Greater Carnivorous Crystal

[Rizilliant]

Im at a point after the abyss, where Im stuck fighting half a dozen of these with a Subsonic Hum that seems like it reaches 50 feet, in tight corridors with no line of sight.. Even my tank isnt passing multple fort checks per round.. How in gods name are you supposed to do this fight?! I even tried cheesing it, and casting a bunch of pits and webs into the blind , and it slowly damaged some, but they eventually spawn doubles and triples when killed, which immediately stun my whole party, which are WAY down the hall.. Im only on Normal, and cant even gdet close to winning this.. They inevitably petrify everything. Even bow users with point blacnk turned off, arent out of reach of this ridiculous Subsonic Hum

[Janthis]

Send a tough melee fighter with Ice Body (high level wizard spell, I also found some bracers or gloves that can cast it) and other buffs to tank them, it's the only method I found and had to look up a guide. They're apparently also vulnerable to anything that drains dex but some people say that doesn't work anymore.

[Vertigo]

Mythic feats like rupture restraints help. I believe the ice body spell also negates it.

These creatures are bugged in the worst way possible. In normal P&P, and effect like that works once. A successful save would prevent the issue from affecting you for another 24 hours.

[hilburnashua]

Buff your resists. Greater Heroism, prayer, cloaks, bard song, etc.

The only one of these encounters that have ever given me a problem (on Core) was the Mythic crystal in the lab and quite a bit of the problem with that encounter was that it had DR that was stacking up to 35 and the shortsword I had that was supposed to ignore DR wasn't.

[Warbird]

Rupture Restraints and Hellfire Ray them to death. They are tough, even on Normal difficulty.
Hepzamirah was easyer to kill haha.

[Rizilliant]

Originally posted by hilburnashua:

Buff your resists. Greater Heroism, prayer, cloaks, bard song, etc.

The only one of these encounters that have ever given me a problem (on Core) was the Mythic crystal in the lab and quite a bit of the problem with that encounter was that it had DR that was stacking up to 35 and the shortsword I had that was supposed to ignore DR wasn't.

I am buffed to the absolute max.. I do occasionally break through and save, but am immediately met with 5 other casts of the same spell.. And the reach they have is 50 feet, with nothing I have able to cast/shoot from outside its range. My highest fortitude save still needs a serious roll, even as an Azata, none of the Freedom abilities work against it.

Ive never had an actual death in 500hrs of this game, and have now had 5 in the last 2 hrs.. I dont mind difficulty, but I feel lik I cant possibly know how to have prepared for this, without watching a walkthrough before hand.. Never had to deal with Subsonic Hum until now, never had petrification until now, and seems like I need to be a Pathfinder expert, with knowledge of whats to come.

How do you all deal with having to rest to swap spells, and the debuff that comes from resting? Do you just equip one of every single spell in hopes you have it available in case you might need it?

Originally posted by Vertigo:

Mythic feats like rupture restraints help. I believe the ice body spell also negates it.

These creatures are bugged in the worst way possible. In normal P&P, and effect like that works once. A successful save would prevent the issue from affecting you for another 24 hours.

I did take Rupture restraints on Seelah and Regil, but have neither with me in party unfortunately.

Originally posted by Johnny_B_80:

Send a tough melee fighter with Ice Body (high level wizard spell, I also found some bracers or gloves that can cast it) and other buffs to tank them, it's the only method I found and had to look up a guide. They're apparently also vulnerable to anything that drains dex but some people say that doesn't work anymore.

I am my teams tank as a Cavalier of the Paw. I apparently didnt take enough defensive feats for this fight. Im usually nearly invincible.

Originally posted by Warbird:

Rupture Restraints and Hellfire Ray them to death. They are tough, even on Normal difficulty.
Hepzamirah was easyer to kill haha.

Yeah the dragon in thiks area was much easer, and gave 75000 experience.. The corridors that are short, with turns that block line of sight, also make this difficult to get out of range, or even attempt to attack at range.

[tez3me]

i actively just started finding ways around the crystals in chapter4 tbh,way too much work to fight against perma stun mobs

[hilburnashua]

Originally posted by Lets Go Brandon! FJB:

How do you all deal with having to rest to swap spells, and the debuff that comes from resting? Do you just equip one of every single spell in hopes you have it available in case you might need it?

I always end up building Nenio as a buffer early on. Enduring spell at mythic 1, Greater Enduring spell at mythic 2, Abundant Casting mythic 3, and 5 and now that we have School Tolerance I can really go whole hog. Loremaster at level 11 and take the buffs from cleric/druid that I want. Frequently take barkskin, deathward, crusader's edge, heal, mass heal, freedom of movement.

I also look at what certain party members will need before I rest and load those spells up. Like I have Ember built as a winter witch so I have her in Hide Armor of Elemental Carnage and Cold Bite. So she REALLY need bull's strength buff (and sometimes even enlarge person) to get her strength up high enough so she isn't encumbered by her equipment. Everyone need blur. Animal companions all get a mage armor. Look for other weak spots, like needing a Bear's Endurance or a Cat's Grace, or Owl's Wisdom for the animal companions. Animal Growth and Legendary proportions for melee and Lann. Greater Heroism for everyone. I can frequently do all of a dungeon (like Ivory Labryth) with one rest, sometimes don't even need that.

Also give her the utility slot book that gives her additional spells. And now I buy a lot of pearls of power for even more buffs. I can fully buff the party pretty much as much as I want and have all but haste last 24 hours so I rarely need to rest.

Eventually I will give her spell penetration/greater/mythic, extend spell (for hastes and self buff spells on scrolls for others to cast like mirror image and shield), greater spell focus (illusion), metamagic persistent and the mythic feats to increase the DC of illusion spells then the one that lets you apply those bonuses to another school of magic (transmutation).

Is she boring? Maybe, but she makes the entire rest of the party massively more effective and able to survive. And once I get past needing all the lower level buffs I load her up with magic missiles, force bolt, baleful polymorph, disintergrate, slow, phatasmal killer, weird, and a few spells that target reflex saves like chains of light. And I usually give her all the items that summon monsters since I don't have her doing all that much since she is frequently fairly tapped out of spells.

[Zalie]

Shield of law - 8 lvl divine spell. Completely negates the stun effect from crystals.

[Rizilliant]

Originally posted by hilburnashua:

Originally posted by Lets Go Brandon! FJB:

How do you all deal with having to rest to swap spells, and the debuff that comes from resting? Do you just equip one of every single spell in hopes you have it available in case you might need it?

I always end up building Nenio as a buffer early on. Enduring spell at mythic 1, Greater Enduring spell at mythic 2, Abundant Casting mythic 3, and 5 and now that we have School Tolerance I can really go whole hog. Loremaster at level 11 and take the buffs from cleric/druid that I want. Frequently take barkskin, deathward, crusader's edge, heal, mass heal, freedom of movement.

I also look at what certain party members will need before I rest and load those spells up. Like I have Ember built as a winter witch so I have her in Hide Armor of Elemental Carnage and Cold Bite. So she REALLY need bull's strength buff (and sometimes even enlarge person) to get her strength up high enough so she isn't encumbered by her equipment. Everyone need blur. Animal companions all get a mage armor. Look for other weak spots, like needing a Bear's Endurance or a Cat's Grace, or Owl's Wisdom for the animal companions. Animal Growth and Legendary proportions for melee and Lann. Greater Heroism for everyone. I can frequently do all of a dungeon (like Ivory Labryth) with one rest, sometimes don't even need that.

Also give her the utility slot book that gives her additional spells. And now I buy a lot of pearls of power for even more buffs. I can fully buff the party pretty much as much as I want and have all but haste last 24 hours so I rarely need to rest.

Eventually I will give her spell penetration/greater/mythic, extend spell (for hastes and self buff spells on scrolls for others to cast like mirror image and shield), greater spell focus (illusion), metamagic persistent and the mythic feats to increase the DC of illusion spells then the one that lets you apply those bonuses to another school of magic (transmutation).

Is she boring? Maybe, but she makes the entire rest of the party massively more effective and able to survive. And once I get past needing all the lower level buffs I load her up with magic missiles, force bolt, baleful polymorph, disintergrate, slow, phatasmal killer, weird, and a few spells that target reflex saves like chains of light. And I usually give her all the items that summon monsters since I don't have her doing all that much since she is frequently fairly tapped out of spells.

Aside from the build choices you listed, this seems like exactly what Im doing. This boils down to my not knowing all the spells, and what counters what.. As well as not properly preparing..

This is where i take issue, in not knowing what Ill need at any given moment. It feels like I need to save scum, in order to progress, and its driving me nuts! I love this game, but this is really ruining it for me.

Originally posted by Zalie:

Shield of law - 8 lvl divine spell. Completely negates the stun effect from crystals.

I will place it in my spell book on Sosiel.. Its a spell Ive never once used, in WotR or Kingmaker. I used to keep certain spells, in case I needed them. but they end up never being used, and I feel like Im wasting spell slots taking them.. Then BAM! Hundreds of hours later, one single fight needs that spell..

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the help

[Martialis]

Also, there is a ring, the testament of martyrs, which is given as a reward for completing the Regill quest in Act 3 the "wrong" way. It makes a character completely immune to all mental effects, including stun.

[Fuinril]

Originally posted by Martialis:

Also, there is a ring, the testament of martyrs, which is given as a reward for completing the Regill quest in Act 3 the "wrong" way. It makes a character completely immune to all mental effects, including stun.

This. But that "require" some meta gaming, which is a shame as it's one of the absolute best items in the game.

Originally posted by Lets Go Brandon! FJB:

I will place it in my spell book on Sosiel.. Its a spell Ive never once used, in WotR or Kingmaker. I used to keep certain spells, in case I needed them. but they end up never being used, and I feel like Im wasting spell slots taking them.. Then BAM! Hundreds of hours later, one single fight needs that spell..

Interesting. In your last post about stats blobing you wrote with absolute certitude you used all buffs when the community told you the answer to your issue was "buff".

And you do not use shield of law (nor holy aura I suppose - the two do basically the same thing), which is one of the best buff in the game. What's next ? You do not use mind blank which allow all stealth effects to work against true sighted ennemies and provide a whopping +8 bonus on will save (which should be enough to resist the crystal stuns on normal BTW) ?

[Player#2201]

Dex damage/drain = auto win.

[Deo]

If you do not have Ice Body - you are playing the game wrong. Also, both Kingmaker and Wotr are based on metagaming of knowing what you will encounter next fight. Nothing bad in reloading save, and doing encounter again.

[hilburnashua]

Originally posted by Deo:

If you do not have Ice Body - you are playing the game wrong. Also, both Kingmaker and Wotr are based on metagaming of knowing what you will encounter next fight. Nothing bad in reloading save, and doing encounter again.

Personal spell, so unless you are a brown scaled transmuter, or you have a lot of scrolls of this and everyone has UMD, I wouldn't call this spell vital to playing the game.

[Yannir]

Originally posted by Fuinril:

mind blank which allow all stealth effects to work against true sighted ennemies and provide a whopping +8 bonus on will save (which should be enough to resist the crystal stuns on normal BTW) ?

Well, the Carnivorous Crystals stun is a Fort save, not a Will save. So not sure that would help.