What made you realize you were facing COD-zilla?

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I found the rotting corpse of HALIBUT-zilla.

 

[Pbartender]

Odd. I have books claiming it's an hour-long casting time. Maybe I'm remembering my 3.0 PHB.

In 3.0, it's "1 action".

I don't have any 2nd ed. books, but in my 1st ed. AD&D PHB, Animate Dead is either a 3rd level Cleric spell that takes "1 round" (1 minute) to cast, or a 5th level Magic-User spells that takes "5 rounds" (5 minutes) to cast...

 

[moritheil]

I didn't face him; I ran him (or something very much like him.)

Much like the lumbering tarrasque, feared but not actually encountered, CoDzilla's existence kept the powergamers in line.

 

[Arkhandus]

What level was he? AC in the 30s is not great at high level.

My first encounter with Codzilla was at around 6th level, when we met a troglodyte cleric in full plate who had buffed himself. His AC was off the scale, so the rest of the party were reduced to distracting him while my sorcerer slowly whittled him down with magic missiles. Had he been a good cleric, and able to spontaneously cast cure spells, I think the fight would still be going on ...

This was at 12th- and 13th-level, so the half-dragon half-human cleric was 9th- or 10th-level (given his +3 LA). Just high enough to be throwing around Righteous Mights, Divine Powers, and Quickened 1st-level spells. He used nearly all of his starting wealth (90 k) on a magic greatsword and a few AC-boosting items.

A +1 or +2 vicious wounding greatsword I think it was, a +3 or +4 amulet of natural armor, and +5 mithral full plate. Or maybe the plate was Medium Fortification with only +2 enhancement, I forget. Plus his half-dragon natural armor AC, and some Dex bonus. Also, at some point after slaying the first white dragon, he got himself a ring of protection with some of his loot, so he wouldn't have to waste spell slots on Shield of Faith or Quickened Shield of Faith anymore.

The satyr druid was 13th-level or so, counting his 1 satyr HD, 8 levels of druid, and 3 or 4 levels of nature warrior (after some discussion, I let him play a satyr with just the first racial level out of Savage Species, making him more of a juvenile lesser satyr of sorts). He didn't bother with buffing up very often (just the occasional Barkskin or Animal Growth or Greater Magic Fang), and just got on with the wild-shaped druid-and-animal-companion buttkickery, plus a summoned minion or two at times. And whenever the situation warranted it, he just Flame Striked his foes repeatedly.

 

[FireLance]

Much like the lumbering tarrasque, feared but not actually encountered, CoDzilla's existence kept the powergamers in line.

Heh. I happen to believe that with great powergaming comes great responsibility, specifically, the responsibility to ensure that your powergaming doesn't interfere with the other players' fun.

That specific character was pretty much played as a "face" (maxed out Diplomacy and decent Charisma) and a healer/support for the other party members, especially the main fighter. His full capabilities were only brought into play when it was necessary to pull the party's fat out of the fire.

The BBEG who sucked up 80 points of Force damage had actually challenged the party to a series of one-on-one fights, and the fighter was the first up. Despite being buffed with spells such as bull's strength and protection from evil, he still went down frighteningly easily, in just a few rounds. So, when my PC stepped up to face the BBEG (who was issuing an "Is there anyone else?" challenge like Brad Pitt/Achilles in Troy) he pulled out ALL the stops.

 

[Campbell]

The first time I played in a game with more than one Cleric.

 

[Jhaelen]

Basically, at what point duing gaming 3E did you realize you were up against CODzilla? What steps did you take to take it down, or did you just close your eyes and run screaming for the hills?

When I asked my druid player what his AC was in his wildshape and he replied 36 - he was level 8 at that point...

Well, we're using the PHB2 variant now, which is both more balanced and playable. It's still pretty tough to seriously harm the druid, but I'm able to challenge him from time to time.

After my cleric player's mystic theurge died, his next character became a Radiant Servant of Pelor but that was actually a welcome change. The survivability of the group as a whole has radically increased and the chance of an unlucky pc death due to criticals went down drastically.
I no longer have to pull my blows so it's more fun for everyone.

 

[Set]

What made you realize you were facing COD-zilla?

The BOC soundtrack playing in the background.