[PF] Golden Soldier Encounter

[Duboris]

So my players are getting ready to walk into the final chambers of an evil king, and his subordinate is an extremely gullible, albeit lawful good Fighter/Paladin. The players are going to be in a 4 vs 1 against him, and, are all level 4. He is a single enemy, and is heavily unfriendly towards them.

Upon meeting them, he will immediately ask that they concede, and let him kill them so they might know less evil in the future. None of the PC's are actually evil, but have been anointed with something previously to read as evil, instead, which was the king's doing.

Essentially, the turnout can go 50/50, with him going to fight them, or them convincing him completely that the king is evil.

What I want to know is that, in the case a Necromancy Sorceror (Who is actually evil), a Lizardfolk fighter, 1 Ranger, and a Rogue, could they get through the fight with this man unscathed, and without losing a party member? Also wondering whether or not the fight will be difficult.

Help?


Human Ftr 6 Pdin 1
Human Fighter (Phalanx Soldier) 6 Paladin 1
LG Medium Humanoid (human)
Init +0; Senses Perception +5
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Defense
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AC 28, touch 10, flat-footed 28 (+11 armor, +7 shield)
hp 88 (7d10+28)
Fort +11, Ref +2, Will +5
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee +2 Holy Gold Plated Bardiche +11/+6 (1d10+7+2d6 vs. Evil/19-20/x2)
Special Attacks phalanx fighting, ready pike +1 (1/day), smite evil (1/day)
Spell-Like Abilities Detect Evil (At will)
Paladin Spells Prepared (CL 0):
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Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 10, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 9, Cha 12
Base Atk +7; CMB +10; CMD 25 (27 vs. Bull Rush, 27 vs. Drag, 27 vs. Overrun, 27 vs. Trip)
Feats Covering Defense, Desperate Battler, Iron Will, Power Attack -2/+4, Shield Focus, Shield Specialization (Tower Shield), Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (Bardiche), Weapon Specialization (Bardiche)
Skills Acrobatics -14 (-18 jump), Climb -11, Diplomacy +10, Escape Artist -14, Fly -14, Heal +7, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5, Knowledge (engineering) +5, Knowledge (nobility) +5, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perception +5, Ride -14, Sense Motive +8, Spellcraft +10, Stealth -14, Swim -11
Languages Celestial, Common
SQ aura of good, stand firm +2, variant channeling (justice/law variant channeling [±1 sacred])
Other Gear +2 Gold Plated Full plate, +2 Tower shield, +2 Holy Gold Plated Bardiche
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Special Abilities
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Aura of Good (Ex) The paladin has an Aura of Good with power equal to her class level.
Covering Defense Total Defense: grant a cover bonus to AC of your shield's shield bonus until your next turn.
Desperate Battler Gain +1 morale bonus on melee attack and damage when alone
Detect Evil (At will) (Sp) You can use Detect Evil at will (as the spell).
Justice/Law Variant Channeling (±1 Sacred) Perception, Sense Motive, attack & save bonus/zone of truth
Phalanx Fighting (Ex) Polearms and spears are one-handed if weilded along with a shield.
Power Attack -2/+4 You can subtract from your attack roll to add to your damage.
Ready Pike +1 (1/day) (Ex) +1 to hit and damage if you ready a brace weapon.
Shield Focus +1 Shield AC
Shield Specialization (Tower Shield) You have mastered the use of one type of shield.

Prerequisites: Proficiency with selected shield, Shield Focus, fighter level 4th.

Benefit: Choose one type of shield (buckler, light, heavy, or tower shield). With the selected shie
Smite Evil (1/day) (Su) +1 to hit, +1 to damage, +1 deflection bonus to AC when used.
Stand Firm +2 (Ex) +2 CMD vs. Bull Rush, Overrun, Push, Pull, Trip, save vs. trample.
Vital Strike Standard action: x2 weapon damage dice.

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[Adrayll]

The very first thing that jumps out is simply the AC, which 3 of your four players will be concerned with.
Let's look at your fighter, first of all. Let's say he's relatively optimized, but not astoundingly so and at level 4 has 20 strength. And let's say a +1 weapon. And for giggles, weapon focus/spec. His attack bonus as I've described is 5+1+1+4, for a total of eleven. I'd assume similar for the ranger and slightly less for the rogue. That means, with his attack bonus of eleven, the fighter will be hitting on an 18. He has a 90% miss chance. Sure, through sheer numbers they'll probably be able to (at the VERY least) flank him, and pull some other shenanigans, but he's still going to be difficult to fight toe to toe.

[Duboris]

I see your point. The fighter has a +3 Trident, and the rogue has 2 +2 daggers, one of which is corrosive. The sorceror has a multitude of debuffs, but they'll be relatively difficult to use effectively on the paladin.

What if I threw a bunch of level 1 fighters into the fight that were also trying to get into the chambers, which he also has to stave off?

Also, by this time the characters will all be level 5, and the ranger is opting to take a level in gunslinger, which is wonderful considering this guy's abyssmal touch AC.

[Lapak]

Well, let's see. He's a level 6 against 4 level 4s - on the face of it, that's not a serious threat to life and limb. They should have to put some oomph into such a fight, but they shouldn't lose anybody or be in serious danger.

In terms of actual numbers, his AC is pretty solid. It's going to be tough for them to put a dent in him directly - especially the Rogue, who has to deal with the full AC even flat-footed.

On the other hand, he's horrifically vulnerable to anything other than a straight up fight. His will save is bad and his reflex is abysmal, so he stands a very real chance of being one-shotted depending on the spells the Necromancer is loaded with. The fact that he's alone means he will be the focus of their attention and has no backup if he does fail a save.

So I'd expect this will be very swingy. If they hit him with a save-or-lose spell or get clever in some other way, he might go down and leave them untouched; if they try to grind out a melee fight toe-to-toe he might well beat them soundly.

EDIT: If they're all level 5, with commensurate increase in abilities and resources, he's only +1 ECL and they are way better equipped to deal with him. Add in the fact that one of them will be able to attack his touch AC and he will likely go down like a lead weight in the ocean - you'll want to throw the level 1 fighters in on his side unless you want them to walk all over him.

EDIT 2: Ah, yes, you're right, don't know how I misread his level like that.

[Duboris]

Well, let's see. He's a level 7 against 4 level 5s

I'm thinking about making it a much more chaotic moment, as it's going to be the apex of the entire encounter. This guy is going to be the main boss at the last line of defense, and the surrounding forces are going to be attempting to get into the main chamber.

I was thinking about there being a lot of fighting going on elsewhere during the fight between level 2 warriors amongst each other, and this guy would be taking on 3 of them at a time when they arrived, and at the same time they'd get attacked by the golden guys.

Sound good?

[doko239]

There's a very long list of spells that the Sorcerer could employ to immediately end this fight. As an easy first-level example, Grease would utterly wreck your Paladin immediately and pretty much permanently.

If the Sorcerer has no battlefield control, then the fight becomes a lot more interesting, but it'll still be the Sorc's fight. The rest are just going to be an ablative meat barrier keeping him alive till he wins.

[Duboris]

There's a very long list of spells that the Sorcerer could employ to immediately end this fight. As an easy first-level example, Grease would utterly wreck your Paladin immediately and pretty much permanently.

If the Sorcerer has no battlefield control, then the fight becomes a lot more interesting, but it'll still be the Sorc's fight. The rest are just going to be an ablative meat barrier keeping him alive till he wins.

The sorcery is going to have a bit of a problem, because there's an item I gave him just recently that'll be really useful in this fight. Too bad he put a bloodied skeletal champions remains in the bag of holding along side it.

Picture it, the climax of "The Golden City" and right when the sorceror is about to shine, a bloody fist comes out of his bag of holding, and a person in the distance yells "SHORYUKEN"

[doko239]

The sorcery is going to have a bit of a problem, because there's an item I gave him just recently that'll be really useful in this fight. Too bad he put a bloodied skeletal champions remains in the bag of holding along side it.

Picture it, the climax of "The Golden City" and right when the sorceror is about to shine, a bloody fist comes out of his bag of holding, and a person in the distance yells "SHORYUKEN"

As awesome as that mental picture is, if your Sorc is KOed by a single slap from a skeleton, they're WAAAAAY underpowered for that level.

Seriously though, does your Paladin have a backup weapon? He's gonna need it. He'll figure out pretty fast that Smite Evil isn't doing anything, and he's not gonna make a Grease DC to hold on to his big shiny bardiche. Sure, the party can't actually HIT him, but at that point they don't have to.

[Duboris]

He's not going to get Ko'd by just one claw attack. Hell, they didn't even loot his full plate or battle axe. They just put his whole body in the bag, which was a bad idea.

[docnessuno]

The character seems overly defensive against physical attackers, and not much against spellcasters.
The melees will have an hard time connecting, but the paladin itself will pose little threat to the group lifes.

Some changes i'd make:

Stats:
Assuming he went for 16 con +2 racial, i'd drop it to 14+2. With thr 5 PB gained i'd boost Dex to 12 and Cha to 14.

Levels:
Make it level 8, offsetting the HP loss from Con, give it an extra paladin level. Divine grace with 14 Cha should help his weak saves.

Items:
Drop the +3 Tower shield and give him a +2 large shield. With the money saved add a Cloak of resistance +2 and a Belt of giant strength +2 (being level8 he should get a WBL boost).

Feats:
Replace Shield Focus, Covering Defense and Shield Specialization with Improved initiative, Cleave and Great Cleave.

Results:
+4 to Hit, +1 to damage: Slighly more offensive
+1,5 HP: Mostly unchanged
-3 AC: Hitting him is still hard, but doable.
-4 CMD: As above. If the group want to try a combat manouver at least they can hope to succeed.
+4 Fort, +5 Ref, +4 Will: A good boost to his weak saves, now the chance of failing one is pretty much on par with the chance of being hit.
+5 initiative: Not a sitting duck anymore
Great cleave: Another attack option other than vital strike, to vary the fight a bit.

[Invader]

The character seems overly defensive against physical attackers, and not much against spellcasters.
The melees will have an hard time connecting, but the paladin itself will pose little threat to the group lifes.

Some changes i'd make:

Stats:
Assuming he went for 16 con +2 racial, i'd drop it to 14+2. With thr 5 PB gained i'd boost Dex to 12 and Cha to 14.

Levels:
Make it level 8, offsetting the HP loss from Con, give it an extra paladin level. Divine grace with 14 Cha should help his weak saves.



Items:
Drop the +3 Tower shield and give him a +2 large shield. With the money saved add a Cloak of resistance +2 and a Belt of giant strength +2 (being level8 he should get a WBL boost).

Feats:
Replace Shield Focus, Covering Defense and Shield Specialization with Improved initiative, Cleave and Great Cleave.

Results:
+4 to Hit, +1 to damage: Slighly more offensive
+1,5 HP: Mostly unchanged
-3 AC: Hitting him is still hard, but doable.
-4 CMD: As above. If the group want to try a combat manouver at least they can hope to succeed.
+4 Fort, +5 Ref, +4 Will: A good boost to his weak saves, now the chance of failing one is pretty much on par with the chance of being hit.
+5 initiative: Not a sitting duck anymore
Great cleave: Another attack option other than vital strike, to vary the fight a bit.

Cleave and Imp Cleave seem out of place for this fight don't they?

[docnessuno]

Cleave and Imp Cleave seem out of place for this fight don't they?

With 3 melees? Maybe you are thinking about the 3.5 cleave. Pathfinder's one is different.

[Invader]

With 3 melees? Maybe you are thinking about the 3.5 cleave. Pathfinder's one is different.

Ahh that'd be it, thank you.

[Duboris]

I feel like I should add more chaos to this fight. While I agree with all the above, I'm also cherry-picking this guys stats to both hold off, and potentially not kill all of my Pc's because I've come to par with the fact that my Sorceror PC is as bright as a fighter.

Maybe he should have Tiered subordinates? As in him > 2 lesser, but powerful fighters, and 4 kind-of-pushovers, all the while a myriad of level 1 warriors keep rushing the hallway, and various other "Rival Parties" entering the room, all rushing to get the bounty on the king's head.