Medusa Boss Fight Ideas

[SMac8988]

So I am planning on using a Medusa as an up coming boss fight. I feel though as a flat straight on fight she would be stomped by my PCs. As of now they are level 5, about to go to 6, and are entering a small city built around the worship of this Medusa.

My plan would be the party has to head through the maze to get to her, throw a few minotaur in there for them to run into.

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas for some puzzels for this maze. Also I was thinking since she would be kinda weak against them, I would make some of the statues in her chamber slowly start to come to life, maybe use like commoner states or something for them.

Sooo ideas?

[krugaan]

1) yuan ti / lizardman / undead / whatever minions.
2) cast Seeming (from scroll / macguffin). All minions now look like medusa.
3) hilarious fun ensues:

"You hear the telltale hiss of an angry medusa hair-do! What do you do?!?"
- "AVERT MY EYES!"
"OMG IT'S ANOTHER MEDUSA!"
- "I AVERT MY EYES HARDER!"
"THE MEDUSAS DONT STOP COMING!"
- "I ROLL MY EYEBALLS BACK IN THEIR SOCKETS!"

[Madbox]

The module "Mayhem in the Earthspur Mines" had a few good ideas for something like this.


The module is for level 5 or 6 characters, same as yours, so there is plenty for you to work with.

The Medusa in that module had a nightmare mount, for starters. She had two flesh golems that served her, and a large number of gargoyles. She randomly wanders around the mine, and if she notices the players she starts using hit-and-run tactics. All of this piles up to make a tricky fight.

Lessons to be learned:

Mobility is useful, as Medusas can go down after a few rounds of concentrated fire. Get a tough mount.

Medusas are charismatic. Give lots of sturdy followers to eat through resources early on.

The monsters should usually know the area well, and use that knowledge to their advantage.

[DiceDiceBaby]

If you really want to test if your PCs are intelligent (or reward them for their cleverness), give them ample opportunities to let the Medusa fall victim to its own gaze (or an Arcana check DC 25 to discover that Medusas are still susceptible to their own reflection). The presence of a clear, reflective source of water (a fountain, a pond, a waterfall) in the Medusa's lair (or near it) and opportunities for luring the Medusa and/or her minions into accidental petrification can be something the PCs will feel rewarded by if they can pull it off. It should also make the encounter easier if you decide to swarm them with Minotaurs or other creatures that will also turn to stone if they fail the CON save.

[SMac8988]

I like the idea of other monsters that could be effected by her. I plan on turning her npc, and making her pass some important information onto the group. So the goal is for her to live, but still be a hard fight. Maybe have her fight while certain guards are there and if they die she will stop

[CursedRhubarb]

Slipping a Mirror of Life Trapping in there with all 12 spaces full of baddies would make for an interesting trap for them to overcome. Do they try and use it, Trapping the Medusa only to free a beholder, risk breaking it and facing some terrifying hoard of creatures, try and avoid it and not get trapped themselves? Toss in duplicate regular mirrors to throw them off and it gets even better.

[SMac8988]

Slipping a Mirror of Life Trapping in there with all 12 spaces full of baddies would make for an interesting trap for them to overcome. Do they try and use it, Trapping the Medusa only to free a beholder, risk breaking it and facing some terrifying hoard of creatures, try and avoid it and not get trapped themselves? Toss in duplicate regular mirrors to throw them off and it gets even better.

Oh I like that! !!

[Fable Wright]

I like the idea of other monsters that could be effected by her. I plan on turning her npc, and making her pass some important information onto the group. So the goal is for her to live, but still be a hard fight. Maybe have her fight while certain guards are there and if they die she will stop

Consider having her shout out 'STOP!' in a pleading tone when the PCs are delivering the death blow or near-death blow to her second in command. Makes her more sympathetic and the PCs more likely to trust her if they wind up sparing the NPC important to her.

To that end, you've got several objectives here:

This minion important to her must go down before she does.
It should not be easy to take down the important minion, as he's the cornerstone of the fight.
There should be ranged attacks or difficult terrain to make it more difficult to fight the Medusa.


To this end, I suggest mixing up player Speak with Animals, Conjure Minor Elementals, Conjure Animals, Healing Word, Hold Person, Blight, Absorb Elements, Speak with Plants, and Dispel Magic for her daily layout. Her significant minion is a lover who turned himself to stone so he could protect her forever, and neither would have to fear her gaze. Give him the stats of a Shield Guardian, so the Medusa takes half damage from all attacks to add to her durability. The spell stored in him is Stoneskin, which he uses to halve the damage the Medusa takes again from any non-magical sources. If this doesn't actually reduce the party damage potential, then choose Wind Wall (if you've got a party archer), or Conjure Animals if your party is just melee and mages.

The Medusa lives in a sanctum at the heart of the city, in an area filled by nature. Her sanctum is a hedge maze created with Plant Growth, making it exceedingly difficult to close with her in her safe zone, and a small stone structure created with Stone Shape that she sleeps in. This can provide cover from ranged characters while she sleeps. She's used Speak with Animals to make deals with the small birds and bugs within her domain; should the adventurers get close, the Medusa will have 10 minute's head up to cast a Conjure Minor Elementals spell. She chooses create Magma Mephits, a significant challenge to party meatshields. Heat Metal is just cruel to those with full plate, immunity to Scorching Ray and Fireball is lovely, and the death burst is just the cherry on top. When she sees the party, she uses Speak with Plants to get the hedges to part for her and her minions, and the non-hedge areas become difficult terrain for the party. If she's targeted by the casters, she uses Absorb Elements to mitigate the damage, so she isn't likely to lose Concentration. (Consider giving her Warcaster/Advantage on Concentration saves.) If she takes too much damage, she uses Healing Word to patch up. When the last of the Magma Mephits are taken care of, she'll switched to Conjure Animals for some Apes. Ranged attacks against melee, while moving closer to melee against casters. While the party is dealing with the minions, she's cutting through the maze, using her glare and her bow against party members, and her Shield Guardian is brutalizing anyone who takes potshots at his love. Do remember that she's going after archers first. Melee has problems reaching her, she can deal with blasting spells with Absorb Elements and break concentration well with her bow, but this arena was designed to complement her sniping tactics; she hardly wants the enemy to use that against her.

If the party wisely retreats from the Medusa's killzone, they'll still take a bruising from Heat Metal and the Medusa's volleys, but she won't further pursue. She'll use Speak with Animals to keep informed about the PCs, and use any other minions outside her sanctum. She doesn't wish to risk herself or her love in anything but the direst of circumstances, and the PCs might manage to parlay if the sanctum's animals see that they can be reasonable. Though even if they do seem trustworthy, the Medusa refuses to meet them outside of her maze or without her Magma Mephits present to defend her. Takes a bit of trust to meet someone who can petrify you with a glance in an inescapable deathtrap surrounded by living torture implements while she's being protected by a constantly self-repairing and implacable guardian, but if they work up the courage, they might find a worthwhile ally at the heart of the maze.

Feel free to add extra enemies to the encounter or tweak this as you see fit, but it could be a cool capstone encounter.

[Darkship]

Consider having her shout out 'STOP!' in a pleading tone when the PCs are delivering the death blow or near-death blow to her second in command. Make...



Annnnnnnnnnnd ctrl c ctrl v.You should consider making a blog for encounters, seriously, this is good material