Varakhut Inevitable Encounter (Rules Q + 3 Stage Fight)

[Tevesh]

I am building the last few levels of my campaign that has been running for over a year. The PCs are now dimension hopping through the Lower Planes before going back to their Prime Material. The monster that makes sense for this Boss Fight is a Varakhut - Fiend Folio p.103.

He's CR 19 which is perfect CR for a boss at level 17. I've been finding CR+2 of level works as a boss, though perhaps going up 1 CR might not hurt.

The errata puts him at DR 20/Adamantine + Chaotic with Fast Heal 20 which makes me lean him towards a brawler/gish. My problem is that I don't know if this guy is underwhelming or overpowered.

Anyway, I don't quite know how to run this guy. This is the PCs first time playing D&D, so they don't quite know how high level fights go. This means that if I played the Varakhut as the Int 18 Monster it is, my Limited Wishes, Time Stops and Wishes could be devastating.

Without them, his attack is +21 which isn't going to be that impressive with the PCs having AC in the mid-thirties by their current level of 14. The other option is have it only use Circle of Doom (basically does 23 damage in 20' Burst/Fort 21 Halves) which gets lame pretty fast, especially considering its awesome array of SLAs.

Any tips on how to make the fight hard but not impossible? I'm sure the 'proper' way to run the Encounter is Time Stop, Wish/L.Wish for some ridiculous spell combinations and pummel the PCs with fists. I'm worried about a TPK they can't stop because of being on the wrong end of a Time Stop.

The only thing I can think of is swap out its feats for better choices.

As he is the boss, I do have 108000 GP I'm willing to kit him out with. Nothing too crazy, as the PCs are going to be getting this as well. I am half tempted with Belt of Magnifience +4 (100,000) Miniatures Handbook p.42.

Rules Q: Varakhut have Dispelling Burst. Does that effect every continuous effect in play or just the highest like a normal Dispel? If it effects everything, does it also have a chance to suppress Magic Items?

[RaviStrife]

Don't use the time stop and wishes as offensive spells. Use them to extend the battle.

Wait until he's getting down to mid hp, then time stop and heal and buff up. Rinse and repeat for a solidly built boss battle.

[Tevesh]

Hmm... Interesting idea.

It is kind of a waste to use Wish/L.Wish on buffs/heals, but that's usually due to the constraints of the Action Economy. With Time Stop, you can ignore that.

I guess that means that the items should be Amulet of Natural Weapon to make him not suck at striking the PCs. That's fine. None of the PCs are Monks (unless another character dies, that's been happening more at higher levels) so it would just be cash-money.

[Runestar]

The inevitables have never really made sense to me, stat-wise. They are supposed to face primarily high-lv casters, the people with ability to cheat death, abuse time and threaten gods, yet their abilities make them woefully under-equipped to tackle such threats. Honestly, I find their stat-blocks are a joke for their cr. It does not help that fiend folio is considered one of the more unbalanced books (i.e.: overinflated crd) in dnd history.

First, I think you should keep it out of melee combat. It only has 151hp and a decent AC of 35, so it's not going to last too long against the fighters, even with dr20. Consider advancing it to boost its saves, hp and bab.

It looks like you may have to play it like a high-lv spell caster. First swap out its useless skill focus feats for more combat-effective ones like flyby-attack and quicken-SLA: dimension door. In combat, start with timestop, then use force cage to disable the spell-casters, followed by meteor swarm against the fighters, and finally spam dominate monster repeatedly. Use dim-door at the end of each round to maintain maximum range away from the PCs.

That's the best I can think of. :smalltongue:

[Tevesh]

It wouldn't be the first time I flat out improved monsters because they were woefully under CRed. I had to improve an Akuma (OA) so that its stat block was more in line with another fire based brawler of equal CR (I think that creature was from MM4 or 5).

The issue is improving it too much and Time Stop seems one of the most ridiculous abilities ever.

Any suggestions on improving it to make it more in step with other CR 19 threats? All I know is that MM2 is considered overpowered, I didn't know that FF was considered underpowered.

Quickened Dim Door makes sense; however, every other power this guy has is an Instantenous, so I wouldn't be able to affect the PCs much aside from burning the Varakhut's Wish/L.Wish.

Dropping every bad feat leaves him with 7 Feats, keeping Improved Initiative. Quickened Dim Door makes sense. I guess spamming Dispelling Blast would also be important, especially since the PCs are probably loaded with the daily buffs by then.

I'm curious as to why Forcecage the Wizards, Forcecage on a Fighter makes more sense to me. The Fighter has no way to escape, you've eliminated his main ability (do damage) and if you do something mean to the Wizard he's going to be too busy to help his fighter buddy out. Wizard would use his turn to break out of the Forcecage.

Edit:
I think the idea of an Inevitable being under-equipped is that they're supposed to be a recurring villain. You killed Marut-3? Marut-4 will be much better and tailored to kill you guys better. You killed Marut-4? Here's Marut-5.

The PCs are only going to fight this particular Inevitable once. They have another Inevitable which they'll fight twice. I want it somewhat memorable as he's the boss of lvl 17.

[Toy Killer]

Well, Beyond the stats and cards on the monster, if you want the fight to be remembered at least, you need to concentrate on the encounter itself.

Big solo boss fights are usually over depressingly quick. It's just not fair for four characters to take four actions against one boss, him to threaten the life of one character, and then dead. There is a reason why people haven't posted tactics for a fourth turn yet.

I'm of the Angry DM's opinion in designing boss fights (http://angrydm.com/2010/04/the-dd-boss-fight-part-1/). Multi-stages, with at least one ability that alters the enviorment significantly. He writes mostly for fourth edition, but the advice blends seamlessly with any other system.

In fact, subscribe. He has some very cool ideas when it comes to DMing in general, and worse comes to worst, you can always just ignore him.

[Tevesh]

I've actually read that before, its interesting.

So, divide the Inevitable's HP pool into 3 parts and have the Inevitable do funky stuff during A, B and C of the fight?

The only thing I can think of is:
A: Analysis, nothing to fancy. Opening blows.
B: Tilt, identified weaknesses and push hard against the PCs.
C: Repair, set stage back to B.

PCs would have visual clues that he's going to stages. Every time he gets set to C, one of his lights goes out and he goes to B. He has three of these lights, so the PCs will figure out to blitz him.

This is cinematic, which is great, but I find that works better with melee monsters. The Varakhut doesn't have blasty spells to blast with and his attacks are pitiful in comparison to other CR 19 monsters, who hit at +38. The issue is trying to find a CR 19 "Controller" - if I"m going to steal from 4E, I better just take the whole thing.

CR 19 Brutes are Century Wurms, where I can something interesting. CR 19 Wizards are Chronotyryn which are Sorcerers packing Time Stop. Perhaps I should do a re-skin.

I don't know what to really do here with this 'boss fight with stages' - but it makes sense.

[Tevesh]

I am double posting for a bump, for a question and to show the 3 Stage fight. I think its pretty nifty. I built one for an earlier boss and thought it was really great to have cinematic quick action stuff occur.

So I naturally applied it to this guy at the behest of Toy Killer. What's neat is he has a bunch of 3/Day abilities, which I could then spread over the course of the fight instead of 'use up all at once' like the Angry DM's analysis.

My question: One of the Varakhut's abilities is a Dispelling Blast. As my reading, its Greater Dispel Magic (+19 to the check). The thing is the line "it effects everything in a 30' burst". I initially thought: "No problem, everything in 30'".

But after thinking about it... Does this mean that every single spell in effect has a chance of being Dispelled? If yes, instead of the normal Dispel of 'once it hits a target its over', then does that also effect Magic Items? Dispel Magic can suppress the magical properties of Magic Items, so if it is everything does it mean everything?

Anyway, I'd like some opinions.

It was neat spreading out the abilities between the three stages. I decided to pop the Varakhut's 2 Biggies during Stage 2 because that's the suggested part where the monster is supposed to have the upper hand.

Here's my 3-Stage Varakhut Inevitable Encounter:

When Abdicatus-I iniatives combat, he releases a Dispel 30' Burst targetting all ongoing effects at Dispel +19 followed up wih Haste. Stage 1 will attempt to quickly dispatch foes, using Quickened Circle of Doom with melee touch attacks.

When Stage I has been reduced to approximately 50% HP for the first time, Abdicatus will Time Stop. During this Time Stop, Abdicatus will use Limited Wish to Arcane Fusion (Repair Critical 4d8+19 plus Fists of Stone: +3 Atk/Dmg, +1 Additional Attack w/o Haste), Forcecage the largest threat, and Haste.

Abdicatus-I, Varakhut Invevitable, Stage 1
HP 117 DR 20/Chaotic and Adamantine Fast Heal 20
Init +6
AC 42 T 27 F 13
F +7 R +9 W +11
SR 30

10' Touch +22/+22 (2d10+8)

Feats
- 3/D Quickened Circle of Doom

Cast: Haste

SLA-AW
Circle of Doom (20' Burst d8+19/Fort 24 Half), Hold Monster (Will 24), Dominate (Will 28)

SLA-3/D
Teleport w/o Error

When Abdicatus-I, Stage 1 is reduced to 0 HP, Abdicatus-I Stage 2 begins combat at that new initiative. Cancel any negative effects. Stage 2 immediately releases a Dispel 30' at +19 followed up with a Haste. Stage 2 will use Meteor Swarm at the 4 PCs it thinks has the lowest Touch and/or Reflex Saves with an even distribution: +18 Touch for 2d6 Bludge/6d8 Fire No Safe if Hit. 40' Burst 6d8/Reflex 28.

During Stage 2, Abdicatus-I's Melee Attacks gain the Range of 60'. Stage Two will use Quickened DimDoor to get away from the PCs, perhaps even right after casting Meteor Swarm. If the PCs swarm Stage 2, he'll use Circle of Doom and jet away. If only a few PCs have gotten close, he'll DimDoor and just use regular Touch Attacks.

When Stage 2 has been reduced to approximately 50% HP for the first time, Abdicatus will Time Stop. During this Time Stop, Abdicatus will use Limited Wish to Arcane Fusion (Repair Critical 4d8+19 plus Shield +4 AC), Forcecage the largest threat and use Wish to Summon a Greater Huge Storm Elemental. The Storm Elemental will unleash its Thunder and Lightning as often as possible, using Shock on the least damaged looking PC and attack whatever it think it could hit.

Abdicatus-I, Varakhut Invevitable, Stage 2
HP 117 DR 20/Chaotic and Adamantine Fast Heal 20
Init +6
AC 42 T 27 F 13
F +7 R +9 W +11
SR 30

10' Touch +21/+21 (2d10+6)

Feats
- Quickened Dim Door 3/D

SLA-AW
Circle of Doom (20' Burst d8+19/Fort 24 Half), DimDoor, Dominate (Will 28), Haste, Hold Monster (Will 24), Locate Person

3/D - Teleport w/o Error

Huge Storm Elemental
HP 241 DR 10/-
Init +4
AC 22 T 8 F 22
F +13 R +12 W +7

15' Slam +27/+27/+22 (3d6+15 plus 2d6 Electricity)

Shock - Swift - 1 Target 8d4/Fort 24 Half
1/Min - 60' Burst Thunder 8d6/Fort 24; Lightning Bolt 120' 16d6/Reflex 24.

Feats
- Big Bruiser (1/R - AoO 5' Steps)

When Abdicatus-I, Stage 2 is reduced to 0 HP, Abdicatus-I Stage 3 begins combat at the new initiative. Cancel any negative effects. Stage 3 immediately releases a Dispel 30' at +19 and cast Haste. Desperate, Stage 3 will Plane Shift (Will 26) on the PC that dealt the killing blow to Stage 2.

Stage 3 will stay away from the PCs, using Quickened DimDoors and attempting to slow them down with Quickened Dominates and Quickened Hold Person. Stage 3 will use Circle of Doom to do damage, now attempting to stay outside of the reach of the PCs and not even engage in combat but rely purel on spell slinging.

When Stage 3 has been reduced to approximately 50% HP for the first time, Abdicatus will Time Stop. During this Time Stop, Abdicatus will use Limited Wish to Arcane Fusion (Repair Critical 4d8+19 plus Shield +4 AC), Forcecage the largest threat and Haste.

Abdicatus-I, Varakhut Invevitable, Stage 3
HP 117 DR 20/Chaotic and Adamantine Fast Heal 20
Init +6
AC 42 T 27 F 13
F +7 R +9 W +11
SR 30

10' Slam +21/+21 (2d10+6)

Feats
- Quickened Dim Door 3/D
- Quickened Dominate 3/D
- Quickened Hold Monster 3/D
- Empowered Circle of Doom (1.5 Damage) 6/D
- Fell Drain - If Dmged by spell, gains negative level (returns after 19 hours) 3/D

SLA-AW
Circle of Doom (20' Burst d8+19/Fort 24 Half), DimDoor, Dominate (Will 28), Haste, Hold Monster (Will 24), Locate Person.

Possession: Cloak of Charisma +6 (Trans - 36000), Mithril Mechanus Gear +5 (Trans - 35500)

[PraxisVetli]

Dude.
My BBEG's feel underdressed.

[Tevesh]

I stat everything out and the 3 Stage fight really makes for an interesting encounter. I wish I could make changes for earlier boss fights but meh.

I am also running Monte Cook's Experimental Might, so the PCs are very powerful. Its been my compromise as sorts. They don't quite know how to build their PCs but they have a lot of options, I can build Optimized Fights and the PCs still win.

This isn't the BBEG. In fact, my campaign does't have a BBEG - just an overarching obstacles. As they jump through different realms, they encounter that flavor of the month but then they're fine again.

Any opinions on the Dispelling Burst of the Varakhut? Does it effect everything in play or just highest? If it effects everything, does it also suppress items?

[rweird]

Find a way to boost Abdicatus-I's saves, his highest is +11, which at CR 19 sucks pretty badly. A few well-placed spells could trivialize the encounter. Give him a Cloak of Resistance +5 (adding that to cloak of charisma is only like 25k extra).

Still, don't be surprised, if the party is well built and optimized, for a charger fighter or barbarian, or a mailman sorcerer to tear through one, if not multiple stages in a single round. Giving it some sort of immediate action counter could be useful, though I can't think of any items that give those off the top of my head.

[Tevesh]

The party is powerful, but not optimized.

The immediate action is built into each stage.

I don't know if I should tack on a +5 Resistance item. That is an item a PC would be picking up. I'd rather not cheat it, but I could just bump the Varakhut's saves.

[rweird]

The party is powerful, but not optimized.

The immediate action is built into each stage.

I don't know if I should tack on a +5 Resistance item. That is an item a PC would be picking up. I'd rather not cheat it, but I could just bump the Varakhut's saves.

The party could get an item like that anyways if MIC is allowed, it could work. It'd be slightly more treasure than normal, though you could have some encounters before/after that give less treasure. Perhaps they fight some outsider who's hoard is on another plane or something. The PCs very easily could have +5 resistance items anyways.

Also, it has fast healing 20, what would happen if it fast heals enough it'd be brought over its max with stages? Would it regress to the previous stage, not gain more HP, or gain more HP, but not go back to the previous stage?

[Tevesh]

In my experience of every boss fight in this campaign since 2nd level, Fast Healing does not stop the pain train.

Granted, this is the highest DR in conjunction with highest Fast Heal I've yet to run. I'd have it gain in excess but not revert to a previous stage.

I decided to make it a +5 Resistance, +6 Charisma Cloak. Making it the most expensive piece of single equipment to give out to date (73500 - Abj, Trans).

[rweird]

True, it usually doesn't, though when he Time Stops heal heal a good amount from Fast Healing alone, which is what made me think of it (if a 5 is rolled on the Time Stop, the healing would bring it up by at least 119 HP, and it has a total of 117 HP).

The cloak is worth slightly more than a +6 (effective enchantment) weapon, things like that would get more and more common. Still, epic (not epic level, but dramatic and awesome ones) deserve big rewards.