A Wizard's Journey Into Moonsedge, Volume 1, A Horned Basalt Grotesque

[chrenraf]

TL;DR: Contains stats, strats, and data on Horned Basalt Grotesques


After much thought and many years hunting the same ole things, I decided it was time to try new things. Having taken my parasite staff to S6 a bit ago and being a Master of Voln I knew it was time to head to Moonsedge. Each volume will be my amateur research into the monsters of the Castle. Take my word at your own risk!

The first beast I will delve into seems to be the least hunted beast in the area, and for good reason. The Horned Basalt Grotesque! This beast has the balls to wander around unchecked with the undead. It is the only living beast in the area and puts up quite a fight for us bolting Wizards. Here is why:

The Grotesque is surrounded by a barrier (1720). I tried all different variations of spells and came to the conclusion that casting 530 (Elemental Disjunction) at it twice was the most efficient way to "skin this beast". Otherwise spamming 908 or 510 till it's dead works too NOTE: occasionally the Grotesque can replenish its' barrier and will need to be dispelled again. The message for hitting its' barrier is:

"You gesture at a horned basalt grotesque.
Your spell is deflected by the grotesque's barrier in a flash of orange light!
Cast Roundtime 1 Second."

I have found the following stats to be true for us wizards, more or less:

HP 750+
Armor: Full Plate
Melee AS: 525-549
Bolt AS (Hurl Boulder): 387-417
CS: 452
Elemental TD: 518-522
Bolt DS: 409-429


The armor was figured out the usual way. I took the DF of minor steam and added my lore bonus, subtracted the damage cause my any crits by using the steam crit table, and then figured out which armor class DF was correct. I looked back in logs and found plate DF to be true for head/neck/legs/chest

The Grotesque loves waving its stony claw around, causing various nasty things. Below will be excerpts of me attacking and being attacked. First will be the more nasty stuff, followed by standard attacks.

"Your black full leather glistens as a sudden rush of blood spills across its surface, creating a magical bulwark against a horned basalt grotesque's magic!
The ground beneath a horned basalt grotesque rumbles, then erupts in a shower of rubble that coalesces in to an enormous hand in mid-air.
CS: +452 - TD: +500 + CvA: -2 + d100: +4 - +40 == -86
Warded off!
The enormous hand attempts to grab you, but you manage to avoid it at the last moment. Soon the enormous hand goes still and collapses to a pile of rubble that quickly disintegrates to invisible dust."

"A horned basalt grotesque spreads its wings, its cragged features grinding into an intense glare. It brings its wings together with thunderous force, producing a powerful gust of swirling wind!
A gust of wind tugs at your sleeves. Suddenly, a fierce wind rips through the area, scattering everything in its path and making it difficult to remain standing.
The wind knocks you off your balance and you fall over.
Your arms are forced down to your sides!
Roundtime: 8 sec.
Roundtime changed to 4 seconds"

"A wave of formless black ripples moves outward from a horned basalt grotesque.
You are buffeted by the formless black waves, and knocked to the ground.
You are pinned in place, unable to move.
Roundtime: 7 sec.
Roundtime changed to 3 seconds.
... 15 points of damage!
Decompression causes muscles in arm to crack!
You are stunned for 1 round!
Stance defensive
You are still stunned.
You are still stunned."

"A horned basalt grotesque twists a stony claw toward you!
The ground beneath your feet suddenly frosts and rumbles violently!
The earth cracks beneath you, releasing a column of frigid air!
[SMR result: 74 (Open d100: 71, Bonus: 1)]
You dodge out of the way!"

"A horned basalt grotesque twists a stony claw toward you!
The ground beneath your feet begins to boil violently!
Craggy debris explodes from the ground beneath you!
[SMR result: 66 (Open d100: 73)]
You dodge out of the way!"

"A horned basalt grotesque twists a stony claw toward you!
Your black full leather glistens as a sudden rush of blood spills across its surface, creating a magical bulwark against a horned basalt grotesque's magic!
A horned basalt grotesque hurls a large boulder at you!
AS: +387 vs DS: +737 with AvD: +39 + d100 roll: +35 = -276
A clean miss"

"A horned basalt grotesque clenches its right fist and brings its arm back for a roundhouse punch aimed at you!
[SMR result: 55 (Open d100: 74, Penalty: 19)]
You manage to dodge a horned basalt grotesque's blow!"

"Clenching a carved claw into an unyielding fist, a horned basalt grotesque takes a swing at you!
AS: +540 vs DS: +914 with AvD: +19 + d100 roll: +94 = -261
A clean miss."

"Seeing an opportunity, you accelerate time and empower your spell!
You channel at a horned basalt grotesque.
** Your ossified staff glows brightly for a moment, consuming the magical energies around the basalt grotesque! **
[SMR result: 147 (Open d100: 32, Bonus: 45)]
... 30 points of damage!
Bones shatter in the basalt grotesque's weapon arm.
A horned basalt grotesque is suddenly surrounded by a circle of flickering flames.
CS: +529 - TD: +516 + CvA: +25 + d100: +60 == +98
Warded off!
The flickering flames slowly swirl around the grotesque once, then drift away.
Cast Roundtime 1 Second."

"You gesture at a horned basalt grotesque.
** Your ossified staff glows brightly for a moment, consuming the magical energies around the basalt grotesque! **
The hazy film around a horned basalt grotesque fluxes chaotically!
... 5 points of damage!
Pinpoint strike sears the basalt grotesque's chest.
You hurl a seething blast of steam at a horned basalt grotesque!
AS: +551 vs DS: +387 with AvD: +22 + d100 roll: +1 = +187
... and hit for 31 points of damage!
Hot steam makes the basalt grotesque feel warm all inside and out.
You wince as the ossified staff draws upon your blood as it strikes.
** A slender sanguine and black tendril lashes out from a heavily scorched ossified staff inset with a desiccated halfling skull and slashes a horned basalt grotesque's right leg! **
... 1 point of damage!
Slight leg hold"

"You gesture at a horned basalt grotesque.
A horned basalt grotesque is suddenly surrounded by a circle of flickering flames.
CS: +529 - TD: +519 + CvA: +25 + d100: +86 == +121
Warding failed!
The flickering flames quickly swirl around the grotesque, causing 10 points of damage!
... 5 points of damage!
Minor burns to left leg. That hurts a bit.
The flickering flames leave the grotesque off balance and exposed to the elements.
** The fiery torrent of energy surrounding you flares toward the basalt grotesque! **
... 10 points of damage!
Burst of flames to left arm burns skin bright red.
Cast Roundtime 1 Second."


This place is quite interesting. I shall have to do more research on this interesting place!

[chrenraf]

UPDATE LOG:

UPDATE 1: I had tried multiple spells to get rid of the barrier and found a good solution that continually works with 2x530 casts before casting another spell, but I had an idea on how to perhaps save mana.

Based on the way 530 and 417 work on 1720,319, and additional defensive spells on this creature, I decided to go out the door this time with casting 417 twice instead of 530 and then casting my next spell. Most times this worked and 417 would clear everything away thereby saving a ton of mana per kill on this creature however, perhaps 20% of the time 2x417 casts were not enough and the shield remained, absorbing quite a bit of casts and allowing the creature to cast those nasty boils, etc. Considering my main attack to plink this guy away is 903 by way of (1707), it caused a bit of issues if its' defensive barriers/spells weren't dealt with quickly. I'm quite overtrained so it was not a big issue, but if I were not, it could be the difference between life and death. Perhaps a combination of 417/530 : 530/417 would work more often and be a better middle ground, but for now there are 2 viable options.

If you plan to fight these guys as a wizard and aren't full up on CMAN/Dodge I would go the 530x2 route to ensure you are good to go.

[Methais]

UPDATE LOG:

UPDATE 1: I had tried multiple spells to get rid of the barrier and found a good solution that continually works with 2x530 casts before casting another spell, but I had an idea on how to perhaps save mana.

Based on the way 530 and 417 work on 1720,319, and additional defensive spells on this creature, I decided to go out the door this time with casting 417 twice instead of 530 and then casting my next spell. Most times this worked and 417 would clear everything away thereby saving a ton of mana per kill on this creature however, perhaps 20% of the time 2x417 casts were not enough and the shield remained, absorbing quite a bit of casts and allowing the creature to cast those nasty boils, etc. Considering my main attack to plink this guy away is 903 by way of (1707), it caused a bit of issues if its' defensive barriers/spells weren't dealt with quickly. I'm quite overtrained so it was not a big issue, but if I were not, it could be the difference between life and death. Perhaps a combination of 417/530 : 530/417 would work more often and be a better middle ground, but for now there are 2 viable options.

If you plan to fight these guys as a wizard and aren't full up on CMAN/Dodge I would go the 530x2 route to ensure you are good to go.

What spell are you casting at them? I've done pretty much zero research for this area, but when I cast something under level 10 at a grotesque, which is usually 906, it gets deflected a lot, though not always. When I cast 510, it always hits.

It might be something similar to liches in Scatter, but watered down a little bit, but I've never had to use dispel in order to hit them.

[chrenraf]

I hadn't opened up with 510, so that was helpful. Here's basically what's happening:

These critters tend to have 319 and 1720 on. I've found that when attacking, it will check first to see if the spell is under the level set by 1720 (I've found it is 7 or below as 908 works). If the spell is above that threshold it will then grab 1-2 spells via 319 if active. If the spell being casted is above the threshold set via 1720, it will go through as normal. If it is below that threshold it will not strike until 1720 is dispelled.



Dispel Flaring weapons are huge on these creatures. I was dispelling so much that basically after 3-4 casts shit was gone and I could 903 to death. Otherwise, the 417/530ing it until it's weak into lower spells do work as well. Even 417x3 is pretty safe and should allow you to plink away with lower spells. It does make a big difference since this dude is in full plate and tends to take a ton of casts to kill him. Dispel that mug and then pew pew.

[Rayzur]

I hadn't opened up with 510, so that was helpful. Here's basically what's happening:

These critters tend to have 319 and 1720 on. I've found that when attacking, it will check first to see if the spell is under the level set by 1720 (I've found it is 7 or below as 908 works). If the spell is above that threshold it will then grab 1-2 spells via 319 if active. If the spell being casted is above the threshold set via 1720, it will go through as normal. If it is below that threshold it will not strike until 1720 is dispelled.



Dispel Flaring weapons are huge on these creatures. I was dispelling so much that basically after 3-4 casts shit was gone and I could 903 to death. Otherwise, the 417/530ing it until it's weak into lower spells do work as well. Even 417x3 is pretty safe and should allow you to plink away with lower spells. It does make a big difference since this dude is in full plate and tends to take a ton of casts to kill him. Dispel that mug and then pew pew.


I just run in - 410(prone), Inc 908 (x5) dead ...move to next one. Pretty easy.