The Pacifists In Party Expedition Society
by Charis

Classes: Any
Team: No set size or configuration.
Tag: PIPES

Introduction

The cries of Kashya, Greiz and Asheara are finally answered!!

"Meat-shield"
"Cannon fodder"
"There are none left to hire, they're all dead!"

These are words heard FAR too often. Finally, a group has stepped forward to stop the madness. That mandate falls upon... The Pacifists In Party Expedition Society!

These brave adventurers are not doormats, nor do they fear battle. Yet they strive not to draw blood by their own hands, to let foes reap what they sow, and to transport and protect noble mercenaries. [Major change in XPack: Mercs you can train and res, woo! Also Barbarian mercs.]

Rules

Mercenary deaths and team deaths are strongly to be avoided.

The addition of mercs you can KEEP is of course a huge change in the Xpack.

Some specific things to keep in mind:

- Rogues benefit from +skill items and from incr.attack speed and fast bows.
- Town Guards have six very helpful auras: Prayer, Blessed Aim, Defiance (Norm/Hell) and Thorns, Might, Holy Freeze (NM). Of these, Might would be a top choice, Thorns and Defiance depending on the other mercs, and the others not bad. On the Legion of Greiz team all were in effect and were quite useful.
- Iron Wolves and Bars benefit from +skills, but no 'special effects' like rogues. The Iron Wolves benefit from fast cast items (eg WOE, Vipermagi), and the Bars from incr.attack speed.

Characters

There are several flavors of pacifists, and a PIPES team should include a variety of the following characters.

Thorns/Conversion Paladin- GFPipe
Using a low dmg sceptre only, this PIPE is the most vocal and tries to win by conversion. Yet for those who come against him will reap punishment tenfold what they dish out. His stat focus is a near total preoccupation with vitality and life.

Shout/Iron Skin Bar - IronPipe
Whereas the GFPipe begs to be struck, the IronPipe shines by providing distraction and tank services to the party, and a ferocious shout aura that protects his mercenaries. Howl and Taunt are also staple skills.

Defiance/Smite Paladin - LeadPipe
Always ready to lay down a non-lethal smack to show a foe the error of his ways, this Paladin also focuses on defence on helping the party. (Salvation and Resist auras are allowed)

Manipulative Necromancer - ShrinkPipe
A keen intellect knows how to make his foes bend to his will, or die by defying it! He is master of the Iron Maiden, a strong proponent of confuse and attract, as well as defensive skills such as Dim Vision, Terror. Decrepify is also sometime used. The ShrinkPipe also knows how to use bone walls and prisons to protect his mercs.

Deceptive Mistress - AmazonPipe
This gal has more wiggle than a drunken centipede. She is fanatical about her ability to protect, to leap into dangerous situations and escape unscathed. Fellow Amazons scoff at her exclusive use of Dodge, Avoid, Evade and Decoy, but she is an ambassador on a mission. She believes crushing blow to be a passive art form where only foes with evil and malice in their heart can be damaged. For gear she seeks to be scantily clad, maximum blocking, a hefty amount of hit points, fast shoes, and cracked or normal javelin class weapons. Str is minimal, to reduce "incidental" damage. Fend is allowed, to passively fend off numerous attackers. Iceblink and Rattlecage would be about the only armors heavier than studded leather that she would consider wearing. Unlike other Amazons which use Valkyries to tank and provide cover for them, she *IS* the tank and is fanatic about sticking by the side of fragile mercenaries and protecting them. Frequent decoys are cast. (It is rumored that a FrostMaiden Mistress exists, using exceedingly low damage bows and cold attacks with maximum possible cold duration)

Fire Sorceress - PipeBomb
The pipebomb deals no direct damage to monsters - rather she lays down "opportunities" for over aggressive foes to hurt themselves on! Blaze, Firewall, Meteor, Hydra, Blizzard, Thunderstorm, cold armors, teleport/kinesis. There is one *KEY* restriction - such skills must NEVER be cast directly on the foe. A meteor may be cast on a blank spot where no splash would hurt anyone, then the caster or other friend move to that spot. Similarly a firewall or megablizzard may be laid down, and if monsters are dumb enough to walk into them... their fate is well deserved.

Prayer/Holy Bolt/Sanctuary/Redemption Paladin [Suggested by Sirian]
Heal the party, the mercs, and keep those nasty undead at bay, then redeem the souls of those unwise enough to attack the PIPES despite all warnings. Holy Bolts at a high lvl are great for healing mercs under fire. If Undead happen to get in the way, so be it! The mercs don't exactly like getting in close with creeping undead. Sanctuary is also very good for keeping the baddies at bay.

New paladin PIPES the thorns and defiance will likely being taken up by mercs themselves.

Fanat Paladin - WiredPipe
There may be no better aura around than fanaticism in the post-LOD era, with increased damaged as well as speed. Liberal flashing of Conviction is a side dish, as is Vigor for fast transport. He may have a smite attack or a fast zeal with a freezing attack of some sort for added protection.

Concentration Paladin - FocusedPipe
This leader helps the team focus and concentrate and increase their damage.

Druid - SagePipe
A nurturing sort, with the right Spirit for the right task, sometimes with Ravens thrown in for the heck of it. Powerful Oak Sage, Heart of Wolverine and Spirit of Barbs help the mercenaries survive and kill effectively. He himself often takes to bear form for extra hp, and occasional shockwave when a merc is mobbed or stunned.

Assassin - PipeNinja
Rather than training a Shadow, the PipeNinja trains a mercenary. Her skills focus on protection and stealth, Cloak of Shadows and Mind Blast (occasional use), and Dragon Flight to be able to dive in and save a merc in trouble.

Modes of Operation

Mirror Damage
Most of the damage is coming from the foes themselves, with Thorns, *low* AC no shield (or very low block) GFPipe and others with good hp draw the blows on purpose, and/or turn others to the cause by conversion/confusion/attract.

Avoid Damage
In situations where the mercs are best served by protection, the team will rapidly mobilize a strong defence, based on Shout, Defiance, tanking bar and ama, and Dim Vision or Weaken. In this case it's likely the Mercs can do a lot of the needed dmg.

Trap Damage
A lure, bait and trap scenario where heavy elements are set up in one zone, then through luring and/or decoys a mob is brought back to 'negotiate'. Be careful here, the mercs like to see (and other players don't like zero fps)

Circle the Wagons
For truly dangerous opponents, get the mercs and others behind bone fortresses, and use skills like Iron Maiden and Attract.

Laying Down the Smack
Each character in their own way tries to convince their foes that these aggressions against mercs must cease. The smiter and tankazon like this approach, and the others use less common skills like War Cry, Blaze, Sanctuary, and FOH.

Items

Gear? The Barb and Defiance paladin aspire to a very high DR setup, while the GFPipe strives to keep DR and blocking as low as possible.

Game Progression

Clear? Skip? The party may either choose to avoid as many opponents as they possibly can, with heavy use of terror and howl, and finishing at rather low clvls, or they can take a more casual pace and lvl-up normally, hoping to be less underpowered in hell.

The overall goal is to negotiate with or defeat Diablo on Hell difficulty, with the least possible deaths to mercenaries and players. Note! In Acts 1, 2, and 3, Mercenaries MUST BE ESCORTED by all players, as soon as they are allowed to do so by quest. (Act 1- after Raven, Act 2- After Radament, once you go outside city, and Act 3- after Gidbinn, optional before. Must complete Gidbinn before going on to Kurast city.)