Making the Last Battle Last [War of the Burning Sky, My players keep out!]

[Umbranar]

Hello there playground!

First of all, my players should hit backspace, back or alt f-4 RIGHT NOW!

Then to the other playgrounders:
I`ve about pondering this for quiet a while and decided to trow it on here.
For the last year or so I`ve been running the War of the Burning Sky saga for my players.
I have tweaked the last encounter against Supreme Inquisitor Leska abit, by rebuilding her.
I`m not sure how long she will last though or if I will wipe the party hard.
Not all factors are presented here since I`m just wandering about battle mechanics.

The player party consists of:
-Level 18 Shadowcaster/Sorcerer/Noctumancer
-Level 19 Druid (bear form/elemental form focused)
-Level 18 Fighter/Order of the Bow initiate
-Level 18 Wizard/Rogue/Spellwarp Sniper
-Level 19 Cleric/Radiant Servant of Pelor
-Level 18 Knight/Duskblade/Exotic Weapon master (trip build)
They will most likely gain 1 more level before facing Leska.

The last battle has the following for them to fight:
-Leska, now a level 28 character build as a Wizard /Ur-Priest/Mystic Theurge /Archmage with Blessing of the Aqcuiline Hearth which means she has regeneration 200 is Immune to death effects, poisons, cant be disintegrated and more things. She only takes lethal damage from true dragons. She also has mind-blank, death ward, energy immunity vs fire, cold, acid, electricity and resist sonic 30. She can also sacrifice her next standard action to counterspell. Here is the character sheet I made for her:
http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=876443

Not all feats are mentioned as I can`t remember them all at the top of my head since I do not have access to the book.
As for here spellbook, she has access to all in spellcompendium and players handbook + some races of books and complete X books.
- 4 Ghoul Young Adult Red Dragons
- A level 18 Fighter/Wizard/Eldrith Knight with access to level 8 spells
- Two Summoned Fiendish T-rexes by Leska

Any tips on spells/combo`s/feats/classes in order to make an interesting battle for my players?

[HammeredWharf]

Does Leska have access to epic spellcasting?

[Umbranar]

Does Leska have access to epic spellcasting?

Yes to both divine and arcane, each 3/day (her spellcraft is +56)
Currently she only has one epic spell available straight for combat because her other spells are tied to events that happened in the world.
(One example is an epic ritual to force the world in war over the next few years, another is an obelisk that allowed a spellcaster to cast a spell anywhere in the world, amplifying it greatly).

[ngilop]

This is a one round fight. Leska will preptive nuke the party so to speak

the party does not seem that optimized (compared to leska) and i am not understanding why you felt it necassy to go to an 8 on the OP scale while the party is a 5.

let alone the fact that you have them against an epic caster 10 levels ahead of them

also really she only takes damage form true dragons?

i wanna sya mary sue.. but eh.. its your campaing i guess maybe the intent is to have her be 100% unbealble unless one is tippy.

[HammeredWharf]

Well, since Leska's cheese factor is pretty high, I'd assume the party is going full Stinking Bishop, as well. They could beat her via Gate and other questionable high-level tricks, but of course she, too, is fully capable of using those. If she's played to her potential, she should wipe the floor with the party despite being outnumbered. Especially because only three of those characters are T1 or T2.

[Umbranar]

This is a one round fight. Leska will preptive nuke the party so to speak

the party does not seem that optimized (compared to leska) and i am not understanding why you felt it necassy to go to an 8 on the OP scale while the party is a 5.

let alone the fact that you have them against an epic caster 10 levels ahead of them

also really she only takes damage form true dragons?

i wanna sya mary sue.. but eh.. its your campaing i guess maybe the intent is to have her be 100% unbealble unless one is tippy.

Ofcourse I am playing with Leska and my party proved to be very resourceful. Indeed I could one round KO the party, hell I could choose even more overpowered combo`s. Its not the point though, Im planning on a fun and lasting battle, other major bosses died to my party in 3 to 5 rounds. I mean for Leska to last. The minions she has will be wiped quickly. I just like to have some tips and tricks to create an hard but interesting fight against the main villian of the compaign.

On another note, the book is pre-made I made here to same level but optimized her. There is another Win condition to this fight namely destroying 5 pillars and use a artifact on the heart of the world to save it from war and chaos and to negate her "Immortality".

[StreamOfTheSky]

Man, I'm only in the 3rd chapter of my game so this fight's a long way off, but I couldn't help but glance at her stat block and special powers like the Heart and start thinking about things. (My players STAY OUT...really, you shouldn't have been reading this thread at all).

I can't be much help to you unfortunately, but I was considering the same exact route as you, with a multi-stage battle where first they have to realize she's unbeatable in direct combat and have to break her hold over the MacGuffins (in my game, there'd be a 2nd thing, perhaps even more important than the Heart, that she has). Then 2nd stage the party gets use of them as well and they all get a Full Heal to start off. I figure that part of the fight will change to a set up where they're all vying for control and each have to make some sort of opposed check vs. Leska (and her against them, on her turns) to get their turn (if they get their turn, they act normally). Once they win enough of those checks, or string together 3 wins in a row, they completely gain control for themselves and can just fight her till she's at the point she should be defeated. Then, the 3rd, much short stage happens. She tries to "take them and the surrounding several miles out with her" with Hellball or some other literal nuke in a last-ditch suicidal attack, and they use their MacGuffins to disrupt it and get one good final oh-so-satisfying set of turns to "unload on her as hard as you can" for a round before she's finally defeated. Then they have to decide if they'll voluntarily give up the same god-like powers that Leska had sought and drove her insane, or if it's too tempting and refuse. Which...could give me something to base a new campaign around... :smallcool:

I would suggest breaking up Leska's turns, maybe decrement by 5 initiative each time. Getting multiple turns in a row is just nasty. Give her an extra turn to make up for it if you think it weakens her too much.

Good luck. I can PM you about the "other MacGuffin" if you're curious.

[dysprosium]

I love the War of the Burning Sky! I am about where you are in my campaign. My group is fighting the first day of the final battle of the war.

Personally I didn't see the need to rewrite Leska since she is 8 to 10 levels higher than my group's party.

Of course you know your players better and they may have better strategy or optimization. In a battle like this Leska is going to be a victim of action economy--assuming the players are able to make short work of her minions. Note that she is much more lethal with your rewrite.

My advice to make it memorable: don't pull any punches. Play Leska like the intelligent supreme villian that she is.