Vader vs Soth: Fight! Who wins?

Morrus · Dec 21, 2021

Bedrockgames said:
They are the same guy....

Yep, they certainly are!

Sketch #49: Soth vs Vader | Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk

Each week we revisit a short skit from the main podcast, a year or more back. In this one, the two most dreaded of Dark Lords face off! It's Lord Soth vs. Darth Vader!

morrus.podbean.com

Mannahnin · Dec 21, 2021

Blue Orange said:
Depends who gets initiative.

I could see Vader trying to Force-choke Soth and failing, which lets Soth get a fireball in (I'm going to assume Soth can size up Vader and assume he has too many HP for a PWK.) If Soth gets initiative, bang, fireball.

My sympathies are actually with Vader as the star of the larger franchise, but that's the way I see it.

If you really wanted there are d20 stats for each from the 3e era.

This. Soth has the ability to win from a distance.

Snarf Zagyg · Dec 21, 2021

CleverNickName said:
You misspelled "Spock," but I knew what you meant.

....regular Spock or cool goatee Spock?

Mad_Jack · Dec 21, 2021

I'd have to go with Vader, just because his use of the Force is more versatile than Soth's abilities. Vader, as one of the more powerful Force users in the Star Wars universe, can probably block or resist most of Soth's spell use. Soth doesn't really have any way to effectively defend against Vader using the environment against him, tossing him around like a ragdoll, or simply just Force-crushing him inside his own armor.
In a straight-up sword fight, assuming Vader's lightsaber can't just cut through Soth's magic armor, Vader's Force-enhanced reflexes are going to give him a serious advantage.

If Soth could manage to ambush Vader with overwhelming force, he could probably take him out, but toe-to-toe I'm going with Vader.

Umbran · Dec 21, 2021

The winner is the one publishing the comic book with this fight in it.

Rabulias · Dec 21, 2021

Galandris said:
Yes. If their power don't cross the universes, Vader fails as his breathing apparatus ceases to function, long before Soth has time to start waking to meet him.

If their powers don't cross universes, whatever animates Soth ceases and he is already dead as Vader lies dying. So I guess Vader would win by "dying last."

Stalker0 · Dec 21, 2021

So we can probably assume a few things to help us put Vader in a "dnd like" contest.

Force Reflexes and Precognition: The Evasion class ability and Foresight spells seem to be a solid rationale here.
Force Choke/Telekinesis: The telekinesis spell is a good note here.
Lightsaber: A flaming longsword is probably a decent start, maybe mixed with a "Shatterspike" for object breaking power.
Probably a high level fighter "chassis" for some base stats.

Meanwhile, we can use the 5e "Death Knight" for Soth, with the addition of things like Power Word Kill.

So it seems to me is neither is going to be doing much "spell slinging" here. Both are going to have advantage to saves (Soth through magic resistance...which is basically the force in this combined universe), and Vader gets advantage on all saves through Foresight. So its going to come down to mostly raw attack power.

Foresight gives Vadar advantage on all attacks, but Soth has a shield for extra AC and has parry for a pretty big AC boost (and we should assume that a magic weapon can parry a lightsaber....just as two lightsabers can parry each other). Both are probably dishing out 3 attacks a round. Soth will also have disadvantage on his attacks. However, Soth can use staggering smites for the first 3 rounds without losing any attack power, adding a lot more damage onto any hits (and there is always a small chance vadar fails, though unlikely).

I think ultimately Vadar is going to get in more hits, but Soth will do more damage per hit (that extra necrotic damage on his attack is quite a bit more damage). The big question is.... can Vadar kill Soth fast enough before he gets below the 100 hp threshold and just gets killed with power word kill?

I think my answer is probably no. If we assume that both are roughly comparable in fighting power.... the fact that Soth can just autokill Vadar at the finish line will see him through.