At least some if not all subscribers have their pdf's now and are leaking info into the unchained thread, that being said I haven't seen anything real informative about the monk.
Indeed, it seems the Monk has become modular (like Rogue Talents or Rage Powers). He now has bad will save progression, but with full BAB his flurry allows him to take an extra attack at no penalty and another attack at no penalty at 11th level. Also, he can combine Flurry with TWF now.
So at 11th level, on a flurry, the Monk can either attack with 11/11/11/6/1 or 11/11/6/6/1
What's not clear, is whether or not that second attack from flurry is at BAB 11 or BAB 6.
Some of the abilities have changed, like there seems to be a Ki Power related to Diamond Body called Cobra Spit that lets a Monk spend Ki Points after saving vs Poison to then spit the poison back at an enemy.
Not a whole lot has been revealed about the classes, I'm afraid. People are mostly asking about the Variant Multiclassing and, most recently, the systems that let you drop the Big Six magical items from the game.
I've seen it, and if they'd kept the strong Will save it would have been a reasonable improvement. As it was...I think it's still a weak class. I even wrote a review on it. They didn't address the monk's major issues, MAD and poor enhancement availability for the unarmed strike. They DID give the monk proficiency with all monk weapons, though! That was welcome. But sadly, the monk is still second rate, even compared to the brawler.
I'm not sure I would consider playing this version of the monk over a regular qinggong monk, to be honest.
Have you posted the review anywhere?
The still being MAD is disappointing to me. Otherwise I think the new would actually be playable, maybe not what everyone wanted, but playable.
Have you posted the review anywhere?
First one.
Dabbler, how does the Unchained Monk stack up when combined with one (or more) of the options to remove the 'Big Six' from the game? Mark Seifter implied that one of the options allowed you to allocate bonuses to a weapon each morning, so the Monk could self-enhance his unarmed strike each morning.
So what's gonna happen now in terms of your own monk changes?
Are you going to incorporate anything from Unchained? Stick to your own changes?
Or a less pleasant option, give up on trying to make yourself heard to paizo about fixing the monk which looked to be the point of the whole thread to begin with?
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Have you posted the review anywhere?First one.
Actually the second, but yes it's posted.
Dabbler, how does the Unchained Monk stack up when combined with one (or more) of the options to remove the 'Big Six' from the game? Mark Seifter implied that one of the options allowed you to allocate bonuses to a weapon each morning, so the Monk could self-enhance his unarmed strike each morning.
I haven't had a chance to look at those, but potentially this could work very well. On the flip side, the options to remove the "big six" are just that - optional rules: if the GM isn't playing them, they may as well not be there.
MY problem with the monk unchained is that it's offensively improved, but still not to a par with the other martial classes, while at the same time reducing the defensive qualities of the monk to be on par with the other martial classes. That, to me, is not a fix. If they'd not nerfed the monk's saves I'd have been willing to work with it...but no, the monk's saves were part of what made the monk into a monk. Without them he's a brawler with a few magic-lite abilities and no weapon training.
So what's gonna happen now in terms of your own monk changes?
Are you going to incorporate anything from Unchained? Stick to your own changes?
Or a less pleasant option, give up on trying to make yourself heard to paizo about fixing the monk which looked to be the point of the whole thread to begin with?
For the time being, I'm going to ignore Unchained. It's not a fix, it doesn't do what it promised, and it reduces the monk's uniqueness to me. I'll keep on with the tests, because they do still serve a purpose of showcasing some house rules people can pick up and use. Yes, I was hoping Paizo would actually take note of what was being said, but clearly from the sight of Unchained they just did what they felt like doing - I think the warning bells were there when they didn't offer up the Unchained classes to play-test.
I am going to wait until I get the book to make that choice, Dabbler. I do want to see the new ki powers . . . although I'll admit that the revelation (by you) that formerly constant abilities now cost ki (and the ki pool did NOT increase) is worrisome.
I agree 100% with your evaluation of the 'nerf' on Will saves and will NOT be using that aspect of the class, regardless of the rest.
I do like the change to BAB and flurry of blows, but (once again) some aspects are worrisome. Like there being no mention of constant strength damage for light, one-handed, and two-handed weapons. That means using a quarterstaff or temple sword (two-handed) will do 1.5xStr bonus . . . which removes incentive for using unarmed strikes.
Sigh.
I hope that there are some good things in the class, but I am leery given the early reports.
MA
I haven't seen the book yet but this is depressing news. I Guess I'll go back to convincing my DM to implement the changes outlined in this thread.
Yeah...and the ki point cost of some powers was large, MA.
I think that the monk has some problems with Paizo, as follows:
1) The original Pathfinder monk in it's final form was never play-tested - it jumped from a 3.5 directly to the new version.
2) The unchained monk was never play-tested either by the gaming public of Paizo.
I think it's suffered because the only feedback is post-publication.
What was the change to the flurry of blows?
What was the change to the flurry of blows?
An extra attack at full BAB, with a second extra attack at 11th level.
Onwards!
The adventure continued, after some kingdom building, the party returned to Thousand Voices, and sought out the Castle of Knives. Approaching it, they activated the portal and passed into Thousandbreaths...
They had a map from Zudigar's Picnic, and used it to predict their encounters. They reached the Lake of Black Swans and were surprised in the middle of their conversation about lightning-blasted treants by...a lightning blasted treant.
I would like to state that I am really starting to hate the spell instant enemy.
The treant did not last long against the ranger's darts of death, and the rogue, now an arcane trickster, had oodles of fun as he used create spiked pit for the first time.
Shortly thereafter, they ran into three more who wisely unleashed lightning at the party rather than engage them directly, and had prepared their protection from energy abilities to ward against cold and acid attacks. It was still a fun encounter with the alchemist hurling bombs into a spiked pit that the rogue created and the monk used ki-throw to drop the treants into.
The great damage dealer was still the ranger and his Clustered Shots, although the monk did chop one treant into firewood. The cleric conjured some kytons to unleash some chained hell on the treants, which was very nasty. Note to self: need more foes!
What was the change to the flurry of blows?An extra attack at full BAB, with a second extra attack at 11th level.
Onwards!
** spoiler omitted **
Instant enemy? Clustered Shots? Archer Ranger?
Fess up, you're a masochist aren't you?
I kind of wish your changes were the ones done for Unchained. All I wanted was a SADder monk that gets out of wisdom almost equivalently to what a more martial-based oracle can get out of Charisma. That and more accuracy/consistent damage, which your changes pretty much seem to be doing. One good stat, okayish martial stats. The only thing I would change is make the accuracy bonus untyped. This may seem like it makes a monk a bit too accurate, but that's all it is: accuracy, not damage. The damage piles up from a number of hit and (In house ruled changes and in Unchained) more mobility with those number of hits. Thematically I don't really imagine a monk missing, like... ever. Hahaha. This would go a long way to help archetypes in my opinion, making most of them really viable. It would also make me more interested in styles other than ones that simple pile on damage so that the (few) hits that connect will damage, namely Jabbing style.
Ignoring DR is a fantastic change in my opinion. As I stated before, if you give the monk hella accuracy but no real damage boots, just consistent, accurate damage and good defense to keep the pain non-stop, I don't think anyone would really complain about the lower damage overall, and strength based Monks will actually be glass cannons and not just poorly made super soakers. They actually DO what many guides suggest, beat the s*** out of things with your flurry of badass and move on, able to kill things (Preferably further off targets with a means of combining a multitude of hit with mobility) before they can do their thing. A striker if you will.
That's just my take away though.
What was the change to the flurry of blows?An extra attack at full BAB, with a second extra attack at 11th level.
Onwards!
** spoiler omitted **
Would you consider that an upgrade to the standard flurry?
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Would you consider that an upgrade to the standard flurry?
Yes I would, but then paradoxically I never saw the flurry-of-blows as actually being a problem. I'd like to see a change on how iterative attacks are made anyway, and I am a little disappointed that Unchained didn't do this.
Frosty Ace, I agree, and I was rather disappointed too (as if you coudn't tell). It's not that I think I'm some ace designer, but I do think I had the monk's issues nailed.
Were I redesigning the monk from scratch, I'd certainly keep the style-strikes and qinggong-like powers. But I'd use my own changes as well, and I'd keep the monk at 3/4 BAB with all good saves. Then rather than the full/partial BAB nature of the monk I'd give him something akin with weapon training with his unarmed strike and monk weapons, and I would recalculate the unarmed strike damage somewhat - I'd rather see the dice stay the same, and have a static bonus and increasing threat range instead.
Ah, if wishes were fishes...
Another session completed!
Sometimes my players take the "rule of cool" and hijack it, taking it to Cuba and beyond. Tonight was a case in point...
As the party explored Thousandbreaths, they discovered some details of how the glades worked. They reached the Frozen Graveyard, and cautiously explored: the monk, ranger (and her wolf), and rogue moved ahead of the party. When the four-armed frost giant burst out of the mausoleum he leapt upon them.
First off the ranger got a critical hit with her attack of opportunity with her bow, and inflicted 60 damage. The monk attempted a trip, and failed. The rogue/arcane trickster, who had been hiding behind a gravestone, attacked from cover, and unleashed eight fiery shuriken, complete with sneak attack...
Now I have researched and found that with scorching ray you don't get a sneak attack on every ray. After the attack was complete and the frost giant was a pair of smoking boots, I told the rogue player that in all seriousness I would have to apply that rule to fiery shuriken as well. I let him get away with it for this one time...but the rest of the players, and he, agreed that 418 damage was a bit much for one standard action.
The party tried to settle down for a rest in the mausoleum, but the catfolk bard was visited by the nightmare rook, which put paid to that idea. Irritated the party decided to deal with the rook and set off to it's glade.
This encounter was a little more fun for all the party. As they entered it's glade and approached, the ranger and his wolf hung back. This wasn't a smart idea as the rook targeted these two before the ranger could start shooting, and swept them up in it's claws. The rogue transported himself and the monk onto the rook, but they failed to gain purchase - the rogue did grab the ranger so that if dropped his ring of feather falling could save them both. The cleric summoned a celestial roc and an air-to-air skirmish began. Meanshile the alchemist supplied what can only be described as anti-air fire by transferring his bomb effects to arrow and crossbow bolt heads. The clerics continued summonings soon brought down the rook along with the flak.
At last the party could get a night of sleep...
Oooooooh yeah, I've seen the fiery shuriken sneak attack trick before and it is beyond ridiculous.
Now was this just a regular surprise attack type deal? Or did the rogue have greater invisibility going?
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I honestly hate that ruling on sneak attack and would allow simultaneous sneak attacks from spells. Mostly because it breaks immersion for me on a meta level, but also because it helps Rogue's out.
By the way, Dabbler, will you be allowing Unchained Rogue into your game?
I honestly hate that ruling on sneak attack and would allow simultaneous sneak attacks from spells. Mostly because it breaks immersion for me on a meta level, but also because it helps Rogue's out.
By the way, Dabbler, will you be allowing Unchained Rogue into your game?
Well, as far as regular invisibility goes, I think only getting sneak attack on the first hit is fine.
But if they're caught flat-footed, then you should definitely get sneak attack on everything
The rogue had concealment (he was hiding behind a gravestone) and acted in the surprise round. As an arcane trickster he can cast greater invisibility, but he wasn't using it this time.
Even the rogue player agreed that throwing eight fiery shuriken as a single standard action really should count as a single attack and not eight attacks. If he threw a single shuriken (fiery or otherwise) per attack as a full round attack, I would gladly allow sneak attack on each separate attack. However as he has buffs to his sneak attack to the tune of +2 damage per die, it meant he inflicted 8d8+42d6+84 damage as a standard action...
I let him get it this time around, but we all agreed that if you are throwing all eight projectiles as a standard action you can't aim all eight individually but instead throw them as a single attack, so you only get one application of sneak attack.
Will I let the Unchained rogue in? Gladly. I do not have a problem with the unchained rogue or with skill unlocks.
What buff gives him +2 damage per die? The only thing I know of that does that is Sniper Goggles
Edit: Actually, can get a break down on that entire 8d8+42d6+84 damage?
He has sniper goggles. Each shuriken would be 1d8 fire damage, +6d6+12 sneak attack, and he had eight shuriken.
My bad, that should be 8d8+42d6+96
After discussion, we agreed from now on it will be 8d8+6d6+12 which is still perfectly respectable for 15th level on a single action.
48d6 you mean?
But yeah, fiery shuriken+sneak attack has been a silly thing for a bit now
Edit: Also, do they have the admixture wizard school ability to be able to change energy types?
They don't - yet!
But as I said, we agreed that as a standard action would be a single attack in future we'd only apply the sneak attack bonus once in future.
Edit: yes, 48d6, you are right!
Another session down!
Present for this session were the monk, ranger, cleric, rogue, magus, and bard.
Encounter #1: The party retraced their steps, deciding (based on the map in Zuddigar's Picnic) to go to the swamp next, as they felt they knew what to expect. Because of the party size I had them encounter four rather than three mire-worms, and they spotted their wakes approaching as they water-walked across the swamp. They had no time to summon giant blackbirds to eat the worms before they were on them...
The worms attacked from beneath the water, going for bite-and-swallow attacks on the party. The attacks on the monk and the magus were failures, but on the mounted cleric and ranger it was a different story: both were hit and engulfed! The monk used his kusarigama to make a strip attempt on the cleric (who voluntarily failed his save) and used Ki-Throw to deposit him next to the monk, along with the halfling rogue (invisible) hanging onto him. It was a very cool move. The ranger's large wolf was bitten and only a grease spell from the bard enabled him to avoid being swallowed while the ranger sprang free. The wolf was OK, but the cleric's clockwork charger was basically reduced to cogs and springs.
In subsequent rounds the magus scored a 20 with briar and decapitated a worm, while the monk beat his half to death and stunned it, letting the cleric kill-steal. The halfling also pulled a kill-steal on the ranger's target that he'd filled with arrows. The last worm was facing everyone and didn't last long. The party took some damage, but were essentially not too troubled.
Then I rolled for the stability of the realm, and Thousandbreaths collapsed into Thousand Voices!
Encounter #2: With the realm now returned to the prime material plane, travel became much faster and the party air walked to the Tower. Ilthuliak saw them coming and wisely started preparing. The party used the gaseous form aspect of air-walk to infiltrate the tower, and as they did the dragon cast acid fog to hamper them. The halfling rogue slipped through it to see the dragon's hoard...and got bitten by an invisible dragon for nearly 60 damage. At this point the party realised it was crunch time. They slipped in and the cleric annulled the air walk spell and cast invisibility purge while the halfling use his helm of teleportation to get out of the immediate danger area.
The dragon attacked the cleric and took him to serious negatives.
As the ranger's arrows bounced off the dragon's defences, they realised that this fight would not be easy. Thankfully the magus realised on a Spellcraft check that the dragon had buffs, and unleashed a brace of dispel magics (one with a Quicken rod) to remove eight points of dragon AC. The monk rushed in but still couldn't connect with the AC40, while it fell to the bard to rush over to the cleric and start healing him back up.
The dragon was caught between the ranger's wolf and the monk, but wasn't unduly worried even when the halfling raced back into the fray with a critical hit with vampiric touch and managed to restore most of his missing hit points. With bardic performance active the party started to get hits, but not enough to really worry the dragon that was lashing back and giving as good as it got. Even the magus joining the fray with a dimensional blade spell cast on Briar didn't phase her much.
Right up until the rogue took a step back and pulled his bludgeoning trick, and dealt 92 temporary damage in one hit. When the cleric got up and unleashed a cold ice strike Ilthuliak was reduced to 50 hit points and decided now was a good time to retreat and re-think her strategy. Unfortunately when she tried to leave, magus and monk got AoO's and their luck abruptly changed: with two hits, including a failed save to a stunning fist, Ilthuliak was dropped and quickly received a coup-de-grace.
This dragon made the party sweat for the first time in a while, and they at one point were seriously discussing retreat until they realised they could de-buff the dragon. While the monk and ranger are usually the damage-dealers, it was the rogue and magus that carried this fight...
Have you thought about doing a small side campaign and using the three monk variants? Core Monk, your Monk, and Unchained Monk? I guess you could throw in Brawler too since they're a Monk variant as well.
I'd need players willing to play those characters - people play best what they want to play, after all.
Well if you ever wanna run that experiment, I have a tiefling boxer type character I wanna try out with either Brawler or Unchained Monk.
Sadly I find on-line games take too long for play-tests.
Another session done on Monday night!
The current set of encounters were in effect hit-point piñatas for the party. Because I had six players present I increased the numbers somewhat, but even so the monsters in question weren't seriously challenging.
First stop was the Shunned Falls, and I gave them three winged owlbears rather than two. The party took some hits, but the party had them all down within three rounds, with the alchemist and ranger inclicting the lion's share of the damage.
Second stop was the mandragora village, and I gave them a pair of giant mandragora to fight. However the low AC meant the monk's flurry of blows was absolutely devastating. I think this is the first time his damage output has peaked consistently over the ranger's. However these were enemies designed to be easy to hit but able to take a lot of hits....and between them both, the ranger and the monk get a LOT of hits!
My prior experience of monks is that they are not good at this "grinding" part of the game, but in this case the problem seemed nicely avoided.
Yes, I was referring to PbP, but I have used Fantasy Grounds before with another group. My current issue is time - I am GMing two groups already, I just do not have the time to run a third game.
I've been working on a lot of rewrite stuff, and recently I finished my own rewrite of the monk.
While it's not in the same vein of keeping word count down, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could review it and tell me what you think.
I will when I get a chance, 0puk0.
Just completed another session...
Last session, the party ran into the Knurly Witch. This was a lot more talking rather then fighting, and when the fighting did break out the witch very quickly did a vanishing act.
This session, with all the Glades completed, the party pressed on to the House at the End of Time.
They approached the lake and started across the bridge when Tarlaxian attacked them. The Linnorm leapt onto the bridge as the rogue and ranger were checking for traps, and challenged the party. The rogue tried to bluff, but the linnorm was basically too dumb to fool, and didn't fall for the Yolonia Bridge Health & Safety Inspection routine.
Instead, he breathed on the party with one head and bit the ranger with the other. The rogue flunked his reflex save and took a lot of damage, mainly in shame. The magus was also badly burned by the acid, as was the bard. Tarlaxian also bit the ranger, who fluffed his Fort save and started taking serious damage from the poison. The linnorm then flew up to ensure the party couldn't reach him easily.
The monk decided to fix this by using the castle gatehouse as a vault platform - he raced up to it, and used his spider climb ability to get onto the top floor where he discovered the ghostly guards who naturally attacked him.
Tarlaxian took some damage off the ranger's arrows, but the cleric's cold ice strike failed against his SR and the magus was more interested in retreating. The cleric's heal on the bard worked fine, and the bard started spamming some mass cure light wounds and bardic performance.
On round two Tarlaxian swooped back in to attack the bard and the ranger's wolf, biting both. The ranger got a clear shot and drilled arrows into the linnorm. The cleric had to hit him with restoration to stop the poison damage killing him, while the monk was joined by the halfling. The ghostly guards had great problems hitting the two, and they had a merry old time hitting back. The magus got back into the action by hammering home a pair of lightning bolts and the linnorm now looked very unwell.
Turning on the ranger and cleric, the linnorm hit them both acid breath again from one head, following it up with a flurry of attacks on the ranger. The cleric went down to breath damage, and the ranger was bloodied but finished the linnorm off while the bard healed up the cleric.
The magus went after the gatehouse and as more ghostly guards entered the fray against the monk as he fireballed the ghosts. The rogue exited the fight as his HP were looking very shaky, and he regrouped with the rest of the party. The cleric made it in to finish the fight against the ghosts, but the ranger and monk did the lion's share of the heavy lifting.
Thank you sir!
Another session done...interesting results this time!
The game continued...
Descending from the gate-house, the party were confronted with the zomock in the inner courtyard, causing them some consternation. The zomock turned the courtyard into difficult terrain with plant growth and entangle, and has already got one of the trees in the courtyard animated and ready to move.
The ranger cast gravity bow while her wolf was entangled, and the monk used her Dimensional Agility to avoid the treacherous courtyard and attack the zomock from behind, trying to stagger it (it saved). The magus swooped on it, casting dimensional blade he took a swipe at it with Briar, which obligingly cast blight on the plant.
This made the zomock angry, and it breathed on the party (except for the monk), which took the magus down to 2hp. It's tree attacked the monk but she tripped it as it advanced.
Then the ranger started shooting....182 damage in one attack.
The monk and magus finished off the zomock and treant, and the party pressed on. They investigated the stable, and then approached the main entrance and carefully entered. The suspicious cleric cast true seeing just as the ankous in the first room attacked - first thing they did was plunge the party into deeper darkness, then attacked.
The darkness didn't help them that much - the magus had problems, but the monk had Blind Fight and the ranger a Seeking bow, and the cleric had just cast true seeing. That said, the ankous (given the party strength I used 6 rather than 4) were much tougher than the zomock. After the bard dispelled their darkness they started hitting the party with circle of death every round and one risked a prismatic spray. I operate a house-rule that "death" effects reduce you to -{spell level} hp and dying rather than instant kill, so in spite of the magus, monk, and ranger (twice) failing their saves, (and the ranger's wolf to a poison ray), the cleric was able to keep the party fighting with repeated channels. The monk, ranger, and magus worked through the ankous, steadily cutting them down while the monk, cleric, and magus had AC that the fey had problems touching.
A long, tough fight that proved the monk is NOT invulnerable...
Monday's session:
The party took a rest before pressing on, exploring the north-east wing of the House at the edge of Time, encountering the weeping demons, the salon of sighs and the dancing bear. They decided to keep the latter and display it in their capital.
They then moved to the south-east wing, the servant's wing, and encountered the ghosts there. This became a much more problematic encounter for them as the party were split between four rooms as the ghosts moved to attack as if they had a clear field, while the party was obstructed by walls and doors.
The magus found a simple solution: disintegrate the wall, and it's not a problem. Whereas before the monk had ruled the ghosts, this time they spread out and attacked the entire party. Quite a few were effected by their corrupting touch attack and many were flanked. The surprise hero of the session was the bard who cut loose with some mass cure spells that were able to target everyone, friend and foe alike. The monk, magus, and ranger dished out some very respectable damage, and the ghosts were laid to rest without too much ado.
Observations: the monk was more effective against these enemies thanks to their low AC and her stellar touch AC. She took down approximately one a turn and took not hits - they were an ideal foe for her to fight. That said she still didn't churn through them as fast as the ranger for whom they were a favoured enemy.
Yesterday's session:
Last night's session was an epic clash of foes, that ran in an...interesting way.
The party were on the verge of the Throne Room, and I prepared the encounter accordingly. Because they would have overwhelmed the Wriggling Man, I added the Knurley Witch who had survived the earlier encounter. Both of them were buffed and had summons in place.
The party had used divination to prepare and went in fully buffed, and the cleric summoned a pair of bone devils to lead the way. This proved amusing, given the use of an Astral Deva by the Wriggling Man. The Knurley Witch started out on the Bridge in the Throne Room, and summoned a pair of Vrocks and an ankylosaurus (the latter appeared on the ground as the cleric entered).
The bone devils ran into the astral deva, who dispelled one with his first strike while warning off the party. The cleric hit the room with invisibility purge then killed the anylosaur with a cold ice strike. The Knurley Witch then put a wall of stone across the doorway behind the cleric, hoping to slow the rest of the party and deal with them piecemeal. This fell afoul of the Magus and his disintegrate spell, he just made another doorway. The ranger went through on her wolf, and shot the Wriggling Man full of arrows (I hate Clustered Shots). The monk followed, using Spider Climb to shoot up a wall and attack the Knurley Witch with Quivering Palm...and she failed her save, the monk's single punch bursting her heart. The Bard followed through and hit the Wriggling Man with a sonic attack that failed against his energy protection.
With the witch down, the Wriggling Man used a reverse gravity to shake the party up and knock most of them prone, followed by a quickened fireball to soften them up. The Ranger managed a single shot, the magus cut loose with several attacks the Wriggling Man's defences foiled, while the Astral Deva beat down the last bone devil.
The monk - with his Spider Climb he wasn't phased by the gravity changes - made a great leap to the flying Wriggling Man, and grappled him. Not the smartest of ideas, but the Bard then added silence on the monk to cripple the Wriggling Man's spell-casting ability. The Wriggling Man then simply engulfed the monk, inflicting damage, and tossed a disintegrate from his staff at the ranger (and missed).
The fight ended as the monk literally punched his way out of the Wriggling Man, shredding him.
Analysis: the ranger inflicted the lion's share of the damage on the Wriggling Man, the monk's DR-bypass helped when he started hitting but wasn't pivotal. Of more importance was his accuracy in striking the Knurly Witch, and a healthy dose of luck.
I hate connection resets.
Re-written yesterday's lost entry!
The adventure continued with three more encounters.
The party, having explored most of the ground floor, forayed up the grand staircase from the Throne Room to the great dining room. Because there were six PCs I gave them three barb-tongued wyverns to fight rather than two. The monk did some awesome acrobatics to flank the wyverns, but the lion’s share of the killing came down to the ranger and the cleric who was buffed to heaven and back. The halfling did a record 200+ non-lethal damage to one wyvern to finish the battle.
The party moved on from them, exploring the North wing of the upstairs and finding the Attic, where the devourers got the drop on them by pretending to be corpses. Well almost – the cleric channeled as a matter of course when he saw bones, and the devourers managed a round or two of attacks with their slay living attacks (the only attacks that had a chance of hitting most of the party); the halfling took some serious damage, most of the party managed their saves if they were hit. The bard used her mass cure spells, and the ranger did what she did best.
The magus, left out of the previous fight, got in some good attacks with Briar before the monk finished his enemy (the last standing) with a single blow, the monk’s only contribution.
Last encounter was with the de-faced nymphs. I had the party encounter four in the private ballroom with more filtering in each round. The magus was able to deal some area effect damage to them despite being blinded thanks to Briar guiding his aim, but the ranger was rather hampered. The monk also failed a save and was blinded, and several party members suffered ability score drain. Unfortunately for the nymphs in the ballroom, the monk was very hampered thanks to her Blind Fight feat, and she went through the nymphs like a hot knife through butter.
Well, the campaign has paused after the final confrontation with the BBEG...
The party pressed ahead to the third floor, and encountered the variant medusa there. She proved troublesome for the party, and they retreated to return after the rogue got stoned. When they did, they found she had also prepared and was accompanied by two more de-faced nymphs. While their abilities were troublesome, the party stomped them all fairly conclusively, and discovered the garden and the library.
The magus' research in the library revealed the fable and the routes into it, and the party went for it big time. They found a prepared and buffed Nyrissa, along with the last pair of de-faced nymphs and Nyrissa's current lover, a khellid bloodrager. I added the latter to counter the party's larger numbers and greater action economy.
Nyrissa was able to deflect and defray a lot of attacks at first until the bard and cleric started spamming Greater Dispel Magic at her. She neutralized the magus (and later the cleric) with a maze spell, and the ranger was blinded (unfortunately with a great Perception and a Seeking bow this didn't make a lot of difference). The monk countered the bloodrager very effectively, although the latter did get some hits on the party.
When the magus popped back into the room she was distracted enough for the monk to close and get some hits, but her nemesis was the ranger who used instant enemy to deliver at least 2/3 of the damage. For all her buffs and spells she just couldn't keep up with the damage output. She died of multiple arrows before the luckless magus could get in more than a few attacks.