Level-Inappropriate Encounter

[HalfDragonCube]

ScionoftheVoid, since you're DMing this game could you kindly avoid this thread?

Pretty much the current situation is a level 20 Sublime Chord against a level 3 fairly unoptimized group. Any ideas?

The party:
Me, a Conjurer/Archivist
A Dread Necromancer with the infinite healing combo
A Barbarian/Psychic Warrior/Warblade
A very unoptimsed Fighter/Psychic Warrior Goliath with an extra feat
A Gargoyle using the gargoyle monster class somewhere round here (unconscious)
And a Druid who is fairly rubbish at playing the class (unable to move)

The story so far:Upon finding the sacrifice rules in BoVD I persuaded the party to help me kidnap someone and sacrifice them for the Wish spell to get 25,000gp. An altar was bought and a target was found with some nice boots. Taking them down with a Colour Spray, I now wear the boots. We found a deserted building on the edge of town and decided to use that as the site for the torture and ritual. Ten minutes in a bunch of clerics and the sublime chord appeared, who then quickly left again. I was prepared for this and had bought the DN a potion of Glibness. After a few rounds of combat (which hurt the Gargoyle quite a bit) due to some badly worded lies, they (and the Druid) were convinced they didn't exist and couldn't move). The sublime chord comes back, dispels the Glibness and says he wants his boots back, emphasising the point with a bead from Delayed Blast Fireball held ready in his hand.
Quite a lot is missed out there, but summing more of it up would take ages. I have a bunch of scrolls of most of the good 1st-level spells, the Abrupt Jaunt ACF and the Alacritous Cogitation feat. A tree feather token is being held by my Unseen Servant above the building, so if all else fails, crushinating will happen.

Edit: Oh, and the boots are boots of striding and springing. Boingy boingy.

[Incorrect]

Say that you are sorry; give the boots and the victim back to the unbeatable force level 20 Sublime Chord, and dont try to gain a wish at level 3.

If a GM tells you that the opponent has 17 levels more than you, it's a hint that it is not a combat encounter

[HalfDragonCube]

Say that you are sorry; give the boots and the victim back to the unbeatable force level 20 Sublime Chord, and dont try to gain a wish at level 3.

If a GM tells you that the opponent has 17 levels more than you, it's a hint that it is not a combat encounter

This is what I was afraid of. The fact they haven't blown us up yet and taken the boots infers there might be another way.

[Tvtyrant]

Scroll of teleportation circle to send them somewhere else. Then run.

[HalfDragonCube]

Scroll of teleportation circle to send them somewhere else. Then run.

Scrolls of the good first level spells.

As a side note, the DN has the Necronomicon in their backpack.

[CTrees]

As a side note, the DN has the Necronomicon in their backpack.


Summon Bigger Fish!

By which I mean, Cthulhu.

"Sing your way out of this one, bardy-boy! He listens to the mad piping of Azathoth to help him fall asleep; what are you planning to do, huh?"

[Kansaschaser]

1. Give the stolen items back.
2. Surrender to the Sublime Chord.
3. Offer to repent of your wicked ways.
4. Let a Diplomancer teach you how to be good. (Rules in the Book of Exalted Deeds)
5. Spend the rest of your life doing good to try to make up for your previous evil actions.
6. Sublime Chord is now your friend and mentor.
7. ????
8. Profit!

[CTrees]

1. Give the stolen items back.
2. Surrender to the Sublime Chord.
3. Offer to repent of your wicked ways.
4. Let a Diplomancer teach you how to be good. (Rules in the Book of Exalted Deeds)
5. Spend the rest of your life doing good to try to make up for your previous evil actions.
6. Sublime Chord is now your friend and mentor.
7. Years down the line, after he trusts you implicitly, betray him and steal his delicious, delicious WBL.
8. Profit!

ftfy :smallwink:

[Boci]

1. Give the stolen items back.
2. Surrender to the Sublime Chord.
3. Offer to repent of your wicked ways.
4. Let a Diplomancer teach you how to be good. (Rules in the Book of Exalted Deeds)
5. Spend the rest of your life doing good to try to make up for your previous evil actions.
6. Sublime Chord is now your friend and mentor.
7. ????
8. Profit!

The ???? would be

7a. Find new arch enemy
7b. Await the scene where they kill your mentor
7c. Switch sides
7d. Perform sacrifice under new master

[HalfDragonCube]

Brilliant idea, except the game did have an actual plot beforehand and there is going to be some kind of bad event unless the party can stop it in the near future. A baaaad event. Plus, evil is what we do best.

Reading the Necronomicon seems the best bet, but I seem to be the only one with ranks in decipher script if the need arises and it tries to bite me. (Or any knowledge skills, for that matter.)

[CTrees]

there is going to be some kind of bad event unless the party can stop it in the near future. A baaaad event. Plus, evil is what we do best.

I'm confused. You seem to be contradicting yourself.

[Kansaschaser]

Brilliant idea, except the game did have an actual plot beforehand and there is going to be some kind of bad event unless the party can stop it in the near future. A baaaad event. Plus, evil is what we do best.

Reading the Necronomicon seems the best bet, but I seem to be the only one with ranks in decipher script if the need arises and it tries to bite me. (Or any knowledge skills, for that matter.)

Wait, my brain hurts. :smalleek: Some sort of "baaaad event" will happen? But, as an evil party you want to stop this "baaaad event"? Wouldn't that be a good action? Or are you referring to some "gooood event" that would be "baaaad" for evil people? Ow.... my head hurts worse now.

[Gorgondantess]

Ummm...
If this is supposed to be some sort of "Evil game", and unless that necronomicon is ridiculously powerful (i.e., the aforementioned summon bigger fish, i.e. the aforementioned summon Cthulhu), I'd cry killed GM.
Though how a level 20 sublime chord could fail the will save of a level 1 spell by a level 3 caster is beyond me.
But, yeah, if that's the case, then unless you have something you're not telling us, you're screwed. If that sublime chord is, for whatever reason, an unoptimized blaster it should be able to wipe the floor with you in one round with a well placed maximized cone of cold. So whip out that necronomicon and go to town!:smallbiggrin:

[Lapak]

This is what I was afraid of. The fact they haven't blown us up yet and taken the boots infers there might be another way.What it implies is that your DM wants you to surrender the boots and get back on the plotline, but does not wish you to have to roll up new characters.

A level 20 caster has the drop on you with a ready-to-go spell that will wipe out your entire group (and has a large enough spread to catch you even if you Jaunt provided the caster isn't stupid) unless they have Evasion and make an extremely unlikely save; this caster had a few rounds out-of-combat to prepare buffs while you were engaged with the others.

You have nothing that would let you escape this encounter without surrendering other than DM fiat (which the Necronomicon certainly falls under effect-wise) and if the DM wanted you to avoid it that easily why would they have started it to begin with?

[Boci]

Ummm...
If this is supposed to be some sort of "Evil game", and unless that necronomicon is ridiculously powerful (i.e., the aforementioned summon bigger fish, i.e. the aforementioned summon Cthulhu), I'd cry killed GM.

Killer GM, unless you are implying the GM died died recently yet continues to run the game.


Though how a level 20 sublime chord could fail the will save of a level 1 spell by a level 3 caster is beyond me.

Could have rolled a natural 1, but even then they are only stunned for 1 round.


Wait, my brain hurts. :smalleek: Some sort of "baaaad event" will happen? But, as an evil party you want to stop this "baaaad event"? Wouldn't that be a good action? Or are you referring to some "gooood event" that would be "baaaad" for evil people? Ow.... my head hurts worse now.

World destriction is generally bad, even if you are evil.

[HalfDragonCube]

Wait, my brain hurts. :smalleek: Some sort of "baaaad event" will happen? But, as an evil party you want to stop this "baaaad event"? Wouldn't that be a good action? Or are you referring to some "gooood event" that would be "baaaad" for evil people? Ow.... my head hurts worse now.

I don't really know. All the party has found out so far is that there is a limited amount of time and something baaaad will happen.


Ummm...
If this is supposed to be some sort of "Evil game", and unless that necronomicon is ridiculously powerful (i.e., the aforementioned summon bigger fish, i.e. the aforementioned summon Cthulhu), I'd cry killed GM.
Though how a level 20 sublime chord could fail the will save of a level 1 spell by a level 3 caster is beyond me.
But, yeah, if that's the case, then unless you have something you're not telling us, you're screwed. If that sublime chord is, for whatever reason, an unoptimized blaster it should be able to wipe the floor with you in one round with a well placed maximized cone of cold.

Never say die!

Then again, you don't have to say it... :smalleek:

[Doug Lampert]

Ummm...
If this is supposed to be some sort of "Evil game", and unless that necronomicon is ridiculously powerful (i.e., the aforementioned summon bigger fish, i.e. the aforementioned summon Cthulhu), I'd cry killed GM.
Though how a level 20 sublime chord could fail the will save of a level 1 spell by a level 3 caster is beyond me.
But, yeah, if that's the case, then unless you have something you're not telling us, you're screwed. If that sublime chord is, for whatever reason, an unoptimized blaster it should be able to wipe the floor with you in one round with a well placed maximized cone of cold.

BtB, natural 1 always fails. It matters not how feable the DC or how high the save bonus.

So a level 20 caster survives not by making saves, but by not needing a save since he's immune to the effect in the first place. (Level 20 non-casters survive with help from the casters or the GM. But buffing the fighter is a perfectly reasonable and effective tactic.)

DougL

[Gorgondantess]

Speaking of which...
EVEN IF the Sublime Chord failed on a natural one (which I know CAN happen, but golly it's unlikely) she's only stunned 1 round. How did you manage to totally incapacitate her in one round? Gag 'em and she should still be able to cast a few spells with only somatic components, bind 'em and... SUGGESTION!



Killer GM, unless you are implying the GM died died recently yet continues to run the game.
Typo.:smallsigh:
Though somewhat amusing typo.
Also, what's that law that says that anyone pointing out the typo in another person's post will always have a typo themselves?:smallamused:

[HalfDragonCube]

People seem to be thinking that I'm doing something unreasonable when I want to get large amounts of wealth in game.

This is difficult to explain and my brain is frazzled from the amount of essays I've been doing. I ran the sacrifice thing past the DM before hand and they said it was fine. This is just another challenge and quite possibly part of the plot just in a slightly different place.

Currently this is a matter of the party about to be squished. I can run (50ft per round movement speed because of the boots and the quick trait and a swift expeditious retreat to boot) and hide somewhere (whisper gnome and high dex) for a while.

And I forgot to mention that is a lovely summoned fiendish monstrous centipede of mine in the building as well. The sublime chord also seems to like teleport spamming around the place.

[Boci]

Typo.:smallsigh:
Though somewhat amusing typo.

Dam. I was hoping you had compelling evidence of the first undead roleplayer.


Also, what's that law that says that anyone pointing out the typo in another person's post will always have a typo themselves?:smallamused:

That would be Muphry's law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_law

[Canarr]

Currently this is a matter of the party about to be squished. I can run (50ft per round movement speed because of the boots and the quick trait and a swift expeditious retreat to boot) and hide somewhere (whisper gnome and high dex) for a while.

And I forgot to mention that is a lovely summoned fiendish monstrous centipede of mine in the building as well. The sublime chord also seems to like teleport spamming around the place.

Surrender. Then, beg. Alternatively, try to blame the other SCs for the misdeeds.

You're not winning that. No way. You fight, you die. Apparently, the GM doesn't want you to die, so he's having his NPCs give you an Out. You disregard that, he'll be forced to kill your characters.

And: just because your GM doesn't forbid you from doing outrageous stuff like a sacrifice for 25K, that doesn't mean he won't throw a wrench or two in your plans.

[Godskook]

Lvl 20 full-casters vs ECL 3 PCs is a sign that your DM actually doesn't like what you just did, but isn't going to tell you OOC. He's also not willing to 'play fair' by throwing 'challenge appropriate' rocks at you(he could've just as easily sent a ECL ~5ish cleric and his retinue of paladins and crusaders after you, and you would've been just as dead, but he didn't).

[Big Fau]

What I'm wondering is this: How the hell did you not get mass-Dominated? Sublime Chords have 9th level spells at 20th level, meaning you were not only in over your head, you were lucky to survive.

Oh wait, I found the answer:


The sublime chord comes back, dispels the Glibness and says he wants his boots back, emphasizing the point with a bead from Delayed Blast Fireball held ready in his hand.

[faceroll]

Do you have any more potions of glibness? Because you could convince the sublime chord to eat the bead, then run away as he blows up.

[Flame of Anor]

Summon Bigger Fish!

By which I mean, Cthulhu.

"Sing your way out of this one, bardy-boy! He listens to the mad piping of Azathoth to help him fall asleep; what are you planning to do, huh?"

No, no, it's Azathoth who's asleep. The mad pipers keep him that way. Besides, Cthulhu is a Great Old One who has pretty much no interaction with Outer Gods like Azathoth. After all, they're both asleep.

[TroubleBrewing]

No, no, it's Azathoth who's asleep. The mad pipers keep him that way. Besides, Cthulhu is a Great Old One who has pretty much no interaction with Outer Gods like Azathoth. After all, they're both asleep.

Discussions like this crack me up.

Elder Gods, Outer Gods, other mythos critters...

They're all deliberately unknowable. Anything you know about them is hhrrrkkkhglldblkjikhfglllggbbbbbFHTAGNhhrrrkkkkk*t humpbumpsquishdribble*

And it's so much scarier that way.

[CTrees]

No, no, it's Azathoth who's asleep. The mad pipers keep him that way. Besides, Cthulhu is a Great Old One who has pretty much no interaction with Outer Gods like Azathoth. After all, they're both asleep.

Yes-the mad piping of azathoth, to help him fall asleep-it works so well for azathoth, it should work for cthulho, too. As for interaction, he may sleep in a bit, but cthulhu *is* the chief priest of azathoth, for what it's worth...