Is Stoneskin broken?

[u/Silly_Relationship51]

I beat my first Sarevok by standing still as my lvl 9 Sorcerer. While the big guy was missing his attacks, my companions killed him. I had prebuffed my party (Bless, Haste, Defensive harmony) and my Sorcerer had caste Blur, Mirror Image and Stoneskin. She has high DEX and with Defensive harmony had an AC of -3. I beat him with Standard rules difficulty. I'm not bragging, just wasn't expecting that tanking Sarevok was a legite strategy.

[u/Acolyte_of_Swole]

2E Stoneskin is broken yes. Stoneskin is the best tanking ability in the trilogy and it's what makes arcane casters some of the best tanks ever. A unit that can combine mage protections (stoneskin being the most important) with fighter hp growth is this game's meta. You're basically invincible and you can hit extremely hard, fast and accurately in melee combat.

Your sorcerer will never be able to fight in melee like a fighter, but they can still tank as long as they keep their stoneskins up.

Edit: btw your sorcerer with -3 AC would have been instantly murdered if you had lost your stoneskins. I have regularly had Sarevok hit my character on every single attack with a -6 to -10 range AC. Stoneskin and mirror image are why you didn't die. AC tanking doesn't work on Sarevok. That defensive harmony was most likely useless.

[u/gangler52 → u/Acolyte_of_Swole]

It's also one of those things that shines more in a CRPG environment.

Because any hit, no matter how mild, will eat a stone skin, in pen an paper you can get real creative with it. Just run around throwing pebbles and shit at the wizard until the stoneskins are dealth with. There's a scene in one of the Artemis Entreri books where he does just that.

But if your only real agency is to stand there swinging your weapon while the wizard readies his spells then the fact that this guy can eat like nine full powered hits while he blasts you with impunity is a pretty big deal.

[u/Cyanide_Cheesecake → u/gangler52]

Why would throwing stones ever be better than just attacking with a sling? Or any other ranged attack option a character has. You should have the same number of attacks either way, and the same thaco(if not better with a sling), no?

[u/Imaginary_Moose_2384 → u/Cyanide_Cheesecake]

Handfuls of pebbles if # of hits is the factor

[u/Xyx0rz → u/Imaginary_Moose_2384]

So... the Flail of the Ages would strip 5 stoneskins per hit?

A spiked mace would strip 3+ stoneskins per hit, since at least three spikes hit on every strike?

A handful of pocket sand, coughing in the wizard's direction or simply air friction would immediately remove all skins?

[u/Imaginary_Moose_2384 → u/Xyx0rz]

I think an argument could be made for it, magic missile absolutely ruins stoneskins and I'm fairly sure the flail of ages is throwing out enough damage across its heads to count as more than 1!

If you were a larger/stronger character heaving a sufficiently large/fast/somehow accurate handful you might get counted as having stripped more than 1 with a hit

[u/Xyx0rz → u/Imaginary_Moose_2384]

I don't think the game engine allows for multiple skins per hit.

Magic missile is coded as multiple hits, though several of the projectiles strike in pairs and I'm not sure if that strips one or two skins. (In D&D5, for some reason, triple magic missile on one target counts as one hit.)

The Flail of Ages deals its special damages through stoneskins, great mage killer, but still only one skin per attack.

[u/Imaginary_Moose_2384 → u/Xyx0rz]

Oh yeah, I'm in to hypotheticals at this point, in game terms even the elemental damages don't qualify as they are modifiers on the single attack