had a 'A' plan, a 'B' plan, a 'C' plan and a 'D' plan for the final battle) and their teamwork and character capabilities made any of their plans a winner.
As the saying goes - It is not the destination, it is the journey. Confronting Kyuss was the destination but the entire AoW adventure path was the journey and quite an journey it was. Taking Kyuss out in one round, even if it may seem super cheesy to others, doesn't invalidate the journey. I let they enjoy their victory.
My players successfully completed the Age of Worms campaign and defeated Kyuss about a month ago. The final party roster:
Xylithxeric, male human conjurer/alienist/fleshwarper
Laftilith, male elf fighter/champion of Corellon Larethian
Izzil'trix, male rilkan chaotic incarnate (Magic of Incarnum)
Ahliss, male aasimar favored soul/contemplativeXylith used a gate spell to call a titan barbarian (the one from the Wormfood article) and Izzy used a similar incarnum ability to call a black slaad (from the epic level handbook). The two called creatures went into melee with Kyuss along with Laftilith, whose high attack bonus allowed him to hit most of the time. A few damaging spells from Xylith (orbs of force and fire that don't allow spell resistance) as well as buffs from Ahliss helped the party make quick work of Kyuss. It was a bit anti-climactic, but we all had a good time which was the important thing. :)
I'm impressed! A "anti-climactic" end to a seriously tough bad guy, from just 4 characters. I guess this goes to show how finicky high-level combat can be. Still, when you can call both a titan barbarian and a black slaad(!), you have some serious mojo on your side.
As the saying goes - It is not the destination, it is the journey. Confronting Kyuss was the destination but the entire AoW adventure path was the journey and quite an journey it was. Taking Kyuss out in one round, even if it may seem super cheesy to others, doesn't invalidate the journey. I let they enjoy their victory.
I agree. The players had to work hard to reach this point, and it sounds like they played extremely well. They deserve the satisfaction of a job well done. Besides, Kyuss wasn't a deity, he was a proto-deity. He was just small-fry, there are bigger fish in the pond ;)
My take on Time Stop is that the Character is just speeded up immensely. If anyone has seen "Over the Hedge", think of the squirrel on caffeine. He was going so fast that light was going slow. Granted, it is mostly prep work he did, but it still counted.
Black Moria and Brainiac, It sounds like your groups did superb. Kudos to them!
I'm actually more interested in how they fared against Dragotha. Care to tell?
Concerning the mage that tossed Kyuss in one round, why didn't Kyuss have energy immunity (SpC) up? He has several 8th level spell available to him IIRC, and he would certainly know the mage has a tendency to favor fire spells. There is nothing saying the DM cannot alter Kyuss' spell list to account for PC tactics.
If anyone has seen "Over the Hedge", think of the squirrel on caffeine. He was going so fast that light was going slow.
I haven't seen Over the Hedge, but I think you are referring to Twitchy the squirrel in Hoodwinked. I love that squirrel btw.
Well, when I was playing an archmage and used time stop I would cast spells like meteor swarm during the duration, "leaving them to take effect when the time stop spell ends." So even though you couldn't harm a creature during the time stop you could leave harmful spell effects to take place once the spell ends, even if their duration was instantaneous, since "the spells' durations do not begin until the time stop is over."
However, looking at the definition for Instantaneous in the SRD v.3.5:
Instantaneous: The spell energy comes and goes the instant the spell is cast, though the consequences might be long-lasting.
... leads me to believe the way I was playing was wrong. Since instantaneous spells come and go the instant the spell is cast, and other creatures are invulnerable to the caster's attacks and spells during the stopped time, it would seem that attempting to cast such a spell during time stop would be a waste!
So, I think I'll specify the following in future games (I play so rarely): "Spells with a duration of instantaneous are resolved instantly (ie, at the time of casting), and thus have no effect on creatures other than the caster during the duration of time stop."
My take on Time Stop is that the Character is just speeded up immensely. If anyone has seen "Over the Hedge", think of the squirrel on caffeine. He was going so fast that light was going slow. Granted, it is mostly prep work he did, but it still counted.
Yes! Potion of time stop! Best part of the movie. My friends and I were going nuts.
Well, I guess high-level play is pretty dicey--meaning a lot depends on initiative rolls. I don't want Kyuss to kill my party of PCs, but I'm hoping to make them sweat a bit more than your did, Black Moria. Closest I've come yet to running such an epic battle was the final scene in the Istivin adventure arc, in which 5 characters of 13-14th level duked it out with a frost giant mohrg and then The Malgoth in a battle that took us the better part of an evening to play, though it probably didn't exceed 10-15 combat rounds. I know I would have been disappointed if the bad guys had gone done easy. Anyhow, if both you and your players are happy with the result, that's what counts.
Closest I've come yet to running such an epic battle was the final scene in the Istivin adventure arc, in which 5 characters of 13-14th level duked it out with a frost giant mohrg and then The Malgoth in a battle that took us the better part of an evening to play, though it probably didn't exceed 10-15 combat rounds.
I ran a party of 4 through that series and the battle at the end was awesome. Took 23 rounds worth of combat during which each member of the party went unconscious at least once and some of them went unconscious as many as three times. And they were cheesy min/maxed to boot! They beat it in the end though. Good times. I can only hope our final battle with Kyuss is as exciting.