Vampire (or other) Intelligences ...

[Rifter11]

My players are about to come into possession of an IBC nuke. The IBC part of it no longer functions due to decades of exposure to the elements (its been at the bottom of a lake in Dinosaur Swamp) but the bomb still works just fine. What they decide to do with it should be fun. An NPC shall suggest that they use it on the Xiticix, the Calgary Kingdom of Monsters or on a Vampire Intelligence in Mexico). (And will also point out that the Coalition and Lord Dunscon's Federation will stop at nothing to murder them and take it for themselves.) I think the most likely scenario is that they use it on the Vampire Intelligence.

Now they will have to fight their way to it, set it to go off and teleport away using a scroll. The bomb itself will not harm the VI but it would obliterate the pyramid its staying in and if done during the day, would expose it to sunlight. It's minions will either be obliterated, buried under tons of rock or exposed to sunlight. Once exposed to the sunlight its hit points (along with everything else) will be reduced by 75%. Leaving it at a much more manageable 600 to 2100 hit points. This creates the opportunity for them or their allies (Reids Rangers perhaps?) To swoop in and take it out. It will not even be able to teleport/rift out since those spells are high level and would take three actions to cast and the VIs actions will be reduced to two (it might not have the P.P.E. to cast those either.)

Anyway, thinking about all of this got me to wondering what experiences have you all had with Intelligences in general. Have you ran a game with one as a villain and the players confronted it? Did they prevail? Were you a player in such a game?

[narcissus]

I ran a game with a couple of players (Demigods) who managed to take out a VI (there were some NPCs helping them out, but they mostly dealt with the vamps themselves). It took them a few attempts (read: running away), but once they figured out a strategy it was game over for the VI. They were using magic weapons and magic, so were able to do damage to it without changing weapons.

The best protection spells the VI can cast are Armor Bizarre and Invulnerability (1D6 spells from each of the following levels of spell invocations: 1, 3, 5, 7). So they would beat the thing until its extra MDC was gone, then they'd take out a tentacle. Next melee it would re-up its spells, rinse, repeat. After a few melees, the vamp intelligence literally had no tentacles left. Couldn't cast spells, couldn't use psi-sword... it was a sitting duck.

It was the Muluc (Etzna) intelligence which "is protected only by 24 Secondary Vampires, 48 Wild Vampires and its Demon Familiar." They also drew a bunch of the vamps outside and cast storms on them, so reduced the minions considerably.

[Zer0 Kay]

Uh... VI's usually have weather control spells under their belt. With that a VI can have his minions active 24/7 under cloud cover.

[narcissus]

Uh... VI's usually have weather control spells under their belt. With that a VI can have his minions active 24/7 under cloud cover.

According to WB1 Revised, VIs have:

All Ley Line Magic spells, all summoning spells, Anti-Magic Cloud (140), Calm Storms (200), Close Rift (200+), Create Magic Scroll (100), Dimensional Portal (1,000), Dispel Magic Barrier (20), Mystic Portal (60), Negate Magic (30), Re-Open Gateway (180), Restoration (650), Teleport: Superior (600), Time Hole (210)...In addition, each individual Vampire Intelligence will know 1D6 spells from each of the following levels of spell invocations: 1, 3, 5, 7.

Honestly, their spell magic isn't awesome. And with 3 action casting on a lot of those spells, interrupting them is easy. Calm Storms would work to cancel out the summoned storm, but not before it did significant damage to minions. And the NPCs were armed with some heavy TW water cannons. Hell, a Globe of Daylight keeps the minions at bay, so unless they have guns they're helpless. This was also used extensively in the lair to allow the NPCs to blast TW water cannons. The VI can use Negate Magic on it, but PPE cost + 2 actions (interruptible) + not guaranteed to negate the spell means it's on the losing end of that war of attrition. I was also very liberal with Anti-Magic Cloud, but it's also a 3 action spell, so open to interruption.

I suppose if you just have Anti-Magic Cloud and Calm Storms on permanently (possible since they're on a nexus and can suck up all kinds of sweet PPE) it would have been more of a challenge. But the strategy to take out tentacles first was still a great one. You could also have the VI Time Hole whenever it starts getting scared to give it time to regenerate tentacles, but that becomes a grind and isn't very fun for players. It's also interruptible.

[Rifter11]

I ran a game with a couple of players (Demigods) who managed to take out a VI (there were some NPCs helping them out, but they mostly dealt with the vamps themselves). It took them a few attempts (read: running away), but once they figured out a strategy it was game over for the VI. They were using magic weapons and magic, so were able to do damage to it without changing weapons.

The best protection spells the VI can cast are Armor Bizarre and Invulnerability (1D6 spells from each of the following levels of spell invocations: 1, 3, 5, 7). So they would beat the thing until its extra MDC was gone, then they'd take out a tentacle. Next melee it would re-up its spells, rinse, repeat. After a few melees, the vamp intelligence literally had no tentacles left. Couldn't cast spells, couldn't use psi-sword... it was a sitting duck.

It was the Muluc (Etzna) intelligence which "is protected only by 24 Secondary Vampires, 48 Wild Vampires and its Demon Familiar." They also drew a bunch of the vamps outside and cast storms on them, so reduced the minions considerably.

Thanks for responding!