Oots 447

[questing gm]

Instant fallen paladins !

 

[Hjorimir]

There are a couple of hooded "paladins" there in the room; one of them could be his ace up the sleeve.

 

[Allegro]

You're assuming a supply of high level characters that hasn't been shown to exist. Lord Shojo had just one court wizard able to cast Teleport, after all.

Or bought scrolls.

 

[pallandrome]

Bought scrolls from who? He's the leader of the city, and his arcane highest caster is only up to teleport!

This is a setting where the majority of the NPCs are of significantly low levels. 50 low level Pallies < 1 Lich w/Meteor Swarm

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Monks have all good saves, and if the Paralyzing Touch is based on Hold Monster, it's an enchantment effect, and therefore subject to Still Mind. A Monk 11 with 17 Wis and 12 Con, wearing cloak of resistance +2 will have Will +12 and Fort +10. If Xykon is a Sorcerer 20 with Cha 20, his save DC will be 25. Factor in Bless, Prayer and other stuff that improves saves, and the saving throw becomes easier.

Plus, Xykon will have -4 to hit from the Grapple, and possibly -2 from Consecrate. Add in +2 AC from Protection from Evil and a Sorcerer's poor BAB (+10 at 20th level) and we'll have Xykon rolling d20+4 to hit...

Paralyzing Touch isn't based on Hold Monster/Person, so the monk is only protected by its high saving throws. (Which, in our group usually guarantees a failure in a critical situation).

If there was only one wizard capable of casting Teleport, this indicates that few (or more likely: none) spellcasters have a caster level beyond 10th, so any Greater Dispelling or Dispel Magic Xykon casts as a high chance of removing all buff spells.

The Monk's spell resistance is pretty useless against a caster of Xykons level (at least level 17 for his 9th level spells).

I think one of the hardest things for each character int he mix will be getting to a flying opponent. PCs might have flying capabilities, but most NPCs won't have (lesser expected wealth by level means not so much money for the "fun" things.)

And all this isn't counting in the buff spells that Xykon (or Redcloak) might have cast to protect him against the Paladin Force. (if they did so, why shouldn't he, especially since he knew what he was doing)

 

[borc killer]

You guys are all wrong. Xykon thinks he can kill all the paladins and secure the room. But he won’t. He will accidently destroy the thrown detonating the whole castle destroying half the city and both armies. He will die… again and Redcloak will flee with the amulet.

So in closing: Xykon, in the throne room, with a misplaced AE spell.

; )

 

[Victim]

You are thinking only of the paladins. The throne room is the focal point of a LG order that dates back quite a while. If that room sin't covered in multiple Consecrates (permament fixtures, giving Xykon -2 on all attacks, damage and saves, plus no Animated Dead), Hallow (permanent Magic Circle Against Evil, plus a secondary spell like Dispel Magic?), etc, I'd be severely disappointed. Plus the Paladins have access to Resist Energy, Dispel Magic, Prayer, Bless, Death Ward, Dispel Evil and Holy Sword. Spellcasting works both ways.

And all it takes is a Monk (hey, we're in the South, right?) to grapple Xykon. Ki Strike (magic) + Improved Grapple (bludgeoning damage) = no DR. A Monk 11 has SR 21, and can make 4 grapple checks per round (using flurry or blows) to deal 1d10 + Str mod. With a grapple modifier at or above +16, such a character could single-handedly deal about 12 points of damage with a single Grapple check (which would also force Xykon to make Concentration checks to cast any spell, even Voice-only spells).

And all of this is without thinking that one of those could be a cleric. Consecrate + 10 paladins using Aid Another on turning checks = +26 to a turning cleric's Turn Undead. Add an Amulet vs. Undead and we're looking at a successful turn vs. undead with HD equal to cleric's level +8.

Monks = caster killers.
Paladins + clerics = undead killers.

Oh boy, a high level caster will have to make a Concentration check. He's so screwed...

Xykon's D-Door out of the grapple would be an autosuccess, at which point he could be back in long range lobbing spells into the room. Clerics, monks, and pallies have very few attacks at long range. That's if Xykon hasn't picked up some either anti-grapple ability (like a ring of Free Action or a spell from Red Cloak) since Roy beat him by tossing him into the gate. The monk's SR is basically another autosuccess at Xykon's level - assuming a level 20 Xykon (or 18 with Spell Pen), he won't ever fail to penetrate it.

Aid Another doesn't apply to turn checks.

Given the other strips, I think that you're vastly overstating the high level resources available to Azure City - it seems likely that pretty much all those guys are below 10th level. And paladin spell progress is slow enough that most of those spells will be unavailable or worthless due to caster level. Dispel Magic probably can't do anything to Xykon even if pallies didn't cast it at 1/2 their level - a caster level of 20 means that ordinary dispels can't succeed without some outside bonus to the dispel check.

Xykon could Forcecage himself to remove melee threats.

 

[Celebrim]

My guess is that most of these Paladins are between 5th and 9th level.

Xykon is going to have about as much problem with them as he had with Roy. He's going to get hurt enough to notice, and he's going to spend some fraction of his resources, but really these are small fry for his ECL.

What Xykon is risking though is that the OoS + the army beats most of his army, and that enough of the OoS survives to resurrect the rest and recover. That leaves him vulnerable to assault by a ressurected Roy (don't split the party, smart guy!) and company while he's trying to do his whole ritual thing. He needs to be finishing off the OoS, not playing around with the mid-level NPC's.

 

[Jdvn1]

Xykon could Forcecage himself to remove melee threats.

There are other casters in that room too, y'know. I'm sure there are enough dispel magics in there to counter any Forcecage Xykon has.

 

[mmu1]

Xykon's a 20th level sorcerer, (the weakest full spellcasting class in the game, at that level, since spells known and access to the right feats are more important than a few extra spell slots) not a demigod.

In D&D terms, he's screwed, unless all those characters - many of which clearly are spellcasters, and who all seem to have been ready for him - actually are pitifully low level.

Now, a 20th level caster almost certainly would have enough power to save himself from being killed by a large group of lower-level characters - in other words, survive long enough to get away - but charging in like that, he's asking for it. (That many people could probably just pelt him to death with vials of holy water in fairly short order. 2d4 damage, no save, no SR, not elemental so no resistances apply... That's 40 points of damage a round from the splash alone, even if everyone missed the touch attacks.)

On the other hand, while Rich usually sticks closely to D&D canon whenever possible, he doesn't let that get in the way of telling the story he wants, or stop him from getting in a dramatic or cinematic moment here and there.