Sorcerer BBEG fight help for my game tonight.

[Bloodgruve]

Hey Playgrounders.

I have a session tonight. Rakshasa/Sorcer2 which basically makes him a lvl9 sorcerer.

Party is a bit worn down but not out of resources totally.

I don't play arcane casters much and have never played a sorcerer/wizard. 6/7/7/7/5 for spells.

He's aware of the party.

How would a 9th level Rakshasa sorcerer battle a party of 6 players at 7th level?

What spells would he use? In what order? What buffs?

Since the party is not fresh should I keep him single or throw some mooks in front of him to slow the party? Not lookin for a TPK but I wanna challenge the party. Druid, Bard, Rogue, Paladin+Cohort, Artificer (not highly optimized) and Ranger.

Setting is Eberron, bottom of an 'upside down' tower in Khyber's Gate (Sharn) 60' diameter single room.

Any suggestions are appreciated,

Blood~

[atemu1234]

Well, he's a sorcerer, so any type of spells first pick is boosting spells. Since he's a Rakhasha or however you spell it, I'd reccomend Mighty Wallop/Greater Mighty wallop from one of the books on dragon, but also any number of damaging Evocations.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

First of all, replace the Sorcerer levels with Abjurant Champion levels. He's an Outsider, which means he's naturally proficient with all martial weapons so he shouldn't have any problem qualifying.

The party is capable of casting 4th level spells, and this 'boss' opponent only has 4th level spells. Give him one more level, so he has 5th level spells. Three levels of Abjurant Champion will do that, and he can cast 2nd level Abjurations as a swift action that way.

He needs metamagic. He'll have four feats, one of which needs to be Combat Casting for Abjurant Champion. His other three feats should include one of Fell Frighten Spell or Fell Drain Spell, from Libris Mortis. Fell Frighten will make him superb at crowd controlling opponents, Fell Drain could make the fight very one-sided in his favor and even outright kill multiple PCs. Both have a +2 metamagic cost. His last two feats should be Incarnum Spellshaping (MoI) and Invisible Spell from Cityscape.

Since he has class levels, he should have a few beneficial magic items in addition to his loot. I'd give him two Lesser Metamagic Rods of Extend at the very least.

Spells Known for Sorcerer 10 spellcasting is 9/5/4/3/2/1:
0 (9): Detect Magic, Read Magic, Sonic Snap (SC), Prestidigitation, Message, Mending, Mage Hand, Dancing Lights, Ghost Sound
1 (5): Power Word: Pain (RotD), Shield, Protection from Good, Wall of Smoke (SC), Alarm
2 (4): Wings of Cover (RotD), Kelgore's Grave Mist (PH2), Arcane Turmoil (CM), Glitterdust
3 (3): Wall of Incarnum (MoI), Fly, Heart of Water (CM)
4 (2): Black Tentacles, Wings of Flurry (RotD)
5 (1): Summon Undead V (SC)

Daily: Alarm to alert him to the presence of intruders a few rounds before they burst in, Heart of Water.
Prior to combat: Fly, Shield, Protection from Good, Invisible Wall of Incarnum 10 ft. inside the doorway with 1 essentia invested, Invisible Black Tentacles near the center of the room, with the edge at the Invisible Wall of Incarnum. Fly up high, just outside the opposite edge of the tentacles from the wall, so if he's dispelled he won't fall into the tentacles. Invisible Summon Undead V for two Allips and have them go into the floor/walls and peek out at the entrance to the room, and attack any intruders that show up. Invisible Fell Frighten/Drain Kelgore's Grave Mist with the edge at the wall of incarnum. Note that spells cannot be cast through the wall of incarnum, any attempt to do so will simply fail and waste the spell.

First round: If nobody made it through the Wall of Incarnum, Invisible Summon Undead V for two Allips and order them to go through the floor to come out behind the opponents and attack them. If only one opponent who made it through the wall isn't grappled by the tentacles, use Arcane Turmoil and then Lesser Rod of Extended Fell Frighten/Drain Power Word: Pain on them. If more than one opponent made it through the wall and isn't grappled by the tentacles, use Arcane Turmoil on one with obvious spell components/divine focus, and cast Glitterdust on them.
If anyone uses anything dangerous on him, use Wings of Cover to block it. Doing so prevents him from casting a swift action spell (Arcane Turmoil) the following round.

Second and subsequent rounds: Arcane Turmoil an obvious spellcaster or anyone flying without using wings, then Invisible Fell Frighten/Drain Kelgore's Grave Mist again if multiple opponents made it through the wall, or Summon Undead V for two more Allips if most can't get into the room, or resort to Wings of Flurry if it will hit three or more opponents.

Keep in mind that fear effects escalate, as detailed in the Rules Compendium. An opponent who's already shaken who would become shaken becomes frightened, and opponents who are frightened and would become shaken are panicked. Panicked opponents who cannot flee will cower. The entire escalated condition will last until the duration of every fear effect that contributed to it has ended.

[Bloodgruve]

snip*

I've always appreciated your input on this board but this is just great... My hat's off to you sir.

TYVM
Blood~

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

In hindsight, replace Wall of Smoke with Magic Missile. He can use a Fell Frighten/Drain Magic Missile to hit five separate targets, inflicting/escalating the shaken condition or a negative level on each one. Maybe even replace Wings of Flurry with Greater Invisibility in this case.

Also, always have the allips fight from partially inside the wall/floor, so they benefit from fighting from cover.

[John Longarrow]

Biffoniacus_Furiou
No invisible Haboob in the room?

[Diarmuid]

This may seem counter to what some of the others have said, but I find it makes for more interesting encounters. Dont look at "Rakshasa/Sorc2" in your encounter and think "how should I build this guy to fight the party". Instead, think about the NPC and what his life is like for a little. What spells would make his daily life and routine easier and better? There are some obvious choices for spells for a person who assumes at some point that they will get in a fight...but tailoring his spells to make the room he's in and the type of PC's the players have work to his advantage is a bit...cheap. A wizard who becomes aware of a party and plans to fight them can certainly go get new spells if he/she has the time, but the Sorc's Known Spells only change every so often on level up.

Some new/interesting spells on his list might make for very neat and unexpected tactics on his part that will have the party rethinking their strategy. The DM's job isnt just to make encounters the party has to kill, but to create an immersive world where the players are only a part of it. Obviously, if your players wouldnt pick up on, or appreciate that level of thought going into an encounter...then it's a mostly wasted effort.

[Bloodgruve]

This may seem counter to what some of the others have said, but I find it makes for more interesting encounters. Dont look at "Rakshasa/Sorc2" in your encounter and think "how should I build this guy to fight the party". Instead, think about the NPC and what his life is like for a little. What spells would make his daily life and routine easier and better? There are some obvious choices for spells for a person who assumes at some point that they will get in a fight...but tailoring his spells to make the room he's in and the type of PC's the players have work to his advantage is a bit...cheap. A wizard who becomes aware of a party and plans to fight them can certainly go get new spells if he/she has the time, but the Sorc's Known Spells only change every so often on level up.

Some new/interesting spells on his list might make for very neat and unexpected tactics on his part that will have the party rethinking their strategy. The DM's job isnt just to make encounters the party has to kill, but to create an immersive world where the players are only a part of it. Obviously, if your players wouldnt pick up on, or appreciate that level of thought going into an encounter...then it's a mostly wasted effort.

This guy is with the Lords of Dust so I was planning on switching a few spells for his daily utility, disguise and subterfuge. The bulk of it though should fit with the NPCI completely agree with your comment. I try to give my NPC's a reason to do what they're doing and not just tailor it to the party, I don't sideboard ;) I would expect something like this from an old and experienced Rakshasa.

Blood~

[Calthropstu]

This guy is with the Lords of Dust so I was planning on switching a few spells for his daily utility, disguise and subterfuge. The bulk of it though should fit with the NPCI completely agree with your comment. I try to give my NPC's a reason to do what they're doing and not just tailor it to the party, I don't sideboard ;) I would expect something like this from an old and experienced Rakshasa.

Blood~

A shapeshifter maintaining a disguise hiding in the open would need a specific set of spells.

Charm (or dominate if available) if he is working angles publicly. If he is off on his own, then that is less needed.
An illusion to hide his treasure, bodies or what have you.
A spell to prevent scrying or finding his real identity.
A spell to hide his alignment.

A rakshasa also never fights to the death if he can avoid it. An escape spell like dimension door would be easily justifiable. Make it hound the party afterwards, following around individual party members and ambushing them when they are vulnerable. Wait until they split up to go shopping, or until they are sleeping. Ambush the person on watch and retreat when everyone is awake. Max out his hide and move silent.

[truemane]

Metamagic Mod: since 'tonight' was six years ago, I think we can safely call this one.