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Monday May 11th is the date for my group's final confrontation with Karzoug, and I want to make it a fight to remember. Karzoug has gained a lot of information on the PC party: from his minions, from the fact that several have been wearing Sihedron rings/medallions, as well as from direct contact through weak points in the Pinnacle of Avarice. Also, he is extremely intelligent and knowledgeable about spell options of course.
Unfortunately, I'm not an expert on high level arcane casters, so I'm a bit lost in trying to tailor Karzoug's spells to the PC threat. However, I thought that the best simulation of Karzoug's enhanced intelligence was to ask the collective RotR GM hive-mind for advice!
I would be very grateful for any advice on good spells to include in his selection to ensure he is a worthy foe on the night.
The party are all 16th level:
- Cleric of Erastil - in-combat healing (e.g. heal), buffing, ranged attacks
- Fighter - melee with two short swords
- Elf wizard - Lots of evocation spells (often fire or acid), disintegrate, greater dispel magic, toppling magic missile. SR is rarely an issue.
- Summoner - Extremely effective melee eidolon, or sometimes summoned monsters
- Bard/cavalier - buffs to attack damage (particularly helping the melee fighter and ranger) relying on sound (oration) or visibility (banner)
- Shalelu, ranger cohort NPC to the bard/cavalier - Ranged combat with giant as a common favoured enemy
General attributes:
- Dominant weapons
- Major bonuses to attack/damage from the bard/cavalier's buffs
- Usually hasted and with life bubble in effect
- Number of the party have mirror image in operation as standard
I'm happy to provide any more information (if I can) if it will help!
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One of the key ideas I intend to take into account is allowing my players the misconception that Karzoug (being the ultimate transmuter) wouldn't deign to use anything from his opposition schools.
The shocker is that he is rich, with lots of minions, and a use magic device of +26.
One of the paizo staff gave a brief run-down of how he ran the fight which has given me a bunch of ideas for my upcoming Karzoug fight.
I intend to steal heavily from it.
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My write up the battle against Karzoug and his modified character sheet (along with spell list) is here
Karzoug.
The wall of suppression (I used that instead of a disjunction) threw the pc's off balance. I used 0 transmutation spells as Karzoug knew the pc's had dominant weapons and as such would be effectively immune to his spells
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Hello, i've the following suggestions.
- location and effects -
The fight with Karzoug must be the most epic and cinematic possible, therefore it should not be confined into a specific place/location. Yet, Karzoug cannot leave his demiplane.
A solution could be employ the effects of create greater demiplane, allowing Karzoug to have his buff (and those of his minions) always active (since he's in a timeless place)
Also, since he's just next his runewell, i would allow him to "draw" power from it, in the form of empowered transmutation spells (like the Arcane Surge mythic ability or a free "bouncing" or "persistent" effect spell, to balance the dominant weapons).
- minions -
I don't see why Karzoug could not have unique bodyguards in his own tomb. So the two rune giants should have the warrior simple template (expert in polearms). If you feel really evil, you could give them an homebrew metal clad template (orichalcum) that grants resistance to mind affecting spells (costant mind blank) but makes them vulnerable to transmutation effects (like petrification).
The blue dragon could well be a guardian of some sort of Karzoug tomb instead of a throne room beast. I would give him the divine guardian template and make him some sort of "holy being of Lissala, protector of the Runelord of Greed"
You could also throw in there a few golems like the greater stone golem of book 5, to put them just next the point the characters enter.
At last, Karzoug needs healing. If he's in a timeless plane, he could have costantly summoned at his side a LN "lissalan angel"(use a trumpet archon with different stats). This being will either heal Karzoug or engage the first meele attacker to shield the runelord.
- Karzoug and tactics -
Surely you can modulate the fight to better suite your players. If the plane is timeless, then Karzoug should be costantly under haste and elemental body IV (earth or water), even thought he has mastered so much those spells to not even appear different.
Having fake Karzougs could be a tactic, but to me it would feel anticlimatic. Having Karzoug able to shift bodies, on the other hand, could be way more dramatic. Maybe the Karzoug on the throne is in truth a "clone" possessed by Karzoug's spirit, and when it's broken, he can simply jump into another being - even try to possess one of the Pcs -. Sure, if it is so, the i would not see him covered into jewelry (and this could be an hint for your players)