Oots 447

[WizarDru]

Man, I feel bad for those poor paladins and other members of the Azure Guard. Nobody even as tough as the Order to stand against an epic-level sorceror lich who's been planning for this fight for a while. We know he can throw down a meteor swarm for starters...that's a room clearer right there. Especially as he and his agents are probably protected against fire damage.

But I've got one word for you: WEIRD.
Or, if you prefer: Wail of the Banshee.

Xykon will slaughter them. Poor, Noble Bastards. Fight on!

 

[Voadam]

The guards don't really have much of a chance, but I think Xykon doesn't want to damage the gate so he won't open up with another "METEOR SWARM". I think we'll see some other area of effect spell coming out soon though, probably something like circle of death or horrid wilting are good room clearers which don't damage the furniture.

 

[Gez]

Nobody even as tough as the Order to stand against an epic-level sorceror lich who's been planning for this fight for a while.

I object to your use of the word "planning" here. Redcloak was planning, Xykon was watching his teevo. Xykon is powerful enough to not care about planning. This may be his undoing... If there are a few powerful priests in the SG.

It's not impossible -- people have been harping on the court wizard, but clerics aren't arcane casters. Azure City and the Sapphire Guard in particular have quite an emphasis on divine magic. Also, Miko and Shojo are the most powerful warriors of the Guard, but again, warrior is not spellcaster. There may be people with more level than them in this room -- and I'm not talking about the enemy here!

Of course, Xykon slaughtering the Sapphire Guard to the last is the most likely scenario. There's a reason for that, which Elan could explain very well -- drama demands that it's the PCs who triumph over the BBEG, not a bunch of NPCs.

 

[wingsandsword]

A thought about the availability of high-level Divine Spellcasters to Azure City. . .

They could muster up a Resurrection for Lord Shojo, meaning they have at least one 13th level cleric, but since they didn't use True Resurrection they probably don't have any 17th level clerics.

For dramatics sake, it's looking bad for the Sapphire Guard, the BBEG is facing off against a bunch of NPC's. I'd expect the Sapphire Guard to either chase him away, or to fight to the last man and hurt Xykon pretty seriously, making him wounded enough and depleted enough on spells for the OotS to be able to have another showdown with him where they can win the day.

 

[Pbartender]

Well... consider this as an off the cuff estimation...

We have two very obvious magic items in the crowd... The sword with the bluish-white flames and the winged boots. The sword could be all sorts of things, so let's focus on the boots for a moment.

Winged Boots, by the DMG, cost 16,000 gp retail. If we use the NPC Wealth by Level chart in the DMG as a guideline, that means the fellow with the Winged Boots is about 10th level, if those boots are his only magic item. If those boots represented only half the value of his total magic items (more than likely -- with +2 armor, +2 weapon, +2 weapon accounting for the resst), he could be level 13 or 14.

I'd suspect that the guys in the throne room are the cream of the crop as far as the Saphhire guard is concerned.

Of course, at best I expect these to barely hold Xykon off with heavy losses, until one of the real heroes can step in to chase him off.

 

[shilsen]

*raises hand sheepishly*

Am I the only one who thinks Xykon's levels, the paladins' and clerics' levels, and anything else, are mostly irrelevant?

Whatever will happen will be what Rich thinks is most entertaining and helpful for the story, short and long term.

 

[Jedi_Solo]

Am I the only one who thinks Xykon's levels, the paladins' and clerics' levels, and anything else, are mostly irrelevant?

Bah!

You're thinking rationally and logically. This is the internet and thinking rationally and logically is not allowed.

I'm fairly certain there is a law against it written down somewhere...

 

[Pbartender]

*raises hand sheepishly*

Am I the only one who thinks Xykon's levels, the paladins' and clerics' levels, and anything else, are mostly irrelevant?

No, you're not... But it's still fun to postulate about them.

 

[Gez]

*raises hand sheepishly*

Am I the only one who thinks Xykon's levels, the paladins' and clerics' levels, and anything else, are mostly irrelevant?

Whatever will happen will be what Rich thinks is most entertaining and helpful for the story, short and long term.

Quoting myself:

Of course, Xykon slaughtering the Sapphire Guard to the last is the most likely scenario. There's a reason for that, which Elan could explain very well -- drama demands that it's the PCs who triumph over the BBEG, not a bunch of NPCs.

 

[Nyeshet]

I don't care how high-level Xykon is. He's still a Sorcerer and he's ina room with 20+ mid- to high-level Paladins.

He either gets trounced back into the phylactery or Xykon becomes a DMPC.

Why do you think the paladins are all mid to high level?

Miko is supposed to be among the best of them, and she is about 12th level. Xykon is close to 20th level - taking into account his level / CR adjustment for being a Lich. I'd guess that at best there might be a few 10-12th level paladins, wizards, and clerics in there. It literally will take the entire Sapphire Guard to make a worthy (ie: [encounter] level appropriate) challenge for Xykon.

Most of the guard will easily fall. Those few that last will probably be able to add a few cracks in Xykon's skull before dying. But unless some more high(er) level NPCs and PCs arrive, Xykon will only be inconvenienced and delayed in reaching the gate.