our adventuring group has now turned into a secret service detail. we have two days in town to prepare for this attempt on the life of an archbishop. he will be addressing a crowd on stage in front of the cathedral. we have obviously tried to prevent the bishop from giving the speech so...... what items, plans, tactics would you put in place to save this old geezers life?
party of 6 pc at level 5
paladin---rogue---wizard-----cleric--- zen archer monk/inquistor---monk/lore warden
we have combined 2000gp
What has tipped you off to the assassination plot? Any idea who is behind it?
Do you have any clues about what kind of tactics the assassins will use, or are you shooting in the dark here?
poison most likely will be used in some form. our gm has teased us with the idea that the attack will be in an unconventional form. so, paranoid about everything and everyone seems like the plan.
What has tipped you off to the assassination plot? Any idea who is behind it?
we do know that a rival country is using assasins and rogue types to pull off this threat. races of bad guys are orc, half orc, and ogre with a splash of human spellcaster leaders.
i guess we are wondering what things we could do before we are on combat rounds to make the job of protecting him easier. we need to craft a "popemobile" or make some modifications to the stage or podium lol.
buffs with long lasting durations
difficult terrain tactics or props that can make in combat casts better
trap door escape? invisibility potions...fog/clouds/blur ?
Anyone have Major Image?
You could use it as a projection, so to speak.
Lasts as long as the caster concentrates plus 3 rounds, so no worries about speech length. The Archbishop could give the speech in a protected space (inside the cathedral or 400 feet away, hidden) while the caster watches him and casts Major Image of him giving the same speech to the crowd out front.
Unless someone physically interacts with the image, or attempts a WIL disbelieve, should be good.
DM may not allow it... may deem hearing the speech, relaying it & concentrating on the spell just too much, but he may just say, "Make a Concentration Check."
Anyone have Major Image?
You could use it as a projection, so to speak.
Lasts as long as the caster concentrates plus 3 rounds, so no worries about speech length. The Archbishop could give the speech in a protected space (inside the cathedral or 400 feet away, hidden) while the caster watches him and casts Major Image of him giving the same speech to the crowd out front.
Unless someone physically interacts with the image, or attempts a WIL disbelieve, should be good.
DM may not allow it... may deem hearing the speech, relaying it & concentrating on the spell just too much, but he may just say, "Make a Concentration Check."
gonna look this one up lol
nice ideagm won't like it
You could always memorize: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/s/shield-other
Memorize it twice and buy two scrolls for the Inquisitor to cast. That's 10 hours of 0 hip point damage. All you have to do at that point is keep yourselves alive.
You need to have something to reduce area of effect damage, either elemental resistance or constant cover. You don't want to eat a 50% increase in spell damage because you and the guy you are defending get fireballed at the same time.
Beyond that, you want to have access to: Remove Curse, Lessor Restoration, Remove Disease and Delay Poison. Have on hand an alchemist that can analyse and make antidotes.
Memorize the Sanctuary spell for safe keeping, even if you can't rely on it.
Then prepare an escape route. The route has to take an unconventional direction and must remain a secret among the PCs, excluding all NPCs.
we don't trust most of the npc involved..(guards, priests, paladins)
we were already attacked by a delayed int fireball already so we are worried about that too lolty great ideas
How about giving the guy a scroll of ventriloquism and have the guy on stage be a double in disguise (or a silent image that he also cast with a scroll)?
That has somewhat reduced risk since you do not have to pretend to be the target for the whole speech through your own major image (I can see a poor rendition of the target's speech style would be an easy way for a GM to veto a major image.) Using cheap level 1 spells means it can be easily be made into scrolls
You can layer this of course. Have the double miming the speech, and have a major image behind the curtain pretending to be saying the speech. Then you can have the actual target sit in a lead box (or whatever) underneath the stage. Make this complicated enough that the enemies will go after at least one wrong lead. That gets them out into the open and into arrow range for your zen archer.
Hell, put a few silent images about via scrolls. Have some of them look like the target in poorly made disguises. Turn this whole thing into a game of Where's Waldo?
wondering if multiple shield others stack and the range is tough to maintain during a fight but great as we are escaping with him during an escape.
party of 6 pc at level 5
paladin---rogue---wizard-----cleric--- zen archer monk/inquistor---monk/lore warden.
we don't trust most of the npc involved..(guards, priests, paladins)
This seems weird to me. If your group has a paladin, it implies that your group is good, or at least not evil. So if the NPCs with whom you're interacting include paladins, why does your group not trust them?
party of 6 pc at level 5
paladin---rogue---wizard-----cleric--- zen archer monk/inquistor---monk/lore warden.This seems weird to me. If your group has a paladin, it implies that your group is good, or at least not evil. So if the NPCs with whom you're interacting include paladins, why does your group not trust them?
we don't trust most of the npc involved..(guards, priests, paladins)
we discovered that some of the paladin order are missing prior to this big speech. we have rumors that some have been magically masking their evil alignment.
we discovered that some of the paladin order are missing prior to this big speech. we have rumors that some have been magically masking their evil alignment.
Ah, so you believe that some of the "paladins" are impostors then.
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Magic typically is a big pain in the butt, so try to get him into an anti-magic field during his speech. Then, use the trap-door stage method with someone readying an action to quickly get him out in the event of a physical attack. Having him give a speech behind glass, or a force wall would help.
Though the unconventional part bothers me. Perhaps the assassin has already poisoned the poor fellow?
Magic typically is a big pain in the butt, so try to get him into an anti-magic field during his speech. Then, use the trap-door stage method with someone readying an action to quickly get him out in the event of a physical attack. Having him give a speech behind glass, or a force wall would help.
ooo...that gives me idea for my where's waldo thing.
Put the dozens of silent images out, and put the real one on stage...but have poorly done illusion magic do the speech. That makes the real one look like a fake. That way, when they see through the voice, they think they have read your game, and the fact that they can't see through the 'image' itself is just a botched willsave.
Detect Poison should cover that, maybe, if you're looking for it.
Though if it's some kind of two-part poison - neither part is poison on its own, but results in a deadly reaction when mixed - he might have half the poison in him, and is just waiting on the other half, thus both seeming innocuous while actually not.
I... don't know if anything like this already exists, I'm just mentioning it as an odd option. Still, such things should respond to a neutralize poison effect, as that would simply make whatever it is not-compatible with whatever the other thing is.
One other thing to look out for is mind-control - either for an assassin, the leader (forcing them to commit suicide - political or otherwise), or the crowds (by, say, inciting a riot).
Of course, a stilled silent phantasmal killer could be extremely effective, though a successful save might negate it.
Hope that helps!
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Shrimp and vitamin C mixed together gives you toxic arsenic, apparently.
Of course it is not enough to kill you. You would literally have to binge on shrimp and oranges to do any damage. Still, the principle is there.
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In addition to the illusionary misdirection proposed above (which is a good idea), it would probably be good to get at least 3 Scrolls of Neutralize Poison (in case you botch one for not being high enough level to cast the spell yourself, or if multiple poisoning attempts are in the works). For defense against mind control, you want Protection from Evil or one of its higher level varieties.
And it sounds like you're not in the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, but just in case you are, and you're anywhere near Numeria, try to get a working Radiation Detector.
others have given you good tips for preparation but when it comes time for the speach i suggest just having 1 party member stand to the north south east and west of him facing outwards so nothing can sneak up and get to him without going through the party
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Also, keep us updated when this does happen. I'd be curious to see how it susses out.
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Besides buffs that can keep him alive like delay poison and ablative barrier and/or shield other I would look in the following direction:
The GM told you it might be unconventional. He might try to mind control one of you to turn you into the assassin.
Also, keep us updated when this does happen. I'd be curious to see how it susses out.
i will do that....
all the buff spells have been talked about with the other members of the party. we have a sleeves of many garments item for one pc to use to
"blend" in with the crowd/stage. i think we decided the rogue would use it. our best guess is to use protection evil and protection energy(fire) delay poison for pre-speech buffs. we are discussing the shield other spell option with a false life buffed high hitpoint pc. lore warden trip master close to stage to stop anybody gaining access to bishop. zen archer at range, paladin and wizard under stage maybe....cleric needs to be close too for heals and possibly sanctuary casts to get bishop out during escape.
the gm has told us out of game to be ready for unconventional means to kill the bishop..(evil wry grin)
npc double agents?....explosive runes as speech notes?...suicide bombers?
there is a fanatic quality that the assassins have, and we have'nt been able to talk/interrogate any yet as they always fight to death or ingest poison instead of capture.
Besides buffs that can keep him alive like delay poison and ablative barrier and/or shield other I would look in the following direction:
The GM told you it might be unconventional. He might try to mind control one of you to turn you into the assassin.{quote}yeah, manchurian candidate option was thrown out as another option during pc tactics...lol we most likely should find ways to boost our will saves too.
need to be able spot a caster in a crowd too...evidence points to a delayed int fireball drifting towards stage...if one pc has the guts to grab and move/throw it i'd be amazed. find caster kill caster before delay fireball goes off?
^I've heard of Delayed Blast Fireball before, but what's Delayed Int Fireball?
^I've heard of Delayed Blast Fireball before, but what's Delayed Int Fireball?
intensified....meta magic dont want to be near on of those when they go off
oh if your gonna be getting fireballed probably ignore what i said about standing guard
oh if your gonna be getting fireballed probably ignore what i said about standing guard
no guarantee.... just a possibility there is going to be soooo many options the badies could take as the bishop takes the stage in a jammed-packed courtyard square with onlookers hanging out of windows and spectators on rooftops. our gm ran this years ago and said that the group of pcs DID prevent the assassination.
Before you noted that he ran it years ago, I would have suggested you look out for aura of the unremarkable. Still, it's a worthwhile spell to know of.
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If you know someone is targeting you with Fireballs, don't forget Resist Energy!
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ok,
we know now that the bad guys will/ or will try to summon something via greater plan binding/ ally. we found a stash of 25,000 gp worth of rare herbs and incenses and a chalked and wiped out circle on floor. they got away with the reagents. i tried to trip a nightmare cauchemar and rider and failed my trip attempt by 3 and was overrun and thrown prone. lol
a big summoned enemy is going to be a part of the assassination attempt.
sigh.....
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Also, keep us updated when this does happen. I'd be curious to see how it susses out.
we now have 1 day of game time to figure out the best plan
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a specially designed stage that can spring up on all four sides of the archbishop to provide full cover at the moments notice of an attack, with a secret trap door leading below the stage where one of you is waiting to get him to safety. have your wizard memorize the shield spell so he can provide the bishop with an AC bonus if needed. if your bishop has any money himself, glamoured set of armor to boost his AC if needed.
Detect alignment/evil on anyone trying to get near him. Paladin should be a food taster to prevent the bishop from being poisoned, as paladin should have stupid levels of fort saves. If he has less than +8 at level 5, he's doign it wrong. or a dwarf with a high fort save, if any of your monks are dwarfs.
your whole group needs to be on full doppelganger alert. I repeat, full doppelganger alert. have a code word set up that only the actual characters would know, then if anyone is seperated and the GM is instructing them to act the doppelganger, the player will have to say his character doesnt know. you would not believe how much fun it is to play a doppelganger/shapeshifter, especially if your GM has promised you big rewards for RPing it well :) so be wary, none of your friends/players are to be trusted.
as far as the imposter NPC's possibly using conceal alignment, zone of truth from your paladin will solve that.
your wizard using Major image to produce multiple copies of the bishop while doing the speech is an excellent idea, if you trust your GM not to just wave the magic GM hand and bypass that. I'd prefer to use Illusion magic to make it look like he's actually on a platform 4 feet higher than he actually is, so that any attacks on him will sail harmlessly over his head. if your wizard has anticipate peril, use that on whoever has your highest initiative score to be prepared to get the bishop out of there asap.
aid another action to bump bishop AC is good if you dont know where the attack will come from. try and boost his AC incase your GM is faking you guys out and its just going to be an arrow shot from the crowd.
I'll try and think of some more if I can
big summoned enemy, just try and boost the poor guys AC as much as possible. wizard could drop an expedious retreat on him and he could just get the f@#$ out of there as fast as possible once the badguy shows his hand.
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Expeditious Retreat and Shield are both personal spells, so neither of those work, unfortunately. Also, you can't aid another to boost AC without being able to harass the opponent, which you can't do if you don't know where he is and be able to reach him. Although you could have party members providing cover. Maybe a Paladin with a tower shield, although if he's speaking at a podium that's probably already soft cover, and I wouldn't suggest putting anyone but a paladin next to the archbishop in case of AoEs or domination.
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Oh, make sure your wizard is in range to Dimension Door the poor guy out of there and to a more secure location. Seriously, you could invest in a scroll and be sure that once you see the danger coming you grab him and *zoink* get outta there.
sniper ready to shoot anyone suspicious, and if no magic items that kill poison a tyrants friend could help its aring that grows warms when touching poison poisoned materials or poison holding containers and you can hide it under your non magic rings so no one wonders where you got a new ring.
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{. . .}
as far as the imposter NPC's possibly using conceal alignment, zone of truth from your paladin will solve that.
{. . .}
It isn't that powerful. Zone of Truth can be saved against or even spell-resisted, and even a creature who fails the save isn't compelled to tell the truth -- they just can't lie (although if they are the diabolical sort, they might be able to tell the truth in a way that misleads). In any case, Zone of Truth doesn't interfere with alignment concealment magic.
so.....
gm throwing out little bites of information. he has told us that this will be considered a mass combat. the archbishop will be acting as well as a slew of town guards, paladins,holy "swiss guard" bodyguards,royal family members, our pcs, and of course the bad guys. he has also told us that pre-combat buffs for the archbishop will be taken care of by his "trusted" entourage, but we will have a chance to supplement those protocols. we are trying to figure out where our pcs should be stationed when the battle starts.
How much authority do you have as secret service detail?
Can you order a last minute change of the guard? Might mess with the plans and plotting of the attackers.
we have been told we will supplement the existing protection the archbishop has in place for protection. we know that some of the paladins in this order are evil and have been masking/disguising their evil intents. we know that the assassins have summoned at least one creature with 25,000 gps worth of spell components(herbs and incense). our last day of preparation will involve the wizard and cleric trying to buy scrolls of teleportation, dim. door, control summoned creatures,magic circle protection from evil, dismissal and banishment. we understand a caster level check will be needed to activate these scrolls since they are higher caster levels than the pc reading them. the paladin, rogue, and lore warden want to be close to stage to prevent access and the zen archer/inquisitor wants to handle ranged attackers
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ok, wizard in party want to summon a creature that radiates or cast protection from evil. he'd cast when trouble started. rogue wants to do trapdoor thing and is wondering if he was under the stage, what could he do to help the archbishop besides springing the trapdoor. wizard also expressed an idea in using a stage prompt (those holes in the stage where directors give lines to actors while being hidden from audience). he would have line of sight with archbishop and be able to climb out if he wanted to.
paladin thinks there is an item that can be bought that will radiate protection from evil
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cleric wants to put spiked focus wards all around stage the night before the big speech. he also wants to use a hallowed chalice on the podium for the archbishop. all these ideas will add channel pos energy for the team and not waste his channels the day of the event.
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RETRIEVER CR 11
XP 12,800
CE Huge construct (extraplanar)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +15
DEFENSE
AC 25, touch 11, flat-footed 22 (+3 Dex, +14 natural, –2 size)
hp 137 (15d10+55); fast healing 5
Fort +7, Ref +10, Will +5
Defensive Abilities construct traits
OFFENSE
Speed 50 ft.
Melee bite +19 (1d8+6 plus grab), 4 claws +19 (2d6+6/19–20)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks eye rays (+16 ranged touch)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th)
At will—discern location
mass combat situation... 30 paladins/knights/town guards protecting the archbishop. we know that the enemy has summoned the above creature and will use it to push thru the crowded square and grab the archbishop off the stage. the enemy has support clerics and rogues with black lotus poison. we also know that some of the 30 security detail will turn and betray their orders and join in the attack against us.
protection from evil spell will help us, but will it prevent the retriever from getting on stage without making a dc check?
this thing is a monster for a group of 5/6 level pcs.
we have rogue6 cleric6 paladin 6 zen archer/inquistor 3/2 man master/ lore warden 5 NO WIZARD...UGHHH he has moved away
we start this mass combat in 3 days(real time) and have 3 hours (in game) to make last minute preparations
we are all talking about battle tactics vs the summoned retriever
we have no arcane means to hurt it
we talked about touch based attacks like alchemist fire or holy water. any spell cast by the cleric (blindness) would not work based on construct immune to fortitude based spells. lore warden could blind it via dirty tricks. we want to use smokesticks to provide concealment and cover while we try to pepper it with ranged arrow attack from the flanks. we also want to get the rogue in there to use sneak attack since constructs can be harmed with critical sneak attack damage(the rogue is not happy knowing he has to close-in on this thing).
the frontline guys have to eventually have to get inside its reach and hack it down, but ideally we want to slow it and hurt it before that happens.
this is gonna be a bloodbath
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I would be concerned about someone covertly replacing the bishop's speech notes with a parchment containing explosive runes, symbol of death, snake sigil, and similar traps. Have a party member check them first before the bishop goes out. Also could you possibly use wall of force and ventriloquist to project his voice outside the dome enclosing him? Check the podium for hidden assassins, for that matter the podium itself could be replaced by a wizard using polymorph any object on an assassin timed to expire its duration just as the speech begins. I'd also be worried about contact poisons on anything the bishop uses or touches so keep detect and neutralize poison loaded on all casters at all times.