battle tactics - Varakhut and limited wish

[Braininthejar2]

So, there will be a varakhut in the next battle, and I'd like to use his abilities to the fullest, because frankly, as soon as characters acquire +5 weapons, he becomes pretty damn fragile.

It seems that his wish/limited wish SLA are key to using him properly - but those offer so many options, it's easy to miss the correct way to use them.

What would be the best way to employ those in battle? (assume high level adventurers and/or demons on both sides of the fight)


Also, for creatures caught in his dispelling blast, does it affect them as area dispel or as targeted dispel?

[aimlessPolymath]

Dispelling blast: No idea. Google says you aren't the first one with that question. I'd go for targetted dispel, because he seems over-CR'd as it is.

For use of SLAs, I'm primarily looking at time stop-> haste, forcecage 1-2 targets -> teleport next to squishy, then pummel them next turn(Not sure- those slams aren't incredibly dangerous. Maybe Circle of Death?). Wish seems like a swiss army knife as needed- perhaps a buff or summoning effect in time stop, a full heal, or something.

How much damage do your players do per hit? It seems like DR 20 is a lot, but I'm not especially familiar with high level play. I might run him through Vorpal Tribble's CR calculator- my calculations put him at about CR 14-15.

Consider swapping out some of the Skill Focus feats to start- Quicken Spell-like Ability, for example.

[Braininthejar2]

DR 20?

Are my notes faulty?

Anyway, 20 DR won't stop a dedicated close combat character at high level.

forcecaging and letting other characters handle direct attack seems the most logical thing to do.

[Bronk]

It seems that his wish/limited wish SLA are key to using him properly - but those offer so many options, it's easy to miss the correct way to use them.

What would be the best way to employ those in battle? (assume high level adventurers and/or demons on both sides of the fight)


Well, for using wish... The Varakhut could attempt to use the safe 'transport travelers' use of wish to try to whisk them away to prison. There's no range limit... it can pick people up from anywhere, and send them to anywhere... as long as they fail their will save. Escaping the prison could be a substantial part of a game session.

Otherwise, there's nothing stopping them from using magic items which they could then, day by day, increase in power. Sky's the limit on that one.

[Fizban]

If you're finding the standard version fragile/underwhelming, maybe take a look at afroakuma's new and updated inevitables (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?91492-New-Inevitables-Inexorables-and-Forge-Elder!-3-5-PEACH).

As for what to dupe with Limited/Wish, that's too highly dependent upon the game to just generalize about. One game's perfect counter is another game's laughable speedbump, and the best thing to do changes dramatically based on who's and what is actually doing what and where.

Since unwilling targets of Wish stuff generally get saves, the most powerful uses will be things that don't directly affect an unwilling target or allow a save. Dimensional Lock or Forbiddence to cut off retreat (goes with that Forcecage SLA). Wishing to collapse a building or tunnel or fill an area with solid stone or a volcanic eruption. Wall of Greater Dispel Magic somewhere they're about to walk through. Turn an area into a dead magic zone/Antimagic Field at range.

If you really wanna screw the rules, Energy Transformation Field in the middle of combat seems like it's got potential.

Something weird. . . call up some Brown Mold (I think Mold Touch was a 3rd level spell? So a pretty low level effect) right before you or your allies blanket the area in Meteor Swarms- causing the mold to expand all over the place and deal automatic nonlethal cold damage to anyone within 5' of it. Of course constructs and creatures with 10 or so cold resistance have nothing to fear.

[Psyren]

An easy to overlook quality of Wish and Limited Wish is that they allow you to "produce any effect in line with the above effects." This means that, for Limited Wish, you can do anything that's equivalent to a 6th-level wiz/sorc spell or a 4th-level spell from any class.

What this means is that metamagic is fair game, because the numerical equivalents are easy to calculate. Any metamagic+spell combination that equals a 6th-level wizard spell can be wished for, like a Widened Stinking Cloud or a Selective Cloudkill.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

I'd look at things that synergize with the varakhut's existing abilities, and the abilities of any allies and/or minions it has. The above dimension lock synergizes very well with its forcecage. Does it have a fire elemental monolith minion? Give it temporary cold immunity. Very young prismatic dragon? Hit the thing with an Enlarged antimagic field effect and watch as it negates the party's magic while still being a dragon.

Or you could bring in an unwitting ally to use as a distraction, along with the above. How about using it to pull in, say, the tarrasque, then use another one to give it flight? Doesn't matter if the thing is controlled, so long as the varakhut isn't the one attacking it and getting its attention.

[ExLibrisMortis]

High-OP wizards traditionally use limited wish to duplicate favour of the martyr, a spell that makes you immune to daze, amongst a host of other effects. Once immune to daze, you can use celerity without its drawback affecting you. It might be worthwhile for the varakhut to use favour of the martyr before the fight (or during a time stop), then use celerity twice during the fight, either paired with dimension door, time stop, or even wish. The biggest issue for a single boss is the action economy, and celerity is one way of addressing that.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Don't forget, you should be able to emulate metamagic'd spells, too. So feel free to use limited wish for a Sculpt Spell'd forcecage, for instance, or a detect magic version of the locate city bomb. Wanna run around the battlefield with explod-a-vision? Well, now you can!

And a limited wish will easily allow you to cast permanency on the above beforehand, so you don't even need to waste it during the fight.

[Crake]

So, there will be a varakhut in the next battle, and I'd like to use his abilities to the fullest, because frankly, as soon as characters acquire +5 weapons, he becomes pretty damn fragile.

It seems that his wish/limited wish SLA are key to using him properly - but those offer so many options, it's easy to miss the correct way to use them.

What would be the best way to employ those in battle? (assume high level adventurers and/or demons on both sides of the fight)


Also, for creatures caught in his dispelling blast, does it affect them as area dispel or as targeted dispel?

Are you playing 3.0 or 3.5? If you're playing 3.5 the varakhut was updated to have DR20/chaotic and adamantine, instead of the DR50/+5 it used to. Having a +5 weapon won't help at all, unless you're playing pathfinder.

[Silva Stormrage]

One option also is for permanency effects already active on the creature. Wish/Limited Wish then wish for them to be permanent with permanency. You can get quite a decent array of buffs active there.

Beyond that you can have it replicate permanent summoned/calling spells like Halaster's Fetch or Planar Binding and then just dominate the monster. It should not be fighting alone.

Also as a side note, from looking at the SLA's it has access to. What is Circle of Doom? It has Circle of Death and Circle of Doom. But a quick google search shows that spell not existing in 3.5.

[Fizban]

Circle of Doom (and Circle of Healing) were the 3.0 versions of Mass Inflict/Cure Light IIRC.