Assaulting a castle of Hell

[Spuddles]

What are some consummables that a mostly chaotic/neutral evil ECL9 party could use to defend against devils? We're invading a castle of them that's been pulled into the prime material from Hell, and we anticipate it will be like being on the plan of hell.

Party members are bard6/mindbender1/ur priest1, psy warrior5/pathfinder warmind 4, scout4/ranger4, and a monk1/barb2/fighter2/fist of the forest1/frenzied berserker3.

[Jack_Simth]

A few scrolls of Magic Circle Against Law would be handy.

With the Frenzied Berserker in the party, a few Reflex Save-or-lose effects (Wand of Grease) would be useful.

Potions / Scrolls of Silence can be handy (Invisibility less so).

[Spuddles]

Looking at devil abilities, potions of resist poison, resist fear, protection from evil, and oils of bless weapon and silver weapon seem pretty neccessary.

What advantage does circle of protection offer over protection? Just better numbers?

[Iamyourking]

Personally, I'd suggest avoiding it. Most likely the Baatezu within will be at least Company strength, and unless you have a plan for beating 738 Barbazu, nine of which have class levels, ten Hamatulas, one of which will have class levels, a Cornugon, and probably several thousand Lemures you're going to get curb-stomped. That's assuming that the garrison is entirely melee infantry too, if they've got even a single squad of cavalry you'll have to fight either nine Narzugons or nine Barbazu on an infernal dire elephant. Furthermore, it is unlikely in the extreme that Dagos would have set up a castle without at least some artillery; so add another 45 Barbazu with crossbows, 37 Erinyes, one with class levels, and a Hamatula with a Wand of Fireballs.

Edit: Also, expect both magical and conventional traps; you can use Energy Resistance to bypass the fire and sonic traps but a remote targeted Dictum could wipe out your whole group if you trigger it. Don't underestimate pit traps either, they won't do a ton of damage but you'll be slowed down either searching for and disarming them or climbing out. There's a good chance that if you manage to break in they'll fall back behind a Wall spell, meaning that unless you're very careful you'll be fighting the whole garrison. Finally, don't expect teleport to work; most likely you'll hit a Divert Teleport and be sent into a pit of acid or something. Do some research into modern and near modern fort design, there's a good chance that the castle has been designed according to those principles and if you try to just walk in you'll be blundering into a kill zone. I'm not going to hazard a guess as to how many siege engineers will be there, but they'll be Hamatulas directing Barbazu.

May I ask exactly what the goal of the mission is? Obviously you can't win a straight up fight with the whole garrison, it's extremely unlikely you could assassinate the Captain, and it doesn't look like you've got the magical firepower to demolish the castle.

[Spuddles]

Personally, I'd suggest avoiding it. Most likely the Baatezu within will be at least Company strength, and unless you have a plan for beating 738 Barbazu, nine of which have class levels, ten Hamatulas, one of which will have class levels, a Cornugon, and probably several thousand Lemures you're going to get curb-stomped. That's assuming that the garrison is entirely melee infantry too, if they've got even a single squad of cavalry you'll have to fight either nine Narzugons or nine Barbazu on an infernal dire elephant. Furthermore, it is unlikely in the extreme that Dagos would have set up a castle without at least some artillery; so add another 45 Barbazu with crossbows, 37 Erinyes, one with class levels, and a Hamatula with a Wand of Fireballs.

I have no idea where you're coming up with these numbers.


May I ask exactly what the goal of the mission is? Obviously you can't win a straight up fight with the whole garrison, it's extremely unlikely you could assassinate the Captain, and it doesn't look like you've got the magical firepower to demolish the castle.

Gain entry, send everything back to Hell. Ale and whores for all.

[Iamyourking]

Well then, you'll probably die before you even get in. Good luck!

As for the numbers; that's the strength of an Infantry Company plus an Artillery Platoon. I highly doubt a castle would be garrisoned with any less than that.

[JeminiZero]

This recent thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242732) might have some useful nuggets for you. You don't have a cleric though, so Sacred Item Bombs (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13206080&postcount=32) probably won't be available to you.

[Jack_Simth]

Looking at devil abilities, potions of resist poison, resist fear, protection from evil, and oils of bless weapon and silver weapon seem pretty neccessary.

What advantage does circle of protection offer over protection? Just better numbers?
Partly. It's also longish-duration (10 minutes/level - scroll of a 3rd level spell is usually caster level 5, so a little short of an hour) of immunity to Charming and Dominating.