E6 Optimization Challenge - "Welcome to the Salty Spitoon. How tough are ya?"

[7h39]

Defeat Him

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Aspect of Asmodeus CR 27
LE Large outsider (baatezu, evil, extraplanar, lawful)
Init +9; Senses see in darkness; Listen +46, Spot +46
Aura submission (20 ft., DC 36)
Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft., tongues
AC 50, touch 19, flat-footed 45 (–1 size, +5 Dex, +6 armor, +5 deflection, +25 natural)
hp 432 (32 HD); regeneration 13; DR 20/epic and good
Immune fire, poison *Sonic (120pts – Protection from Energy (Sonic)) *Spell Immunity (All spells with SR of 4th level and lower) Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 40 Fort +27, Ref +23, Will +29
Speed 40 ft. (8 squares), fly 120 ft. (perfect)
Attack: Melee Ruby Rod +51/+46/+41/+36 (2d6+27 plus 3d8+15 negative energy [plus 2d6 against good-aligned creatures])
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Base Atk +32; Grp +50
Atk Options Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Empower Spell-Like Ability (hellfire storm), Quicken Spell-Like Ability (hellfire), Violate Spell-Like Ability
Special Actions chill gaze, Dark Speech, fear and weakness gaze, summon baatezu
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 20th; 1d20+22 to overcome SR):
9th—energy drain (DC 30), gate, hellish horde*, implosion (DC 30), imprisonment (DC 30)D, soul bind (DC 30)
8th—demand (DC 29)D, earthquake, fire storm (DC 29) (2), mass heal, shield of law (DC 29)
7th—destruction (DC 28) (2), dictum (DC 28), greater bestow curse* (DC 28), greater scrying (DC 28),
repulsion (DC 28)D, violated harm (+45 melee touch,DC 27)
6th—blade barrier (DC 27), harm (+45 melee touch, DC 27) (2), heal, mass fox’s cunningD, violated flame strike (DC 26), word of recall
5th—break enchantment, dispel chaos (+45 melee touch, DC 26), dispel good (+45 melee touch, DC 26), flame strike (DC 26) (2), greater command (DC 26), slay living (+45 melee touch, DC 26), summon monster IVD
4th—cure critical wounds, deeper darknessD, dimensional anchor (+36 ranged touch), discern lies (DC 25),
dismissal, restoration, sending, spell immunity
3rd—bestow curse (DC 24), cure serious wounds, deeper darkness (2), invisibility purge, protection from energy, remove curse, speak with dead (DC 24), summon monster IIID
2nd—aid, align weapon, calm emotions (DC 23), cure moderate wounds (2), desecrate, fox’s cunningD, lesser restoration, remove paralysis
1st—bane (DC 22)D, command (DC 22) (2), cure light wounds (2), deathwatch, divine favor, entropic shield,
shield of faith
0—cure minor wounds, guidance, mending, read magic, slash tongue* (2)
D: Domain spell. Domain: Baator.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th):
Always active—detect chaos, detect good, detect magic, magic circle against good, true seeing At will—charm monster (DC 24), dominate monster (DC 29), geas/quest, greater dispel magic, greater teleport, hellfire, hellfire storm, major image (DC 23), project image (DC 27), resurrection, suggestion (DC 23) 3/day—mass charm monster (DC 28), meteor swarm (DC 29), power word kill, power word stun
Abilities Str 38, Dex 21, Con 28, Int 28, Wis 32, Cha 30
SA aura of submission, chill gaze, fear and weakness gaze, spell-like abilities, summon baatezu
Feats Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Craft Rod, Dark Speech*, Empower Spell-Like Ability (hellfire storm), Improved Feint, Improved Initiative, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (hellfire), Spell Penetration, Violate Spell*, Violate Spell-Like Ability* (meteor swarm) *Dark Speech appears in Book of Vile Darkness and is revised in Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss. Violate Spell and Violate Spell-Like Ability are found in Book of Vile Darkness. If you don’t have either of those books, replace these feats with Disrupting Spell
(page 83), Empower Spell, and Dilate Aura (page 83), respectively.
Skills Appraise +24 (+26 alchemical items), Bluff +45, Concentration +44, Craft (alchemy) +29, Diplomacy +49, Disguise +30 (+32 acting), Gather Information +45, Hide +36, Intimidate +47, Knowledge (arcana) +44, Knowledge (nature) +24, Knowledge (religion) +44, Knowledge (the planes) +44, Listen +46, Move Silently +40, Search +44, Sense Motive +46, Spellcraft +46, Spot +46, Survival +11 (+13 above ground natural environments, on other planes, or to follow tracks)
Possessions Ruby Rod of Asmodeus, ring of protection +5, bracers of armor +6, black sapphire worth 20,000 gp
Aura of Submission (Su) At the end of each of Asmodeus’s turns, creatures within 20 feet of him must succeed on DC 36 Will saves or submit to all of Asmodeus’s commands for 1 day, doing whatever he asks as if every request of his was a suggestion spell against which the target cannot resist. This is a mind-affecting ability. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected by Asmodeus’s aura ever again.
Chill Gaze (Su) As the slow spell; DC 36; caster level 20th. Chill gaze has a range of 30 feet. On a failed saving throw, the target also takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, ability checks, and skill checks for 1 hour.
Fear and Weakness Gaze (Su) As fear and ray of enfeeblement spells; DC 36; caster level 20th.
Fear and weakness gaze has a range of 60 feet. Those affected by Asmodeus’s gaze must succeed on
two saving throws, one for fear and the other for ray of enfeeblement.
Regeneration (Ex) Good weapons, and spells and effects with the good descriptor, deal normal damage to
Asmodeus. If Asmodeus loses a limb or body part, the lost portion regrows in 1d6 minutes. Asmodeus can
reattach the severed member instantly by holding it to the stump.
Ruby Rod When wielded in combat, the Ruby Rod of Asmodeus acts as a +6 unholy greatclub. Whenever it strikes a target or is touched without Asmodeus’s assent, it also delivers an inflict critical wounds effect (caster level 20th, DC 19 for half). In addition, the wielder can activate any of the following effects.
The save DC for each effect is equal to 10 + 1/2 the wielder’s HD + the wielder’s Cha modifier. = 36
• Line of Lightning: 150-ft. line, damage 20d6 electricity, Reflex half.
• Line of Acid: 150-ft. line, damage 20d6 acid, Reflex half.
• Cone of Cold: 75-ft. cone, damage 20d6 cold, Reflex half.
• Aura of Might: Anyone attempting to attack the wielder must first succeed on a Will save or instead bow down, becoming helpless for 1 round. This is a Mind-Affecting effect.
• Reverie of Nessus: Once per day, as an immediate action, the wielder can encase himself in a 5-foot-radius spherical wall of force. The area 50 feet around the sphere (but not within it) becomes an antimagic field. This effect lasts for 3 rounds. In the first round, the wielder is automatically purged of any unwanted enchantment spells or effects. In the second, the wielder is purged of any diseases, poisons, or physical maladies (including lost body parts). In the third round, the wielder is healed to full hit points and feels refreshed as though he had just rested a full day, regaining spells and spell-like abilities accordingly.
This ability triggers automatically (without the wielder having to spend an immediate action) if the wielder ever fails a save against an unwanted enchantment spell or effect, such as charm person or dominate monster.
Summon Baatezu (Sp) Three times per day, Asmodeus can automatically summon one pit fiend or two of any other kind of devil (including the aspects of other archdevils). This ability is the equivalent of a 9th-level spell (CL 20th).
Tongues (Su) As the tongues spell; always active; caster level 20th.

Preparation before encounter: Shield of Law, Spell Immunity and Protection from Energy (Sonic) (CL:20) – already counted into the entry.
Combat Strategy: Once the fighting commences, Asmodeus fights from the back. He alternates uses
of his chill gaze with his fear and weakness gaze between uses of implosion, destruction, and fire storm. Even if enemies somehow manage to close on him, they must contend with his aura of submission and his terrible Ruby Rod. When Asmodeus is attacked for the first time use Reverie of Nessus from his Ruby Rod. Should Asmodeus actually take any damage, he teleports away.

The rules

1a) You can submit a party up to 4 components. Less, the better.
1b) Real party. You must use a party that uses the four traditional roles of Warrior, Skill Monkey, Primary caster, and Secondary caster.
2) You must follow "official" E6 Rules and Extra Feats. Psionic/Magic trasparency apply (also for extra feats).
3) Feats. Your characters have earned the XP of a 20th level character. Although they cannot advance past 6th level, they can gain an extra feat for every 5,000 XP they earn past 6th level. Your characters have 35 bonus feats apiece plus whatever they would normally earn from levels 1-6. Remember you still need prereqs, and many feats are no longer attainable because 6th level char's can't make the prereqs.
4a) Items. Your characters can each have up to 760,000 gp worth of gear, however, only gear built with with level 3 spells or lower is priced (and built) normally.
4b) For Items built with 4th level spells or  and/or CL7 the market price is doubled (only an artificer can build them) and items with higher cl/spell level are unobtainable (unless you build a dedicated artificer/other crafter with an adequate CL).
4c)Custom items are not allowed.
5) Explain. You must detail your party (as much or little detail on builds as you feel is important) and explain how your party can defeat the Archdevil.
6a) All 3.5 books are legal (unless in conflict with e6 rules) + E6 Extra Feats [No Dragon Magazine stuff].
6b) Material from Unearthed Arcana is restricted to: Race Chapter, Classes Chapter Flaw & Traits.
6c) Anti-Cheese Rulings: In general, if your build simply uses a rules exploit by combining abilities from different sources, I consider it acceptable. If however it uses the same rules exploit over and over in a loop to gain much higher results than a simple use of the exploit could provide, your level of cheese is too much for this contest.
7b) Encounter will be into a infinite and neutral plane with regular time settings.

Come on MinMaxers take the Archdevil down and rule the 9 hells!
This post is inspired by Optimize or Die, Playgrounders! [E6 Balor Challenge Thread]

[7h39]

Reserved for Winning Builds

[Nunkuruji]

At a glance

I think this can be won fairly straightforward with the usual Leadership chain & Circle Magic (ghostwalk, Galaedros wins)

Largely why I grossly limit caster level and metamagic under my E6 ruleset.

[TiaC]

Killing him is too easy.

Old Unseelie fey gnome savage ghost 4 Gnome paragon 3/Cleric 1/Warblade 1/Tattooed monk 1
Str —(1), Dex 7, Con —, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 19.
Visit the Worm of Minaros for +1 Cha.
Buy a cloak of charisma +6 (-72,000gp)
Buy wand of Devil's Ego (-11,250gp)
Buy wand of Inner Beauty (-42,500gp)
Domains: Charm, Pleasure
Take lifesight, travel devotion, Ability Training/Advancement in charisma, Ability Focus(Malevolence) and Quicken Manifestation

He cannot see you while you are ethereal. Get close, use your wands and domain power. Next round, Travel devotion to move next to him, Manifest as a free action, activate your tattoo, then move into his square. He has to make a DC 39 will save with a -22 penalty or be possessed.

[X-Codes]

Um, yeah... OP needs to look at the Elder Evils book and check out the immunities those things have.  That's a *starting point* for challenging any sort of high-optimization party.

[TiaC]

Um, yeah... OP needs to look at the Elder Evils book and check out the immunities those things have.  That's a *starting point* for challenging any sort of high-optimization party.

Think I could kill the elder evils with my hell-lord puppet?

[X-Codes]

Don't think so.  I'm pretty sure they're immune to possession.  AFB, though, so someone else will have to confirm.

[TiaC]

No, I don't want to possess them, I want to possess something big and scary and beat on them.

[X-Codes]

No, I don't want to possess them, I want to possess something big and scary and beat on them.

Oh, I see what you mean, now.

Well, they're almost certainly immune to Chill Gaze, and definitely the Fear and Weakness gaze, Aura of Submission, and the Aura of Might from the rod.  They're also immune to most of the spell list and highly resistant to any forms of damage your puppet can dish out.  They might have difficulties overcoming his Regeneration, though.  Off the top of my head, Atropos just outright murders him, then you, then every other living thing on the planet and the rest of the planes.  Atropos is, however, the strongest of the Elder Evils by far.  I'd say if your puppet used his Summon ability to grab a couple of reasonably OP aspects and took some time preparing a decent spell list for the fight, he would have a fighting chance against the others.

[SorO_Lost]

*Disclaimer, items used may require spells above the 3rd level, guess how little I care*
Use it as a guide if you must complain.

Risky
Dragon Born Water Half-Orc
Base Abilities (PB 32): Str 16+1+4+4, Dex 18, Con 12+4+4, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 8 (while raging).
Paladin 5 / Lion Totem Barbarian 1
Feats (two flaws, one trait): Aggressive, Battle Jump, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Shock Trooper.
Equipment (WBL 13,000gp)
   +1 Valorous Halberd (8,310gp)
   Wand of Waithstrike, 1 charge (15gp)
   Wand of Guidance of the Avatar, 1 charge (90gp) x 3
   Single +1 Eager Warning Shuriken (366.2gp)
   4038.8gp left over.
Initiative: +17 = 4 (feat) + 2 (eager) + 5 (warning) + 4 (dex) + 2 (aggressive)
Damage: +35 = 7 (str+thf) + 15 (charging smite) + 12 (pa6+thf) + 1 (enhance)
Modifier: x4 (dive + battle jump + valorous)
Attack: +12/+7 touch melee (4d10+140), 294 avg after DR if both hit putting the Balor at -4 (helpless).

Risky's plan is to solo Balors during a weekend to power level and though his contacts in his Church of Heironous and his remaining gold he sets up a bet. The terms are simple, I bet you I can beat a Balor. He UMDs the skill boosting wand while the summoning spell is being cast there by ensuring his UMD check for Waithstrike works without fail. For the fight it's self he charges in and uses both his Smite Evils and hits the Balor so hard he falls over. Knock out in one round. But the Balor didn't die yet so no big boom, instead the Balor is at -4 HP, a 60% chance he'll die if left alone. Risky simply walks away and chucks stuff at him until the Balor explodes.

Risky already wins Initiative (+17 vs +9), we just need to improve his attack and damage with items!

#1. Buy him a Belt of Battle, add Furious, some str boosts, a Noble Pennon, a Scroll of True Strike, and upgrade his weapon.
#2. He UMDs a scroll of True Strike and uses the Belt to recover the lost action.
#3. His weapon is now a +5 Valorous Collision Morphing Gloryborn Manyfanged Dagger in the shape of a Halberd.
Str: 36 (+13) = 16 (base) + 1 (level) + 2 (horc) + 5 (inherent) + 6 (enhance) + 6 (greater rage)
Damage: 63 = 13 (str) + 6 (thf) + 5 (enhance) + 5 (collision) + 1 (gloryborn) + 21 (smite:[5+2]*3) + 12 (pa)
Multiplier: x7 = x4 (manyfanged) + x2 (valorous) + x2 (battle jump) + x2 (dive)
+40 Touch Melee (7d10+441) hits on a roll of 5 and deals on average 479.5 damage. After DR it's 459.5 and Asmodeus has 432 HP putting him at -27 and dead in one hit.

Alternatively. Roof-Jumper and a flying mount from the edge of space for a couple thousand d6s.

[Empirate]

Killing him is too easy.

Old Unseelie fey gnome savage ghost 4 Gnome paragon 3/Cleric 1/Warblade 1/Tattooed monk 1
Str —(1), Dex 7, Con —, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 19.
Visit the Worm of Minaros for +1 Cha.
Buy a cloak of charisma +6 (-72,000gp)
Buy wand of Devil's Ego (-11,250gp)
Buy wand of Inner Beauty (-42,500gp)
Domains: Charm, Pleasure
Take lifesight, travel devotion, Ability Training/Advancement in charisma, Ability Focus(Malevolence) and Quicken Manifestation

He cannot see you while you are ethereal. Get close, use your wands and domain power. Next round, Travel devotion to move next to him, Manifest as a free action, activate your tattoo, then move into his square. He has to make a DC 39 will save with a -22 penalty or be possessed.

Love the idea, although minor nitpicks: the cloak of cha+6 and the inner beauty spell are not available in E6: the former requires CL 8 (not obtainable in E6), and the latter is a Bard 4 spell, which doesn't exist in E6. So the save DC would be a little lower. Still a very likely one-shot.

[phaedrusxy]

CL is easy to boost, especially since circle magic is available. And spells higher than 4th level are also available, per the OP (I didn't double-check if he factored in the extra cost, though).

[SorO_Lost]

CL, as in your effective CL, of 8 is easily obtainable in E6 with hardly any effort.

Technically speaking and based off of those shitty threads we've had where people say they need a Gestated Spellcaster with 9th level Spells in an E6 game, True Dragon Aging puts every Spell on the table. The thread rules may disallow it (actually, you have 4th + w/e you can make anyway), but you referenced E6.

[SorO_Lost]

True Dragon Aging puts every Spell on the table.

But how I say!

Adamantine
A two year old Lore Drake Steel Dragon (air)
Class: Dragon 4 / Sorcerer 1 / LA 1 (la-buyoff)
Feats: Reserves of Strength, Elder Giant Magic.
Spells: River's Ravages (dragonlance is 3.5 official 2nd party).

Adamantine casts River's Ravages using Elder Giant Magic & Reserves of Strength, his effective CL is 10 meaning he ages him self twenty years. This makes him Young and grants him 6 HD as well (total 11) as four levels of Sorcerer progression (total 8), as one of his HD greanted Feat choices he takes Practiced Spellcaster.

Using his new and improved CL (17), he recasts River's Ravages again. The spell doesn't stack into it's self and the +34 year effect replaces the last. He is now Juvenile and he gains another 3 HD (14 total) as well as another two levels of Sorcerer progression (total 10).

He now casts Bestow Curse as a normal 4th level Sorcerer Spell and per the BoVD chooses to age him self one age category making him a Young Adult. 17HD, 12th level Sorcerer, possible CL of 22. He takes Snowcasting, Frozen Magic, and Draconic Power for Feats and flies to a winter environment. There he recasts River's Ravages again with a CL of 25 replacing the prior Spell.

The 52 year old Young Adult Dragon then applies that previously cast Bestow Curse effect in the most favorable order. He is now an Adult. He has 20 HD and 14 Sorcerer levels. If you rob off other Spell Lists, Greater Bestow Curse is a 4th level Demonologist Spell, and while the names and functionality are close they are two different Spells. On the same token, so is Greater River's Ravages. Using either one he progresses to the next Age Category and is now capable of casting Hasten the End while allows him to continually age him self so long as he concentrates (which is a swift action through extraordinary concentration). Per the Epic Level Handbook he is now a Colossal True Dragon with 38HD and 24th level Epic Spellcasting.

Total Feats used: Reserves of Strength, Elder Giant Magic, Practiced Spellcaster, Snowcasting, Frozen Magic, Draconic Power, Extraordinary Concentration. We don't even need Flaws or Epic granted Feats to take them all.

Aspect of Asmodeus is killed by default.

[X-Codes]

OP seems to have abandoned thread.  I wonder if he maybe didn't realize where he was posting this "challenge?"

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Possible strateegery #1 for Asmo ... 

(click to show/hide)

Dark Speech + Major Image + Suggestion = It's The H.I.V.E. !!

Possible strateegery #2 for Asmo ... 

(click to show/hide)

Dark Speech + Gate + (threat of Suggestion) = It really is The H.I.V.E. ... although it's a wee bit gimped in E6.

I know, I'm sorry, I'll go back to my corner now ... 

[SorO_Lost]

OP seems to have abandoned thread.  I wonder if he maybe didn't realize where he was posting this "challenge?"

Probably.

[TiaC]

Admittedly, there are not too many people who look at a CR 27 monster in E6 and decide "That's too easy."

[Nunkuruji]

E6 perhaps doesn't break if you restrict it to core + Dirty Trick Handbook Fixes.

Obviously it needs additional rules if allowing additional sources if one wants to retain some sort of 'balance', as per my earlier comment.

Perhaps then, you might actually need to spec more than just 1 person of the party