Help me save my party

[OrlockDelesian]

Last week we were tramped by an NPC team. From what I understood it was a plot point so we can be transported to a prison. I'm ok with that. However, me, being the last halfling standing managed to convince the opossite team to face me one on one in a duel. They (they are extremly lawfull and honorable, though evil) accepted. They even gave me time to prepare and pray and told me that I can choose which one of them I will face. If I win, we go free. I already choose their Crusader.

We have a rule, that 1nce/campaign you can petition your god to help you, but you have only 1% to succed, and you cannot reroll it even if you fail. I Picked up the dice, and the gods of gaming were with me.

Azuth and Mystra (my gods) gave me the insight to prepare any spell I wish from any official sourcebook up to my normal slots of course.

Now, I am a 4th lvl Strongheart halfling Vanilla Conjurer with Evocation and Enchantment banned. I Have 29 hps, 14 ac *18 with mage armor and 18 intelect for a tottal of 5 1st lvl spells and 4 2nd lvl spells. My feats are Spell Focus Conjuration, Augment Summoning and Cosmopolitan (i wanted to have bluff as a class skill). My familiar is a pretty sneaky viper.

The Crusader is 7th (1ranger/6crusader) lvl with 26AC (14 touch ) 17 spell resistance and 76hps, and thats what I know about him. I am confident that he cannot detect invisible creatures, but I might be wrong. I also managed to convince him to allow me to have the initiative since he is so confident.

My DM will not cheat but he wont pull his punches either.

I was thinking of going invisible and then using summon undead II to get an owlbear skeleton, and that's about it.
What spells should I prepare to beat him?

Is it possible to win (I am confident in my dice) or should I wield and accept his superiority?

The duel is until unconciousness

Edit: My Dm told me that I had the time to identify some scrolls we found on a dead wizards tower. I posses the following
*all scrolls are on minimum caster lvl

Mage armor x2/ Lesser Orb of fire x2/ grease /acid arrow/ mirror image/ invisibillity/ greater dispell/keen edge/greater magic weapon/spider climb/arcane eye/raging flames/power word blind

[~Mozza]

My two cents are: you start first, so you can go invisible, then, if you really need you can use spider climb to adjust yourself in a way that is comfortable to you. Grease under his feet while you summon your owlbear and hope to pass that spell resistance throw on power word blind.

There are surely better ways to do this, but if the crusader cannot take you down after you clibmed, it's a pretty straight forward battle to me.

[OrlockDelesian]

My two cents are: you start first, so you can go invisible, then, if you really need you can use spider climb to adjust yourself in a way that is comfortable to you. Grease under his feet while you summon your owlbear and hope to pass that spell resistance throw on power word blind.

There are surely better ways to do this, but if the crusader cannot take you down after you clibmed, it's a pretty straight forward battle to me.

I cannot use the power word spell. It's an enchantment one.

[The_Iron_Lord]

What race/type is the crusader? Can you tell?

EDIT: Use your boon spells to prepare power word pain as many times as you can...

Pre-Combat: Cast spider climb on yourself
Round 1: Go invisible and climb up a wall
Round 2: Get onto the ceiling, then cast power word pain
Round X: Repeat Round 2, stacking the damage until the crusader is dead.


If you roll bad and fail to penetrate SR... Bluff him into thinking that you are his Lord/Good/Goddess/etc in disguise, and that he has passed your test. Anything else you can think of, as I don't have the full roleplaying context... You could try using some variation of this as your primary strategy if power word pain is evocation or enchantment (I don't remember...)

PS: Minor Image and family are godsends for pretending to be more than you are--make angel wings, haloes, dramatic Latin chanting, etc, as appropriate to the crusader's deity.

EDIT THE SECOND: If the ceiling isn't high enough to avoid the crusader, then move every turn so he can't fill attack, and do total defense (-5 to attack, +2 to AC)...

If all else fails, just blast away with orbs or something...

[OrlockDelesian]

Invisibillity and spider climb are good options. Even if the field does not have a surface to climb invisibillity and levitate could work too.

I'm thinking orbs, maybe one powerfull summon, a belker claws spell via the familiar and hope for the best :)

[Tohsaka Rin]

So, it's a duel to unconsciousness, and you're a halfling.

This is a serious question, is there anything preventing you from making it an oratory duel, and fillibustering your opponent unconscious? Depending on how your DM is, this could work.

EPIC RAP BATTLES OF FANTASY... BEGIN!

[The_Jette]

Summon Undead 2 can get you a Skeleton Owlbear, which can grapple with the best of them, or 1d3 human warrior skeletons. That's not bad, if the enemy doesn't have any bludgeoning weapons. If you get lucky and summon two, one can grapple while the other attempts to deal direct damage. If your DM is of the opinion that Grease is flamable, you can use one of those scrolls to light it up and deal some pretty good damage. GMW would be good to cast on a summon with a weapon (like a human skeleton), or on a crossbow, if you have one and can stay out of the way. Mage Armor is going to drop your chance to be hit from probably around 85 t0 90% down to probably about 65 to 70%. So, you're probably going to get hit, unless you're invisible. Add in Shield, and you have another +4 to AC, which drops it to about a 50% chance of getting hit. If your DM lets you get creative with your spells, cast grease on the enemy's weapon. He has to roll a Reflex save every turn or drop his sword. Worse comes to worse, cast Keen Edge on your dagger and pray that you roll well. I mean, if you had access to third level spells, no contest you'd have this. But, with only first and second level spells to go against a 7th level Crusader... basically, rig the contest in your favor and you'll stand a chance. Good luck with this.

[Maximum Carnage]

So, excuse my bluntness, but if you have that ridiculous house rule, and you succeeded on the check, why would you not just have your god strike your opponent down instantly?

I say this, because with a one percent success chance, your DM clearly didn't want it to happen lol, so there's no point dancing around it, you should win.

Try to find other ways to twist your DMs arm, that always ends well.

[Telonius]

Direct damage is going to be hard to pull off on this guy; Crusaders are awfully hard to kill. I'd go for something that deals ability damage. Something like Lesser Shivering Touch (Frostburn) plus Spectral Hand. Phantasmal Assailants (SpC) is another option, but it offers a few too many points of failure.

[denthor]

first round invisibility move 30 feet
2nd round mage armor off scroll move 15 feet towards if he can see you you will know by then
3rd round mirror image off scroll
4th round summon something.
5th round finish summons monster attacks.
6th keen edge on your weapon
7th take the ramdom roll power word blind you become visible with mirror images up


8th May the odds be ever in your favor

[Vizzerdrix]

Hmm... any spell from any list? You may find something good by looking up the artificers handbook. Specificaly one of the sections on spells at earlier than normal levels.

Can you get a metamagiced spell? What equipment do you have? Could you used shapesand? Blacksand? Eggshell grenades? Fake being there, but head for the hills?

[lbuttitta]

I'll second Grease as a good spell. I, personally, would suggest, in order:


(Greater) Invisibility
Blindness/Deafness
Greater Mirror Image (may be skipped)
Grease
Summon Undead II
???


The invisibility and deafness will keep you undetectable, greater mirror image will keep him from penetrating your invisibility effectively, grease will trip him, and then summon undead II will engage him. Then, summon other critters to taste, and watch, while occasionally renewing the grease spell.
Now, there is the possibility of him succeeding on his save against blindness/deafness, in which case, if you can get metamagic by terms of above prayer, prepare all of the listed spells Silenced. Depending on your Int score, you should have the spell slots for all of this, but I may be mistaken.

[Eldariel]

Let's see. No Enchantment kind of sucks for this particular purpose as Ray of Stupidity-spam could pull this off. As it stands, I'd also go for Lesser Shivering Touch. Damage...is not going to work. You can Conjure Ice Beasts, Summon Undead, Summon Desert Allies, Summon Monsters or Summon Nature's Allies, but level 2 summons are unlikely to get the job done at least without heavily disabling the enemy.

The greatest weaknesses of this Crusader/Ranger is likely his Will-saves even with Cha to saves. However, his saves are likely rather well-rounded. Will and Reflex are probably things you can attack - Grease/Web/Glitterdust/Wall of Smoke are likely all useful though you probably can't reliably beat his SR and thus you should stick to Web/Grease. Attacking his touch AC would be optimal but again, there's the fact that he has SR: you don't have Assay Resistance yet and True Casting takes too long.


You need mobility. You won't last if he keeps getting hits on you. Swift Fly, Alter Self (see here (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2811) for Humanoid and Magical Beast options for yourself and your companion), even Mount (though it might not avail you much) are nice. Invisibility is probably useful but remember that if you go invisible, the spells you can use are sharply restricted. You might try Levitate; do you think he can fly?

Either way, the pesky Spell Resistance makes it very hard to kill him with level 1-2 spells. You'll probably have to try and debuff him and then kill him with summons. If you could get him helpless, you could coup de grace him - there are spells to that end. Optimally you'd focus on one stat and nuke that down. Summons trying to do damage is an option but I have a hard time seeing any level 1-2 Summons able to meaningfully harm a level 7 Crusader.


You could of course just try to go Invisible and turbobuff to the point that you can beat him in something physical. You could try Invisibility followed by Fist of Stone, Alter Self, Enlarge Person, Fearsome Grapple, Bladeweave, Heroics for Improved Unarmed Strike and then second Heroics for Improved Grapple, Summon something, try to pin your opponent and have your summoned monster coup de grace your helpless opponent. Or you could just buff your familiar for grapple and try to then CDG yourself, if you happen to have a Scythe handy. Though frankly, this is probably unworkable unless you can either get Polymorph or have a naturally decent Strength.

You do get +4 Str Mod, +4 (Fearsome Grapple), +4 Improved Grapple for a total of +12 to Grapple on top of your base BAB (+2) and Str (whatever it is). +14 to Grapple (given 10 Str, which I suppose is a bit optimistic) would give you a decent chance of beating a Crusader's +7 BAB and +5ish Str. Bladeweave forces save vs. Dazed in lieu of all this and of course, your summons and familiar can Aid Another. And you only need to get enough to Coup de Grace.

EDIT: Oh yeah, Halfling, nevermind. +10 isn't gonna do it.

[ATHATH]

Lahm's Finger Darts seems perfect for this. Auto-hit, ranged, no SR, 2d4 DEX damage from a second-level spell slot. A few castings should take the Crusader down, so just get into a secure position (via Levitate or Spider Climb) and start flinging fingers.

[The_Jette]

Lahm's Finger Darts seems perfect for this. Auto-hit, ranged, no SR, 2d4 DEX damage from a second-level spell slot. A few castings should take the Crusader down, so just get into a secure position (via Levitate or Spider Climb) and start flinging fingers.

He has to be evil to cast this spell. Considering the enemy party is LE, chances are the PC's are all Good, or Neutral at worse.

[Eldariel]

Lahm's Finger Darts seems perfect for this. Auto-hit, ranged, no SR, 2d4 DEX damage from a second-level spell slot. A few castings should take the Crusader down, so just get into a secure position (via Levitate or Spider Climb) and start flinging fingers.

The problem is the "SR: Yes" - the Crusader has 17 SR and our illustrious mage only has +4 penetration so even casting all 4 2nd level slots is only looking at 8 average Dex-damage, but with extremely high variance. However, you can complement that with Lesser Shivering Touch. Maybe enough...

EDIT: Though if you're safe, you can actually afford True Casting! So you could True Casting, then Finger Darts. Even with just 3 slots of Finger Darts we're looking at average 13.5 Dex-damage which is likely enough. As a nice bonus this means both of your hands remain functional as you only lose 6 fingers and 6 Str.

[Elkad]

So, excuse my bluntness, but if you have that ridiculous house rule, and you succeeded on the check, why would you not just have your god strike your opponent down instantly?

I say this, because with a one percent success chance, your DM clearly didn't want it to happen lol, so there's no point dancing around it, you should win.

Try to find other ways to twist your DMs arm, that always ends well.

I've seen the dice come up 00 a couple times for divine intervention. Incidentally, it was in the rules in earlier editions, so it's only sorta-a-house-rule. Never did the DM just give the fight away by sending in a gate-chain of outsiders, he just gave the party a fighting chance.

And then there is the other one I've mentioned here before (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18262580&postcount=7).




I was playing at a gaming club in the late 80s. 18th-ish level, I'm playing a pretty well-optimized Paladin of Osiris with a bunch of Solar powers grafted on. We are in a gigantic fight which had been going for hours.

Another DM wanders in from the next room for a conference with our DM. Apparently his party (lower level, 12th or so) had done everything completely wrong, releasing the big evil instead of sealing it away forever, and was facing a TPK. With no better ideas, their cleric pulls out the percentiles, rolls for Divine Intervention, and turns up the big 00 for success. DM isn't sure how to handle it without either hand-waving their failure away, or hand-waving a win, so he'd come to consult with ours.

Our DM asks who the cleric's deity is.
"Osiris"
Our DM looks at me. "Paladin of Osiris, right?"
"Yessss?"
"Pick up your dice and go save their butts"

So with half my abilities used and a bunch of damage, I got dropped cold into a completely different fight.

[OrlockDelesian]

So, excuse my bluntness, but if you have that ridiculous house rule, and you succeeded on the check, why would you not just have your god strike your opponent down instantly?

I say this, because with a one percent success chance, your DM clearly didn't want it to happen lol, so there's no point dancing around it, you should win.

Try to find other ways to twist your DMs arm, that always ends well.


It's only once/character/campaign. And what I did was pray for help. I wouldn't expect Mystra to come down and fight my battles for me, just help a little :)

[OrlockDelesian]

I've seen the dice come up 00 a couple times for divine intervention. Incidentally, it was in the rules in earlier editions, so it's only sorta-a-house-rule. Never did the DM just give the fight away by sending in a gate-chain of outsiders, he just gave the party a fighting chance.

And then there is the other one I've mentioned here before (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18262580&postcount=7).


Read your story.
Pure magic man.
EPIC

[~Mozza]

Anyway, grease on the waepon is really good. Then some lesser shivering touch and it's over.

Edit: you can deliver lesser shivering touch with spectral hand too, and I don't know if the hand does the touch attack, your invisibility broke. In any case you can climb first and stay safe for the duration of the combat.

[Florian]

It's only once/character/campaign. And what I did was pray for help. I wouldn't expect Mystra to come down and fight my battles for me, just help a little :)

That´s the thing, tho. As gm, you use a rule like that, you should be prepared to "man up" when it actually comes up in play and wrecks your plot.

[OrlockDelesian]

Ok. The battle is today.

I decided to go with the following spells

1st
Shield
Lesser Orb of Fire x2
Critical Strike
True Casting

2nd
Belker Claws
Summon Undead II x 2
Summon Monster II

Round 1 I use Invisibillity from a scroll and move
Round 2 I cast spider climb and climb somwhere. We will be in a forest so a tree would do.
Round 3 I summon a Neera Varoot, which casts mirror image and agroes
Round 4 I grease him. Since I have two scrolls of grease
Round 5 I bring a skeletal owlbear to grapple him
Round 6 I bring another one
Round 7 I send my familiar to go near him

Hopefully by this point the Varoot will have made at least 3 succesfull attacks lowering his con by 3 and his hps by 14. The owlbears will have eaten a few of his hps as well

Round 8 I cast true casting.
Round 9 I use critical strike and belker claws for 2d12+1d6 damage
Round 10 I start lobing orbs.

Hopefully with the DOT from the belker claws, the owlbears the varoot and the orbs, I can down him.

[Lazymancer]

Well, you don't tell anything (don't you even have rope? where you fighting?), so it's impossible to give any real recommendations.


If you aren't gagged and tied, then it is mandatory to get access to battlefield before the battle and place Ghoul Glyph (improved by True Casting) there - or somewhere you can run away to (if battlefield is wherever you run away to). That's your best chance to win, if not the only. Note that it does not allow saving throw for paralysis, only SR which you should beat with +10 from True Casting (which will be effective for the whole minute you spend drawing Glyph).

Then you just take weapon with highest crit multiplier (spear, i think), lure Crusader to the Glyph and proceed to coup-de-grace him there. With luck, he will fail his saving throw and will not unfreeze before you finish murdering him (and will not do all the horrible things to you that you deserve at this point).


If pre-combat buffs are possible, then pre-cast Levitate and Ventriloquism. Both are 1m/L and unnoticeable until used (if you don't go levitating yourself up, of course). As a replacement to Ventriloquism, you might make a rock with Magic Mouth that will start talking after your sneaky snake bites it or something (though it should've been done much earlier; as well as a few pages of Explosive Runes bought somewhere; and a lot of other stuff - but you apparently like to live dangerously).

Ideal first rounds (with pre-buffs) will look like this:
1(Sw) cast Instant Diversion: create 2 doubles that will completely overlap your movements (be unnoticeable) until later point
1(St) cast Blinding Colour Surge - Crusader rolls Will to not be blinded for 1 round and you get 4 rounds of invisibility which is unnoticeable, since your doubles remain
1(Mv) while you make illusionary doubles move to the left and right (20 ft.), silently Levitate yourself up 20 ft (maximum);
1(fr) mock Crusader with Ventriloquism from the mouth of one of the doubles and start chanting arcane nonsense from the mouth of both doubles (to make it look like it's casting something) - the latter should still be covered by Instant Diversion, but that's in the air

Hopefully, this will be enough to have your stabification postponed: even if Crusader can cast See Invisibity (Scout's Headband is semi-mandatory) he is either blinded, or will not care about, since he'll be choosing between one of the fakes to attack. Whichever double gets attacked, don't forget to goad Crusader from the mouth of the other - "Fool! I was obviously here".

Right before the start of your second turn, both doubles will vanish and it should look like the cast of Invisibility. Don't forget to make sounds of supposed movement on the ground.

Now you have 3 1st-level spells and 2 2nd-level spells. Your scrolls seem to be on the blasty side, so it would make sense to deal damage.

2 (St) Cast Backbiter on Crusader's weapon (you should be in range)
2 (Mv) Get yourself ~10 more feet higher (but you want to be in Close range to cast Backbiter again)
2 (fr) Mess with Crusader via Ventriloquism by heavily breathing so as to make him attack empty space and trigger Backbiter

Rinse and repeat. Then blast with scrolls and plunk with your crossbow. With luck (~20% chance of you winning this way) it should be enough.


Alternative route is casting Phantasmal Assailants. This has the least possibility of winning, but it's there. You get two blasts, or three - if you forego Invsibility and cast PhAs in the first round instead and then just openly Levitate upwards (by the end of the first round you should be hanging in the air blank-faced so as to make it look like you are fake image and double just cast Invisibility).

[Bebbit]

Ok. The battle is today.

I decided to go with the following spells

1st
Shield
Lesser Orb of Fire x2
Critical Strike
True Casting

2nd
Belker Claws
Summon Undead II x 2
Summon Monster II

Round 1 I use Invisibillity from a scroll and move
Round 2 I cast spider climb and climb somwhere. We will be in a forest so a tree would do.
Round 3 I summon a Neera Varoot, which casts mirror image and agroes
Round 4 I grease him. Since I have two scrolls of grease
Round 5 I bring a skeletal owlbear to grapple him
Round 6 I bring another one
Round 7 I send my familiar to go near him

Hopefully by this point the Varoot will have made at least 3 succesfull attacks lowering his con by 3 and his hps by 14. The owlbears will have eaten a few of his hps as well

Round 8 I cast true casting.
Round 9 I use critical strike and belker claws for 2d12+1d6 damage
Round 10 I start lobing orbs.

Hopefully with the DOT from the belker claws, the owlbears the varoot and the orbs, I can down him.

Sounds solid. I'd suggest trying to keep him at maximum range when casting, so even if he does break free he'd have to use a double move just to reach you. That'd give you more actions and time to cast something else before he can do any damage to you.

Keep us updated on how the fight goes, please.

[Bronk]

Do you have a familiar? You could use share spells to buff both of you up at the same time, using spells that grant you magical attacks.

I'd also go with alter self (avariel) instead of a climb spell... and that spell would affect your familiar too.

You could also cast 'desert diversion' on yourself, use your familiar to help with 'dimension door'-ing your party, divert yourself to somewhere far away, heal everyone, buff everyone, then head back at the end of the diversion spell and try the entire battle again. (You can also try dispelling the division early, intentionally stranding yourselves far away. Ask if this works first, and take more water and mount spells.)

[Thunder999]

You could do some dex damage with Lahm's Finger Darts, a level 2 corrupted spell that at 4th level costs you two fingers and two points of str per casting, which does 2d4 dex damage.

[ATHATH]

He has to be evil to cast this spell. Considering the enemy party is LE, chances are the PC's are all Good, or Neutral at worse.
Actually, you just have to be non-Good to prepare a Corrupt spell.

[ATHATH]

The problem is the "SR: Yes" - the Crusader has 17 SR and our illustrious mage only has +4 penetration so even casting all 4 2nd level slots is only looking at 8 average Dex-damage, but with extremely high variance. However, you can complement that with Lesser Shivering Touch. Maybe enough...

EDIT: Though if you're safe, you can actually afford True Casting! So you could True Casting, then Finger Darts. Even with just 3 slots of Finger Darts we're looking at average 13.5 Dex-damage which is likely enough. As a nice bonus this means both of your hands remain functional as you only lose 6 fingers and 6 Str.
Ah, I must have been thinking of no-Save, not no-SR.

If you can bump up your CL by one (I think that there's a drug somewhere in the BoVD that does that), you can get an extra d4 of DEX damage from each casting, which should help immensely.

[Deophaun]

I cannot use the power word spell. It's an enchantment one.


He has to be evil to cast this spell. Considering the enemy party is LE, chances are the PC's are all Good, or Neutral at worse.

I'm late to the party and the fight's probably done, but this needs to be pointed out:


Azuth and Mystra (my gods) gave me the insight to prepare any spell I wish from any official sourcebook up to my normal slots of course.

Who cares about banned schools, alignments, or even class lists? ANY spell.

[Bronk]

Definitely agree thay any spell should really mean every spell. Otherwise it's a miserly boon!

I also think you should use those spells - and the time they're foolishly giving you to cast them - to escape, not to fight. You're not a paladin in an honor combat, and they sure aren't... do you really trust those guys to keep their end of the bargain, especially if you do manage to take out the crusader?

[The_Jette]

I'm late to the party and the fight's probably done, but this needs to be pointed out:
Who cares about banned schools, alignments, or even class lists? ANY spell.


Definitely agree thay any spell should really mean every spell. Otherwise it's a miserly boon!
I also think you should use those spells - and the time they're foolishly giving you to cast them - to escape, not to fight. You're not a paladin in an honor combat, and they sure aren't... do you really trust those guys to keep their end of the bargain, especially if you do manage to take out the crusader?

His character should care about alignment. Class lists and banned schools? Probably not. Evil spells? He should care. Even if he's only a neutral character, he shouldn't want to cast any spell that by their definition are counted as an evil act. That moves him away from Neutral and towards Evil.
Also, the OP said that they are extremely honorable, though evil, so there's no reason to believe that they won't follow the agreement if the Crusader is defeated.

[Bronk]

Also, the OP said that they are extremely honorable, though evil, so there's no reason to believe that they won't follow the agreement if the Crusader is defeated.

Heh, that's just what a dishonorable group would say... Why take chances?

Heck... killing this guy could be part of some evil initiation!

Anyway, it's a shame the boon didn't have a bit more oomph!

[The_Jette]

Heh, that's just what a dishonorable group would say... Why take chances?

Heck... killing this guy could be part of some evil initiation!

Anyway, it's a shame the boon didn't have a bit more oomph!

Yeah. The Gods are a bunch of jerks. With unlimited power, the one time that someone manages to get their attention and a bit of assistance, it's an extremely limited and barely useful thing. It's the DM's fault, though. He really doesn't want the character to win, since his intention was to have them lose to begin with.

[Alaris]

Ok. The battle is today.

Please come let us know how it went after you're done. I'm kind of curious how the strategy worked out.

[Telonius]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQiTv-kevSJb4wdmYH3lB7lqpYG8K7foK7x99ErNHHolMkXmShg7y_H1 W8I

[The_Jette]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQiTv-kevSJb4wdmYH3lB7lqpYG8K7foK7x99ErNHHolMkXmShg7y_H1 W8I

+1 to what he said.

[OrlockDelesian]

+1 to what he said.

The crusader is currently fuming on his corner wondering how the halfling could win.
I won without even getting hit once.

But since it's 4.30 am where I'm from, I'll post the details tomorow.

[~Mozza]

The crusader is currently fuming on his corner wondering how the halfling could win.
I won without even getting hit once.

But since it's 4.30 am where I'm from, I'll post the details tomorow.

Looking forward to it. I really want to know what strategy did you use and if there were some problems with the combat. Anyway, congrats on saving the party.

[OrlockDelesian]

Looking forward to it. I really want to know what strategy did you use and if there were some problems with the combat. Anyway, congrats on saving the party.

Thank you!

First off, Thank you all for your assistance. Answering on a previous comment, while the DM made it clear that I could prepare any spell (even from banned schools) as long as it is on the wizard list, I didn't prepared enchantment and evocation ones.
My logic was that since my character abandoned them in his studies to become and conjurer and never studied them, he would consider those two schools "weak" and would not care about them.

So.

Round 1

We began our combat at 30, after a brief conversation.

As I had the Initiative -since it was a duel I was unbuffed-I moved 20 feet back and then I opened with a Mirror Image Scroll, figuring that if the crusader could see me while invisible due to an item invisibillity would not protect me at all.
The crusader charged. Our Cleric reminded the DM that full plate gives only 20' of move so he could not reach me. Our DM said that he forgot about it but the crusader would not.
Since our group policy is that if you forget something tough luck, the Dm without much arguing agreed that the crusader made the mistake due to arrogance and he just double moved. We where now 10' away.

Round 2: I moved another 20' and readied an action. As I expected he charged, and I cast grease on him. Instead of him falling immediatly however the Dm gave him a -2 to the save (and earned quite a glare from me) the crusader rolled a 2, and his fate was sealed.

Round 3: Instead of moving, I began casting summon undead II. The crusader got up, tried to move, rolled a 2 (again) and fell flat on his face.

Round 4: A Skeletal owlbear appears and at +12 (8 + 4 due to prone) hits 3 times dealing 33 damage (10 of which went to steely resolve. I Began Summoning a 2nd Owlbear.
The crusader makes the mistake of trying to get up, and recieves an attack of oppotunity. He takes another 11 points of damage. He then attacks the poor Owlbear with a bonecrusher manuver and deals 30 points of damage. Not enough to down it (it would have cut me in half though). He takes the 10 damage stored in his steely resolve and has now lost 44 hps /76

Round 5: My second owlbear appears. They both wait for the crusader to roll his save. He stays up. They full attack him at +10 hiting only 2 out of 6 and dealing 20 damage (10 of which go to steely resolve). I use my familliar to deliver a belker claws spell.
At that point I had forgotten avout his SR. But my dice where with me, I rolled a 19. He takes another 20 points of damage. At that point the crusader had taken 74 hps out of 76, and would take 10 more at the end of his turn. His only way of winning is to down me first before the round ends. He makes the balance check and charges. Owlbear #2 however makes it's attack of oppotunity, and deals 10 more damage. The crusader falls at -8 at which point his steely resolve deals him another 10, bringing him at -18 and near his god. As an overkill, he also takes 15 points from the Belker Claws spell, bringing him to -33.

Now the fun fact is, that we die at -our con score, but the DM has decreed that if our hps fall below DOUBLE our Con the body is damaged and requires a ressurection. So 3rd lvl halfilng with 10 gps to his name actually cost our opponents both a Crusader and 10000 gold.


Aftermath.
Since I did not use any of the spells mystra gave me (I knew all of the spells I used on my own) the Dm ruled that I recieve the full xp for solo combat (3800) my spellbook changes to a blessed book and that now mystra has her eye on me.

Our opponents honor our agreement but not without the following banter:

"If you haven't tricked Eranthor to accept your terms, and if you fought at twenty feet you would be dead"
"Well next time find a Crusader that can count".

All in all, it was glorius!

[Deophaun]

Round 2: I moved another 20' and readied an action. As I expected he charged, and I cast grease on him. Instead of him falling immediatly however the Dm gave him a -2 to the save (and earned quite a glare from me) the crusader rolled a 2, and his fate was sealed.

...

His only way of winning is to down me first before the round ends. He makes the balance check and charges.

Hey, I only thought you got one divine intervention in a campaign? What is this guy doing getting two?


You must have a clear path toward the opponent, and nothing can hinder your movement (such as difficult terrain or obstacles).

[OrlockDelesian]

Hey, I only thought you got one divine intervention in a campaign? What is this guy doing getting two?

Could you elaborate on what you mean please?

EDIT: Oh sorry, I saw your explanation. The Dm probably forgot that. These things happen mid battle.

[The_Jette]

Hey, I only thought you got one divine intervention in a campaign? What is this guy doing getting two?

A lot of people forget that you can't charge through rough terrain. You also can't charge through a partially obstructed terrain, one that you could normally move through without loss of movement (i.e. moving diagonally past an ally).

[thorr-kan]

Excellent! That's the kinda stand you'll talk about for years.

[~Mozza]

Our opponents honor our agreement but not without the following banter:

"If you haven't tricked Eranthor to accept your terms, and if you fought at twenty feet you would be dead"
"Well next time find a Crusader that can count".

All in all, it was glorius!

This one is the cherry on the top of the encounter. Congrats again, now go with your party and kill some monsters and enjoy your loot!

[denthor]

The odds were in your favor

Never thought grease would be that great

[The_Iron_Lord]

That was totally awesome!!:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:

[Eldariel]

The odds were in your favor

Never thought grease would be that great

Grease is an incredible spell, particularly against people who can't fly. It can stop people dead on their tracks, even on successful saves forces Balance-checks or blocks movement and can also make people drop their weapons or such. I would've definitely used Grease prepared instead of Scrolled though due to the higher save DC; while it has a check even if they save, it's always better if they fall. A Scroll merely has save DC of 11 while the spell has a very considerable bonus of the added Int and Spell Focus: Conjuration.

I am a bit underwhelmed by said Crusader though: clearly there was no Stone Power or he could've easily tanked and killed the Owlbears even prone. Dying of weak melee monsters while a class that can self-heal and deal considerable melee damage is just unimpressive, which is why I wouldn't have recommended this strategy. Lacking movement speed does hurt vs. anyone who can kite though. Of course, rolling poor on the saves is another thing but had he saved or not, he would've had to make the Balance-checks to move. And a 7th level character without an itemized way to fly: you could've probably just used Levitate and been beyond his reach. Belker's Claws is a good call but does allow Spell Resistance - lucky on the SR-roll, though you did have the True Casting available. 4d12 is quite good compared to the alternatives (twice the damage of the various rays).


Bottomline, awesome job and congratulations!