Tar-Baphon is merely Count of Virlych, king of Ustalav, protector of Belkzen and Captain-General of the River Confederation, nothing scarier. There's no reason to be afraid of him beyond that he's a ninth-circle lich who survived death at the hands of Aroden, who he considers to be really kind of a poser because he ascended by the Starstone instead of doing it the hard way.