Hi all,
I'm just wondering the opinion/thoughts of the Pathfinder Community on Psychic duels against boss NPCs. I've had one of my players use it on the NPC, which then essentially disables it for the other players in the real world, which can attack it at leisure. Sure, the dueling PC is gambling their own life in the duel, hoping the team takes out the monster, though I'm finding the potential abuse of that spell could be problematic later on. One way to help stop it is include other NPC's with the boss, but that's not always viable.
Does anyone have any comments or advice?
Thanks!
It's a save or suck, though less powerful than most save or sucks.
If the Adventure Path after the current one is designed to support Occult Adventures then the individual and final boss fights will be meant to be handled as simultaneous physical and psychic fights. Of those published, only a few would fit the flavor. I could see it being the thing to do against the AI opponents in Iron Gods -- Psiberspace/Matrix duel while the rest of the team is tackling the foe's physical systems.
If the Adventure Path after the current one is designed to support Occult Adventures then the individual and final boss fights will be meant to be handled as simultaneous physical and psychic fights. Of those published, only a few would fit the flavor. I could see it being the thing to do against the AI opponents in Iron Gods -- Psiberspace/Matrix duel while the rest of the team is tackling the foe's physical systems.
What? The AP doesn't determine whether a fight has a psychic duel or not. This is a situation where the players are casting the spell, but not bringing all their allies with them.
single NPC bosses are "weak" even without this spell.
a boss squad instead can hold its own as the teammates of the affected one can attack the body of the one who instigated the Psychic Duel or keep his allies at bay. An boss squads are the better designed encounters for a reason