Alright, slight spoiler:
In book two of Way of the Wicked my group was a bit... too open with their violence. As a flavour thing, I figured I'd throw in an very rich, very aggrieved, very evil noble who spent all his cash to hire the famous Red Mantis.
The group is now in a city called Gastenhall, all level 10 consisiting off a Gatling gun fighter archer, Melee Inquisitor, Cleric of Asmodeus and a Dervish Dance Arcane Trickster.
So I have two problems:
1) I want to make an encounter with the Red mantis. They already faced two attacks, both relatively simple, but I want something big and showy.
Ideas so far: The Fighter is competing in a gladiator-like monster fighting event (and dominating), but after the final fight I want to have an assassin attack him and have 2-3 others in the crowd to attack the rest.
Ideas so far: ACG Hunter level 10 with a Giant (Red) Mantis Pet, with loads of Trips with Upending Strike and Fauchard (pet and master) and have the Pet grow Huge with Animal Growth and have them in the pit.
1-2 Slayers, Slayer 6/Red Mantis Assassin 5, one built for damage and sneak attack, the other for really high Prayer Attack (Charisma-based).
Problem, maybe I want mmore Variety, and should I have two, three or four enemies? If so, what could I add. I considered a shadow bloodline sorcerer or maybe an invulnerable Rager in the Pit, both flavoured to worship the Red Mantis ofcourse.
Problem 2)
At some point I want to end the Red Mantis plotline, which is interesting, cause they never stop hunting. I know, I know, maybe I should have not used them, but thematically they are so awesome and my group loves (and fears) them to death.
Any ideas for how I can let the attacks stop (maybe a plotline where they bribe or help or kill somebody of the Red Mantis)? Their solution now is to go Nuclear and kill every last Red Mantis follower, which I do not feel like working out, besides being impossibly hard.
Anyway, I hope people have some suggestions, thanks in advance!
about 1:
the setting.back in 3.5, one of the more chalanging fights i help make(for a gm frined of mine) had a room with cris-cross basket-like wooden floor with a room full of rust monsters below. one of the main attacks of the enemies was disarming the weapons of the group and just letting them fall down. we did give the player options t oether roll a ref save to try and cath the falling objext (or step on it before it falls all th eway down) or ready an action to lunge at other party memeber's falling items.( of course i was nastier then this. the mobs where undead using sneazing poweder. in 3.5 EVEN if you save your still stunned for 1 round at least- you automaticly drop whatever you carry in your hands). i don't think iv seen rust monster in pathfinder so far. but a room below full of acid\lava can be just as good and maybe more dramatic. speacialy if ther eare big holes in the top fighting area.
about 2. yo ucan decide that what eve remain of the mantis have lost their information(as to lost mmebers) of where and who the party is\are. so since they are assasins and don't go publish this the party will have problem finding them, while they will have the same problem finding the party.
Thanks for the feedback. The danger underneath scenario is pretty cool, will use that though not for this specific case. Mostly looking for what classes to use as assassins, have one down in the pit with the fighter and two/three in the crowd dealing with the others.
As for 2, I get that losing the party might be good, but my party is rather gung ho and it is not beyond them to go find the damn head quarters of the Red Mantis cult and get slaughtered when they get there. So would need a viable reason for the Red Mantis to back down (aside from one of them becoming King).
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Since the Red Mantis use sawtoothed sabres - I'd go ahead and build him as a TWF dex-damage build. (1 level dip in Swash and Slashing Grace) to get dex to damage with both weapons. (It's debatable whether you need Double Slice to get full dex damage with both weapons.)
Even besides that - a 1 level dip in Swash is crazy good - since you get panache & some of their best deeds. (parry & ripote anyone?)
(This is assuming your group are optimizers. Frankly - the combo is a bit OP.)
if you want a chalanging build. then how about this. if im not mistaken the 2nd book was where they went to get a relic dedicated to one of the horsman from abbadon. how about an assasian with 2 levels of souldrinker worsheping the same horseman. duel wilding 2 weapons sabers with Conductive on them. each hit will give 1 neg level to the target(once per round per weapon) and give the assasian 5 temp hp that stack with the other hits. (2 neg\10 hp on crit)(you can of course get some with moe then 2 levels,but for melee debufers is mostly enough)
Don't go Hunter. Go Kasatha Mad Dog Barbarian with Traits for Stealth and Acrobatics.
Don't use the usual weird desert alien Kasha backstory. Just reflavor him as a religious zealot who is so blessed by the Mantis that he's been given an extra set of arms.
Describe Rage as some kind of hyper-focused assassin's battle trance or religious fervor. Don't describe him as a big musclebound goon. Describe him like a roguey type of character so it will be surprising when he starts hitting like a truck.
Barb's Build:
Outflank
Combat Reflexes
Power Attack
Cornugon Smash
Hurtful
Ferocious Beast
Ferocious Beast, Greater
Companion's Build:
(all bonus points go into Int to qualify for any feats and to be able to understand language)
Power Attack
Combat Reflexes
Outflank
Greater Drag
Use Ferocious Fetch to drag enemies into flanking positions and then tear them apart.
Or make his allies Swashbucklers with Butterfly Sting, and give the Barb a naginata (that looks like a sawtooth saber on a stick) and a pair of saw-tooth sabers.
Give them all Cloaks of the Mountebank or some other escape contingency so they can retreat if/when things go south. Recurring villains are awesome.
Don't go Hunter. Go Kasatha Mad Dog Barbarian with Traits for Stealth and Acrobatics.
Don't use the usual weird desert alien Kasha backstory. Just reflavor him as a religious zealot who is so blessed by the Mantis that he's been given an extra set of arms.
Describe Rage as some kind of hyper-focused assassin's battle trance or religious fervor. Don't describe him as a big musclebound goon. Describe him like a roguey type of character so it will be surprising when he starts hitting like a truck.
Barb's Build:
Outflank
Combat Reflexes
Power Attack
Cornugon Smash
Hurtful
Ferocious Beast
Ferocious Beast, GreaterCompanion's Build:
(all bonus points go into Int to qualify for any feats and to be able to understand language)
Power Attack
Combat Reflexes
Outflank
Greater DragUse Ferocious Fetch to drag enemies into flanking positions and then tear them apart.
Or make his allies Swashbucklers with Butterfly Sting, and give the Barb a naginata (that looks like a sawtooth saber on a stick) and a pair of saw-tooth sabers.
Give them all Cloaks of the Mountebank or some other escape contingency so they can retreat if/when things go south. Recurring villains are awesome.
This.
Is.Awesome.
Just realized I made a couple mistakes on the build.
Don't use two sawtooth sabers. They're exotic, and the character doesn't have two weapon fighting, so there's no point. Instead, take Lesser Draconic Blood (bloodrager power) and reflavor claws as Mantis-like arm serrations..
Use Giant Spider Silk Lassos (its a touch attack so you can just eat the nonproficiancy penalty) and Tanglefoot bags as ranged weapons. Shaken (from Cornugon Smash), Entangled and halved on movement is a nasty stack of debuffs.
Instead of Cloaks of the Mountebank, make all of their gear Magic Tattoos that function as wondrous items (see craft magic tattoo feat). That way if they get beat it doesn't hand your PCs a bunch of extra gear. Its also stylish and cool.
Be liberal with potions and other one-use items. Potions or tattoos of Greater Invisibility will be extremely useful.
Remember that because the Mantis has a higher than usual intelligence, it can use equipment that needs to be used or activated, and it can make its own choices about when to use that gear (so it doesn't always have to be told to do things).