Need Help with an End Game Boss

[Jett Midknight]

So as it stands now the party that I have been with all summer will be coming to a close and I want to send them off with an awesome boss fight. They are currently heading towards the fortress of an orc king for a final confrontation with him. The orc king has also made a pact with a devil from earlier in the campaign so he has those powers as well.

The main thing I would like help with, is how do you make a solo boss that won't get swarmed and die? The party consists of 6 level 9 players. A ranger, sorcerer, wizard, alchemist, fighter, and ninja. If the fighter or ranger get off a full attack they deal insane amounts of damage. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Samalpetey]

The boss doesn't have to be by himself. Assuming a powerful devil, he could well have some Legion Devil allies helping him in a fight, who can soak up a lot of damage. You could also try ways to stop (Or at least make it difficult for) the fighter and/or ranger getting next to the warlord for a turn, such as tripping and a reach weapon off the top of my head. Also, assuming a dual-wielding ranger, DR could cut down on his damage output quite a bit, just food for thought. A bit of TOB with diamond mind on the warlord could also help him avoid losing early on to save or suck spells

[Jett Midknight]

A bit of TOB with diamond mind on the warlord could also help him avoid losing early on to save or suck spells
What exactly do you mean by that?

[Malroth]

Tome of Battle the go to source for melee optimization outside of "be a Cleric" or "Ubercharge for 10^97 damage" Includes one combat school "diamond Mind" that has maneuvers (usually 1/encounter EX powers) which can replace Saves with Concentration Checks and Immediately end Most Debuffs with a Swift action. Making your Boss Much more resilant vs some of the usual non damaging Fighter counters.

[Galvin]

What exactly do you mean by that?

There are some warblade maneuvers that allow you to make a concentration check in place of a given save, depending on the maneuver. Using these would allow the boss to avoid a caster's charm spell, or something else that can end a combat quickly.

[yougi]

If you want a solo monster to work, you should read AngryDM's "Boss Fight" (http://angrydm.com/2010/04/the-dd-boss-fight-part-1/). It's for 4E, but it is easily applicable to 3.5.

However, I would say it is a better idea to surround them with minions.

For 6 level 9 characters, I'd say you want an EL of about 13-14 for an End Game boss. And here is my thinking-as-I-type proposal:

Orc King (I'm thinking Duskblade or PsyWar, and refluff his abilities to fiendish looking stuff, somewhere around level 11)
1 Nessian Warhound (CR9), maybe acting as a mount?
3 Orc Body Guards (each a Barbarian 7, and refluff their rage as "devilish trance or something")
1 Orc "Shaman" (Sorcerer 10)

I think with that, they'd have their hands pretty full.

If you want a more epic battle, but which doesn't follow RAW (so if that's the sort of stuff that flies at your table), take out the Warhound, and after the battle, the Orc King comes back up as some kind of Devil: Ice Devil maybe, or maybe even an evil refluffed Leonal.

[Jett Midknight]

If you want a more epic battle, but which doesn't follow RAW (so if that's the sort of stuff that flies at your table), take out the Warhound, and after the battle, the Orc King comes back up as some kind of Devil: Ice Devil maybe, or maybe even an evil refluffed Leonal.
I really like this idea. Also, when you say minions are you referring to the type of monsters that only have 1 HP, or just a general term for lackies.

[Hua]

Any boss worth the title will have methods of knowing when the fight is going to happen. Have him prep a few rounds before the fight with whatever potions, magic items and equipment to make himself more survivable. You have to adjust for the situation, but here are some examples, in no particular order:
1. Potion of enlarge person. The extra size gives more damage from weapon (as long as it is not a missle weapon). It also gives reach so extra AoO when they close, or force them to use tumble and such to avoid reach.
2. Anything that improves defense. Again, potions are great. Barkskin, magic vestments, shield of faith, ... Don't forget ones that might not stack with everything. A mage armor potion wont stack with his armor, but will certainly hep against a touch attack spell from the wizard and sorcerer.
3. Any abilty buffing potion. Dex for AC and initiavie and reflex saves, con for hp, str to hit better and harder.
4. Never leave magic items in a treasure chest. Wear that broach of shielding so the magic missles don't hurt!
5. Since you said he has a devil ally, see what buff spells he can get from that. A Stoneskin spell will take off 10 points from each hit.
6. Have him use cover. The ranger or other ranged people can't hurt him if he has full cover.
7. Position himself to limit the number of opponents that can hit him. If only 1 or 2 at a time can get to him it doesnt matter how many are in the party. Note that Line of Sight vs the spell casters may be important here.
8. If he has blind fighting, putting darkness into the room may be to his advantage, especailly if the players can't see in the dark. 50% miss chance for them due to darkness and only 25% for him puts it in his favor.
9. Blur. A flat 20% miss chance for concealment can negate a lot of damage.

Really, with some AC boosting stuff, he doesn't need to worry about the full attack round because the follow-up attacks will be unlikely to land.

Note that if he strikes early and hard, some of the party will be in defense mode instead of offense. The fighter that backs out of combat to get healing to save his own life is not hurting the boss.

[nyarlathotep]

So as it stands now the party that I have been with all summer will be coming to a close and I want to send them off with an awesome boss fight. They are currently heading towards the fortress of an orc king for a final confrontation with him. The orc king has also made a pact with a devil from earlier in the campaign so he has those powers as well.

The main thing I would like help with, is how do you make a solo boss that won't get swarmed and die? The party consists of 6 level 9 players. A ranger, sorcerer, wizard, alchemist, fighter, and ninja. If the fighter or ranger get off a full attack they deal insane amounts of damage. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Is this 3.5, pathfinder, or something else?

[MeiLeTeng]

I really like this idea. Also, when you say minions are you referring to the type of monsters that only have 1 HP, or just a general term for lackies.

They just meant lackies. The concept of Minions as a creature with 1 HP in D&D exclusively belong to 4th edition.

[Jett Midknight]

Is this 3.5, pathfinder, or something else?

Pathfinder

[Lateral]

Basically, if you want a single boss fight to really hold up against a full party, you either need a boss with several reasonably powerful lackeys (along with, perhaps, some weaker minions to soak up damage and get in the way- legion devils are, of course, ideal for this purpose), or you need the boss to be able to take action economy and throw it into the Sun. Things with either lots of extra actions or lots of attacks are probably your best bet.

[Runestar]

Solo seems a little too much against 6 PCs. But in general, he will need actions, high hp, excellent defenses and some way of dividing or at least neutralising part of the party so they don't focus-fire and 1-shot him in the first round.

[Medic!]

If you wanted to port it over from 3.0/3.5, I'd say it sounds like a decent set up to have your Orc King possessed by a Fiend of Possession with some Warlock levels. The fiend could either hide inside the orc himself, or inside a piece of gear, augmenting the gear as appropriate round-by-round, or giving the orc some stat bonuses, while using things like ready-action Flee the Scene (if you're ok with Supernatural Transformation and Warlocks) to dimension door as an attack starts, leaving your PCs swinging at a fake Orc King.

[yougi]

I really like this idea. Also, when you say minions are you referring to the type of monsters that only have 1 HP, or just a general term for lackies.

I did mean "lackey".

Glad that you like the idea. Since I read that article I linked to, I rarely make boss fights that do not have "stages".

[nyarlathotep]

Here's a sample idea.

Fiendish Orc Antipaladin 10. As his fiendish powers come from devils also give him the see in darkness ability.

He has the battle blessing feat from 3.5 which makes all his spells swift actions to cast so each round he is either casting a spell can attacking or casting 2 spells. To keep these spells relevant give him an 20 or so charisma after his buff items (a +6 headband of charisma really shouldn't be that bad). Ideally he'd be using bows but that might clash with the image of an orc warlord and thus he could just be wielding a two handed weapon.

Minions are two bone devils (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/devil/bone) and one contract devil (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/devil/devil-contract), perhaps even the devil he originally made the deal with. Basically the bonies form a front line with the orc chieftain while the contract devil provides caster support.

If they know the party is coming ahead of time the contract devil should inscribe a symbol of pain above the door into their chamber, and the chieftain casters bulls strength and protection from good on himself. He should also cast eagle's splendor on the contract devil (increases the save DC of all his spells by 2). Both bone devils should wait by the door and prepare actions to sting the first targets through.

First round of combat the symbol of pain should trigger on all the party (60 foot radius doesn't trigger until someone is in the middle of it. The chieftain should cast deeper darkness on the party's general area, and charge them (or full attack if ranged). Each of the bone devils should then full attack. The contract devil should attempt to cast silence in the area of the party's backline to disable the party's casters without hitting the chieftain's area.

Each round following the bone devils full attack and if they are for some reason not in the area of deeper darkness cast quickened invisibility on themselves at the end of their turns'. The chieftain casts litany of eloquence on the furthest away character capable of casting spells and full attacks the nearest none fascinated creature, or once his second level spells run out casts litany of weakness. Lastly the contract casts hold person each round starting with the fighter and ninja as targets, moving on to other party members if they are held or dead. Should the fight last long enough exhaust his hold person uses he switches to scorching ray. Additionally should the party possess any summoned creatures the contract devil will use dismissal on them.

If you'd like I can generate a statblock for the chieftain as described here.