Yeah, the SKR was pretty adamant that they weren't going to look at alternative DR bypass methods despite the fact that the majority of posters (I actually counted once, it was something like 79%) had problems with the DR mechanic.
I personally posted a Clustered Shots-type mechanic in the discussion that was well received by people but was completely blown off.
If the brawler has more attacks than can be totaled (such as from a high base attack bonus), the additional attacks are affected by damage reduction normally.
Many people seemed to like the idea and said that it would really ramp of the flavor of the Brawler beyond spontaneous feats and would really separate the Brawlers from Fighters and Monks.
As for your ability, wouldn't it be easier to say something like, "A Monk subtracts his level from the hardness of an object before determining damage." Or something a long that line?
Yeah, the SKR was pretty adamant that they weren't going to look at alternative DR bypass methods despite the fact that the majority of posters (I actually counted once, it was something like 79%) had problems with the DR mechanic.
Yeah, I got that too. I start to wonder why they asked for playtesters and then ignored them...
I personally posted a Clustered Shots-type mechanic in the discussion that was well received by people but was completely blown off.
** spoiler omitted **
Many people seemed to like the idea and said that it would really ramp of the flavor of the Brawler beyond spontaneous feats and would really separate the Brawlers from Fighters and Monks.
I like it! It's similar but better than Hammer the Gap.
As for your ability, wouldn't it be easier to say something like, "A Monk subtracts his level from the hardness of an object before determining damage." Or something a long that line?
It would, but given the hostility to that mechanic for bypassing DR I would imagine it would be the same for bypassing hardness.
Yeah, the SKR was pretty adamant that they weren't going to look at alternative DR bypass methods despite the fact that the majority of posters (I actually counted once, it was something like 79%) had problems with the DR mechanic.Yeah, I got that too. I start to wonder why they asked for playtesters and then ignored them...
I personally posted a Clustered Shots-type mechanic in the discussion that was well received by people but was completely blown off.
** spoiler omitted **
Many people seemed to like the idea and said that it would really ramp of the flavor of the Brawler beyond spontaneous feats and would really separate the Brawlers from Fighters and Monks.
I like it! It's similar but better than Hammer the Gap.
As for your ability, wouldn't it be easier to say something like, "A Monk subtracts his level from the hardness of an object before determining damage." Or something a long that line?It would, but given the hostility to that mechanic for bypassing DR I would imagine it would be the same for bypassing hardness.
The claim is that it adds more math to the game and slows it down. Because, you know, doing something like subtracting 8 points from DR 10 is so difficult.
The claim is that it adds more math to the game and slows it down. Because, you know, doing something like subtracting 8 points from DR 10 is so difficult.
I agree with you in principal, but I want to offer options to those that do not agree. More options for how to fix the monk is not a bad thing IMHO.
Last week's session was a continuation of exploration. There were few encounters, and those did not last long, so more of a place-holder session than anything else. There was one major encounter that really shook them up...
According to the adventure, there should have been one soul-eater, but for a seven-player party I gave them two. They waited until nightfall and attacked from stealth, targeting the sorcerer (who was on watch) and the magus (asleep in his tent). The sorcerer failed to see them until one hit him, while the magus awoke to find one right over him.
Both spell-casters were hit, and the dwarf cleric sharing the magus' tent managed to hurt one with a blast of searing light as the rest of the party roused. The monk was one of the first into action, and wisely used his kusarigama to strike the soul eaters at range; one closed with him and did a LOT of damage to his wisdom score. During the ensuing fight he actually dealt a lot of damage with extra attacks and the like. The magus was reduced to zero wisdom, and if the dwarf hadn't dragged him out of the fight he would have suffered his soul being consumed. The sorcerer was luckier, and by the time the barbarian joined the fray both of them were very battered indeed. He finished off both of course.
The monk's wisdom-dependence actually worked against him in this instance, in effect he ended the fight with his accuracy, damage, and AC all badly compromised. However, the cleric was more than able to recover this the following day. More to his advantage was the accuracy of his attacks early in the fight, dealing serious damage to the attackers.
Last week's session was a continuation of exploration. There were few encounters, and those did not last long, so more of a place-holder session than anything else. There was one major encounter that really shook them up...
** spoiler omitted **
The monk's wisdom-dependence actually worked against him in this instance, in effect he ended the fight with his accuracy, damage, and AC all badly compromised. However, the cleric was more than able to recover this the following day. More to his advantage was the accuracy of his attacks early in the fight, dealing serious damage to the attackers.
My party hated those things when we went up against them. I never really had to deal with them because I missed the two sessions where they attacked the party. Only when we were storming lair did I finally encounter them and they were deadly, but that had a lot to do with the encounter as a whole.
We ended up getting ambushed by the 4 soul eaters and the 3 wraiths in the burning tar pits. Between the incoporeality of the 7 monsters, the SR of the soul eaters and the choking smoke that made it nearly impossible to see, it was just an all around horrifying encounter. Especially since neither the soul eaters or the wraiths would leave the smoke and follow us into clearer rooms.
We ended up having to use a Wish (from a randomly generated Ring of Wishes with one wish left) to survive the encounter. The Sorcerer tried to Dimension Door myself and the Cleric closer tot he Barbarian to help fend off the wraiths attacking him, but the Cleric got shunted to the nearest empty space; which the GM decided was some 500 ft away in an underground lake instead of on the other side of a door (because the Cleric is afraid of water and the GM said so). So now it was a Barbarian, a Wizard and a Sorcerer trying to fend off incorporeal wraiths and incorporeal soul eaters (so half damage) and 50% miss chance (the smoking room). The Barbarian got drained from a 16 Con to 2 Con, and from a 12 Wisdom to a 4 Wisdom and was down to something like 5 remaining HP (with a maximum of like 14) and the next turn he was going to die. So my Wizard (holding the ring) Wished for a Heal on the Barbarian, which removed all the ability damage and restored him to full HP and removed his Fatigue (so he could now Rage). After that, My Wizard pulled out some pre-cast Explosive Runes and started reading them (committing suicide) because none of our spells (mine, or the Sorcerers) worked on the enemies (we'd failed to overcome the SR on every spell to this point and were down to 1st and 2nd level spells).
Between the Barbarian raging and attacking, and myself committing suicide by explosion, we ended up killing the 4 soul eaters and the 2 wraiths (though my Wizard ended up dropping to -8 HP with a 12 con).
Meanwhile, the Cleric made his way back to us, and the Ranger and the Rogue (and the Cleric when he arrived) tried to fight the Wraith Wizard (doing minimal damage). When the Cleric showed up, he drank a potion of fly and engaged the Wizard using his Wand of Cure Critical Wounds (all out of channels) to kill him.
Just an all around nasty encounter that was a hair's breadth from a TPK. As it was, every person had Con damage, Wisdom damage, all were either fatigued or exhausted and the two arcane casters (my Wizard and the Sorcerer) were both nearly dead.
I just read that and realised how badly your DM sucked.
Soul eaters are not incorporeal.
The dickery with the spells, really bad!
Seriously, the dimension door? way to go on being a jerk by your DM.
That encounter was meant to be with just the wraith wizard in that room. I'm going to add some other wraiths just to toughen it up for my players.
In any event, the wisdom drain was a two-edged sword: on the one hand, it really hurt the monk. On the other hand, he was able to soak a lot of it thanks to having a high wisdom. It's kind of like strength drain on a fighter or barbarian - nasty, but they can take it.
There was a lot of stuff that went wrong in that campaign. Ultimately came to words with me and the GM and I quit on him, and my quiting prompted the dropping of another player who just needed a push. As it is, another player in the campaign is fixing to quit due to all the frustration that's built up from mishandling it. It's sad because the guy has nearly 30 years of experience playing RPGs and has ran many campaigns before. I just think that the power of Pathfinder martials compared to earlier editions, in addition to having 2 full Arcane casters and a Cleric with a large party has thrown him for a loop and he doesn't really know how to handle it.
Anyway, fortunately for your Monk, Wisdom drain/damage isn't very common. I've found that Dex damage/drain is very common in poisons, and Cha damage/drain is a common mental stat targeted.
Indeed. Now, last night's session...very productive!
Linnorm's Skeleton: finding this landmark was not hard, and the party were gratified to see the first signs of the centaurs they were looking for. When the mastodon appeared the ranger tried Wild Empathy. Did I mention that this player is the unluckiest with the dice that I have ever met? The mastodon charged. Monk and barbarian ran out to meet it...and were trampled underfoot. I confess it was amusing to see the barbarian run into something more unstoppable than he was.
In any event, the mastodon was not a major threat, and was quickly subdued (the halfling is a demon with a slingshot doing masses of non-lethal damage). Being nice, they healed the beast and the ranger finally managed enough on his check to have it stomp off disgruntled rather than crush them all underfoot.
The Centaur Camp: The party made peaceful contact with the centaurs by offering Skybolt to the first group they encountered. They were escorted to see Aecora who asked for their story. They told her about the Varnhold Vanishing, and she confirmed it was not down to centaurs, but was concerned despite not having any love for the Varnholders. The party also told her that they had learned about the name "Vordakai"...and she told them what little she knew of it, which wasn't much.
Then the party let slip that they had learned from one of the wyverns by Vordakai's tomb of a centaur entering that tomb. Aecora's face went white, and she described Xamanthe's disappearance, and asked the party to find her.
At this point the party agreed a course of action: they wanted to tie up all the loose ends that they could, and finish off incidental quests, before they tackled Vordakai. The centaurs provided information on the location of giant trapdoor spiders and manticores, and off they set.
Spiders and Manticores: as these creatures were no serious threat to the party, I pretty much hand-waived the encounters. They spotted the spiders easily (nat 20 on the ranger's perception), and lured them out and used the halfling's godawful temporary damage to stun them, then they bound them up. Why just take silk when you can take the spiders? For their initiative I gave them discount on the building of an exotic artisan in their capital. They hired some carts from the local farmers they had befriended near Kiravoy bridge, and then took care of the manticores, capturing one of them as well to make the start of a menagerie. Then they returned home to run their kingdom and do some prep work, completing a host of quests in the process.
Colchek Caves: Since dicing up the Eye Cult, I decided these caves were inhabited by a trio of Stygira. When the party explored them, the witches made their presence known, and offered information in return for gems. I didn't want all the adventure background to be wasted, and the Stygira gave the party a lot of background information on Vordakai, and the history of the centaurs. It also relieved the party of their heavy, expensive gemstones.
Ghost Stone War: Travelling south from the caves, the party encountered Zzamas the phase spider, who called to them from hiding offering treasure in return for their help. The party agreed, and travelled to the ghost stone to face off against the Xills. Because of the relative strength of the party, I place seven Xills there, and they were not intoxicated.
It didn't make any difference, really.
The party buffed up like crazy in advance (although the xills had more time to hear them, and prepared themselves - three with their longbows, the rest with melee weapons.
As they broke cover the Rogue and ranger used their missile weapons to injure some of the xill archers, and the magus dropped a flaming sphere on them. The enlarged monk rushed in and tripped the nearest xill with his kusarigama, then the dwarf (who had dipped a level of dragoon) lance-charged the downed xill, hurting him more. The enlarged barbarian rushed in as well, and with nat 1 missed completely.
On round two, the ranged xills started falling to the ranger's archery and the party spell-casters. The melee xills charged, and had to move past the well-placed monk's threatened areas, and he had a trip-party. In fact he only felled one of the three, but Zzamas popped out of phase and bit the fallen xill as soon as he did. The tripped xill from the previous round got up, but was cut down again by attacks of opportunity from barbarian, cleric, and monk. Some of the xills drew blood, but the monk was getting two trip attempts a round on each of them from AoO's and flurry, and this kept them from getting their full attacks. By the end of round three, the barbarian had chopped up another one, the monk had kicked one to death that had managed to close with him, and the last had fallen to Zzamas, the monk, and the spell-casters.
Zzamas handed over the chest, and the party extracted a promise from her that she would not prey on people.
The monk did well in the xill-fight, keeping them from full-attacking the party and getting in some critical hits. As the barbarian player remarked: "Thirty damage? I do that with a normal hit!" The monk's DPR is less than his, but his accuracy is good enough to get the hits, get the maneuvers (the xills were pretty hard to trip!) that influenced the fight. It wasn't anything you couldn't build the monk to do currently, but it would leave glaring weaknesses if you did, and would take a lot more effort. The changes allow the monk to be more opportunistic, which is what you want form a supposedly flexible class that makes the most of opportunities. It simply makes the monk easier to work with, rather than being notably more powerful.
That's something I've noticed as well with my own personal playtest, but I'm wondering if I went a bit too far in adding Wisdom bonus in addition to Str/Dex bonus to attack rolls. I was talking with a friend, and when using Flurry and Crane Style, I've got a little higher attack bonus than the party's, fairly well, optimized Two-Handed Archetype Fighter.
However, my own test is skewed because the GM in my game has given a ridiculous amount of wealth, and we're Mythic. Being Mythic hasn't had much effect yet, but once he hits 3rd Tier and gets his second Mythic Feat (Elemental Fist) it will change a lot because he's a Monk of the Four Winds.
When I get the chance, I'm going to ask the Fighter for a copy of his sheet so I can strip both characters of any gear and compare them then. Also, the Fighter and I have decided we're going to run a couple of combats using our charactersheets and see who comes out on top.
bag of concealment (minor) - 2,000 gp (pseudo custom item that is a bag of concealment as built off a minor bag of holding)
belt of physical might +4 (con/dex)- 40,000 gp
bracers of armor +3 - 9,000 gp
featherstep slippers - 2,000 gp
feather token (tree) x6 - 2,400 gp (400 gp each)
gloves of shaping - 10,00 gp
headband of wisdom +6 - 36,000 gp
jingasa of the fortunate soldier - 5,000 gp
medallion of thoughts and natural armor +1 - (Amulet of Nat Armor doubles as Medallion of Thoughts)- 20,000 gp
monk's robe - 13,000 gp
muleback cords of resistance +4 (Cloak of Resistance that doubles as Muleback cords) - 17,500 gp
ring of protection +1 - 2,000 gp
rod of balance - 15,000 gp
scarlet and blue sphere ioun stone (profession: veterinarian) - 8,000 gp
He also has Tempest, a legendary item from Legacy of Fire that functions as a +2 fire-outsider bane frost weapon (functions as magical handwraps that augment his unarmed strikes for him).
All total, he has 181,900 gp in gear, plus Tempest, which is an effective 32,000 gp weapon at the moment, for a grand total of 213,900 gp at level 11.
He's got 2.6 times the wealth he should have for his level, but the GM also tends to do stuff like go 4 or 5 levels with out getting any wealth (or a chance to spend it) and then we get this huge upsurge in gear, and spend the next 4 or 5 levels not getting any further wealth again. At this point, it's very likely that this will be the last, major, increase in gear for my character. I might get the natural armor or ring or bracers increased at a later date, but there is unlikely to be any substantial increase in wealth in the future.
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hey dabbler I'm a pretty recent player to the game forgive for being noob but I'm just wondering if the enhancement bonus from ki strike stack with amulet of mighty fist?
@xakira: No, enhancement bonuses do not stack, like other non-stacking bonuses you only use the higher of the two. If your monk has a +1 flaming amulet and a +3 ki-strike, his unarmed attacks are +1 and flaming, not +4 and flaming. However properties from the AoMF will add to the unarmed strike.
@Tels: My monk is trailing the raging barbarian by a couple of points in to hit bonus. Yes, I think giving the monk wisdom to hit on top of strength or dex is too much - although that said, me giving the monk only wisdom to hit with monk weapons and unarmed strikes was probably not quite enough.
My party's WBL is about right, perhaps just a touch high but they are midway between levels. To compare how the monk holds up, here's his fellow martials:
Female Human (Kellid) Ranger 8
NG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +5; Senses Perception +15
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 20, touch 15, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +5 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 60 (8d10+8)
Fort +8 (+4 vs. hot or cold environments and to resist damage from suffocation), Ref +12, Will +4
Resist issian
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +2 defending longsword +12/+7 (1d8+4/19-20) and
. . spiked gauntlet +10/+5 (1d4+2) and
. . unarmed strike +10/+5 (1d3+2 nonlethal)
Ranged +1 adaptive composite longbow +12/+12/+7 (1d8+10/19-20/×3)
(assumes Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot and Deadly Aim, Single shot +16 (1d8+3/19-20/x3) without them)
Special Attacks favored enemies (fey +2, humans +4)
Ranger Spells Prepared (CL 7th; concentration +8):
2nd—badger's ferocity (DC 13)
1st—gravity bow x2
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 14, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 10
Base Atk +8; CMB +10; CMD 25
Feats Combat Reflexes, Deadly Aim, Endurance, Improved Precise Shot, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (longbow)
Traits issian, magical knack
Skills Bluff +1 (+3 vs. fey, +5 vs. humans), Climb +11, Handle Animal +10, Heal +5, Intimidate +6, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5 (+7 vs. fey, +9 vs. humans), Knowledge (engineering) +1 (+3 vs. fey, +5 vs. humans), Knowledge (geography) +5 (+7 vs. fey, +9 vs. humans, +7 while in forest terrain, +9 while in underground terrain), Knowledge (nature) +7 (+9 vs. fey, +11 vs. humans), Perception +15 (+17 vs. fey, +19 vs. humans, +17 while in forest terrain, +19 while in underground terrain), Ride +16, Spellcraft +4, Stealth +16 (+18 while in forest terrain, +20 while in underground terrain), Survival +11 (+13 vs. fey, +15 vs. humans, +13 while in forest terrain, +15 while in underground terrain, +15 to track), Swim +10 (+14 to resist nonlethal damage from exhaustion)
Languages Common, Hallit
SQ combat styles (archery), favored terrains (forest +2, underground +4), hunter's bonds (hunter's bond [animal companion]), swift tracker, track, wild empathy, woodland stride
Combat Gear +1 monstrous humanoid-bane arrows (6), +1 orc-bane arrows (7), +1 reptilian humanoid-bane arrows (5), +1 undead-bane arrows (20), potion of cure light wounds (3), potion of cure moderate wounds, potion of magic fang, stag's helm, wand of cure light wounds (26 charges), wand of entangle (14 charges); Other Gear +2 darkleaf cloth leather armor, +1 adaptive composite longbow, +2 defending longsword, arrows (20), blunt arrows (20), spiked gauntlet, amulet of natural armor +1, bracers of falcon's aim, cloak of resistance +1, light horse, bit and bridle, military saddle, saddlebags, 147 pp, 8 gp, 5 sp
--------------------
TRACKED RESOURCES
--------------------
+1 Monstrous Humanoid-bane arrows - 0/6
+1 Orc-bane arrows - 0/7
+1 Reptilian Humanoid-bane arrows - 0/5
+1 Undead-bane arrows - 0/20
Arrows - 0/20
Aspect of the Falcon (Constant) - 0/0
Blunt arrows - 0/20
Potion of cure light wounds - 0/3
Potion of cure moderate wounds - 0/1
Potion of magic fang - 0/1
Stag's helm - 0/1
Wand of cure light wounds (26 charges) - 0/26
Wand of entangle (14 charges) - 0/14
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Animal Companion Link (Ex) You have a link with your Animal Companion.
Combat Reflexes (6 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Deadly Aim -3/+6 Trade a penalty to ranged attacks for a bonus to ranged damage.
Endurance +4 to a variety of fort saves, skill and ability checks. Sleep in L/M armor with no fatigue.
Favored Enemy (Fey +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Favored Enemy (Fey).
Favored Enemy (Humans +4) (Ex) +4 to rolls vs Favored Enemy (Humans).
Favored Terrain (Forest +2) (Ex) +2 to rolls vs Favored Terrain (Forest).
Favored Terrain (Underground +4) (Ex) +4 to rolls vs Favored Terrain (Underground).
Improved Precise Shot Ignore AC bonuses and miss chance from anything less than total cover/concealment.
Issian +1 Will save vs. Mind-affecting.
Magical Knack (Ranger) +2 CL for a specific class, to a max of your HD.
Point-Blank Shot +1 to attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at up to 30 feet.
Precise Shot You don't get -4 to hit when shooting or throwing into melee.
Rapid Shot You get an extra attack with ranged weapons. Each attack is at -2.
Share Spells with Companion (Ex) Can cast spells with a target of "you" on animal companion, as touch spells.
Stag's helm 1/day, count a target within 30' as flat-footed against your ranged attack.
Swift Tracker (Ex) Tracking penalties when moving at normal speed or faster are reduced.
Track +4 Add the listed bonus to survival checks made to track.
Wand of cure light wounds (26 charges) Add this item to create a wand of a chosen spell.
Wand of entangle (14 charges) Add this item to create a wand of a chosen spell.
Wild Empathy +8 (Ex) Improve the attitude of an animal, as if using Diplomacy.
Woodland Stride (Ex) Move through undergrowth at normal speed.
Male Human (Kellid) Barbarian 8
N Medium humanoid (human)
Init +2; Senses Perception +11
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 21, touch 11, flat-footed 19 (+6 armor, +2 Dex, +4 natural, +1 deflection)
hp 107 (8d12+46)
Fort +10, Ref +4 (+2 bonus vs. traps), Will +5; +4 morale bonus vs. spells, supernatural abilities, and spell-like abilities but must resist all spells, even allies'
Defensive Abilities improved uncanny dodge, trap sense +2; DR 2/—
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 40 ft.
Melee +2 fey-bane greatsword +17/+9 (2d6+21/19-20+2d6 vs. Fey) (assumes raging and Power Attack) and
. . 2 claws +12 (1d6+13) and
. . masterwork handaxe +13/+8 (1d6+13/×3) and
. . unarmed strike +12/+7 (1d3+13 nonlethal)
Ranged masterwork composite longbow +11/+6 (1d8+2/×3)
Special Attacks rage (20 rounds/day), rage powers (beast totem, beast totem, lesser, increase damage reduction +1, superstition +4)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 24, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
Base Atk +8; CMB +12; CMD 26
Feats Cleave, Furious Focus, Great Cleave, Power Attack, Toughness
Traits bastard, killer
Skills Acrobatics +8 (+12 jump), Climb +13, Handle Animal +5, Intimidate +9, Knowledge (nature) +6, Perception +11, Profession (soldier) +8, Ride +5, Survival +8, Swim +10; Racial Modifiers bastard
Languages Common, Hallit
SQ fast movement, tireless rage
Combat Gear potion of cure light wounds (3), potion of cure moderate wounds; Other Gear +2 chain shirt, +1 undead-bane greatsword, +2 fey-bane greatsword, arrows (20), masterwork composite longbow, masterwork handaxe, amulet of natural armor +1, ring of protection +1, backpack, flint and steel, grappling hook, lamp, rope, shovel, tent, small, trail rations, heavy horse (combat trained), bit and bridle, military saddle, saddlebags, 144 pp, 40 gp, 14 sp
--------------------
TRACKED RESOURCES
--------------------
Arrows - 0/20
Potion of cure light wounds - 0/3
Potion of cure moderate wounds - 0/1
Rage (20 rounds/day) (Ex) - 0/20
Trail rations - 0/1
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Bastard -1 CHA skills vs. Brevic Nobility, +1 Will save.
Beast Totem +3 AC (Su) +3 Natural Armor while raging.
Beast Totem, Lesser (Su) Gain 2 d6 claw attacks while raging
Cleave If you hit a foe, attack an adjacent target at the same attack bonus but take -2 AC.
Damage Reduction (2/-) You have Damage Reduction against all attacks.
Fast Movement +10 (Ex) +10 feet to speed, unless heavily loaded.
Improved Uncanny Dodge (Lv >=12) (Ex) Retain DEX bonus to AC when flat-footed. You cannot be flanked unless the attacker is Level 12+.
Increase Damage Reduction +1 (Ex) While raging, your DR increases by 1.
Killer Add weapon's critical modifier to its critical bonus damage.
Power Attack -3/+6 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Rage (20 rounds/day) (Ex) +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 to Will saves, -2 to AC when enraged.
Superstition +4 (Ex) While raging, gain bonus to save vs magic, but must resist all spells, even allies'.
Trap Sense +2 (Ex) +2 bonus on reflex saves and AC against traps.
[spopiler="Monk"]Marshall Leessin Lodovka
Female Undine Monk (Drunken Master) 8
LN Medium outsider (aquatic, native)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +15
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 22, touch 20, flat-footed 19 (+2 armor, +3 Dex, +1 deflection, +6 untyped)
hp 59 (8d8+16)
Fort +8, Ref +9, Will +10; +4 to avoid being knocked prone
Defensive Abilities evasion; Resist cold 5
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 50 ft., ki stagger, swim 30 ft.
Melee +1 shock kusarigama +13/+8 (1d3+1+1d6 acid+1d6 electricity OR 1d6+1+1d6 acid) and
. . dagger +8/+3 (1d4/19-20+1d6 acid) and
. . masterwork temple sword +13/+8 (1d8/19-20+1d6 acid) and
. . sai +8/+3 (1d4+1d6 acid) and
. . unarmed strike +14/+9 (1d10+6+1d6 acid)
Ranged masterwork shuriken +12/+7 (1d2+1d6 acid) and
. . underwater light crossbow +9 (1d8/19-20+1d6 acid)
Special Attacks drunken strength, flurry of blows, stunning fist (8/day, DC 18)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 19, Cha 10
Base Atk +6; CMB +14 (+16 grapple, +16 trip); CMD 26 (28 vs. grapple, 32 vs. trip)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Improved Unarmed Strike, Snake Sidewind, Snake Style, Stunning Fist
Traits child of the temple, noble born - lodovka
Skills Acrobatics +19 (+23 to avoid being knocked prone, +27 jump, +27 to jump), Climb +5, Escape Artist +7, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (history) +4, Knowledge (nobility) +6, Knowledge (religion) +5, Perception +15, Perform (string instruments) +4, Profession (brewer) +8, Sense Motive +17, Stealth +8, Survival +7, Swim +13
Languages Aquan, Common
SQ ac bonus, amphibious, drunken ki, fast movement, high jump, hydrated vitality, ki defense, ki pool, maneuver training, slow fall, stunning fist (stun), unarmed strike, wholeness of body
Combat Gear deliquescent gloves, elemental gem (water), potion of cure light wounds (3), potion of cure moderate wounds, potion of enlarge person, potion of pass without trace; Other Gear +1 shock kusarigama, crossbow bolts (20), dagger, masterwork shuriken (25), masterwork temple sword, sai, underwater light crossbow, boots of elvenkind, bracers of armor +2, guided amulet, handy haversack, ring of protection +1, applejack (per gallon), bedroll, canteen, flint and steel, grappling hook, silk rope, trail rations (3), light horse, bit and bridle, military saddle, saddlebags, 50 pp, 3 gp
--------------------
TRACKED RESOURCES
--------------------
Applejack (per gallon) - 0/1
Crossbow bolts - 0/20
Dagger - 0/1
Deflect Arrows (1/round) - 0/1
Drunken Ki (Su) - 3/4
Hydrated Vitality (16 HP/day) - 0/16
Ki Pool (Su) - 0/11
Masterwork shuriken - 0/25
Potion of cure light wounds - 0/3
Potion of cure moderate wounds - 0/1
Potion of enlarge person - 0/1
Potion of pass without trace - 0/1
Stunning Fist (8/day) (DC 18) - 0/8
Trail rations - 0/3
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Special Abilities
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AC Bonus +6 The Monk adds his Wisdom bonus to AC and CMD, more at higher levels.
Amphibious (Ex) You can survive indefinitely on land.
Combat Reflexes (4 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Deflect Arrows (1/round) While have an empty hand, negate one ranged weapon hit you are aware of (unless from a massive weapon).
Deliquescent gloves +1d6 acid dam to touch/weapon att. Natural/unarmed att is immune to ooze acid & doesn't split.
Drunken Ki (Su) Drunken Ki pool allows the use of Ki powers.
Drunken Strength (max 1 Ki) (Su) Add 1d6 per Ki point spent to a melee attack.
Energy Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead.
Fast Movement (+20') The Monk adds 10 or more feet to his base speed.
Flurry of Blows +6/+6/+1/+1 (Ex) Make Flurry of Blows attack as a full rd action.
High Jump (+8/+28 with Ki point) (Ex) +8 to Acrobatics checks made to jump.
Hydrated Vitality (16 HP/day) Gain fast healing 2 when submerged completely in natural, flowing, water.
Improved Grapple You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when grappling a foe.
Improved Trip You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when tripping.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Ki Defense (Su) A monk can spend 1 point from his ki pool to give himself a +4 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round.
Ki Pool (Su) You have a ki pool equal to 1/2 your monk level + your Wisdom modifier.
Ki Stagger (Su) As long as he has at least 1 drunken ki point, the monk can spend 1 ki point as a move action to move 5 feet without provoking attacks of opportunity.
Maneuver Training (Ex) CMB = other BABs + Monk level
Slow Fall 40' (Ex) Treat a fall as shorter than normal if within arm's reach of a wall.
Snake Sidewind Gain a bonus to avoid being knocked prone, and use Sense Motive check to confirm critical hits
Snake Style Gain +2 on Sense Motive checks, and deal piercing damage with unarmed attacks
Stunning Fist (8/day) (DC 18) You can stun an opponent with an unarmed attack.
Stunning Fist (Stun, Fatigue, Sicken) (Ex) At 1st level, the monk gains Stunning Fist as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the monk gains the ability to apply a new condition to the target of his Stunning Fist. This conditio
Swimming (30 feet) You have a Swim speed.
Unarmed Strike (1d10) The Monk does lethal damage with his unarmed strikes.
Wholeness of Body (8 Hp/use) (Su) Use 2 ki to heal own wounds as a standard action.
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Zen Warrior: A monk may choose to use their Wisdom bonus rather than their strength or dexterity bonus for attacks made with special monk weapons, combat maneuvers, or with the monk’s unarmed strike. Regardless of which ability modifier is used, the monk adds his AC bonus to his number to hit with unarmed strikes and special monk weapons.
Currently, +5 modifier to hit.
A monk’s unarmed strike treats the hardness or damage resistance (of any type) of a target as less by one point for every level of monk the character possesses.
Currently, reduce DR by 8
Amending the Ki-Pool entry as follows:
As long as he has at least 1 point in his ki pool, he can make a ki strike. At 4th level, ki strike allows his unarmed attacks to gain a +1 enhancement bonus as the spell greater magic fang. At 7th level this increases to +2, at 10th level, his unarmed attacks are +3, at 13th level +4, and at 16th level his unarmed attacks gain a +5 enhancement bonus.
By spending 1 point from his ki pool, a monk can make one additional attack a round at his highest attack bonus.
In addition, he can spend 1 point to move 20 feet in a swift action.
The monk is proficient with all weapons of the type "monk".
[/spoiler]
In terms of AC there is not much to choose between them, while Kefflin has a massive advantage in hit points. The monk's kusarigama was a lucky find (purely random item) and gives him a Trip/Grapple CMB of +19 with a range of ten feet he has exploited beautifully, before that he used shangou to trip at range.
In terms of DPR, the ranger probably comes out ahead thanks to his bracers of the falcon giving him a horrific threat range and multiplier combination. He also gets his favoured enemy bonus on top of his stated stats, for up to +4 to hit and damage. His current tactic is to target enemy spell-casters and ranged attackers.
The barbarian is next up, his accuracy (he generally only misses on a '1') and threat range is very bad new for anything he hits. He also gets the most out of buffs like haste and enlarge person. His tactic is rage-charge-kill.
The monk is third for DPR, he's accurate enough to sometimes match the barbarian, but usually is a step behind. He makes up for it with his speed, combat tricks and special abilities. He generally gets in first and disrupts the enemy to deny them full effectiveness when the barbarian charges. If that fails he can back it up with solid damage.
xakira, I made a typo above where I said:
If your monk has a +1 flaming amulet and a +3 ki-strike, his unarmed attacks are +1 and flaming, not +4 and flaming.
I meant:
If your monk has a +1 flaming amulet and a +3 ki-strike, his unarmed attacks are +3 and flaming, not +4 and flaming.
This is my Monk, Let Dahaka as he currently stands. He's a level 11 Qinggong Monk of the Four Winds and a 1st Tier Mythic Champion.
Some things to note, the GM decided that anyone who grew up living in a Ketapesh or a similar desert region automatically gains the Sandwalker feat and the Desert Child trait for free. He told us this when our first session began, so myself and a few others didn't know about it during character creation.
He also selected the Finding Haleen campaign trait, which gives him +1 HP and +1 Skill point in addition to his favored class bonus. He always selected a bonus skill point on leveling up, and that combined with being a Monk, his high intelligence and being a human gives him a truly large number of skill points.
Also, while he's using the Qinggong archetype, he hasn't selected any abilities up to this point. I decided he's going to use the archetype to swap out Diamond Soul and Quivering Palm for Shadow Walk and Cold Ice Strike instead.
ok thx dabbler for clarifying
No probs Xakira.
@Tels: Well I can see why your wondering about giving Wis on top of dex/str to hit...it stacks to +12 which is excessive. I'd make it either/or with a flat bonus, or else maybe half the bonus from Wisdom?
the only way I can see stacking two stats is if your monk is 3/4 bab. Works out to +5 to hit by end game if its a secondary stat.
No probs Xakira.
@Tels: Well I can see why your wondering about giving Wis on top of dex/str to hit...it stacks to +12 which is excessive. I'd make it either/or with a flat bonus, or else maybe half the bonus from Wisdom?
That's what I'm thinking as well. I'm going to try and get together with my GM and talk about some alternatives. I might adopt your idea of adding the AC bonus to attack rolls, or just opt for half-wisdom. I think it'll depend, largely, on how my Monk compares to the Fighter once all magical items have been stripped from the character.
the only way I can see stacking two stats is if your monk is 3/4 bab. Works out to +5 to hit by end game if its a secondary stat.
That's kind of my thought as well, but as it stands, my Monk has an obscene amount of wealth for his level and is matching (or exceeding) the attack bonus of both the Two-Handed Fighter and the Barbarian. Admittedly, however, the Fighter is a level lower and the Barbarian was built by a guy who doesn't know how to build Barbarians and is 3 levels lower.
[Edit]Combined with the fact he's a Dex based Monk means he has an really high AC and a good attack bonus (though his damage is lacking). It means he's hitting consistently (though not dealing anywhere near the damage of the Fighter who is dishing out 2d4+35 per hit) and he's nearly impossible to hit. And that's before he enters Crane Style.
I told my GM that I'm not going to be entering Crane Style unless something really dangerous comes our way. Having an AC 10 points higher than the next party member is kind of ridiculous.
If your AC is ten points up on the next party member at 33 and 11th level, I feel that something must be wrong. By 11th level an AC28-30 fighter should be about right.
If your AC is ten points up on the next party member at 33 and 11th level, I feel that something must be wrong. By 11th level an AC28-30 fighter should be about right.
No, when I enter Crane Style, my AC jumps to 39, which is 10 points higher than the Fighter at AC 29 and 11 points higher than the Barbarian at AC 28. The Oracle has an AC of 25, and the Rogue/Ranger has a 26, while the Wizard is sitting on AC 16 (10 flat-footed) but can self-buff to 24 and then cast Mirror Image and Displacement.
So, using Crane Style (Rod of Balance gives a further +2 AC bonus when fighting defensively), his AC is 10 points higher than the next highest martial.
I'm considering giving or trading away my Bracers and/or Ring of Protection, just to make things easier on the GM. I've had to do it in the past when I got an Amulet of Natural Armor +2 and a Ring of Protection +3 and ended up trading those away to buy a Medallion of Thoughts.
My mistake, I see your point.
I think you should hang onto them, if you are unlikely to get gear for a few levels.
End of another session, and the party had a couple of interesting encounters.
The party entered the Valley of the Dead, and there they found the pass up into the mountains toward Vordakai's tomb. The game called for a single dread zombie there, but I felt this was not challenging enough for a party of this size and power, so I added a gholdako - a special tomb-guardian undead cyclops from the Bestiary 4. The dread zombie cyclops was outside the stairway and the gholdako lurged around the corner, although the dwarf detected it.
The monk scored highest on initiative and rushed in to trip the zombie, bringing it down with his kusarigama, and the magus hit it with magic missiles. Then the gholdako rushed out and breathed on the monk, blinding him. The dwarf cleric rushed in to use his channel on both creatures, and the barbarian charged in, while the sorcerer enlarged the ranger who started shooting.
The monk retreated from the fight, and the rogue ran after him to find out what the problem was. The magus took out the dread zombie with an aqueus orb that held it immobile while the sorcerer fried it with lightning bolts. The gholdako got in a nasty hit on the cleric, who also fell back. The ranger proved less effective with his arrows, but the barbarian closed with the gholdako with his shiny +1 undead bane greatsword and dealt some serious damage.
The gholdako proved a tough for, and dished out some damage to the barbarian while the dread zombie was being boiled by lightning in his bubble of water. The barbarian player didn't have his usual luck, and was coming out ahead in the exchange as he normally did. Then the gholdako breathed again, and he too was blinded. By this point the gholdako has some arrows the size of spears in him, and was finished by a searing light from the dwarf cleric.
The party opted to withdraw, recuperate, and get some healing. They then embarked on a course of exploration, deciding they needed to "secure the region" befor facing off against Vordakai (they wanted more loot and XP to take him on). They had a fairly uneventful time exploring the Tors of Levenies, encountering a silver dragon who stopped to talk about her deceased mother they had found in a cave. As the party treated the dragon with respect (well, you do) and revealed they had encountered and killed a black dragon recently she was well disposed toward them. She gave them some information about Vordakai - namely that he was a lich. As the party had already inferred that Vordakai was an arcane spell-caster this didn't come as a great surprise, but it did unsettle them.
The party continued exploring, and near a river found the footprint of a beast they knew of: a peluda, a sort of spiny dragon. Assuming that like the previous peluda they had encountered, this one would be aquatic, they set a trap by the river and the undine monk went into the water to see if he could lure the peluda out. I'd already decided that this peluda was hunting on land, and the ranger's perception spotted it just as it snuck up on the party and breathed fire on them.
The following fight was predictable, with monk and barbarian closing with the beast. The cleric cast a spell of remorse that the peluda shook off, but was left staggered. The monk was able to close with a flurry of fists, forgetting completely about the peluda's spines - he took 22 damage, but killed the monster.
End of another session, and the party had a couple of interesting encounters.
** spoiler omitted **...
Ugh, that valley. We had sooo much fun there. [/sarcasm]
Now, my Wizard was in the middle of the party, and only had around ~30 HP at the time. The enemy Fireball dropped me to 10 HP and the Sorcerer's Fireball dealt some 25 points of damage which was enough to kill me dead.
This started a good 45 minute argument with the GM because he didn't tell us that the cliff face for the gorge was some sheer 150 ft wall and that we could see the path rising steeply above the mist. The Sorcerer claimed if he had known that the path rose that steeply, he wouldn't have launched the Fireball.
Personally, I disagree with that claim because he's hit the party (and nearly killed) party members before with Fireball. But that's neither here nor there.
So the GM gave me a break, largely because I had done nothing wrong here and that it would just put a bad taste in everyone's mouth if I had been killed due to the stupidity of another player. That and, because of the sequence of events, I never even had a chance to react.
Following that, we had to enter the fight properly. The fight ended up being with a Juju Zombie Cyclops Wizard (who cast the Fireball) that was flying up in the mist. On the ground in the path was a Dread JuJu Zombie Cyclops with shield and spear (and some levels of Fighter I think). Then, after we moved into the fight, a trap-door opened and out came an Enlarged JuJu Zombie Centaur and a (then) invisible JuJu Zombie Barbarian.
Was not a fun fight and we only survived through gratuitous expenditure of resources, such as scrolls of emergency spells, potions and other things. We basically blew all our daily resources in this one fight we had and barely made it.
On another note, I now know the name of that blasted dragon-thing that was kind of the final straw that ended up making me quite the campaign entirely.
I don't blame you, is all I will say there.
Anyhow, the analysis of this I would say is that the monk is still performing "on par" with the party's other martials. He's got a place on the team, and is effective at it. Primary difference between this monk and the standard is that he is able to back up his tricks with a solid to-hit number and a respectable (not overpowered, not even on evens with the barbarian or ranger, but of the same order of magnitude) DPR.
You realize, of course, you've probably ruined the groups for Monks at any other table than ones that allow your changes, right?
I think most would have had problems anyway, to be honest - the monk being what it is. If a few small changes make that much difference to playability, then they are changes that are needed. I think the next few levels will be telling as that is the point where the monk usually starts to fall behind significantly in most parties from what I have seen and the number's that have been crunched in all the threads. Let's see how this monk stands up!
Last night's session was entertaining.
Into the first sepulchre, where a gholdaki and a dread zombie awaited. I ruled each secret chamber contained one of each, rather than just dread zombies: two had gone to the Valley of the Dead, two waited in the room, and two were still walled in. The party hadn't learned too well, and the gholdaki breathed on the monk, barbarian, and magus as they raced in. However the monk managed a trip attack even as he and the barbarian were blinded.
It was down to the ranger to send in hails of arrows under the influence of enlarge and gravity bow to dish the lion's share of the damage, along with the sorcerer's lightning bolts. Our monk unleashed some ineffective flurries while blinded, the first had five successful hits, four of which failed on miss chance. The second had five successful blows get past miss chance...and then then only two hits. This latter attack took down the second attacking gholdaki. Meanwhile, the barbarian just hit things. A lot.
Thankfully the claric had invested in scrolls of remove blindness after the first encounter, and the party proceeded after discovering the secret door to the pool room. There the monk, being an undine, did some underwater scouting and discovered the tunnel and the elasmosaurus, racing the latter to the surface and bringing it within range of the party and the party in range of it. It bit the sorcerer nastily, but then faced a lethal return fire. The monk got behind it with a ki-point movement, and unleashed a powerful flurry of unarmed strikes that finished it after taking hits from the barbarian and the halfling rogue.
After finding the treasure in the bottom of the pool the monk got the rest of the party through the water tunnel, and they continued.
The halfling rogue came inot his own next, finding the water-trap and the secret doors. The party broke open the two dread zombies and destroyed them in short order, then disarmed the trap itself and the party continued.
They avoided the shrine trap by opening the doors using long rope - they had no-one with a high enough Knowledge (religion) to figure the way to disarm the trap. They faced the pscodeamon and figured out how to get past it, and are now about to withdraw the prisoner...if they can.
I got thinking about the monk archetypes, and how they would be impacted by my changes recently. Going over them, I found surprisingly few would, and worked over them as follows. The only ones with major changes are the monk of the empty hand and the martial artist. Only in the martial artist did I have to introduce something new.
Martial Artist:
Exploit Weakness (Ex)
At 1st level, as a swift action, a martial artist can observe a creature or object to find its weak point by making a Wisdom check and adding his monk level against a DC of 10 + the object’s hardness or the target’s CR. If the check succeeds, the martial artist gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls until the end of his turn, and any attacks he makes until the end of his turn ignore the creature or object’s DR or hardness. A martial artist may instead use this ability as a swift action to analyze the movements and expressions of one creature within 30 feet, granting a bonus on Sense Motive checks and Reflex saves and a dodge bonus to AC against that opponent equal to 1/2 his monk level until the start of his next turn.
This ability replaces the DR-bypass feature of unarmed strike (original version) OR partially replaces ki-pool (altered version).
Weapon Training
At 4th level, the martial artist gains weapon training +1, although it only applies to their unarmed strike and monk weapons combined and does not extend to other weapon groups as it increases. The weapon training bonus increases to +2 at 10th level, and +3 at 16th level.
This ability replaces ki pool and abundant step.
(My monk changes made some valuable changes in ki-pool that greatly increased the monk's effectiveness. Replacing those with a weapon training makes sense, as it then gives the martial artist an addition bonus to compensate for the lack of the ki-strike enhancement bonus, and can stack with the AoMF bonus as well).
Monk of the Empty Hand:
Ki Weapons (Su)
At 5th level, a monk of the empty hand may spend 1 point from his ki pool as a swift action to deal damage equal to his unarmed strike damage with an improvised weapon for 1 round, and grant that weapon the advantages of his ki-strike and unarmed strike (enhancement bonus, DR bypass, etc). At 11th level, the monk may spend ki to grant magical weapon abilities to an improvised weapon for 1 round as well, at the rate of 1 point of ki per +1 bonus or its equivalent. The monk may not spend more than 3 points of ki at one time for this purpose. For example, a monk can spend 1 point of ki to give his improvised weapon the ki focus quality, or 2 points for the flaming burst quality. At 15th level, the limit increases to 5 ki per round. The monk may use this ability to add magical weapon qualities to improvised weapons that could not normally have such a quality, such as adding the disruption quality to a slashing weapon, or the vorpal quality to a bludgeoning weapon.
This ability replaces purity of body and diamond body.
(This change just compensates for the changes in the ki-strike)
Sensei:
The Insightful Strike ability is removed, the sensei gets zen warrior just as the new monk does, and retains the bonus feat at 2nd level and the evasion ability.
(Effectively the Sensei gets a little defensive power-up)
Zen Archer:
The zen archer treats the bow as if it were a monk weapon for the purposes of zen warrior, in place of zen archery he regains the evasion class feature.
(The zen archer also gets a little power-up defensively)
Last night's session was entertaining.
** spoiler omitted **...
Why is the ranger under the effects of Enlarge Person? It doesn't benefit his archery any. In fact, it lowers his Dex so he has a harder time hitting.
Did the party not recover the Ring of Freedom of Movement? I don't remember where we got it from, but out GM really didn't like us having it. That thing got passed around the party so much, it'd make even Calistrians embarrassed.
** spoiler omitted **Last night's session was entertaining.
** spoiler omitted **...
We house-ruled enlarge person does affect missile weapons, and the ring was at the bottom of the pool, which the undine monk found easily. They decided that it was best on the barbarian.
As for the goldhadki, they were my own addition and yes the party did grow to really hate them. That was kind of the point, to restrict the dominance of the damage-dealers in a very large party. At the end of the day they are not a foe that is a major threat to the party.
Interesting session last night, lots going on...
First up, the party ran afoul of the piscodaemon when the ranger and magus tried to remove a paralysed Xamanthe the centaur from her cell. The daemon scored very high on initiative and only the ranger beat it as it turned on the two of them. The ranger shot it at close quarters before it engaged him and tore away most of his hit points. Then the rest of the party started to get in on the act.
First in was the rogue, who dished out 45 temporary damage with his slingshot. Then the monk, who was already in the room and attacked with his kusarigama's reach. He tripped and then grappled the piscodaemon with the chain-end, and held it down. The sorcerer hased the group, the magus attacked with his rapier wrapped in a force punch and knocked the piscodaemon back a few feet. The cleric cast a spell to divert the attacks of the piscodaemon to himself and chugged in to put his armoured body in harm's way. Lastly the barbarian charged in on the prone daemon and hammered it hard.
By the end of round one, the party had it on the ropes, and it looked like the creature was about to die horribly. The ranger backed out and drank a CLW potion to stop the bleed damage he was taking, then the daemon acted...
It released a stinking cloud. Only the sorcerer and the ranger's elk were out of the area of effect, of the rest of the party, everyone except the badly injured ranger (on 9hp) and the dwarf cleric failed their saves. On top of that, the cloud blocked eyesight and so ranged attacks. Nauseated is an awful condition, and this was very nearly curtains for the party.
The rogue retreated out of the chamber entrance, throwing up on the sorcerer's boots as he staggered past. The monk also retreated, abandoning his kusarigama to keep the piscodaemon tied up a moment longer. The cleric backed up, and everyone else backed out of the area of effect as best they could. The piscodaemon then broke out of the grapple and stood up, with nothing to interfere with him. The monk joined the magus and ranger in the centaur's cell, while the piscodaemon stalked the barbarian and cleric in the fog.
At this point, the ranger worked out the easy way out of the situation, and called the sorcerer to use dimension door to reach them, then leave with them, and in two rounds they were out. Meanwhile rogue, barbarian, and cleric had found that the daemon could not leave the chamber, and despite taking some damage from AoO's they cleared the room. The party left the daemon there, deciding to save ammunition and spells.
Next encounter was with a trio of soul eaters, that they spotted in the large chamber they came to. I expected another tough fight but this time the soul eater's had appalling luck (only one hit on the sorcerer) while the party didn't. All the soul-eaters died or were incapacitated by the end of the first round.
Last encounter was with the dread zombie wizard in the chamber of tar. I had thought of beefing the encounter, but given the party's susceptibility to nausea I opted instead to play it as was. The wizard hit them with a fireball, but took some serious damage in return. The party did suffer some from nausea, but most of them recovered enough to function. The wizard then used mirror image for added protection, but the monk leaped the gap and snared the flying wizard with his chain again, luckily managing to grapple the right one. Grappled, there was no way the mirror images could protect him, and a well-aimed throwing axe from the barbarian ended the encounter.
Overall, three fun encounters. The monk didn't function better or worse than the other martials in any of them: his skill with maneuvers and ability to be where he was needed was useful but was matched by his slightly lower damage output.
Interesting session last night, lots going on...
** spoiler omitted **...
You know, the more I read about your playtest, the more glad I am that I dropped from my Kingmaker game.
When we went through that area, the entire room was filled with black smoke and we couldn't see farther than 5 ft. We also encountered several Soul Eaters, Wraiths and a Wraith with Wizard Levels. Based off the fact your Monk was able to jump the distance, I'm guessing he also increased the size of the room because, for us, it was some 80 ft. diameter pool that we had to cross. Since the Soul Eaters and Wraiths all had lifesense, they could target us through the smoke, while we couldn't target them back.
If you recall, I told you we had to use a Wish and I had to self-detonate pre-cast Explosive Runes to survive that area (and nearly killed myself doing it).
To be fair, I had planned to boost up that enemy, but after the stinking cloud fiasco I opted to let it play out. As it was, the monk got lucky with a grapple and snared the right image.
Also drew the chamber by eye, I may have shrunk the dimensions slightly, but the distance was leapable by a monk with High Jump - with a ki-point, the drunken monk needed a '3' on a d20 to succeed. Of course the magus or sorcerer could just cast fly and resolve the problem even easier...
For us it was a DC 80ish check to jump which is probably only possible at level 8 with a very specific build designed to just make that DC. Or a Rod of Balance, then it becomes much easier to do.
By the way, your Monk has his Acrobatics check to jump miscalculated. In the above stat block, he's level 8 and I'm assuming he put 8 ranks in Acrobatics.
8 ranks + 3 class skill + 3 Dex + 5 item + 8 speed + 8 high jump = +35 on jump checks before spending a Ki Point. Remember, for every 10 feet of movement you have beyond 30 ft. you gain a +4 bonus to acrobatics checks made to jump.
In the book the distance is 50' across, so easily doable.
In any event, the party have levelled after that last encounter...just in time, really.
In the book the distance is 50' across, so easily doable.
In any event, the party have levelled after that last encounter...just in time, really.
Yeah, 50 ft. is pretty easy for a Monk of his level, but for us, none of us were Monks. We ended up having my Wizard cast fly twice (once off a scroll) and another person used a potion while the Sorc used Levitate on those who couldn't fly and we just got pulled across the chasm by the fliers. Mid-way we got ambushed.
In any event I've made a few changes in the BBEG fight that is coming up soon.
Rather than have a series of vanilla combat encounters, I want things to be a bit more interesting.
The Crypts: The spectre of Silas Gunderson is here in the module, the man who precipitated all the events. However a single spectre is not much of a challenge to the party, and if it inflicted any serious damage, they'd just 'port out and come back later. Instead, I'm replacing the spectre with a ghost of the violently killed man, who will warn the party of what Vordakai did, and has done. The ghost is bound to the crypts but begs the party to take his staff (+1 darkwood quarterstaff) and strike a blow against Vordakai. The party do not have a magical blunt weapon other than the monk and his kusarigama, and while they invested in some undead-bane weapons they do not have any blunt undead-bane weapons...in fact few blunt weapons of any description, which means their benefits from undead-bane will be more than soaked by Vordakai's DR. If the party pay attention and use the staff, then return to tell Silas, his ghost will be laid to rest and the staff will become a ghost touch weapon.
The Feasthall: Four dread zombie cyclops won't even cause this party to break step. I'm replacing them with Gholdako, which are tougher and pose more of a threat. I'm not expecting them to slow the party up by much, but it will alert Vordakai of their approach. I'm placing two items here that were missed: A belt of dexterity +2 and a belt of giant strength +2, both on the slain members of Varnhold.
Vordakai: the lich has observed the party for some time now, and he knows how they tend to handle fights. As such he has amended his spell selection and his strategy. He has ordered the water elemental to stay quiescent until the party enter his chamber, knowing that the sorcerer and ranger will hang back. He will ensure this by using create spiked pit in the entranceway to help split the party and hopefully trap the barbarian for a few rounds (if this fails he'll hit them with waves of fatigue to stop the barbarian raging). Vordakai has also noted the monk's preference for using his kusarigama to trip and grapple, and will have summoned a kyton to counter the monk.
Vordakai's ace-in-the-hole is that he is planning to dominate the rogue. He's going to do this beforehand via scrying while he party are resting, and have the rogue focus sneak attacks on whoever he considers the greatest threat - either the barbarian or the sorcerer, most likely. Beyond that, he's buffed with protections to resist the party's energy attacks. If the party archer gets too much of a pest, he'll use obscuring mist to protect himself and use his lifesense to locate the party members in the mist.
Equipment: I've increased Vordakai's equipment and his challenge rating. His belt and headband are upgraded to a belt of physical perfection +2 and a headband of mental superiority +2; he also has a ring of wizardry I and a pair of wands: remove paralysis and infernal healing. I've armed him with a +1 conductive heavy mace so that he will be delivering blows that include his paralysing touch effects, as well as spells like vampiric touch. The huge mace is also Vordakai's sceptre and his phylactory. I plan for him to at some point return as a more powerful version of himself if I need a side-adventure. I also plan for this to be the fight of the party's lives, with attacks on all sides, debuffs flying, and their strongest tactics countered.
Should Vordakai triumph, he will try and keep the party alive (the rogue does temporary damage, and his paralysing touch is good for taking prisoners) so that he can either jar them up or interrogate them (giving them a chance to get free and come back for round 2).
On the party's side, they know they are going up against a lich. They will probably buff and prepare like crazy for this fight. However, Vordakai's spells and powers are largely debuffs rather than direct attacks, hence why I gave him the heavy mace. A lot of party members are going to be laid low if they come into contact with Vordakai, but he is not unstopable - I am planning a fairly drawn-out battle, but they should still beat him.
XP 25,600
Male Cyclops Lich Wizard 9
NE Large undead (humanoid, giant)
Init +5; Senses darkvision 120 ft., familiar farsight, low-light vision; Perception +46
Aura fear aura (DC 22)
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Defense
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AC 27, touch 12, flat-footed 26 (+4 armor, +4 shield, +1 Dex, -1 size, +7 natural, +2 deflection)
hp 166 (10d8+9d6+90) (currently fast healing 4)
Fort +18, Ref +12, Will +16; +4 bonus vs. channeled energy
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, ferocity, rejuvenation; DR 15/bludgeoning, 15/magic; Immune cold, electricity, polymorph, undead traits; Resist acid 20, fire 20
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 conductive heavy mace +18/+13/+8 (2d6+7) + Paralysing Touch (DC22) & spell effects and
. . Paralysing Touch +16/+11/+6 (1d8+9 + DC22 paralysis)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks paralyzing touch
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th; concentration +13)
. . 3/day—greater scrying (DC 19)
. . 1/day—true seeing (active)
. . 1/week—planar binding (natives of abaddon only) (DC 18)
Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 9th; concentration +14):
5th—dominate person (DC 21), summon monster v, waves of fatigue [S]
4th—bestow curse [S] (DC 19), dimension door, greater invisibility, phantasmal killer (DC 19)
3rd—dispel magic, spiked pit (DC 18), tongues (cast), vampiric touch [S], vampiric touch
2nd—blindness/deafness (DC 17), detect thoughts (DC 17), false life [S] (cast), mirror image, resist energy (2) (both cast, fire & acid)
1st—alarm (cast), charm person (DC 17), chill touch [S] (DC 16), comprehend languages, grease (DC 16), mage armor (cast), obscuring mist, ray of enfeeblement (2, DC 16), shield (2) (one cast)
0 (at will)—arcane mark, bleed (DC 15), detect magic, read magic
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Statistics
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Str 23, Dex 12, Con —, Int 20, Wis 19, Cha 16
Base Atk +11; CMB +18; CMD 39
Feats Combat Casting, Command Undead, Craft Wondrous Item, Defensive Combat Training, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (enchantment), Spell Mastery, Toughness, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (heavy mace)
Skills Appraise +12, Climb +10, Fly +3, Intimidate +22, Knowledge (arcana) +27, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +9, Knowledge (engineering) +9, Knowledge (geography) +9, Knowledge (history) +9, Knowledge (nature) +9, Knowledge (planes) +27, Knowledge (religion) +27, Perception +46, Profession (soothsayer) +10, Ride +5, Sense Motive +35, Spellcraft +27, Stealth +9, Survival +8; Racial Modifiers +16 Perception, +8 Sense Motive, +8 Stealth
Languages Aboleth, Abyssal, Aklo, Cyclops, Daemonic, Draconic, Giant, Infernal
SQ arcane bonds (arcane bond [familiar]), conductive, flash of insight, grave touch, haunting beckon, life sight, opposition schools (evocation, transmutation), specialized schools (necromancy)
Combat Gear oculus of abaddon, wand of infernal healing, greater (22 charges), wand of remove paralysis (18 charges); Other Gear +1 conductive heavy mace, belt of physical perfection +2, cloak of resistance +3, headband of mental superiority +2, ring of protection +2, ring of wizardry i, soul jar
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TRACKED RESOURCES
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Command Undead (8/day) (DC 17) - 0/8
Grave Touch (8/day) (Sp) - 0/8
Haunting Beckon (1/year) (Oculus of Abaddon) - 0/1
Life Sight (9 rounds/day) (Su) - 0/9
Planar Binding (natives of Abaddon only) (1/week) - 0/1
Scrying, Greater (3/day) - 0/3
True Seeing (1/day) - 0/1
Wand of infernal healing, greater (22 charges) - 1/22
Wand of remove paralysis (18 charges) - 0/18
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Special Abilities
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Channel Resistance +4 +4 bonus to save vs. Channel Energy.
Combat Casting +4 to Concentration checks to cast while on the defensive.
Command Undead (8/day) (DC 17) Channel energy can take control of undead.
Conductive Channel touch attack ability through weapon strike.
Damage Reduction (15/bludgeoning) You have Damage Reduction against all except Bludgeoning attacks.
Damage Reduction (15/magic) You have Damage Reduction against all except Magic attacks.
Darkvision (120 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Deliver Touch Spells Through Familiar (Su) Your familiar can deliver touch spells for you.
Empathic Link with Familiar (Su) You have an empathic link with your Arcane Familiar.
Energy Resistance, Acid (20) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Acid attacks.
Energy Resistance, Fire (20) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Evocation You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Evocation school.
Familiar Bonus: +3 to Appraise checks You gain the Alertness feat while your familiar is within arm's reach.
Familiar Farsight (At will) (Oculus of Abaddon) Clairaudience/clairvoyance on your familiar/animal companion at will.
Fear Aura (DC 22) Foes in 60 ft are frightened (below 5 HD) or shaken for 19 rds (Will neg).
Ferocity (Ex) Fight without penalty even while disabled or dying.
Flash of Insight (1/day) (Su) Once per day as an immediate action, a cyclops can peer into an occluded visual spectrum of possible futures, gaining insight that allows it to select the exact result of one die roll before the roll is made. This effect can alter an action taken by
Grave Touch (8/day) (Sp) Melee touch attack, shakes then frightens target.
Haunting Beckon (1/year) (Oculus of Abaddon) Mass Charm monster, range 1 mile
Immunity to Cold You are immune to cold damage.
Immunity to Electricity You are immune to electricity damage.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Polymorph You are immune to Polymorph effects.
Life Sight (9 rounds/day) (Su) Blindsight 10'+ to detect living and undead for wizard level rounds / day.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Necromancy The dread and feared necromancer commands undead and uses the foul power of unlife against his enemies.
Oculus of Abaddon An oculus of Abaddon is a potent artifact rumored to have been created by one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as a way to reward those who work as their agents on the Material Plane. More likely, these items were crafted by a powerful pre-Earthfall race that has long since moved on, leaving behind these dangerous artifacts to tempt mortals into serving the needs of the Horsemen.
An oculus of Abaddon appears as a sphere of clear crystal that contains a pinpoint of flickering red light at its center. When held, the oculus feels warm to the touch and fills the holder with a sudden desire to pluck out an eye and place the oculus within the socket—this causes 1d8 points of damage, 1 point of bleed damage, and 2 points of Constitution damage. Once placed in an eye socket, the oculus can only be removed by ripping it free (causing the same amount of damage as the initial plucking). An oculus placed in an empty eye socket immediately heals all damage caused by plucking the previous eye out. Once placed, an oculus allows its new owner to utilize its powers, as listed below.
• Darkvision to a range of 120 feet (constant)
• True seeing once per day as a free action
• Greater scrying three times per day
• Planar binding once per week (only to summon natives of Abaddon, such as daemons or soul eaters)
• Familiar farsight at will (if the user has a familiar or an animal companion, he may use clairaudience/clairvoyance to observe the world through his familiar, despite any intervening distance as long as he and the familiar are on the same plane)
The oculus of Abaddon’s greatest power, though, is its haunting beckon. This ability is usable once per year, and allows the user to manipulate the minds of a huge number of targets, provided that the end goal of the manipulation is a tragic or otherwise horrific fate for those being manipulated. This functions as mass charm monster, but with a range of 1 mile, and establishes a telepathic link between the caster and all minds in that area. The effects are still language-dependent despite this telepathy—creatures without the ability to understand language (typically, creatures with an Intelligence score of 2 or lower) are unaffected. All other creatures are automatically affected unless they have 6 or more HD, in which case they gain a DC 22 Will save to resist the effects. Spell resistance applies regardless of HD.
The oculus of Abaddon is powerfully neutral evil and possesses a limited and hateful intellect of its own. While not capable of communicating directly with its owner, it refuses to activate its powers for any user who is not neutral evil.
Destruction
A foul and hideous object, the oculus of Abaddon is fortunately relatively easy to destroy, as far as artifacts go. To destroy an oculus of Abaddon, it must be smashed by a bludgeoning holy weapon wielded by a permanently blinded humanoid—alternatively, any bludgeoning weapon wielded by a permanently blinded good outsider with at least 7 HD will work as well. A DC 30 Knowledge (arcana) check is enough to learn this method of destruction.
Paralyzing Touch 1d8+9 (DC 22) 1d8+9 damage, plus Fort save or be paralyzed.
Rejuvenation (Su) Liches can return after a few days.
Share Spells with Familiar Can cast spells with a target of "You" on the familiar with a range of touch.
Speak with Animals (Ex) Your familiar can communicate with animals similar to itself.
Speak With Familiar (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your familiar.
Spell Focus (Enchantment) Spells from one school of magic have +1 to their save DC.
Spell Mastery (Dimension Door, Dispel Magic, Tongues) You can prepare the chosen spells without a spellbook.
Transmutation You must spend 2 slots to cast spells from the Transmutation school.
Undead Traits Undead have many immunities and use Cha in place of a Con for all effects.
Vital Strike Standard action: x2 weapon damage dice.
Wand of infernal healing, greater (22 charges) Add this item to create a wand of a chosen spell.
Wand of remove paralysis (18 charges) Add this item to create a wand of a chosen spell.
My Wizard was absolutely paranoid in this encounter, and I myself was stressing, because we knew he was a Lich, and therefore, had access to 6th level spells. Honestly, it boggled my mind that we won at all until the GM told us about him being 'atrophied'. I couldn't help but think, "If I were Vordakai, I'd have just cast Globe of Invulnerability and made myself immune to all of the party's spells". Does your party know he isn't a full-powered Lich? Because we kind of entered that fight expecting something like a near TPK.
Also, I should add, your tactics for the BBEG are nearly exactly the same as the ones my GM used, with only one real exception, being the Monk counter.
This is technically correct. While the module references the phylactery it doesn't say what it is, only that Vordakai cannot use it. He has lost a lot of his power from being a 20th level caster to being a 9th, but he's still deadly enough as it is. He is largely immune to the party's damaging spells, and a lot of their debuffs as well. I did consider making him more powerful as a caster, but opted to make him stronger in combat instead; the conductive mace gives him a powerful attack combining his paralysing touch and several possible spells and his staggering touch.
The way I will run it is that since being awakened he is regaining power very slowly. At the point where he would become 11th level, if his phylactory still exists he can return again. This will, of course, be when I need a side-adventure for the party...
The other point is that my party are for the most part less familiar with Pathfinder and D&D, with one exception. They are a seven-strong party with several strong damage-dealers (barbarian, ranger, rogue, and monk), two full casters (sorcerer and cleric), and a magus. Very few enemies last longer than two or three rounds against them. Their biggest advantage here is action-economy: even with two allies, Vordakai has less than half of their actions.
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Wow, mega session last night, and the boss-fight still isn't over!
We got off to a good start, with the party finding the ghost of Willas Gundersan and getting the staff. They didn't twig the significance of it, though.
The Gholdako in the Feast Hall gave them more problems. The sorcerer used Greater Invisibility on the rogue, and he got in ahead of the pack. The fight was short and fairly brutal. One of the gholdako tried to get in close and use his blinding breath on the sorcerer and ranger, to no effect. Another gave the barbarian a mauling, but he replied in kind and won the debate easily. The monk used his usual trip-o-matic attacks, and now got in close to deal some damage courtesy of Snake Fang. When they were down, the party searched and found the belt of strength and belt of dexterity I placed there.
Facing Vordakai
The party advanced to the doors of Vordakai's chamber...and stopped. All of a sudden they got nervous and did a divination to find that Vordakai was preparing for them.
"Well, let's just wait, and let his buffs wear off," was the next suggestion. Of course, powerful super-intelligent wizards may be arrogant, but they are not stupid. Instead of letting them come to him, Vordakai took the offensive. Lacking a mind-controlled ally, he released the Piscodaemon from it's prison (the party had opted not to kills it in the end) and ordered it to assist him. The doors were thrown open, and Vordakai, the piscodaemon, and the kyton attacked, while the water elemental was commanded to act. In addition, Vordakai's fear aura shook several party members: the monk, magus, and ranger.
In the surprise round, the kyton tried (and failed) to take over the monk's kusarigama. Vordakai opened a spiked pit under the barbarian, ranger, and rogue. All saved, but the piscodaemon bull rushed him into it (it took him two rounds to climb out). Backed into a corner the ranger loosed a cluster of undead bane arrows at Vordakai, but barely scratched him.
The party started to get their act together: the cleric cast silence on the monk, Vordakai's attempt at dispelling it failed. The rogue was turned invisible again by the sorcerer, and the magus chipped in with haste. As the kyton rushed to attack the monk, she was tripped by the monk's AoO and the greater invisible rogue delivered horrendous sneak attack damage and killed her outright.
The monk then crushed his elemental gem (a free action) into the fountain in which Vordakai's elemental was bound, summoning his own elemental, before rushing in to attempt to trip Vordakai - and failed, thanks to the shaken effect, while Vordakai delivered a AoO mace-blow that hurt. The monk saved vs paralysis from the conductive mace which made Vordakai think twice. The two elementals countered one another, creating a gyre of sulferous water in the fountain that had no effect on the rest of the fight.
Meanwhile the piscodaemon flew across the pit (causing some comment along the lines "But it didn't fly before!") and missed an attack on the rogue. The latter countered by getting aside and using his scout ability to move-and-strike to wound the daemon. The ranger risked an AoO to shoot it full or arrows, which also hurt it. In response it ripped into the ranger, one AoO hurt him, then it managed the feat of two natural '1's and a natural '20' on the ranger - net result, he was one single-digit hit points and grappled. On his turn he called his elk in to help him break free, and just managed it, but when fleeing was hit by the piscodaemon again.
Vordakai was targeted by a fireball from the magus (failed to get through his fire resistance), a web bolt from the sorcerer (saved), a hallow spell from the cleric debuffed him, and he was in silence from the monk. Unable to cast spells Vordakai exchanged blows with the monk and was comming off slightly worse. At last the barbarian hauled himself out of the spiked pit bleeding and boiling mad. He charged Vordakai, and delivered a critical hit with his +1 undead bane greatsword...6d6+44 damage was going to hurt no matter what Vordakai's DR was. The cleric followed this with a searing light, and Vordakai realised that he wasn't going to win this one in the current circumstances. He retreated, provoking AoO's but getting far enough away to cast dimension door.
Unsure if he had gone invisible or teleported, the monk followed him and whirled his chain to discover nothing solid. The piscodaemon dropped another stinking cloud and retreated to prepare to attack the barbarian and monk, but the former took the initiative and hacked the deamon down.
The fight is paused, Vordakai has retreated but has far from exhausted all his spells and can use his infernal healing to heal a little before rejoining the fight, which he will do before his buffs expire...
One thing to mention about the boss-fight: the enemy had an AC of 27 (mostly through spell buffs). Without my changes, the monk would have had a maximum to-hit score of +12...together with the shaken condition, he would have had great difficulty in hitting the enemy. Those extra few points of accuracy made all the difference, I think, between pinning a foe down because you are a viable threat and having them ignore you.
Needing a 17+ to hit on his best attack would indeed have meant he was all but useless.
And for a combat class, that's a big disadvantage. Some will say I pumped the enemy's AC too high, but I merely applied the enemy as suggested: he's a spell caster, he can buff, and he did. When you know you are facing someone who cuts down giants with one blow, you do.
Hey Dabbler!
I made an overhaul of the monk and worked in some of the changes you made! May I ask for your opinion about it?
Here is the link: Monk overhaul
My main thing is about the Diamond *-feats, which replace all Still mind, Diamond Soul ...-stuff.
I will upload a document with the table as soon as I can.
Would be nice to get some words about it! If not ... also okay ;-)
Done, mate. Some good ideas there.
OK, end of the BBEG fight last night...
A gust of wind cleared the stinking cloud, and some lightning bolts and other attacks (especially pugwampi's grace and terrible remorse) tore up the elemental. Having not found Vordakai, monk and barbarian came rushing back to the party as the rogue explored a nearby chamber. Unbeknownst, Vordakai teleported back after casting greater invisibility on himself as well as some healing. He targeted the party rogue, and struck him with his mace rolled up with a vampiric touch and his own paralysing touch. The rogue took damage but wasn't paralysed, and shouted a warning that brought the party in.
What then ensued was a very strange kind of chase: The party tried to home in and bracket Vordakai, while he tried to stay out of the silence field around the monk and zap them with spells. He hit the barbarian with waves of fatigue so that he couldn't rage, and hit the ranger with bilndness so that he couldn't shoot. He tried domination on the barbarian, but superstition meant he saved.
The silence around the monk was a double-edged effect: if he could close with Vordakai, the lich couldn't cast spells. But any casters next to the monk couldn't cast either, and the silence meant that for the monk to locate Vordakai was very hard. So Vordakai would move, cast a spell, others would try and locate him, then the monk and barbarian would rush in. Eventually Vordakai was cornered in the open when the ranger's elk companion sensed him and attacked; the monk bracketed him and stopped him casting, while the cleric rushed over to pass a scroll of faerie fire to the magus who cast it on the area containing V, and it was all over. The barbarian was able to wade in with another critical hit, and the monk finished him off with unarmed strikes.
The party were pretty impressed, they'd taken some damage and were horribly debuffed, but made it through. They collected a lot of loot, completed their quests, and annexed Varnhold. I'm going to give them a short while to recover before hitting them with the next adventure...
Analysis: this was a very tough BBEG, who had an all-round danger factor being quite effective in melee as well as with spells. The party's tactic of casting silence on the monk and him chasing down the spell-caster was inspired and did more to hinder his biggest advantages than anything else. The improved accuracy I gave the monk meant she was able to contribute effectively in dealing attrition damage to the BBEG when maneuvers proved ineffective. The barbarian dished the lion's share of the damage, but the monk definitely shortened the fight. The party spell-casters did struggle, the cleric hit the BBEG with a couple of searing light spells, but the main attacks of sorcerer and magus had been countered by the BBEG's defensive magic. Nonetheless they made imaginative use of what they could use...
Sounds like the group was in for a tough win. I bet there were some people on edge there in fighting him, especially with the Rogue getting smacked at the end by himself.
The barbarian steamed in to save him - if he'd failed his save against paralysis, then things could have gone differently, although not lethally: the BBEG would have stalked the party one by one, and he wanted captives. His mistake was in assuming his invisibility would keep him safe - the first time he was cornered in a narrow passageway, which is understandable. Once he got into the open he used a blindness spell on the ranger but was tagged by the ranger's animal companion, at which point he had unfortunately placed himself in a corner.
The impression I had was that they were desperately trying to keep the BBEG off-balance so he couldn't unleash nastier spells at them. Against such a large party it was going to be difficult to carry the day, which is why I made him a little tougher, but as ever it came down to action economy: the BBEG just couldn't take the party members out of the fight faster than they could home in on him.
I'm definitely going to bring this enemy back at some point. The players have asked I push the adventure on to 20th level after the termination of the "official" campaign, so it's not out of the question to power him up and resurrect him at some point...
Yeah, casters that can fight can be scary. I recently developed an underwater cavern fight against a group of Scrag Pirates with Chuul allies with the two BBEGs being a Chuul with Adept levels and a Troll with the Scarred Witch Doctor archetype (I know it's Orc only, but it fits so well) for my Cousin to use against his party because they had min-maxed their characters and needed a big challenge.