Lantern Archon barrage

[James McMurray]

In last night's game, the party faced a Winter Wight. They managed to drive it off temporarily by gating in 36 Lantern Archons and Mass Hasting them (for 108 ranged touch attacks at +3 to hit each). My question is this: what spells could be used to increase that even farther.

I have already found:

• Righteous Wrath of the Faithful: +1 morale bonus to hit and 1d8 temporary hit points. If the archons worship Heironious (which I will rule has a 25% chance of occuring) then they will get +2 morale to attack and damage rolls, and one extra attack per round.
• Song of Heroes (via Limited Wish): +3 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls. Duration is concentration + 2 rounds, so it will have to be applied last.
• Recitation: +2 luck bonus to attack rolls (+3 if the Archons worship Heironious, which I will rule has a 25% chance of happening).
• Bear's Heart: 1d4 temp. hit points per level.
• Blessed Aim (from the Paladin): +2 morale bonus to hit. Only usable if Song of the Heores is not cast.

Granted, quite a few of those are morale bonuses. For example, if the archons worship eironious, then there is no reason to use the Blessed Aim. Also, the Song of Heroes makes the Blessed Aim not needed.

C'mon folks, help a bastard min/max.

 

[trentonjoe]

how about the bard's songs and/or bless?

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Each archon can aid itself for a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls and saves against fear, and 1d8 temporary hit points. The paladin can increase the attack bonus to +2. The archons have normal +2 ranged touch attack, so that will increase to +3 or +4. I don't think I would "buff" the archons any more than that.

What is a Winter Wight anyway? Where can I find it? And how powerful is it that your obviously high level party could not defeat it without celestial help? Just curious.

 

[trentonjoe]

WInter wights are CR 8 or better I think. They are pretty bad-bottom. I think they are in Scott Greene's CC.

 

[James McMurray]

In the last battle, they aided themselves. However, Aid's temp hitpoints and Bear's Heart's temp hitpoints may or may not stack. If they do, thent he extra 1d8 hitpoints probably isn't worth the lost attack.

Bless and bard songs are both morale bonuses, and thus don't stack with most of the other spells mentioned.

Winter Wights are CR23 evil nasties from the Epic Level Handbook. They have 46 AC (18 touch). 3 attacks at +40/+49/+32 for 3d8+22/3d8+22/2d6+14. Their touch can set your soul on fire (4 con per round). They have DR 20/+6 and 10/-. They have Fast Healing 10, and every time someone loses con to their blightfire, they heal 10 hp. They also have tones of at will spell abilities, the most useful of which is probably sleet storm (which they are immune to).

 

[trentonjoe]

Winter Wights are CR23 evil nasties from the Epic Level Handbook. They have 46 AC (18 touch). 3 attacks at +40/+49/+32 for 3d8+22/3d8+22/2d6+14. Their touch can set your soul on fire (4 con per round). They have DR 20/+6 and 10/-. They have Fast Healing 10, and every time someone loses con to their blightfire, they heal 10 hp. They also have tones of at will spell abilities, the most useful of which is probably sleet storm (which they are immune to).

oops, they were in something else before. I just searched all my old hangouts and couldn't find them.

8, 23 what's the difference!?

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Thanks for the info, James. I don't have the ELH yet, but you guys certainly had your hands full.

Temporary hit points don't stack, unfortunately, but I would just let the archons blast away. With that many, they should get at least 25 to 30 hits per round. Not bad.

 

[James McMurray]

Yeah, looking at it right now, I can see getting 144 attacks at +8 each for 1d6 + 3 damage. This assumes the Archons are pulled from Heironious' ranks. against a touch AC of 18 (fairly standard for this level of creature), I can assume 1/2 hit for 6.5 damage each, average damage = 468 per round once the buffs are all set up.

If the archons are not from Heironious' ranks, then the # of attacks drops to 108, and the to hit bonuses drop to +6. The damage also drops to 1d6. That still leaves an average of 151 damage per round.

The bear's Heart will grant 42 bonus hit points, meaning the Lantern Archons will have 50 hp and therefore may be able to withstand area of effect spells.

However, as Tim, the Tool Man, Taylor says. "More Power!" Anyone else have ideas?

I have a spell I created called Mark of the Deity that can also add a +1 sacred bonus to hit and damage if the Archons are of Heironious' ranks. That ups the average damage to 594.

 

[Alariel]

If I'm not mistaken, Winterwights came from Return to Tomb of Horrors (at least, that's where I first found them). They were pretty nasty back then, being 16HD and having that Blackflame effect, and now they're nightmarish. I'm going to adore using them in the epic-level upgrade of RtToH I'm working on.

 

[James McMurray]

That's where they are from all right. Oddly enough, my sig points toa return tothe Tomb of Horrors campaign.

I haven't had time to update it in quite a bit though, but there's still tons there.