Help me kill Darmanicus & Friends!

[Navar]

@Rystil Arden I like the guards they way they are, I think they are spot on.

 

[coriolis]

Umm, I already gave them more than their alloted gold on the AC boosting items and the +5 to all saves cloak, so now you've made them even richer.

Ah! I thought these were some buff spells or powers. I also wanted to adhere to the description that was given to the party

To the left of the queen stood another of the three elite Githyanki guards, resplendent in their crystal full plate armour and wielding crystal greatswords

Also, I don't see Greater Shape Mindblade as a Feat choice

It's a spur-of-the-moment feat I invented to explain the greatswords from the description. See the beginning of the thread.

(plus they must take Blind-Fight for Pierce Magical Concealment, sorry [I would never have taken Blind-Fight otherwise])

That leaves Weapon Finesse -- that'd be a shame to lose. Maybe give them a magic ring or something to explain the 'greatsword mind blade' effect.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Or just make them look like Greatswords and be mechanically equivalent to a normal Mindblade. And just make their Inertial Armour look like Full Plate

Besides, the description said the blades were crystal, so we've innately changed it by making them Mindblades

 

[jhartaine]

The cleric uses some sort of mental bond to heal the rest of the party? Sounds like you need to hit the cleric with a targeted dispel. Try to strip the cleric of every single spell cast on him. Hit the party with the power words, then follow it up with some sort of silence effect.

Wall off the archer in some way so he has to change position to shoot arrows. ... If you are feeling cruel, you could try to sunder the bow. Perhaps with the Slaad King and his outrageous reach from the chain?

The NPCs are on home ground and definitely seem to have some knowledge of the PCs. You can get away with some tactics that target specific weaknesses of PCs without being too cheesy.

Just some ideas from the peanut gallery.

Instead of trying to out power in some cases, a little finesse might make things more interesting. Perhaps having a lower level invisible Slaad or Githzerai roaming around the battle with an object (or several objects) that have silence cast on them. All he would have to do is move close to the party spellcasters so that they arewithin the radius of effect (20' radius). If done correctly you can prevent communication of the party members. When its their initiative, have them write down their actions and hand it to the Dm. That way the other players can't know what they are doing until after the fact. Lack of coordination in a party can cause many problems. And since psionics aren't generally affected by silence this doesn't hinder the Githzerai too much.

Another little fun thing would be to have a bunch of useful things affected by a SHRINK ITEM spell. Say a bunch of caltrops or greek fire suddenly appearing on the floor cuold be rather disconcerting. The silenced invisible opponent could be doing this as well. SHRUNKEN ITEMS can be made to return to normal by simply dropping them on the floor. Maybe have some walls, columns, or stalacmites appearing beneath a party member (dc 15/20 to avoid being knocked over by the suddenly appearing structure), or between party members to keep the party from helping each other.

A very simple trick would be make several pits in the room hidden by illusions. Have the enemy know where they are and try to force/lure the party memebrs into stepping into them. Once in there, drop in a pebble with silence cast on it and make it appear as if they've disappeared.

Another unusual rarely used tactic would be to simply grapple the main fighter-types once in close combat and keep them in place. Then focus on the spell casters to take them out when they don't have the "protection" of the party muscle. One or two opponents with Improved grapple, Bull Strength, etc should give them a distinct advanatage.

Just some thought from a lurker...

Jhartaine

 

[Arkhandus]

.....you know, you could just make the gith guards into psychic warriors and then, y'know, actually follow the description the DM already gave of their appearance? Besides, tougher guards would probably be preferable to the queen, rather than just a few assassins who are likely to each die as soon as they go toe-to-toe with any serious intruders. The Soulknife really wasn't cut out to be broken down into a 20-level class anyway.

 

[Navar]

I don't know Arkhandus. I like the assassin guard (it takes one to know one logic) The slaadi bodyguards are plenty of muscle after all.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Jhartaine: The party has a telepathic link, so Silence won't help prevent communication

Arkhandus: Morrus said he wanted something more combat focused and less psionic power focused, since apparently the PCs can prevent all psionic powers except the Queen's

 

[Navar]

Slaadi King (Hexblade)

Slaad King, Male Black Slaad Hex 7: CR 22; Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Extraplanar); HD 18d8+7d10+176+22; hp 317; Int +6, Speed 20 feet; AC 45 (+3 Dex, +14 natural, +5 deflection, +13 Armor), touch 18, flat-footed 39; Base Attack/Grapple +25/+36; Full Attack 2 claws +36 melee (3d8+11 plus stun) and bite +34 (2d12+5), or +41/+36/+31/+26 melee (2d6+2d6 negative energy damage+11, all is vile damage); SA Hexblade’s Curse, Greater hexblade’s curse, Pounce, stun, spell-like abilities, summon slaad; SQ Feign Death, Change shape, damage reduction 15/lawful, darkvision 60 ft., fast healing 10, immunity to sonics, resistance to acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5, and fire 5, Mettle, telepathy 100 ft.; AL CE; SV Fort+26, Ref+24, Will+25; Str 32, Dex 23, Con 27, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 24.
Skills and Feats Climb +38, Concentration +21, Escape Artist +27, Hide +27, Intimidate +32, Jump +38, Knowledge (any two) +25, Listen +25, Move Silently +27, Search +25 Spot +25, Use Rope +13; Cleave, Combat Brute [Tactical], Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Diehard, Endurance, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain), Improved Toughness, Improved Trip, Multiattack, Power attack
Possessions: Cloak of resistance +5, +5 Keen Negative Energy Burst Adamantine Spiked Chain, Belt of Giant Strength +6, Ring of Protection +5, Amulet of Health +6, +5 Suit of Heavy Fortification Mithril Full Plate, Headband of Charsima +6.

The advantage to using the hexblade is gaining Mettle (evasion for Fort and Will saves), Arcane Resistance, and the hexblade curse (though the save is low (20)) But you don’t loose a lot either, so this may be a way to go. Hexblade’s curse give the target –4 on pretty much every die roll unless they make a will save DC 20. That should be all you need from the slaadi now. Arcane resistance lets the hexblade add his Cha mod (+7) as a bonus to spell saving throws so with it his saves V. spells and spell like effects are Fort+33, Ref+31, Will+32. Enjoy.

Feign death is from the Mud Slaad (I figure the King learned it long long ago) and it will make him a great returning villain. Quick and dirty feign death. If an opponent strikes the slaad king and reduces it to 30 or fewer hit points, it can immediately attempt to feign death. This ability comes into use on the opponent’s turn (swift action?). Any creature that witnesses the slaad king while he is feigning death, including those creatures that want it fall can make a sense motive check (DC 35) to determine if the slaad king’s death is guenuine. A Spot check doesn’t give any information. Even a heal check or a search check requires a DC 35 to work (and they have to be looking just to check if he is alive or not.) The save DC is charisma based.

Hopefully the DR 15/Law will save him from the archer. He is a beast, and he can do some cool things. He will have to be played smart, but even if he falls, just have him feign death (that is also what the diehard feat is for)

 

[Rystil Arden]

What you could also do if you want the King to be particularly nasty is use his racial feats to jump right into a Prestige Class (Exotic Weapon Master?) instead of wasting time starting him with a base class.

 

[Navar]

What you could also do if you want the King to be particularly nasty is use his racial feats to jump right into a Prestige Class (Exotic Weapon Master?) instead of wasting time starting him with a base class.

Well I thought Hexblade was pretty nasty because of of the adding cha to your saves and Mettle. I forgot to put it on him, but a ring of evation is an obvious choice for another magic item for him. (he would be more or less immune to spells that require saving throws.