Help the poor death lizard survive a high-level party.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

I got this cute faerie dino thing I want to use against a lvl 18 PF/3.5e group as a recurring enemy, so I've been optimizing it a bit. The party includes a DMM cleric, a mailman sorcerer, a trench fighter gunslinger with a BFG, and a batman wizard. They're basically out on a safari - big monster hunters and stuff - and I'd like to give them a few memorable encounters as they either finally make an impressive kill and go home with a trophy, or I convince them to stop hunting poor beasts.

Build for the death lizard so far is this;

Death Lizard CR 20
(Dire, Terror, Advanced, Mutant, Fey, Nightmare Lord Giganotosaurus)

Colossal Fey
Hit Dice: 42d8+588 (777 hp)
Abilities: Str 50, Dex 31, Con 38, Int 12, Wis 21, Cha 24
Saves: Fort +37, Ref +33, Will +23
Armor Class: 51 (+31 natural, +10 dex), flat-footed 41, touch 20
Skills: Acrobatics +52, Perception +57, Stealth +46, Survival +47, Fly +52, Intimidate +69, Arcana +22, Nature +22
Feats: Power Attack, Deflect Arrows, Combat Reflexes, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Initiative, Thick Skinned 5x
Epic Feats: Exceptional Deflection, Infinite Deflection, ESF: Perception, Improved Spell Resistance 5x, Damage Reduction 4x
Initiative: +10 Senses: low-light vision, darkvision 120 ft, scent, Perception +57
Immune: fear effects, radiation, mind-affecting, illusions (auto disbelieve), fire, cold, electricity, acid, sonic
Defense: DR 27/-, Fast Healing 5, Spell Resistance 40, Cold Resist 25, Lightning Resist 25, Feign Death (DC 38), +4 save vs mind affecting, +4 save vs illusion, Regeneration 5/good
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares); fly 75 ft (good)
Attack: +44 (+32 base +20 strength, -8 size), CMB: +68, CMD: 88
Damage: bite (4d8+20 plus grab, 19-20/2x), 2 claws (1d8+20, 19-20/2x)
Space/Reach: 60 ft/ 60 ft
Special Attacks: swallow whole, fear aura (60 ft, DC 38), Frightful Presence (30 ft, DC 38), SLAs, Night Terrors, Dream Slave
Special Qualities: negative energy absorption, light blindness, mutations (11), fey abilities (11)
Environment: warm forest, plains
Organization: Solitary
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Mutations [Ex]
Death Lizard has the Fast Healing, Rugged, Sealed Mind, and Resistance 8x special abilities.

Fey Abilities [Ex]
Death Lizard has the Camouflage, Evasion, Long Step, Trackless Step, Change Shape, and Resistance 6x special abilities.

SLAs [Sp]
Caster level 42, DC 17+spell level, +4 for phantasms and shadows.
Constant: protection from good
3/day: dancing lights, detect thoughts, dream, deep slumber, nightmare, suggestion, invisibility, plane shift, shadow walk
2/day: feeblemind
1/day: faerie fire, entangle, glitterdust, major image, confusion, mislead, modify memory, project image, irresistible dance, scintillating pattern, shadow conjuration, shadow evocation.


Any particular weaknesses I should be addressing? Any suggestions for treasure/items, if any?
(it has eaten lots of previous adventurers)

[Eldariel]

Perhaps add Gheden or some other form of nonlethal immunity. Could also add Troll-Blooded so they'd have to find some way to bypass the regenerations to damage it, or an immunity-bypassing SoD of some kind. Or Dark for HiPS? It already has Camouflage; could be hilarious for a Colossal thing to hide in front of you. Its offense could use a bit of a punch; so much resource into defenses that it doesn't do much vs. FoM targets. Hmm, some At-Will Illusions feel vindicated for fey things. Can't think of an easy source right now though.

[Calthropstu]

I will second at will illusions. At will anything really... this guy runs out of spells fast. Also alter self so it can disguise itself as human. Have it warn the party off or something as a little girl.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

they'd have to find some way to bypass the regenerations to damage it
Pathfinder fixed the Regeneration rules; it now just prevents death as long as it functions plus heals you, and certain damage types stop it working rather than bypass it. So the trick of being immune to non-lethal damage while regenerating does not work.


immunity-bypassing SoD of some kind
Most SoDs in Pathfinder have been turned into damage, and most immunity spells give +10 to saves instead. It's much harder to get blanket immunities to things other than energy damage. Problem is, actually granting SoD effects is kinda hard as most templates don't have them.



Also alter self so it can disguise itself as human. Have it warn the party off or something as a little girl.
That is a fun idea. The lizard does get the Change Shape ability so an appropriate alternate form must be found. A scantily clad nymph/faerie/elf woman as bait might be effective and hilarious to boot.

[Boggartbae]

Give it Die Hard as a bonus Feat, Then the barbarian rage ability and 2 rage Powers. Give it Guarded Life and Greater Guarded Life. Then, every time it takes damage to go below 0, it instantly converts an amount of lethal damage it's taken (not just damage from the attack that dropped it) equal to 2x HD into nonlethal damage, but because it has diehard it should remain conscious (RAW this doesn't work, but ferocity effects should work through nonlethal damage too). Then on The Death Lizard's turn, the fast healing and regeneration heal an equal amount of Lethal and Non-lethal Damage, effectively doubling the healing abilities whenever it gets low on health.

Another thing to to would be to change the fast healing and regeneration to (SU) effects, so that the Fast Healer feat could apply.

Finally, ability focus on the feeble mind ability should take the wizard out of the fight on round one.

EDIT: Also change it's type to aberration. I'm pretty sure that aberration should supersede fey when your stacking templates, and the hit dice are mostly better anyway. Also, give it greater dispel magic as an SLA. or Disjunction if you're feeling mean.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

effectively doubling the healing abilities whenever it gets low on health
Yeah, but 10 extra hp/round aren't going to do much when the enemy has already blown through over 700 points of health. The tactic for when that happens is to warp away 420 feet as a move action via Long Step, then hide via Camouflage and wait 5 minutes or so. Not only does this allow the lizard to recover hp, but lets short-duration party buffs run out before it re-engages.


ability focus on the feeble mind ability should take the wizard out of the fight on round one.
They got Mind Blank so it's no good. Unless I can give it at least Greater Dispel somehow, those persisted buffs will be annoying.


Also change it's type to aberration. I'm pretty sure that aberration should supersede fey when your stacking templates, and the hit dice are mostly better anyway.
Huh, didn't know that. Though with the templates saying "don't recalculate bab/saves/hp", it shouldn't matter much.