Originally Posted by Mxiio
Originally Posted by clavis
Yeah, I've not got a warlock for the hex in my party. It's a standard party, just a Battle master, thief, cleric and evocation wizard. I can if I focus easily bring her down. Though this gives the AI enough time to group up, and her call for help is her first round go to. So if I don't drop her immediatly she calls for help. I'm doing the path were she tries to heal you, gives you the mark, then takes you into her room. Without the ability to finish her off in the first round, before she acts, it turns into a cluster of epic proportions.

Taking her out with full group isn't that hard, it's the Zhents, and four of her minions that come up spam Aoe's and simply melt my party. You can't heal out of it, because with the action economy, you get 2 heals from your cleric (and SH at the moment isn't very good), then everyone bonus actions for a health potion. Attacks on their turn if their still up. Next turns of enemies are again Aoe's which deal more damage then everything but your Clerics 2nd level cure wounds. Alot of 16 damages popping up. which not even second wind can take multipule shots of that high of damage.


I've not been in that situation myself, I steer clear of marks as a principle. :P
But given the amount of tools you can find opposite the Torture chamber (one million barrels of boom) and the fact that you have an evocation wizard, you should be able to one-shot whatever is thrown at you. I suppose that might be the cheese you want to avoid, if so, I suggest unchaining your party entirely, buffing up Lazael to the point where she should have 20-21 AC is blessed and has a variety of potions (resist this, resist that and haste). Then sneak everyone, except Lazael into the area where the fight is going to happen, far enough away that they wont be part of the actual fight, once you initiate the fight their job will be to take a single action from stealth to nuke down whomever is the highest threat to you while Lazael tank.

Big problem with that. You are assuming that 1: the AI will infact target her, and target her with things that need to contest with her AC. 2: That they wont disable her in some other manner. 3: That the player can do enough damage that the buffs last you for the majority of the fight.

Ive seen the AI use the sleep spell. Which can instantly knock her prone and take her out of the fight. Spells like hold person ive also seen them use. Spells like burning hands or simular spells that auto hit only allows saves to halve damage. They completly bypass armour. Cantrips even if they miss cause an AOE on the floor which will cause damage. Buffing is a valid (partial) solution but given that each buff has either concentration that can be broken or a short limited time that its active I dont think it will be enough.

Also, given the large number of enemies they will eventually have attacks that hit home, even with an AC of 20-21. Or what more likely will happen is that they ignore her and go for the rest of the party first. Those are the ones holding concentration which will be lost and make her less buffed as well. Having 1 uber buffed character can work but not when you are faced with this many enemies....