Scarwall, or would it be Smitewall? (Players, keep out!)

[Midnight_Angel]

Spoiler:

Given the nature of the denizens of Scarwall, and not wanting the group Pally to pretty much marginalize everyone else in the group throughout every single bossfight, I am toying with the idea of an Corruption Protection [evil] effect throughout the castle, maybe one that gradually goes down with the destruction of the Spirit Anchors.

What do you think? Do you think I am about to pretty much hose the Paladin, or is this a viable option from your point of view?

[Icyshadow]

My view on this:

The demilich is dangerous, smiting power available or not.

[Midnight_Angel]

Granted,

Spoiler:

The Demilich is extremely dangerous. Question is, do I want the Paladin to be merrily deal his 2d6 + Weapon Bonus + 1,5 x STR + 12 + 2d6 holy, ignoring any DR, while the rest of the group is just 'pinging'... or should I take out some portion of it (which would still allow the pally to bypass the whole DR shebang and more or less nix the additional damage for being Smitemeister)?

Problem is the complete binarity. Without Pally, this encounter pretty much spells TPK. With Pally, it becomes almost ridiculously easy.

[Icyshadow]

Have the party buff the Paladin. It shows willingness for teamwork and an acceptance of different roles in an exceptional situation.

[Banesfinger]

No Pally in our group - but the player running the party's cleric said he finally LOVED his character. It is his moment to shine (up to now, the group's rogues and urban rangers had been in the spot-light).

Let your Pally have his moment to shine, because it will be back to the 'big city' soon enough...

[Brutesquad07]

Also, there is so much here that the pally will be good at, eventually he will run out of smites and be stuck along with everyone else. If you are worried about the awesome power of smite, fall back on it's glaring weakness. It is usuable x/day. Just make sure there are more encounters than x. Perhaps x+3 with encounters that smite would make easy.

[wraithstrike]

Midnight_Angel wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

What do you think? Do you think I am about to pretty much hose the Paladin, or is this a viable option from your point of view?

Paladins are over rated. You just don't fight their fight is all. If you go blow for blow it will be a short fight for your bad guy. Have minions there to get in the way. Use illusion spells to send him to one side of the room, while you(your BBEG) is really on the other side. Use wall spells to trap him on that side of the room. Etc....

[wspatterson]

The paladin smite ability ignoring DR is a bit much. Pathfinder went a bit too far trying to make the ability better.

[wraithstrike]

I like it. I just don't allow it to bypass epic DR.

[Revan]

I wouldn't worry about it...except for the

Spoiler:

Demilich.

In all likelihood, the party WILL recognize it for what it is, which means they WILL get the drop on it. The Paladin can pop an Aura of Justice, everyone can smite it, and without the protection of its DR, the thing won't last a round. Of course, given how lethal they can be otherwise, this may be a good thing, but you need to be aware of it.

[CaroRose]

I am going to agree with letting the Paladin do what he or she was ordained to do. Yes, he/she is going to cream a couple bad guys, but there are a lot of them in the castle and a limited number of smites. Hopefully they will be duly scared by the variety of evil that has been attracted here, and be cautious. If not, well, teach them a good lesson. Have a bad guy come out after them as they try to leave to rest. If Belshallam hasn't been destroyed, he is a good candidate.

I agree with the others on the D though, without a Paladin in the party doing the big smitey, it will kill a few PCs before they're done. Not a good time for anyone. I wanna try to kill my party like any good GM, but the operative word is try, right?