Cursed Skull

Cursed Skulls are found in the upper floors of Lady Jannath's Estate.

Involvement

The skulls cast  Thunderwave when a party member is nearby, making them difficult to evade. The skulls ignore  Invisibility and similar effects. Due to their vulnerability to bludgeoning damage, they are "easy" to destroy from a safe distance if you can overcome the 22 point damage reduction for the medium toughness item (so spells like Magic missile will not work as the 22 points must come from a single source).

Strategy

Cursed skulls are difficult to approach as they will cast Thunderwave against nearby creatures. Therefore it is advised to throw a bludgeoning weapon at them which has the "thrown" trait. A Light Hammer thrown by a character with decent  Strength is sufficient to destroy a skull in one blow.  Eldritch Blast is also a good option since the skulls are also vulnerable to force damage.

Alternatively, casting  Remove Curse ends the  Cursed Skull status of a skull, preventing it from casting  Thunderwave. However, this requires being within range of the skull's attacks. One method of applying remove curse is using  Misty Step to blink to a location outside of the skull's line of sight, then casting from behind or from the side. Casting the ritual spell  Silence on a skull entirely neutralises its  Thunderwave attack.

Ne'er Misser used by a character, who has high enough  Dexterity can also kill it in one blow without having to go near it.

Tactics

• The skulls are often placed at the top of stairs or on the landings part way up, which is not an issue except that the camera really struggles in the complex environment of the house with many levels...
• This can be quite frustrating as you know the skull is there, but the camera won't go up far enough to allow you to jump past the skull or use Misty Step. If you try to run past it, it knocks you prone or even throws you back onto a lower level taking damage.
• The hit points are quite low now and have been reduced to 12HP on Balanced, but you need to overcome the 22 point damage reduction.
• A rogue sneak attack from range can be effective as you are not at risk of being hit with  Thunderwave. Targeting can be the issue when the skull is on a different level pummeling you back down the stairs so you can never get an attack off.
• Whilst skulls are vulnerable to bludgeoning weapons, not having any throwing hammers or similar was not a major issue on Balanced.
• The skulls do have a direction of facing, so if you can get behind or beside them, you can employ melee attacks that overcome the 22 point damage reduction.
• If you can get on the same level as the skulls,  Silence works well.