I'm building the stat sheet for the final encounter of a very long campaign (3 years), and I want to make sure that my boss is really epic.
To outline him, basically Manath is the iron-fisted ruler of a nation of stereotypical evil things (everything sounds stereotypical when you truncate it): devils, liches, minotaurs, evil elves, hobgoblins and slave armies. Manath himself is a summoner. In our mythos, the eidolon is actually generally more in charge than the summoner (on a roleplay level) due to the fact that it's a powerful immortal outsider who chooses to fight along side a puny humanoid for a time. Manath, however, has complete and total dominion over his eidolon (shock and horror!) and uses his councils of mages, priests of the sinister gods and powerful undead to do nefarious things.
Over the last five in-game years, the player characters have risen through the ranks and saved their various kingdoms from annihilation and are now setting forth to remove the blight that is Manath and his armies.
All that to say that I really need to make this final battle climactic and rewarding for the players. The group is rather high powered (everyone has Leadership for monstrous cohorts, and everyone is well above WBL, high point buy and custom magic items are the norm), so it's sometimes hard to challenge them without just murdering them all.
The group consists of a sword-and-board paladin with a half-celestial unicorn mount, a healer cleric on a dracolisk, a fighter/rogue on a half-dragon deinonychus, a thf fighter on a griffon and a buff/blaster wizard. All five will be at level 20 for this encounter.
The final combat expects to include Manath and his eidolon, one or two CR 19 ghosts, a lich, an elf wizard and a small number of CR 10-ish devils. The others have all been encountered before, so their stats are set. I just want to tweak Manath and his eidolon.
Manath
MANATH CR 19
Male Half-Elf Summoner 20
LE Medium Humanoid (Elf, Human)
Init +2; Senses Bond Senses (20 rounds/day), Low-Light Vision; Perception +14
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DEFENSE
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AC 27, touch 18, flat-footed 27. . (+9 armor, +2 Dex, +5 deflection)
hp 143 (20d8+40)
Fort +16, Ref +14, Will +24
Defensive Abilities Greater Shield Ally (+4 AC/Saves, +2 for allies), Life Bond; DR 5/chaotic; Immune sleep, fire; Resist acid 15, Elven Immunities, Greater Shield Ally (+4 AC/Saves, +2 for allies)
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OFFENSE
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Spd 30 ft.
Melee +1 Bane (Undead) (Undead) Gold Plated Morningstar +17/+12/+7 (1d8+1/20/x2)
Spell-Like Abilities Summon Monster IX or Gate (11/day)
Summoner Spells Known (CL 20, +16 melee touch, +18 ranged touch):
6 (6/day) Dominate Monster (DC 24), Maze, Antipathy (DC 24), Teleportation Circle, Walkthrough Space (DC 25)
5 (6/day) Plane Shift (DC 24), Spell Turning (DC 23), Invisibility, Mass (DC 23), Tar Pool (DC 23), Wreath of Blades (DC 23)
4 (7/day) Teleport, Wall of Stone (DC 23), Hold Monster (DC 22), Hostile Juxtaposition (DC 23), Overland Flight (DC 22), Vitriolic Mist (DC 22)
3 (7/day) Invisibility, Greater (DC 21), Black Tentacles, Fire Shield (DC 21), Wall of Fire, Magic Fang, Greater (DC 21), Spiked Pit (DC 22)
2 (7/day) Resist Energy (DC 20), Slow (DC 20), Haste (DC 20), Glitterdust (DC 21), Create Pit (DC 21), Evolution Surge, Lesser (DC 20)
1 (7/day) Protection from Evil (DC 19), Shield (DC 19), Protection from Good (DC 19), Mage Armor (DC 20), Grease (DC 20), Rejuvenate Eidolon, Lesser
0 (at will) Acid Splash, Mending, Read Magic (DC 18), Light, Detect Magic, Arcane Mark
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STATISTICS
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Str 10, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 22, Wis 14, Cha 27
Base Atk +15; CMB +16; CMD 33
Feats Augment Summoning, Extra Evolution, Extra Evolution, Extra Evolution, Extra Evolution, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Resilient Eidolon, Spell Focus: Conjuration, Superior Summoning
Traits Ease of Faith, Natural-Born Leader
Skills Acrobatics +3, Appraise +7, Bluff +29, Climb +1, Diplomacy +33, Disguise +9, Escape Artist +3, Fly +3, Heal +3, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (Arcana) +30, Knowledge (History) +30, Knowledge (Planes) +30, Knowledge (Religion) +30, Linguistics +30, Perception +14, Ride +3, Sense Motive +3, Stealth +3, Survival +3, Swim +1, Use Magic Device +32
Languages Aboleth, Abyssal, Aquan, Arcane Naduumian, Arcane Skosian, Auran, Celestial, Common, Daemonic, Dark Tongue, Draconic, Dwarven, Eastern, Ehrenlander, Elven, Eriad, Giant, Gnome, Ignan, Infernal, New Skosian, Protean, Sphinx, Sylvan, Tengu, Terran, Umjadi, Western
SQ Arcane Training, Eidolon Link (Ex), Elf Blood, Greater Aspect (Su), Life Link (Su), Maker's Call/Transposition (4/day) (Su), Merge Form (20 rounds/day) (Su), Metamagic Rod, Extend, Metamagic Rod, Reach, Share Spells with Eidolon (Ex), Twin Eidolon (20 minutes/day) (Su)
Combat Gear +1 Bane (Undead) (Undead) Gold Plated Morningstar, +5 Fortification, Heavy Mithral Chain Shirt; Other Gear Cloak of Resistance, +5, Handy Haversack (empty), Headband of Mental Prowess, INT & CHA +6: Use Magic Device, Bluff, Ioun Stone, Deep Red Sphere, Ioun Stone, Dusty Rose Prism, Ioun Stone, Iridescent Spindle, Ioun Stone, Pale Green Prism, Ioun Stone, Pink Rhomboid, Metamagic Rod, Extend, Metamagic Rod, Reach, Ring of Protection, +5, Robe of Eyes
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Eidolon
EIDOLON CR 15
Male Quadruped
LE Large Outsider
Init +7; Senses Darkvision (60 feet); Perception +18
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DEFENSE
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AC 49, touch 21, flat-footed 42. . (+8 armor, +7 Dex, -1 size, +20 natural, +5 deflection)
hp 210 (+135)
Fort +23, Ref +21, Will +10
Defensive Abilities Evasion; DR 10/chaotic; Immune fire; Resist acid 15
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OFFENSE
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Spd 40 ft., Flight (60 feet, Average)
Melee Bite (Bite) +28 (2d6+26/20/x2) and
. . Bite (Bite) +28 (2d6+26/20/x2) and
. . Claw x2 (Claws) +28 x2 (1d8+26/20/x2) and
. . Claw x2 (Claws) +28 x2 (1d8+26/20/x2) and
. . Rake x2 (Rake) +28 x2 (1d8+26/20/x2) and
. . Rend (Rend) +28 (1d8+38/20/x2)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Poison - CON Damage (DC 26)
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STATISTICS
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Str 42, Dex 24, Con 28, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 11
Base Atk +15; CMB +32; CMD 54 (58 vs. Trip)
Feats Combat Reflexes (8 AoO/round), Dazing Assault (DC 25), Hover, Improved Natural Attack(Bite), Improved Natural Attack (Claws), Lunge, Multiattack, Power Attack -4/+8, Rending Fury
Skills Acrobatics +22, Fly +5, Perception +18, Sense Motive +18, Stealth +21
Languages Common
SQ Devotion +4 (Ex), Head, Improved Evasion (Ex), Multiattack / Extra Attack, Pounce (Ex), Ring of Freedom of Movement
Other Gear Belt of Physical Might, STR & CON +6, Bracers of Armor +8, Vest of Resistance, +5, Ring of Freedom of Movement and Protection, +5, Shock, Unholy Amulet of Mighty Fists +2
Any tweaks on both Manath or his eidolon would be much appreciated. I want Manath to be more of a buffer/controller (essentially a user who doesn't get his own hands dirty) and the eidolon to be a melee brute.
Thanks in advance!
Note: If things are calculated weirdly, I blame HeroLab. I didn't double check its math.
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Well first of all the eidolon shouldn't have his own CR. If you're using that CR to stat up the encounter your numbers will be too low. Second you need some way of shoring up that awful will save. Seriously, +10 for a CR 19 encounter? That thing will be dominated immediately.
One thing you could do is snag the spell resistance evolution, which would give it a pretty safe SR of 31. Actually, where are your evolutions? I can't see them listed.
On the +10 Will save: None of the players took any charm/domination spells, which I just thought was weird, so I'm not particularly worried about it. Also, taking the SR evolution only gives him SR 31, which the wizard and cleric punch on a 3, so it's basically useless.
On CR: CR is basically useless against this group anyway, as they are routinely smashing encounter CRs of APL +5 due to the various high power options. So I sort of don't bother looking at CRs anymore.
On Manath's Spells: PoE is there because he routinely summons evil outsiders and he uses it as protection when he does so. Any other spell suggestions? I see Magic Jar being suggested, which I will likely include.
On Eidolon's items: That armor bonus to AC is coming from his +8 bracers of armor, which are legal, to my understanding. The other items (on both Eidolon and Manath) are properly allocated. Some items had to be combined, such as Eidolon's ring of freedom of movement and protection +5. Eidolon has a vest of resistance, where Manath has a cloak of resistance.
Eidolon's Evolutions: I'm not sure why they didn't get listed, but here they are. Manath took Extra Evolution several times to get everything.
Flight (wings)
Limbs (arms)
Poison (Con) (Bite)
Claws x2
Rake
Rend (Claws)
Large Size
Immunity (Fire)
Head
Bite
Pounce
Resistance (Acid)
DR 10/Chaos
Trip (Bite)
Manath himself has Immunity to Fire, Resist Acid and DR 5/Chaos from the Aspect ability.
Are there any items I should get for these guys instead/additionally? Any spells I shouldn't bother taking (because they suck) or any that I missed out on (that are just too awesome to skip)? Any wands I should buy? Is there a feat combo or spell combo I should be aware of, having never played or run a summoner before?
Any other eyes on this? Am I missing something important on either character?