[3.5/PF] How to run an interesting encounter with an Illusionist?

[Wonton]

^ What it says on the tin.


The party is level 6, the spellcaster will be level 7-8. He might have some minions with him, might not.
The battle arena is the top-level interior of a small ziggurat. Couple of ~25'x25' rooms (high 25' ceilings too) to fight inside, with the possibility of taking it outside or even climbing up/down onto other levels.
Realistically, I don't want this encounter to be that hard. It's not a BBEG, just a "mini-boss", if you will. There are also 4-5 other encounters in the ziggurat so the party will be down on resources somewhat. However, I do want it to be interesting.
He is also a Serpentfolk, which gives him:


At will—Disguise Self, Ventriloquism
1/day—Blur, Dominate Person (DC 19), Major Image (DC 17), Suggestion (DC 17), Mirror image

Obviously the plan is to dominate one of the PCs at the start, but if that fails I still need a way to make the encounter interesting afterwards.

[Psyren]

The party is level 6, the spellcaster will be level 7-8.

Wait, is that 7-8 his final CR, or is that 8 caster levels on top of his CR4/5HD? That's going to put him way above the party's APL.


He might have some minions with him, might not.

He should (after you weaken him a bit, depending on the answer to the first part.) Single-monster encounters are harder to balance or make engaging - usually, either the party stomps it with their superior action economy, or the monster is tough enough to survive all that and accordingly one-shots someone, if it doesn't wipe the group entirely.



The battle arena is the top-level interior of a small ziggurat. Couple of ~25'x25' rooms (high 25' ceilings too) to fight inside, with the possibility of taking it outside or even climbing up/down onto other levels.

I'd keep it inside. Lessens complexity with things like flight. Though if the sloping ceiling is a headache, feel free to disregard.


Realistically, I don't want this encounter to be that hard. It's not a BBEG, just a "mini-boss", if you will. There are also 4-5 other encounters in the ziggurat so the party will be down on resources somewhat. However, I do want it to be interesting.

He is also a Serpentfolk, which gives him:
[/LIST]


Obviously the plan is to dominate one of the PCs at the start, but if that fails I still need a way to make the encounter interesting afterwards.

[Wonton]

Wait, is that 7-8 his final CR, or is that 8 caster levels on top of his CR4/5HD? That's going to put him way above the party's APL.

Nah, the party is decently optimized and has 5-6 members, they're not really in danger. Most of them also have really good stats (one character rolled something like a 40-point buy), and there's also some houserules at play. I put them up against CR 8-9 encounters all the time and they breeze through em.

FWIW, I ultimately changed my mind and ran him as a Enchanter 7 instead, and gave him a modified Staff of Fire for some direct damage. The Dominate Person was resisted with a lucky roll, then a smart Dispel Magic got rid of most of his buffs and they killed him 2-3 rounds later.

I'll save the Illusions for the next part of the story, there's an Aboleth hiding in a lake that should be able to screw with their heads quite a bit. :smallamused:

[unipsi]

With the Aboleth, why not have a rope leading down into a cave where the Aboleth lives and it just happens to be coated with Aboleth poison...

As far as illusions, they are my favorite. They key is to have them in place before the party arrives so they don't see it being cast

You can modify the whole area of the spell, the caster just needs to concentrate

1) Modify ledges to make it look like they are 5ft further out than they actually are. So, the party goes to the ledge and at least the first guy falls.
2) If there is a rope going down, the party will likely want to go help their friend...but if the rope is poisoned with Aboleth oil..
3) Make an illusion of water at the bottom of the cliff where there is ground. For the guy who fell, if your illusion can make sound, make a splashing sound. The party might just try to jump in the "water" and instead jump onto the ground or into a spike pit
4) Illusions of opponents that come out with bows and start shooting or flying creatures that swoop to attack or casters that begin a ritual or...you get the point. As long as it is a danger that might cause the party to be distracted from helping the party members or waste spells.
5) Right before attacking, the illusion changes to block off all access to the party (like an illusion of a trap springing and slamming down a wall in between them). If using minor illusion, it will persist for 2 rounds after concentrating, so that is 2 rounds of "play time" the Aboleth gets with its toys


Another great Illusion I like doing is to have 1 caster concentrate on a combatant that fires arrows into the air.
Another mage is using silent image to provide concealment for the actual archers that are in the trees shooting down on the party after the illusion fires in the air
The first mage concentrates on the illusion to dodge any and every attack to make it convincing. He even taunts the party through use of the ventriloquism spell, so that speech can be heard from the illusion.

[thelastorphan]

I established an illusionist as a bad ass by having him use silent image to mimic the after affects of other spells.

Fireball an area and leave some 'burning' debris.

Disintigrate a column.

Summon an owlbear.

Those sorts of things. With the right feats and good bluff it can look like he is using the spell he is trying to mimic. Illusions are best used creatively and given a little wiggle room away from RAW imo.

[Geddy2112]

Second throwing up illusions before the party is in place. Your illusionist should have some permanant effects, or long duration spells that are constantly in play. They should also know when the party gets into the base.

The thing is, once the party sees an illusion, they tend to get paranoid. By the second or third, they are shooting bolts at the walls, poking things with 10 ft poles, spamming detect magic and will save to disbelieve the ground they are standing on, just in case.

This can be good, but also slows the game to a crawl. The best way is to sprinkle enough illusions to make them paranoid, but not so many the dungeon has no other threats. In addition to illusory owlbears, throw in some real ones. Is the fire actually an illusion, or is it real? Mix illusions and real threats together in the same encounter. It can be subtle, like a fake wall on one side of the room, or one of the columns is not real and the monster knows and hides behind it, but can see the party through it. Keep in mind illusions don't have to be sight based- the smell of flammable gases might keep the party from lighting torches or using fire magic. They could hear dripping water, or some other sound/noise/sense that throws off their skill checks checks, leading them to false conclusions about the place they are in.