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Devonix
2011-10-04, 07:03 AM
My Dwarven cleric had to recently abandon some party members to a fate worse than death to get himself and another injured party member out alive. Well that doesn't jut sit well with him and I'm asking for help from the community to go back in there solo and kick the ass of the Aboleth that took the othes down.

System Pathfinder

8th level Dwarven cleric
Protection and Travel domains
Also a potion allowinig the use of the Blackwater domain for the day

saves
Fort 9
Ref 2
Will 15

The aboleth is somewhere in an underground flooded mine at a minimum of 600 ft below water and yes the DM does deal out pressure damage though I can deal with that easily.

Help for spell choices would be appreciated. and The character is trying to do this solo.

Goals find the bodies of his friends One of them is being turned into a skum and the other is now mutilated into some eternal beating heart to power the machine that creates skum. so I'll likely only be able to save one if any.

More a mission to kill the Aboleth than rescue as he thinks they're beyond saving anyway

Also to discover if this is a lone aboleth or a vanguard for something larger

Kol Korran
2011-10-04, 04:19 PM
a few general questions that might help us help you better:
- is your cleric of any kind of Archetpye?
- what resources do you have at your disposal? magic items ?gold? that of your friend? any favors/ help that you can rely on? (scrolls my friend, if you have the scribe scroll feat. otherwise- buy!)
- are you set on doing this alone, or will you be willing accepting/ hiring people to help?
- what do you know of the Aboleth? is he a regular one, or have class level? at what depth in the mine does the water start? are there any minions other than skum? (he has dominate monster) how many skum? any traps you met on the way?
- what does the black water domain give? i can't find it on the SRD.

of the top of my head, using the SRD (i have no other source, some things jump to mind):
- Before yo go in, try a bit of divine info gathering- cast divination/s: "what id the Aboleth's weak spot?" "what way can i use to by pass most creatures/ traps?" "are there any allies in the cave that might help me?", "how can i stop the skum making machine?" and so on. not all will work, but those that do can give you great info.

-also, use sending on your friends. if they are not too far gone, perhaps they can give you an "insider's clue" on what's going on in the lair. 25 words isn't much, but it can be enough.

- freedom of movemnt is crucial to fighting and moving normally.

- the aboleth's most fearsome attacks target Fort. you need to upgrade it, a lot, or avoid contact altogether. Bear's endurance is good.
you can use shape stone to cause a corridor to become narrower, creating a space only you can go through, and the aboleth cant, allowing you to keep the distance. if you have this possibility, make nuemrous such places, in case he has alternate tunnels.
your dimension hop (travel) is also to be used to getting out of reach.
various summon monster can pose as "blocks", but long casting time.

- a good investment would be Lesser Planar ally. an extra hand is always handy, and it's "sort of" like doing this solo, no? i'll let you decide which is better.

- at least one remove disease is a must, after the battle to prevent slime. more if you fear meeting it more.

- if he does have dominated monsters, and interesting strategy would be to have a few "protection from evil" at hand, and cast it on them! this prevents exercising domination temporarily, and i'd imagine the monsters would cease the opportunity to turn on their enslaver!

- an interesting strategy, when you're deep enough (or know ehre you're going is to Meld Into Stone... you move unseen, by traps, guardians and more andcan reach the boss itesl. also, if you have time, you can use it to spy on it, or the machine, or whatever. EXCELLENT spell!

- but how to take it down? well first, you have to nullify it. my suggestion- blindness/ deafness. 3rd level (so reasonable DC), medium, permanent blindness (s oyou might come back a day after if you're depleted), and it targets it's fort save, which (by the book) is +8. memorise 3-4 of these, one will hit!(and if you can't memorise, did i mention scrolls?) . thant just pick your favorite ranged weapon (it still has mucus) and snipe the bastard till it dies!

other cool spells (level 1+2):
- spiritual weapon can help block the creature (the same as summoned creatures, but faster casting time and it's basically indestructible. this bing 3d the trick won't hold in large open caverns, but in corridors it will.
- owl's wisdom, buffing up your DCs, especially for the blindness.
- shield of faith- deflection bonus baby! against ALL monsters!

hope this helped!
-

Devonix
2011-10-04, 06:30 PM
Blackwater Domain

Source: Stormwrack

Granted powers: You are immune to pressure damage from descending into even the greatest of oceanic depths.

Blackwater Level 1:

Cause Fear One creature of 5 HD or less flees for 1d4 rounds.

Blackwater Level 2:
Pressure Sphere: Water pressure deals 4d6 damage to submerged targets.

Blackwater Level 3:
Evards Black Tentacles Tentacles grapple all within 20 ft. spread.

Blackwater Level 4:
Transformation of the Deeps: Grant water breathing, darkvision, and pressure immunity to one creature / 3 levels.

Will either take this or use a pressure capsule for the pressure damage and keep my regular domains

Wearing spiked plus 1 fullplate
Cloak of shadows +1 deflection bonus that lets me teleport 10 ft 3 times per day if I'd be hit
plus 1 morning star

most of my other items don't work under water

Have about 9k in gold but not much time to buy

I have a butler and a 2nd level fighter body guard

Also Remove Disease doesn't work on the slime


If someone finds out I wouldn't try and stop them from coming

Kol Korran
2011-10-04, 10:31 PM
Blackwater Domain

Source: Stormwrack

Granted powers: You are immune to pressure damage from descending into even the greatest of oceanic depths.

Blackwater Level 1:

Cause Fear One creature of 5 HD or less flees for 1d4 rounds.

Blackwater Level 2:
Pressure Sphere: Water pressure deals 4d6 damage to submerged targets.

Blackwater Level 3:
Evards Black Tentacles Tentacles grapple all within 20 ft. spread.

Blackwater Level 4:
Transformation of the Deeps: Grant water breathing, darkvision, and pressure immunity to one creature / 3 levels.

Will either take this or use a pressure capsule for the pressure damage and keep my regular domains
can you buy scrolls of that stuff? mainly for pressure, but also for the black tentacles- that my friend, might be really worthit. if they snare the aboleth (though due to size he has a hefty bonus) ,then you've got a few rounds to boost yourself or pellet him. not as good as the blindness, but still.

might try and make sure aboleths rely on sight though... you can't tell with aberattions.


most of my other items don't work under water

why won't they work? some DM allow scrollsunderwater, some don't, is this the case?


Have about 9k in gold but not much time to buy

why not much time? because of the skum machine? how much time do you have? i don't know your DM's purchasing rules, but i think you'll mostly need scrolls. (or potionsif you can't)


Also Remove Disease doesn't work on the slime

If someone finds out I wouldn't try and stop them from coming

According to the PF SRD Remove disease does work (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/aboleth) though your DM may have decided otherwise.

and another general note: i've dived quite a bit, and i've met some free divers, and proffesional commercial divers. you don't suffer pressure damage at 600 ft (180m). you r lungs shrink to nothing if you're not breathing condensed air, but they expand back when you surface. if you got water breathing, you should be ok. water pressure iof i recall correctly startbecoming a problem on normal "sea level" tissues at about 700-800 m. you can check deep bell divers, who work 8 hours straight on condensed air at 450 m depth. they suffer from cold, from slow depressurizing, and later in life from other stuff, but not from the pressure itself.

go down slow, go up slow, you'll be fine.

Another_Poet
2011-10-04, 11:34 PM
With the gear/spell advice above in mind, here is my strategy:

Summon, Summon, Summon.

Put your gold into a few high-level Summoning scrolls (SPA V, VI or VII). I have used casters to solo high-level enemies before and, though not glorious, this is the most reliable strategy I've found.

Go in buffed, preferably with improved invis, etc.; then just summon every. single. round. The aboleth is badass but eventually it will be outnumbered and fail.

Good luck, it's a noble quest.

Devonix
2011-10-05, 12:38 AM
when it comes down to it my character before this event was more of a buisness man than a fighter he's only in the group because his uncle was their commander and he wanted to see the world while making some money

When he was forced to leave them behind it was sor of a turn around in his life and also the DM is very iffy on buying magic items most scrolls are rare up to level 2 or so. and no I don't think he lets scrolls work under water.

And yes I know that IRL Pressure doesn't work this way but he's a stickler for the rules of the book even ones he says he hates.

DM Fiat doesn't exist to him.

highest level people in this world are about 13 or so I think level 6 scrolls would be national treasures