Dancer of the Boreal Valley

[Wasum]

Aloha everyone!

I want to create the Dancer of the Boreal Valley, a Dark Souls 3 boss in Pathfinder.
For everyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, here's the link:

Dancer of the Boreal Valley Cutscene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_-6aTIJN2Q)

Dancer of Boreal Valley Fight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ21JRZKSK4)


https://pre00.deviantart.net/680d/th/pre/f/2017/116/9/f/the_dancer_of_the_boreal_valley_by_chriskot-db786k5.jpg


Now this is the framework I had in mind:

CR 12-14
High dex huge outsider
Fire-themed SLAs



I now want the creature suit into the pathfinder lore. What kind of outsider could it be?
And how could I stat out the creature? You maybe have ideas for abilities it should have?


Thank you in advance!

Wasum

[Palanan]

As someone who has no idea what that game is...what is that thing?

What is it meant to be in the context of the game?

[astrerouge]

i'll To explain a bit who (or what at that point) the dancer is in dark souls 3

She was cursed by the pontiff of her kingdom, who exiled her because she was royalty and thus a threat to his rise to power.

She received enchanted armor and weapons, the former cursed so that she can never take it off and sapping her sanity, while the latters where enchanted with flame and dark magic.

To stat her I don't know if outsider would be necessary, maybe a huge giant with dex and ability that enable aoe melee attack or simply to attack multiple adjacent enemy in a round could be gotten with class or prc. Most of her stuff comes from her equipment.
Maybe have the weapons be 2 scimitar, one keen/fire and the other keen/vile (deal one vile damage, i know vile damage doesnt accurately correspond to dark damage in dark souls, maybe profane or something of the sort). The armor could be cursed so that it couldn't be taken off and level in whirling frenzy barb could maybe translate to her dervish like dancing, but that's 3.5, im not aware of where such abilities could be gotten in pathfinder

[Arkain]

In terms of AoE attacks, maybe take some inspiration from the War Hulk prestige class (Miniatures Handbook)?

[Wasum]

I want her to be an outsider because she will be summoned in my game. I like the idea to get inspired by the war hulk for AoE attacks. Scimitars aüpear to be the appropriate weapon as well.

But as I want to go for outsider I‘m not sure wheather to give her a subtype....

[Wasum]

I gave it a try:

Dancer of the Boreal Valley, CR 13
XP 19,200*
LN Huge outsider (extraplanar, fire, lawful)
Init +11; Senses*Blindsense 30 ft, Darkvision 60 ft; Perception +27
DEFENSE
AC*34, touch 20, flat-footed 22 (+11 Dex, +1 dodge, +14 natural, -2 size)
hp*207 (14 HD; 14d10+126)
Fort +13, Ref +20, Will +14
DR 10/lawful; Immune compulsions, fire, paraysis, poison, desease; Resist cold 10, electricity 10; SR*24
Weaknesses*cold
OFFENSE
Speed*60 ft.
Melee*+1 heartseeker scimitar +22/+17/+12 (2d6+7 plus 1d6 fire/18-20), +1 heartseeker scimitar +22/+17 (2d6+4 plus 1d6 fire/18-20)
Space 15 ft. Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks Dance of the Boreal Valley
Spell-Like Abilities*(CL 12, concentration +18)
Constant - Firebrand, Fire Shield
3/day - Sirocco (DC 22), Quickened Greater Thunderstomp (CMB +18)
1/day - Detonation (DC 20)
STATISTICS
Str 23, Dex 33, Con 28, Int 15, Wis 20, Cha 22
Base Atk +14; CMB +22; CMD 43
Feats*Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Mobility, Quicken Spell-Lile-Ability (Greater Thunderstomp), Two Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Dance of the Boreal Valley(Ex): As swift action Dancer of the Boreal Valley can become a whirling dancer of death for one round three times per day. While in this dance, she can take a full attack action (for melee attacks only) and still move up to her speed. However, the Dancer of the Boreal Valley must move a minimum of 5 feet between each attack when using this ability, and she cannot return to a square she just exited (though she may return to that square later during her full attack). The Dancer of the Boreal Valley is subject to attacks of opportunity while dancing, but may use the acrobatics skill normally as part of her move. A Dancer of the Boreal Valley prevented from completing her move is also prevented from finishing her full attack.



What do you think?

[Arkain]

Was thinking about suggesting looking at the Dervish that at first, but the point of the fight didn't really seem to be all about that. Looks like you did it anyway :smallbiggrin:

It looks slightly stronger than other CR13 outsiders (e.g. Glabrezu and Gelugon) in terms of raw stats, but then, it doesn't have a whole lot of spell-likes either. Full attacks may fall short of other combat brutes in that CR range, but then it's more likely to actually get those full attacks. Action economy looks good, full attacks + move if using a swift, otherwise there's swift actions to use when not dancing. The damage reduction seems off though, as usually it's the opposite of the creature's own alignment, not the same (i.e. it should be 10/chaotic). If you wanted to make it stronger, you could opt for the actual dervish dance feat (fluff be damned), which seems appropriate. That wouldn't work with two weapons, however, though you might rule otherwise in this case, e.g. when it uses its dance - or just use agile scimitars. Fire resistance might ruin your day, but that's neither necessarily a bad thing nor unexpected. While you mention acrobatics in the dance's description, it's missing the skill itself.
Not important, but typos I've found: "paraysis", "desease" and "Quicken Spell-Lile-Ability".

What will the context be, though? As a lone boss, encountered at not too low a level or just another enemy in a greater battle, since it's summoned?

[Wasum]

Thank you very much! The DR was a typo, I corrected it and the other typos in my document :)

I'm glad you named what I did to balance her for CR 13 - so I cant be too off. I didnt give her dex to damage because I was afraid otherwise she might be too tough offensively. Against the melees of my party she'll get a DPR of around 40 which is about fine I guess.

So the context is that I do short online evaluation sheets every now and then and a while back a player askd for a single boss encounter there. As I usually don't like those at all it took me a while to figure out where and when to honour this request. Now I played DS3 some days ago and thought the dancer of the boreal valley is one of the most aesthetic monsters I ever saw in a video game - why not make her that single boss?
The plan now is that my players will be in a LN city to rescue the wife of one of my PCs. She's held hostage there in a cathedral. So after my players fought or sneaked there way through the city, found out where she is and enter the cathedral I will have the dancer of the boreal valley summoned to defend the sanctum. I will show them the respective cutscene in DS3 and have them fight her as last obstacle between the party and the kidnapped woman.

Now that singe encounters usually suck badly I want her to be good at action economy and avoiding damage. I also dont wnat to one-shot PCs thats why her offense is not too intense and offers some avoidable sources of damage (fire shield, detonation). She uses Sirocco to deal with flying enemies inside the cathedral and the quickened thunderstomp to keep some control on the party's melees.

I also considered giving her some kind of ashen aura that will cause concealment around her (which she ignores due to her weapons) to make her even more long lasting. I'd like my players to get slightly annoyed with her.

Oh yeah and I didnt finish her skill block that's why it's not there yet :D

[Wasum]

There is one thing I consider adding:

I would like to make her cloak a force field that covers the edge to a certein number of adjecent squares. Maybe three so it covers up one side of the dancers space but I'm not sure weather 5 or 6 would be cool as well as this could even provide total cover. What do you think of that?


And I'd apreciate more feedback on the creature so far :)

[Spore]

I like Scirocco's build with the exception that she is entirely immune to cold damage as well and takes additional damage from electricity (so no resist here). And I am not sure if I would give her DR to be honest. Or at least give her DR/evil as both dark and lightning seem to be effective.


As someone who has no idea what that game is...what is that thing?

What is it meant to be in the context of the game?

She was once human and the royal handmaiden and nurse for the royal princes. she continues to protect the princes from harm (mainly the player), she wields fire and darkness with her weapons. Boreal knights devolve into beasts at some point. so to sum up things we know.

1) Boreal Knights are sworn to Sullivan, who is a sorcerer and most likely an evil oracle or cleric (sworn to the Black Flame).
2) They devolve into beasts after some time but they seem to retain their human features but just grow additional things. So I think maybe aberration is most fitting.
3) They are immune to cold and poison but are hurt by unholy energy instead of healed. So they are not undead but maybe something similar. to be honest, they feel like angelic/empyreal creatures in that context. their church is corrupt and their master insane but their cause is still holy.
4) Undeath works differently in dark souls anyway. So comparisons become hard to do.

In that vein, I would be very curious how you would stat out Aldrich the Devourer of Gods.

[Wasum]

I like Scirocco's build with the exception that she is entirely immune to cold damage as well and takes additional damage from electricity (so no resist here). And I am not sure if I would give her DR to be honest. Or at least give her DR/evil as both dark and lightning seem to be effective.

What do you mean - Scirocco's build?

The immunities and DR/chaos are actually not based on the DotBV in DS3 but on her implementation in my game :)


(And I think making Aldrich the Devourer of Gods would be kind of tough with pathfinder/d&d rules)

[Wasum]

I would like to make her cloak a force field that covers the edge to a certein number of adjecent squares. Maybe three so it covers up one side of the dancers space but I'm not sure weather 5 or 6 would be cool as well as this could even provide total cover.

I would love to get some feedback on this ability:)

[Arkain]

Since you said you kind of "want" your players to get somewhat annoyed, you could certainly try it. At this point I'd mostly ask myself if your players will be able to deal with it if you add more abilities. Maybe make it require an action to activate for a round or two if you're unsure, but kind of want it?

[Wasum]

Since you said you kind of "want" your players to get somewhat annoyed, you could certainly try it. At this point I'd mostly ask myself if your players will be able to deal with it if you add more abilities. Maybe make it require an action to activate for a round or two if you're unsure, but kind of want it?

It's a fairly well optimized party of 9th level. Oracle of Nature, Melee-Inquisitor, Transmuter, Virtous Bravo Paladina, Bard and Archer-Ranger. That makes for six PCs with great synergies. Usually I'd never use single enemies against them but this time I'm going for it and that's why I'm still afraid my Dancer wont stand a chance against their supremacy in action economy.

[Arkain]

I actually extrapolated my current PF character (also a melee inquisitor, heh) to roughly level ten and considered it difficult, but doable with group effort. But then we're four players and most everybody is quite unoptimized. In an optimized party of six, it might be an appropriate challenge with the added ability. What I tend to do in these cases is make some rough simulations, i.e. consider the characters' abilities (which you probably know to at least some degree) and then whether they'd stand a chance even if say they didn't have all the perfect spells prepared or in place. For example, I arrived at roughly 50-60% chance to hit the dancer with my best attacks, which seemed fine in this kind of boss fight.

[Wasum]

Yeah, I did DPR calculations for the Dancer attacking my melees (~40) of my melees attacking the dancer. I'm pretty optimistic they can handle him even with the cloak of force ability added!