How to counter a Tiefling Darkblade?

[MacMathan]

Our party is currently vexed by a tailless Tiefling named Perfidious. He seems to have the Tiefling Darkblade power:

Cloak of Lurking (move; recharge 6) Teleportation
The tiefling darkblade teleports 5 squares and becomes invisible until the end of its next turn.

Basically it lets him escape every time so far. He teleports 5 then moves or runs 6-8 more squares evading the party.

We have six 8th level characters right now, Paladin, Ranger, Barbarian, Cleric, Wizard and Druid. I am looking for some ideas on how to counter this power as heroic-tier characters.

 

[Mad Hamish]

He's at most 13 squares away from the party.

A ranged character can move in and shoot him (the Ranger or the Wizard)
depending upon the powers they've got they may be able to slow him or immobilize him.

A double move should get most characters adjacent to him, some will be able to move and charge to hit him.

I can't really see any reason he'd be able to get clean away with that tactic.

 

[mneme]

Hammish: If he's also got a good stealth score, the fact that he's invisible is probably a significant part of it.

 

[Virindi]

You could try to blind the tiefling. Without line of sight he cannot teleport. Maybe the wizard has Stinking Cloud or Radiant Pillar power? Maybe the paladin has Price of Cowardice power? Does the cleric have Price of Violence or Searing Light? Those powers all under level 7 and all can blind the enemy. Might give you all a one good turn to lay the smack down on him.

 

[Samir]

Assuming he's making a Stealth check for the move/run after the teleport, he's taking a -5 penalty to Stealth (for moving 6 squares) or -10 (for running 8 squares). Even if the Ranger's passive Perception--which is probably in the ballpark of 25 if he's got decent Wisdom--can't detect him, the entire party can take minor actions to roll Perception and try to see him.

At that point, it's just a matter of a move + a charge or a few ranged attacks.

 

[Mad Hamish]

amazing how often people (e.g. me) can miss the obvious isn't it?

Seriously though, even being invisible he's still going to struggle to escape in most situations, he can get a lead on people but he should be fairly detectable, especially if he's running.

 

[Ryujin]

As Virindi said, the easiest way is to remove his ability to see, since he needs line of sight (but not line of effect) to the destination. Heavy smoke, curtains, a hood over the head, or powers that blind would be effective.

 

[bganon]

Teleportation is line-of-sight only. Lure him into an enclosed area, especially if the only exits are doors you can shut and guard. If you can't get him to the perfect spot, you can try having the Druid and/or Wizard put up wall spells to fence him in. Failing that, try to keep status effects on him, anything that limits movement. If all else fails, try some powers that boost Perception checks

 

[MacMathan]

hmmmm..... maybe we have been doing stealth wrong.

The way we have been doing it Perfidious takes the -5 to stealth for moving 6 squares but we get a -2 to perception once he is more than 10 squares away for a net -3 or -8 with run.

Figure he is maybe +15-+17 to stealth base so are perception types should be close to 40-50% chance to detect him. Also he may have stealth boosting items also since he is not the run of the mill Tiefling.

I guess we have just been rolling poorly by comparison.

I like the idea of trying to blind him.

 

[Shin Okada]

Basically it lets him escape every time so far. He teleports 5 then moves or runs 6-8 more squares evading the party.

You can also try to make him immobilized, prone, or slowed. Those will not prevent him from teleporting away. But at least restrict his movement after that.

Or, good old tricks against invisible foe may work. I mean, your party may lure him into a battlefield in which invisibility does not help him much. Say, a place covered by dust, shallow water, snow, soft sands, and such.