Multiweapon fighting feat and Mariliths

[eyebreaker7]

"Feats: In combination with its natural abilities, a marilith’s Multiweapon Fighting feat allows it to attack with all its arms at no penalty."

The MM entry says she usually wields a longsword in each hand so they aren't "light" weapons but she has a Dex 19 so I'm guessing that's the "natural abilities" that reduce the penalties even more like with 2-weapon fighting?

Multiweapon Fighting [General]
Prerequisites
Dex 13, three or more hands.
Benefit: Penalties for fighting with multiple weapons are reduced by 2 with the primary hand and reduced by 6 with off hands.
Normal
A creature without this feat takes a -6 penalty on attacks made with its primary hand and a -10 penalty on attacks made with its off hands. (It has one primary hand, and all the others are off hands.) See Two-Weapon Fighting.
Special: This feat replaces the Two-Weapon Fighting feat for creatures with more than two arms.

[Jazath]

"Feats: In combination with its natural abilities, a marilith’s Multiweapon Fighting feat allows it to attack with all its arms at no penalty."

The MM entry says she usually wields a longsword in each hand so they aren't "light" weapons but she has a Dex 19 so I'm guessing that's the "natural abilities" that reduce the penalties even more like with 2-weapon fighting?

Multiweapon Fighting [General]
Prerequisites
Dex 13, three or more hands.
Benefit: Penalties for fighting with multiple weapons are reduced by 2 with the primary hand and reduced by 6 with off hands.
Normal
A creature without this feat takes a -6 penalty on attacks made with its primary hand and a -10 penalty on attacks made with its off hands. (It has one primary hand, and all the others are off hands.) See Two-Weapon Fighting.
Special: This feat replaces the Two-Weapon Fighting feat for creatures with more than two arms.


I think so, played a Marilith once. It was fun.
So about it reducing the penalties, i would assume a Marilith can further hone its abilities to allow it to reduce its penalties, but that's just my opinion.

[Psyren]

Yes, Mariliths take none of the attack penalties listed in the MWF feat due to the entry in their statblock. (This specific line trumps the more general feat entry.)

Note however that (a) their primary sword attack still takes iterative penalties when they full-attack, and (b) their "offhand" (secondary) sword strikes still deal reduced damage (1/2 strength) due to being secondary. Both of these phenomena are reflected in the "full attack" portion of their statblock.

[Firebug]

The multiweapon fighting is nice, but to me the more interesting aspect is its spellcasting.

At-will Blade Barrier, Greater Teleport, Project Image, Telekinesis, Unholy Aura
So why start the fight in melee range? Why not be 250' away with Project Image and your image is inside an 'arena' of Blade Barrier and Telekinesis violent thrust 15 swords at the party per round.
The party figures out the trick? Greater Teleport and reset the encounter. Oh, and if they do attack the image, save or lose strength from Unholy Aura. Also note that it has at-will Magic Weapon, so almost all of its attacks should be at +1/+1.

Their fluff says they are grand strategists, and always seek out the best possible advantage from terrain and any weaknesses the party has.

[Psyren]

At level 17 the party should have ways to deal with teleportation and illusions I'd say

[Firebug]

At level 17 the party should have ways to deal with teleportation and illusions I'd sayOk, they have True Seeing up and know its an illusion.
That doesn't stop Telekinesis from flinging 15 sharp objects at them. There is no will to disbelieve that part of the spell.
Marilith has a +19 to hide/+23 to move silently, and is 260' away(med range, CL 16), another -26 to that spot/listen check. Effectively, a +45 to hide and +49 to move silent before rolling. Nevermind other penalties like the party being distracted by flying sharp objects. No verbal components on Spell-likes so all you know is that the Marilith is somewhere within 260'... of the Projected Image.

Telekinesis can then throw things 1040' away from the Image at a target another 160' further away. This theoretical Marilith could be over a quarter mile away (1460'). Sure, then you get into how the Marilith can see the party, but imagine the fight on a wooded treeline overlooking a barren plain and the PCs leaving a castle heading toward the forest. No hide in plain sight? Probably not realizing they are about to be attacked so are not trying to hide anyway?

Sure, there is likely a Spot/Listen monkey in the party, but does that person also have dimensional anchor memorized?

Ok, Dimensional Anchor succeeded (touch attack vs 13, SR 25), the Marilith has a 50% chance to summon a Nalfeshnee for an hour who has At-will Greater Dispel Magic. Maybe the Marilith attempted to Summon first and only engages when they succeed?

Does this sound more like "Mariliths seldom rush headlong into battle, however, preferring to hang back and size up the situation first. They always seek to gain the best possible advantage from the local terrain, obstacles, and any vulnerability or weakness in their opponents." Compared to a straight up melee fight? And you probably still get the straight up melee fight once you corner it.

[Psyren]

I'm not quite sure what you're trying to convince me of. Let's assume the Marilith somehow has a clear line of sight to its carefully-arranged pile of greatswords across 1000 ft of distance (featureless plain? Your castle wall example?) It's tossing each of those weapons with +20 to hit, and each one is doing 2d6 damage with no modifier. DR applies to each one separately as well. Against a mid or low level party I could see this being an issue, but at level 17 it's just not that much to write home about, even if they never see the creature throwing them.