Suggestions for fun/weird/odd builds and environment surprises for arena fights

[upho]

I'm running a heavily tweaked RoTR campaign in a mostly homebrew setting, and the party will soon partake in big arena fights during a famous yearly festival in Magnimar. I'd like to surprise the players with some really odd, fun and tough opponents that defy expectations - in terms of mechanics as well as personalities - but for some reason I'm really short on ideas and could really use your help. Basically, I'd like all info you can share on some of the more memorable and weird (N)PCs you've built, played or seen in play and that you think could fit as a solo opponents or as parts of an enemy team in really showy gladiator fights vs. a strong level 8 party consisting of high T3 PCs. Both crunch and fluff are of interest.

Important Basic Info



All Paizo and DSP material available on d20pfsrd.com allowed, plus everything available from PoW: Expanded (including playtest material).

All characters gain the following feats as bonus feats if and when they meet the prerequisites stated here:
Combat Expertise - none
Weapon Finesse - none
Point-Blank Shot - none
Martial Power - Con 13
Power Attack - Str 13
Piranha Strike - Dex 13
Deadly Aim - Dex 13


The following feats have been altered:

Combat Feat Chains: A character who has the first feat in a chain of two or more combat feats named according to the "X/Improved X/Greater X" standard (such as TWF or Improved Trip) gains the following feats in the chain as bonus feats as soon as she meets the prerequisites.

No “Int 13” prerequisites: No feats with Combat Expertise as a prerequisite has Int 13 as a prerequisite.

No “fighter level #” prerequisites: All feats which has a minimum fighter level as a prerequisite instead has the corresponding base attack bonus as a prerequisite.

Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved is changed as follows:
Prerequisites: Dex 17, Two-Weapon Fighting, base attack bonus +6.
Benefit: In addition to the standard single extra attack you get with an off-hand weapon, you get a second attack with it, albeit at a –5 penalty.
Whenever you take a standard or full-round action normally limited to a single attack (such as a charge or standard action attack) and do not perform a Martial Strike, you can make an additional attack with an off-hand weapon you wield at your full base attack bonus, but both your main hand and off-hand attack rolls take the normal penalties of Two-Weapon Fighting.
Normal: Without this feat, you can only get a single extra attack with an off-hand weapon, and only when taking an action which grants you iterative attacks.

Two-Weapon Fighting, Greater is changed as follows:
Prerequisites: Dex 19, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, base attack bonus +11.
Benefit: You get a third attack with your off-hand weapon, albeit at a –10 penalty.
Whenever the Improved Two-Weapon Fighting feat allows you to attack twice instead of once in an action you take, the attack penalty of Two-Weapon Fighting is reduced by 2 (to a minimum of 0). In addition, once per round and opponent when you can make an Attack of Opportunity against an opponent, you can make an additional attack with an off-hand weapon you wield against the same opponent. This still counts as a single Attack of Opportunity, and the attack penalty of Two-Weapon Fighting is reduced by 2 for both of these attacks. The additional attack can not be replaced by a combat maneuver.





Half-Giant "Jotunkin" Various Tanky Dips 4/Warder 4 - Very tanky large sized sword'n'board style defender, focusing mostly on the Silver Crane and Iron Tortoise disciplines. Has very high durability, good to great melee reach (becomes huge when raging during one fight per day) and is pretty awesome at tripping. Low Wis and Cha.

Munin Haramn (small raven-ish humanoid homebrew race) Hexcrafter Magus 8 - Dex-based whip-wielding hexcrafter with a mobile striker focus. Can deal a crapton of damage when needed. Likes to demoralize hit opponents. Good AC but pretty modest saves and rather frail.

Rakshasa-Spawn Tiefling Witch 5/Coven Agent 3 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?399287-Coven-Agent-a-T3-Witch-archetype-ish-PrC-with-ranged-maneuvers) - Cha-based witch/spy/assassin with a penchant for expensive clothes. Delivers debuffing hexes and ranged maneuvers from primarily the Steel Serpent and Veiled Moon disciplines using a hand crossbow. Frail but good at keeping herself out of harms way.

Demon-Spawn Tiefling Wrathblood (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?442363-Wrathblood-The-Monster-Bloodrager-Archetype-New-and-Improved-Monstrous-Thread!) Primalist Bloodrager (Abyssal bloodline) 8 - Monster natural attack charger using evolutions and style feats. Very high consistent DPR, plenty of HP and good saves but rather low AC.

The magus player is a noob while the other PCs are played by experienced and (usually) tactically smart players.



I won't be using Paizo's performance combat rules, since they require too much investment vs. payoff in this case. Ideas on alternative simple rules for audience reactions and effects are most welcome!

In addition to build ideas on opponents, I'd appreciate any suggestions on environmental "special effects" and other flashy surprises suitable for a big gladiator arena.

[Geddy2112]

Have the audience react to grandiose actions- evocation/conjuration spells, lots of attacks, etc. Don't reward SLA's or anything that is petty.

The only time I was in a gladiator fight in a campaign, we had to choose doors to determine opponents, and we got a black dragon...making them choose doors adds suspense, and having an enemy that can blast and move anything besides a land speed would be cool. Earlier in the match, the arena floor collapsed in from the sides to reveal lava, making our area to fight smaller and smaller.

Flood the arena and make them swim-in this case, make an opponent that can attack them if they try to fly, or make air attacks impossible. Or, if they can all gain reasonable flight, then make it a mandatory skygame without a floor and possibly subjective gravity, like a demiplane.

Have dispel magic hidden on some NPC, somewhere. Have a standard ogre/giant/monster wielding a big smashy thing David vs Goliath style.

[upho]

Have the audience react to grandiose actions- evocation/conjuration spells, lots of attacks, etc. Don't reward SLA's or anything that is petty.This is what I had in mind, but how would you let positive audience reactions reward the players? I guess a simple +2 to their next roll is OK, but also a bit boring. I was thinking of perhaps allowing the audience to choose some of the ingredients (environment hazards, certain monster enemies etc), which could of course also make a helpful audience a big boon if they know what the party prefers.


The only time I was in a gladiator fight in a campaign, we had to choose doors to determine opponents, and we got a black dragon...making them choose doors adds suspense, and having an enemy that can blast and move anything besides a land speed would be cool. Earlier in the match, the arena floor collapsed in from the sides to reveal lava, making our area to fight smaller and smaller.They will mostly fight other gladiators, but monsters are of course also welcome as long as I can make it believable. A shrinking arena seems fun. I think I'll use that one!


Flood the arena and make them swim-in this case, make an opponent that can attack them if they try to fly, or make air attacks impossible. Or, if they can all gain reasonable flight, then make it a mandatory skygame without a floor and possibly subjective gravity, like a demiplane.Skygame could definitely work. Good idea.


Have dispel magic hidden on some NPC, somewhere.Heh, of course!
Have a standard ogre/giant/monster wielding a big smashy thing David vs Goliath style.Hmm... The only problem with this is that it would have to be a pretty damn big "Goliath" to make the party's tank seem small. We're talking at least gargantuan. But doable, and definitely spectacular!

Thanks a ton!

[Geddy2112]

This is what I had in mind, but how would you let positive audience reactions reward the players? I guess a simple +2 to their next roll is OK, but also a bit boring. I was thinking of perhaps allowing the audience to choose some of the ingredients (environment hazards, certain monster enemies etc), which could of course also make a helpful audience a big boon if they know what the party prefers.
They will mostly fight other gladiators, but monsters are of course also welcome as long as I can make it believable. A shrinking arena seems fun. I think I'll use that one!

Say there was strong wind blowing in the arena-crowd favor would make it blow in the party's favor, so they don't take penalty moving or shooting against such. Likewise, the crowd could suggest for them to choose the better of two fates, should it come to chance, or perhaps they can choose how to shrink the arena, etc. Monsters are not unheard of for gladiator matches- Greco Roman fights would have exotic animals(Lions, Tigers, Elephants...) fight in the arena. So animals/magical beasts would not be too far, even young dragons might be opponents the party could fight.



Heh, of course! Hmm... The only problem with this is that it would have to be a pretty damn big "Goliath" to make the party's tank seem small. We're talking at least gargantuan. But doable, and definitely spectacular!
Thanks a ton!
You can always have more than one giant, or make the giant do things other than damage. Perhaps the shock from their club disrupts spellcasters and makes difficult terrain, or their very presence causes fear checks, or something to make it more than a damage based fight.
I am glad I could help!

[TheYell]

Elemental wizards costumed as deities circle the stands in chariots. When the crowd gets loud enough they cast spells among the combatants.

In the presiding box is a full set of hero's arms and armor. The president can start throwing out these +5 trinkets to honor a fine victory or to try and throw a politically important match .

[upho]

Monsters are not unheard of for gladiator matches- Greco Roman fights would have exotic animals(Lions, Tigers, Elephants...) fight in the arena. So animals/magical beasts would not be too far, even young dragons might be opponents the party could fight.Well, the potential problem isn't monsters per se, it's the kind of monsters this would require to be a real challenge. In a straight up fight, this party can kill CR 15 monsters in a few rounds and would view young dragons as appetizers... :smalleek: But of course, simply having more numerous and less dangerous monsters could work.

The other issue is that there are other gladiator teams which the party already has had some run-ins with, so the tension and animosity is very much built up for competition and an epic "to the death" fight against the bad guys, and I haven't planned on spending more than two or three sessions on arena stuff. I'd also like to give them a chance to befriend other gladiators they haven't met yet - potential allies in the final fight. But I guess those could be intelligent monsters as well. Now that I think about it, that could be a pretty interesting take, actually.


You can always have more than one giant, or make the giant do things other than damage. Perhaps the shock from their club disrupts spellcasters and makes difficult terrain, or their very presence causes fear checks, or something to make it more than a damage based fight.Yeah, overly damage based monsters tend to give boring fights and way too swingy results for my taste, so any "Goliath" would certainly be more than a mountain of HP and overkill DPR potential.

[Randomthom]

Flame jets that shoot across the arena every 1d3 rounds and you're not sure if they'll shoot on even or oddly numbered squares (e.g. if you number the game grid up one side, the flame jets will either hit all squares on odd or all squares on even rows. Becomes a real issue for the big guy (might need to look up the squeeze rules!)

Anti-magic gun turret. The crowd have a lottery whereby one lucky spectator will be allowed to man the anti-magic turret. Every round they shoot an anti-magic ray at one participant that lasts for 1 round. Cool thing is, it isn't truly random and if the players are real crowd pleasers then they're more likely to be helped by this... then again, looking at their races, a little bit of racism in the crowd could work against them... Also, cool to have this on random initiative.

Force-wall maze. Remember that a force wall is invisible so the combatants will be able to see each other but will have to feel their way around towards each other. Also cool if the guy on the anti-magic gun turret decides to zap a portion of wall instead of a combatant. This could create some awesome scenarios where the players could easily get separated unless they all rush through the gap at the same time. Also, expect some cool hilarity in the first round when the low-wisdom half-giant charges and crashes face-first into an invisible wall. It is also a good opportunity to put the PCs up against mundanes as opponents without the mundanes being totally rolled over.

Water-filled arena with force wall sealing off the top and sides so nobody can swim to the top for air. Remember about slashing & bludgeoning being half-damage underwater (unless under Freedom of Movement spell). For the spectators it's like sea world except the violence and cruelty isn't being hidden from the public.

[upho]

Elemental wizards costumed as deities circle the stands in chariots. When the crowd gets loud enough they cast spells among the combatants.Heh, sorta like wizard crowd warmers? Wacky. I like it.


In the presiding box is a full set of hero's arms and armor. The president can start throwing out these +5 trinkets to honor a fine victory or to try and throw a politically important match .Showing off the top prize is a good idea. Thankfully there are plenty of politically charged side intrigues already in place.


AWESOMENESSHell yes! Haha! I will take all of it, thank you! Can I get a side order of extra everything, please? :smallbiggrin: Thanks!

[Novawurmson]

Did some arena combat a while back (Daask-run blood pits in Sharn, for the Eberron-savy). Here's a few of the competitors, if you don't mind refluffing - and I certainly didn't:

The Blood Pikes - 3 "hobgoblin" aegii (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=368363). Approximate CR: 8.

The Laughing Six - 3 trolls, 3 "gnoll" wilders (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html?id=422222). The gnolls entangle, ego whip, and energy ray from the back while the trolls take the front lines. Approximate CR: 10.

The Grimpelts - 4 worg warriors (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/unique-monsters/cr-2/greypelt) "pups" and 1 world elder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/magical-beasts/worg/worg-elder-2) "mother." If they surround someone and trip them, it's curtains for them. Approximate CR: 8-9.

- - -

I'd also like to offer Big Trouble (CR 10 Half Giant Mesmerist (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=571368)), Holy Wrath (CR 12 Bloodrager VMC Paladin (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=510067), has a feat open at level 9), this CR 9 tiefling warlord (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=438264), and a CR 10 Aasimar Psychic Warrior (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=430986).

- - -

There may errors/incompletions on the character sheets - Myth-Weavers likes to erase things on my sheets for whatever reason, and I occasionally (read: often) hand-wave things for NPCs. Still, that should be a good helping of potential fights with the odd trick or DSP infusion your players may have not seen before.

[Amphetryon]

Have a Necromancer under an Invisibility effect who starts animating the bodies as they fall in the arena.

[CCC]

You could always have occasional less bloodthirsty, more comedic events between bouts - basically something to keep the audience occupied while the injured animals/gladiators are healed up for the next show, the bloodstains are hidden or Prestidigitated away and the arena traps are reset. (As far as the game is concerned, these happen in the background while the players, and thus the focus, are out of the arena)

Possibilities include:

- A Bard putting on a song and dance routine

- A group of low-level magic users with Ghost Sound and Silent Image putting on a show (or re-running a "highlight reel" of the previous fights, if they have good memories)

- A Bard putting on a song and dance routine to advertise a product (like Julien Scoundrel's endorsement of healing potions)

- A fake fight, set up between a new gladiator (perhaps even one of the PCs) and an "undefeatable opponent", a glowing humanoid figure made of light which shrugs off any and all attacks (it's really a "dancing lights" spell and can't cause any harm)

--------------

For actual fights, something with a Burrow speed can be nasty, especially if the party isn't expecting it - it pops up underneath someone, bites, and vanishes underground again.

There might be objects scattered around the arena that can help anyone who gets to them - like an orb that casts fireball (once-off) six seconds after it is touched (grab, throw at enemy). Or, better yet, an orb that reliably casts fireball six seconds after being touched, so if the enemy survives he gets to throw if back again...

Or there might be levers randomly placed through the arena, with each lever activating something - like opening a pit trap, letting in vast amounts of water, or even firing off an anti-magic pulse through the arena. Or flipping gravity...

Or there might be a three-way battle - three sets of roughly-equally-matched gladiators, with the last set standing winning the prize (if the PCs don't talk one of the other two sets into agreeing to team up against the third then fight it out, then the other two sets of gladiators will agree to team up against the PCs - even then, the PCs might persuade Team A to backstab Team B)

[Randomthom]

Also, a good classic, all the PCs are chained together in a long line. This forces them to act at the lowest initiative of the group and move together. The chains between them could be ~10ft so they can have 1 empty square between them. Also put them in random order & watch the ranged/casters squirm when forced (by the half-giant) to get in close & personal. It should probably also give a -2 to attacks with all weapons and a further -2 to melee damage.

[Concrete]

You could also have something go terribly wrong, interrupting a fight.

One or more of the arena beasts might get loose in the crowd. A gladiator might have bought a
dodgy magical item that goes off in unexpected way, like turning him into a mindless beast, creating a bunch of doubles who start fighting each other about who's the real one, or sending out magic missiles all willy-nilly.

If criminals are given the choice to fight for their freedom, have their gang pass him a magical item, like a flying carpet, or attempting to start a distraction, to help him escape.

Or maybe they're completely curbstomping a crowd favorite, which causes half the stands to riot. How does the PC's react to having to fight off a horde of riled up sports fans? Do they un? talk them down? make the arena a bloodbath? Any number of things can go wrong!

[inuyasha]

Now, I haven't really had the time to read through this thread so I don't know if something like this has been mentioned, but I think a group of advanced trolls (with barbarian levels and/or the advanced template) focused on bull rushing opponents into spiked pit traps would be a fun and deadly fight. Somebody came up with that idea and I've always wanted to use it, because trolls can regenerate even at the bottom of a spiked pit trap.

[upho]

All good ideas. Thanks a ton guys! Extra cookie to Novawurmson for providing interesting builds as well.

Speaking of builds, to give you an idea of the silliness I'm looking for, there will for example be a level 12 dual shield wielding Shield Champion/Warder using the following combo (copied from this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?454387-Wolf-Trip-Shield-Champion-Intimidation-Martial-Control-of-Gravitas)):

This tank-/defender-centric combo demands a lot of resources, is highly dependent on access to specific items, and is also useless against the many enemies immune to trip. But at least as far as I can tell from my play testing, once it starts to get going I think it's just hilariously effective in many combat scenarios, beyond comparison to that of any other martial control combo limited to Paizo sources I've ever seen in play.

It's key component is Wolf Trip (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/wolf-trip-wolf-style). Or more specifically, the following line in the feat's benefit description:
While using Wolf Style, whenever you successfully trip a creature, as a free action you may choose an available square adjacent to you for the tripped creature to land prone in.By itself and at first glance, this isn't anything spectacular. When added to a rather classic melee trip combo with Combat Reflexes, Greater Trip, Vicious Stomp and a boosted melee reach, it allows for the Vicious Stomp AoO to be triggered if the target was tripped in a non-adjacent space using a reach weapon, and it can also make it harder for a tripped monster to get away and chew on squishy allies. Useful if the goal is to ramp up damage through AoOs, and it can be very good for locking down a target when combined with other melee control and debuff abilities. But it's not exactly enabling anything revolutionary, and it's typically not as vital as many other feats are for dedicated trip or control builds.

However, as Wolf Trip has no range limit whatsoever, imagine if we could trip an enemy from, say, up to more than 300 feet away? And imagine if we could do that with every attack in a full attack, on top of dealing normal damage?

Well I say: Yes we can!

And here are the best options I've found to make it happen:

A. The 7th level benefit of the Throw Shield feature of the Shield Champion brawler archetype:
At 7th level, a shield champion can use a thrown shield to perform a bull rush, dirty trick, disarm, reposition, or trip combat maneuver as if she were making a melee shield bash attack.


B. The Maelstrom Shield specific magic shield (14,170 gp) benefit:
When used to make a shield bash attack, the shield's wielder can make a trip attack as a free action against the same target without provoking an attack of opportunity from the creature being tripped.


C. The distance magic weapon ability, and preferably some basic ranged feats and the Shield Master feat.

D. A blinkback belt and Quick Draw feat. Though neither are strictly needed for dealing with a single target, being able to cover enormous areas means having several ranged attacks per round allows for impressive mass-control capacity, one of the unique major potential strengths of the combo.

When combined with the previously mentioned standard trip combo, the end result is a highly versatile shield bash attack packed with control mechanics that can be repeated several times per round, requiring no or very few additional actions. The following details the events triggered by a single such "Black Hole" shield bash, though whether all or just a few are included and the exact order in which they're triggered may depend on other related components and, as far as I can tell, can be modified for each attack:

1. Shield bash attack, melee or thrown with a 60 ft range, made as a part of any action including one or more attacks, rolled as normal and dealing damage as normal.

2. Free trip attempt regardless of whether the initial attack hits or misses. A few important details:

RAW, nothing specifies whether the trip attempt must be resolved before or after any bull rush attempt, or even before or after determining whether the initial attack hits. I assume this means the first roll made in the entire attack can actually be the trip check.
As far as I can tell, a free action attack (such as this trip attempt) that is not replacing a normal attack is rolled at full BAB unless otherwise noted, even if the event the free attack accompanies happens to be an iterative attack using a lower BAB.
In accordance with the FAQ regarding free action combat maneuver checks triggered by attacks, the trip attempt granted by the Maelstrom Shield can be made even if the triggering shield bash is made outside the attacker's turn, such as when making an AoO.

3. Free bull rush attempt if the initial attack hits, using the die roll of the initial shield bash attack for the bull rush check.

4. Target moved as free action and falls prone in a free adjacent space of the attacker's choice if the trip attempt succeeds.

5. The shield returns to the blinkback belt and can be immediately drawn again as a free action. This may happen more than once, for example after making a free action ranged combat maneuver check such as the trip attempt described above. (Though it probably has no impact on the mechanics in this case, the belt's description can be interpreted to say an associated weapon always returns after each separate attack has been resolved, which in this case could result in the shield being thrown and teleporting back more than 15 times during the course of an entire full attack.)

5. The first combat maneuver triggers AoOs as appropriate on success - from allies only on a bull rush maneuver with Greater Bull Rush, or from the attacker as well as allies on a trip maneuver with Greater Trip.

6. The second combat maneuver triggers AoOs as described above.

8. Vicious Stomp AoO triggered.

Note that no AoOs has to be made for the basic control mechanic to work since both the trip attempt and the moving of a tripped target to adjacent are free actions. And as mentioned, it seems the attacker can change the order of the above significantly, for example by throwing the shield and:

make the free trip attempt granted by the maelstrom shield
resolve the ranged shield bash attack
move the target to adjacent using Wolf Trip
resolve any AoOs granted by Greater Trip
make the Vicious Stomp AoO triggered by the target falling prone
make the free bull rush attempt granted by Shield Slam
resolve any AoOs triggered by Greater Bull Rush

During a single full attack, a build affected by haste or similar with two maelstrom shields along with the full Two-Weapon Fighting feat chain, Combat Reflexes and a Dex of 40 could make all of the above combo up to eight times against as many enemies, each target risking being hit by a total of three damage-dealing attacks on top of being bull rushed, tripped, moved into a poor position and hit by several additional AoOs from the attacker's allies. But even without a high Dex score or using a single AoO, the combo still allows a defender to attack several distant enemies and gathering them up flat on their bellies well within melee threat range.

I guess it's obvious why I call it the "Black Hole Control Combo". :smalltongue:



Keep 'em coming!

[Khosan]

You could slap a few mythic tiers on enemies.

I don't have a build on hand, but a guardian (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/mythic/mythic-heroes/mythic-paths---paizo-inc/guardian) would probably make a good centerpiece for something. Maybe have them out in the middle of the arena alone at first to draw the party in there, then release stuff from the sides part of the way through. Give the guardian stuff like Cage Enemy, Impassable, Ever Ready, Retributive Reach and...probably Incredible Parry just to stifle some of their martial attacks. Dudes charge in, guardian locks them down with AoOs and trips while not taking all that much damage. Then release the hounds to give them more to worry about.