Replacement for Eustoyriax

[Flintas]

Hello all,

The players in my Wrath game are just about to move in on Citadel Drezen and I'm doing all my prep work now. Looking through the module, I really don't like Eustoyrix as a final boss.

I'm thinking of have the Xacarba that was listed as the original guardian still be alive, but the Nahyndrian elixir weakened him instead of killed him. My only problem is properly de-powering him. I'm going to leave him the same size, but applying the modifiers to make him Huge, except the dex, just to reduce the damage and DC on the poison a bit. Also remove the Hezrou from his summon list.

The rest I'm planning on applying negative levels to even him out, but my problem is that I'm not really sure how many to apply. I was thinking of giving him 4 negative levels, but wanted to know if this may still be too much.

As a power level gauge, my players took down Soltengrebbe in one round. And that's with one of the four of them being unable to get in range to attack.

Thanks in advance.

[Kalindlara]

You could check out the degenerate and young simple templates... that's the easiest way to do it.

Alternatively, your players sound pretty potent. Consider waiting until closer to the appointed time to make your decision; they might be able to handle the real thing. It sounds like they're plenty strong. They might surprise you. ^_^

[Kalindlara]

If you want more specific advice, tell me more about the party's makeup and tricks. One thing I definitely recommend is finding a way to make the boss mythic; the end of the book is no place for ordinary monsters, even powerful ones.

[Flintas]

The party makeup is as follows.

Wizard 7/Archmage 2
Paladin 7/Champion 2
Bard 7/Marshal 2
Cavalier 7/Guardian 2

The wizard is a blaster, who is doing a decent job so far. The real powerhouse is the paladin. Oathbound Archetype (oath of vengeance) and ranged combat, bow. He has a habit of rolling high on his attacks. I'd say he's cheating, but it doesn't matter what dice he's using. Plus we're playing on roll20, so I think he's rolling legit. Just really lucky :)

Standard round 1 for the party is

- bard. start performance (lightning performance to do it swift)/cast haste.
- paladin. smite, rapid shot (mythic rapid shot)He gets 5 shots off in the round. (He took down Soltengrebbe almost by himself thanks to a lucky crit).
- Cavalier. Mounted charge and attack/act as wall.
- Wizard. Best spell for the occasion. Whatever that happens to be.

[Flintas]

So far I have applied the strength/constitution/damage dice reduction penalties as if I were dropping him to Huge, but I'm leaving him Gargantuan. These penalties are to represent the weakness from the potion. As he stands, he's not that much better than Eustoyriax at present. I'm pretty sure my players can take him as is.

I'm going to take your suggestion and see how the top floor of the citadel goes and if they do as well as I suspect, I'll add on a few mythic ranks. They'll level again before getting to him anyways.

As a note, I'm not using XP. I'm leveling them and giving them mythic ranks along the suggested list and time that the modules suggest.

[Ssyvan]

Incorporeal is rather nasty if you're worried about your players getting through the boss rather quickly. Remember all attacks are subject to 50% reduction in damage. That said, Eustoryiax can also summon another Shadow Demon, and infinite Shadows making getting to him rather difficult.

On top of that he can take cover in walls from your Archer Paladin, only peaking out to cast spells. Which means players have to take readied actions to hit him.

He has Pounce and all of his attacks are considered touch attacks because he is Incorporeal. If he manages to Telekinesis anyone down to the slimes he can use Sprint and close the distance easily.

He can also Shadow Evocation a Deeper Darkness meaning only Daylight will overcome it. Since the prevailing light conditions aren't Bright Light he'll always be able to go invisible as a move action.

Anyways, just some thoughts if you're still open to considering Eustoryiax.

[Flintas]

Yeah. The incorporal part about him is about the only thing I actually like. Otherwise, I just find him to be boring as a boss fight. I've never been a big fan of possession type abilities.

As for the darkness, there's a wand of daylight that they got earlier in the module. The wizard has been using it for the last few dungeons as his go to light source because of the area of effect. If he's not using it, I'd be surprised. So there goes that advantage.

[Kalindlara]

I'll get back to you later on ways to spice him up, if you're interested - that ended up being one of my favorite fights! ^_^

(At the moment, I have to get to bed - my own session is in just a few hours.)

[Ssyvan]

Flintas wrote:

Yeah. The incorporal part about him is about the only thing I actually like. Otherwise, I just find him to be boring as a boss fight. I've never been a big fan of possession type abilities.

As for the darkness, there's a wand of daylight that they got earlier in the module. The wizard has been using it for the last few dungeons as his go to light source because of the area of effect. If he's not using it, I'd be surprised. So there goes that advantage.

Well not exactly, read of this blog, #6 covers daylight. Anyways, the light levels would go back to whatever they were when no spells were cast which I think is Dark. Because of that he'd pretty much always have the option to go invisible, even if Daylight was up. In fact you could probably stick with the Deeper Darkness at will and use the Shadow Evocation for something else.

I don't have his stats in front of me at the moment so I don't really remember what else he can do, I'm just going off the base Shadow Demon.

You also don't need to run this fight as a possession fight. I totally missed this when I ran it, but River of Wind would be an excellent spell to pick, from Shadow Evocation, as it could push plenty of creatures into that green slime. Resilient Sphere is great for control. And you've always got Dragon's Breath if you want to crank out some classic evocation spells.

Aqueous Orb, Spiked Pit, and Stinking Cloud are also great uses of Shadow Conjuration.

All of those should get you 6 rounds of fun casting, with some of those effects lasting well beyond that. That coupled with renewable Invisibility + Incorporeal should keep the fight going that long.