Auntie Ethel/Combat: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox statistics

| image = Auntie-Ethel-Hag.webp

| imagecaption =

| race = Fey

| armour_class = 17

| hit_points = 112

| hit_points_tactician = 145

| movement_speed_meters = 9

| movement_speed_feet = 30

| weight_kg = 75

| str_save_proficiency = yes

| wis_save_proficiency = yes

| cha_save_proficiency = yes

| initiative = +7

 

| feature1_name = Alert

| feature1_description = +5 to initiative and cannot be surprised.

| feature2_name = Darkvision

| feature3_name = Opportunity Attack

| feature3_description = Automatically attack an enemy moving out of your reach.

| feature4_name = Fey Life

| feature4_item = Tarnished Charm

This page focuses on '''Auntie Ethel'''<nowiki/>'s behavior during her combat encounter, and tactics for overcoming her. She can be fought as a boss in the [[Riverside Teahouse]] in the [[Sunlit Wetlands]] if you choose to meddle in her affairs.

{{SpoilerBlur|Auntie Ethel can be encountered again as a boss in [[Act 3]] within [[The Blushing Mermaid]].}}

{{Feature box|name=Auntie's Trickery|image name=Generic Summon.webp|* This action creates five illusory copies of Auntie Ethel and shuffles them - and the original - around the arena.

{{Recharge|Per Battle}}

{{Action|bonus}}}}{{Feature box|name=A Coven of Hags|image name=Generic Summon.webp|* This action creates between two and five copies of Auntie Ethel and randomizes their positions - including the original - around the arena.

* The real Auntie Ethel gains {{cond|Invisible}}.

{{Recharge|Per Battle}}

{{Action}}}}{{Feature box|name=Damsel in Distress|image name=Generic Summon.webp|* An illusion that confuses friend with foe, disguising Auntie Ethel as Mayrina and teleports them both to new spots around the arena.

{{Recharge|Per Battle}}

{{Action}}}}{{Feature box|name=Ray of Sickness|{{DamageInfo|3d8|Poison}}

{{Cond|Poisoned}} 2 turns

{{Attack roll}}

{{Range|m=18|ft=60}}

{{Action}}}}{{Feature box|name=Throw|* {{RarityItem|Poisonous Slime Bomb}} and {{RarityItem|Flammable Slime Bomb}}}}{{Feature box|name=Vicious Mockery|image name=Vicious Mockery.webp|link=Vicious Mockery (Auntie Ethel)|{{DamageInfo|2d4|Psychic}}

{{Saving throw|WIS|dc=13}} to negate.

{{Cond|Vicious Mockery}} 1 turn

{{Action|bonus}}|alias=}}{{Feature box|name=Claws|link=Claws (Class Action)|image name=Generic Physical.webp|{{DamageInfo|2d4+4|Slashing}}

{{Attack roll}}

{{Range|melee}}

{{Action}}}}{{Feature box|name=Hold Person|Cast as a Level 2 spell.

{{Cond|Hold Person}}, {{Saving throw|WIS|dc=13}}

{{Action}}}}{{Feature box|name=Break Illusion|image name=Mending.webp|Used once to reveal a secret passage.

{{Action}}}}

Ethel can be attacked in her human form in the Riverside Teahouse, though she will try to make this encounter as brief as possible. +7 Initiative gives her a high turn priority and prevents preemptive strikes. She will priotitize fleeing through her fireplace using Break Illusion in the first few turns. Sometimes, attempting to destroy her here requires bringing her hit points to zero before she can take a single action – all while hostile Redcaps are coming through her front door.  

She may further attempt to evade aggression by drinking a [[Potion of Invisibility]]; this can be thwarted by pickpocketing or purchasing it from her in conversation. Ethel may use [[scrolls]] in this phase, if they are part of her trader inventory. The player can greatly delay her flight and trap her upstairs by casting [[Arcane Lock]] on the staircase into her lair.  

The first turns of the Auntie Ethel fight are deterministic. Unless the player launches a preemptive strike while hidden, Auntie Ethel will initiate combat through dialogue when approaching in her lair. Her first turn in combat, when started this way, will always be throwing a flammable slime bomb on [[Mayrina|Mayrina's]] suspended cage.

If the player had previously killed or incapacitated her Mask servants (i.e. [[Mask of Regret]]), she spends a turn summoning them to her side as allies. If they were already dealt with, she casts Auntie's Trickery instead. Following these opening moves, the midgame of the fight begins.

Each clone of Auntie Ethel functions as a duplicate of the hag, having all of her magical abilities but lacking the bombs in her inventory and capable of being dispelled in a single blow. Necessarily, they also cannot summon additional clones of themselves. If they are all defeated, Ethel can refresh their supply with [[A Coven of Hags]] - this time, however, the original hag will be invisible rather than in the mix of illusions, and the number of illusions summoned can vary.

 

The clones can be distinguished from the original by selecting "Examine" on them and looking for the feature [[Fey Life]]. This is granted by an item that the real Auntie Ethel is wearing ([[Tarnished Charm]]) which is not duplicated for the clones, so they do not have this feature. Another way is to check Ethel's clothing : the real hag has red clothes, while the clones have blue clothes.

Next on the smorgasbord of trickery is [[Damsel in Distress]], a wily illusion where she teleports Mayrina into her proximity and adopts her appearance. Distinguishing between the two requires a careful examination of the two's statistics, looking for key differences that reveal the true victim.

When brought down to 30 health or lower, when she takes her next turn, Auntie Ethel will bargain for her life in exchange for a piece of [[Auntie Ethel's Hair]].{{Note|This will only occur if fought in the depths of her lair, not in the teahouse.}} She will not do anything else on this turn; if the party declines her offer or fails a conversation ability check, the turn will immediately pass to the next character, allowing the hag to be rapidly dispatched. Any surviving Masks become docile on her death.

Auntie Ethel gains [[Legendary Action: Weird Magic Surge]] on [[Honour mode]], punishing the player for casting spells by multiplying Ethel's presence with more illusory copies. The legendary action can be triggered during the bargaining conversation (for example if a character casts [[Guidance]] for a conversation skill check), causing the conversation to exit as if the party had declined the offer.

=== Silence ===

Auntie Ethel is very vulnerable to being [[Silenced (Condition)|silenced]], limiting her moveset to just melee attacks and grenades when under its effect. Striking her with silencing weapons, like the [[Sussur Dagger]], is the best way to inflict this condition, preferable to the spell [[Silence]], which she can rather easily walk away from. Preemptively attacking her in the teahouse flips the equation, as the much smaller arena gives the hag little room to manoeuvre. Of note, she will not bargain for her life when silenced.

== Act Three ==

 

 

Her abilities and tactics are much the same, simply scaled-up with the levels, with several additional twists:  

In order to truly kill Ethel, players need to destroy her Pearlspore Bells. These lustrous mushroom clumps will revive the hag each time she is felled, if left unchecked. The Pearlspores will automatically heal to full at the end of each round, requiring them to either be burst down with massive damage in a single turn or for the player to employ heal prevention, e.g. [[Arrow of Ilmater|Arrows of Ilmater]]. Party members with the Sharpshooter feat should fire at the Pearlspores with the "Sharpshooter all-in" passive toggled on, as hitting is guaranteed and thus the extra damage will always be applied.

Ethel has eaten [[Vanra]], hoping to transform the girl into a hag to grow her coven. Killing Ethel kills Vanra as well, locking the player out of any quest rewards later on. To avoid this, players can enable [[Toggle Non-Lethal Attacks|non-lethal attacks]] when dealing the killing blow, prompting instead a cutscene where Vanra is manually freed from an unconscious Ethel's belly. Alternatively, progressing through [[Help the Hag Survivors]] can provide players with {{RarityItem|Hag's Bane}}, which when [[thrown]] will force Ethel to vomit the kid. Being pregnant does not imbue any inherent combat bonuses, other than the tension of potential quest failure. If released, Vanra will run into a corner of the room -- the party must thenceforth be cautious about stray area-of-effect damage nearby.  

A minor but useful feature of Ethel's lair in Act 3 is the barrelstalk fungus on the upper platform (near a patch of smaller mushrooms). Standing directly adjacent to the barrelstalk will confer {{cond|Haste Spores}} on any party members who do so, allowing them an extra action per turn.