Cleric Boss Battle Tactics - Help and Suggestions

[TheFamilarRaven]

Hello playgrounders. In an upcoming dungeon my party will be facing a cleric of one of my campaign world's evil deities. I'm really hoping to make this a particularly challenging encounter, because in the past my boss battles either tend to go on for too long, or are ended right quickly by butt-loads of unanticipated DPR from the party.

So I'm turning to the playground for advice on what kind of build, spells and strategies would best be able to challenge my party.

For story reasons, the cleric is a human, with the Apostle Kyton (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/apostle-kyton-cr-2/) template, and his deity grants access to the following domains: Destruction, Evil, Glory(Hubris subdomain only), Knowledge, Law. The deity's favored Weapon is a spiked chain. For simplicity sake I'm using the elite array for the starting stats, if that's relevant.

The party consists of 7 members, all ECL 7, and mostly chaotic (I think one or two might be neutral on the law-chaos axis)


The party's is made up of a:

Human Gunslinger(Musket Master) - Massive ranged DPR usually targeting touch AC, plus tons of attacks thanks to alchemical cartridges, rapid shot and Haste

Kobold UnRogue(Vexing Dodger, I allowed the VD and Unchained Rogue to stack) - Melee support, i.e flanker and Dirty Trick user

Human Sorcerer(Arcane bloodline) - Wants to be a blaster, but has trouble dealing more DPR than the other party members. But he still has access to decent BFC spells and Haste

Half-orc Brawler - Can actually do quite a bit of damage with a full attack. Not much else to say other than he doesn't play with self preservation in mind...

Homebrew Minotuar Barbarian - Large size, Has significant reach and strength, plus big weapons. Although does not have as many attacks as the other two DPR members. Is actually 1 level lower due to LA

Human Cleric - Liberation and Trickery domains. Mostly support caster with plenty of scrolls to remove nasty status effects

Gnome Oracle - Another BFC caster. His preferred spell is extended Murderous Command, but he also has some support spells like Prayer.


The current build I had in mind was cleric 9/monk 1 plus the added template. With the added template and NPC wealth this should make him CR 12. I'll get access to 5th level spells, which is when a lot of the really good BFC cleric spells come in. And the Monk level (and maybe a monk's robe) will shore up what would otherwise be a relatively low touch AC. But CR 12 would make his SR annoyingly hard for to the casters to beat, and that's before they get to his saving throws. So that's one dilemma. Why am I making his CR higher than would normally for a level 7 party? Well, because I'm trying to balance him against a party of 7, rather than 4. And they've consistently shown themselves to be capable of fighting above their ECL.

During the fight he'll of course have a few minions as well. Mostly, regular chain devils. He will have a reasonable degree of knowledge about the party's make up, and abilities, so preparing appropriate spells to counter them would not be out of place. I am going to say that he will have already cast every buff that he has prepared with a duration of minutes/level or longer before the fight. So Air Walk, Bless, etc.

So with the template, he is able to hold his own in melee, but I was thinking he'd be best as a BFC caster, separating the party and using spells like Murderous Command and Hold Person to really disable the more dangerous members.

TL;DR What are some good tactics for an evil aligned cleric to use against a well rounded party of seven, assuming the cleric has access to 5th levels spells?

[Garktz]

What if you make him a melee monster instead and use human fighters with spiked chains as battlefield control?
make the fighters wear armor resembling chain devils and the cleric a robe resembling his god like they are workshiping them with their armor...

This way, the cleric can take on 3 o 4 pcs while the rest deal with the fighters either to take them out of the fight or so they cant help their boss...

[Elder_Basilisk]

First, don't do solo "boss" cleric vs the party. He'll either wipe the whole party instantly or get mobbed and go down without being able to accomplish what he needs to have a truly climactic battle. Either way it's not going to be fun.

Instead, give him some guards/minions and let them add some interest to the encounter and give the bad guys some actions to counteract the huge action economy advantage that a seven member party will have.

Now, as for strategies and tactics.

1. A lot will depend upon the environment that the battle takes place in. Make sure that environment is memorable and meaningful.

Is the evil cleric the high priest of a state religion? What kind of religion is it? Is it based around ritual sacrifice or teaching/study?
You could have him standing atop an Aztec style pyramid (steep slope/stairs slow players' moving up and provide a good opportunity to bull-rush players down the staircase). Or he could be in some kind of ornate fane/temple building with a roof, and a raised platform with an altar in the center for cover. Or he could be on the top of a mountain with a narrow cliff-facing path leading up to it and an altar of undressed stones at the top.
Or if it is a secret, illegal religion, it could be underneath a dilapidated mansion down a long hidden tunnel lined with chains and old skeletons/skulls (did you mention Kytons--animate those chains!) or in a massive chamber hidden in a mine with a deep lava filled crevasse separating the altar and the cult leader's platform from the common worshippers. (Rather like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom).

Regardless of what the style is, you should try to work in different levels and staircases as well as cover (altars, pillars, trees) and possibly barricades (like the lava crevasse) and hazards like the steps, crevasse, or cliff. Players should be trying to maneuver to get a higher ground bonus, move to avoid the bad guy having a cover bonus to his AC, and trying to bull rush (or avoid being bull-rushed) foes into pits or off cliffs. Fortunately, most setups will facilitate the bad guy having cover and some barriers between him and the PCs in any default setting. So you make it more interesting and increase the difficulty in one step.

Also, don't forget the hallow/unhallow spell. Bad guys should all get protection from Chaos (or good or whatever) just for being in the temple area. You can also tie a spell to the hallow--buffs are interesting but things like silence or earthbind on people who do not worship the bad guy's deity can make the entire battle different. Pick something appropriate and it will differentiate this from other "cleric" fights as well as making the battle interesting and challenging.

Also, remember that desecrate gives undead special bonuses when in an area with a permanent altar to an evil deity. If appropriate to the deity, undead can be nasty minion/guardians.

Other tactics:
Standard evil cleric tactics vs PC groups include negative channeling (though this is getting longer in the tooth by level 7, it can still be effective if optimized for--a phylactery of negative channeling will help too). This is especially effective if the cleric has selective channel or better yet his minions are immune to it.

Another standard evil cleric tactic at this level is summoning. Sacred Summons turns it into a standard action and lets the cleric bring new bad guys. This can be more effective if there are ongoing buffs in play that buff the summons more than the unhallow spell does. A villainous chanter with a level or five in bard will buff any guardians/minions who are about and will buff the summons.

Blasting is not a common evil cleric tactic but some domains and archetypes (such as ecclesitheurge) make it viable. Fireball, wall of fire, flame strike, and sound burst can lay the hurt on the party, especially if the bad guy has minions to delay the party and tack on more damage.

Buff and bash is a common tactic but it usually takes too long to be effective. Righteous Might+quickened divine favor is probably the best quick preparation way for the bad guy to be ready to dish out beatdowns. (Works well with rage subdomain for lots of destruction smites and barbarian-like rage). More than that and you will probably find that the battle is over by the time the cleric casts divine power, righteous might, bless, weapon of awe, and bull's strength. Warpriests and inquisitors are better at this than clerics though clerics can make it work.

Minions/Guardians:
There are three main types of minions/guardians that might be appropriate.
Undead can be a staple evil cleric. The evil cleric can heal them with bad touches or negative channeling, they get extra bonuses from desecrate, and they are immune to the negative channeling so the cleric might not even need selective channel. Great for death cults. Less so for others. If the PCs interrupt a sacrifice or ritual or something, you might be able to justify having a single undead in a bigger battle.

Evil outsiders are another staple. Barbazu are pretty normal lesser planar allies and can be effective combatants. Level them up with unchained monk levels or something similar for extra fun.

Then there are "normal" guardians--soldiers or warriors of the temple. They could be fighters or barbarians or anti-paladins or blackguards or something else depending upon the kind of cult and setting.

You have a fairly balanced party and I don't know what kind of defenses they pack. Against parties that neglect defenses, a little buffing can make large groups of low level thugs very dangerous. Let's imagine the temple is the kind of place that might have balconies. Eight Fighter 2 archers with point blank, precise, and rapid shot and volley fire (or weapon focus and a luring cavalier sergeant to give them all volley fire) can put out 1d8+2 damage at +4/+4 to hit (+5/+5 within 30 feet) with a masterwork bow. Add in that bard giving them +2 to hit and damage, a bless, and prayer from the cleric or an undercleric, and the +4 they'll be getting from volley fire after the first round and that's +12/+12 for 1d8+5 each. Toss a haste scroll from the bard and that could be seriously ugly for the players if they didn't invest in some good defenses. Likewise, a first level barbarian with Weapon Focus can rage and attack at +10 for 1d12+9 with most of the same buffs. His 18 raging hit points probably won't stand up to a hit from your big attackers but he will take an attack and at CR 1/2, you can have a whole bunch. If you bring in 3.5 materials, the Mad Foam Rager feat will let him ignore the first hit and take a second swing before he finally dies. For a different kind of cult, I expect gunslingers would be very effective even at low levels too.

For miniony bad guys, offense is going to trump defense nearly every time. The players are going to hit them. And they are going to kill them. Maybe a combination of Toughness, Rage, and some kind of Communal Aid can get them enough hit points that they take two hits to kill but that's as far as you can go. The secret is to have enough of them and to position them in ways that the players can't easily kill or disable them. If you have 16 of them and they each get one or two attacks, that's a lot of damage that the PCs will take and it will push them back on their heels.

My favorite combo for this kind of encounter is a "big" bad guy about the PCs level, a couple more minions a level or two less, and a whole bunch of low levels who can clog up the space and take advantage of the buffs flying around to become too big of a threat for the PCs to ignore but to be too numerous for the PCs to really want to spend their whole turn to take out a single level 1 barbarian or level 2 fighter.


Also, since you mentioned murderous command and hold person, you need to set your sights higher since you're running a level 11+ bad guy now. Greater Command and similar spells that effect the whole party at once and have higher DCs are much better.

[Nigeretalbus]

Your target CR for the "boss" is 12; and you have mentioned that he will have minions (also consider appropriate terrain / other effects like time pressure, an ominous ritual in the background, hostages, etc...).


The two most important parts for a challenging & fun "boss" are:

1) Very Good Defenses, but not impenetrable defenses - the boss needs to survive a few rounds; but if he's invulnerable, the players might consider the encounter "unfair".

2) Decent, but not too high offensive potential - the boss needs to challenge the party and be threatening, not another fancy loot pinata - but be careful of overkill.


=======================================

Onto actual suggestions:

* You want your "boss" to be a cleric; and you want him to face a party of 7(!) PCs - this is extremely difficult, as the action economy tilts this massively in the PCs favor.

* How can you avoid your boss being massacred instantly?


Improved Unarmed Strike, Deflect Arrows, Snake Style => 3 feats for 1/round defense against ranged attacks (this also works against guns!) and 1/round immediate action *dodge* against rays, melee or ranged attacks (this also works against guns - if you replace your "AC" with Sense motive, the "touch AC targeting" of the gun has to overcome your skill check to hit).


Quick Channel - spend 2 uses of Channel energy to use it as move action.

=> Channel energy is an AoE centered on yourself; an 9th level cleric would deal 5d6 damage (+2d6 with a Phylactery of Negative Channeling, 11.000gp).

A very simple *combo* is using quick channel and normal channel for two AoEs in rapid succession that deal 10d6(or 14d6 with the Phylactery) damage to everyone within 30'.

This is a very powerful move when surrounded by melee PCs.
If you want less damage, but more spellcaster disabling, consider Variant Channeling(Knowledge) to inflict 1d2 INT damage with channel energy.


Obscuring Mist and similar effects can slow combat down drastically - or force fireballs when your cleric has warded himself appropriately. With a Goz Mask(8.000gp) he can see through the fog without penalty - presumably, unlike your PCs. The uses for this tactic are obvious.


Have a minion dress up as head honcho of the cult; use illusions to create other *obvious* targets that the PCs unleash their precious spellslots on...this drains their resources and allows your boss to attack from within a group of faceless mooks.

Especially potent when combined with an Invisible Mesmerist(Vizier) lieutenant, who uses some spells/tricks to highlight some mooks dramatically, creating the illusion of them casting spells and using flashy special powers.

[Korahir]

A maybe relevant thread for you:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?526849-How-to-evaluate-encounters-a-mini-guide-WIP (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?526849-How-to-evaluate-encounters-a-mini-guide-WIP)

[TheFamilarRaven]

Thanks for all of your help guys. I think I have enough here to get me started. There definatley some things I didn't even think about when I got the idea.

[FreddyNoNose]

You could use The Terminator Playbook here. In the first Terminator move, near the end, the terminator just kept coming even after apparent defeat. In this situation, immediately after the party downs him, he is "rezzed" into a powerful yet grotesque. The grotesque form may or may not have spells but it will certainly have weapons or be weaponified (think hands as weapons and less likely to have spells) in the form of weapon you mentioned in your OP. After the grotesque form is defeated, he is "raised" into a high level form of skeleton. After it is destroyed, it appears to come back only to turn to dust as it is about to attack someone.