Difference between Anniversary Edition Xanesha and the original


Rise of the Runelords


Xanesha features prominently in the obituaries thread, but I gather from comments people have made that the Anniversary Edition modified her somewhat to make her less of a TPK machine. What was the major change, or was it just an issue of 3.5 vs pathfinder rules making the encounter less survivable?


Essentially, she was changed from an 8th level sorcerer with 4 attacks and 150 hp, to a sorcerer 6/rogue 1 with a similar amount of health. I believe she also lost her flight, making the fight on top of the tower a close range brawl, where she is likely to get overwhelmed.


A combination of her class-levels and her tactics. Details spoilered for the benefit of anyone who hasn’t met Miss Murder-Machine yet. :D

Spoiler:
In the 3.5 version, she was a Lamia Matriarch with two Sorcerer levels (effectively making her a Sorc8 in casting terms), and her spell-list meant that if she got the chance to buff properly, she was a *brutal* lesson in ‘why you don’t let the enemy pick the battlefield - much less prepare it before you arrive’. Between haste and her other defensive spells she had an AC of 34(!!!), and the haste’s +1 to-hit and extra attack also gave her a fair chance of killing even a completely-healthy martial character in a single turn. She shaped the battlespace ruthlessly: she used illusions to hide herself, hinder PC spell-casters, and make the PCs waste their ‘best shots’, then led with her medusa mask to one-shot a juicy target and turn her attention on the survivors, flying to stay outside of most PCs’ reach while she wielded her +1 longspear of death-poking to best effect.

In the AE version, she’s a Lamia Matriach Rogue 1, and while she still has the same magic items, her lower spell-casting ability and different spell-list mean she’s not the meat-grinder she used to be. That said, she still has a fair bit of clout, and the medusa mask, the Impaler of Thorns, and a +1d6 sneak-attack mean she’s still not a foe to take lightly. Especially if the PCs had a rough time getting up to ‘visit’ her.

Short version: as Oserath said in ninja’ing me, the tactics-block for 3.5 Xanesha basically read ‘wipe the floor with the PCs’, she had every single tool she needed to do it, and as the Obits thread shows, she did do it on a fairly regular basis.


Funny thing... Most of the classic murder machines are women... Aushanna, Xanesha...


You can have a look at her old stats here.

For her actual stat block scour the forums, JJ posted her a while ago as a sneak peak (if you do not own the AE).

Sissyl wrote:
Funny thing... Most of the classic murder machines are women... Aushanna, Xanesha...

They also seem to get the more bad-ass looking minis, too!

Ruyan.


Sissyl wrote:
Funny thing... Most of the classic murder machines are women... Aushanna, Xanesha...

Merisiel, Amiri....


Imho the old Xanesha is "too powerfull to be true!", but the new one is "not so frigthening after all..". Thats what happened to us actually..but it is also my fault as a gm because I knew Xanesha could turn out to be a killing machine and I was afraid to play her with the most efficient tactics against the PCs..:/

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I disagree with you when you say it's "your fault." The only fault is that you wisely erred on the side of caution. Given Xanesha's history, it's perfectly understandable. Hell, if monsters could level up from the PCs they've killed, she'd be taking on Special K by now.


Hmm, I was interested to read this. I'm nearing the end of "The Skinsaw Murders" with my regular group playing Rise Of The Runelords, and I thought that the chapter climax utop the Shadow Clock read as a little bit easy for my PCs, who have fared quite well thus far in most "tough" encounters.

I considered adding another pair of Faceless Stalkers utop the tower, but I really prefer the "solitary mistress" appeal of this final fight. I'm now considering a modified approach to this sorceress version - maybe something in between challenge levels.


Thanks for the details. I imagine the changes are to allow more people to actually get to module 3...


Two faceless stalkers on top of the tower would definitely add to the challenge of Rogue-Xanesha. Remember that they have reach, and everyone of those foes has sneak attacks. Given enough prep time, she might have cast invisibility on them too.


Swordborn wrote:

Hmm, I was interested to read this. I'm nearing the end of "The Skinsaw Murders" with my regular group playing Rise Of The Runelords, and I thought that the chapter climax utop the Shadow Clock read as a little bit easy for my PCs, who have fared quite well thus far in most "tough" encounters.

I considered adding another pair of Faceless Stalkers utop the tower, but I really prefer the "solitary mistress" appeal of this final fight. I'm now considering a modified approach to this sorceress version - maybe something in between challenge levels.

Maybe use the stats RuyanVe linked to, but make a couple of changes to her spell-list, and perhaps to her items?

Spoiler:
My suggestions would be to trade out shield for protection from good, and haste for summon monster III.
  • The haste is the biggest change - it costs her both a +1 dodge bonus to AC and one full-bonus stab from her full-attack action, and lowers her to-hit numbers back to her base +20/+15/+10. Of course, having her drop 1d3 fiendish giant centipedes amongst the PCs might be almost as bad for their tactics.
  • With haste out of the picture, using protection from good instead of shield drops her fully-buffed AC to 30 against good characters (the majority of PCs, AFAIK) but shields her against their mental attacks (which may be a bigger concern to her, given she uses charm-magic enough to know how effective it can be).
  • Since the protection spell’s deflection bonus to AC overlaps with her ring of protection +1, you could change out the ring for a secondary +1 weapon (the classic lamia matriarch weapon is a scimitar, but it could be whatever you want the PCs’ lead melee-fighter to loot) or a couple of wands, say dispel magic and hold person, or perhaps ice spears (from AP#67) instead of hold person if you’re feeling a little ‘blasty’.
    (Note that this last suggestion is particularly optional. In combat, Xanesha already uses mage armour to supercede the armour bonus her snakeskin tunic provides, presumably because she considers the tunic as her ‘civilian mode’ armour. If you’ve decided she also retains the +1 ring of protection for when she’s on ‘undercover ops’, there’s no need to change her treasure as well as her spell-list.)

These changes should give you a ‘full-level’ Xanesha who can still put a hell of a hurt on the PCs, quite possibly giving them the fight of their careers-to-date, but she doesn’t hit quite as hard and isn’t quite as hard to hit.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder Adventure Path / Rise of the Runelords / Difference between Anniversary Edition Xanesha and the original All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Rise of the Runelords