So my 6th level PCs may come up against an erinyes soon. It'll be an outdoor encounter where the devil is trying to stop the PCs progressing from Point A to Point B. And I'm scratching my head a little over best tactics. For reference, here's the erinyes:
Erinyes stats:
LE Medium outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness, true seeing; Perception +16
DEFENSE
AC 23, touch 17, flat-footed 16 (+6 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural)
hp 94 (9d10+45)
Fort +11, Ref +12, Will +7
DR 5/good; Immune fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 19
Constant—true seeing
At will—fear(single target, DC 19), greater teleport(self plus 50 lbs. of objects only), minor image(DC 17), unholy blight(DC 19)
1/day—summon (level 3, 2 bearded devils, 50%)
STATISTICS
Str 20, Dex 23, Con 21, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 21
Base Atk +9; CMB +14; CMD 31
Feats Combat Reflexes, DodgeB, MobilityB, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Shot on the Run
Skills Acrobatics +18, Bluff +17, Diplomacy +14, Escape Artist +12, Fly +19, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (planes) +8, Knowledge (religion) +8, Perception +16, Sense Motive +10, Stealth +15
Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Entangle (Su)
Each erinyes carries a 50-foot-long rope that entangles opponents of any size as an animate rope spell (CL 16th, DC 20). An erinyes can hurl its rope 30 feet with no range penalty. An erinyes’s rope functions only for the erinyes who made it and no other. The save DC is Dexterity-based.
1) The Erinyes has Stealth +15, which means she'll probably be spotted if the PCs are paying attention -- there are five PCs and three of them have good Perception. So while she'll probably see them first (they're approaching from a distance), and could buff or precast, an ambush is unlikely, and it becomes a straight Init roll-off.
2) The only thing to precast would be Minor Image and, umm... an illusion of a fearsome monster to distract the party and eat some attacks? Minor Image has a nice long range, so there's that. I don't know what good it will do, though -- the PCs shoot it once, get a Will save for "interacting", and probably the illusion pops. Ideas for clever use of this spell are welcome. One that I'd considered: illusion of a fearsome monster that pins the party while the erinyes talks to them. This will almost certainly end in combat but I like monsters that chat.
3) Okay, so the devil's best tactic would seem to stand off at a distance and artillery-duel the PCs to death. Against 6th level PCs, "flaming composite longbow +14/+14/+9 (1d8+6/×3 plus 1d6 fire)" is pretty solid. Mind, that's a FRA. The erinyes does have Shot on the Run so an alternative tactic would be to burst out of cover, make a single attack, then duck back into cover. Not sure if that's worth giving up two attacks, though.
4) If the PCs are doing well in the artillery duel, I guess the erinyes' backup tactic would be to close to within 220', unleash Unholy Blight, and hope some of the PCs fail their saves and are sickened. Then next round get closer end either use the entangling rope, zap someone with Fear, or call those barbed devils to flank.
I think that covers the high points. Thoughts, advice?
Minor Image of a tree in the road, with the erinyes' rope under the illusion, set to entangle when someone gets close. At 260 feet up, perception penalties against it take a -26 penalty, assuming the party isn't sneaking, or all small size, it should automatically spot the party, allowing it to swoop down and cast Unholy Blight as a lead off, then switch to arrows.
A 6th level character with a low will save has about a +5 Will save modifier, meaning the Fear will remove them from combat about two thirds of the time.
But due to action economy, you really want to consider giving this creature backup. A sole Erinyes isn't nearly as harmful as an Erinyes with a pair of fiendish wolves (CR 7 encounter).
Speaking of action economy, change it.Combat Reflexes is rather pointless for an Erinyes, so switch it out for quickened spell like ability,either fear or unholy blight. In either case, you can now make full attacks and use a spell, and don't forget you have a summoning ability, and I doubt a devil would have the same issues on using it as demons do.
Also, as for the Minor Image, here's an alternative to your planned big monster, either with two CR 1 fiendish wolves added, or just part of the illusion spell.
Before encounter (if Erinyes spots group before they see her and has time to prepare an ambush):
"You hear the shrill sound of a horse whinnying in pain echoing ahead."
At start of encounter:
"You round a bend in the road. A steep rocky cliff plunges down twenty feet, where you see the scene of an accident. A one horse cart appears to have fallen off the side of the road and overturned."
"A horse is tangled in the reins of the cart, a broken bone sticking through the skin of one of its legs sickeningly as it struggles to free itself."
"A man with sharp pointed ears, likely an elf, seems to have been thrown from the cart during the fall. Half of his head is covered with blood from a serious looking wound, and he lays motionless next to a large boulder which he appears to have hit when he fell."
"A human woman is pinned by her legs underneath the overturned cart, her bulging belly clearly indicating she's in the late stages of pregnancy. She pushes against the cart with her arms feebly, panting and whimpering softly in pain with every movement."
"The cart's contents are scattered across the ground below, a collection of clothes, camping supplies, pots, ropes, as well as a scattering of gold that appears to have been thrown from the storage chest on the back of the wagon."
"From your vantage point you can clearly see two large wolves have been attracted by the injured horse, stalking towards it through the undergrowth at the bottom of the rocky cliff."
Perception checks to spot Erinyes have +5 DC due to party being distracted by illusion, +1/10 ft. distance as well.
Characters jumping down the cliff to rescue the (illusionary) injured travelers will require DC 15 Acrobatics to ignore first 10 ft. fallen. If they take any damage from the 20 ft. fall, they land prone.
Interacting with the illusion requires a DC 17 Will save to disbelieve, otherwise describe their actions as if it was real (you try to lift the cart but it's just too heavy to move, you comfort the woman as best as possible as she moans in pain, you think the man is bleeding out and needs first aid or magical healing to save his life, etc)
Characters that try to climb back up the cliff require a DC 15 Climb check and climb at a quarter their base speed as a move action, or half their base speed as a full round action, to ascend the 20 ft. cliff.
The ideal situation is if the group's main melee fighters jump down to use their big muscles to lift the cart, leaving the squishier members at the top. The Erinyes tries to summon 2 bearded devils to engage this group, raining down arrows afterwards on the biggest threat.
How much time does the Erinyes have to prepare? She is immune to Fire. I'm thinking, lots of Alchemist fire. Can she maneuver the party through a bottleneck? She can summon more devils.
Also, as for the Minor Image, here's an alternative to your planned big monster, either with two CR 1 fiendish wolves added, or just part of the illusion spell.
Okay, the setup doesn't exactly fit the geography of the encounter, but I like the way you think. "Injured NPCs who need help!" is probably a much better distraction than a monster. Thank you!
Speaking of action economy, change it.Combat Reflexes is rather pointless for an Erinyes, so switch it out for quickened spell like ability,either fear or unholy blight. In either case, you can now make full attacks and use a spell, and don't forget you have a summoning ability, and I doubt a devil would have the same issues on using it as demons do.
Oh good catch. Combat Reflexes is pretty pointless for a creature that mostly attacks with ranged weapons and that -- when it does get into melee -- doesn't have reach. That's a good substitution that will give noticeably more punch. Thanks.
Minor Image for a cloud (or just the sky viewed from below) 120 ft above ambush point. Or just a rock wall 120' down the road.
Erinyes flying in the middle of the cloud/other side of wall, proceeds to spam Unholy Blight. Spell like ability, no verbal or somatic components, inside of a cloud/no line of sight (but it has true seeing so ignores the illusion) so there is no way for the party to determine which direction the attack is coming from. They can attempt to make the perception check with the distance penalty to hear the Erinyes flying. Detect Magic has a range of 60' so doesn't even detect the illusion.
If the PCs are on horses, kill them first. That's probably easy, will slow the PCs down (as per the mission), and allow the Erinyes to exploit its mobility advantage. TP away into cover, rinse and repeat. Add illusions to suggest summoned monsters, spell effects (eg fog hiding...what?). If someone attempts to melee it, entangle.
Much of this depends on being able to choose the ground, and whether the PCs know what they're facing.
Also realize that "Point Blank Shot" will add a +1 to hit with both bow and rope attacks inside 30ft and a +1 dmg on Bow as well. Plus on a Crit, that bow inflicts 3d8 + 18(21) dmg + 1d6 Fire, for an average of 34 dmg/crit.
