Demon Pretenders

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Thufir:
FWIW, banishment affects undead and demons, it says damage 7+ (armor negating), in the case where it is resisted. Since Moloch had 17hp, on the round prior to death, I at least know it was not the failed saving throw damage (alone) that killed him.

It could have easily been the damage from a single casting of banishment. The damage from banish increases as the level of the priest increases, and there is still a comparison between two open ended dice rolls to determine exactly how much damage occurs.

So, perhaps then I just need to keep Moloch in a spellcasting only role until I can get his MR up to 25?

There's no need to do that. Like I pointed out, banish is unlikely to affect him, but it's still possible. If he only had 17 hitpoints, then he was probably in unfriendly dominion, so his stats would all have been lowered.

Looking at his stats he has a great attack skill but def/prot/mr are not through the roof.

The Moloch's MR is the same as all pretenders, his defense is better than any other than the ghost king, and his protection is better than anything other than the immobiles and the cyclops. You still have to be careful with him.

Is this still a viable strategy, perhaps after I get a chance to equip him?

There's nothing wrong with your strategy, you just got unlucky.