Help me kill Darmanicus & Friends!

[Sir ThornCrest]

#1) Smart pc's 2) A ton of buffs 3) 1/2 of party is spell casters 4) half with really good magics 5) your lookinhg for a way to be challenging yet not completly wiping the floor with the party.....

SOLUTION They came into a room via a bag, so the spell casters are just perceiving the situation, sorta just getting a grasp of their surroundings....Anti magic zone triggered by the Queen any and all buffs gone, all magicals & their bonuses gone...Have those Githzarie be Lawfull Neutral Monk/ Devoted Defenders that have sworn off material possessions in order to better serve their Queen, VoP! 15th Monks + 2 or more levels of Devoted Defenders. They are 100% dedicated to the service and protection of their queen, will die for her (and probably will). All their psionic abilities work just fine the field has no effect on it.

the Queen has recognized the Slaad as an enemy, but wants the party to combat him first so she will order her body guards not to attack but rather to defend. She is Lawful Neutral and will abide by her shacky truce with the Slaad. She may be at odds with the humans but this is a relationship she rather have go positive. The Slaad lord will almost immediately attack and go after the Party but he is planning to betray his weak alliance with the queen at the earliest possible op. As soon as he notices the anti magic area (which takes up whole room) he will assume its the party? or her casting it? And react accordingly your option.

When she doesnt aid him in the attack he will consider this a violation of their verbal agreement and will also engage her -or attempt to bypass her guards. She will be with commanding voice quoting the exact agreement, to which she is following to the letter. The Nature of Lawful Neutral.

If the party attacks her or her men then its on!

Queen has learned Wizardy and naturally is psionic so she was raised mastering both and at 3rd level Wizard And 3rd level Psion she coupled the two together, the logical choice therefor is Cerebramancer she is a 15th level Cerebramancer, manifesting at 12th level and casting as 12th level Wizard...hint buy psionic feat -expanded knowledge -Astral Construct they will work 100% in this no magic field also have her be a telepath or buy with another feat -expanded knowledge- Schism....Schism allows her to Manifest two powers a round or as a trick she can cast Wizard Spells normally and with her split mind manifest lower level powers...very potent although in the anti magic maybe just have her manifest two powers a round...

Thorncrest

 

[Occhronustinrist]

More Tactical Thoughts

note that the sonic Energy attacks do -1 damage per die...Swarm of Crystals is completely preferrable to Sonic Energy Ball...you were the one to originally suggest them...it should at least be the correct one.

I gotta agree with you on the above points...

The main weakness of the Queen's team is that they have not a single divine or arcane caster...The only chance the PCs have going for them is this vulnerability of their enemies...we need to shore this up...

Yes, this is very frustrating...

What if the githzerai and slaad pair off in teams? Although unlikely in long-term slaad/gith relationships, it makes sense for them to take advantage of their relative strengths.

Option A: Offense

Each Gith should immediately charge/move into melee with a spellcaster. Behind each gith should follow a slaad. The slaad should take advantage of their reach and size to keep the spellcasters in a "threatened" status, maybe even maneuvering to the rear of the character. By maintaining a different angle from the gith, the players cannot use the withdraw action to avoid attacks of opportunity. The gith should focus on trip attacks and parrys.

The Queen and King should also team up and focus on one player at a time. First, knock out the paladin, followed by the Archer, then the kensai. The King should play defense, using the chain for the aformentioned trip attacks, parrys, and disarms. The Queen should focus on disabling the other warriors. The use of telekinetic maneuvering can be very useful, the adjusted grapple capabilities can easily shut down any of the characters.

Option B: Defense

Place the three slaad to the rear of the King and Queen (Together again, they make such a pair) and use the reach capability to simultaneously target the first character to try to move into melee. They should gain a first attack as well as attacks of opportunity by the virtue of having their weapons readied with greater reach.

The Gith should move to the rear of the party to threaten their flanks. (Jumping over them?) I would recommend making them Rogue-Types to really play this up. (Monk/Assasins make sense as personal enforcers) Improved Feint, Combat Reflexes, and Improved Trip will pay dividends. If the characters are not vulnerable to their psionics, why make them psionic?

Tonight, I will take a closer look at my rulebooks and the stat blocks selected for the foes. I am working from school right now and don't have my references in front of me.

 

[Occhronustinrist]

Tactical Thoughts (Oops)

Stupid Computer is messing with me...

 

[Rystil Arden]

Thorncrest: A Telepath does not need to take Expanded Knowledge to get Schism

Occ: Your strategies are sound for the most part, but you made a fatal error--the cleric must die first, not the melee fighters, and the casters also need to die to stop a Forcecage or Maze.

Also, there is no reason to use telekinetic manoeuvres to push them around rather than Swarm of Crystals, which will probably just kill them outright from damage, unless they are incorporeal from Ghostform (the Tele effects are force, so they work fine on Incorporeals).

I still think that the Queen should be using Twinned-SoC + Quickend SoC + Schismed SoC (expected damage 185 to everyone in a Cone, no save or attack roll required) or if they aren't cold immune, the same thing with Energy Missile Cold (256.5 damage to 5 targets, with a DC 35 Reflex save for half) and then regaining Psifocus for next round.

 

[Morrus]

What options can we use to neutralise PCs without necessarily killing them outright?

I recognise that, as the DM, killing a PC is easy. I also don't mind their being one or two caualties during the session (although not right at the beginning of the session!). However, I'd prefer tactics during the first half of the encounter to neutralise players rather than killing them. One or two can die towards the end, but only after they've had an evening's fun.

The most important point, I guess, is that I'm not looking to win this encounter. That's easy. I make the lich queen 40th level and the guards 30th level. The point is that the evening should manifest itself as an epic battle, with one or two casualties, but which is - most importantly - fun for all involved. Early deaths don't add to fun, they detract from it!

 

[Rystil Arden]

Well, the main problem is that the players are not going to be so kind as to not try to kill your NPCs in the first few rounds. That said, Decerebrate, which was mentioned above, makes the character effectively brain-dead without killing them, and there are several other powers that effectively kill the character while leaving them alive (Microcosm for instance).

Alternatively, if you had an arcane caster, the overpowered Forcecage can stop anything that can't teleport or disintegrate without a save or SR check or anything, but it doesn't kill them, just puts them in a cage (really, you should actually be quite worried about them using this against you), and Mazing someone after dealing them Intelligence damage with the Soulknives until they had under 10 Int would keep them out for even longer.

The main problem is that the set of characters presented (psion Queen, fighter King, burly Slaad, Greatsword-wielding gith) don't have many neutralise options avaliable that are likely to succeed, except maybe the Queen (now, there are plenty you could try that would fail, of course). If you had an arcane caster, there would be more possibilities, but the problem is that non-lethal methods to eliminate enemies are the ones to which your PCs are most likely to be immune. The other problem is that the cleric can probably remove any neutralising effect unless he is eliminated quickly.

My best suggestion is to use Nonlethal Substitution on a giant blast spell as outlined above, so that they don't die, but are merely knocked out.

Alternatively, try to do something roleplaying-related between the slaad and the gith. Perhaps the PCs are able to turn the two sides against each other? This would reward interaction, and then you've given the NPCs more targets (so for instance, if the Lich Queen then slaughtered the cleric, diviner, and Slaad King with Energy Missiles, there would be plenty of PCs still alive, and some slaad left to engage the gith).

If you just fight them with suboptimal choices (things they are immune / will definitely save), they will probably wipe the floor with these guys like they did the handmaid.

 

[Occhronustinrist]

Neutralizing...

What options can we use to neutralise PCs without necessarily killing them outright?

1. Take away their toys.

Make the Room's Floor into a giant Electro-Magnet. It is hard to move around, much less swing a weapon, if their equipment is stuck to the floor. (Rule that Adamantine weapons are not ferrus/magetized) If the opposing force is using crystal-based weaponry, then they will remain immune. I can see the use of an elaborate "alter-reality" power accomplishing that.

2. Take away their eyes.

This is on line with the "darkness" options listed in my earlier posts.

3. Take away their spells.

Since the Queen is psionic, an anti-magic field (mentioned in numerous earlier posts) makes sense. As magic is her greatest weakness, it makes sense to have a measure installed in the throne that serves to create the field. To give them a chance, rule that destroying the throne kills the effect.

4. Better Minions.

I really like the application possibilities of the Hexblade class, but give it to the Gith warriors. Tough bodyguards with a power that lower's saves makes too much sense for a character that relies on overcoming her enemy's resistances.

Instead of making the Slaad King a hexblade, What would help him synergize with his minions? What class helps the slaad synergize with him?

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

Rystil Arden,

I meant take telepath or if other discipline buy it with expanded knowledge I am currently playing a 10th cerebramancer kineticist that bought astral contruct with a feat and is planning on nexte feat getting schism. I thought I made it clear I will alter post.


EDIT-"I did make it clear? .quote- "also have her be a telepath or buy with another feat -expanded knowledge- Schism.
Thorncrest

Thorncrest: A Telepath does not need to take Expanded Knowledge to get Schism

Occ: Your strategies are sound for the most part, but you made a fatal error--the cleric must die first, not the melee fighters, and the casters also need to die to stop a Forcecage or Maze.

Also, there is no reason to use telekinetic manoeuvres to push them around rather than Swarm of Crystals, which will probably just kill them outright from damage, unless they are incorporeal from Ghostform (the Tele effects are force, so they work fine on Incorporeals).

I still think that the Queen should be using Twinned-SoC + Quickend SoC + Schismed SoC (expected damage 185 to everyone in a Cone, no save or attack roll required) or if they aren't cold immune, the same thing with Energy Missile Cold (256.5 damage to 5 targets, with a DC 35 Reflex save for half) and then regaining Psifocus for next round.

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

I really like the idea of canning everyones magic with the anit magic zone the slaad the pc/s everyone, see my last post on this. It should prove most challenging and definately going to get the old blood moving with the players!

Thorncrest

What options can we use to neutralise PCs without necessarily killing them outright?

I recognise that, as the DM, killing a PC is easy. I also don't mind their being one or two caualties during the session (although not right at the beginning of the session!). However, I'd prefer tactics during the first half of the encounter to neutralise players rather than killing them. One or two can die towards the end, but only after they've had an evening's fun.

The most important point, I guess, is that I'm not looking to win this encounter. That's easy. I make the lich queen 40th level and the guards 30th level. The point is that the evening should manifest itself as an epic battle, with one or two casualties, but which is - most importantly - fun for all involved. Early deaths don't add to fun, they detract from it!

 

[Rystil Arden]

My guess is that an antimagic field that doesn't stop psionics will result in a TPK, but that's just the vibe I'm getting from what I hear of this group (buff-heavy, smart casters, effective use of healing magic).