Planar Locked by a Baron-ranked AI

[Indestructibirb]

I think I've complained about this before but wow. I'm in a multiplayer game and one of the AI is only on Baron, but I'm almost completely shut down by the AI here and there appears to be no way for me to counter or negotiate. Meanwhile, a human player who is a Baron would not even be able to do this in the first place as my rank is Prince and I have Destruction 4 or so (how did it even get to Destruction 6 as a Baron?).

[Edeyrn]

Rank (Baron, Marquis etc.) and Power (Destruction, Charisma etc.) are not correlated. A Baron may have 6 in each Power, just as well as a Prince may. The major difference that Rank makes is your Tribute draw. AFAIK, Tribute Draw is calculated as follows:

No. of tokens drawn = 3 + Rank (Baron = 0, Prince = 3).
No. of tokens kept = 2 + Rank.
Quality of tokens = (Highest Power rating) - (2 x no. of actions between Tribute Draw and first action).

Thus, a Duke (Rank 2) whose highest Power is at level 4 will draw as follows:

No. of tokens drawn/kept = 5/4.
Quality of tokens = 4 (first action Tribute draw), 2 (second action Tribute draw) or 0 (subsequent actions).

Meanwhile, a Baron (Rank 0) whose highest power is at level 6 will draw as follows:

No. of tokens drawn / kept = 3/2.
Quality of tokens = 6 (1st action), then 4 (2nd action), then 2 (3rd action), then 0 (4th action onwards).

The Quality of tokens does not -directly- correspond to their value; value tends to increase with Quality, but not at a set rate. Likely, the Baron in this comparison is drawing fewer Tokens, but the ones they do draw are better. TL;DR? A Baron with high Power levels could, in principle, draw at least a high a value in Tribute tokens as a Prince with far lower Power levels.

Now, as to the 'impossibility' of someone locking down a Prince with Plane Lock - it's not easy, but it's certainly possible. Start with Destruction 6 (minimum needed to cast that ritual, anyway). Add +1 from the Archfiend having the Ring of the Arcane, 2 from having the Pride Artifact "The Black Heart", and 2 from controlling the Vats of Torment (Power site, grants its owner +2 Destruction Strength). At that stage, they're rolling at 11 vs. your 8 (4(?) from rank, 4 from Destruction) - they could even be missing one or two of the boosts I mentioned above, and still be rolling at an advantage vs. your resistance. Heck, if they're Murmur, they could be rolling as high as 12 vs. your resistance, since Murmur's Stronghold grants its owner +1 Destruction Strength.

One hard counter to overpowered Destruction/Deceit Rituals is Prophecy rituals. "Expose Treason I" and "Dark Ward I" (Prophecy 1 and 2) grant you, and everything in your domain, +3 Resistance to Deceit and Destruction Rituals respectively. "Expose Treason II" (Prophecy 3) and "Dark Ward II" (Prophecy 5) grant +5 Resistance each. At that point, even a fully tricked-out Murmur with all the bonuses (Destruction Strength 12) is at a disadvantage to you for nasty spells like Plane Lock.

If the idea of ritual maintenance is insupportable, there are also other options. The Iron Maiden (Pride Artifact) grants +2 Deceit Resistance; I forget its name, but there's an equivalent for Destruction as well. Also, the Sorcery Artifacts "Devourer Statuettes" and "Goblet of the Traitor" each grant resistance bonuses, to Destruction and Deceit in that order.

I hope this clarifies your situation :)

[Wellspring]

the hellish AI cheats-- free tribute, free upkeeps, free legions, free powers, etc. It was a quick fix to make the AI more difficult (since it is dumb as rocks)

It happens... there's a few counters, main one being Aetheric Clot. But Demonic Interference will be easy to pull off vs baron. Also, Machine of Agony works, and Torment/Wrath of the Tyrant have a small chance of succeeding as well.