Creating my first boss. Any adjustments I should make?

[Nmomoth]

So this is my first time DMing a campaign and I'm pretty much making it all from scratch. The party is getting close to reaching their first boss and I want it to be fun but challenging.

What I have in mind -and the concept that I want to stick with- is a corrupted entity that lives in a haunted cathedral. So far I've developed an enemy that is essentially Black Pudding with the abilities of a banshee added on. I also thought that she could summon shadows and be able to devour them, regaining hit points.

Would this play well, or is there something that could use to improve this concept?

The player's levels will be 4-5 by this point. At least 4 of them will be playing.

[MadBear]

So this is my first time DMing a campaign and I'm pretty much making it all from scratch. The party is getting close to reaching their first boss and I want it to be fun but challenging.

What I have in mind -and the concept that I want to stick with- is a corrupted entity that lives in a haunted cathedral. So far I've developed an enemy that is essentially Black Pudding with the abilities of a banshee added on. I also thought that she could summon shadows and be able to devour them, regaining hit points.

Would this play well, or is there something that could use to improve this concept?

The player's levels will be 4-5 by this point. At least 4 of them will be playing.

This might be a time that using lair rules might be slightly better.

The action economy of using it's action to summon shadows, and another action to eat a shadow means it'll spend 2 whole turns just to gain a few hitpoints.

So having a lair (which sounds appropriate for this setting) that constantly spawns shadows at initiative 20 seems a bit better.

Without seeing it's stats, it's hard to judge more then that though.

[Specter]

Banshees are a wild luck fest. Their scream can kill no one, or everyone in the party. Players will be very frustrated if that happens. I suggest you find some other ability.

[Nmomoth]

Her stats are the same as black pudding and I thought I might give a warning sign before she wails so they can try to get out of range, but maybe I should just have it do psychic damage (?). Lair actions is a good idea for the Shadow summoning. I also thought about increasing the number summoned as the fight progresses.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

So this is my first time DMing a campaign and I'm pretty much making it all from scratch. The party is getting close to reaching their first boss and I want it to be fun but challenging.

What I have in mind -and the concept that I want to stick with- is a corrupted entity that lives in a haunted cathedral. So far I've developed an enemy that is essentially Black Pudding with the abilities of a banshee added on. I also thought that she could summon shadows and be able to devour them, regaining hit points.

Would this play well, or is there something that could use to improve this concept?

The player's levels will be 4-5 by this point. At least 4 of them will be playing.

Make this a multistage fight with each stage changing the rules a bit.

First Stage: Parties fight the black pudding banshee (BPB) and a couple shadows... This should be an easy fight.

Second Stage: The PBP flees to a room below. As it flees, the players see the shadows are drawn to it and it getting bigger before disappear to the room below. The party has time for a short rest as they need to pick a lock to go below. They could also drop a hung chandelier on the floor to bust through into the room or hallway. They fight the BPB but everytime the players kill a shadow, the shadow's essence is absorbed by the BPB and it regains HP.

Third Stage: The PBP flees further underground, to a tomb, where is merges with a skeleton of the banshee that was merged with the Black Pudding before https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/ckeditor_assets/pictures/2515/content_1_-_photo_by_yassir_ketchum_photography_shared_by_sws ca_24_224_likes_4_089_shares_518_comments.jpg?1384 061023

Give it different abilities and keep some of the old stuff. Have the players be able to take another short rest, perhaps there is a puzzle they need to solve. Maybe a riddle... They go in and fight and finally take the creature out.

[adonis53]

Banshees are a wild luck fest. Their scream can kill no one, or everyone in the party. Players will be very frustrated if that happens. I suggest you find some other ability.

I agree... A banshee is what you put in some Lich palace where they players will be expecting instakills and be at least partially protected by death warding a few people...

I've always wanted to make a variant Banshee that has a debuffing scream. Each round you make a save for 3 rounds.

This way would make Banshees more fun for dm and the players. The dm gets to mess with the players with some conditions but doesn't just auto kill all of them.
Fail 1- Deaf for duration of scream + 1d4 rounds
Fail 2- Stunned for duration of scream
Fail 3- Death(this way the banshee is still scary instead of just dropping you to 0 after failing 3)

[CaptainSarathai]

I really like Spawn's idea. A lot, actually.
I had some thoughts though before reading his, and came up with this:

1. You need a way to demonstrate that the scream is scary, and it's mechanics without demonstrating it on the party. They can only take a couple of these screams, if they can even take one.

2. Arrange the room/cathedral so that there are areas of Full Cover from the Pudding. Bonus points if you make cover so that if the pudding is against the far wall, or the side wall, there is ample cover. This could be pillars, book shelves, any number of things.

3. Mechanics
So, the Banshee scream happens every odd turn. So they get an obvious cue that the pudding is inhaling or otherwise readying the scream.
As part of this action, nearby Shadows get sucked into the pudding, giving it little health back.
This cue means it's time for the players to get into Full Cover before the Pudding's next turn.
On the Pudding's next turn, it screams. This affects all creatures (players and shadows) in the room.

Players in the open: Stunned, Will save for half damage (full damage should be lethal)
Players in half-cover: Will Save or Sunned and half damage
Players in 3/4 cover: advantage on Will Save, or stunned and half damage
Players in full cover: unaffected

Shadows not in full cover are destroyed. Shadows are too stupid to seek out full cover.

Additionally, the scream is so loud that it "shakes the shadows from the walls." Any square that is in 3/4 or full cover has a 50% chance of spawning a Shadow. If a player is in that square, the Shadow spawns in an unoccupied space adjacent to the player.
Spawned shadows are added to the initiative order after the Pudding, and can act on this turn.

The pudding is huge. It flows over an entire wall of the building. Before it inhales, it can move from one walk to an adjacent wall, but once it inhales it cannot move until it has screamed (that would be unfair, as once the players are in cover it could just move and "flank" them all).
Because of its size, players should always be able to attack it, as long as they can attack the wall it's on. Still roll To Hit though, as the pudding can flow open around an attack. For this reason, the pudding should be treated as having no armor, but a high Dexterity (making it good at any Dex saves)

I would make the scream every 3 turns.
1. Inhale
2. Scream
3. Move/actions

This gives the players a chance to beat on it before they have to go running for cover again. You could also vary when it uses the scream, so sometimes it does it back to back (inhale, scream, inhale) and others it waits a turn or two to lure the characters into a false sense of security.
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Should make a good fight, with players having to alternate between attacking the pudding/shades, and then running for cover like a game of musical chairs.

[Nmomoth]

Wow these are all some really great ideas. I'll probably use all of them in some fashion. This also gives me new ideas about what she is exactly. Thanks guys, should be great.

[StorytellerHero]

On the storytelling side, you could make it so that the creature used to be a person, with an identity and a family. A trinket could be left behind that the PCs can trace to a noble house, leading the party into a deep level of intrigue as they find out dark secrets that will undoubtedly cause trouble in the Royal Court.