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So in our home brew campain of gestalt characters, we are having the BBEG fight tonight. We've been leading up to a battle against an Anti-Paladin boss type.
Conveniently, i am the gestalt paladin/cleric (lvl 11) of the LG deity. I am most likely going to be the focus of the attacks of the main guy while the party is distracted with henchman. I am trying to plan out some "strategery".
Was thinking about leading off with a hallow spell (after buffs obv). I am mainly concerned about the LoH touch attack from said AP. Am I missing anything, or is there any general tips anyone can share?
Thanks for the help in advance, I just don't want to look like a fool.
- Fid
Death Ward? Cleric 4
The subject is immune to energy drain and any negative energy effects, including channeled negative energy.
You should be more worried about Aura of Vengeance than Touch of Corruption. The fact that an AP can give Smite Good to his buddies is terrifying.
Beyond what you've said so far, what else do you know about this guy? Are you sure he's actually an Anti-Paladin? Is this BBEG also gestalt? If so, what's been observed? Is he coming to you or are you going to him?
Make sure to prep at least one casting of Litany of Righteousness (Ultimate Combat). It's a level 2 Paladin spell and it will shoot your damage through the roof when combined with Smite. It only lasts a round at a time, mind you, but if you can reasonably full attack, you will wreck his day. There is no analog for the AP to do this to you, so you're not going to eat the 1-shot of death for that, at least.
Defensively, I'd say having a Cleanse (APG) or 2 handy would be helpful, as well. This will let you remove the vast majority of the AP's Cruelties if he does go on a Touch of Corruption spree and doesn't commit you to using a Heal right off the bat to address these conditions.
Re: Hallow, the cast time is 24 hours, so I'm really confused on that unless he plans on coming to you. You could reasonably lead with a Scroll of Holy Aura, should your GM allow its purchase. You can reasonably cast it yourself, it'll last 15 rounds, and it will STRONGLY protect your party for that duration. Downside, of course, is that it's going to run you 3k gold by book value. You need to roll a 5 or greater when attempting to use the scroll.
Hallow has a 24 hour casting time.
Circle of protection vs evil, you don't want anyone getting dominated if you can help it.
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You should be more worried about Aura of Vengeance than Touch of Corruption. The fact that an AP can give Smite Good to his buddies is terrifying.
Beyond what you've said so far, what else do you know about this guy? Are you sure he's actually an Anti-Paladin? Is this BBEG also gestalt? If so, what's been observed? Is he coming to you or are you going to him?
--->story wise its been public knowledge he's an anti-paladin.
Make sure to prep at least one casting of Litany of Righteousness (Ultimate Combat). It's a level 2 Paladin spell and it will shoot your damage through the roof when combined with Smite. It only lasts a round at a time, mind you, but if you can reasonably full attack, you will wreck his day. There is no analog for the AP to do this to you, so you're not going to eat the 1-shot of death for that, at least.
Defensively, I'd say having a Cleanse (APG) or 2 handy would be helpful, as well. This will let you remove the vast majority of the AP's Cruelties if he does go on a Touch of Corruption spree and doesn't commit you to using a Heal right off the bat to address these conditions.
Re: Hallow, the cast time is 24 hours, so I'm really confused on that unless he plans on coming to you. You could reasonably lead with a Scroll of Holy Aura, should your GM allow its purchase. You can reasonably cast it yourself, it'll last 15 rounds, and it will STRONGLY protect your party for that duration. Downside, of course, is that it's going to run you 3k gold by book value. You need to roll a 5 or greater when attempting to use the scroll.
---> yeah, should have read the spell a little closer. Oh well, thanks for all the ideas. I appreciate it.
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Cleric spells to run: protection from evil, death ward
Paladin spells to roll with: bless weapon and linity of righteousness.
There are a few strats you could do.
You could do some battlefield control yourself with a well placed blade barrier.
You could do a planer ally or summon for some help from beyond.
Or you could rightous might up and smite him into the dirt for a eternal sleep.
Honestly, starting off with spells? Most of my encounters between paladins and antis were an initiative race. There's this feat whose name I can't now remember that lets you basically spend all your channels for the day on bonus damage for one hit.
With all the nasty things between pals and antis that one hit can end the fight (although the pally player was a dirty cheater, so my experiences might have been exaggerated). Cue - you want to be the first to land it, then it's game over.
If you must do strategy then flying in with fakes to waste the other partys smites is a nice idea. Illusion-buffed summons and the likes and the anti will be smiting ponies before the real threat comes onto him.
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Cleric spells to run: protection from evil, death ward
Paladin spells to roll with: bless weapon and linity of righteousness.
There are a few strats you could do.
You could do some battlefield control yourself with a well placed blade barrier.
You could do a planer ally or summon for some help from beyond.
Or you could rightous might up and smite him into the dirt for a eternal sleep.
I like option #3, I am not very subtle in my devotion to my deity. A judicious use of my longsword will be applied.
Again, thanks for the info.
Oh yeah, the other important thing: any Celestial monsters you summon with SM 6 (my recommendation would be Dire Lions [1d3] or Lions/Rhinos [1d4+1]) will have Smite Evil 1/day. That is a tremendous lead off if you can manage it. In this case, quantity will matter MUCH more than quality.
My best advice? Don't be so sure you're so supposed to go toe-to-toe with the bbeg solo. I have had players make that mistake in a couple of games over the years, to their vast detriment.
I like that you're planning ahead, but I would be cautious about assuming you're supposed to take him on solo. You might plan to assist your allies in eliminating his and then all of you take him on together. Just a thought. Good luck. Hope it's epic!
How did it go? I'm curious to hear how it went. Thanks!
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How did it go? I'm curious to hear how it went. Thanks!
I wasnt planning on soloing him, just being the focus of the anger. Aaaannnn boy howdy was I. I think the only thing that really saved me was the death ward and being immune to negative energy.
The GM pumped the guy to a level 20 anti-paladin, with a dip into mythic type level (home brew campaign --> meaning he had a primal shield up for 600hp buffer and DR10). I waded into battle after calling on my deity and promptly took 167 hp in one fell unholy smite swoop (ironically, left me standing at 0hp, capable of LoH). Next round I Dimensional Hop out to heal up for a few rounds (gestalt paladin/cleric with travel subdomain). The AP promplty lays waste to the other 5 in group, with our archer hovering 60 feet up tinking him for minimal damage, allowing me to heal and get back into the battle.
Long story short, I proceed to stand to-to-toe with him, with the occasional dimension hop out to heal and flame strike him and let the rest of the group try and get him. After about 15-20 rounds I was out of LoH and was on my last smite, with 45 hp. I did the last thing I could think of and RP a prayer to my deity (seeing as how I was last man standing), and was rewarded with a heal and a divine enchantment on my sword of brilliant energy. That was all she wrote for him after that.
All in all, it was an awesome battle and everyone was very happy. Antipaladins are buggers, especially when they can convert extra channel uses to make a channel negative energy a move action, and the full attack....fun times!
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Especially when a level 11 gestalt group faces a level 20 mythic....
Sucks everyone else died. Was that the final boss?
Nope, apparently an avatar of the chaos deity that is in direct opposition to my deity.
We found out that our benefactor cast a "contingency spell" on us, so when we went below 0 hp, we were teleported away and placed in stasis. So, no net loss of characters or anything. I think the battle was mainly for flavor and story enhancement. Also, our DM can be quite mean. However, it was fun!
- Fid
Very cool. Sounds like a good, challenging, epic battle. Congrats!