Help me kill Darmanicus & Friends!

[Morrus]

So these are the Slaad from the monster books I have access to now. I will post this and work on a "black Slaad" for the Bodyguards. I am thining CR 15 and 5 of them. Any other thoughts would be helpful.

Sounds great!

Notes that would be relevant - there are 3 of them plus the King. The King should, of course, be significantly more powerful. I wouldn't be concerned about them being, as a group, too tough, as I expect a lot of divide and conquer style tactics from the players.

They have "pike-like" weapons which are negative energy charged in some way.

Other than that, it's a blank slate. One thing to bear in mind - I tend to run higher than recommended EL encounters. This is because I can't compete with the combined expertise of my players, and so I compensate by making the monsters a little tougher than would normally be appropriate for a party of that size. For the record, it's a party of 6 characters, average 15th level; a couple are absolutely loaded down with magic items ad equipment [more than recommended for a character of their level] and a couple are pretty short on gear; I'd say that's pretty much a wash.

 

[Gothic_Demon]

An idea a previous DM I played with has used (although not with Slaad). Get a d6, and at the start of each round roll for each Slaad. On a 1 it becomes a red Slaad, 2 it becomes a Blue Slaad, on a 6 it doesn't change colour. This has no effect on the creatures stats, but changes the powers it has access to for that round.

 

[Goobermunch]

So 'Russ, I suppose the first, and most important question is:

What result is best for the story?

By which I mean: If the party loses, what happens (in 200 words or less).
Are we at the climactic battle, or is this just a dramatic turning point for the campaign?

Because to some extent, that information may help us help you.

--G

 

[Ravellion]

Oh, and mistyping 'Githzerai' as 'Githyanki' is like mistyping 'deva' as 'devil'. This will, net them some bad advice in the other thread.

Not that I am going to tell them of course.

Rav

 

[Morrus]

Oh, I thought I'd mention one of the problems I generally have running encounters against this group. They tend to be immune to everything, what with all their gear, buffs, etc. It's hard to get through their resistances, protections, ghostforms, displacements, and so on; and when some damage does get through, the cleric is completely loaded with ranged heals (through a telepathic bond, I think - I don't recall offhand, what abilities he's using precisely) and so forth. He pretty much only uses heals (unless he's fighting undead).

So part of the overall strategy, I think, should involve (1) stripping down a lot of their protections and making them actually vulnerable; and (2) preventing the cleric from healing them.

 

[Morrus]

So 'Russ, I suppose the first, and most important question is:

What result is best for the story?

By which I mean: If the party loses, what happens (in 200 words or less).
Are we at the climactic battle, or is this just a dramatic turning point for the campaign?

Because to some extent, that information may help us help you.

--G

Dramatically, here's what I'd like to happen. It's very hard to judge an encounter accurately enough to guarantee such a result without seeming forced, though:

I want this to be a hard battle. I want the players to think they're all going to die. But I want them to win, by the skin of their teeth - and not through some deus ex machina.

This is by no means the climax of the campaign (that'll be Orcus, some time down the road), but it is supposed to be a major battle in this section of the campaign. And end-of-level boss about two-thirds of the way through the game, if you like.

 

[Morrus]

Oh, and mistyping 'Githzerai' as 'Githyanki' is like mistyping 'deva' as 'devil'. This will, net them some bad advice in the other thread.

Not that I am going to tell them of course.

Hah! I saw your name as the "last posted" on that thread a few minutes ago. Playing both sides, eh? I'll know not to trust you next time we're rolling round drunk in the Frog & Frigate!

 

[coriolis]

That's a great idea. Coriolis. Unfortunately, we don't use the psionic-magic can affect each other rule;

All right, slight change in plan: have the psicrystal be invisible and sneak towards one of the arcane casters. Ready an attack for when your target casts a spell, and channel a touch spell at that point -- something targeting Fort to hit him where it hurts. Unfortunately, I'm not too familiar with the revised Psionics Handbook, so I can't suggest what powers might fit the bill. Some of the Bruce Cordell stuff from Malhavoc would also be inspirational.

 

[Darkness]

Ah, yes - I should have mentioned the Slaadi. I have deliberately been describing the King and his bodyguards as being a new type of Slaad - about 15 feet tall, jet black, but that's all the info I have so far. They are intended to be more powerful than the usual Slaad types.

I presume the black slaad from the ELH (CR 25) would be too much of a good thing, right? Same thing for the white (CR 21), of course.

 

[coriolis]

Thanks to www.systemreferencedocuments.org and Sovelior_Sage, I've found something that fits pretty well with my plan:

-----------------------------------------
Dissipating Touch
Psychoportation (Teleportation)
Level: Psion/wilder 1, psychic warrior 1
Display: Auditory and visual
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature or object touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Power Resistance: Yes (object)
Power Points: 1

Your mere touch can disperse the surface material of a foe or object, sending a tiny portion of it far away. This effect is disruptive; thus, your successful melee touch attack deals 1d6 points of damage.

Augment: For every additional power point you spend, this power’s damage increases by 1d6 points.
-----------------------------------------
The extra good part: no save!

Pump as many points as you can into this attack; you should be able to take out the caster with it. To make sure it gets through, even though it's a touch attack, you could use the psionic equivalent of true strike (offensive prescience?) to pump up the attack bonus before striking.