Party Issues, Need Advice

[Marlowe]

I have nothing to say other than "Go Steve!"

[Acanous]

So, Steve beat the party yet again.
Steve: 3 Party: 0.

Session begins. Steve full retreats down the outflow, luring the orc into an ambush. Meanwhile, his Programmed imagage activates and distracts the party.
Steve takes a couple swings at the orc (AO when Orc moves in, then on his round, one swing and then move.)

Orc's player realizes he's screwed, so he tries to follow steve *More slowly*, giving the Aboleth room to cast.

Steve sees him do so, and casts Dominate Monster on him. The orc chooses to fail his (Three!) will saves. (One VS initial dominate, with +2 from Protection from Evil, one to suppress [Pathfinder rule] with +4 bonus, and one to act against his nature, with +2 from PFE and +4 as per Dominate Monster, for a total of +6.)

So now the Orc is dominated, and swimming back up the outlet, while the rest of the party follows the illusion up the inlet.

Hilarity ensues. They get down from the Inlet after finding the meltwater feed, and encounter their own party member while the Aboleth hides safely in an ilusion at the bottom of the lake, using Project Image to talk to them.

He charges them 28,000GP for the return of their Orc.

They negotiate some, and manage to also buy the sword off of him, with the Rogue making a successful bluff that it was only a +2 sword. Don't say I never did anything nice :p

After that, the party just left the dungeon. They encountered some golems just 'cuz apparently they wanted to (One Blood, one Flesh, one Bone. Thematic! and Level Appropriate!)

Now they've decided not to go back to Aboleth Mountain until they're level 20. At which point they will just wish in, wish Steve dead, and then pee in his pool.

Then they went off to a farmhouse to enslave some humans and a couple wereboars, sell them to a sorceror so he could PaO and Mindrape them, then use them as breeding stock for the Emerald Legion.

The party alignment is now evil, btw. Don't know if I mentioned that.

After getting paid, they prepared to hunt down the next thing on the list: Air Trolls. The Summoner did the smart thing and hired a Wizard to cast some divinations. It was revealed that Air Trolls live on an island on the moon.

The party was very upset with me.

[The Random NPC]

I second (third?) the vote that Steve should retire at this point.

[nedz]

Nice work.

I think Steve should take a back-seat for a few sessions, before the party encounter him during his next gig.

How many xp did Steve earn then ?

[hoverfrog]

Oh please let there be a gate to the island on the moon at the bottom of Steve's pool.

[Marlowe]

Oh god. I laughed. I actually LOLed. In a PC cafe in Shantung.

Now the Chinese really do think I'm crazy.

[Acanous]

I second (third?) the vote that Steve should retire at this point.

He's planning to.

Nice work.

I think Steve should take a back-seat for a few sessions, before the party encounter him during his next gig.

How many xp did Steve earn then ?

I haven't bothered to track it, but if you want to crunch the numbers for me, on the Pathfinder Medium XP chart, he's soloed 4 CR 4's, 4 CR 6's, and 4 CR 7's. I just up and decided he'd get a level in something at this point.

Oh please let there be a gate to the island on the moon at the bottom of Steve's pool.

Well he DID just get 36000 GP...

Oh god. I laughed. I actually LOLed. In a PC cafe in Shantung.

Now the Chinese really do think I'm crazy.

Glad we could help with international relations :p

So! Given your suggestions, I think we shall have;

Steve hire a contractor to build him a Gate to the moon, which will take a few sessions. He plans to retire there, as gravity is less and the view is phenominal.

If the party encounters him again on the moon, he will farm them ONE LAST TIME, for old time's sake.

Edit: What class should Steve take a level in?

[Andezzar]

Steve sees him do so, and casts Dominate Monster on him. The orc chooses to fail his (Three!) will saves. (One VS initial dominate, with +2 from Protection from Evil, one to suppress [Pathfinder rule] with +4 bonus, and one to act against his nature, with +2 from PFE and +4 as per Dominate Monster, for a total of +6.)

Too bad you're playing Pathfinder. In 3.5 the Orc would have been immune to dominate monster and any other mind-affecting spell or effect.

[The Redwolf]

I feel like a wizard specialized in illusions is a good idea, depends how many levels you're getting him. There are some entertaining options there like alchemist, which may be good as he usually plans well, he could set some bombs to prepare for them and stuff like that. He often manages to get at them when they don't know where he is, so a rogue might allow him to get sneak attacks with all of his tentacles, because he does get multiple hits, right?

[nedz]

Wizard or Beguiler might seem an interesting choice, but he already has Illusions sorted.

Something clerical perhaps ?

Or (Mystic) Ranger for BAB and stealth (and spells).
Favoured Enemies customised for the party he likes to play with.

[hoverfrog]

How about a level in Bard. The distraction and fascinate abilities make for a useful supplement to his existing powers.

[Karoht]

I think the party is done with the Illusion spell school for a while. And to a lesser extent, they've been annoyed enough by Transmutation (Aboleth Mucus is kind of like Transmutation), and Enchantment. I say give him some Wizard levels and let him play with spells which are from neither of these two spell schools. They need more effects which target Reflex and Fortitude, I think they're getting tired of making Will Saves all the time.

EDIT:
Come to think of it, I think a level or two in Bard would be hilarious.

[nedz]

Yes Bard would be funny, but you would need 2 or 4 levels for useful spells.
He could buff up his minions and serenade the party with humorous ditties.

[Karoht]

Yes Bard would be funny, but you would need 2 or 4 levels for useful spells.
He could buff up his minions and serenade the party with humorous ditties.

Steve:
Here is a little diddy I wrote. Hope you enjoy.

Buff, buff, buff, some minions, help them beat you up,
Fascinate you, steal your lewts, kick you out of my house.

[nedz]

Can we have a list of the significant items Steve got from the party, and the most memorable moments please ?

Then we can write a song for Steve.

[The Redwolf]

You should have him take bard, and then when they get to the moon they hear beautiful music coming from somewhere distant, and if they follow it they'll find Steve in a small pool on an island with a moat filled with deadly things between him and them and beautiful women sitting there next to him. He holds a lute in his...tentacles?...and is making beautiful music. If they try to cross the moat they have to deal with the dangerous stuff, and if they manage to get across he'll go through the portal in the bottom of the pool that leads back to his cave. If you want to make it funnier, and have it then decided that Steve isn't evil, especially since the party now is, make the women be lillends who are accompanying him with music from their harps and singing. Then they'll see that the aboleth who has been screwing with them this entire time is both good aligned and a good enough musician to draw celestial attention. This is my recommendation at least, just make sure he gets out of there alive.

[Acanous]

A Necklace of Fireballs, a +2 Longsword, and a +2 warhammer. He also got a bunch of other stuff, but they took it back on a subsequent run.

I'm seeing lots of "Spellcaster" suggestions. How about I give him a few levels of cleric, then retrain him Ur-Priest? Could then re-train his base level to Wizard, gnab a scroll of PaO, turn him into a beholder, go Beholder mage, then Mystic Theurge.

In Pathfinder, CR=LA, and every 3 levels you reduce LA by 1 (Minimum half rounded down). So Steve would get 4 levels and be CR 10, 2 more and he'd be 11, etc.
By CR 20 he could have 17 class levels, and getting him dual 9ths would be really funny.

[Karoht]

As cool as the Dual 9ths suggestion is, I kind of feel that he stops being 'Steve' at that point.
The Aboleth that farms adventure groups for their lewts...
Bard feels a bit more in theme. He can farm adventure groups for lutes!
Illusions + the Enchantment type spells and features that Bards get would be pretty awesome.

Plus, kicking the party's ass with a Aboleth Bard just sounds more insulting than curbstomping them with 9th level Arcane/Divine.

I mean, you know that these party members would never play a Bard.
Cuz Bards suck amirite?

I think, if Steve is going to make a return in the future, Bard + the Aboleth SLA's is not only a deadly combination, but would be the perfect creature to say to the party "Bet you still can't beat him."

[Acanous]

The party hates PrCs and multiclass characters, though. So someone who is a monster with nothing but PrC levels? Would bring down the house, y'know?

[nedz]

Prestige Bard ?
But you may need to ret-con his skills to let him qualify.

[Acanous]

Did the XP calculations, he is indeed now lv 8.

[Karoht]

Bard. For reals. Doo eeet.

[Roguenewb]

Hmm. What to do with an aboleth to let him kill players? How about the aboleth savant prestige class from Lords of Madness? I know he doesn't qualify yet, but give him a level of wizard, and let him work towards it. Plus, after he gets through it, then he'll be able to spam glyphs throughout his cave that will kill the players before they ever even reach him. I put energy drains in them once, starting salvo of the five (i think five is the most they're allowed) killed a player, nerfed the two main casters so badly they couldn't really participate, and then he mind-raped the paladin, for the giggles. I like aboleths. They're fun.

[Andezzar]

Please do not write players when you mean player characters. It is disturbing.

[Cerlis]

at 4 pages the next session has probably already happened and this advice may be wasted.

But one annoying thing about being the DM is being the most responsible person there.

It was their fault, they where stupid and spoiled.

but one failing i see in people, especially in management positions (im thinking of work now), that as the responsible one even if your persons are stupid, slow and cant think for themselves that you have to make it work.

Maybe make a short list of 4 or 5 possibilities a powerful entity might do to a party at their mercy.

and Plot devices aren't necessarily restricted by stats.

Putting the party on a geas. Put em in a dungeon. Put em in a slave mind.

Every defeat leads to a brand new quest.

Magic.

[Vaynor]

The Red Towel: Thread necromancy.