Overchannel Seems Like the Perfect Ability to Design a BBEG Around

[NeoSeraphi]

Not gonna lie. The first time I read this ability I instantly thought of a high level evoker surrounded by six clerics who cure wounds every round while he drops maximized spells every round. Has anyone used a high level caster as an enemy yet?

[Feldarove]

No, but I like this idea.

Since you are the DM, I would go with this

"You enter a large decorative chamber filled with the thrum of monastic chanting. Six acolytes stand in a large circle around a tall, white hair old man. Their hands extend towards him sending purplish waves of magic. As their hymn begins to crescendo, his eyes begin to crackle with bright purple light. He begins to lift in the air and scream; from what could either be complete terror, or unfathomable ecstasy. "

The waves of energy are healing him and giving him power....slowly, but cumulatively. While he is being fed this energy, he overchannels the hell out of his spells, devastating the players. The Acolytes are helpless to defend themselves as they channel their spell. Players must choose to either take down this towering mage or attack those giving him his power. Attacking the acolytes successfully interrupts their casting. They do nothing but attempt to continue casting until they die. They are actually giving up their own life force to the man, so eventually they will die if uninterrupted.

[NeoSeraphi]

Yeah, my only concern here is that multiple 3rd-5th level maximized evocation spells will kill the party. Like, even 3, I bet. 5e is pretty rough about its damage vs healing from what I've seen.

[GiantOctopodes]

Yeah, my only concern here is that multiple 3rd-5th level maximized evocation spells will kill the party. Like, even 3, I bet. 5e is pretty rough about its damage vs healing from what I've seen.

nah, nothing to get a party more riled up and focused on revenge than a good tpk. After the party gets wiped in an encounter with him, have them wake up because (being the typical melodramatic and overconfident BBEG) he just left them to die rather than finishing them, and a friendly villager stabilizes and heals them. They find that unchecked he caused an absurd amount of devastation, so now they need to figure out how to sabotage his magical healing, causing him to kill himself when he overchannels. Sounds awesome in my book.

[Justin Sane]

nah, nothing to get a party more riled up and focused on revenge than a good tpk. After the party gets wiped in an encounter with him, have them wake up because (being the typical melodramatic and overconfident BBEG) he just left them to die rather than finishing them, and a friendly villager stabilizes and heals them. They find that unchecked he caused an absurd amount of devastation, so now they need to figure out how to sabotage his magical healing, causing him to kill himself when he overchannels. Sounds awesome in my book.Rocks fall, everyone survives thanks to DM Ex Machina?

[GiantOctopodes]

Rocks fall, everyone survives thanks to DM Ex Machina?

Basically this exactly, but with someone they can see throwing the rocks at to get pissed and have their eventual revenge. If you want players to have motive choice in the matter, have them hear town / village X is in danger, and if they choose to show up to defend it, get ROFLstomped as described above. If not, they just see the aftermath. Either they get pissed and want revenge or feel guilty and want revenge, either is fine, I'm just saying that providing players with a challenge which requires indirect solutions and them "dying" as a result is totally fine in my book. Do you dislike DM Ex Machina saving the players, or believe rocks should not exist anywhere in the game world to fall on players should they walk in front of them?

[NeoSeraphi]

nah, nothing to get a party more riled up and focused on revenge than a good tpk. After the party gets wiped in an encounter with him, have them wake up because (being the typical melodramatic and overconfident BBEG) he just left them to die rather than finishing them, and a friendly villager stabilizes and heals them. They find that unchecked he caused an absurd amount of devastation, so now they need to figure out how to sabotage his magical healing, causing him to kill himself when he overchannels. Sounds awesome in my book.

Hmmm...that does sound pretty cool.

[Justin Sane]

Do you dislike DM Ex Machina saving the players, or believe rocks should not exist anywhere in the game world to fall on players should they walk in front of them?Neither, and both, depending on situation. As a player, I viscerally hate surviving by DM Fiat. The dice fall as they may, and if that implies my beloved character died, so be it. As a DM, if the players decide to block the avalanche with their chests, I'll make the consequences of said decision explicitly clear, but if they're in a situation where a character death would be dramatically inappropriate (as in, travelling a narrow ledge in the mountains to get to wherever the real action is) I just make sure it's not avalanche season :smallsmile:

On the "Seek Revenge" scenario, I'd play it differently by shifting the PCs motivation a bit. Using the "Gandalf at the bridge" card, have a NPC the PCs care about perform an heroic sacrifice to buy them a couple rounds so they can "Flee, you fools". You'd still get them pretty motivated to get revenge and their survival is still dictated by player agency as there's always a chance they ignore the warning, but it would be their decision, not DM Fiat.

[Pex]

Do you dislike DM Ex Machina saving the players, or believe rocks should not exist anywhere in the game world to fall on players should they walk in front of them?

Yes

Rocks can exist. Avalanches may happen, just not for the DM's lulz to kill the party because he felt like it.