Scaling a boss encounters up and down based on player amount

[DangerDanger]

Me and my friends are gearing up for a convention in November. As a joke/for fun I've given everyone who's pre-paid me class/titles for the weekend (i.e. Tim, seer of mists, Galen, valkyrie of the 3rd summer, etc). Last night, Jon, dragon monk of the alterverse, posted an alignment meme of Shia LaBoeuf (actual link) (https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/11951910_856257924443140_1882426697535424114_n.jpg ?oh=36de6fb1f05251e1400670e95455c459&oe=56682F0C) and I joked about having a session where you have to defeat each incarnation of Shia LaBoeuf in order to rid the world of his evil. I've been musing the idea of using our class/titles for a minigame of sorts for months now, I figured having a minor session throughout the weekend dedicated solely to slaying all 9 Shia's could satiate that desire.

I figured I'd make each character class more or less a one trick pony, limited to some premade e6 level stuff with interesting team work skills.
The thing is, not everyone will be available at the same time.

How could I easily scale encounters to accommodate 4-15 players so every fight isn't one insane dancing meatwall of death after another/over before it began? (4-15 as in we have a 3 room suite yes)

Also, if anyone is inspired and wants to share build ideas for any of the Shia's, lay them on me.

[Geddy2112]

1. This sounds brilliant, and you are a brilliant DM. 10/10 would play. DO IT! JUST, DO IT!

2. Scaling that level is dang near impossible for a single monster, but you could have lesser Shia's running around, or simply more of the same. Use the XP budget to give each party a CR appropriate amount of Shia's. Terrain and environmental factors can also tweak CR in either way. I would probably have 1 main Shia, scaled to be beatable by 4 people, but not a pushover for 15. Then have a lesser Shia template, and mix and match to meet the CR for the party.

3.For marathon runner, a monk with a lot of base speed and kick based attacks.

DO IT! Is clearly a bard of some kind. (I am going to build this character for a game someday)

Elastic Heart could be a dancer magus or spellblade kinda thing.

No longer famous would be illusion/transformation wizard.

Indiana Jones Shia is a rogue.

Actual cannibal should be a raging cannibal barbarian. Its PF, but it allows you to bite people and gain HP.

[heavyfuel]

15 players? Boy... that's a lot of players.

My first suggestion is having 2 separate tables. If 8 or more people show up to play (you included), the table is split into two, or simply have 2 tables from the get go. From personal experience, it's impossible to have 7 players because everyone gets so distracted when it's a 15 minute wait between turns.

In case you're dead set in having all 15 at once, I suggest you make the boss static, and able to deal with a few players by himself. For every player that comes up, he has an extra minion that is on par with a PC. You need to beat that action economy, since no boss (especially in e6) will be able to deal with 15 times more actions than he has.

Also, you should expect that some at least 2/15 people will fall in first round of combat (assuming you don't play your bosses stupidly, and have them focus instead of spreading out the damage), which means that 2 guys now have NOTHING to do for the next 2 to 3 hours. They might as well go home.


As for Shia's build? Definitely Bard with Perform (Oratory) as his instrument of choice. Also synergizes well with a having a bunch of mooks

[DangerDanger]

I'd have some of the lesser Shia's die pretty easily, but for the more upper tier ones I'm planning on throwing in reaction mechanics to them. That way it's not like "Shia attacks and brutally murders one of you, now time for 8 turns of Shia beat down" more so than Shia responding to actions so he kind of breaks the action economy a little. Then again, I figured it'd depend on the Shia. For instance, if you don't think Transformers Shia isn't going to involve fighting the Auto-bots then you are sorrowfully mistaken.

I like the idea of adding environmental factors to increase the challenge rating rather than just adding hit dice. I could also potentially lock encounters to a certain amount of PC's and if they can't defeat the Shia, then other players could step in.

As far as managing/entertaining 8+ players go, I don't DM often because I get too caught up in details and story telling, but in micro boss fights against Shia LaBoeuf I'm certain my story telling talents will keep waiting parties entertained.

Ideas: No Longer Famous Shia LaBoeuf, starts fight with illusion trickery. Around the 1/3 range of hp NECROSUMMONS DEAD SHIAS.

Actual Cannibal Shia LaBoeuf could have loads of environmental factors, separating the characters in a forest, bear traps (ofc), the cabin, etc. It'd be like playing slender but with more horror.

Elastic Heart Shia could be a challenge, cage match. 2 PC's vs Shia and Maddie.