The final encounter

[DarkEternal]

Hey Playground

My team is slowly nearing the climax of their adventure(unless they die in the dungeon before the last dungeon, that is), and I've been thinking about the final encounter they will have.

Players in campaign, you know who you are, get out of the thread, thank you.


The basic idea is that they are a rebel alliance toppling over a corrupt empire. Their last enemy? The emperor himself. The party should be level 14 and is fairly well optimised(Wizard, scout, some kind of a dragon adept mixture shenanigan, psi warrior, both from Pathfinder, and a homebrew elemental user that focuses on powerful touch attacks). So, I've been thinking about this battle and decided I want it to be two fold.

At first, the Emperor would be level 17 or eighteen. His equipment should be pretty damn good (he is the sodding emperor in the end) and he would be a class from ToB, probably a Warblade. Now, I want the party to defeat this guy, but still, I'd like for it at least to last a few rounds before they bring him down. So, because of that, his equipment would probably need to have a lot of swift things on it, from anklets of translocation, to an aporter shield, things like that, and of course a ring of freedom of movement. I was thinking he'd also have a Brilliant blade weapon so he can hit those High AC party members with fairly big certainty.

Here's the kicker. He would also have golem like immunities to spells that require Saving throws, due to the artifact that is infused with him and that pretty much allowed him to stay in power. So, since I thought this would be a two pronged battle, I'm asking whether or not I'm making him too powerful?

And this is why. The real battle would come after they take care fo the guy. The artifact would release it's energy and transform the now gone emperor into a dragon. Not the flying kind, though. More like an aspect of Tiamat, the kind, though only with three heads. One would be used for breath attacks, one for biting and swallowing party members and the last one for spells(the spell immunity would not work here)

Maybe this is more for the homebrew forum, but still I'd like the Playground's opinion of it, whether or not I'm going overboard against a party that did pretty damn good thus far(lost three or four adventurers along the way, but that's it), or if this is a good road to be on?

[defiantdan]

A good way to get your boss encounters to get that truly epic feel is to gestalt your bosses. Make him a warblade but also make him a wizard or a cleric or psion. get a solid tier 1 on one side to shore up the main classes weakness. use it for some neat blasting, battlefield control or save or sucks. I'd stay away from things that break action economy or rapid save or dies. The battle should be tough but not unwinnable.

Things boss should have. The triad: death ward, freedom of movement, mind blank. Scondaries: Superior Resistance, Energy immunity(fire or Acid). Open the fight with some kind of invisibility and fog spell. The just try to split the party up using stone walls or force cages.

This is your boss and if all my time as a player has taught me anything it's that battlefield control spells really jam up a well laid plan.

Edit: also I just notice, the golems spell immunity only applies to spells with spell resistance. it says nothing about saving throws. So the orb of x line of spells still blast quite well. If you feel his spell immunity is too powerful downgrade it to spell resistance 24 or 30 (if they have access to assay spell resistance).

[BioCharge]

As the guy above said: Gestalt is your friend. One thing I also do: if the guy is wealthy (like an Emperor), use the PC wealth by level. This is especially true if they are the final boss of a campaign, as it won't break WBL. Don't forget to give them Flaws for bonus feats, but make sure the Flaws don't detract anything vitally important (like saves).

If I can recommend any two particular items, it's a Ring of Evasion (DMG pg. 232) for all those Reflex half spells and a pair of Boots of Sidestepping (Dungeonscape pg. 40). The boots give a free 5-ft. step whenever the wearer is subjected to a spell with a reflex save. If the step takes them out of the area of the spell, they are no longer subjected to the spell. Quite useful on line spells or the like. Wand Chambers from Dungeonscape also work as they do away with needless actions of looking for a wand.

[daremetoidareyo]

The first question a DM should ask for any encounter is: Will this character choose to die in this scenario? At what point do they concede or run away? A defeated king is slightly more likely to choose death over the loss of his power, but is this true to your BBEG's personality? Are the PCs charged with killing this man or overthrowing him: those are two different outcomes.


Another option, if this is a super wealthy king, is to have him at about 50% health to attempt to get into a secret chamber that houses a giant magic-battlesuit, super duper evil potion, a staff of time hop, something that will give him a battle shifting edge.

[DarkEternal]

The first question a DM should ask for any encounter is: Will this character choose to die in this scenario? At what point do they concede or run away? A defeated king is slightly more likely to choose death over the loss of his power, but is this true to your BBEG's personality? Are the PCs charged with killing this man or overthrowing him: those are two different outcomes.


Another option, if this is a super wealthy king, is to have him at about 50% health to attempt to get into a secret chamber that houses a giant magic-battlesuit, super duper evil potion, a staff of time hop, something that will give him a battle shifting edge.

I'm thinking transforming into a three headed dragon when he's close to death is a nice edge :).

But yeah, all good suggestions. I definetely want his human form to have ways of escaping the various save or suck/lose situations, and boosting his saves and having access to freedom of movement helps those.

[atemu1234]

I'm thinking transforming into a three headed dragon when he's close to death is a nice edge :)

It usually is.