Help me kill Darmanicus & Friends!

[Arkhandus]

Also, Black Slaadi can be found in the Epic Level Handbook, though Slaadi are Product Identity so they're not in the Epic Monsters section of the System Reference Document. Of course, the ELH Black Slaadi are 29 hit dice and CR 25, size Huge, and only epic weapons can bypass their very high Damage Reduction.....not to mention their nearly-as-high Fast Healing, stunning, weaponbreaker, and.....*shudder* Them's nasty Black Slaadi. So yeah, you're better off making up something for your game's custom black slaadi. :^D

 

[Morrus]

I'm rather confused. It seems like you're using the Lich-Queen of the Githyanki

No, I'm using a lich-queen of the githzerai.

in the Astral Plane or something,

Nope, I have my own planar setup. There's no Astral Plane.

[quotw](you recall that githzerai are the contemplative monk-psions who live in Limbo taming the chaos, fighting Slaadi, and sending out rrhakma's to hunt down illithids, right?)[/quote]

Not in my campaign, they're not. In my campaign, they're crime lords on various outer planes.

.........and working with Slaadi?

For the moment, yep!

I never use monsters straight out of the MM. My players know them all off by heart.

 

[Rystil Arden]

If you do use level 13 soulknives, it would be a good idea to have them Knife to the Soul the caster's key spellcasting stat, in addition to the Mageslayer feats. If all three of them hit the same spellcaster, that's 9 ability damage (not negative energy based, so Death Ward won't help). Use this on the cleric and it should prevent him from casting most of his best spells (Assuming a level 15 cleric who lost his equipment [I think they mentioned that on the other thread, right?] has 22 Wisdom at most, 1 round of attention from the Soulknives means that he is down to his 3rd-level spells right away. And maybe he didn't prepare any Lesser Restorations?)

 

[Morrus]

Navar,
Keep in mind that the party averages 15th level. Those three Slaad right there are already approaching a EL18. That's without the Githzerai, the Lich Queen or the Slaad King involved. As a result, I think those Slaad might be a tad bit overpowered.

As Navar mentioned, this party is good. Really, really good. They're almost impossible to kill.

They're expert buffers, and 3 of the 6 party members are high level casters able to buff themselves and the others. And that they do.

The two front line fighters can dish out astonishing amounts of damage in a single round. Together, there aren't many creatures that will last more than a round or two against them.

The archer is phenomenal. Completely, totally, a one trick pony - he's decked out for archery and nothing else. But he can loose a continual barrage of extremely accurate and very damaging arrows, especially against evil opponents.

As Davar has also mentioned, they wiped the floor with a CR 22 handmaiden and 5 CR 15 bodyguards.

Part of the problem is me, of course -- they're simply better at it than I am. There are 6 minds working (with characters they know backwards) against one (who has to learn to use new creatures/NPCs every week). They have access to a lot of books, and are very creative in the way they use spells, etc.

In other words - don't make the mistake of looking at the EL and the player levels. That's only half the story.

 

[Morrus]

No one has touched the githzerai guards yet. I'll throw in my suggestion: make them psychic warriors, or even better, soulknives (the crystal greatswords could simply be the result of a feat -- Greater Shape Mind Blade). 13th-level would seem to be a good range. For their feats, use the Mage Slayer feat tree from Complete Arcane: bye-bye AC bonuses and miss chances from mage armor, shield, displacement, etc.

Ah, yes - to those guys working on githzerai guards -- the party is immune to the psionics of all but the Queen (for various reasons). This evens the odds out a little; and also means that the githzera bodyguards should be more combat based than psionic based.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Do they have anything that would prevent you from unleashing Crystal death upon them?
Even for expert buffers, there aren't many spells out there that can provide high damage reduction.
I'd think they would have at most Stoneskin, which wouldn't stop the Crystals very well (see my post above).

 

[Navar]

Thanks Morrus I will try to get you a good Slaad King this after noon.

And I forgot about the ELH Black Slaads (I think I already said this earlier) but mine are Non-epic Black Slaads. You could rename them, but Lavander Slaad just doesn't sound right.

 

[Morrus]

Do they have anything that would prevent you from unleashing Crystal death upon them?
Even for expert buffers, there aren't many spells out there that can provide high damage reduction.
I'd think they would have at most Stoneskin, which wouldn't stop the Crystals very well (see my post above).

Not that I know of, but that doesn't mean they haven't. Displacement, ghostform and the like will reduce the effectiveness of that. I'm sure they'll have something else, too - they frequently surprise me with stuff.

 

[Anthro78]

And I forgot about the ELH Black Slaads (I think I already said this earlier) but mine are Non-epic Black Slaads. You could rename them, but Lavander Slaad just doesn't sound right.

Ebon Slaad? Null Slaad? Terror Slaad? Terpischorean Slaad? Slaad of Immense Size? The Slaad who say Ni? Shrubbery Slaad? Salad Slaad? Dar-Es-Salaam Slaad?

Susan?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Githzerai Guard
Male or Female Githzerai Soulknife 13
Medium Humanoid (Extraplanar)
Hit Dice: 13d10+26 (102 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 23 (+5 Dex, +4 Inertial Armour race ability, +2 natural, +2 deflection),
touch 17, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+11
Attack: +3 keen lucky Mind Blade +19 melee or ranged (1d10+5 damage 17-20/x2)
Full Attack: +3 keen lucky Mind Blade +19/+14 melee (1d10+5 damage 17-20/x2)
Special Attacks: Psychic Strike, Knife to the Soul, Bladewind
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +18, Will +13
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 11, Cha 8
Skills: maybe later
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Focus (Mind Blade) [bonus], Speed of Thought [bonus], Mage Slayer, Blind Fight, Pierce Magical Concealment, Pierce Magical Protection
Organization: Three
Challenge Rating: 14
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: whatever preferred

Tactics: They already have their mindblades fully charged and ready to smack the cleric with Knife to the Soul for Wisdom damage (since he would just Restoration anyone else who had this occur). They also use their Pierce Magical Protection/Concealment against him, and if they miss, they use the weapon's Lucky ability to Reroll. Then they probably die. Oh well, they got their job done.