A kobold Adept 5/Warrior 4 is a CR 6 threat. This creature could potentially have a goat familiar with (using UMD and some scrolls) a 29 AC, melee gore +11/+6 (1d8+11) making it's attack while the kobold rides it into battle making a charging lance +11 (2d6+12). Of course, that's if all of the kobold's buffs were in place.
I guess my question is: what's the use of having a villain with a lot of spells/powers/items that buff him and his minions if they're not included in the fight? Should I, as the GM, just say that the villain has used them unless it's obvious that the party has taken him completely by surprise?
I guess my question is: what's the use of having a villain with a lot of spells/powers/items that buff him and his minions if they're not included in the fight? Should I, as the GM, just say that the villain has used them unless it's obvious that the party has taken him completely by surprise?
Yes. Or have lackeys to cast the stuff midfight.
You've got the idea, yes.
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This leads to my favorite hilarious PC tactic:
* PCs make a lot of noise and fuss approaching boss.
* PCs make noise, and take their time, right outside the boss' door.
* Boss knows they're coming and buffs up to the max.
* PCs open the door to what they know is a buffed boss
* PCs close and jam the door then back off and wait 20 minutes in a secure location.
* Boss' buffs run out
* PCs return and fight boss.
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I'm the world's worst at buffing. I always forget to do it before a fight.
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This leads to my favorite hilarious PC tactic:
* PCs make a lot of noise and fuss approaching boss.
* PCs make noise, and take their time, right outside the boss' door.
* Boss knows they're coming and buffs up to the max.
* PCs open the door to what they know is a buffed boss
* PCs close and jam the door then back off and wait 20 minutes in a secure location.
* Boss' buffs run out
* PCs return and fight boss.
*Find boss dipped out the back and let loose his more dangerous pets to slow them down.
No one ever accused me of being benevolent.
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I try to be fair to the PC's. If they are quiet and/or quick enough the casters will have less buffs up. So far I have not had many stealthy groups which makes things easier for me.
I know about published material. I'm just wondering what folks do with their homebrewed/improvised stuff. A combo of 3 arcane spells ensures that a 1st level arcane caster villain has a +10 AC versus good PCs. That means that, if the wizard also has a decent Dex and a Size bonus, they're nearly unhittable.
A 4th buff on the same caster ensures that they have an inexhaustible ray of frost (ranged touch) with a +4 to hit. The right build gives the wizard a Ranged ray of frost (ranged attack) +4 (1d3+7) while they themselves are untouchable with a 24 AC. All at level 1.
That just seems more challenging than a CR 1/2 fight should be. WBL that caster can have as many as 5 level 1 scrolls if you count them as part of their gear; more if they have Scribe Scroll for free or you spend their WBL from offense/defense on the appropriate scrolls.
This then gives you a level 1 caster with the above stats who surrounds themselves with grease and mist making them concealed and the PCs can't charge. He then, what, just peppers them with rays until either the PCs are all dead/running away or they wait out his buffs? Again, this is a CR 1/2 threat.
Wow. Arcane casters really DO get all the fun stuff...
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Such bosses do rely on actually getting the time to cast their buffs. So they'd want advance warning that the PCs are coming. That's a good reasons for various traps and also for having some guards right outside the door to your inner sanctum. Few PC parties know how to fight quietly.
I like Magda's tactic, and I think it's got great potential in PFS or suchlike, where most villains are basically waiting for the PCs to come and murder them. ("Morale: suicide by PC")
However, in a home campaign, I'd say savvier villains might build their sanctum so that you have to go into the Outer Sanctum before you can get into the Inner Sanctum. So when the PCs go into the Outer Sanctum the villain gets a warning and does some buffs. The PCs knock on the door of the Inner Sanctum and then try to wait out the BBEG's buffs. The BBEG then pulls on the lever that seals the doors behind the PCs and starts filling the Outer Sanctum with lava.
Buffs are so central to PF combat that it makes sense for NPCs to strategize around them. Either the PCs will be pausing in the Outer Sanctum to cast their own buffs, or to wait out the villain's buffs. In either case, as a villain, you know exactly where the heroes are and you can abuse the heck out of that knowledge.
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Right; NPCs usually hear the PCs coming. If the party optimizes and pulls off "stealth kills" and infilitration, probably not. But I have yet to see a party do that (I tried to encourage us to do that for this party, but was not successful; the teamwork feat that lets everyone use the best die for stealth was paramount to this setup).
Plus, let's be honest; casters especially are so far outclassed by action economy that it is still not a fair fight. That goat? Probably going to die to a failed will save.
Having said that, unless the boss intends to come after the PCs, having round buffs usually does not happen pre-combat; at best they should probably have minute buffs up.
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Break down their buffs into the following categories (assuming CL 5+):
1) Long-term buffs (1 hr/lvl or greater) are cast at the start of every day/active period (or as they expire) and should be expected to be active pretty much all the time; for mid-level casters, this can be a good reason to take Extend Spell (to ensure spells like mage armor, magic vestment, etc. stay up when they aren't resting).
2) Medium-length buffs (10 min/lvl) are cast when an alarm is raised or there are indications that there is some sort of threat, but the threat isn't "imminent."
3) Short-length buffs (1 min/lvl) are cast when there are indications that there is an "imminent" threat (combat occurring nearby), before moving to engage with reinforcements.
4) In-combat buffs (1 min or 1 round/lvl) are cast as the BBEG enters combat (first and possibly second rounds, depending on the buffs and the circumstances; if there are minions, one round of area/group buffs and one round of individual/self buffs may be worthwhile).
Casters under 5th level have such limited spell slots and durations that pretty much all buffs can be treated as medium-length or less.
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I know about published material. I'm just wondering what folks do with their homebrewed/improvised stuff. A combo of 3 arcane spells ensures that a 1st level arcane caster villain has a +10 AC versus good PCs. That means that, if the wizard also has a decent Dex and a Size bonus, they're nearly unhittable.
A 4th buff on the same caster ensures that they have an inexhaustible ray of frost (ranged touch) with a +4 to hit. The right build gives the wizard a Ranged ray of frost (ranged attack) +4 (1d3+7) while they themselves are untouchable with a 24 AC. All at level 1.
That just seems more challenging than a CR 1/2 fight should be. WBL that caster can have as many as 5 level 1 scrolls if you count them as part of their gear; more if they have Scribe Scroll for free or you spend their WBL from offense/defense on the appropriate scrolls.
This then gives you a level 1 caster with the above stats who surrounds themselves with grease and mist making them concealed and the PCs can't charge. He then, what, just peppers them with rays until either the PCs are all dead/running away or they wait out his buffs? Again, this is a CR 1/2 threat.
Wow. Arcane casters really DO get all the fun stuff...
I was speaking for when I used to do homebrew adventures and published modules.
Normally a module will say _____ has X,Y, and Z activated, but I would not have them with every buff in place if they were less than hour/level spell if they did not know the PC's were in the building.
If an enemy escapes, an alarm spell, or the PC's are detected by other means then the BBEG gets more buffs.
I sometimes have the fully buffed version statted out, along with 1 or 2 more versions. That allows for me to make less on the fly adjustments.
I think you are being a little too generous with some of your build ideas, and maybe missing some rules here and there (or maybe not, I'm not 100% up on the latest).
But the Adept/Warrior is still a chump with those stats, and the level 1 Wizard is just a grapple or failed save away from going out in round one. Also, they are using up almost all their spells, and GP, with relatively little to show for it.
Buffing is a little too powerful in 3.5/Pathfinder, forcing a GM to always create the threat of multiple encounters or else spell casters can pump up the APL of the group by 1 or 2 AND can still nova at 3-4 above their own level. Even worse is when casters can just pull back, then come back the next day and nova again!
I'm not sure what the best solution is to this problem as often times solutions just screw over everyone except the full caster save-or-sucking every encounter in one round.
On a related note, I have found that for a boss encounter to really be epic, the boss requires a little crew of support mooks to dispel magic, remove debuffs, and interrupt casters while the boss does his thing. Almost impossible to do a good boss encounter without casters on Team Evil.
Awesome Initiative + Time Stop usually means I have time to buff.
Depending on how many buffs you need to be effective, usually per hour buffs are going all day, and minute per level buffs are cast prior to combat if they know the enemy is coming. Round per level buffs should be the ones cast in combat.