Help with evil cleric NPC

[hanniball]

Human Cleric of Loki (Destruction and Trickery) 17

Feats: Extend Spell (1), Persistant Spell (human), Divine Metamagic: Persistant Spell (3), Extra Turning (6), Divine Spell Power (9), Quicken Spell (12), Divine Metamagic: Quicken Spell (15)

Use Polymorph any Object to turn him into a powerful combat form, like a Balor or something, boost his caster level as high as possible to prevent his buff routine from being dispelled, then, with his multitude of Nightsticks, make the following spells Persistant via DMM and normal spell slots: Divine Favor, Shield of Faith, Divine Power, Righteous Might, and Greater Visage of the Diety Finally, cast Greater Magic Weapon on his weapon of choice and Magic Vestment on his armor and shield. With a high enough caster level (~25) these buffs should resist dispelling long enough to put the smack down on the PCs.

Begin combat with a Divine Metamagic: Quickened Time Stop, Gate in an ally, say a Balor or something, buff him and put up a Wind Wall to make that pesky ranger nigh-useless. After the Time Stop wears off, your Big Bad Evil Guy and his new ally still have a full round of actions available to Firestorm, Implosion, Earthquake, or attack as you see fit.

This simple build should provide a challenging, but not impossible, combat to climax a campaign.

Either way...just my 2 cp

 

[Darklone]

Level 17... Does anyone else think a spellcaster with level 9 spells is too tough for a group of level 11 characters?

I mean... cast Time Stop against these characters and it doesn't matter what else you do, the PCs are dead.

I'd rather go with a level 13 cleric with ECL +2 or at max +3.

 

[Vuron]

Level 17... Does anyone else think a spellcaster with level 9 spells is too tough for a group of level 11 characters?

I mean... cast Time Stop against these characters and it doesn't matter what else you do, the PCs are dead.

I'd rather go with a level 13 cleric with ECL +2 or at max +3.

EL 15 is definitely at the maximum end for 4 11th level PCs. Anything above that raises the spectre of a TPK even with full resources available.

17th level cleric almost certainly gives the cleric the ability to cast Gate to call an advanced Balor or similar monstrosity with his 9th level spell slot and then use implosion from his 9th level domain slot (assuming destruction is one of the domains chosen). Yeah I think you could safely assume a TPK in short order.

 

[Angerland]

thanks for the help thus far. I am definetly not out for a TPK, if one or two go down, well then the victory will be all the sweeter. Our Party is actually 6 strong but the Ranger, (and my Dwarven Wizard) are probably the most effective reliably. The others are an elven Cleric of Thor, Elven Rogue, Two Human Monk types that both are mutliclassed with a mess of things that makes it all rather confusing to me. One is a Sho Disciple or something and one...well I am not sure and it really hasn't been all that important as both are newer players that haven't fully tweaked their characters.

I guess I was thinking along the lines of the Domains of Destruction and Evil.. I am very interested in Windwall as the Ranger is the most consistent damage out put in the party and is played by the only true powergamer in the group, i.e he could probably tweak a Warrior 20 into something awesome. Undead could certainly be allowed and of course very evil general has a cohort. If a Balor is too tough, then what would be a "just tough enough" critter?

To give you an example of our party's effectiveness. we just faced off against 6 Lvl 10 Ibixians (Not sure of their class as they never did anything lieka barbarian) and two of those nasty bear things out of Monster Manual III. My first plan was to have the party raid the Temple of Loki for some reason or another.

as they enter they notice the eveil cleric at the altar, some baddies on the floor between the party and the BBEG and then they notice that there is a balcony around the top of the room. I thought of having Gnoll rangers in the balcony supported by some mid level clerics for buff spells and what not and some kind of big thugs on the floor. We have been using the Ibixians just for a new bad race ( I know the are neutral in the book) other than the old Orc/Gobbo thing. I thought of throwing in some Minotaurs too for extra thump all with character levels of course....but I like the Giants idea. That could be fun. Keep up the good help guys I can almost feel them squirm now!

 

[Mechnomancer]

There is no way, a cleric of the god of chaos and trickery is going to face the pcs. He'll get some one else to do it, trick the pcs into doing something stupid, get them to turn on each other, and ultimately have them destroyed without ever seeing them face to face. Get some bards to sow their "misdeeds" throughout the land making all towns hostile to them, forcing them to camp out in the dark forests and dread moors throughout the land. Make no place safe for them. With any luck, the pcs will never even know who it was that destroyed them. All to Loki's mirth.

 

[Kafkonia]

He should do everything in his power to dictate the terms of any encounter. If he knows they're coming, placing a wall of dispel magic in their path might knock them down a few pegs, as would a well-placed bestow curse, greater or energy ebb. Of course, these effects are contingent on beating their saving throws -- so anything he could do in advance to lower these throws would be the way to go.

Does he have agents who can do his bidding undetected? Replacing a couple of their magic items with powerless replicas could lead to some nasty surprises, especially if they've become overly dependent on them (something that he could learn in-game through careful observations.) And setting up a situation where their first instincts will backfire, such as the "Attack the Orphanage" scenario detailed elsewhere, could also help. He should also arrange, if at all possible, to separate members of the party, whether through traps or magic effects. The tank isn't quite so intimidating if he doesn't have a cleric to buff/heal him when necessary.

If he's aware of their abilities, and I don't see why he shouldn't be, he should definitely have spells and tactics specifically prepared to counteract them -- spells to make it hard for the ranger to hit him with missile attacks (whether by imparing his vision, or creating multiple targets, or just making it hard for the arrows to reach him.) Heck, he doesn't even need spells if he arranges the battlefield to provide him with readily available concealment and cover.

 

[hanniball]

Level 17... Does anyone else think a spellcaster with level 9 spells is too tough for a group of level 11 characters?

I mean... cast Time Stop against these characters and it doesn't matter what else you do, the PCs are dead.

Of course a level 17 spellcaster is too much for an ECL 11 group. A single 9th level spell will utterly destroy them all. I assumed they would be leveling before meeting this particular BBEG and, thus, provided a simple build that would effectively challenge high level PCs. I guess I should have first asked:

Angerland, at what level are you thinking of throwing this NPC at your party?

 

[Quartz]

How about making the cleric a Death Knight?

 

[monboesen]

My first question would be:

Do you want a tough fight with a crusader style generic cleric or an encounter with an npc that emphasises what Loki stands for?


If it is the first I'm sure many of the suggestions already put forth will do.



If you want the second a vanilla cleric isn’t the best way of portraying a worshipper of Loki. Loki is a classic trickster god, a stereotype that D&D does not do well with divine casters. He has nothing to do with powers of death, undead (though he is the father of the death goddess Hel), but with trickery, lies and deceit. He is not even decidedly evil, helping out the true norse gods (whom he, not being a god, does not belong to) as often as tricking them. But he is ever an unpredictable, jealous and petty con man.


To keep close to the ideal of Loki, he should have several dangerous monsters as protectors and guardians (Loki was the father of many monsters, if you want creepy this priest could be as well by mating in changed shape), either charmed or allies. Loki has the power to change shape, travel fast and is fascinated by magic items. Those are traits that the "priest" could easily emphasise too.

In fact I would not even make a high priest of Loki a Cleric at all. But rather a Rogue/Sorcerer/Arcane Trickster (and isn't there some feat that allows an arcane caster the spells of one domain if he needs healing ability) full of tricks, manipulation, illusions, charms who never willingly choose open confrontation.

The true test of facing this npc should be to get the chance of confronting him. He should mislead the pc's, perhaps even meeting them in disguise and sending them of on false trails to do stuff that will benefit him and/or hurt them.

He should lead them into thinking the have cornered him at last, only to escape and leaving them face to face with some dangerous monster.

He should steal from them, impersonate them and do bad deeds leaving the blame to fall on them.

And so on and on. In the end they will rejoice the more when they finally nail him.


My attempt would be something like this (note that magic items are not included, skills are on "need too" basis rather than a precise calculation and it is a 25 point buy build)

CR 17 (by the rules, but a bit lower IMO)
Male human rogue 4/sorcerer 6/Arcane trickster 7
CE Medium Humanoid
Init +2; Senses Listen +10, Spot +10
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex)
hp 66 (17 HD)
Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +9
Spd 30 ft
Melee Short sword +8/+3 (1d6-1 19-20*2)
Ranged Shortbow +11/+6 (1d6 20*3)
Base Atk +9; Grp +8
Special Atks Sneak attack +5d6, Impromptu sneak attack 2/day
Spell-Like Abilities Ranged legerdemain 2/day
Abilities Str 8, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 18
Feats Arcane disciple (healing domain), Quicken spell, Still spell, Silent spell, Eschew materials, Spell focus (enchantment, illusion)
Skills (class): Balance +15, Bluff +25, Diplomacy +15, Disguise +15, Escape Artist +25, Forgery +15, Gather Information +15, Hide +15, Jump +10, Listen +10, Move Silently +15, Search +15, Sense Motive +10, Sleight of hand +25, Spot +10, Tumble +15, Use Magic Device +2
Spells per day: 6/7/7/7/7/6/4
Spells known: 0 level/Arcane Mark, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Light, Mage Hand, Message, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost, Read Magic, 1 level/Disguise self, Grease, Magic missile, Ray of enfeeblement, Shield, 2 level/Detect thoughts, Glitterdust, Hideous laughter, Mirror image, Misdirection, 3 level/Nondetection, Suggestion, Major image, Slow, 4 level/Charm monster, Confusion, Greater invisibility, Polymorph, 5 level/Cone of cold, Mirage arcane, Teleport, 6 level/Greater dispel magic, Summon monster VI

 

[Angerland]

The set up for the big fight is that forces loyal to Loki are invading the Characters homeland from far away. We are coiming down to "The Big Battle" which will pit forces Loyal to Odin against those of Loki. In our Campaign Loki is indeed evil and seeking vengeance against Odin for some past grievance. The party has been helping the cause by taking on missions from a patron who unbeknownst to the party is an avatar of Odin. Durning the main battle the party will be used to take out strategic targets so the main battle can go the way of the forces of Odin. An evil party loyal to Loki will be set up to counter them and eventually lead the party to the big fight with the cleric on his home turf. We are all all 11the level now and depending on how much fighting goes on duing the evil party battles they may end up as 12th level PC's. I want the party , at the end of the big fight, to be out of spells, arrows, stunning fist attacks, laying on the ground bleeding , wounded near death with chests heaving... but alive and victorious. as I said before, if one or two need to be ressurected so be it.