[3.5] Help Building an Encounter

[Lateral]

My PbP players, keep out. Especially you, Jeff.

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So, I'm trying to set up a series of encounters for this PbP dungeon crawl on this forum. Hence the note at the top, and the vague title. Basically, there are going to be three rooms in a row, each with different enemies, but there's a ghost NPC that shows up in each room, possessing one of the monsters in the room (with Malevolence). It harasses the PCs until the monster it's possessing is killed, at which point it throws out a damaging or battlefield control spell as a parting gift and teleports out to the next room. After the third room, the PCs come into the final room, where they see the ghost one more time. Annoyed that they aren't all dead yet, the ghost possesses one last creature that it has Wisdom-drained into catatonia; the PCs then have to kill that creature before fighting the ghost itself for the last time.

Only problem is, I'm not sure what that creature should be. Ergo, I'm asking the playground for help finding a monster with all of the following:

First and foremost, it needs to be something powerful and impressive. Something big, that would strike fear into the hearts of the noblest heroes. (Noble heroes they ain't, but still.)
It needs to function well against a party of five. See, it'll just be a single boss monster, and those usually have big problems with action economy, so I'm looking for something that's going to be able to hold its own against five people at once.
Finally, it has to work well when possessed by a ghost. Magic Jar doesn't allow access to Extraordinary or Supernatural abilities, which means that it has to do both of the above without any particular extraordinary or supernatural abilities. That's the real sticking point, honestly.


Any ideas, anyone? The party is 8th level (except for one 7th-level Necropolitan), but they're both gestalt and fairly optimized so I'm looking for something within a couple steps of CR 10.

[nyarlathotep]

Magic jar does allow you to use "natural" and automatic abilities which I assume means ex and su abilities that require no action to perform it also says that extra limbs do not allow more natural attacks so my first suggestion (a gug) doesn't work.

On the high end I would suggest a great cyclops (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/humanoids/giants/cyclops/cyclops-great). It is an emense giant and possesses only one activated ability, has both ranged and melee attacks, and has good cc if you use the large and in charge feat. It however is CR 12.

Right at CR 10 is the ichor shark (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/demon/demon-xenarth-ichor-shark), a land shark with great demonic power but once again all its abilities are automatic. Given that it is technically an outsider though using magic jar are it may be cheating.

Twelve headed hydra is a classic (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/magical-beasts/hydra/hydra-12-headed).

For really really big you could go deadly mantis (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/vermin/mantis-deadly)

[Lateral]

To be clear, this is 3.5. Not Pathfinder.

[Azoth]

Could scare them senseless by making them stare down a Feral Winged Monster of Legend Constrictor Snake. 3 natural attacks per round, constict damage, it flies, and with Creature of Legend you can select a number of passive abilities to make it even worse. Like say continuous spell turning a Regeneration 5 with frigtful pressence or raging blood.

It is a big dumb bruiser, but it is something nasty to behold in action when you are in a confined space.

I have used similar as a temple guardian. Granted I applied the Titanic template to it so the thing was Collosal and well...yeah it was not an easy fight for my PCs, but I got to watch them pale as they thought they were fighting a Chinese Dragon.

[Darth Stabber]

Medium or larger creature with fling ally + goblin swordsage with armorspikes enchanted with returning property and a readied maneuver = Yoyo of pain.

[Lateral]

While that's a pretty cool idea, I'm not looking for clever encounter setups. That's what the first three rooms are for. For this one, I'm really just looking at a straight-up fight between five fairly optimized PCs and one powerful, ****-your-pants scary beatstick that won't be easily shut down and can handle fighting five people at once.

If it helps, here's the party layout.

{table=head]Player | Character | Race | Class | Speech Colour
Lix Lorn | Vivian (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=439927) | Lesser Cryophoenix (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13761574#post13761574) | RHD 3/LA 3/Wilder 2//Radiant 8 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249172) | Navy
Jeff the Green | Davhkur (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=470241) | Necropolitan Unseelie Illumian |Beguiler 6/Mindbender 1//Archivist 5/Swordsage 1/Shadow Adept 1| Sandy Brown
BelGareth | Oberon (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=470305) | Pixie | LA 4/Warlock 4//Warmage 8 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131346) | Dark Green
GuyFawkes |Ravana (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=472538) | Rakshasa | Rakshasa 8 (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2245.0)//Swordmage 8 (http://wiki.faxcelestis.net/index.php?title=Swordmage) | Cafe Noir
Derjuin | Titania (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=464202) | Gloura | RHD 6/LA 2//Ranger 2/Targeteer 4/Deepwod Sniper 2 | Dark Olive
[/table]

[rockdeworld]

I think it's worth noting that a Dragon fits all those criteria, even without spells, Ex or Su abilities. A juvenile Red Dragon would work.

[Darth Stabber]

Hydras are an interesting option for big single bruiser not getting screwed by action economy. Make it more intelligent (there's probably a template, but you could just up the int and call it a day), and you can get frightening with it.

[M_Ayling]

One creature shouts out to me with those parameters:

5+ headed Hydra.

M_Ayling

[Lateral]

I suppose a hydra or a dragon would work- they definitely have the requisite number of attacks. Given the amount of damage this party can put out, though, they'd both be slaughtered in a couple of rounds. DR would really help a lot, especially against the gloura, but hydras don't have any and dragons have DR/magic, which is completely useless.

[Darth Stabber]

I suppose a hydra or a dragon would work- they definitely have the requisite number of attacks. Given the amount of damage this party can put out, though, they'd both be slaughtered in a couple of rounds. DR would really help a lot, especially against the gloura, but hydras don't have any and dragons have DR/magic, which is completely useless.

So just give them DR. Make it defeatable by what every you want, even /-. Or give them resistance against a commonly used energy damage, or both. If you feel bad about it (you shouldn't) take away something else to make up for it.

[Lateral]

Well, yes, I could rule zero it. I do that all the time, it's not really what I'm looking for with this.

[Kymme]

Mineral Warrior template, maybe? Gives DR 8/adamanitne, if I am not mistaken. Might help out a bit on the high HD creatures.

[WhamBamSam]

Well, yes, I could rule zero it. I do that all the time, it's not really what I'm looking for with this.The Dracolich template in Draconomicon (CR+3) gives DR5/Bludgeoning, a gaze at the beginning of the fight which forces a save against paralysis, and +1d6 cold damage and a save against paralysis on all physical attacks that hit. It does cost the dragon its Con bonus though, so it might not actually make the thing any sturdier. I suppose if its phylactery is right there and not in some far off hiding spot you could litter the place with Dragon corpses, and it could keep jumping to new bodies until they smash the phylactery or all of its fighting corpses. It can't talk or use spells for 2d4 days after possessing a new body, but if it's geared toward being more of a beatstick, who cares?

Also, since you seem to be looking for more attacks, here's a useful little trick. Per the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#dragonType), a dragon which can assume human form is proficient with simple weapons. Thus, you can add 3-4 pelvic thrusts to its full attack routine with the Improved Unarmed Strike feat.

Putting those two together how about a Young Gold Dragon which was forced to consume Dracolich brew? That's a CR of 9+3=12, which is at the upper end of the general range you were looking for. For feats, give it Improved Unarmed Strike, Multiattack, Improved Multiattack, Snap Kick, and Knowledge Devotion (Dragons have 6+Int skill points/level and all knowledges as class skills). You now have a monster that makes 10 attacks per round at a high attack bonus, all of them dealing some bonus damage and forcing a save against paralysis. It's also immune to a bunch of things including both Fire and Cold damage, and has DR5/bludgeoning.

As I said, if you feel like going all out, litter the lair with some large sized true dragon corpses and have it hop from body to body until it runs out or they get to its phylactery. Said phylactery is either at the bottom of the hoard or buried as deep as it can be beneath the room while still within 90 feet of the corpses. The phylactery is a necklace which is around the neck of a Young White Dragon corpse. If the Dracolich decides that the fight is going badly, or the party smashes all his battle corpses, he'll possess the White Dragon corpse and burrow to an escape tunnel, unliving to fight another day.

If that's still not enough, add the Wyrm of War sovereign archetype for three extra Fighter/Dragon feats, and give the base Dragon a stat array dumping Con in favor of other stats.