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I'm running a campaign with a party of six PCs, all level 10. They're a pretty capable bunch; to give a brief overview, they have a Noble/Officer type, a first-degree droid with levels in Medic and Independent Droid, a saber-focused Jedi, a very defensive Imperial Knight, a Scoundrel/Ace Pilot, and a Solider/Elite Trooper. They also have a nonheroic 7 NPC ally (the Imperial Knight's apprentice).

One of the longtime villains of the campaign for over two years real time has been a Black Sun Vigo named Sitau Levedru. As of the end of last session, they've managed to finally pin him down in a secret facility, and are almost certainly going to wind up in an all-out firefight with him and his men as they try to bring him down.

Here's the build for the NPC in question:



Sitau Levedru, Black Sun Vigo (CL 14)
Medium Human noble 5/scoundrel 2/crime lord 7
Destiny 5; Force 10; Dark Side 10
Init +13; Senses Perception +14
Languages Basic, Tionese, High Galactic, Huttese, Sy Bisti, Durese, Binary, Mando'a, Hapan, Yuuzhan Vong
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Defences Ref 31 (Flat-footed 27), Fort 26, Will 31
hp 91; Threshold 31
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Speed 6 squares
Ranged Heavy Blaster Pistol +11 (3d8+7)
Ranged Thermal Detonator +10 (8d6+7)
Base Atk +9; Grp +9
Special Actions Born Leader, Hesitate, Impel Ally I, Impel Ally II, Inspire Confidence, Rally
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Abilities Str 10, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 16
Special Qualities command cover +3
Talents Born Leader, Contingency Plan, Distant Command, Hesitate, Impel Ally I, Impel Ally II, Inspire Confidence, Inspire Fear I, Inspire Fear II, Inspire Fear III
Feats Desperate Gambit, Impulse Flight, Improved Damage Threshold, Improved Defenses, Linguist, Point Blank Shot, Predictive Defense, Skill Focus (Deception), Skill Focus (Knowledge [Bureaucracy]), Skill Focus (Persuasion), Triple Crit (heavy blaster pistol), Weapon Proficiency (pistols, simple weapons)
Skills Deception +20, Gather Information +15, Initiative +13, , Knowledge (Bureaucracy) +21, Knowledge (Galactic Lore) +16, Knowledge (Social Sciences) +16, Knowledge (Tactics) +16, Perception +14, Persuasion +20, Pilot +13, Use Computer +16
Possessions heavy blaster pistol (+1 accuracy modification), thermal detonator, comlink, datapad


So, then, my question for the Gamer Nation: is the NPC too powerful for a group of level 10 PCs as described above?

Obviously, during the fight, there are going to be allies and minions and terrain hazards, too, so there will be plenty of distractions, plus a lot of opportunity for him to use his Impel Ally and Command Cover abilities.

My main concern is the combination of Predictive Defense and Inspire Fear III. He's gonna be a tough guy to hit, that's for sure. Granted, all of the PCs still have a lot of Destiny Points (as a GM, I'm trying to get them to stop hoarding them, because we all know where that leads).

This is a mostly roleplay-focused group, not just combat junkies, but that being said, they're still a group of capable combatants who usually fight smart. Also, this NPC has wronged the group on many occasions (blew up the crew's original starship, captured and imprisoned them once, and most recently, tortured the Imperial Knight's apprentice), and so most of the group (with the possible exception of the Jedi) is very motivated to just kill him outright at this point.

After two years of buildup, I don't want him to just go down like a chump, but I also don't want him to be a challenge that's unfair.

Any and all thoughts appreciated!

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Inspire Fear III is going to have a dramatic effect, with all of your PC’s and their allies taking a -5 penalty to attack and use skill checks against him. Predictive Defense adds +3 to his Ref. So his effective Ref is 36. Can your PC’s hit that high? Even assuming your PC’s have a high attack bonus (+14), they still won’t be able to hit him.

The book suggests that, “Most encounters should not include a single enemy whose CL is more than 3 levels higher than the average party level.” (SECR page 247, errata). You may want to consider reducing his level by 1 and deleting Inspire Fear III. He will still have Inspire Fear II, which imposes a -2 penalty. His effective Ref will be 32, which is still high, especially since you mention your party is more RP focused than combat focused.

Besides that, the best advice I can give about encounter difficulty is the same advice found in the Preface to My NPC Statblocks (found in my sig). Basically, I outline these points:

If the battle is going very badly for the PC’s:
-refrain from using FP’s and DP’s
-“forget” to use second winds
-use secondary attacks instead of primary attacks

If the battle is going very badly for the Big Boss:
-use a DP to make an attack miss. Use another one to auto-crit a PC (consider it as his final desperate act.)
-use FP’s to enhance his attacks and his allies’ attacks.

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Very late to this party but I will just point out that the difficulty of this NPC will really depend on what/who he has for allies. Sure he may be tough to hit but he only has a +9 BAB as a CL 14 without a lot more to boost his attack.

What really makes his difficulty important is a quick glance at all of his abilities that need allies to work. Command Cover doesn't help unless you have allies next to you. Looking at his talents he has a lot of them (11) but the only ones that concern me are the three Inspire Fear and Hesitate because most of the others need allies around to be any good.

As a solo his defenses may present a challenge to six 10th-level PCs but if you throw in a gang of thugs, even lowly ones with stats similiar to Stormtroopers, and maybe give him one decent ally (to Impel) and he will most likely turn the tide of the battle.