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What if Malocchio followed close behind the ogres and attacked Soth with a bow?

They have fought at least once after a diplomatic meeting at the borders went awry in Spectre of the Black Rose. Malocchio quickly fled. Of course, as both are trapped in their domains (Soth b/c darklord and Malocchio b/c of his binding curse) fighting each other is pretty hard.

Beyond that, there's a few issues with Malocchio and Soth. Malocchio is physically weak, a clever strategist, and a coward to boot. He wouldn't face Soth in direct combat unless he had some sort of very special secret weapon. On top of this, Soth has/had a whole bunch of spell-like abilities that allows him to insta-kill (the 20d6 fireball and power word kill) or transport himself great distances (the shadow walk).

And even if those powers were expended, Soth does not stop. He would bull through the worst torment imaginable to get at who- or whatever enraged him. If Malocchio ticked off Soth and Soth could get at him, Malocchio would die.

The Lesser Evil wrote:They have fought at least once after a diplomatic meeting at the borders went awry in Spectre of the Black Rose. Malocchio quickly fled. Of course, as both are trapped in their domains (Soth b/c darklord and Malocchio b/c of his binding curse) fighting each other is pretty hard.

Beyond that, there's a few issues with Malocchio and Soth. Malocchio is physically weak, a clever strategist, and a coward to boot. He wouldn't face Soth in direct combat unless he had some sort of very special secret weapon. On top of this, Soth has/had a whole bunch of spell-like abilities that allows him to insta-kill (the 20d6 fireball and power word kill) or transport himself great distances (the shadow walk).

Well, the physical separation is why I said he is using his +2 bow. He does have some advantages. He has dam resist 10/holy silver , resistance 20 to pretty much all elemental attacks. He had a dozen ogres with him that took Soth some time to destroy, although not much. He could call some dire wolves on top of that. How well could Soth deal with ranged combat?

Here is the scenario: After the ogres attack and Soth uses his fireball on the ogres Mocho gets enraged and uses his bow from 150' out. How does Soth respond to that? Does Soth even have dam resist?

I seem to recall death Knights do, indeed, have DR.
And Soth can summon banshees and skeleton warriors to get up in Malocchio's face, if not animate the Ogres and mercs as zombies.
Malpcchio runs or he dies.

Okay, I checked. I statted Soth out a while ago, using official material (right here for anyone who cares) and Deathknights indeed have damage resistance.

Rock wrote:I seem to recall death Knights do, indeed, have DR.
And Soth can summon banshees and skeleton warriors to get up in Malocchio's face, if not animate the Ogres and mercs as zombies.
Malpcchio runs or he dies.

And the wyvern driven chariots probably catch him even if he does run, they fly while the horses run which means they don't have to worry about terrain at all.

OK, what happens after he dies. Presumably Gabby takes over, what then? I assume her being out of power a while would have changed her. At the very least she will be more worried about being overthrown.

Rock wrote:Okay, I checked. I statted Soth out a while ago, using official material (right here for anyone who cares) and Deathknights indeed have damage resistance.

Yike, Soth seems to rank with Strahd and Azalin for being insanely powerful.

brilliantlight wrote:
Yike, Soth seems to rank with Strahd and Azalin for being insanely powerful.

He should. In Knight of the Black Rose, Soth rampages through Barovia, cuts his way through Strahd's mixed army of the living and the undead some 200 strong, and even slays a red dragon serving Strahd. The vampire lord is only able to get rid of him through trickery and manipulation.

brilliantlight wrote:

Rock wrote:I seem to recall death Knights do, indeed, have DR.
And Soth can summon banshees and skeleton warriors to get up in Malocchio's face, if not animate the Ogres and mercs as zombies.
Malpcchio runs or he dies.

And the wyvern driven chariots probably catch him even if he does run, they fly while the horses run which means they don't have to worry about terrain at all.

OK, what happens after he dies. Presumably Gabby takes over, what then? I assume her being out of power a while would have changed her. At the very least she will be more worried about being overthrown.

Malocchio can teleport anywhere he wants to go inside Invidia (though not outside of it), so he'd probably flee to Castle Loupet and put walls and as much of his army as he can muster between himself and the banshees.

If Malocchio bites dirt and Gabrielle takes over again, she'll have to settle her problems with her two lovers, first. After that, I can see her being much more cautious with the way she exercizes her power. She'll be keenly aware her reign can be overthrown and that she is not invulnerable.

Well, Soth is much, much tougher opponent than Malocchio in combat. The half fiend is not that impressive if combat. His power lies in his cunning, cruelty and allies.

As far as the bow is concerned, I once posted a question regarding Soth vs a pistol. To wit- Lord Soth approaches a pistolero from behind and the shooter spins and fires without realizing who it is, hits double zeros, and puts his shot right through the eye slit of Soth's helmet and between his eyes. What's the effect on Soth? The answer we settled on was that while Soth's interior corpse flesh is seferely damaged, it doesn't particularly hurt him or slow him down, besides infuriating him that is. I was left with a vision of Soth's helmet and skull hanging off the back of his shoulders while his angry spectral head remains straight. I was also left with the idea of Soth going home like that and calling for the super glue.

brilliantlight wrote: Yike, Soth seems to rank with Strahd and Azalin for being insanely powerful.

As someone who has read many, many Dragonlance books, I can not remember a single direct fight that Soth lost once he became a Death Knight.

He's like Darth Vader in Rogue One, you run or you die.

Manofevil wrote:As far as the bow is concerned, I once posted a question regarding Soth vs a pistol. To wit- Lord Soth approaches a pistolero from behind and the shooter spins and fires without realizing who it is, hits double zeros, and puts his shot right through the eye slit of Soth's helmet and between his eyes. What's the effect on Soth? The answer we settled on was that while Soth's interior corpse flesh is seferely damaged, it doesn't particularly hurt him or slow him down, besides infuriating him that is. I was left with a vision of Soth's helmet and skull hanging off the back of his shoulders while his angry spectral head remains straight. I was also left with the idea of Soth going home like that and calling for the super glue.

It has one effect only: The shooter will likely die after that, because with his DR Soth will not even get hurt.

Soth is a 17th level fighter and a Death Knight. When the new QtR comes out take a look at my article on the Death Knight. Lord Soth would wipe the floor with Malocchio.