I’m only a casual comic reader, but I’m pretty sure the Justice League "Tower of Babel" story is where it is revealed that Batman has files on every other superhero, specifically how to defeat them if he ever needed to.
I’m running an Inquisitor of Pharasma through Carrion Crown. We have a party of 7 so the GM has had to modify the ap quite a bit, adding a lot of cool subplots about the temptation of power etc. While it is definitely not a pvp game there is some tension building between the characters and Ive decided that my Inquisitor is getting concerned. He wants to prepare for the worst and have a strategy around how to defeat each of the other characters if necessary.
We are in the middle of Book 3 and just made 7th level. Characters are not optimized (although 1 or 2 are close) and there has not been a lot of 'magicmart' shopping so most gear is what we found in the ap. For example, my 2-handed melee Inq is currently using a +1 keen longsword because its the best magic weapon we've found so far.
I've got some ideas but Id love to get other thoughts for combating each of these characters: strategies or tactics, special items or scrolls to have on hand, etc. My Inquisitor stats are here. Im thinking this is coming soon so I wont have too many levels to change my abilities or pick up new feats (and we’re not using the retraining rules) so I think its mostly tricks, strategies, and equipment that’s going to make the difference here.
Here's the rest of the group:
Ranger w 1 level of Arcane Archer Has all the bells and whistles - multishot, rapid shot, etc etc etc. Pretty sure the character has never drawn a melee weapon ever, and I’m pretty sure AC is below 20.
Current Idea Charge in, sunder the bow, and pummel repeatedly about the head and shoulders.
Ranger switchhitter Not as deadly with the bow but also wields an elven curved blade 2-handed with decent strength. Going toe-to-toe is going to be tough especially since he has a bear animal companion. The character is sub-optimized but still strong in melee
Current Idea Need to find some kind of item to take the bear out of the equation (tanglefoot bag or something?)
Blaster Sorcerer the character isn't optimized but he's an olde school player....magic missile, fireball, lightningbolt, rinse and repeat. We've loaded him up with a lot of the AC-items and he casts Mage Armor when he wakes up in the morning so he's actually not that easy to hit.
Current Idea Timing will be critical on this one: choosing the moments in between mage armors might make all the difference. I will also need to cast Expeditious Retreat to keep him from running too far away. I need to be in his face as much as possible and hope to draw AOOs if he tries to cast. Any other items or tricks to keep him from casting?
Two-weapon Fighter/Rogue I don't consider myself a slouch, but the rogue is probably the most experienced player at the table. Without a flanking buddy he's obviously less of a threat (he primarily uses daggers since he has a ton of different ones) but he has a pretty good Improved Feint so I’m sure I’m going to take sneak damage. He is also a stealthy player in that I’m sure he has toys/items/abilities I don't know about.
Current Ideas Any items/potions that can protect me from that Feint/sneak attack? Upping my WIS bonus comes to mind, either Owl's Wisdom potions or even better a headband. I’m also thinking of maybe opening with Blistering Invective to give him a round or two of the penalties for being shaken (he will easily beat the Ref save)
Dwarven Cleric This character is built for defense, he feels his primary role is to protect the party. He does that by making sure he’s alive to help/heal. He has the best AC in the party (25) and casts Defending Bone every morning also, so right out of the gate I have to either suck up the DR5 or switch to a non-magical heavy mace or something. Even then, with all the domain powers and such he’s not going to be an easy melee target. Good news is he’s not at all built for melee so he's not much of a threat there. IF I can hit him. Oh yeah, and he’s probably the character my Inquisitor is most worried – he’s LN and is already showing ‘the ends justify the means’ mentality about using evil (necromantic) magics to achieve the desired outcome.
Current Ideas This one is tough. He’s got Boots of Striding and Springing so Im going to need Expeditious Retreat again, potentially giving him a round to buff. His WIS is way too high for me to try casting against him or using demoralize. His favorite spell is Blessing of Fervor so he might beat me in terms of action economy. “Run up and hit him” doesn’t seem like its going to work on this one.
MOMM/Hungry Ghost/Quinggong Monk And then we come to the optimizer. He took at least 1 FTR level for the bonus feats, has all 3 Panther and Snake style feats, and his preferred method of combat is to run around with his 50’ move and draw AOOs so he can retaliate over and over again. He is definitely weakest against a single opponent so that’s a good thing for me, but with a crazy Sense Motive his AC can climb high enough to cause me trouble (add to that Barkskin and all that other wackiness and its not going to be a cakewalk). Pretty sure I can take him if we go toe-to-toe, keep him using so many swift actions that he can’t use that Sense Motive trick too often…but I’ve got to catch him first.
Current Ideas Again, Expeditious Retreat is my friend but Blistering Invective probably wont work because of his high WIS. But if I keep chasing after him am I giving him the advantage?
At the end of it all Im hoping it never has to come to this. BUT if my character buys a few random items to keep in his utility belt just in case, that’s not a bad thing right?
Thanks in advance for the advice!
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Ranger Switchhitter: Buy a few nets. Entangle is a great debuff and non-prof penalties wont matter since you are targeting touch ac.
Blaster Sorc: Cast Silence. Even if he has still spell, sorcs are hosed with metamagic
Rogue: Buy a potion of Blur. A rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment.
Cleric: Tanglefoot bags and alchemist fire/liquid ice/acid. Touch AC should make the fight much easier.
Monk: Caltrops + Net.
Is a knife across the throat when they are asleep out of the question. Be quite about it and you can rinse and repeat as needed. Use some one else dagger and plant it back on them and go back to sleep. Now you have dealt with you biggest problem and framed another one.
