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Pyramid of Shadow, Major Concerns with Climax
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<blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4741886" data-attributes="member: 40961"><p>My group is about to get to the final fight of Pyramid of Shadows. I have some concerns. Am I correct, or am I missing something?</p><p> </p><p>This will be spoiler heavy.</p><p> </p><p>[SBLOCK]The final fight involves a bad guy, Karavakos and his 12 shadow copies. The shadows are minions with relatively normal stats, though they do get a 6 damage ranged attack against reflex. Karavakos, by contrast, is an elite level 15 artillery monster.</p><p> </p><p>The party is, and is supposed to be, level 10. The fight is a level 13 encounter.</p><p> </p><p>First issue, his defenses. He's got an AC of 29, and a reflex of 32. Our wizard's attack bonus is +12, or +13 with a fire spell. Karavakos is a tiefling, so fire is a no-go due to fire resist 12. This means that our wizard hits this guy on a 20 with cloud of daggers, or a 19 with scorching burst (which then does 1d6-3 net damage). The cleric has the same problem. Our fighter, the character with the highest attack bonus, will hit on a 14+. Karavakos has about 250 hit points. No defense is below 29.</p><p> </p><p>How is this supposed to work? Seriously. Am I missing something obvious? Flanking will help a bit, but our leader powers that boost accuracy mostly depend on hitting and won't be very useful since our leader only hits this guy on a natural 20. Our automatic damage powers are mostly fire, and this guy teleports so its going to be impossible to trap him in a zone in this full poster map encounter. </p><p> </p><p>Second, the terrain. The Black Plinth and Energy Orbs deal 4d6 damage and stun (save ends) if you start your turn adjacent to them. You make saving throws at the end of your turn. You get stunned again at the start of your turn, unless you have moved outside of your turn. Then you take damage again. So... this automatically kills any character who can't move as an immediate or free action, or who doesn't have an ally capable of moving them?</p><p> </p><p>I can't help but think that this combat is screwed. Even if our characters are underpowered, and I don't think they are, adding a flat +2 to everyone's attack rolls and defenses would STILL leave the spellcasters hitting on an 18+ with most of their spells.</p><p> </p><p>I simply cannot imagine any plausible way for this fight to be won, short of exploiting the permanent pin from the Black Plinth and the Energy Orbs. Push Karavakos into it, sit back, drink a latte and wait? Other than that, the whole thing seems a foregone conclusion. And pushing him is really not an option, because he's a teleporter and can easily just never come near those terrain elements.</p><p> </p><p>Should I drop his defenses by a few points?[/SBLOCK]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cadfan, post: 4741886, member: 40961"] My group is about to get to the final fight of Pyramid of Shadows. I have some concerns. Am I correct, or am I missing something? This will be spoiler heavy. [SBLOCK]The final fight involves a bad guy, Karavakos and his 12 shadow copies. The shadows are minions with relatively normal stats, though they do get a 6 damage ranged attack against reflex. Karavakos, by contrast, is an elite level 15 artillery monster. The party is, and is supposed to be, level 10. The fight is a level 13 encounter. First issue, his defenses. He's got an AC of 29, and a reflex of 32. Our wizard's attack bonus is +12, or +13 with a fire spell. Karavakos is a tiefling, so fire is a no-go due to fire resist 12. This means that our wizard hits this guy on a 20 with cloud of daggers, or a 19 with scorching burst (which then does 1d6-3 net damage). The cleric has the same problem. Our fighter, the character with the highest attack bonus, will hit on a 14+. Karavakos has about 250 hit points. No defense is below 29. How is this supposed to work? Seriously. Am I missing something obvious? Flanking will help a bit, but our leader powers that boost accuracy mostly depend on hitting and won't be very useful since our leader only hits this guy on a natural 20. Our automatic damage powers are mostly fire, and this guy teleports so its going to be impossible to trap him in a zone in this full poster map encounter. Second, the terrain. The Black Plinth and Energy Orbs deal 4d6 damage and stun (save ends) if you start your turn adjacent to them. You make saving throws at the end of your turn. You get stunned again at the start of your turn, unless you have moved outside of your turn. Then you take damage again. So... this automatically kills any character who can't move as an immediate or free action, or who doesn't have an ally capable of moving them? I can't help but think that this combat is screwed. Even if our characters are underpowered, and I don't think they are, adding a flat +2 to everyone's attack rolls and defenses would STILL leave the spellcasters hitting on an 18+ with most of their spells. I simply cannot imagine any plausible way for this fight to be won, short of exploiting the permanent pin from the Black Plinth and the Energy Orbs. Push Karavakos into it, sit back, drink a latte and wait? Other than that, the whole thing seems a foregone conclusion. And pushing him is really not an option, because he's a teleporter and can easily just never come near those terrain elements. Should I drop his defenses by a few points?[/SBLOCK] [/QUOTE]
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