
Hoardling |
Ok, I am running a campaign and 3 of my 5 players are playing ranged touch attack type characters. They are descimating the monsters very quickly. Almost to the point where it is no fun and not even a challenge. As I review higher level monsters who's AC increase greatly touch still stays the same or gets worse. I honestly think touch/range attack has a flaw, it doesn't adjust as monsters level up. Even ghost and other monsters with high touch AC just aren't that high, still under 20. Characters advance and get better to hit modifiers and damage, so monster's AC increases, but yet touch attack doesn't. So the characters don't have a challenge with range touch attacks cause the modifiers don't get very high. I have characters who only need to roll 2 or above and they hit easily with monsters CR 9. They hit virtually every time without even trying and they are only level 9. I just don't get how range touch is fair, when if you were playing an archer you could still miss an AC25, while the touch only needs to hit a 12 using same modifiers of +10. It is too easy for range touch to hit, while other range attacks have to hit the AC. Yeah, I know some are going to say damage makes a different, but hitting everytime your damage adds up quickly, especially with multiple attacks and you virtually hit everytime. Then you level up and get more damage, but yet the touch AC doesn't really go past 17, but AC makes leaps and bounds on monsters. Heck the Tarrasque has a touch of 5 and AC of 40, hmm which is easier to hit??? A first level character with range touch attack has a better chance then a 15 level character fighting against AC. Are there any rules out there to limit or at least make touch/range touch attacks miss more often? I've almost decide to just make all the campaign monsters ghost just to raise range touch attack only, but I want to be fair to my other 2 players who don't use it. And it would be tacky to do that. How can I make it more difficult to hit range touch attack and yet be fair to all? Range touch attack needs to be modified, to make it more challenging, perhaps you have to hit 5 under the AC instead of using the touch modifier. To get up to the monster and touch it is difficult, but to stand 30 ft and do range attack is nothing. So why play anything besides a range touch type of character? It is easy to hit monsters, even very high level ones. If you need to know the 3 types of characters, I have an alchemist, a gunslinger type, and a sorceress in my campaign that do range touch. I don't like to put limits on players so I am usually open to let them play what they want, that is why I allow it. I just want to make sure they have a challenge.

Ishmell |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |

Couple things I can think of:
1.Monks add their wisdom bonus to their touch AC.
2.Big guys with a reach weapon and combat reflexes in their grill, sure they can try to use their range touch attacks, but it will hurt.
3.Outsiders usually have resistances to a few forms of energy which should at least slow down the Sorcerer and Alchemist.
edit* oh and dude, try to avoid casting 'wall of text'. its kind of a turn off.

Interzone |

What are they using?
If it is spells, are they elemental damage spells? (i.e. fire/acid/etc) Because things start to have lots of resistances and immunities. Not to mention the straight up Spell Resistance that many creatures have that screws casters and has no effect on mundane archers/melee types.
Also of note is how often these things can be used, as spells and abilities will generally always have limits, while an archer can shoot all day long. How many encounters are they having to deal with in the average day?
The example of the Tarrasque is particularly relevant, as his touch AC is 5.... but if you read the whole entry you will see that is not exactly a weakness. Rays (one of the more common forms of ranged touch attacks will not only be ignored but sometimes deflected back at the caster. Spell Resistance 36. Immune to Fire, Acid, Energy Drain etc....
Ranged touch characters certainly have their uses but they have big drawbacks too, and should not be overpowered if everything is played legit.

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Do what i did - ban gunslingers/alchemists/magus right out of the gate. I wanted 'as close to the core' classes and we have a blast. You might have to try and sell it to your players to retire the touch hitters or else start a new campaign.
I'm not trying to hate on those characters, but I dont want to be in your shoes man. Touch attack every round is rediculous. I mean hey if you want, transport the pcs to a place where all the bad guys are gunslingers and turn the tables!

NecromanticNate |

Try using enemies with s&$~ piles of hit points. Or better yet use a Golem. Then follow up with a wall of force and an Enchanter. Use a sorcerer with the Infernal Bloodline, Greater Spell Focus Enchantment and then Charm Monster. Then turn them against each other. And then the classic staple, the Blur/Displacement. Also fighting underwater and in the dark. And Baykoks at long range and Pale Strangers. Respond to touch attacks with more touch attacks and follow up with crap piles of enemies instead of one or two big ones. Oh. And counterspell and Sunder. Break those pistols and muskets. Silence and Deafness. Also Spellresistance/immunity and DR

wraithstrike |

Damage dealing is not the best way to play a caster. What spells are they using, and what is the party makeup?
The alchemist bombs have a limited range before penalties come into play, and they will have to follow the other ranged attack rules such as dealing with cover or firing into melee.
The other casters don't have to worry about range increments, but cover and firing into melee are still going to be issues with a poor BAB.
I don't know if you are using single monster encounters or not, but I would use encounters with multiple monsters.

havoc xiii |

Do what i did - ban gunslingers/alchemists/magus right out of the gate. I wanted 'as close to the core' classes and we have a blast. You might have to try and sell it to your players to retire the touch hitters or else start a new campaign.
I'm not trying to hate on those characters, but I dont want to be in your shoes man. Touch attack every round is rediculous. I mean hey if you want, transport the pcs to a place where all the bad guys are gunslingers and turn the tables!
Why ban magus to get rid of touch attacks?

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Or gunslingers. But I use some alternate rules when this starts appearing, I change armor into DR with the armor check penalty applying to AC/Touch with a skill called "Dodge" which adds it's ranks to AC and touch.(in part can reference Unearthed Arcana from 3.5)
Alternately add BAB to AC/touch(making it Base Combat Ability) either not stacking with armor or using above armor as DR and penalties. This one is easier to apply.
My players can use this but so can their enemies.
Officially there is miss chance from cover or blur spells and the like.

Hoardling |
Couple things I can think of:
1.Monks add their wisdom bonus to their touch AC.
2.Big guys with a reach weapon and combat reflexes in their grill, sure they can try to use their range touch attacks, but it will hurt.
3.Outsiders usually have resistances to a few forms of energy which should at least slow down the Sorcerer and Alchemist.edit* oh and dude, try to avoid casting 'wall of text'. its kind of a turn off.
Sorry about wall of text, but I am trying my best to describe everything as best in detail to avoid the typical 100 questions and no answers.

Hoardling |
What are they using?
If it is spells, are they elemental damage spells? (i.e. fire/acid/etc) Because things start to have lots of resistances and immunities. Not to mention the straight up Spell Resistance that many creatures have that screws casters and has no effect on mundane archers/melee types.
Also of note is how often these things can be used, as spells and abilities will generally always have limits, while an archer can shoot all day long. How many encounters are they having to deal with in the average day?The example of the Tarrasque is particularly relevant, as his touch AC is 5.... but if you read the whole entry you will see that is not exactly a weakness. Rays (one of the more common forms of ranged touch attacks will not only be ignored but sometimes deflected back at the caster. Spell Resistance 36. Immune to Fire, Acid, Energy Drain etc....
Ranged touch characters certainly have their uses but they have big drawbacks too, and should not be overpowered if everything is played legit.
What are the drawbacks??

Hoardling |
By ranged touch attacks, I'm assuming they are spell-casters. Am I correct in that assumption?
Spellcasters, gunslinger and alchemist. So yeah and no. Spells from the sorcerer which isn't too bad. Just alchemist and gunslinger type don't have any true challenge to hit, they aren't using spells. Alchemist sorta like spell, but bomb. Way too easy for them to hit.

cnetarian |
AoOs, spell resistance, saving throws, distraction. Just a few things which can happen to ranged spell casters.
DO not forget the penalties for concealment, firing into melee and such. Touch AC does scale with 1/2 BAB and if your spell-casters are rolling over their opponents with rays and such you are probably missing something.
Sorc level 8 = +4, say dex of 16 for +3 and weapons focus ray for +1 = +8 total versus a touch AC of 10.
Fighter level 8 = +8/+3, say str of 20 for +5, weapons training +1, magic bonus +2, weapons focus & greater weapons focus +2 = +18/+13 versus a regular AC of 20.
They seem about par. 3/4 BAB casters might do better, but not game breakingly so. I suppose if wizards enchant their finger to get hit bonuses there might be a problem but I've never seen that tried. Gunslingers are a whole different problem, but I find having baddies get up close and personal to use AoOs helps.
Note: in addition to having a 5 touch AC also is ummune to "ability damage, acid, bleed, disease, energy drain, fire, mind-affecting effects, paralysis, permanent wounds, petrification, poison, polymorph" which severely limits the touch spells which can have any effect on it.

3.5 Loyalist |

Have the environment actually mess with their shots. You can't see 100ft through a dense jungle. If they waste shots, this can also lead to excitement. Throw them against ambushing foes, spellcasters or creatures that can reflect their spells and attacks (check out the flail snail if they are spellcasters). Throw them against some monks once in a while, with a lot of dodge or expertise, improve the enemies group tactics so they have tanks, blockers, flankers and their own ranged.
Get them into a grapple, put them against superior ranged opponents. Don't kill them, prevent it from being easy.

Ashiel |
18 people marked this as a favorite. |

Ok, I am running a campaign and 3 of my 5 players are playing ranged touch attack type characters. They are descimating the monsters very quickly. Almost to the point where it is no fun and not even a challenge.
I would almost bet money that you are just not mixing your encounters up, and just keep throwing mindless brutes at the PCs and/or not actually using monsters as they should be used (playing to their strengths, making use of tactical advantages, etc).
As I review higher level monsters who's AC increase greatly touch still stays the same or gets worse. I honestly think touch/range attack has a flaw, it doesn't adjust as monsters level up. Even ghost and other monsters with high touch AC just aren't that high, still under 20. Characters advance and get better to hit modifiers and damage, so monster's AC increases, but yet touch attack doesn't. So the characters don't have a challenge with range touch attacks cause the modifiers don't get very high. I have characters who only need to roll 2 or above and they hit easily with monsters CR 9. They hit virtually every time without even trying and they are only level 9. I just don't get how range touch is fair, when if you were playing an archer you could still miss an AC25, while the touch only needs to hit a 12 using same modifiers of +10. It is too easy for range touch to hit, while other range attacks have to hit the AC. Yeah, I know some are going to say damage makes a different, but hitting everytime your damage adds up quickly, especially with multiple attacks and you virtually hit everytime. Then you level up and get more damage, but yet the touch AC doesn't really go past 17, but AC makes leaps and bounds on monsters. Heck the Tarrasque has a touch of 5 and AC of 40, hmm which is easier to hit???
Firstly, there are a lot of things you are probably ignoring. First of all, if there is any person (enemy or ally) between you and your target, you have a -4 to hit. If the target is in melee, then you have another -4 to hit. If the target has concealment (dim light, smokestick, smoke, obscuring mist, displacement, blur, wind step, etc) then you suffer a 20-50% miss chance in addition to having to hit. If your party is primarily ranged, then having enemies drop prone (+4 to AC vs ranged attacks) and hurl their own spells and such at the party (being prone does not hurt your ability to lob a fireball nary a bit). The whole point of specializing in touch-attacks is because they are effective for landing hits. It's like complaining that swords are pretty effective at killing people.
Also, the Tarrasque is a joke. Setting it at CR 20+ is a bigger joke. The party can effectively just ignore or overcome a Tarrasque as early as 11th level. Including killing it for good. That being said, its obscene defenses make it difficult to hurt at all. Let alone with ranged touch attacks which tend to cause energy damage.
A first level character with range touch attack has a better chance then a 15 level character fighting against AC. Are there any rules out there to limit or at least make touch/range touch attacks miss more often?
No. Because they're not supposed to miss more often. You need to re-evaluate your side of the screen, not your PCs. Your PCs are using good tactics. You are merely playing into their hands. Your post reminds me of a GM who came by last year, who was complaining that monsters aren't a challenge for the PCs, because his party was full of high AC (clerics w/ heavy armor + fighters w/ heavy armor and high hit and damage modifiers) were crushing his encounters. His encounters, of course, tended to consist of stuff like lone Owlbears which are just asking to get dismantled by such a party.
I've almost decide to just make all the campaign monsters ghost just to raise range touch attack only, but I want to be fair to my other 2 players who don't use it. And it would be tacky to do that. How can I make it more difficult to hit range touch attack and yet be fair to all? ...
First off, slap yourself for even thinking of tailor-making your encounters just to spite your PCs. No good comes from going down that road. It is the path to the fail side. Turn around, and go do your homework. Be creative. You'll get more interesting combat encounters than just relying on AC anyway. If touch-attacks are ruining your game, then there must not take much to ruin your combats anyway.
Instead of being out to get your players, instead consider some of the following ideas and adapt a similar mindset when building your own encounters (or just take these and modify them if you wish).
Goblin Ambush CR 1 - 8
In this encounter, the party is ambushed by goblins. The exact number of goblins depends on the CR of the encounter you want (baseline is 3 goblins, but up to 36 goblins at CR 8). The goblins are armed modestly with shortbows (30 gp), leather armor (10 gp), camouflage cloaks (+2 Stealth) (50 gp), and 170 gp in additional combat gear such as alchemist fire (20 gp), tanglefoot bags (50 gp), 1st level potions (reduce person, magic weapon, cure light wounds, or shield of faith) (50 gp each), caltrops (1 gp per bag), or poisons (see poisons in the glossary for some cheap ones).
The goblins stalk the party using their DC 22 Stealth modifiers (taking 10), plus +1 for every 10 ft. away from the party they are. More than likely, the goblins will get the jump on the party (they can fire their bows from 60 ft. away with no penalty, so their effective Stealth from that distance is +18). The goblins excel at skirmish combat, and can make new Stealth checks each time they move while possessing cover or concealment. In a forest, grassy field, or area with bad lighting they are very scary (goblins will fire, losing their hidden status, then move and re-stealth, so you only see them for a moment each time they act).
The arrows only deal 1d4 damage a piece, but as 1st level goblin warriors they have a +4 to hit by default. Some goblins might cover their arrowheads in filth either accidentally or for spite (carrying filth fever) and will focus fire on a single PC at a time. If while hidden they apply an oil of magic weapon to their bows, they have 10 rounds that they are hitting at +1 to attack and damage for 10 rounds.
Their AC is 16, with a 13 touch AC. Since they will typically be fighting from cover or concealment (if in a forest) they will have an additional +4 AC (if cover) or 20% miss chance vs opponents (if concealment). If they use potions such as shield of faith they get another +2 to all ACs (normal, touch, flat) for the encounter.
They prefer to keep their distance. They spread out whenever possible and shoot then move, repeating. They will not group together, because if one person moves to pursue a goblin, the others are free to continue shooting them. When hassled, the goblins will happily scatter caltrops all on the ground, making it difficult to keep up with them. Stealthing in an area and spreading caltrops in the underbrush can make for a quick and devious trap. Those wounded by caltrops typically will end up with a speed disadvantage vs the goblins; allowing them to conveniently kite the PCs. If PCs get too close to the goblins while hiding, they might stop attacking for a round until the PCs break off their search to deal with the other goblins.
Against heavily armored foes that get too close, the goblins will splash them with alchemist fire (goblins love fire). If the PC is unfortunate enough to get hit by multiple fires at once, they may need some emergency heals soon.
These goblins can really annoy the piss out of players. In a forest or some area with a lot of cover and concealment (trees, bushes, grasses, shadows, etc), the goblins may get a surprise round, shoot arrows at 1 PC, then immediately Stealth and stop attacking on the first round. This vanishing act creates a hit and run tactic that puts the PCs on edge. A persistent pack of goblins can harry the party for days, and really make them worry (even moving at full speed while Stealthing is only a -5 penalty to Stealth; which means the goblins can follow the PCs without trouble if they keep their distance. Even at bow-range, they have a net +1 to Stealth from distance while moving full speed). Peppering the party's campsite during downtime with arrows will ruin anyone's sense of security.
At higher CRs (up to 8), the goblins will happily focus fire on enemies from the longest distances they can (max distance for a shortbow is 600 feet at a -20 penalty to hit) since against foes with AC 23+ they only have a 5% chance to hit anyway, so shooting from long distances means they hit on a 20, but retaliation is a b+*+# (and their Stealth modifiers from those distances are veeeeeeerrrrryyyy good). Or they will all run up and fire-bomb tanks with alchemist fire (oh look, NPCs can use touch-attacks too).
Druid Circle CR 10
This encounter consists of a number of druids ranging from 1st to 5th level. They may be evil shadow druids, or just neutral druids who have decided that the party has become a problem (a potential if your friendly neighborhood mage or alchemist has set a forest on fire by being reckless with certain bombs or fireball spells).
The encounter consists of a pair of 5th level druids, 6 3rd level druids, and 8 1st level druids, plus their animal companions. The 1st level druids open the battle by layering 8 entangle spells on the party at the same time. Most will carry living roses or thorn vines on them, or use existing foliage. The thorny entangles deal 1 point of damage each time someone tries to break free or fails a Reflex save. While the Reflex save DCs vs entangling are low (around DC 14-15 most likely), 8 saves vs Entangle per round means they can lock the party down.
The six 3rd level druids come in under the cover of invisibility potions and all cast summon swarm into party, summoning 6 spider swarms. The entangle spells will have little effect on the swarms, but the swarms can share spaces with creatures (including each other) to make carpet swarms. Each swarm deals 1d6 damage that cannot be avoided and forces saves vs poison and nausea each round.
The two 5th level druids fly around in wild shape form as birds, and cast call lightning. Each round while flying, they will pick one character out of the group focus fire on him, dropping a pair of 3d10 lightning bolts on him or her each round until they drop (if entangled, their are going to be a bit less). Each can lob 5 bolts before having to re-cast the spell.
If the party breaks free, the animal companions jump them along the boarders to try and keep them inside the entangle spells, while the party has to deal with the constant blasting and harrying. Each round, the 1st level druid continue to drop more and more entangle spells, until it's near impossible to avoid being stuck in the 80 ft. diameter pit of suck that is 16-24 instances of DC 13-15 thorny entangle spells.

StreamOfTheSky |

Use larger numbers of enemies instead of singular strong enemies. Ranged touch attackers are better at single target damage than they are at dealing with mobs.
The party sounds like it has a huge preponderance of ranged offense, so they'll need different challenges than a more evenly balanced group of characters. Big dumb melee brutes, unless in very tight quarters or having the ability to stealth and ambush the party immediately from melee range, simply will not be a challenge to them. They have the firepower to annihilate anything that needs to spend time closing to melee with them.

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Ambush and grapple.
That said, if there are absolutely certain monsters you and your players want to use, then you might consider changing the touch AC rules. First off I would say that armor AC applies to guns (these are primitive firearms after all). You could allow shield bonus to add to touch AC, and even rule that certain natural armors add to touch AC as well (for example, a bulette's carapace will likely protect it against scorching ray.
Touch AC was an imperfect addition to the rules. It would have been better to just have AC and then allows circumstantial modifiers at the DM discretion.

Adamantine Dragon |

Ashiel's post is, as usual, pretty spot on.
The answer to your problems are:
1. Enforce ranged attack rules as per the RAW.
2. Use tactics (cover, concealment, mists, etc.)
3. Mix up your encounters
I don't recommend tailoring an encounter to exploit your party's weaknesses, but I do recommend having your intelligent NPCs able to recognize and exploit those weaknesses.
Also, if your campaign is one where there is any sort of big bad evil dude, a party that is mowing through his minions in this fashion is certainly going to get his attention and he will take steps to learn all he can about the party.

Odraude |

Also, things such as weather plays an important part on encounters. Precipitation and fog can hinder ranged attackers, as can windy days. Adding weather along with terrain feature can turn any normal slugfest into a fight for one's life. Terrain can give cover or even a huge advantage to a creature. For example, fighting in a flooding room would be scary to anyone, especially if there is a devilfish in that chamber waiting to eat a tasty adventurer.
In addition, you could try occasionally using people based more on agility that would have a higher touch attack than a fighter. For spellcasters, defensive spells like blur and mirror image can hamper martials in general.
Of course, don't just throw these kinds of encounters only. There should also be fights where the players shine using tactics and their abilities. And honestly I wouldn't change the rules to make the players; abilities worse, especially when in the middle of a campaign. It leaves a bitter taste in their mouth and that can ignite a DM vs Player mentality.

Nakteo |

The Tarrasque is a joke. Setting it at CR 20+ is a bigger joke. The party can effectively just ignore or overcome a Tarrasque as early as 11th level. Including killing it for good. That being said, its obscene defenses make it difficult to hurt at all. Let alone with ranged touch attacks which tend to cause energy damage.
I know it's a bit off topic, but I really wanna know. How? O.O
Btw, Pathfinder Tarrasque CAN'T die for good unless there's something in a book that I'm missing.

Odraude |

In addition, just because a character can hit a creature doesn't mean it will do much. In your own example, the ghost is incorporeal, meaning that all weapons do nothing to him and magic weapons do half damage. That a significant drop in DPR. The tarrasque has unstoppable regeneration 40 AND DR Epic AND Carapace AND a host of immunities AND... well I think you get the picture.
AC isn't the end all be all for monsters and bad guys.

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Use larger numbers of enemies instead of singular strong enemies. Ranged touch attackers are better at single target damage than they are at dealing with mobs.
The party sounds like it has a huge preponderance of ranged offense, so they'll need different challenges than a more evenly balanced group of characters. Big dumb melee brutes, unless in very tight quarters or having the ability to stealth and ambush the party immediately from melee range, simply will not be a challenge to them. They have the firepower to annihilate anything that needs to spend time closing to melee with them.
This.
Action economy is a killer. Multiple opponents mean that players can't just nova an opponent with limited response.
Better yet, bad guy with multiple henchmen. That's a lot of fun.

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I understand how Touch AC can seem really low. I had a player that was using the new gun rules and it was almost impossible for him to miss the touch of the stone giants. The one thing I did notice is that the base damage of guns dropped with ranged touch gun rules. Depending on what powers they are using with each shot, it should be about the same as arrows. Make sure he is reloading as well. Even with rapid reload feat check how he is going about doing it and look over the rules when it comes to reloading a gun.
I do agree with more monsters! I have a friend that just won't learn to use more monster rather than just one big powerful one. At higher levels your party of 4 to 6 is going to get about 7-11 attacks to 12-20 a round vs one monster.
Also make sure they are keeping track of ammo. Guns are not all that common and unless he has lots of materials on hand to made the bullets he will have to go buy them.
Make spells that protect against arrows also protect against bullets! Simple and fair.
As for the Alchemist he will have a shorter range than the others. Use that! Also spells that can mess with his potions that he tosses can help too. Shatter is wonder if used as a quickened reaction against them!

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Ashiel wrote:The Tarrasque is a joke. Setting it at CR 20+ is a bigger joke. The party can effectively just ignore or overcome a Tarrasque as early as 11th level. Including killing it for good. That being said, its obscene defenses make it difficult to hurt at all. Let alone with ranged touch attacks which tend to cause energy damage.I know it's a bit off topic, but I really wanna know. How? O.O
Flight.

Odraude |

Nakteo wrote:Flight.Ashiel wrote:The Tarrasque is a joke. Setting it at CR 20+ is a bigger joke. The party can effectively just ignore or overcome a Tarrasque as early as 11th level. Including killing it for good. That being said, its obscene defenses make it difficult to hurt at all. Let alone with ranged touch attacks which tend to cause energy damage.I know it's a bit off topic, but I really wanna know. How? O.O
I'm sure it could jump at the flying creature or throw something at it.

Ashiel |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

Ashiel wrote:The Tarrasque is a joke. Setting it at CR 20+ is a bigger joke. The party can effectively just ignore or overcome a Tarrasque as early as 11th level. Including killing it for good. That being said, its obscene defenses make it difficult to hurt at all. Let alone with ranged touch attacks which tend to cause energy damage.I know it's a bit off topic, but I really wanna know. How? O.O
Btw, Pathfinder Tarrasque CAN'T die for good unless there's something in a book that I'm missing.
They die. Their regeneration ability specifically says that they die for a certain amount of time. While they are temporarily dead, you can cast animate dead to turn the tarrasque into a skeleton or zombie, which strips away the Tarrasque's special qualities that keep it going. At which point you can just destroy the undead creature for good.
As for simply avoiding them, like TriOmegaZero says, simply flying can avoid them more or less indefinitely. Also teleporting away works too (you can teleport your entire party away easily enough).

Odraude |

Nakteo wrote:Ashiel wrote:The Tarrasque is a joke. Setting it at CR 20+ is a bigger joke. The party can effectively just ignore or overcome a Tarrasque as early as 11th level. Including killing it for good. That being said, its obscene defenses make it difficult to hurt at all. Let alone with ranged touch attacks which tend to cause energy damage.I know it's a bit off topic, but I really wanna know. How? O.O
Btw, Pathfinder Tarrasque CAN'T die for good unless there's something in a book that I'm missing.
They die. Their regeneration ability specifically says that they die for a certain amount of time. While they are temporarily dead, you can cast animate dead to turn the tarrasque into a skeleton or zombie, which strips away the Tarrasque's special qualities that keep it going. At which point you can just destroy the undead creature for good.
As for simply avoiding them, like TriOmegaZero says, simply flying can avoid them more or less indefinitely. Also teleporting away works too (you can teleport your entire party away easily enough).
Well, they can die if they fail a save against a death effect that would kill it. Other means have their regeneration continue. As for ignoring it, I don't really think it's beating it since it's still probably destroying the kingdom.
But, the animate dead idea is clever. I personally like that.

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I think you can come up with a number of ways to kill the Tarrasque by RAW but really the point of Big T is that there is by background no known way to kill it. This means that all the obvious ways have been tried.
The point is permanently killing the Tarrasque is supposed to be the goal of a campaign, not an exercise in finding rule loopholes.

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TriOmegaZero wrote:Agreed. How did we even get on this subject? *reads thread*Ashiel derail.
But while we are here, how are you seeing in the 1000's of range you are casting, and which of those spells isn't the tarrasque immune to?
So close to getting back on track and yet, so far...

Ashiel |

Especially at level 11, which was the contested level mentioned... Long range spells are 840 feet at that level.
Tarrasque spines are considered thrown weapons? Was not aware of that.
Like I said. You can simply ignore it by 11th level by leaving. It's not threat to you specifically at that level unless something really bizarre is going on (Big T isn't exactly hard to see coming, so getting ambushed by him isn't really something that's going to happen regularly).
Fighting the Tarrasque post expansion material has never been easier. You can comfortably keep him stun-locked for the entire battle, while your party tears him apart until he's knocked unconscious, then hit him with a death effect (which he automatically fails due to being unconscious) which kills him, then you cast animate dead and call it a day.

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To the OP: My advice is to have them fight some fey. Anything Tiny will have a solid Touch AC, and fey usually have additional abilities that make them hard to hit.
I've also found that when in doubt, swarms. It's amazing how few PCs are prepared to fight a swarm-- it's pretty much always "I hit it with my trusty-- oh wait, that doesn't work. RUN!"

Interzone |

I still don't actually see what the problem is with the touch attacks.. they have never been overpowered in my games.
In my experience, Alchemist bombs for example just don't actually do a hell of a lot of damage, even on a direct hit (and splash damage is pretty much only going to really matter for lesser mooks) AND they are limited per day.
Gunslingers I have found to not be unreasonable if you aren't using advanced firearms. Definitely some potential for abuse if you are though, is the Gunslinger using revolvers/rifles etc?
And spellcasters of course also have the daily limits, and like someone else mentioned ranged touch attacks are much better against individual targets than against big groups.
I think if you have a small number of encounters in a day, with individual monsters or small groups, then yes a party of ranged touchers is going to decimate it. If you have lots of encounters in a day, with creatures with a wide variety of defenses, and sometimes large groups of things, then the party will have a much harder time.

Interzone |

ciretose wrote:But while we are here, how are you seeing in the 1000's of range you are casting, and which of those spells isn't the tarrasque immune to?Very well then, neither party can see each other, encounter over. Yay PC win.
The whole point of the Tarrasque example was that is has very low touch AC... And we have pointed out that that is really not a vulnerability considering its other defenses.
Yes there are other ways of dealing with it, but a party of ranged touch attackers are not going to have an easy time (unless they change their strategy-such as to one of the ones mentioned)
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ciretose wrote:But while we are here, how are you seeing in the 1000's of range you are casting, and which of those spells isn't the tarrasque immune to?Very well then, neither party can see each other, encounter over. Yay PC win.
Unless it is attacking (insert macguffin here...)
:)

Ashiel |

TriOmegaZero wrote:ciretose wrote:But while we are here, how are you seeing in the 1000's of range you are casting, and which of those spells isn't the tarrasque immune to?Very well then, neither party can see each other, encounter over. Yay PC win.The whole point of the Tarrasque example was that is has very low touch AC... And we have pointed out that that is really not a vulnerability considering its other defenses.
Yes there are other ways of dealing with it, but a party of ranged touch attackers are not going to have an easy time (unless they change their strategy-such as to one of the ones mentioned)
The only spell that leaps out at me as being a great ranged touch vs the Tarrasque is Clashing Rocks. It's a 9th level druid spell, so not exactly the most spammable thing, but it's a long ranged touch attack that deals 20d6 DR-ignoring no-SR damage and knocks Big T prone and buries him if he fails a Reflex save. With the correct metamagic rod and a wizard friend to cast limited wish to give Big T a -7 to his saving throws against the next effect calling for a save, and you can ruin Big T's day pretty hard.
You can own his face at sub-17th level though. Druids are particularly harsh to Big T if they're built around control-blasting. They can easily target Big T's weakest save (a mere +12 Will save) to prevent him from ever taking a turn, and thus allowing your martials to carve him a new one. :3
EDIT: A 13th level party consisting of a Ranger, Druid, Bard, Cleric, and Wizard can dismantle Big T in a strait fight.
EDIT 2: The most direct method is heightened stone call+dazing rod = Big T dazed for 7 rounds. At which point the cleric and wizard use rods of SR penetration (+5 to penetrate SR, and G. Spell Penetration is another +4, which allows you to crush SR on a roll of 4+) and throw him into an empty demiplane when he biffs another Will save.
EDIT 3: If you want to actually destroy him at 13th level, it might take a bit of work. The biggest problem is your martials can't hurt him. At that level, hitting him is basically a no-go with weapons, then there's the DR, and then the regen 40. So that makes beating him to death at 13th level kind of hard (by 20th the Ranger can easily support a fat +45 to hit him, with around +38 damage per hit, pierce his DR with a bane weapon, which will let him tear Big T apart over some rounds, his Regeneration be damned). The easiest method to actually kill the thing at this point is to use Magic Jar, swap souls with the Tarrasque, then willingly kill yourself. Animate Dead. Done.

Hoardling |
Thank you all for the responses and advice.
The problem I am noticing as creatures advance in CR the touch stays about the same, except for special cases. When you can roll a d20 and hit the touch 40-50 percent of the time without modifiers I consider that wrong for high level characters. High level examples: Bebilith CR 10 touch 10 AC 22. I can roll a d20 with no modes and hit the touch 50 percent of the time, sorry d20s don't have 22 on them yet. Behir CR 8 AC 21 touch 9, Dragon Turtle CR9 Touch 8 AC 23, Giant Cloud CR 11 AC 25 Touch 9. Storm Giant CR 13 AC 28 Touch 10. Kraken Cr 18 AC 32 Touch 6, Linnorm, Tarn CR 20 AC 36 touch 10. Notice I am increasing CR, but that touch is staying low if not lowering. To me that seems backwards. Yes many of these monsters have resistance if not immunities and get saves, but I just think to hit shouldn't be so easy. Like the gunslinger would have no problem hitting all the monsters. The main point is touch barely advances, but characters modifiers do so it is just gets easier and easier for them to hit. To me this is just too tempting for players to want to play. Geez I get modifiers that advance, but monsters doesn't really advance. And a large portion of the monsters touch is under 20. You can hit just by rolling a dice with no modifiers.
As for my party I will continue cause I know in the module there are some monstes with high touch, which will probably end up killing the party due to them relying so heavy on the range touch attack.
PS I hope using those stats isn't wrong, if so I do apologize I was trying to show an example with the minimum info.