Time for a boss

[loodwig]

So my pathfinder group has been going once weekly for a few months now (wow, time flies). They started as stranded on a beach from a shipwreck, and managed to raid a mine for treasure, get off the island, avert the spread of a plague to a small village, had a run-in with a lich and live to tell about it, oust a corrupt mayor, kill an entire tribe of kobolds, set sail into a new city, slaughter eight drow gangbangers, and kill a platoon of wights chasing down a harlot. In this time I've leveled them once (to lvl 6), and some of them finally have a little bit of magic gear. Sadly, every fight they've faced, they've steamrolled over. I've gradually stepped up the difficulty, but they just step up their game. It's really fun, because these guys are very skilled players, but I worry that I'm being way too easy on them still.

So I want to throw something really tough at them, like disproportionately more difficult than anything they've faced , but I don't want to just have them hit a wall. The backstory has a rise of lizardfolk due to the aforementioned lich gaining a bit in power (I'm using doom counters to determine the state of the world where the party is not). Now, lizard folk are a pathetic CR1, and even with some bolstered levels (like, say, 4 levels in rogue and 2 in fighter) they're still easily bested by the party. So I saw something else that was pretty fun: Serpentfolk!

This is boss material right here: a serpent folk (CR 4) with 1 level in sorcerer and 5 in dragon disciple. As I type this I realize I probably made a mistake in using the Serpentfolk's stats (Str 8, Dex 21, Con 17, Int 18, Wis 15, Cha 16) as base stats beneath a 20 point buy, but in total, with a mild amount of gear the guy has an AC of 29. My group's fighter has a adjusted melee hit with her sword at +13, and that doesn't consider power attack. The dude has about 130 hp, a breath attack, a good collection of nasty spells, some fun gear, and some pretty impressive damage with his natural attack.

So am I about to throw a wall at them, have I made a serious error in enemy building, or should I just let it ride and see how they do?

[FabulousFizban]

nope, that sounds awesome.

Important info for commenters, what level is your party? What does it consist of? and what is their optimization?

[Xaroth]

1. What are the party and their respective classes?
2. What items do they have?
3. What have they steamrolled over, so far?
4. What color of Dragon is the Dragon Disciple?

[Nibbens]

Here's an Idea - instead of upping the difficulty, (ie, Challenge Rating) up the play style. Make your enemies do things the party is not used to.
Attempt to sunder the Fighters sword/Armor. Whether you succeed or fail, watch him cry/freak out when he sees what you're doing.
Charm person can have some nasty effects on the Warrior as well. He won't turn on his allies with that spell, but you've effectively nullified a big damage dealer with a lvl 1 spell.
Perhaps one of my favorites - Wall of Ice. Spring one up between players isolating the wizard (or squishiest player) and have him trapped with a bruiser. Fear factor goes up and difficulty goes up just because of positioning. While everyone is hammering frantically on the wall, trying to get through, the wizard is using *defensive spells* trying to stay alive.
An enemy who can cast invisibility (quickened invisibility is even better) with sneak attack modifiers. Every turn he appears when he attacks, vanishes and moves away. Imagine their frustration.
Of course, all of these are based on the premise that you haven't hit them with things like this before. So, if you have, ignore me. :)
Hope these can help!

[Xaroth]

Here's an idea - instead of upping the difficulty, (ie, Challenge Rating) up the play style. Make your enemies do things the party is not used to.
Attempt to sunder the Fighters sword/Armor. Whether you succeed or fail, watch him cry/freak out when he sees what you're doing.

Better yet, sunder the Wizard's spellbook.

[loodwig]

1. What are the party and their respective classes?
2. What items do they have?
3. What have they steamrolled over, so far?
4. What color of Dragon is the Dragon Disciple?


The party is as follows (I'm not super clear on their gear at this point, though all of it is loot):

Human Fighter(6) with a Mwk Greatsword and +2 chainmail
Half-Orc Cleric(6) with a Greataxe and +2 chainmail
Half-Elf Druid(6) with +1 Composite Longbow
Halfling Sorcerer(6) with Masterwork Hvy Crossbow
Human Rogue(6) with two +1 shortswords & +1 Mithral Chainshirt (joined two weeks ago)
Newcomer(6) that may be a bard or a rogue, not sure (16k worth of gear) (joins next week)

The encounters they've steamrolled over so far

3 dogs, 2 sharks
3 ogres, 2 orcs, 8 kobolds
a custom 25 point buy vermin that's roughly CR5 with 5 hit dice
(at this point the party finally has gear)
2 lizardfolk (with 2 PC levels) and 2 troglodytes (with 2 PC levels)
4 ogres, 6 hobgoblins & 1 hobgoblin with 3 PC levels
(at this point, the party was 5)
8 drow (with 4 PC levels each)
6 wights (each with 2 additional hit dice)

The serpentfolk's dragon would be red, and he has a few fire spells in his arsenal (burning hands, scorching ray), plus a fun breath attack :)

[Xaroth]

The party is as follows (I'm not super clear on their gear at this point, though all of it is loot):

Human Fighter(6) with a Mwk Greatsword and +2 chainmail
Half-Orc Cleric(6) with a Greataxe and +2 chainmail
Half-Elf Druid(6) with +1 Composite Longbow
Halfling Sorcerer(6) with Masterwork Hvy Crossbow
Human Rogue(6) with two +1 shortswords & +1 Mithral Chainshirt (joined two weeks ago)
Newcomer(6) that may be a bard or a rogue, not sure (16k worth of gear) (joins next week)

The encounters they've steamrolled over so far

3 dogs, 2 sharks
3 ogres, 2 orcs, 8 kobolds
a custom 25 point buy vermin that's roughly CR5 with 5 hit dice
(at this point the party finally has gear)
2 lizardfolk (with 2 PC levels) and 2 troglodytes (with 2 PC levels)
4 ogres, 6 hobgoblins & 1 hobgoblin with 3 PC levels
(at this point, the party was 5)
8 drow (with 4 PC levels each)
6 wights (each with 2 additional hit dice)

The serpentfolk's dragon would be red, and he has a few fire spells in his arsenal (burning hands, scorching ray), plus a fun breath attack :)

Here's my advice, just for fun:

Keep the serpentfolk as it is. Let them fight it.
When the fight is over - if they win - make them feel at ease.
All is well.
And then a Bebilith erupts from the ground and eats the body of the Serpentfolk.
They can fight or flee (more than likely they'll flee).

A good DM always reminds their players that there's times that they'll have to flee from an enemy.

But in the odd event that they do fight, have the Bebilith rend their armor and eat them.

[loodwig]

Here's an Idea - instead of upping the difficulty, (ie, Challenge Rating) up the play style. Make your enemies do things the party is not used to.
Attempt to sunder the Fighters sword/Armor. Whether you succeed or fail, watch him cry/freak out when he sees what you're doing.
Charm person can have some nasty effects on the Warrior as well. He won't turn on his allies with that spell, but you've effectively nullified a big damage dealer with a lvl 1 spell.
Perhaps one of my favorites - Wall of Ice. Spring one up between players isolating the wizard (or squishiest player) and have him trapped with a bruiser. Fear factor goes up and difficulty goes up just because of positioning. While everyone is hammering frantically on the wall, trying to get through, the wizard is using *defensive spells* trying to stay alive.
An enemy who can cast invisibility (quickened invisibility is even better) with sneak attack modifiers. Every turn he appears when he attacks, vanishes and moves away. Imagine their frustration.
Of course, all of these are based on the premise that you haven't hit them with things like this before. So, if you have, ignore me. :)
Hope these can help!

I've done the invisible enemy, and they found a very clever solution to get around it (glitter dust & some other cantrips). The wights literally jumped through the ceiling and landed on the party with bonuses, and managed to miss the flat-footed AC of a character wearing not much. The troglodytes had a nausea aura, which also helped mask the lizardfolk getting into position on the rooftop while we were doing pre-initiative banter. I used cover for snipers, but we had the fighter use "improvised weapon : halfling" to get the sorcerer on the roof and muck with the rangers before the rest of the party climbed up and cut them in half. The rogue was able to stealthily cut down the back enders, even with me attempting perception roles after the first ranger fell. And my personal favorite, the parasite burst from the neck of an NPC while a party member was performing a heal check, which got 2 full rounds of attack (surprise round + highest initiative)... and the party was unarmed for that one (had to go get their weapons). They burnt down the deck making sure the thing was completely dead, though they killed the NPC in the process.

You gave some pretty cool ideas, though! I think I'm just playing with good players, and honestly... I like that they're very skilled and crafty and I want to keep that going. I mean, how fun is it that we keep joking about, "I think we should actually make a custom feat called weapon's focus: halfling" before we start the next session?

[loodwig]

Here's my advice, just for fun:

Keep the serpentfolk as it is. Let them fight it.
When the fight is over - if they win - make them feel at ease.
All is well.
And then a Bebilith erupts from the ground and eats the body of the Serpentfolk.
They can fight or flee (more than likely they'll flee).

A good DM always reminds their players that there's times that they'll have to flee from an enemy.

But in the odd event that they do fight, have the Bebilith rend their armor and eat them.

That's actually pretty perfect (though I may not literally do that). The snakeman is a henchman of a greater foe they've already met (a lvl "oh crap" lich), and they'll almost certainly make the connection, which will add to the urgency. If they don't, I might just have the real thing show up and cause biblical mayhem. Also, the encounter I'm planning is in a crowded market, so there will be civilians and guards in the way getting thrashed.

[Xaroth]

That's actually pretty perfect (though I may not literally do that).
*snip*
Also, the encounter I'm planning is in a crowded market, so there will be civilians and guards in the way getting thrashed.

A swarm of Bebiliths, then. If they decide to attack the Bebilith that eats the serpentfolk, two more Bebiliths turn from their feast on the fruit stand salesmen and join in.

EVERY ENCOUNTER CAN BE MADE BETTER WITH BEBILITHS.

[loodwig]

Ok, I just looked up bebilith... yeah, I'm throwing this in at some point. Wow, that's fierce.

Now that I'm home, here's the actual stats for snakeman

str 14, dex 28, con 22, int 16, wis 14, cha 16.
1 level sorc, 6 level dragon disciple.
158 hp
AC 29 (20 touch, 19 flat)
CMB 18, CMD 31 (21 flat)
fort 14, reflex 17, will 13
gear: quarterstaff, bracers of armor +2, cloak of resistance +2, robe of blending (plot device),
spells: detect magic, light, message, ray of frost, read magic, resistance, burning hands, grease, mage armor, protection from good, true strike, flaming sphere, resist energy, scorching ray (7/day lvl 1, 5/day lvl 2)

While the team is good, their apl is 7, and this is a CR10 opponent if I didn't just totally screw building it.

Also just noticed if I don't give him a 20 point buy but tweak his stats a little, I get the following:
str 12, dex 22, con 19, int 16, wis 14, cha 16
AC 26 (17 touch, 19 flat footed)
CMB 15, CMD 27 (20 flat)
fort 12, reflex 14, will 13

Is that a bit more balanced for a CR10 dude? I mean, if I want to make it tougher, I can throw in a few extra guys too.

[Xaroth]

Ok, I just looked up bebilith... yeah, I'm throwing this in at some point. Wow, that's fierce.

Now that I'm home, here's the actual stats for snakeman

str 14, dex 28, con 22, int 16, wis 14, cha 16.
1 level sorc, 6 level dragon disciple.
158 hp
AC 29 (20 touch, 19 flat)
CMB 18, CMD 31 (21 flat)
fort 14, reflex 17, will 13
gear: quarterstaff, bracers of armor +2, cloak of resistance +2, robe of blending (plot device),
spells: detect magic, light, message, ray of frost, read magic, resistance, burning hands, grease, mage armor, protection from good, true strike, flaming sphere, resist energy, scorching ray (7/day lvl 1, 5/day lvl 2)

While the team is good, their apl is 7, and this is a CR10 opponent if I didn't just totally screw building it.

Flat-footed shouldn't be 19. Touch should be 19. I don't know where you got Touch 20 from.

Flat-Footed doesn't include Dex and Dodge bonuses to AC.
Touch doesn't include Armor, Natural Armor, or shield bonuses to AC.

And what about 0-level spells?


Also just noticed if I don't give him a 20 point buy but tweak his stats a little, I get the following:
str 12, dex 22, con 19, int 16, wis 14, cha 16
AC 26 (17 touch, 19 flat footed)
CMB 15, CMD 27 (20 flat)
fort 12, reflex 14, will 13

Is that a bit more balanced for a CR10 dude? I mean, if I want to make it tougher, I can throw in a few extra guys too.

I'd say stick with the first set of stats. You said yourself that you feel you're being too easy on them and the second set of stats is an example of that.

I had the same feeling so I applied the Paragon template (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/paragonCreature.htm) to a boss I'm putting them up against. Heaps of fun.

[Nibbens]

You gave some pretty cool ideas, though! I think I'm just playing with good players, and honestly... I like that they're very skilled and crafty and I want to keep that going. I mean, how fun is it that we keep joking about, "I think we should actually make a custom feat called weapon's focus: halfling" before we start the next session?

Glad I could help some! :) And I feel you, I'm currently playing with a group that steamrolled the Tomb of Horrors (and no, I'm not exaggerating), and I am always trying and trying and trying to challenge them, so every battle is an experiment.

When all else fails, instead of "taking them out of their box" rip them out of it! After a nice celebration in the nearest tavern after their latest steamrolling conquest, they all wake up as animals being sold as pets in a street vendors cart - (street vendor = mage with scrolls of baleful polymorph). Make them all roleplay being sold to different masters and trying to communicate with them as dogs/cats/birds, etc.

[loodwig]

Flat-footed shouldn't be 19. Touch should be 19. I don't know where you got Touch 20 from.

Flat-Footed doesn't include Dex and Dodge bonuses to AC.
Touch doesn't include Armor, Natural Armor, or shield bonuses to AC.

And what about 0-level spells?


0 level spells : detect magic, light, message, ray of frost, read magic, resistance
1 level spells : burning hands, grease, mage armor, protection from good, true strike,
2 level spells : flaming sphere, resist energy, scorching ray

This gave me some concern, so I went back and double checked my math. I didn't list feats, is why the math seems off. In addition to other feats, I took dodge and Improved Natural Armor.

Flat Footed = 10 + Dragon Disciple Natural (2) + Serpentfolk Natural (3) + Dragon Resistances (1) + Improved Natural (1) + bracers of armor (2)
Touch = 10 + dex (9) + dodge (1) = 20


The AC is surprisingly obscene with Serpentfolk + dragon disciple, which is why the flat footed is so high (plus, bracers of armor +2 I had on the guy, but I've elected to remove it since he can cast mage armor, favoring instead to bump the cloak of resistance +2 to +3). So post revision, the Flat foot should be only 17 and the total AC should be down to 27. However, with Mage armor cast, it will juice up to AC 31, Flat 21.

I thought about this guy a little more last night, and it occurred to me that while he is a badass, he's still beatable by the current party. Dispel magic will take out the mage armor, trip & flank bonuses will lower the guys AC significantly (though tripping him will be certainly tough without true strike, which they have). So if they gang up on him they can certainly damage him... and he'll be able to hit them with some nasty ranged touch attack spells.



I'd say stick with the first set of stats. You said yourself that you feel you're being too easy on them and the second set of stats is an example of that.

I had the same feeling so I applied the Paragon template (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/paragonCreature.htm) to a boss I'm putting them up against. Heaps of fun.

Yeah, I mean, the guy isn't impossible to kill, he's just freaking difficult without some magic gear (which the party lacks). And since the party is going to go to a market to sell their accumulated hoard, they have a perfect opportunity to use their new swag right there and then. I might split the difference and take him from a 20 point buy down to a 10, since reading the rules his base stats are already way above 25 point buy (28 dex for crying out loud!). I might also shift him a bit towards charisma, given that he's a caster and not a fighter (16 does seem a little low for a badass snake sorcerer, and I already dumped int in favor of con).

[jjcrpntr]

Here's an Idea - instead of upping the difficulty, (ie, Challenge Rating) up the play style. Make your enemies do things the party is not used to.
Attempt to sunder the Fighters sword/Armor. Whether you succeed or fail, watch him cry/freak out when he sees what you're doing.
Charm person can have some nasty effects on the Warrior as well. He won't turn on his allies with that spell, but you've effectively nullified a big damage dealer with a lvl 1 spell.
Perhaps one of my favorites - Wall of Ice. Spring one up between players isolating the wizard (or squishiest player) and have him trapped with a bruiser. Fear factor goes up and difficulty goes up just because of positioning. While everyone is hammering frantically on the wall, trying to get through, the wizard is using *defensive spells* trying to stay alive.
An enemy who can cast invisibility (quickened invisibility is even better) with sneak attack modifiers. Every turn he appears when he attacks, vanishes and moves away. Imagine their frustration.
Of course, all of these are based on the premise that you haven't hit them with things like this before. So, if you have, ignore me. :)
Hope these can help!

Man I'd love to be able to do this stuff to my players. I think they'd enjoy it save one guy. There's one player who's a great guy everyone likes him. But if anything happens other than he rages (barbarian obviously) charges in and he and the enemy take turns swinging at each other then it's just some "DM bull**** trying to fk with him". If i sundered his weapons he'd flip out. This guy charged a group of drow at level 3, and ran right into an ambush while the rest of the party was holding defensively in another room. One of the drow cast hold person on him and he got pissed at me.

For the OP, I think your idea sounds fun. I try to challenge my players in combat as often as possible. As long as it's something that they can beat or can possibly escape then I'd go for it. Otherwise they are just going to get bored eventually.

[Nibbens]

Man I'd love to be able to do this stuff to my players. I think they'd enjoy it save one guy. There's one player who's a great guy everyone likes him. But if anything happens other than he rages (barbarian obviously) charges in and he and the enemy take turns swinging at each other then it's just some "DM bull**** trying to fk with him". If i sundered his weapons he'd flip out. This guy charged a group of drow at level 3, and ran right into an ambush while the rest of the party was holding defensively in another room. One of the drow cast hold person on him and he got pissed at me.

Sounds like you have someone who needs a few more hold person spells cast on his character anyway! lol.

[loodwig]

Man I'd love to be able to do this stuff to my players. I think they'd enjoy it save one guy. There's one player who's a great guy everyone likes him. But if anything happens other than he rages (barbarian obviously) charges in and he and the enemy take turns swinging at each other then it's just some "DM bull**** trying to fk with him". If i sundered his weapons he'd flip out. This guy charged a group of drow at level 3, and ran right into an ambush while the rest of the party was holding defensively in another room. One of the drow cast hold person on him and he got pissed at me.

For the OP, I think your idea sounds fun. I try to challenge my players in combat as often as possible. As long as it's something that they can beat or can possibly escape then I'd go for it. Otherwise they are just going to get bored eventually.

Holy crap, a guy like that I'd remove from the group (strategically, or by kicking him out of my house). We have a running joke in our circle, as most of us have done organized play (PFS). There's this one guy (barbarian) who frequently cheats by giving himself too many feats or doing things that are actually impossible (a lvl 4 barbarian with improved uncanny dodge) or things that anything other than a new player would know are impossible (grabbing a few levels of monk with barbarian). The thing is, all of this is totally forgivable in my mind, except that when he does this crap he ends up totally taking over the game, and then the GM has an aneurysm while the remaining players just play games on their phones or worse still: leave mid session. So whenever someone cheats, acts like an ass, or realizes they just took over the game for a moment they typically say something like, "Ah crap, I just became Nick," and we all laugh.

As to the original post, I figure the party with two more levels (they're close to leveling now) and a little bit better gear would easily destroy this "boss." So they have a chance to kill him. I was mostly just worried that AC 29 was insane, and now I think I can massage it to a correct challenge. Moreover, I'll make it tough to flee, but not impossible. One dude isn't going to kill EVERYONE in the market, and the guard will provide sufficient distraction if this snakeman is too tough even for random heroes. I'm thinking that local militia couldn't take him on in a fair fight, so this guy could cut a swath out of town if he wanted to (assuming all else failed), or the military could be deployed, or it could start raining frogs and deus ex machina :)

[RolkFlameraven]

There is ONE way to pull off the Monk/Barb but you need to use the Maenad from Dreamscarred due to

•Ordered Rage: Maenads may take levels in the barbarian class even if they are of the lawful alignment.

One of these days I will smash with grate discipline just to do so.

[Xaroth]

0 level spells : detect magic, light, message, ray of frost, read magic, resistance
1 level spells : burning hands, grease, mage armor, protection from good, true strike,
2 level spells : flaming sphere, resist energy, scorching ray

This gave me some concern, so I went back and double checked my math. I didn't list feats, is why the math seems off. In addition to other feats, I took dodge and Improved Natural Armor.

Flat Footed = 10 + Dragon Disciple Natural (2) + Serpentfolk Natural (3) + Dragon Resistances (1) + Improved Natural (1) + bracers of armor (2)
Touch = 10 + dex (9) + dodge (1) = 20


The AC is surprisingly obscene with Serpentfolk + dragon disciple, which is why the flat footed is so high (plus, bracers of armor +2 I had on the guy, but I've elected to remove it since he can cast mage armor, favoring instead to bump the cloak of resistance +2 to +3). So post revision, the Flat foot should be only 17 and the total AC should be down to 27. However, with Mage armor cast, it will juice up to AC 31, Flat 21.

I thought about this guy a little more last night, and it occurred to me that while he is a badass, he's still beatable by the current party. Dispel magic will take out the mage armor, trip & flank bonuses will lower the guys AC significantly (though tripping him will be certainly tough without true strike, which they have). So if they gang up on him they can certainly damage him... and he'll be able to hit them with some nasty ranged touch attack spells.

The Dodge bonus (assuming you're going by the Dodge feat) only applies to one opponent.

During your action, you designate an opponent and receive a +1 dodge bonus to Armor Class against attacks from that opponent.
So I wouldn't really count it towards your total AC count.

What do you mean by "Dragon Resistances"?


Yeah, I mean, the guy isn't impossible to kill, he's just freaking difficult without some magic gear (which the party lacks). And since the party is going to go to a market to sell their accumulated hoard, they have a perfect opportunity to use their new swag right there and then. I might split the difference and take him from a 20 point buy down to a 10, since reading the rules his base stats are already way above 25 point buy (28 dex for crying out loud!). I might also shift him a bit towards charisma, given that he's a caster and not a fighter (16 does seem a little low for a badass snake sorcerer, and I already dumped int in favor of con).

If anything, Lower AC to 25. No less.

A boss isn't supposed to be easy to hit.

Speaking of Con, what's his health?

[loodwig]

The Dodge bonus (assuming you're going by the Dodge feat) only applies to one opponent.

So I wouldn't really count it towards your total AC count.

What do you mean by "Dragon Resistances"?



If anything, Lower AC to 25. No less.

A boss isn't supposed to be easy to hit.

Speaking of Con, what's his health?


It looks like you might be quoting 3.5 or d20 or something else perhaps? The feat that you described looks nothing like the feat I know and love in Pathfinder.


http://paizo.com/prd/feats.html
Your training and reflexes allow you to react swiftly to avoid an opponents' attacks.
Prerequisite: Dex 13.
Benefit: You gain a +1 dodge bonus to your AC. A condition that makes you lose your Dex bonus to AC also makes you lose the benefits of this feat.


As for dragon resistances:



http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/classes/sorcerer.html#_sorcerer

Dragon Resistances (Ex): At 3rd level, you gain resist 5 against your energy type and a +1 natural armor bonus. At 9th level, your energy resistance increases to 10 and natural armor bonus increases to +2. At 15th level, your natural armor bonus increases to +4.


So this guy would have a 5 resist against fire (red dragon), and yet one more natural armor, bringing his grand total of natural armor up to 7.

And for the record, now that I'm home, the feats I picked were Agile Manuvers, Dodge, and Improved Natural Armor (on top of the several others I get anyway for being DDi6/Sor1)

After a little tweaking, this is what I ended up with (15 point buy)



This serpentine humanoid has bright scaly skin, a long sinuous tail, and a fanged serpent's head.
--------------------
Snakeman CR 11
XP 12,800
Serpentfolk Dragon Disciple 6/Sorcerer 1
NE Medium monstrous humanoid
Init +12; Senses blindsense 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +15
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 26, touch 19, flat-footed 17 (+8 Dex, +7 natural, +1 dodge)
hp 169 (6d12+5d10+1d6+96)
Fort +16, Ref +17, Will +14
Immune mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison; Resist dragon resistances, fire 5; SR 22
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee bite +12 (1d6) and
. . quarterstaff +10/+5 (1d6+1)
Special Attacks bloodline arcana: draconic, breath weapon, dragon bite, claws, poison
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 4th; concentration +7)
. . At will—disguise self (humanoid form only), ventriloquism (DC 14)
. . 1/day—blur, dominate person (DC 17), major image (DC 16), mirror image, suggestion (DC 15)
Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 5th; concentration +8):
2nd (5/day)—flaming sphere (DC 15), resist energy, scorching ray
1st (7/day)—burning hands (DC 14), grease, mage armor, protection from good, true strike
0 (at will)—detect magic, light, message, ray of frost, read magic, resistance
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 12, Dex 26, Con 24, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 16
Base Atk +9; CMB +17; CMD 29
Feats Agile Maneuvers, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Eschew Materials, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Armor, Toughness, Weapon Finesse
Skills Acrobatics +18, Disguise +15, Escape Artist +24, Knowledge (arcana) +11, Linguistics +4, Perception +15, Sense Motive +7, Spellcraft +14, Stealth +20, Swim +5, Use Magic Device +15; Racial Modifiers +8 Escape Artist, +4 Use Magic Device
Languages Aklo, Common, Draconic, Elven, Undercommon; telepathy 100 ft.
SQ bloodlines (draconic)
Other Gear quarterstaff, cloak of resistance +3, robe of blending
--------------------
ECOLOGY
--------------------
Environment Any land (usually jungles or underground)
Organization Solitary, pair, or cult (3-12)
Treasure Npc gear (masterwork dagger, other treasure)
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------
Agile Maneuvers Use DEX instead of STR for CMB
Blind-Fight Re-roll misses because of concealment, other benefits.
Blindsense (30 feet) (Ex) Sense things and creatures without seeing them.
Bloodline Arcana: Draconic (Ex) +1 damage per die for [Fire] spells.
Breath Weapon (1/day) (DC 16) (Su) 1/day, Breath Weapon deals 6d6 Fire damage, DC 16.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Dragon Bite (Ex) Bite atacks deal 1d6 damage
Dragon Resistances (Ex) You gain Fire resistance 5 and +1 natural armor
Energy Resistance, Fire (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Eschew Materials Cast spells without materials, if component cost is 1 gp or less.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Immunity to Paralysis You are immune to paralysis.
Immunity to Poison You are immune to poison.
Magic Claws & Fire Bite (6 rounds/day) (Ex) 2 Magic Claw attacks deal 1d6 damage. Bite attack deals 1d6 damage.
Poison: Bite - Injury (DC 19) (Ex) Poison—Injury; save Fort DC 19; freq 1/rd for 6 rds; effect 1d2 Str; cure 2 cons saves.
Robe of blending 1/day can assume the form of another humanoid creature, as if using alter self
Scent (Ex) Detect opponents within 15+ feet by sense of smell.
Spell Resistance (22) You have Spell Resistance.
Telepathy (100 feet) (Su) Communicate telepathically if the target has a language.

[Xaroth]

It looks like you might be quoting 3.5 or d20 or something else perhaps? The feat that you described looks nothing like the feat I know and love in Pathfinder.

And for the record, now that I'm home, the feats I picked were Agile Manuvers, Dodge, and Improved Natural Armor (on top of the several others I get anyway for being DDi6/Sor1)

I forgot that this was pathfinder, sorry about that. I'm not entirely familiar with how Pathfinder differs to regular D&D, but the stat block seems good. Be sure to post how the fight goes!

[Angelalex242]

He's a sorcerer. You should really trade his dex score for his charisma score. He'd be much happier with save DCs then dex bonus to AC.

[Xaroth]

His high Dex comes from his race more than anything.

[loodwig]

Aftermath: I wish I had kept with the original stats. Party of 4 had a tough time at first (breath attack opening round took over half the life from the druid), plus the 22 SR really nerfed the bard & sorcerer. However, enough summoned creatures and flanking bonuses and finally a successful trip (care of a well timed tanglefoot bag) sent me to the ground and in 5 rounds and a few failed concentration checks, I was toast.

It just goes to show that a powerful caster is not unstoppable. There were some very fun happenings though:

The bard successfully summoned a celestial toad and dire mongoose, which (after failed perception throws) resulted in the snakeman being flanked in more than one direction.

The druid summoned a crocodile that gave the final blow to the head (chomp, no more head). The druid's wolf was a fun diversion, but certainly not doing much damage.

The sorcerer summoned water that kept taking out my flaming spheres.

The cleric just mauled me with his greataxe.

All said, the party still had a lot of fun, and they're honestly more interested in the story at this point than they are in the challenge of combat (though they still had to challenge the combat very effectively and think creative, and the fight took over an hour for 5 rounds). It definitely shows that I can step up the challenge, but it's still a lot of fun regardless.

[Nibbens]

Aftermath: I wish I had kept with the original stats. Party of 4 had a tough time at first (breath attack opening round took over half the life from the druid), plus the 22 SR really nerfed the bard & sorcerer. However, enough summoned creatures and flanking bonuses and finally a successful trip (care of a well timed tanglefoot bag) sent me to the ground and in 5 rounds and a few failed concentration checks, I was toast.

It just goes to show that a powerful caster is not unstoppable. There were some very fun happenings though:

The bard successfully summoned a celestial toad and dire mongoose, which (after failed perception throws) resulted in the snakeman being flanked in more than one direction.

The druid summoned a crocodile that gave the final blow to the head (chomp, no more head). The druid's wolf was a fun diversion, but certainly not doing much damage.

The sorcerer summoned water that kept taking out my flaming spheres.

The cleric just mauled me with his greataxe.

All said, the party still had a lot of fun, and they're honestly more interested in the story at this point than they are in the challenge of combat (though they still had to challenge the combat very effectively and think creative, and the fight took over an hour for 5 rounds). It definitely shows that I can step up the challenge, but it's still a lot of fun regardless.

Glad to hear it!

[Xaroth]

Aftermath: I wish I had kept with the original stats. Party of 4 had a tough time at first (breath attack opening round took over half the life from the druid), plus the 22 SR really nerfed the bard & sorcerer. However, enough summoned creatures and flanking bonuses and finally a successful trip (care of a well timed tanglefoot bag) sent me to the ground and in 5 rounds and a few failed concentration checks, I was toast.

It just goes to show that a powerful caster is not unstoppable. There were some very fun happenings though:

The bard successfully summoned a celestial toad and dire mongoose, which (after failed perception throws) resulted in the snakeman being flanked in more than one direction.

The druid summoned a crocodile that gave the final blow to the head (chomp, no more head). The druid's wolf was a fun diversion, but certainly not doing much damage.

The sorcerer summoned water that kept taking out my flaming spheres.

The cleric just mauled me with his greataxe.

All said, the party still had a lot of fun, and they're honestly more interested in the story at this point than they are in the challenge of combat (though they still had to challenge the combat very effectively and think creative, and the fight took over an hour for 5 rounds). It definitely shows that I can step up the challenge, but it's still a lot of fun regardless.

But... but did you rain Bebiliths down from the heavens on them afterwards?

[IIzak]

I know that this is a little late behind the times, but the Angry DM has an article on boss fights that is really interesting and structures the boss fights in a way that makes them super fun and much more interesting.

http://angrydm.com/2010/04/the-dd-boss-fight-part-1/

check it out if you like?

[loodwig]

http://angrydm.com/2010/04/the-dd-boss-fight-part-1/


This is excellent! Thanks.