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So we battled Orcus....

Orion Ravenclaw

First Post
We defeated him.

It was a fun night. I don't want to say it was easy. We had experienced players, and we have had team cohesion for 2 years or so. This is to say we know what each other can do and needs to succeed.

We also rolled very well, and the DM ....not so much.

To start, Orcus rolled a horrible initiative. We rolled better. He got one turn off before my cleric's turn. (Devoted, Divine Oracle, Saint)

I action pointed immediately to get the free move action. This let me free move + move. I was in perfect position to get all the Minions, the Death Knight, and Orcus with my minor Turn Undead (feats to use it as a minor and use it against demons) Got the minions, death knight, and I crit-ed Orcus. I was able to get the corpses out of the raise dead aura. Next, I put down a zone on Orcus that would auto-damage at the start of his turn. I then used Seal of Binding and hit. Now he was stunned. This let the party deal with the death knight and and other minions. It also let them get into position next to Orcus without his stun-tail whip attack.

Healing powers easily kept me above bloodied value. When we were all ready I stopped sustaining the stun. I then used Prophecy of Doom. The Rogue action pointed, used a daily and hit (auto crit), used the extra action and rolled a natural 20 to crit again. The Paladin kept Orcus pinned, and Orcus rolled poorly and missed. Various buffs and heals kept them tough and relativity safe. That necrotic aura helped Orcus though. He had to resort to his Burst. This meant that the Paladin got to use his thing where he damages the enemy for anything not attacking him solely, and it ignored all resistances and immunities.

A couple more good hits and damage rolls from the rouge got Orcus down pretty quickly. My cleric unleashed Hammer of Fate....and crit-ed again. The DM couldn't believe it. He was happy though...took a picture of the roll.

Well, that final crit finished Orcus. It was fun, and fitting considering the Cleric is devoted to the Raven Queen, and his back story was tied to Orcus. It was a great battle because of team cohesion; I do not think it is because Orcus was weak. Good rolls vs. bad rolls usually will win every time.

It was lucky we gave the DM that Orcus figure last week. DM had already planned this fight, so he actually got to use the figure last night.

Thanks for reading; sorry for the long post. I wanted to share the experience.
 

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Sometimes our DM gets a little frustrated; however, this campaign is coming to a close. Another player will start a new Dark Sun campaign. I told the current DM, that he will learn quite a bit as a player. He will understand what PCs are capable of, and he will be less surprised when he runs anymore encounters. He will get to see the game from a PC side, and it will help him on the DM side of the screen.
 



Yeah, I look at the MM1 Orcus and he looks like a complete pushover to me, even with the damage boost from the June update. I'm planning on two versions of Orcus for my own campaign (they're 28th now about three to six weeks away from fighting Orcus).

I'll be doing quite a bit with him to ensure he doesn't get cornered and pounded. Here are some of my ideas:

Doubling the damage from the aura. Auras don't care if you're stunned or dazed or whatever.

Increasing his base damage with the June update.

Giving him ways to throw off status effects including stun and unconsciousness.

Making his death strike attack reliable.

I'll have another version that will be much more like Gamefiend's "Worldbreaker". Multiple shifting auras. Embedded skill challenges. Transformations when bloodied. It will be a real fireworks show.

Running him twice means I get to really understand what will happen the second time by seeing it the first time. It also means I get to use the "mini" more than once.
 


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