mid level boss I cooked up

[Immabozo]

It's been a while since I made this guy for my first DMing encounter that ended up never happening, so this is all from memory.

Name: Umaro, reference to Final Fantasy VI playable character of the same name. Half Ogre, half white dragon (immune to cold), (voluntarily contracted) were polar bear (white hair covers the white scales so that it takes a high spot check to see the white scales and identify him as a half white dragon). No Class levels, all monster HD levels, all beat stick. 53 str, 14 dex 25 con, 18 int, 10 wis, 11 char.

He has a pet named Ultros, reference to Final Fantasy VI boss of the same name. Giant octopus, straight out of MM, nothing special.

There was a small cult worshiping Umaro in the near by town (enough worshipers so that he had the divine ability to have perfect control over his shape as a lycanthrope, I just didn't want to deal with that aspect of the character!)

Gather information DCs:

10: Its man bear pig. Now I must go warn the others, EXCELSIOR!

15: Dont walk on the lake.

20: He is a magically created experiment gone wrong, Owlbear, giant bat and frost wolf. The Owlbear is Immune to fire, but vulnerable to cold. Giant bat give him wings and flight, frost wolf gives him high intelligence and a frost breath weapon.

25: It's man bear pig. Now I must go warn the others, EXCELSIOR!

30: He is half Ogre Half White Dragon. He was studying the world, looking for the perfect magic, or beast, or something, to increase his power so he could adequately defend himself from the coming war. (war was about to break out in that campaign) He learned of the were polar bear and it fit him in so many ways, including the white fur covering up his white scales. So he began a hunt for one and voluntarily contracted lycanthropy.

The encounter was intended to go:

The PCs travel up the snowed in road leading to a plateau near the mountain peak, Umaro is standing at the top, throwing ninja stars (they are ninja stars with the brutal throw feat, your argument is invalid) at the PCs. As soon as they get into melee, Umaro promptly flies across the frozen lake and shouts insults at them and taunts them. When as many of them as possible are on the frozen lake, Ultros bursts through the ice and grapples as many as he can and pulls them underwater. Umaro just belts out a deep and hearty laugh while they struggle. Once Ultros is reduced to a set hit points, it drops everyone and jets out of there, or Ulros is killed, Umaro wades in and, as the were polar bear, can use the run action in water, has an advantage over the PCs in water.

[AlanBruce]

The encounter is solid, I actually like it and can be very interesting and fun. However, at mid levels, the party is bound to have ways to avoid Ultross altogether through flight or teleportation, not to mention high enough checks to know what the creature is and blast him from afar if they reach the lake.

What level exactly are your PCs and what is their make up? If you have a wizard or sorcerer, flight becomes available (maybe not to all in the party, but to the fighter types), that way, they can reach Umaro on the other side of the lake. Players tend to get suspicious about treading on thin ice (in this case, literally), so they may make attempts to navigate around the lake or use the aforementioned tactics.

Of course, if the ice lake were covered in snow or had an illusion of sorts to conceal it, that would change the scenario significantly.

[Immabozo]

Of course, if the ice lake were covered in snow or had an illusion of sorts to conceal it, that would change the scenario significantly.

That is a fantastic idea!

The party was, if I remember correctly a 8th level wizard (specializing in controlling magics, like shriveling limbs, or another save-or-suck spell) 9th level rogue, 7th level half dragon barbarian, 7th level barbarian, a 4th level cleric/3rd level wizard (going for mystic theurge, he was), then we had a player, who, due to work, only occasionally showed up and had an auto leveling, ever changing character to fit his whims, or the party's needs that night.

The best character was my Druid, level 9, but the DM was going to let me try DMing an encounter, as I never had, wanted to, and he was running short on time. But alas, the campaign fell apart instead. (I had the highest HP, highest armor, when self buffed, and highest damage output, in addition to great role playing shenanigans through wildshape).

[AlanBruce]

Barring your druid (unless you have him as a DMPC), the only ones who can allow flight are the wizard through spells and scrolls and the rogue, with UMD.

True Seeing should not be available to any of them, unless they have solid reasons to purchase a scroll or two. Depending on the type of illusion you want on the lake, the DC will increase or decrease (everyone but the wizard and cleric should fail the save)

I would suggest Umaro somehow has access to a Mirage Arcana scroll and cast it not on the entire lake, but create an uneven patch of snow to give the PCs the feeling that they can get to him, but they'll have to do some minor jump checks.

[Immabozo]

I doubt the wizard would have taken it, though. And I doubt the rogue would have the device to use. Just doesn't seem to be a ling that the other PCs ever did.

But I like the illusion idea! Thank you, that is a new aspect I can work into my stuff!