Appropriate Level 1 Boss

[LordOfCain]

Is this appropriate for a boss going to fight aparty of ~5-07?
Human Fighter 1/Commoner 2
Flaws: Frail and Shaky
Feats: Tireless, Toughness, Troll-Blooded, EWP (Kurusai-Games), and TWF
The party:
Incarnate (Focuses on Lightning Gauntlets)
Warlock w/ Mortalbane
Human Barbarian
Half-Elf Cleric
Half-Kobold (Homebrew) Rogue
Halfling Rogue

[Amphetryon]

Why Commoner levels?

As currently presented, your 'boss' has poor odds of getting to do much more than bleed in a combat; the party is likely to be able to win Initiative with at least a couple of the Characters, several of whom appear to be able to do sufficient damage to prevent the boss from getting a turn.

[Lorrdernie]

Is this appropriate for a boss going to fight aparty of ~5-07?
Human Fighter 1/Commoner 2
Flaw: Frail
Feats: Tireless, Troll-Blooded, EWP (Kurusai-Games), and TWF
The party:
Incarnate (Focuses on Lightning Gauntlets)
Warlock w/ Mortalbane
Human Barbarian
Half-Elf Cleric
Half-Kobold (Homebrew) Rogue
Halfling Rogue

I'd definitely suggest making something a little bit more powerful. Even if you do, and especially if you don't I'd also suggest getting some mooks to take up space between the party and the boss. If the barbarian and the two rogues make it to the boss the fight is essentially over and you generally want boss fights to provide some challenge.

[Gildedragon]

I'd go for 4-6 lvl 1 warrior mooks; and a lvl 2 or 3 (PC classed) boss

[AslanCross]

You have six people in the party. I suggest you use a Lv 3 PC with a few LV 1 warrior minions, or a LV 4 PC.
Furthermore, six people gives the party the biggest advantage they have over a monster: action economy. One guy with a relatively weak weapon won't do much.

I suggest dropping the kusari-gama in favor of a spiked chain, and give him tripping feats.

[Manyasone]

Calculate apl (keep in mind that large parties have added apl) then take that number and add 4. That is the CR you're gunning for, the XP you have to work with. What you do with it us up to you. But don't use npc classes for bosses, it doesn't make sense. Unless it's an Adept

[0Megabyte]

The real problem here is action economy. The party has it, and this boss doesn't have the hit points, even with regeneration, to overcome it.

You're on the right track, but keep a few things in mind: Find a way for this boss to have multiple attacks a turn, or else have minions.

In fact, I have an idea for the minions!

4-6 of the following: Human Commoner 1 with the feats Martial Stance (Punishing Stance) and Martial Study (Steely Strike). Heck, just assume all the commoners have 10 in every stat. What happens is, they get a +4 to attack roll charging someone... +2 for charging. And then they also do actual damage with punishing stance.

So these unarmored, robed cultists with silvered daggers or whatnot do +6 (1d6+1d4), and end up with AC 4.

On second thought, two waves of four each. One on the first turn, one on the third. Wait, there are six players? Six per wave, then. And if things seem to be going REALLY one-sided, don't be afraid to throw in a third, only from behind, when it seems like they've truly won. Use that suicidal cultist commoner spirit!

As for the boss himself, I can think of a few different builds. Binder 3 with improved binding, placing pact augmentation into attack. Get combat expertise, too, and deadly defense. Bind Paimon, and have fun using the enemies numbers against them. Appropriate for a mad leader throwing out several waves of suicidal cultists, this enemy charges forth, using Dance of Death, which means he attacks every enemy he goes by.

Yes, AoO. That's why deadly defense and combat expertise, -2 to attack rolls while fighting defensively (a +2 to defense) with said combat expertise gives you a +1d6 damage on each of those attacks. If you had a 16 in Dex, and you should, that means the math will work out to AC 21, +7 to hit, 2d6+STR damage.

Okay, so, that turn's done, and he's stuck in the middle of the enemy. Well, Paimon ALSO gives you whirlwind attack. Same stats as above. After that, tumble out of there, Paimon gives you a +9 bonus to it, untrained.

What this means is that for those two turns, and then the next time you can use Dance of Death, your enemies' numbers mean you get to hit them more times. I wouldn't count on having time to get that second Dance of Death off. Are the PC's level one? Or level 3? If level 3, even this will be an interesting battle, but not necessarily that HARD.

If the troll blood isn't necessary, but you do want something creepy, you could always use a psychic warrior 2/warblade 1 pulling a cthulhu routine.

Suggested stats:
STR 16
DEX 12
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 14
CHA 8

Flaws:
1. Any

Feats:
H. Illithid Heritage
1. Illithid Skin
Flaw1. Illithid Grapple
PW1. Illithid Grapple
PW2. Illithid Grapple
3. Illithid Grapple

Powers: Offensive Precognition, Offensive Prescience

Basically, the four illithid grapple feats mean you get four face tentacles and your face looks like an illithid. Unbuffed, you get four face tentacle natural attacks. But you have the same routine the crazy cultists do too. Also you have those buff powers. So on a charge, he does something like 4x +6 (1d6+1d4+5) damage. Maybe give him a couple cool items, like an amulet of mighty fists, and make sure he has the heaviest armor and shield you can get him. Just a few thoughts!

[Quertus]

Is this appropriate for a boss going to fight aparty of ~5-07?
Human Fighter 1/Commoner 2
Flaw: Frail
Feats: Tireless, Troll-Blooded, EWP (Kurusai-Games), and TWF
The party:
Incarnate (Focuses on Lightning Gauntlets)
Warlock w/ Mortalbane
Human Barbarian
Half-Elf Cleric
Half-Kobold (Homebrew) Rogue
Halfling Rogue

No. Unless tireless counts as toughness. Because troll-blooded has a prereq of toughness.

[LordOfCain]

I was planning on giving this boss 6-10 lv. 1 commoner goons as well and a level 2-3 lt. type figure. However, because only the incarnate and the warlock are close to being optimized and most are somewhat new to the game, I'm not sure if I should increase the optimization level of the boss.

[Mystral]

Single humanoids with character levels generally make bad enemies/bosses. They are either ineffectual due to action economy, or they are overpowering because they can one hit kill one or more characters per round.

In general, boss fights for level 1 Characters don't really work, because at level 1, even a bog standard ork can kill a character from full HP.

[Flickerdart]

Regeneration won't give you much, might as well drop that part.

That there's more to an encounter than just characters - a boss fight should also include appropriate window dressing. Set this fight in darkness, so that your party's ranged units have to get close to attack (I hope they brought torches). Give the boss reach, high Dexterity, and Combat Reflexes so that he can punish anyone that tries to get close. If you have the feats to spare, Knockback will let him shove the melee back on his AoOs, making it very difficult to close in.

[AslanCross]

Regeneration won't give you much, might as well drop that part.

That there's more to an encounter than just characters - a boss fight should also include appropriate window dressing.

Agreed. Environmental advantage is a huge deal when increasing encounter difficulty. It can be something as simple as giving him high ground (say, he's standing on top of a gallows and there are multiple guards around him), or it could be as complex as having a chain devil inside a magically refrigerated meat cold storage (the chain devil can manipulate the chains to give itself more attacks, and it's immune to the cold. The chain devil can cross the chains effortlessly while the PCs slip on the icy floor).

[Barbarian Horde]

Throw them through a small cave of some kind, burn their resources. Then at the end could do like a Lv. 2 magebred cat. Adding +4 dex +2 con +2str increasing its natural ac another 2 for thick skinned.

18ac level 2

[Honest Tiefling]

I'd go for 4-6 lvl 1 warrior mooks; and a lvl 2 or 3 (PC classed) boss

I agree with this guy. If you are uncertain about your build, I'd err on the side of caution. Mopping up a whole horde of mooks can be great fun even if it's not as challenging as one bad*** mofo.

But again, you need window dressing as well. Both sides will likely have ranged combatants (unless that's a glavielock), so know how far they are away from each other is important. It'll also be important if those rogues have stealth and want to get into position before the others kick down the door.