Looking for an evil priestess final boss build. (baldur's gate campaign)

[Braininthejar2]

I'm preparing for the final battle of a 22 level campaign.

The final boss is going to be a high priestess of a dead god of murder, who's been tasked with overseeing his ressurection, but decided to hijack the ritual and made herself a goddess instead.

You know how all the statted gods in the game all have tons of HD but are totally unoptimised, and end up as "what player character could do, except with lots more HP" ? While I do intend to give her some outsider dice to represent her growing power, I'd like to avoid that.

I want her to be an epic divine caster, enough that the party's level 22 abjuration specialist won't shut her down all on her own. I also want her to have enough combat abilities to represent the "god of murder" thing properly. (that also suggests some rogue abilities?) and I'm looking for a way to do it with as few levels as possible.

Do you have any builds in your notes that would be helpful towards that goal?

[Mike Miller]

Are you using a divine rank and the subsequent abilities?

[Braininthejar2]

5 at most.

[MeimuHakurei]

A few tips:

-Salient Divine Abilities cannot be shut down by mortal magic.
-Avoid placing her in charge range of the group's melees. Likewise, she should have servants to avoid losing out on the action economy.
-Cleric on its own provides you with all the combat prowess you need - probably give her a vorpal weapon as well so she can instakill unlucky adventurers.
-Scrying and Divination is an important factor to keep in mind, the priestress may have lots of information about the party and countermeasures ready.

[Braininthejar2]

A few tips:


-Salient Divine Abilities cannot be shut down by mortal magic.
-Avoid placing her in charge range of the group's melees. Likewise, she should have servants to avoid losing out on the action economy.
-Cleric on its own provides you with all the combat prowess you need - probably give her a vorpal weapon as well so she can instakill unlucky adventurers.
-Scrying and Divination is an important factor to keep in mind, the priestress may have lots of information about the party and countermeasures ready.

1 Any Salient abilities you'd like to recommend?

2 Staying out of charge range might not be very feasible. I expect her to end with tons of HP though. One thing I do need to protect her from is ranged force attacks, which is easiest with arcane magic.

2a As for servants, most important people connected to the plot ended in the murder god's realm after death - so she will exploit what control she already has over her domain to control the souls of the previous bosses and ressurect them as her retinue. They will clash with the party's allies in the background, and I can add them to the main fight during the encounter to adjust difficulty.

3 Even if she doesn't strictly need such abilities, I'd like her build to reflect her background pre-ascension - she has been a schemer for most of the campaign, achieveing her goals just through talking - but her looks and behaviour seem to suggest that she used to be a "thrill of the hunt" kind of killer. (the lore mentions Deathbringers as melee oriented servants of Bhaal, but data is scarce)

4 She knows they're coming, and does have data on them - but she needs to get her transformation finished, so she's unable to focus on the intruders right away. She has spread her disposible minions through her realm to serve as speedbumps when the party arrives, buying her enough time to prepare the ressurection trick, and get her first divine ranks online.

[Calthropstu]

Why not take some tips from the boss battle of the game? 3 sets of minions along with her, each time she is defeated (basically reduced to half hp or less) she is hit with a contingent heal spell, becomes invulnerable for a bit and transports into the maelstrom of power.
The pcs must mop up her allies and shut off the power conduit to make her vulnerable again. After the third time she is out of contingent heals and cannot become invulnerable again until she defeats the pcs. She throws her last, most powerful, set of minions against the pcs and fights to the death.

The conduit replenishes her spells, abilities and removes status effects so it'll be a tough fight. Her sr should also be through the roof. The minions should probably be along the same line as the game, but if you want to mix it up, a titan minion flanked with a couple dragons would make for a very tough final round backing her up.

Edit: alternatively, she is in the conduit the entire time sending avatars of herself (plus minions) to fight the party. The conduit allows her to do this, but after the third time she is forced to leave the conduit and face the party for real.

[Braininthejar2]

You... haven't heard of Ascension mod?

It was a mod made by the game authors themselves - they felt they had been rushed by the company, and didn't do Mellisan justice.

It adds several tweaks to ToB (such as making Illasera a very mobile archer instead of a bland sorceress) and changes the layout of the final encounter:

There is no three stage fight. Mellisan will first mess with the player, by first triggering a Slayer episode in Imoen, and then ressurecting Irenicus and Bodhi against the party.

After they are defeated, and the three minor conduits disrupted (the player can use his final bhaalspawn powerup to enslave some demons guarding them, to bring as fodder to the final fight) Mellisan will ressurect the Five against the party, and ask Sarevok to join them, if he's alive and unredeemed.

They are obviously a rather extreme fight together, and once the first of them falls, Mellisan will cast an AoE that wipes all the party's summons/demons, and join the fight herself. After that they all have to be defeated - the ascension ritual is anchored on the Five, so Mellisan is immortal until they all go down.

[Calthropstu]

You... haven't heard of Ascension mod?

It was a mod made by the game authors themselves - they felt they had been rushed by the company, and didn't do Mellisan justice.

It adds several tweaks to ToB (such as making Illasera a very mobile archer instead of a bland sorceress) and changes the layout of the final encounter:

There is no three stage fight. Mellisan will first mess with the player, by first triggering a Slayer episode in Imoen, and then ressurecting Irenicus and Bodhi against the party.

After they are defeated, and the three minor conduits disrupted (the player can use his final bhaalspawn powerup to enslave some demons guarding them, to bring as fodder to the final fight) Mellisan will ressurect the Five against the party, and ask Sarevok to join them, if he's alive and unredeemed.

They are obviously a rather extreme fight together, and once the first of them falls, Mellisan will cast an AoE that wipes all the party's summons/demons, and join the fight herself. After that they all have to be defeated - the ascension ritual is anchored on the Five, so Mellisan is immortal until they all go down.

Never messed around with the mods. Fighting all of the 5 at once sounds daunting... the giant and dragon alone are ridiculously tough at the highest difficulty. That sr on the dragon makes even sorcerer+alacrity+timestop cheese a crapshoot.

Not worried about illasara or the drow though. They are both kinda weak sauce, even as a mobile archer. Balthazar can be solo'd by Minsc so he's not a problem either.

Now if they change the ai to "gank the mages" I would have serious issues.

[Braininthejar2]

Any timestop combo is a bad idea there, as both Mellisan and Balthazar are immune.

By the way, Cryonax is there, guarding one of the conduits (it tells a lot about the level of the finale, that an archomental is used as a speedbump for the party)

If I don't want to use white dragons, what would be good air support for the prince of ice?

[Braininthejar2]

So, taking a look at salient abilities.

Doesn't Alter Reality offer all of the other ones in a package?

[Braininthejar2]

Still looking for ways to condense as manyb various abilities into fewer levels as possible.

Is there a divine magic equivalent of arcane trickster anywhere?

[Braininthejar2]

https://media1.tenor.com/images/106aa017349fc0b99d9cbe713ea46a80/tenor.gif?itemid=11168108

Ok, using Elminster as a measuring stick for the absolute maximum she could've achieved as a mortal, that's 35 levels.

The campaign uses fractional BAB/saves advancement, I can add many classes without crippling the BAB too much.

So, let's try...

Rogue 5
Wizard 1
Cleric 14 (death and retribution domain)
Unseen seer 4
Arcane trickster 4
Mystic theurge 3
Contemplative 1 (destruction domain)
Warblade 1

That's 33 Levels, ending with BAB 14(+8) and base saves 11/9/10 (+7)
7 dice of sneak attack
full cleric casting (would require practiced spellcaster to boost the caster level though)
Wizard casting up to level 6 (caster level 11, 15 with practiced spellcaster)

That should be enough to let her do everything I want her to do in story.

Once she starts ascending, I might give her some outsider levels to add to HP, or to let her have another feat if I need any.

For the 6 salient abilities to pick for her, I was thinking of the following:
- Alter size
- Automatic metamagic (quicken)
- Battlesense
- Divine armor mastery (arcane spell failure will be mitigated in other ways)
- Know secrets
- ... I was thinking divine blast, but she's likely too MAD to plausibly pump her charisma high enough. if not, then perhaps divine shield.

[Sleven]

First of all, using Elminster as a benchmark for Melissan’s power isn’t very accurate. In the game, after you defeat Abagizal [sp?] or some number of bhaalspawn, Elminster approaches you for the last time and basically admits even he would no longer be a match for you. With that as a reference point, Melissan is far above him. Thankfully you can give her divine ranks to achieve that.

As for your build, well... it’s not very good. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. How challenging do you want this encounter to be? Because even one divine rank is enough to make any character nigh-unbeatable (as in, the only way to win is fight them at the base of the spire in the Outlands and/or have custom epic spells).

Since you have such a significant level advantage, use it to create a caster level advantage. That way you don’t have to worry as much about dispelling effects that aren’t disjunction or truename dispel. Caster level is so important that Cleric 30 is better than what you have now. Thematically, I would stick to cleric, mystic, archivist, or favored soul with some divine PrCs and eschew the wizard levels unless you want to go full blown theurge.

Here’s the quick and dirty on your SDA picks:
-Alter Size is most useful if used in tandem with Alter Form to create as many natural attacks as you want. Otherwise it can be easily replicated by spells.
-Automatic Metamagic is fine. I prefer Twin for slot potency and efficiency. If you do go Quicken, be sure to pick up the epic feat Multispell.
-Battlesense can be emulated by spells, and therefore isn’t that great.
-There’s no reason to take Divine Armor Mastery. It does nothing for you or any other build.
-Know Secrets is great as it can give you an in-character reason to metagame and thwart the party’s plans and contingencies.

Also, if the abjurer you’re worried about is an Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil, you don’t need Divine Blast to get past them. Spell resistance is enough (another reason to emphasize your caster level).

Here’s a few decent to strong picks that aren’t Alter Reality, mix and match them to the difficulty level you’re trying to create:

-Thematically, SDAs like Control Creatures or Possess Mortal can be great for a low-op party. It fits with the creatures she controls during the battle in the game, and gives her a potentially powerful tool to use against the enemy fighter(s) or called creatures.

-Divine Dodge is another great way to up the difficulty of the encounter in a low-op game without making it unbeatable.

-Another SDA you can use (if you don’t want to pick the penultimate Alter Reality) is Divine Spellcasting. You should easily be able to get your primary casting stat to 44 by the time you hit level 20 (let alone 30). This gives you 17th level spell slots and would allow her to take Innate Spell (Miracle) or (Wish), which allows you to cast either spell 1/round for free as a SLA. It has the benefit of not making you as powerful as Alter Reality would while giving you a similar effect. It also lets you make use of any metamagic feats you may have on 9th level spells without reducers in the higher level slots.

-Instant Counterspell can help you keep up with the party’s potential action economy advantage, and can be another reason to focus on caster level.

-Lay Curse can be brutal if you get the opportunity to apply it to more than one party member, or a key party member.

-Supreme Initiative can be ok to amazing depending on your group’s tactics. By most readings of this ability nobody can get ahead of you in the turn order even if they ready or delay actions. Furthermore, you can prevent yourself from putting yourself behind in the turn order when readying or delaying as long as you “refocus” to regain your spot after the readied or delayed action.

-Irresistible Blows can be another low-op option if you want focus her more on attacks than spellcasting.

In my opinion, Divine Spellcasting, Know Secrets, Automatic Metamagic (Twin), Divine Dodge, Instant Counterspell, and Supreme Initiative should create a formidable encounter that isn’t unbeatable provided that you pull a few punches. Alternatively, feel free to swap in Alter Size and Alter Form if you prefer to make her into a melee or sneaking powerhouse with a litany of natural attacks.

Some PrCs she might have:
-Mystic Wanderer. She traveled far and wide to gather the Bhaalspawn, posing as someone helpful.
-Contemplative. She was close to her god and had knowledge of his most intimate rituals and secrets.
-Divine Disciple. More of the, “I’m close to my god and an influential member of the church,” theme.
-Tainted Sorcerer. If you want to make her really powerful and up the, “I’m really evil,” theme.
-Dweomerkeeper. Her mastery of magic is clearly greater than normal.

[Bohandas]

I'm preparing for the final battle of a 22 level campaign.

The final boss is going to be a high priestess of a dead god of murder, who's been tasked with overseeing his ressurection, but decided to hijack the ritual and made herself a goddess instead.


Ilike that. It's like a combination of Baldur's Gate 2 and the Ghostbusters videogame

[Braininthejar2]

Ilike that. It's like a combination of Baldur's Gate 2 and the Ghostbusters videogame

Well, yea. I'm directly adapting the BGII expansion finale.


As for your build, well... it’s not very good. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. How challenging do you want this encounter to be? Because even one divine rank is enough to make any character nigh-unbeatable (as in, the only way to win is fight them at the base of the spire in the Outlands and/or have custom epic spells).

The player has recruited many more NPCs than the computer version would've allowed. I made the Ravager a 22 HD huge outsider with stats in the fourties and DR 25/epic, and they picked him apart like a swarm of piranhas. I think a demigod is a reasonable challenge. Since it's the final epic battle, I don't mind if half the NPCs die in the process.

Oh, Melissan will be accompanied by the resurrected Five (with Gromnir replacing Balthazar - the player had Viconia use a big miracle to detour his soul to Shar when he died.) The player will be bringing some allied inevitables. I must have been insane to start it as a single player campaign, and at this final battle I'm fully expecting to die by math.


That way you don’t have to worry as much about dispelling effects that aren’t disjunction or truename dispel

Having written it out, I might be moving in how I see it, from dispel being denied, to dispel being required. The outsider HD, equipment, and salient abilities give me a lot of space to buff her in ways that aren't spells, and thus not care about dispel much - but she will have some buffs that will need to be dispelled for the fight to be winnable, most notably stormrage and sublime revelry.

Pumping cleric caster level to 30 would kill any party very quickly, especially if I follow your advice and give her multispell to complement automatic metamagic - she could go quickened gr dispel / quickened gr dispel / cry of the banshee, or heck, just go level 30 blasphemy.


Here’s the quick and dirty on your SDA picks:
-Alter Size is most useful if used in tandem with Alter Form to create as many natural attacks as you want. Otherwise it can be easily replicated by spells.
From what I understand, it gives her strength, and natural armor that comes with her size, without decreasing dexterity, and it can't be dispelled. I took it mostly to replicate her in-game size, but It actually makes her substantially tougher to hurt.

Not touching alter form - making Jaheira a warshaper has been enough of a headache.


-There’s no reason to take Divine Armor Mastery. It does nothing for you or any other build.
It lets her wear magic armor while leaving the bracer slot free for something else. 10 AC is a difference between being hit half the time or on 20s only.


-Know Secrets is great as it can give you an in-character reason to metagame and thwart the party’s plans and contingencies.
Most importantly, the player recruited Sarevok, but unlike with Viconia, she made no effort whatsoever to connect with him - and Melissan has a job opening for a high priest. She will definitely monologue at him as the party approaches, and his reaction will depend on what the player says to that.

[Sleven]

I guess I don’t understand. You say the player is breezing through your encounters, yet you don’t want Melissan to be stronger than the Bhaalspawn player with 11 less levels?

I don’t see how anything you mentioned would be a challenge for a level 17 character, let alone 22 or 30. Epic spells and divine ranks are the only real thing that can outstripe a caster with 9th level spell access.

Things like Blasphemy and Greater Dispel should absolutely be on the table as they already should have been in play for ~9 levels. If your player doesn’t have preparations against them it’s either a very low-op game or they should have already been punished for it.

I understand wanting the players to succeed—I have the same hope when I DM—but giving the player things like Warshaper, while refusing to go there yourself, really cheapens their victory.

I think there is a lack of understanding of some of the game mechanics on your part as well. For example: armor bonuses don’t stack, and getting one from a spell is quite easy. You seem to want to make her sneaky, yet aren’t accounting for the armor check penalty having her wear armor with a +10 or > is likely to incur. The same goes for size increases and decreases: they’re easily replicated by spells she has access to. Furthermore, increasing size does reduce your dexterity the first 2-3 times, and I imagine touch AC will be a very important statistic for this fight.

So I’m confused. What do you want to get out of this thread? If that becomes clear maybe we can help you better.

[Braininthejar2]

I guess I don’t understand. You say the player is breezing through your encounters, yet you don’t want Melissan to be stronger than the Bhaalspawn player with 11 less levels?

Stronger, yes. But not strong enough to wipe a party by herself. Remember she's not alone either - Illasera will put 12 arrows a turn in whoever loses his protection from missiles, and Sendai is a 26 level mage/ur priest theurge. There will be a lot happening there.

Mostly though, the blasphemy thing is uninteresting, while at the same time the most logical thing for her to do.

I'd rather have a lower powered boss and use her to her full power than create a very powerful one and have to pull punches a lot.


I don’t see how anything you mentioned would be a challenge for a level 17 character, let alone 22 or 30. Epic spells and divine ranks are the only real thing that can outstripe a caster with 9th level spell access.

Not all teams are equally optimised. When I started this campaign, I was a noob at it, capable of making mistakes like "give a villain a huge axe because it looks cool, and be surprised when a x3 crit one-shots a character". And even though years have passed since I started, every game I learn something new.


So I’m confused. What do you want to get out of this thread? If that becomes clear maybe we can help you better.

Right now, I think I need to playtest the fight, at current version, and see what problems might need to be addressed.


but giving the player things like Warshaper, while refusing to go there yourself, really cheapens their victory.

The transformation comment wasn't about the power level. It was about the fact that I had to print a chart for how Jaheira's attacks and armor look like at various buff interactions.

[Luckmann]

Could have been mentioned, but don't forget to give her her Deathstalker levels. It's available as a PrC, published in Dragon Magazine.

[Braininthejar2]

I didn't give Sarevok any...

DO you happen to remember which issue it was?