Help me kill Darmanicus & Friends!

[BSF]

Hey, is it fair to post in the thread just so it looks like there are more replies coming in to help your players sweat a little more on the metagame level?

Looks like a great setup in the game. I too was thinking the Black Slaad from the ELH. That seems a little high for this group though. Maybe the Slaad King is getting close to Epic though and his color has shifted before he has gained all the abilities?

 

[Anthro78]

My thinking is that you have to hit them with a Dimensional Anchor spell, just to make sure they stick around to take their beating. Wouldn't do to have them slipping off in the middle of a good melee.

Turning one of their casters against them might be fun. Some sort of posession or charm ability to turn a caster without their knowing about it. It would be fun for the player as well: all the sudden the sorceror starts dropping fireballs at the good guys. Now they have to deal with their ally as well as their enemies.

Of course, if you really just wanted to be mean, you could make the whole durn thing an illusion. They fight like lions, exhaust their spells and powers only to have it all be a psionic illusion in their heads. And then, then you hit them with the real deal.

 

[Navar]

Black Slaad (not from ELH)

BLACK SLAAD
Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 18d8+90+18 (189 hp)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 30 (+6 Dex, +14 natural), touch 16, flat-footed 24
Base Attack/Grapple: +18/+26
Attack: Claw +26 melee (3d8+8 plus stun)
Full Attack: 2 claws +26 melee (3d8+8 plus stun) and bite +24 (2d12+4)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Pounce, stun, spell-like abilities, summon slaad
Special Qualities: Change shape, damage reduction 15/lawful, darkvision 60 ft., fast healing 10, immunity to sonics, resistance to acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5, and fire 5, telepathy 100 ft.
Saves: Fort +16, Ref +17, Will +15
Abilities: Str 26, Dex 23, Con 21, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 18
Skills: Climb +28, Concentration +18, Escape Artist +27, Hide +27, Intimidate +25, Jump +28, Knowledge (any two) +25, Listen +25, Move Silently +27, Search +25 Spot +25, Survival +15 (+17 when tracking), Use Rope +6 (+8 with bindings)
Feats: Cleave, Combat Brute [Tactical], Great Cleave, Improved Sunder, Improved Toughness, Multiattack, Power attack, Track
Environment: Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo
Organization: Solitary or pair
Challenge Rating: 15
Treasure: Double standard
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil
Advancement: 19–24 HD (Medium); 25–45 HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: -

Combat
Stun (Ex): Three times per day, a black slaad can attempt to stun its opponent on an attack with one of its natural weapons. If the opponent fails a DC 22 Fortitude save, it is stunned for 1 round in addition to taking normal damage from the attack. The save DC is Wisdom-Based
Spell-Like Abilities: At will – chaos hammer (DC 18), fear (DC 18), finger of death (DC 21), fireball (DC 17), fly, invisibility, magic circle against law, shatter (DC 16); 3/day – circle of death (DC 20), cloak of chaos (DC 22), power word stun, word of chaos (DC 21); 1/day – power word blind, power word kill. Caster level 18th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.
Change Shape (Su): A black slaad can assume any humanoid form as a standard action. In humanoid form a black slaad cannot use its natural weapons (although a slaad can equip itself with weapons and armor appropriate to its apperance.) A black slaad remains in one form until it chooses to assume a new one. A change in form cannot be dispelled, but the slaad reverts to its natural form when killed. A true seeing spell reveals its natural form.
Pounce (Ex): If a black slaad charges, it can make a full attack in the same round.
Summon Slaad (Sp): Twice per day a black slaad can attempt to summon 1-2 red, blue, or green sladdi with a 60% chance of success or 1-2 gray slaadi with a 40% chance of success. This ability is the equivalent of a 8th level spell.

The Combat Brute is your friend esp. the 2nd and 3rd abilities of it. Pounce lets you make a full attack at the end of a charge.

I will get to work on their weapons (and demonstrate how their weapons change their combat stats next. I will also make some with gear (to make them more deadly.

 

[Rhun]

(2) preventing the cleric from healing them.

Healing uses positive energy if I am not mistaken...could you make some sort of ruling that due to the prevalence of negative energy on the plane, healing powers don't work as effectively as normal?

 

[coriolis]

Turning one of their casters against them might be fun. Some sort of posession or charm ability to turn a caster without their knowing about it. It would be fun for the player as well

In my experience, that's tough to do: casters have a good Will save, and tend to have protection from evil or other mental protections. Looking at the list of party members, I think the ranger or samurai would be your best bet for such an attack. Then have the target attack the cleric -- this will make it more difficult for him to cast resurgence or a blocking spell

 

[GimbleRaulnor]

(2) preventing the cleric from healing them.

Use Vile damage (BoVD). It'll be much more difficult to heal this, especially in the middle of a fight.

 

[coriolis]

Healing uses positive energy if I am not mistaken...could you make some sort of ruling that due to the prevalence of negative energy on the plane, healing powers don't work as effectively as normal?

Oooh, good idea! Why not use the impeded magic planar trait (maybe boost the DC to 25 or so since it's 'focused' in a small area)?
-----------------------------------------------
Impeded Magic: Particular spells and spell-like abilities are more difficult to cast on planes with this trait, often because the nature of the plane interferes with the spell.
To cast an impeded spell, the caster must make a Spellcraft check (DC 20 + the level of the spell). If the check fails, the spell does not function but is still lost as a prepared spell or spell slot. If the check succeeds, the spell functions normally.
-----------------------------------------------

 

[Varianor Abroad]

What about making those black pillars sentient negative energy, that seeks out positive energy like curing spells. They deliver vile damage (as already suggested). Give the slaads some Chaositech enhancements if you've got that book. They purchased them just a couple days ago to bolster their abilities.

 

[DungeonMaster]

You're going to kill them all with just those black slaad.
You can just stun lock all non-chaotic players with word of chaos and blind/stun/outright kill the remaining PCs with power words.
Anything that is stun locked is only a few rounds of melee or even plain chaos hammers away from death.
Where are the statistics for the queen?

 

[Navar]

Your black slaads:

Kodo, Male Black Slaad: CR 15; Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar); HD 18d8+90+18; hp 189; Int +6, Speed 30 feet; AC 35 (+6 Dex, +19 natural), touch 16, flat-footed 29; Base Attack/Grapple +18/+26; Full Attack 2 claws +26 melee (3d8+8 plus stun) and bite +24 (2d12+4), or +30/+25/+20 melee (2d6+2d6 negative energy damage+8, all is vile damage); SA Pounce, stun, spell-like abilities, summon slaad; SQ Change shape, damage reduction 15/lawful, darkvision 60 ft., fast healing 10, immunity to sonics, resistance to acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5, and fire 5, telepathy 100 ft.; AL CE; SV Fort+21, Ref+22, Will+20; Str 26, Dex 23, Con 21, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 24.
Skills and Feats Climb +28, Concentration +18, Escape Artist +27, Hide +27, Intimidate +25, Jump +28, Knowledge (any two) +25, Listen +25, Move Silently +27, Search +25 Spot +25, Survival +15 (+17 when tracking), Use Rope +6 (+8 with bindings); Cleave, Combat Brute [Tactical], Great Cleave, Improved Sunder, Improved Toughness, Multiattack, Power attack, Track
Possessions: Vest of resistance +5, +4 Negative Energy Burst Guisarme, Cloak of Charisma +6, Amulet of natural armor +5, Ring of improved blinking (from Unapprochable East).

Kodo is more of the Spell like ability black slaad. The cloak improes the DC of the saves of all his spell like abilities by +3, so if you want to make sure that finger of death works, Kodo is your man.

Podo, Male Black Slaad: CR 15; Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar); HD 18d8+144+18; hp 243; Int +6, Speed 30 feet; AC 35 (+6 Dex, +14 natural, +5 deflection), touch 21, flat-footed 29; Base Attack/Grapple +18/+29; Full Attack 2 claws +29 melee (3d8+11 plus stun) and bite +27 (2d12+5), or +33/+28/+23 melee (2d6+2d6 negative energy damage+11, all is vile damage); SA Pounce, stun, spell-like abilities, summon slaad; SQ Change shape, damage reduction 15/lawful, darkvision 60 ft., fast healing 10, immunity to sonics, resistance to acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5, and fire 5, telepathy 100 ft.; AL CE; SV Fort+24, Ref+22, Will+20; Str 32, Dex 23, Con 27, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 18.
Skills and Feats Climb +31, Concentration +21, Escape Artist +27, Hide +27, Intimidate +25, Jump +31, Knowledge (any two) +25, Listen +25, Move Silently +27, Search +25 Spot +25, Survival +15 (+17 when tracking), Use Rope +6 (+8 with bindings); Cleave, Combat Brute [Tactical], Great Cleave, Improved Sunder, Improved Toughness, Multiattack, Power attack, Track
Possessions: Cloak of resistance +5, +4 Negative Energy Burst Guisarme, Belt of Giant Strength +6, Ring of Protection +5, Amulet of Health +6.

Podo is the Melee Slaad. He gets in and gets rough.

Dodo, Male Black Slaad: CR 15; Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar); HD 18d8+90+18; hp 189; Int +9, Speed 30 feet; AC 38 (+9 Dex, +14 natural, +5 deflection), touch 24, flat-footed 29; Base Attack/Grapple +18/+29; Full Attack 2 claws +29 melee (3d8+11 plus stun) and bite +24 (2d12+5), +33/+28/+23 melee (2d6+2d6 negative energy damage+11, all is vile damage); SA Pounce, stun, spell-like abilities, summon slaad; SQ Change shape, damage reduction 15/lawful, darkvision 60 ft., fast healing 10, immunity to sonics, resistance to acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5, and fire 5, telepathy 100 ft.; AL CE; SV Fort+21, Ref+22, Will+20; Str 26, Dex 23, Con 21, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 18.
Skills and Feats Climb +28, Concentration +18, Escape Artist +27, Hide +27, Intimidate +25, Jump +28, Knowledge (any two) +25, Listen +25, Move Silently +27, Search +25 Spot +25, Survival +15 (+17 when tracking), Use Rope +6 (+8 with bindings); Cleave, Combat Brute [Tactical], Great Cleave, Improved Sunder, Improved Toughness, Multiattack, Power attack, Track
Possessions: Cloak of resistance +5, +4 Negative Energy Burst Guisarme, Gloves of Dexterity +6, Ring of Protection +6, Belt of Giant Strength +6.

Dodo is the tanker sladd his slightly better AC, and slightly lower hit points make him foil for Podo. They should flank if possible, and try to threatn the cansters.

If you think that the gear is too much for the party then curse all of it (so only evil alignments can handle it.) Something like 3 negative levels for a good character and 1 negative level for a neutral character who hold the item in question. Also if they grapple the Sladdi feel free to impose this penality (several times if applicaple.)

Negative Energy: Upon command, a negative energy weapon is sheathed in shadowy black energy. The energy does not harm the wielder. The effect remains until another command is given. A negative energy weapon deals an extra 2d6 points of negative energy damage on a successful hit. All damage caused by the weapon is considered vile damage. It bestows three negative levels on any good creature attempting to wield it. The negative levels remains as long as the weapon is in hand and disappear when the weapon is no longer wielded. This negative levels never results in actual level loss, but it cannot be overcome in any way (including restoration spells) while the weapon is wielded. Bows, crossbows, and slings so crafted bestow the negative energy upon their ammunition. Moderate necromancy; CL 11th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, harm; Price +2 bonus.

Negative Energy Burst: A negative energy burst functions as a negative energy weapon that also explodes with negative energy upon striking a successful critical hit. The energy does not harm the wielder. In addition to the extra negative energy damage from the negative energy ability, a negative energy burst weapon deals an extra 1d10 points of negative energy damage on a successful critical hit. If the weapon’s critical multiplier is x3, add an extra 2d10 points of negative energy damage instead, and if the multiplier is x4, add an extra 3d10 points. All damage caused by the weapon is considered vile damage. It bestows three negative levels on any good creature attempting to wield it. The negative levels remains as long as the weapon is in hand and disappear when the weapon is no longer wielded. This negative levels never results in actual level loss, but it cannot be overcome in any way (including restoration spells) while the weapon is wielded. Bows, crossbows, and slings so crafted bestow the negative energy upon their ammunition. Even if the negative energy ability is not active, the weapon still deals its extra negative energy damage on a successful critical hit. Moderate Necromancy; CL 15th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, harm; Price +3 bonus.