ToDE Arena Madness: Jeremy Dodd vs. Khordeshiskraan

[Toptomcat]

As the fighters leave their dressing room, the sound hits them like a physical wall- the sound of twenty thousand bloodthirsty spectators howling for a fight. The stands are packed with beings of every description- men, elves, baatzeu, tanar'ri, modrons, slaadi and stranger things, every one of them screaming full-throatedly for the bout about to take place. A particularly obnoxious astral deva tootles away on a vuvezela for a second or two before the demigod in the seat behind them knocks 'em cold.

The arena is a hundred feet in diameter, surrounded by a cube of force: it is a magical imitation of a woodland area, scattered with trees, and cut in half by a winding river. The gladiators are separated by an opaque wall of force: a green light flares into existence above them, the signal for them to begin casting whatever magics they may require. The match proper begins in precisely six seconds.
(Make your buff round behind spoiler tags and roll init.)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/Toptomcat/arena2i.gif

[Dresil]

What looks like an anthropomorphic dragon stretches both his arms and his wings, and smiles at his opponent.

"I know you wanted to fight me, but I also brought some friends along. They want to play just as much as I do."

Buff Round + Initiative

Initiative [roll0]
Mirror Image for [roll1] clones, lasting 1000 rounds.
To hit me, you must roll a 1 on a 1dx, where x = number of clones left + 1


A number of duplicate copies spring up and all laugh at the thrill of battle.

[Toptomcat]

A faint aura of golden energy surrounds a raven-haired young man in red-and-black armor. He nods to his opponent, a focused expression on his face.
"We can all use a little help from our friends...but if you're going to play, you'd better play to win."
A moment's rapid chanting- a swift hand gesture- and Jeremy has vanished from his opponent's sight.

Persistent spells and long-term buffs are as noted on the character sheet with the exception of Greater Status, but cleric spell selection is different, as follows:
0-level: 6 (Create Water, Detect Magic, Guidance, Light, Mending, Read Magic)
1st level: 7 + 1 (Bless, Entropic Shield, Shield of Faith, Blessed Aim, Conviction x2, Resurgence, Magic Aura)
2nd level: 7 + 1 (Divine Insight, Guidance of the Avatar, Soul Ward x2, Close Wounds, Body Ward x2, Identify)
3rd level: 7 + 1 (Magic Vestment x2, Vision of the Omniscent Eye, Restoration, Girallon's Blessing, Crown of Smiting, Footsteps of the Divine, Dispel Magic)
4th level: 5 + 1 (Greater Magic Weapon, Spell Immunity, Delay Death, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Imbue with Spell Ability)
5th level: 5 + 1 (Surge of Fortune, Righteous Might, True Seeing, Swift Etherealness, Divine Retribution, Spell Resistance)
6th level: 4 + 1 (Persistent Chasing Perfection [DMM], Superior Resistance, Heal, Greater Dispel Magic, Antimagic Field)
7th level: 3 + 1 (Persistent Divine Favor, Persistent Shield of Faith, Holy Star, Spell Turning)
8th level: 1 + 1 (Persistent Stormrage [DMM], Protection from Spells)
Sophia and Logos are bound to Karsus and Focalor respectively, and granting their usual benefits.

Swordsage maneuvers prepared: Counter Charge, Action Before Thought, Sudden Leap, Distracting Ember
Crusader maneuvers readied:
1 Foehammer
2 White Raven Tactics
3 Shield Counter
4 Strength Draining Strike
5 Stalker in the Night
6 One with Shadow
7 Stone Vise
Stance taken: Aura of Perfect Order

The Distracting Shadows rock is out of the bag.

Buff round:
Jeremy
Cast True Seeing (standard), cast Swift Etherealness (swift). Begin in B11.
Crusader maneuvers granted: [roll0] [roll1] [roll2] [roll3] EDIT: Shield Counter, One with Shadow, Strength-Draining Strike, Foehammer
Anias
Manifest Touchsight, augmented to 70' radius (7 pp) (standard)
Sophia and Logos
Sophia begins projecting senses aura (swift), Sophia begins focusing on Karsus' Senses (standard)


Initiative:
Jeremy: Attempt to cast Nerveskitter, spell failure chance (high fails) [roll4]. [roll5], possibly +5 for Nerveskitter. Edit: Nerveskitter succeeds, result 33.
Anias: [roll6]
Sophia and Logos: [roll7]
For ease of play, my current exotic vision modes: I have two creatures looking out of the same set of eyes, both of whom are able to make independent Spot checks at +10 and +17 for what is seen, Touchsight out to a 70' radius, True Seeing, a souped-up all-round version of Detect Magic with a 30' radius, low-light vision, and darkvision 60'. Since we start 120' away and there's cover between us, none of this affects you yet. Also, I didn't mean for you to put your initiative behind the same spoiler as your buff round: who goes first?

[Dresil]

You do, I rolled an 11 on my Initiative.

[Toptomcat]

The spectators roar, the river flows. No trace of Khordeshiskraan's opponent appears.

Damn, why did I use Swift Etherealness in my buff round? Buff rounds have durations, it's not like the one-round duration starts after the buff round. I don't think it's a serious error, though.

Jeremy: Activate One With Shadow boost (immediate action), cast Guidance of the Avatar spell (standard action), fly to N11 as a move action, hide under broken bridge, burning a turn attempt for a second swift action next turn to discharge Divine Insight as an immediate action. Total Hide check +63, effectively +68 with Distracting Shadows rock out. Using Aura of Perfect Order to take 11 on the check for a total of 79. Move Silently check irrelevant, ethereal.
Anias: Manifest Elfsight without display.
Sophia and Logos: Do nothing.
Crusader maneuver granted: [roll0] Edit: Stalker in the Night. We're in business.

If you have a means of detecting ethereal creatures, you may begin making Spot checks to locate me on your turn. If not, you may begin making Spot checks to locate me on the turn after next.

[Dresil]

In a flash, all 8 dragons snap their fingers, and their eyes begin to glow blue. They then fly 30' straight up.

"Who needs to see flesh when I can see your magic itself?"

Effects

Arcane Sight: 0/1000 rounds
Mirror Image 1/1000 rounds

[Toptomcat]

If that's a divination effect, you need to make a DC 28 caster level check. Additionally, assuming you aren't making sure to conceal yourself or are using Silent/Still Spell on your spells, you should give me the Spellcraft DCs to identify them as you cast them.

[Dresil]

CL Check [roll0]

Spellcraft DC is 17 and 18 for my first and second spells, respectively.

[Toptomcat]

Spellcraft rolls: auto-succeed.
Your Arcane Sight picks up nothing but the magical arena walls. Which are, incidentally, Evocation. Does that complete your turn?

[Dresil]

Yes it does.

[Toptomcat]

The river flows, the spectators roar. The status quo continues.

Jeremy: Become material. Activate Haste SLA (standard). Stay stationary, retain same Hide check.
Anias: Manifest Synesthete without display, feel light version.
Sophia/Logos: Logos begins projecting power aura (swift).
15/15 rounds of Haste remaining.
Crusader maneuver granted: [roll0] Edit: White Raven Tactics.

That completes my turn. You may now make a Spot check to locate Jeremy.

[Dresil]

Spot [roll0]

Also listening for any movement. [roll1]

Move to F11 and rise up another 5 feet, then activate my Ring of Blink. I can now see Ethereal creatures.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

Effects:

Blink - Indefinite
Mirror Image - 2/1000 rounds
Arcane Sight - 1/1000 rounds

[Toptomcat]

You see no one and hear no movement.
Jeremy: Delay to init count 12.
Anias: Manifest Sense Link without display, augment to 7 pp to share his vision and Touchsight with Jeremy. Use Quicken Spell-Like Ability to gin up a use of TK, Bull Rushing Khordeshiskraan down and East.
Sophia: Drop Toxic and of Assassination to grant Metalline (FR: Underdark): As a standard action, she changes the material from steel to Riverine (Stormwrack), which is a force effect and thus strikes on the ethereal and is not subject to Blink.
You feel an invisible force suddenly push you east.
Telekinetic bull rush: [roll0]
My turn isn't over after this: resist the bull rush and we'll see what comes next.

[Dresil]

Str check [roll0]

Also, due to my Blindsense ability, I will know if you are within 30' of me.

[Toptomcat]

Due to my Darkstalker feat, my Hide and MS checks apply normally even to creatures with Blindsense.
Jeremy: Ready an action to activate Belt of Battle if Khordeshiskraan gets within 45'.
Turn complete.

[Dresil]

Fly to H13 and land on the post, then cast See Invisibility.

Effects on:

Blink - Indefinite
Mirror Image - 3/1000 rounds
Arcane Sight - 2/1000 rounds
See Invisibility - 0/10000 rounds


Spot [roll0]
Listen [roll1]

[Toptomcat]

I can just *barely* get to Khordeshiskraan and back with Stalker in the Night: beginning at N11, go to K12 (5-foot), I12 (+15 feet, 20 feet total), 25 feet up (+25 feet, 45 feet total) to I12+25: opponent is in H13+30, and thus attackable with a reach weapon. This is accounting conservatively: making an actual beeline for N11 will be shorter, but I don't feel like dragging out the Pythagorean Theorem.
Thus: Readied action triggers, activate Belt of Battle. With the full-round action thus granted, initiate Stalker in the Night: fly to I12+25, then use the remaining 45 feet of fly movement (Fly+Haste) to skedaddle back to N11 and re-hide.
This is the first time I've moved audibly since the beginning of the fight, which is why I'm rolling my Move Silently now (even though my bonus is greater than Dresil's roll, what the hey): [roll0]
Activate Law Devotion as a swift action, add +7 to attack rolls.
True Seeing is up, negating Mirror Image and the racial Disguise Self effect that's up. Knowledge Devotion uses Knowledge (local) for humanoids: [roll1] (+1-5 on attack and damage)
Attack is Crusader smite: +10 to attack, +6 damage.
Attack is a sneak attack: +1d6 sneak attack damage.
Haste gives +1 attack.
Power draconic aura gives +1 damage.
This is not a charge, so I don't get any of my tasty damage multipliers.
+18 total over my normal attack roll: +54 total. Power Attacking for 15: none of my charge-attack PA multipliers above, so I get just +30 damage. Attack is at +39.
+7 +1d6 over my normal damage roll, +37 +1d6 with Power Attack: final damage is 1d10+56+3d6 slashing.
With True Seeing up, Jeremy can see into the Ethereal, and with Riverine making my weapon a force effect I can strike there, too. Blink's miss chance negated.
Rounds of Haste remaining: 14/15
Rounds of Law Devotion remaining: 10/10
There is a sudden, blurred sense of motion- a brief flash of red and black- and suddenly everything is still again, except for the trickle of fresh blood down Khordeshiskraan's side...

Attack roll: [roll2] (Uncanny Dodge, vs. regular and not flat-footed AC) (Edit: Actually 48)
Damage roll: Edit, bolloxed this up

Jeremy still counts as hiding.

[Toptomcat]

Damage: [roll0]+59+[roll1] slashing. You may need to make a DC 15 Fortitude save to avoid dying outright, as per the massive damage rules.

Edit: Aargh, still messed up the syntax. Actual result, as you can see, is 71 damage.

[Dresil]

I won't continue when I cannot even see you. So, you win.

[Toptomcat]

Okay. For the record, things weren't quite as hopeless for you as they looked: I was dependent on one Hide check made in the beginning that was boosted to a very high level with a trick I couldn't really repeat, and was thus limited to actions that wouldn't have made me reroll that check into ranges that you might have made the Spot check for. My Move Silently check involved no further tricks- it was a level that you might possibly have pinpointed me with had you rolled high and I rolled low. Though I arranged it so that I was ethereal for the first two rounds, and thus didn't need to make them at all, it was also with tricks that would be impossible to repeat round-by-round, and were negated by Blink anyway. I used a Shadow Hand strike to hit you and rehide with the same check, which was also something I couldn't easily repeat: with my crusader's recovery mechanism, I need to wait 1-5 rounds before doing it again, depending on the luck of the dice. The specific mechanics of it meant I couldn't hit you and rehide more than about 45' from N11, so much of the map was safe for you- and after my Haste expired, the region that I threatened would have shrunk from 45' to 30'. If you'd stayed put and started tossing around area effects like Vertigo Field, Legion of Sentinels, Glitterdust, or Hypnotic Pattern at random, you may well have gotten me with one- while you probably wouldn't have killed me, you might well have made me uncomfortable enough to move, at which point I'd forfeit my ridiculous Hide check and things would get competitive again. That's a good caster tactic in general. Lastly, the attack itself was boosted to unsustainable levels as well: I used up my 1/day Crusader smite on it, which gave it +10 attack (traded off for Power Attack) and +6 damage, and also activated Law Devotion, which has a ten-round duration and which also would have just gone away over time if you'd kept your distance. Subsequent strikes would not have hit nearly as hard.

[Dresil]

I see... well, you do have a good build. Shame I couldn't field test mine stronger.