Possibly questionable Boss tricks?

[Blackhawk748]

Now i was leafing through Unearthed Arcana today for no particular reason and i thought about how i've heard some people use Gestalt Characters for their BBEG or other Boss style characters and i was wondering what everyones thoughts on this are. Personally i could see myself using this for more important bosses, like the BBEG's lieutenants or other important bosses

Also what are your thoughts on using video game tricks (IE having the Boss jump to an area and be healed over like 2-4 rounds while having mooks attack) to make them a harder fight. Obviously in the example he can still be shot at, and i wouldnt prevent that as that would be cheap

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

It's not really all that useful, since the PCs will collectively still get more actions per round than a given boss opponent regardless of how many abilities that boss opponent has. It will only matter when that boss opponent is able to somewhat equalize the action economy, whether he's using abilities that break action economy such as Factotum 8 or Swift Hunter, or hindering the PCs from taking actions via crowd control effects, or has minions to contribute actions and serve as a distraction to soak up PCs' actions, or have tons of buffs active before the start of battle, or use traps and hazards that the PCs can fall into without any effort on his part, or any combination of those things.

[OldTrees1]

Have a boss last multiple encounters.

E1: (L+3 total)
Boss (L+2) + Lieutenant (L+0) + Minions (Total to L+0)
Boss runs at one point leaving Lieutenant and Minions to stall

E2: (L+4 total)
The Boss retreated to a more secure area and used some consumable items. (Healed up and maybe some buffs depending on the time it took to finish the previous fight)
Boss (L+2) + Lieutenant (L+0) + Minions (Total to L+0) + Environment Factors (L-1)


Ex: 4 Lvl 6 PCs, Thieves Guildhall
E1(EL 9): Guildmaster (CR 8), Left-hand (CR 6), 4 Guildmates (CR 2 each)
Guildmaster retreats when at half health.

Guildmaster uses 1 scroll per turn until E2 begins (Cure Moderate Wounds x3, Blur, Mirror Image)

E2(EL 10): Guildmaster (CR 8), Right-hand (CR 6), 4 Guildmates (CR 2 each), Hazard/Trap/BoonTrap (CR 5)

[Zanos]

Now i was leafing through Unearthed Arcana today for no particular reason and i thought about how i've heard some people use Gestalt Characters for their BBEG or other Boss style characters and i was wondering what everyones thoughts on this are. Personally i could see myself using this for more important bosses, like the BBEG's lieutenants or other important bosses
As a player, I think that PC's and NPC's should follow the same general rules. Gestalting up important villains seems like it cheapens the PC role, at least in my opinion. Letting villians use stuff the players can't seems kind of...unfair, I guess?



Also what are your thoughts on using video game tricks (IE having the Boss jump to an area and be healed over like 2-4 rounds while having mooks attack) to make them a harder fight. Obviously in the example he can still be shot at, and i wouldnt prevent that as that would be cheap
That's fine, and is actually a strategy that is employeed frequently even by WoTC. Big bad starts getting damaged, then he teleports away to some healing chamber to get healed, then comes back mad. Just make sure your players have some way to actually deal with it, otherwise you could make the encounter a hell of a lot hard than you expected.

[cakellene]

As long as you let the PCs do the same thing.

[Blackhawk748]

As a player, I think that PC's and NPC's should follow the same general rules. Gestalting up important villains seems like it cheapens the PC role, at least in my opinion. Letting villians use stuff the players can't seems kind of...unfair, I guess?

I kinda thought that too, i guess it would be ok for JUST the BBEG, but even then only if the idea cant be done reasonably another way.

And by "do the same thing" you mean run, i usually let them as the boss is a bit busy recuperating.