My wife bought me the Book of Vile Darkness a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say that I'm very impressed. There are tons of great ideas, spells, abilities, items, feats, and everything else you could want to make a challenging, evil enemy. So, I immediately went to work incorporating some of the material into my game.
In the game that I DM, the party is trekking across an area known as the Wasted Lands. One of the encounters that I had planned was an ancient, sealed crypt that housed a Retriever waiting to be released. After reading the BoVD, I decided to add an altar, atop which was a +3 Bloodfeeding dagger. I also wanted to play with the possession rules, so I added a demon in a secret compartment beneath the altar who was operating in the "Corrupt an Item" mode. That's where the Babau came in.
A little bit more about the party. They have 8 characters (7 PC's and an NPC), with an average character level of 8. That means that a typical EL 10 encounter should be that baseline encounter and use up 25% of party resources. The Babau, even with +2 CR for being able to posses, should only be a CR 9 creature.
Well, let me tell you it was a disaster. First of all, the party quickly determined the dagger was evil, and so left it alone. They then began searching the altar and discovered the hidden compartment. I decided the Babau would return to its body, so the possession was never a factor at all.
The Babau began by using Darkness to give it room to maneuver. It then crawled out from beneath the altar and grabbed the dagger. Using the Darkness intelligently, the combination of the strength-draining gaze, AC of 25, and the weapon-eating paste that reduces slashing damage by 1/2 was too much.
In the first battle:
The paladin lost his sword and was taken into the negatives.
The grig was drained to -1 strength and paralyzed
The druid/ranger was drained to 4 strength and had to polymorph to escape.
The dwarven ranger took about 50 points of damage.
The elven priest was drained to 6 strength and nearly immobilized by his armor.
That's when they retreated, after only doing about 30 points of damage to the demon.
In the second battle, they were better prepared and went back into the crypt. However, the demon had polymorphed into a bird and was waiting at the entrance. Once they entered, it shifted back and crept up behind the bard/sorcerer for what would have been a potentially lethal sneak attack with power attack (he has a flat-footed AC of 10). Only a natural 1 on the attack saved him.
This time the dice were with the party a little more, and they only lost two weapons (both masterwork backups which had been enchanted), though the monk was dropped unconscious and nearly died. The only reason the demon didn't Teleport out and escape is because I was feeling a little bit sorry for the party and wanted to give them a feeling of success after such a collective butt-whooping.
Some comments:
1.) An AC of 25 is incredibly tough for 7th and 8th level characters. Add in 1/2 damage from slashing and piercing weapons, and the thing was very difficult to damage.
2.) The strength-draining gaze is a killer. If characters look away, the demon just gets that much harder to hit, plus they are denied Dex bonus and the Babau has sneak attack.
3.) The acidic paste is nasty. It ate three of the party's weapons, including a magical sword, and they collectively burned through probably 40 or 50 arrows trying to bring it down.
4.) The monster can definitely dish out damage. Although the +3 Bloodfeeding dagger had something to do with that, with the recommended greataxe, the demon still would have been a fearsome foe.
Overall, I would rate the Babau as a CR of 10, maybe 11. The encounter, as it played out for my group, was probably an EL of 11, maybe 12. It's going to take them probably a couple of days just to recover all of the strength that they lost.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my experiences with a creature that has a vastly underrated CR. This just reinforces the fact that you cannot follow CR's blindly. Any thoughts?
In the game that I DM, the party is trekking across an area known as the Wasted Lands. One of the encounters that I had planned was an ancient, sealed crypt that housed a Retriever waiting to be released. After reading the BoVD, I decided to add an altar, atop which was a +3 Bloodfeeding dagger. I also wanted to play with the possession rules, so I added a demon in a secret compartment beneath the altar who was operating in the "Corrupt an Item" mode. That's where the Babau came in.
A little bit more about the party. They have 8 characters (7 PC's and an NPC), with an average character level of 8. That means that a typical EL 10 encounter should be that baseline encounter and use up 25% of party resources. The Babau, even with +2 CR for being able to posses, should only be a CR 9 creature.
Well, let me tell you it was a disaster. First of all, the party quickly determined the dagger was evil, and so left it alone. They then began searching the altar and discovered the hidden compartment. I decided the Babau would return to its body, so the possession was never a factor at all.
The Babau began by using Darkness to give it room to maneuver. It then crawled out from beneath the altar and grabbed the dagger. Using the Darkness intelligently, the combination of the strength-draining gaze, AC of 25, and the weapon-eating paste that reduces slashing damage by 1/2 was too much.
In the first battle:
The paladin lost his sword and was taken into the negatives.
The grig was drained to -1 strength and paralyzed
The druid/ranger was drained to 4 strength and had to polymorph to escape.
The dwarven ranger took about 50 points of damage.
The elven priest was drained to 6 strength and nearly immobilized by his armor.
That's when they retreated, after only doing about 30 points of damage to the demon.
In the second battle, they were better prepared and went back into the crypt. However, the demon had polymorphed into a bird and was waiting at the entrance. Once they entered, it shifted back and crept up behind the bard/sorcerer for what would have been a potentially lethal sneak attack with power attack (he has a flat-footed AC of 10). Only a natural 1 on the attack saved him.
This time the dice were with the party a little more, and they only lost two weapons (both masterwork backups which had been enchanted), though the monk was dropped unconscious and nearly died. The only reason the demon didn't Teleport out and escape is because I was feeling a little bit sorry for the party and wanted to give them a feeling of success after such a collective butt-whooping.
Some comments:
1.) An AC of 25 is incredibly tough for 7th and 8th level characters. Add in 1/2 damage from slashing and piercing weapons, and the thing was very difficult to damage.
2.) The strength-draining gaze is a killer. If characters look away, the demon just gets that much harder to hit, plus they are denied Dex bonus and the Babau has sneak attack.
3.) The acidic paste is nasty. It ate three of the party's weapons, including a magical sword, and they collectively burned through probably 40 or 50 arrows trying to bring it down.
4.) The monster can definitely dish out damage. Although the +3 Bloodfeeding dagger had something to do with that, with the recommended greataxe, the demon still would have been a fearsome foe.
Overall, I would rate the Babau as a CR of 10, maybe 11. The encounter, as it played out for my group, was probably an EL of 11, maybe 12. It's going to take them probably a couple of days just to recover all of the strength that they lost.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my experiences with a creature that has a vastly underrated CR. This just reinforces the fact that you cannot follow CR's blindly. Any thoughts?
), but even so, using blunt magic weapons means that you are making a reflex save with every successful hit (again, not easy with an AC 25), and you are bound to lose a weapon or two. Each weapon lost means more time lost to preparing the next one.
