Here is the skinny: We are in a campaign that just hit level 19.  The party Sorlock attempted to cast Gate and bring his patron, Orcus, to Eberron.

As we are in the Endgame of a two+ year campaign to 20th, the presence of Orcus would not only disrupt the existing campaign, but would also completely destroy Eberron.

Well, far be it from me to stand in the way of that kind of fun.  The party agreed to finish the path we are on, out of respect to all the time we have put in to get this far, BUT, rather than ride into the sunset and open an Inn, we agreed that the next day after completion of of events in the Mournland, the Sorlock could wake up and cast Gate first thing the next morning.  Before we even have coffee.

We are going to run it as a "one-shot" over a few sessions.

Once a day, Orcus can conjure up 500 hit points worth of undead minions, no restriction on type other than undead and 500 aggregate hit points.

So, I am looking for ideas of what mix of 500 hp worth of undead you would use?

38.5 skeletons?

2 adult red dracolichs?

3 Alhoons & a Bodak?

Don't worry about hitting the 500 hp on the nose.  Ballpark is fine.

Hit me with your best shot!

P.S. I think a TPK may be in order, so pull no punches, please.

We ended our Out of the Abyss campaign by each playing as one of the demon lords and having a big melee.

The player who was controlling Orcus brought in five mummy lords. 

Orcus won the fight. If I remember right, it was without taking any damage or even getting in melee with anyone.

I noticed Mummy Lords are 97 hp and they fit nicely into the math.

I also am rather enamored with a Lich riding an adult Blue Dracolich (360 hp).  I'd throw in a Death Knight, but that takes the hp to 540.  Oh well, a second Lich takes it to 495.

31 shadows. these things are the s***. their strenght drain is save or die, but no save and their incorporeal

I like it, Cap.  I have not had this much fun planning an encounter in quite some time.

I have a follow up question regarding Time Stop:

I was going to have Orcus cast Time Stop, freezing the field of play for x turns, on his first turn, and use his innate feature:

Conjure Undead (1/Day). While holding the Wand of Orcus, Orcus conjures Undead creatures whose combined average hit points don’t exceed 500. These creatures magically rise up from the ground or otherwise form in unoccupied spaces within 300 feet of Orcus and obey his commands until they are destroyed or until he dismisses them as an action.

--

Would this invalidate Time Stop?

Relevant language:

"This spell ends if one of the actions you use during this period, or any effects that you create during this period, affects a creature other than you or an object being worn or carried by someone other than you. In addition, the spell ends if you move to a place more than 1,000 feet from the location where you cast it."

--

Time Stop would basically be useless for Orcus if he couldn't use it in this fashion (to summon undead), since literally all of his features besides Detect Magic directly affect other creatures, towards his endgame of eating the souls of his enemies and have them give him zombie hoof massages for eternity.

Definitely end the time stop when that happens.They are creatures affected by a spell

Quote from Mog_Dracov >>

Definitely end the time stop when that happens.They are creatures affected by a spell

Too bad.  If you look at the stat block for Orcus, the only thing he can do with Time Stop is cast Detect Magic.  Literally all of his spells & powers affect other creatures.  He can't really use it to buff at the outset, since he has none.

I wonder why they gave it to him.

It is absolutely useless for him, unless I am missing something.  I wonder what possible utility that spell would have, other than to run away when he gets below 100 hp.  

Can anyone think of a use for it?

I may have to give Orcus a different spell, because that is pretty weak sauce for a near-deity's 9th level spell.

Quote from joemilitello >>

Quote from Mog_Dracov >>

Definitely end the time stop when that happens.They are creatures affected by a spell

 

Too bad.  If you look at the stat block for Orcus, the only thing he can do with Time Stop is cast Detect Magic.  Literally all of his spells & powers affect other creatures.  He can't really use it to buff at the outset, since he has none.

I wonder why they gave it to him.

It is absolutely useless for him, unless I am missing something.  I wonder what possible utility that spell would have, other than to run away when he gets below 100 hp.  

Can anyone think of a use for it?

I may have to give Orcus a different spell, because that is pretty weak sauce for a near-deity's 9th level spell.

 what 9th level spell though? power word kill kinda fits with him. maybe he could have an upcasted danse macabe?

I believe they want Orcus to use that as an escape spell, letting him run away.

Going back to the original question, summon six variant demiliches and figure out what to do with that last 20 HP.

How about a Beholder Death Tyrant (187hp) + a Nightwalker (297hp), overlap the Death Tyrants negative energy cone with the Nightwalkers annihilating aura and then toss about all the various attack options they have and see what happens.

EDIT: you could also try the 8x Banshee approach. Banshee turn one, they all use their wail ability. If the party fail their saves they drop to zero HP, if they succeed they take 3d6 psychic damage. Its an average of 10 damage per wail on a successful save so thats 80 damage per character straight fo the bat (excluding resistances to psychic damage of course).

Time Stop Orcus moves up to 300' away and then summons undead ending time stop and allowing for complete reorganization of the battlefield. Freaks casters out and even a Barbarian can't close that much ground to simply engage Orcus

back to the topic at hand, consider.

2 avatar's of death. 202 hitpoints apeice, 20ac, attack for 2d8+6 but its an automatic hit, and incorporeal

6 shadows. 16 hitpoints apeice, 12ac, attack drains strength so that either the casters who dumped it die quick, or the martials have a harder time hitting orcus of the avatars. resistant to a heck ton of things, makes more and incorpoeral

Oh, man, thank you, thank you all. I feel like a kid in a candy store. A very deadly candy store.

Quote from joemilitello >>

Quote from Mog_Dracov >>

Definitely end the time stop when that happens.They are creatures affected by a spell

 

Too bad.  If you look at the stat block for Orcus, the only thing he can do with Time Stop is cast Detect Magic.  Literally all of his spells & powers affect other creatures.  He can't really use it to buff at the outset, since he has none.

I wonder why they gave it to him.

It is absolutely useless for him, unless I am missing something.  I wonder what possible utility that spell would have, other than to run away when he gets below 100 hp.  

Can anyone think of a use for it?

I may have to give Orcus a different spell, because that is pretty weak sauce for a near-deity's 9th level spell.

          Why not give Orcus a spell or two in order to buff his undead?

Direct answer to the OP:

      * 1 Vampire - charm ability and summon wolves, legendary resistance

     * 3 Allips - psychic damage, move through walls, and get PCs to attack each other

      * 2 Devourers - make them afraid of dropping to 0 hit points

3 x Lich and a Demilich? That is 3x CR21 + 1 x CR18. Change the spell lists.

Depending on the party composition and how intelligent the DM plays the opposition ... the party might win :)

P.S. Also, it doesn't need to be a fight unless the DM decides that is what they want ...

From Gate:

"Deities and other planar rulers can prevent portals created by this spell from opening in their presence or anywhere within their domains.

When you cast this spell, you can speak the name of a specific creature (a pseudonym, title, or nickname doesn't work). If that creature is on a plane other than the one you are on, the portal opens in the named creature's immediate vicinity and draws the creature through it to the nearest unoccupied space on your side of the portal. You gain no special power over the creature, and it is free to act as the GM deems appropriate. It might leave, attack you, or help you."

I would probably rule that a Demon Lord is a planar ruler and could prevent the gate from opening in their presence. So, if it allows the gate to open at all, it is because it wants to.

The warlock has Orcus as their patron. This means that they have a relationship, that the warlock has some sort of agreement with Orcus involving service for power most likely. I doubt that Orcus would give just any warlock of theirs the ability to summon them to a different plane. This would be a massive security hole since the warlock could be subverted and forced to summon Orcus into an ambush. If that was the case, Orcus would be unlikely to have any warlocks ... so I think the scenario described might only work if Orcus decided to go along.

If Orcus does decide to show up, the question remains as to why ... if the party could defeat him then he is facing a risk he doesn't need to take. If the party is powerless then why humor them? Orcus has an INT of 20 which, while not high for a planar being, is still exceptionally intelligent. So, if Orcus deigns to show up ... the DM should figure out why they bothered :)

Anyway, unless this particular Eberron game world has no high level defenders other than the party, then there is every chance that these defenders could defeat Orcus ... so if he does come then they probably have a short term goal (perhaps to recover a valuable/powerful artifact) which they can obtain and leave with before defenders show up. Given the number of Demons/Devils/Deities and other powerful creatures ... I'm not sure that Orcus entering the world spells its doom.

I'd probably go for a nightwalker  because they have very strong presence without the expectation of being a character like a lich or other high level undead.  It does have the issue of command undead but that ability really should be changed because it doesnt limit monster based on power. 

Of course I don't personally think much of orcus's conjure undead ability and would probably give most demon lords some kind of summon they can put through a gate instead of personally appearing. 

Quote from David42 >>

 

If Orcus does decide to show up, the question remains as to why ... if the party could defeat him then he is facing a risk he doesn't need to take. If the party is powerless then why humor them? Orcus has an INT of 20 which, while not high for a planar being, is still exceptionally intelligent. So, if Orcus deigns to show up ... the DM should figure out why they bothered :)

 I think that the ability to cast gate or wish is likely enough to  at least get a demon lord to send an emissary to barter but if the intent is to just to put them in a fight and give them nothing then this probably wont work more than once.  

Quote from David42 >>

 

Anyway, unless this particular Eberron game world has no high level defenders other than the party, then there is every chance that these defenders could defeat Orcus ... so if he does come then they probably have a short term goal (perhaps to recover a valuable/powerful artifact) which they can obtain and leave with before defenders show up. Given the number of Demons/Devils/Deities and other powerful creatures ... I'm not sure that Orcus entering the world spells its doom.

 I would expect a plot in line with out of the abyss where orcus would have some goal to either gain power or a foot hold.  
E.g

• Resurrect  a powerful creature as undead for example an ancient evil ruler, dragon or spell caster.
• Corrupt a region to prevent the dead from resting peacefully.  E.g performing a profane ritual on a place of power or artifact.

these kinds of things  could make entire regions of world  hostile to life  and be a long term threat if orcus succeeds but aren't going to instantly destroy the world. 

Quote from Solarsyphon >>

I'd probably go for a nightwalker  because they have very strong presence without the expectation of being a character like a lich or other high level undead.  It does have the issue of command undead but that ability really should be changed because it doesnt limit monster based on power.

I think that as Orcus is the Demon Prince of Undeath, it ought to be pretty safe to say that no mortal could possibly hope to take control of one of his minions against his will while in his very presence.  Though they should be given points for audacity.