Ok so I know there are about a 1000 on these around here somewhere but I cannot seem to find one.
I am running Wrath of the Righteous and one of my players is playing a full orc barbarian. After stat increases, minor magical items, and racial bonus he now has a 30 STR when raging, which is somewhere around +30 bonus damage (STR x1.5, mythic power attack, reckless something, etc).
In book two they just fought the mythic chimera and he almost one shot it in the opening round.
How do I deal with a character like this? I don't want to tell him to change characters, but I hold the option open. I would like to find a way within the rule to deal with this in game.
Swarms? Incorporeal? Horde of minions?
I realize as mythic there are supposed to deal insane damage, and being that they are about level 7 there are in the mid power range.
Swarms, flying enemies. Targeting his weak save works too.
Its not that hard to shut down a melee character.
Maybe even enemy that has DR especially against his weapon type
DR, regeneration, fast healing, high AC, swarms, incorporeal, displacement spell, mirror image spell, simulacrums, flying enemies, constructs (with regeneratom, like inevitables)- they can't die from over damage if they have regeneration.
I'm with jiggy, why is a +30 damage modifier a problem? High level non-mythic barbarians can get up to that level of damage without much effort.
I think your encounter composition is probably more at fault than his high damage output.
One of the few martial builds that doesn't look like a chump compared to full casters and suddenly we need to nerf it into the ground.
DR, regeneration, fast healing, high AC, swarms, incorporeal, displacement spell, mirror image spell, simulacrums, etc.
Keep in mind if he's playing this style of character, it's not a bad thing to give him some encounters that he personally stomps all over. Just counterbalance them with encounters that allow the other party members to shine as well -- and then the occasional encounter that pushes them to the brink of survival.
Also, +30 doesn't seem that terribly high at that level for a mythic campaign. I have a (non-mythic) 18 STR Fighter 6 who has ~+19 dmg when power attacking with Bull's Strength up -- and I didn't particularly min-max him. It's great if I get a full set of hasted iterative attacks off. It's ... decent if I'm limited to a single attack.
I'm assuming your barbarian is doing a "rage/pounce/smash" to get that much dmg off in the first round? If so, difficult terrain or obstacles in the way might slow him down ... a lot.
If targeting a caster, Obscuring Mist will prevent a charge. I believe Grease would as well, and the ever-popular Black Tentacles. If the tactic of "I charge immediately and kill everything" becomes well-known in your campaign, it's not out of line to have the enemy equipped with some brace weapons.
Multiple enemies is better than 1 enemy due to how Pathfinder works.
Pathfinder always boils down to a "damage race" where one side of the fight kills the other side first. Yeah, there are save or die spells and such, but realistically these are just spells that do "all HP and CON in damage" spells, which is often times offset by the fact that damage oriented martial classes out damage these spells in some situations or enemies are just flat-out immune to said spells.
So, how to deal with it?
Have more enemies. Split them up so Cleave doesn't work. If the god of kill everything has to spend several rounds charging everything then the rest of the party can act.
Aim to have at least as many enemies as there are PCs. Paizo tends to not do with because A) it is harder for the PCs to win when the Action Economy matches or is in favor of the enemy, and B) the enemies are weaker so there is a higher chance of enemies dying outright, and C) a single enemy that is much higher than the party is more likely to kill at least someone if he is played intelligently.
Remember, when dealing with super-high damage characters if they are not able to "use" all of their damage on a target then that damage is wasted. Sure he is able to 1-shot practically anything, but that isn't the point. It is sort of like over-healing someone. It doesn't have any point. You don't gain anything by doing so.
Remember, when dealing with super-high damage characters if they are not able to "use" all of their damage on a target then that damage is wasted. Sure he is able to 1-shot practically anything, but that isn't the point. It is sort of like over-healing someone. It doesn't have any point. You don't gain anything by doing so.
That a great point being over looked. If you put a screen of weak mooks between your BBEG and the barbarian such that the barbarian has to take out one mook at a time you're really going to slow him down. Sure he can charge pounce and obliterate that one guy. He can kill him with one hit, and the rest of the damage he could have had is wasted because he's not next to anyone to hit them.
Whoa. I never said it needed to be nerfed. I was asking for ways to keep the encounters challenging for the rest of the party given how much damage he can churn out in a single round.
I was looking for things to add to the fights to keep them from just feeling like grinding.
I never thought about displacement or flying. Nor did I know that about regeneration.
Don't forget, Massive Damage rules have a minimum damage of 50! If something has less than 100 health, they need to do 50 damage in a single hit for MD to apply. If it has more, it defaults to half-health.
Don't forget, Massive Damage rules have a minimum damage of 50! If something has less than 100 health, they need to do 50 damage in a single hit for MD to apply. If it has more, it defaults to half-health.
I don't think he meant Massive Damage The Mechanic, just the Barb's overall high damage output.
What is it with GMs today?
If the barbarian is using reckless abonadon for the -X to AC for +X to hit which I think should be -2 AC for +2 to hit. So that's a -4 to AC when raging. At that level 7 AC is around 20-25 assuming a 15 pt buy and 30 str I doubt they have any dex. So -4 is going to be nasty.
The Mythic Chimera should be able to really damage the Barbarian before the Barbarian can kill it. With the breath weapon, attack of opportunity, and and full attack in the 1st round that can be lot of damage.
Don't forget, Massive Damage rules have a minimum damage of 50! If something has less than 100 health, they need to do 50 damage in a single hit for MD to apply. If it has more, it defaults to half-health.I don't think he meant Massive Damage The Mechanic, just the Barb's overall high damage output.
Ah, yes, my mistake. It wasn't capitalized, I should have noticed that.
On a tangential note ... this does reaallly turn me off of the idea of a mythic character. Looks crazier than I want to get.
On a tangential note ... this does reaallly turn me off of the idea of a mythic character. Looks crazier than I want to get.
Pathfinder characters are already more powerful than D&D 3.5 ones. Add in Mythic and it's like boxing with a rocket launcher.
Most mythic powers are not that powerful. Most are like a trait bonus to one given ability/spell/feat. Some are better than others. The part that is slightly broken is the "At Level X, everyone automatically gets Y" things.
On a tangential note ... this does reaallly turn me off of the idea of a mythic character. Looks crazier than I want to get.Pathfinder characters are already more powerful than D&D 3.5 ones. Add in Mythic and it's like boxing with a rocket launcher.
Yeah, I usually stop games at level 10 or so.
What is it with GMs today?
What do you mean?