Ackbar Strategy - Boss Monsters

[MukkTB]

Does this phrase have more meaning than focus fire on the one bad guy? Or is this when you're fighting a boss monster and he one shots one of the party members with some uber attack?

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

The Ackbar Strategy can only be employed after a failed maneuver that will cause unacceptable losses if you withdraw. The plan is to do as much damage as possible before your enemies kill you. This will either lead your enemies to retreat and turn your tactical misstep into a successful assault, or leave your entire force dead in the suicide rush with maximum casualties to the enemy.

[Dissonance]

I like to think of Boss monsters as a serious hike in the challenge compared to what they've been doing. It should also be relavent to what they have been doing at the time or at least be connected in a way. If this means that the water dungeon boss is weak to electricity and because everything else in the place was weak to it then there you go.

One thing I think most people forget is that the term "Boss" can be applied to a lot of things, not just monsters. For example if the party has been spending a lot of time in the capital trying to nail a corrupt businessman, it wouldn't make much sense having to fight him now would it? It would make much more sense trying to get him to confess or proving to the authorities of his guilt. The catch then is the guy is a treacherous snake with a level head and he has corrupted most of the people putting him on trial. This will put the party at a severe disadvantage and make them learn the hard way that not all problems can be solved with a sword. In other words, since he is a silver tongued snake in his element he definitely qualifies for "Boss Monster".

Another scenario is a crypt where everthing is long dead and there are no undead. Most of the challenge would be from traps. Final room could have them needing to figure out a puzzle while an acid eats away 1/10th their ORIGINAL LIFE TOTAL. Effectively giving them 10 turns to solve the room or game over.

Even then a sterotypical boss monster doesn't have to be a cliche. For example in a campaign I'm running the boss "monster" will be two groups of enemies fighting against each other. Each individual group would outclass the party a few times over, making combat much more dangerous then the fare they are used to.