How to make fights against BBEG more interesting.

[flappeercraft]

So what things do you guys in the playground think make fighting the BBEG more interesting, like other than buildup towards the moment? Maybe having himself limit his power for a part of the fight and as it goes on letting go of more of his power? Bizarre abilities? Descriptive storytelling? Overwhelming odds? What is it that iterests you, immerses you into it, etc.

[Geddy2112]

From my recent experience, when it happens at an unexpected moment.

Forget the typical "fight through the lair and meet them in their fortified keep epic showdown". No, they pass each other on the street of a random town.

My recent campaign when my 9th level party decided it was time to take on the CR18 BBEG. They had a piece of this extraplanar creature, and they happened across an NPC cleric looking for this piece. The cleric and the party talked, realized they both wanted to stop it, so they set up a magic circle and attempted to bind it. Having a part of the creature I waived the CR requirement for planar ally, which the cleric was able to cast. The creature rolled a natural 1 against the spell(could not fail otherwise) and was bound. It had a dimensional anchor so it could not teleport, and failed its charisma check. The party gets off attacks but the circle is disturbed so it breaks free, and kills all but 2 party members and a lot of NPC's. That said, they manage to defeat the thing...

I didn't plan on it happening, and in all reality the thing should have wiped the party with ease, but the dice were crazy that night.

[Uncle Pine]

Generally you'll see that if the villain is as cool and mechanically fleshed out as the PCs, the fight will go well. I personally don't think that having a boss purposefully restrain himself as one of those wacky anime characters is something that has any place in a tabletop RPG, but YMMV. See the "two-headed, two-tailed, bifurcated snake" for a similar concept done right.

[Venger]

So what things do you guys in the playground think make fighting the BBEG more interesting, like other than buildup towards the moment? Maybe having himself limit his power for a part of the fight and as it goes on letting go of more of his power? Bizarre abilities? Descriptive storytelling? Overwhelming odds? What is it that iterests you, immerses you into it, etc.
a really important one is taking action economy into consideration. even if it is the boss fight, give him some henchmen or summons or something so he doesn't get out-actioned by the party. nothing more unsatisfying than oneshotting the campaign boss.


From my recent experience, when it happens at an unexpected moment.

Forget the typical "fight through the lair and meet them in their fortified keep epic showdown". No, they pass each other on the street of a random town.

My recent campaign when my 9th level party decided it was time to take on the CR18 BBEG. They had a piece of this extraplanar creature, and they happened across an NPC cleric looking for this piece. The cleric and the party talked, realized they both wanted to stop it, so they set up a magic circle and attempted to bind it. Having a part of the creature I waived the CR requirement for planar ally, which the cleric was able to cast. The creature rolled a natural 1 against the spell(could not fail otherwise) and was bound. It had a dimensional anchor so it could not teleport, and failed its charisma check. The party gets off attacks but the circle is disturbed so it breaks free, and kills all but 2 party members and a lot of NPC's. That said, they manage to defeat the thing...

I didn't plan on it happening, and in all reality the thing should have wiped the party with ease, but the dice were crazy that night.
sounds like fun. definitely agree with this.


Generally you'll see that if the villain is as cool and mechanically fleshed out as the PCs, the fight will go well. I personally don't think that having a boss purposefully restrain himself as one of those wacky anime characters is something that has any place in a tabletop RPG, but YMMV. See the "two-headed, two-tailed, bifurcated snake" for a similar concept done right.

purposely restraining himself is bad, but having multiple forms if you don't want to have more than one enemy present for story reasons is sometimes interesting and does add variety to the combat mechanically, like in ravenloft.

[MesiDoomstalker]

I just ran a major boss battle (not BBEG, mind you, but super important). What went really well was alternative win conditions. They could kill everyone in the room, or they could make a suicide dash to the main ritualist, whack her Forecage with the Rod of Cancellation they found and try to interrupt the ritual. They could try and break the diagrams engraved in the floor, or stop the cultists from infinitely teleporting in new sacrifices when the old ones die. They could have tried to spoil the gathering blood sacrifices with something. My party chose the first option. It didn't work, because they failed to reach the forcecage in time, but they chose that option.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

It's important to have multiple opponents, since action economy brings a lot more power to the table than anything else. Just a few strong lieutenants or powerful minions, a crowd of bodyguards, even natural/terrain hazards or traps, should be sufficient for making the fight interesting. Otherwise it just ends up being a one-sided beat-down as the party takes turns pummeling him and then he gets to do one thing.

Put him in a room with the floor covered in shallow, murky water. Scattered throughout the rooms are deep, flooded pits that someone will easily fall into if they go running across them. Put a Monstrous Crab (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040221a) in each one, they'll try to grab anyone who gets close and pull them under the water and out of sight. Doesn't work so well if the party can fly, so include a strong downdraft that prevents flight for higher level parties.

Put him in a throne room with a row of guards down each wall, and some archers on balconies. He may take cover behind the throne and start flinging spells with a few guards on either side to prevent anyone from reaching him, while the others engage the invaders. A chandelier will inevitably be dropped on someone, and everyone will have a great time. The guards don't need to be very high level, just give them a decent AC and possibly the Stand Still feat, and make sure they're spread far enough apart that a Fireball won't hit more than a few.

[AslanCross]

1. Advantageous terrain. Very often ignored in a lot of prewritten modules.
2. Compelling storytelling. Even if the PCs only ever meet the BBEG once, he has to give them a personal reason to need to beat him.
3. A unique battlefield. Is he a ghoulish serial killer? How about a slaughterhouse? Is he an ancient wizard with a doomsday device? How about flying between the spheres of his orrery that he's using to call down an extinction-level asteroid?
4. If you play music during your games, choosing an appropriate "final boss theme" helps.