Explain the Fiend of Possession's Weaknesses

[moritheil]

I have a player running a phrenic kaorti fiend of possession. In allowing him to do this I bent my DMing rule on not allowing munchkinized characters under rules I don't know, because at the time I fully intended to pick up the Fiend Folio and look at the rules. (It is also a high-powered campaign in general.) Well, I never got the time to seriously tinker with the system and I won't have it in the near future.

I'm aware that FoP was always intended to be an NPC class, not a player class, but my style of DMing is that with sufficient understanding of the rules I can always create challenges for any non-infinite-loop character. However, in this case it truly seems there is no real margin between "challenged" and "dead," as 99% of the possible encounters out there have no way of killing him and the remaining 1% can't realistically not kill him. He's a fragile little incorporeal bundle of hit points. In putting in things that actually can credibly harm him I will be likely to one-round him. Part of this is, I suspect, by player design, as he has cleverly picked items and contingencies to eliminate several things that could harm him (i.e. brooch of shielding against magic missiles). This means only the "big guns" (holy word, etc.) will be effective.

Should I just include the danger of killing him off from time to time to offset the fact that he can singlehandedly handle everything else without breaking a sweat? When I approved FoP I was not advised of the possibility of animating colossal constructs for free and other such details.

 

[Rechan]

As the DM, you basically control what he has access to. A colossal construct is pretty hard to come by, and if it's out there, then whoever owns it/controls it/guards it is going to have an issue with its presence.

Fiends of POssession shouldn't be too rare for the enemies to not know about it. And if he starts doing those tricks to begin with, then people are going to hear. Some proper dispels, banishments, magical circles, etc, should ruin his day. Hell, a well prepared (and devious) enemy might construct a trap in the guise of a juicy something the player might want to possess.

Finally, you could just nip this problem in the bud by talking to the player and saying "Look, I trust you as a DM by letting you take this PrC. And by that trust, I expect you to not abuse it. Break my game, I break your character."

 

[moritheil]

As the DM, you basically control what he has access to. A colossal construct is pretty hard to come by, and if it's out there, then whoever owns it/controls it/guards it is going to have an issue with its presence.

Sorry I wasn't clear - he can animate basically anything. Dirt, stone, whatever. It's the fifth level ability. I would normally say it's no big deal but I just realized that it's (Su) and can't be dispelled.

Possess Noncontinuous Object (Su): At 5th level a fiend of possession can use it possess object ability to take control of an "object" more loosely defined, a pool of water, a cloud of dust, a section of wall or floor. At this level a fiend of possession can also possess (and animate) colossal objects.

 

[Rechan]

It can possess an object in the sense of a collection of objects; a patch or an area, of some substance.

I just don't see how that is room for abuse. The PC is pumping all his levels into being able to basically hide. Because a puddle of water isn't all that offensive.

 

[moritheil]

It can possess an object in the sense of a collection of objects; a patch or an area, of some substance.

I just don't see how that is room for abuse. The PC is pumping all his levels into being able to basically hide. Because a puddle of water isn't all that offensive.

"At this level a fiend of possession can also possess (and animate) colossal objects."

So, I was imprecise: not constructs, but free colossal animated objects. I currently have a thread over in the Rules Forum trying to determine whether or not things like Magic Circle vs. Evil would interfere with his ability to control said objects, given that he has to possess them to make them function.

 

[fba827]

Preface: I know nothing of the race other than what is written here. Having said that ...


Would fighting a group of his own racial type be of any threat to him/her? Or not really?

Or maybe someone they are fighting has a (custom?) magic sword (or dagger if you want to keep actual damage low given his low hp) that can damage him with force damage (making a guess since you said magic missle above).

 

[Shemeska]

I feel inclined to point out that the kaorti isn't actually a fiend, so shouldn't that preclude using that PrC?

 

[demiurge1138]

I feel inclined to point out that the kaorti isn't actually a fiend, so shouldn't that preclude using that PrC?

The prerequisite for Fiend of Possession is "Evil outsider". Which kaorti are.

Demiurge out.

 

[the Jester]

This is totally tangential to the actual discussion- I apologize for going off topic without even contributing- but does anyone know of any other "monstrous" prestige classes, other than the ones in Savage Species and the "fiend of..." prcs in FF?

Thanks, and back to your regularly-schedeuled discussion...

 

[Rechan]

This is totally tangential to the actual discussion- I apologize for going off topic without even contributing- but does anyone know of any other "monstrous" prestige classes, other than the ones in Savage Species and the "fiend of..." prcs in FF?

Thanks, and back to your regularly-schedeuled discussion...

Is it Complete Warrior that has the Hurking Hurler PrC for giants?

Libris Mortis and Lords of Madness have PrCs for monsters. LM has several for advancing incorporeal undead, vampire lords, etc.