What CR is this BBEG?

[Belial_the_Leveler]

As the title says, I'm trying to see what kind of CR the following BBEG would have in Pathfinder. I know that in DnD 3.5 she'd lack many of the more powerful high-level tricks and a Tippyverse-wizard could possibly one-shot her pre-epic but Pathfinder has much fewer ridiculous crap. I was aiming at CR 24 or so while building her.

1) Is she CR 24 in Pathfinder? She's kinda frail without her items but heavy on specials.

2) If she isn't, should I add/increase anything? Or decrease it?

3) At what CR would you peg her for normal DnD 3.5?


Ariel, Lady Darkflame CR 24(?)
XP 900,666
CE medium outsider (demon, extraplanar, Evil, Chaos)
Init +13; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision; Perception +40
Aura fear (66 ft, DC 40), frightful presence (666 ft, DC 40), Unholy (20 ft, DC 36)
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Defense
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AC 40, touch 27, flat-footed 27 (+13 dexterity, +13 natural, +4 deflection)
AC with gear 56, touch 30, flat-footed 40 (+16 dex, +18 nat, +4 defl, +8 armor)
hp 396 (24d10+264), +72 with gear; regeneration 15 (axiomatic artifacts, effects and spells)
Fort +31, Ref +27, Will +28; (+3 to all with gear)
DR 15/epic+true iron; Immune antimagic, fire, electricity, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 35; Special deathward, unholy aura
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Offense
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Speed 50 ft., fly 150 ft. (good)
Melee horns +32 (1d8+12), 2 claws +32 (1d6+12), 2 wings +32 (1d6+12)
Melee with Gear horns +40 (1d8+22), 2 claws +40 (1d6+22), 2 wings +40 (1d6+22)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 29th; concentration +47, DC 28+spell level)
. . Constant—detect good, deathward, see invisible, tongues, true seeing, unholy aura
. . At will—blasphemy, charm monster, detect thoughts, dream, delayed blast fireball, demand, disjunction, dimensional lock, emergency force sphere, earthquake, ethereal jaunt, thanatopic enervation, greater teleport, greater invisibility, nondetection, polymorph any object, permanency, shades, time stop, trap the soul, unhallow, vampiric touch, searing wall of fire
. . 3/day—deep slumber, dominate person, feeblemind, modify memory, miracle, plane shift, shadow walk, wish

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Statistics
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Str 26, Dex 36, Con 32, Int 34, Wis 26, Cha 47 (+6 to all with gear)
Base Atk +24; CMB +32 (+35 with gear); CMD 49 (55 with gear)
Feats Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Extend Spell, Empower Spell, Maximize Spell, Quicken Spell, Chain Spell, Widen Spell, Deflect Arrows, Exceptional Deflection, Mythic Presence
Skills Acrobatics +13, Athletics +18, Appraise +18, Bluff +50, Craft (Metalworking) +35, Diplomacy +42, Disguise +42, Escape Artist +37, Fly +27, Intimidate +42, Knowledge (history) +36, Knowledge (arcana) +36, Knowledge (planes) +36, Knowledge (religion) +36, Knowledge (local) +36, Knowledge (nature) +16, Knowledge (martial lore) +36, Knowledge (nobility) +36, Perception +40, Perform (Oratory) +42, Sense Motive +32, Spellcraft +42, Stealth +41, Survival +8, Use Magic Device +42
Languages All known, tongues, telepathy 1 mile
SQ lots; see below
Various Gear (triple standard, 568.000 gp)
+6 belt of magnificence, +5 defending amulet of mighty fists, gown of +8 armor, +5 natural armor, evasion and free action
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Special Abilities - DCs are increased by +3 with gear.
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Change Shape (Su)
As per alter self, any small or medium humanoid.

Energy Drain (Su)
Ariel drains energy from beings she lures into acts of passion such as a kiss or acts of ruin such as dealing damage to sentient beings at her request. Unwilling victims must be grappled for acts of passion or mentally influenced for acts of ruin. Ariel's attentions bestow one thanatopic negative level. They also bestow a suggestion (Will save DC 40) to continue the activity for one more act. The Fortitude save DC to remove the negative level is also 40.

Feign Death (Ex)
Whenever Ariel is unconscious, she appears dead. A conscious Ariel can also make herself appear dead as an immediate action. Any creature that physically interacts with her while feigning death must succeed at a Heal check or Will saving throw (DC 40) to recognize she is actually alive.

Mistress of Magic (Cs)
As a nanscent demon lady, Ariel is not subject to antimagic and counts as a unique creature for all effects where that would matter. She can apply any single metamagic feat she knows every time she uses a spell-like ability.

Nightmare Mastery (Ex)
Ariel automatically disbelieves illusions (no save) and has a +4 bonus on saving throws to resist illusion effects. She gains a +4 bonus to the DCs of her spells and spell-like abilities of the phantasm and shadow subschools.

Night Terrors (Su)
Once Ariel enters a target's mind with her dream or nightmare spell-like ability, she can attempt to control the target's dream. If the target fails a DC 40 Will saving throw, it remains asleep and trapped in the dream world with her. Thereafter, Ariel controls all aspects of the dream. Each hour that passes, the target can attempt another saving throw to try to awaken (it automatically awakens after 8 hours or if Ariel releases it). The target takes 1d4 points of Charisma damage each hour it is trapped in the dream; if it takes any Charisma damage, it is fatigued and unable to regain arcane spells for the next 24 hours. The target dies if this Charisma damage equals or exceeds its actual Charisma score. Alternatively, instead of killing a creature with this ability, Ariel can take control of it as per a permanent Dominate Monster effect. The enslaved creature is healed of all Charisma damage taken from night terrors.

Profane Exchange (Su)
As a full-round action, Ariel can grant a willing target a +6 profane bonus to one ability score of his choice by touching it for 1 round. A creature can have only one profane favor at a time. For as long as the favor persists, Ariel can communicate telepathically with the creature at any distance and may employ her SLAs through them, manifesting them as if the target were using them. Profane Exchange can be removed with a miracle or wish spell. Ariel can also remove it as a free action, dealing 3d6 charisma drain and 1d6+6 permanent negative levels (no save).

[Belial_the_Leveler]

No love for the demon BBEG? :smallfrown:

[Chester]

OK, well I play 3.5 and don't know much about pathfinder, BUT I'm not sure specific challenge rating numbers really matter here. It seems to me that in order for the BBEG to be an appropriate challenge, you need to consider:

1. The make-up of the party and their strengths, weaknesses, etc. Exploit their weaknesses but be kind to their strengths.
2. If a party member can one-shot her, she's too weak. Pump her up or give her plenty of minions. Throw obstacles in the way of the party to make her a viable threat.
3. Lots of defensive gear; what offensive gear does she have?

I'm also noticing the Feign Death ability....I mean, even if my PC failed a check to notice she's still alive, I'd make damn sure that body wasn't going to move anymore.

tl;dr: I wouldn't think about CR as much as I'd think about how she and the PC's can handle each other.

[atemu1234]

A reasonably optimized party could handle this around level 20, I think, earlier depending on other factors. The thing about BBEGs is that they tend to not travel around alone. They have thousands of servants. A level-one goblin warrior could be a BBEG if he has the forces of hell under his command.

Basically, what makes this BBEG strong doesn't necessarily just apply to his/her/its stats, you also probably want it running around with half a dozen succubus blackguards.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

BBEG strategic resources and abilities
1) Ariel likes to invest minions with her power through Profane Exchange, often while disguised behind her shapeshifting and concealment magic so they don't know who she is exactly. This allows her to have agents in multiple places to which she has direct contact at any time, giving her an information/communications network that most organizations can't match and the ability to coordinate operations across any distance.
2) When her agents get into tight spots, she gets to directly influence the outcome, usually in subtle ways. A group of heroes is trying to trick one of her blackguards and he sees through their deceptions because Ariel granted him her True Seeing and Detect Thoughts. One of Ariel's spies is sneaking into a goodly king's castle and no magic reveals his intrusion for he's cloaked in Ariel's Nondetection. A courtesan that has Ariel's favor finds that she can convince almost anyone because Ariel works her Charm and Suggestion powers through her.
3) Like other greater demons, Ariel is not above granting very direct, very powerful boons in exchange for significant sacrifices. A warlord that burns a village in Ariel's name can have his army's horses all turned into Manticores. A cultist of middling magical power can get the power to cause earthquakes and fiery explosions at will for his fight against an order of paladins. A favored minion can find himself time and again shielded or teleported away from danger before the heroes can kill or capture him. A king that outlaws an order of paladins in his kingdom can have the castle of his dreams being constructed overnight.
4) Ariel is the mistress of nightmares made real. She could literally turn a flock of farm animals into monsters or summon swarms of nightmarish contagious insects out of her own shadow, or mockeries of elder elementals, giants or demons manifested by her will. While such minions are often short-lived, heroes may find that their victories against them are as hollow as beating their own shadow as their enemies weren't real and Ariel could remake them as easily as one draws a picture upon parchment.
5) At the strategic level, Ariel's knowledge and long-range influence can have major impact. At her more direct, she can send suggestions at any distance via her Demand ability. More subtly, she enters dreams and provides "divine" visions to those she wants to influence, or offers nightmares to those who oppose her to the point of draining their life through terror or permanently subjugating their spirit. But her greatest ability is powerful telepathy coupled with sheer persuasion, diplomatic skill and subterfuge; she could enter a city and convince the populace to open rebellion against their lawful king in mere hours of having a tiny voice in the back of their minds whispering them very believable atrocities and crimes said king committed - truthfully or otherwise - all the time with them thinking it's their own conscience or voice of reason urging them towards justice. For which commoners could shift through the lies of a greater demon?


BBEG combat abilities and tactics
1) If significantly annoyed or pressed, Ariel abandons her aspects of the Corruptor and the Nightmare and becomes the Destroyer. If a mortal king opposes her, she doesn't fight him and his champions; she tears the castle down upon them with earthquakes then goes to level other important places in the kingdom. If a band of heroes attacks her cultists, she'll hit them with Disjunction to destroy their defenses and items then hit them with blasts of fire. If an order of paladins and clerics rises against her she'll rip out their souls with Trap the Soul then use them up or eat them to permanently destroy their afterlife and consign them to oblivion.
2) Against enemies that pose a significant threat, she'll force them to burn resources through attrition, countering nondamaging effects with physical barriers to break line-of-sight, remaining concealed and attacking via summons, following them and interfering in their other challenges and generally frustrating the opposition by not presenting a target they can attack.
3) Against enemies of great power, she's not above warping Time and Reality to destroy their plans and powerbase. Freeing their thralls from mental influence, destroying their strongholds, subverting their followers and cohorts, breaking up their rituals with well-timed hit-and-run tactics can work even against extremely powerful beings if you can do it in ways they can't directly counter.
4) If worse comes to worst, she's not above fleeing a losing fight or feigning defeat. She knows she's physically frail compared to other beings of her level of power, and rather dismal in melee combat which she tries to avoid. Using her superior mobility coupled with regeneration, she can jump away for a couple of minutes till the enemy's buffs run out and/or her wounds recover then jump back in good as new.


Makeup of the PC's party:
OK, this is my RL, non-online group. We're using PF rules with 3.5 stuff inserted.
1) Human Cleric 9/Radiant Servant 10/Hierophant 1. Lots of turning, DMM, persists. Nightsticks disallowed though.
2) Elf Sorceror 6/Incantatrix 10/Archmage 4. Decent save-or-lose, likes one-shotting stuff due to high DCs.
3) Gnome Synthesist Summoner 20. Merges with uber-eidolon and tanks. Middle-level magic.
4) Advanced Succubus Chaos Monk 2/Paladin 10. Party archer and utility.