Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla

Can anybody tell me what the hell is even going on in this fight? I've gotten used to the fact that enemies like this can pretty much only be hit on a 20, on top of mirror image and concealment's 50% miss which you can't dispel because they have about dozen buffs and it'll get rid of a random one you didn't care about...But she just dimension doors into my squishy backline and for some inexplicable reason she causes multiple characters to either miss their turn or only attack once per round, I can't figure out what is happening here or how to counter it. The 3 ludicrously OP archers in the background and her negative level guard is just the icing on the cake after she's locked everybody down. Apparently she's a cleric, but she has a decent sneak attack too because, why not I guess? Chuck anything on.

As a side note; one thing I'll never get used to even after both this and Kingmaker is the absurd difficulty spikes. It's like a gentle incline where you're cruising along followed by a random cliff edge.

Takichi replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 6:46:51 am PDT
Takichi replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 6:46:51 am PDT

Difficulty Spikes? Why would you Fight Gresilla in the First Place? Shes completly optional? XD Just take her Key and Advance.

And yeah she is a Boss and Side-bosses in Pathfinder are usually Stronger than the "Need to Fight" Story counterparts.

Siegdarth replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 6:49:34 am PDT
Siegdarth replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 6:49:34 am PDT

This is the type of sutuation on games that you put an evil NPC that interacts with you but the party decides to pick a fight because they are evil and everyone dies.

SnuffSaid replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 6:52:38 am PDT
SnuffSaid replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 6:52:38 am PDT

Originally posted by Takichi:
Difficulty Spikes? Why would you Fight Gresilla in the First Place? Shes completly optional? XD Just take her Key and Advance.

And yeah she is a Boss and Side-bosses in Pathfinder are usually Stronger than the "Need to Fight" Story counterparts.

Because I'm a lawful good Paladin and she tried to charm me. :P

Seriously though, there is "hard" and then there is "broken". I can tell the difference based on the contrast of encounters around it. This isn't like any of the other optional side-bosses so far (we say "optional" when we know literally nobody is going to leave any area uncleared unless they just don't spot it.)

Takichi replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 6:55:30 am PDT
Takichi replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 6:55:30 am PDT

Originally posted by SnuffSaid:
Originally posted by Takichi:
Difficulty Spikes? Why would you Fight Gresilla in the First Place? Shes completly optional? XD Just take her Key and Advance.

And yeah she is a Boss and Side-bosses in Pathfinder are usually Stronger than the "Need to Fight" Story counterparts.

Because I'm a lawful good Paladin and she tried to charm me. :P

Seriously though, there is "hard" and then there is "broken". I can tell the difference based on the contrast of encounters around it. This isn't like any of the other optional side-bosses so far (we say "optional" when we know literally nobody is going to leave any area uncleared unless they just don't spot it.)


I let several encounter Live on my first Playthrough. I mean just seeing her Levels was enought. Beside that, like i said is no Forced Fight so just dont do it. Its not like you will automaticly miss anything. And yeah she is hard, because u arnt meant to fight her i think you are just given the Option :D Chap 4 or rather Ending of Chap 3 starts to really kick in with Difficulty compared to the Game before that ^^


Ahh a Lawful good Paladin, well than you already pointed out the Problem yourself xD Why would you be Lawful good and Paladin, if there are Hellknights and Devils ;)

SnuffSaid replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:06:13 am PDT
SnuffSaid replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:06:13 am PDT

Originally posted by Siegdarth:
This is the type of sutuation on games that you put an evil NPC that interacts with you but the party decides to pick a fight because they are evil and everyone dies.

Let's be honest, this isn't like pen and paper where the party goes off the rails and attacks somebody they clearly aren't meant to, this is a CRPG dialogue option, so it's a DM-approved action. That means it should be doable. It's also a bit daft from a story logic perspective;

Demon's lieutenant: prove to me you're more powerful than my master.

PC: I don't make deals with demons.

Demon's lieutenant: that's fine, I'm an "optional side boss" so for some inexplicable reason I'm considerably more powerful than my master anyway. Why I need you to beat him or why I even served him in the first place remains a mystery.

Hybernian replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:07:42 am PDT
Hybernian replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:07:42 am PDT

She casts Overwhelming Presence. It doesn't inflict fear so anti-fear solutions won't work against it.
I am playing as a blaster Sorcerer on normal and did these things:
Buffed the party to the brim, trying to pump saving throws as much as I can.
Casted See Invisibile on myself. And the spell that gives me sneak attacks.
Switched to Turn Based mod.
Casted 1 Sirocco on the archers and 1 Sirocco on the melee succubus and Gressilla.
Casted an oracle spell that blinds the enemy on the archers.
Casted the communal smite (the move with a pointing index finger icon) on Gresilla.
Casted Enforcing Gaze - Saving throws.
Casted Hexes with Ember.
Casted the Aeon thing that deals damage whenever the enemy takes action.
Killed the melee succubus.
Spammed with rays and Lann attacks to get rid of Mirror Images.
Casted the ranged touch attack that deals damage to strength and dexterity.
Casted the force sphere using dagger that adds +2 damage per dice.
Eventually killed her.
That time only Lann's pet and Regill fell under OP's effect.
The fight gave me 18k+ exp.

If you'll decide to fight the next optional boss (lvl 30+), who'll give you 50k+ exp, you can try
to summon multiple Azata Bralanis. They won't deal damage to it, but they'll cast mirror images and you'll have a small army of meatshields.

urartu replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:09:32 am PDT
urartu replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:09:32 am PDT

Originally posted by SnuffSaid:
Let's be honest, this isn't like pen and paper where the party goes off the rails and attacks somebody they clearly aren't meant to, this is a CRPG dialogue option, so it's a DM-approved action. That means it should be doable. It's also a bit daft from a story logic perspective;

Demons minion: prove to me you're more powerful than my master.

PC: I don't make deals with demons.

Demon's lieutenant: that's fine, I'm an "optional side boss" so for some inexplicable reason I'm considerably more powerful than my master anyway. Why I need you to beat him or why I even served him in the first place remains a mystery.

Weak people or creatures can be surrounded by stronger people or creatures then them. It is more important why a creature follows another, maybe it thinks master is stronger.

So you decided to test your claws and teeth on an optional encounter, so optional encounter wiped you off. That is pretty natural.

Takichi replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:09:51 am PDT
Takichi replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:09:51 am PDT

Originally posted by SnuffSaid:
Originally posted by Siegdarth:
This is the type of sutuation on games that you put an evil NPC that interacts with you but the party decides to pick a fight because they are evil and everyone dies.

Let's be honest, this isn't like pen and paper where the party goes off the rails and attacks somebody they clearly aren't meant to, this is a CRPG dialogue option, so it's a DM-approved action. That means it should be doable. It's also a bit daft from a story logic perspective;

Demon's lieutenant: prove to me you're more powerful than my master.

PC: I don't make deals with demons.

Demon's lieutenant: that's fine, I'm an "optional side boss" so for some inexplicable reason I'm considerably more powerful than my master anyway. Why I need you to beat him or why I even served him in the first place remains a mystery.


She isnt Stronger as Nocticulla? Nocticulla would wipe the Floor with you at this Point of the Game :D

Karbomer replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:14:28 am PDT
Karbomer replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:14:28 am PDT

As some people said she's totaly optional. If you didn't notice they obviously made side-optional bosses stronger. Theres one really strong boss named Playful Darkness and as a Lich Wizard I killed and raised him as minion. Then he wiped floor with real boss of the lvl and his guards with like 5-6 hits. Myself I killed her but I used a lot of summons and I think I dispelled her buffs.

Mira113 replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:16:21 am PDT
Mira113 replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:16:21 am PDT

Get true seeing and communal true seeing and just disregard mirror images and concealment... Also, applying deathward prevents level drains.

Takichi replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:17:42 am PDT
Takichi replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:17:42 am PDT

Originally posted by Karbomer:
As some people said she's totaly optional. If you didn't notice they obviously made side-optional bosses stronger. Theres one really strong boss named Playful Darkness and as a Lich Wizard I killed and raised him as minion. Then he wiped floor with real boss of the lvl and his guards with like 5-6 hits. Myself I killed her but I used a lot of summons and I think I dispelled her buffs.
How did you rais him though? Never got that to happen in my Playthrough xD

SnuffSaid replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:20:56 am PDT
SnuffSaid replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:20:56 am PDT

Originally posted by Takichi:
Originally posted by SnuffSaid:

Let's be honest, this isn't like pen and paper where the party goes off the rails and attacks somebody they clearly aren't meant to, this is a CRPG dialogue option, so it's a DM-approved action. That means it should be doable. It's also a bit daft from a story logic perspective;

Demon's lieutenant: prove to me you're more powerful than my master.

PC: I don't make deals with demons.

Demon's lieutenant: that's fine, I'm an "optional side boss" so for some inexplicable reason I'm considerably more powerful than my master anyway. Why I need you to beat him or why I even served him in the first place remains a mystery.


She isnt Stronger as Nocticulla? Nocticulla would wipe the Floor with you at this Point of the Game :D

She isn't serving or asking if I can beat Nocticulla (despite her name), she's talking about "that brute Darrazand". But let's not read too much into "at this point of the game", considering you beat a much weaker Darrazand in act II and the Darrazand you meet later is significantly more powerful. This is about difficulty scaling and Gresilla is way off the charts in that department.

SnuffSaid replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:23:12 am PDT
SnuffSaid replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:23:12 am PDT

Originally posted by Hybernian:
She casts Overwhelming Presence. It doesn't inflict fear so anti-fear solutions won't work against it.
I am playing as a blaster Sorcerer on normal and did these things:
Buffed the party to the brim, trying to pump saving throws as much as I can.
Casted See Invisibile on myself. And the spell that gives me sneak attacks.
Switched to Turn Based mod.
Casted 1 Sirocco on the archers and 1 Sirocco on the melee succubus and Gressilla.
Casted an oracle spell that blinds the enemy on the archers.
Casted the communal smite (the move with a pointing index finger icon) on Gresilla.
Casted Enforcing Gaze - Saving throws.
Casted Hexes with Ember.
Casted the Aeon thing that deals damage whenever the enemy takes action.
Killed the melee succubus.
Spammed with rays and Lann attacks to get rid of Mirror Images.
Casted the ranged touch attack that deals damage to strength and dexterity.
Casted the force sphere using dagger that adds +2 damage per dice.
Eventually killed her.
That time only Lann's pet and Regill fell under OP's effect.
The fight gave me 18k+ exp.

If you'll decide to fight the next optional boss (lvl 30+), who'll give you 50k+ exp, you can try
to summon multiple Azata Bralanis. They won't deal damage to it, but they'll cast mirror images and you'll have a small army of meatshields.

Ah, now this makes sense. Being a martyr Paladin fear and compulsion have given me zero issues so I wondered why she was freezing everybody, I did notice that but due to the tooltip I couldn't tell whether I had scared her or she had scared me, nor what exactly it was doing. Some people were missing turns, others were only firing once per round, it just seemed really odd.

Karbomer replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:25:13 am PDT
Karbomer replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 7:25:13 am PDT

Originally posted by Takichi:
Originally posted by Karbomer:
As some people said she's totaly optional. If you didn't notice they obviously made side-optional bosses stronger. Theres one really strong boss named Playful Darkness and as a Lich Wizard I killed and raised him as minion. Then he wiped floor with real boss of the lvl and his guards with like 5-6 hits. Myself I killed her but I used a lot of summons and I think I dispelled her buffs.
How did you rais him though? Never got that to happen in my Playthrough xD
You have 2 spells as a Necromancer or just Lich(not sure if that's normal necromancy spell). Repurpose and Flay for Purpose. First one deal light damage and if the target dies it gets back up as your minion. Other one is updated version that on top of raising dead deals a lot of damage. It works on almost any target so you can raise bosses. Sadly they can't leave map but theres no time limit on them and when you return to the map they will be waiting there for you. It's one of many things that make Evo-Necro Wizard Lich absolutely busted.

Dekent replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 9:14:31 am PDT
Dekent replied to Gresilla, Priestess Of Noctilla September 22, 2021 @ 9:14:31 am PDT

Is this the summoning ritual when taking Drezden? Let her finish it, the ritual kills her and summons a demon who is much easier to kill and gives nicer loot.

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