Need a little inspiration for my first adventure's boss fight

[PhantasyPen]

As the title says, I'm a little stuck on what I should run the boss fight for my current party as. I'm aiming for the party to be roughly equivalent to ECL 2, with a level 3 and a level 4 NPC hireling available. The two boss characters of the encounter are meant to be an elven (drow) seductress with demonic connections and an elderly human mafia don. The thing that's tripping me up for this encounter is that I'm not sure what class I should make either of them. I've thought about maybe a Beguiler and a Rogue, or maybe a Dragonfire Adept and a Bard, but I just have no actual ideas that sound right. Also I'm a bit unsure what level to make them, with the two NPC's factored in I feel sort of safe making them level 5, but I have no idea if my players are going to successfully recruit them or not. Should I shoot for level 3 or 4 instead?

[Palanan]

Beguiler sounds perfect for the drow. At fourth level she'll pick up second-level spells, which would make her more of a challenge.

As for the mafia don, is there a specific role you want him to play? Perhaps a focus on intimidation, or maybe the sort who came up by chopping people into dog food? Or more of a strategist who has lower-level thugs to throw at the party?

[Nifft]

It might be a fun surprise if they were Experts who buy victory with magical gear and hirelings rather than using their own class abilities.

They'd be at the top of an organization because they're managers, not combat operatives. (This also makes the possibility that they'd surrender less problematic, since they'd be normal humanoids rather than innate magical weapons.)

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If you want them to be combat threats as well as the organization's keystone bosses, then you have to pick what kind of fight you want.

- Will they try to escape, sniping the PCs from range, trying to engage in a high-mobility battle of resource attrition? Warlock + Crusader.

- Will they try to throw down one big diversion / subversion / distraction, then escape? Beguiler + Ninja, the latter because it's worse than Rogue.

- Will they stand and fight like honor-bound proud warrior guys? (Why?) Cleric + Swashbuckler.

- Will they summon disposable minions and flee? (Seems appropriate for a demon-drow, maybe also for a mafia don.) Conjurer + Swordsage.

[Mike Miller]

Binder or Warlock came to mind for the elf and I think Hexblade would work for the mafia don.

You could stat them out as level 3 and note the differences for a level or two extra so you can be ready for whatever setup your party ends with.

Will there be mooks as well?

[ComaVision]

Unless your party is quite adept, I wouldn't make the bosses more than level 3 (or maybe a 3 and a 4).

Personally, I'd make the Drow a Warlock to play up the demonic bent. I like the idea of the don being an Expert that makes up for it with money (consumables mostly). Giving the don a Wild Cohort to buff up would even out the action economy a little too.

As far as the potential hirelings (why are they higher level than the party?), maybe have a couple level 2 goons that you can use.

[PhantasyPen]

Beguiler sounds perfect for the drow. At fourth level she'll pick up second-level spells, which would make her more of a challenge.

As for the mafia don, is there a specific role you want him to play? Perhaps a focus on intimidation, or maybe the sort who came up by chopping people into dog food? Or more of a strategist who has lower-level thugs to throw at the party?

I agree, beguiler sounded like a perfect match for the drow, but I wanted to keep my mind open to other options if they were suggested.



If you want them to be combat threats as well as the organization's keystone bosses, then you have to pick what kind of fight you want.

- Will they try to escape, sniping the PCs from range, trying to engage in a high-mobility battle of resource attrition? Warlock + Crusader.

- Will they try to throw down one big diversion / subversion / distraction, then escape? Beguiler + Ninja, the latter because it's worse than Rogue.

- Will they stand and fight like honor-bound proud warrior guys? (Why?) Cleric + Swashbuckler.

- Will they summon disposable minions and flee? (Seems appropriate for a demon-drow, maybe also for a mafia don.) Conjurer + Swordsage.

I don't really want to break out the minionmancy for this particular fight, but for favored tactics? Hmm, I'd expect that the drow would be inclined to manipulate rather than directly confront the party, while the don would be more inclined towards direct combat, but I want him to operate on a diplomatic level more than the physical. I might try and see if I feel alright giving him a menagerie of animal minions through a few different feats.


Binder or Warlock came to mind for the elf and I think Hexblade would work for the mafia don.

You could stat them out as level 3 and note the differences for a level or two extra so you can be ready for whatever setup your party ends with.

Will there be mooks as well?

I don't think I'd use Binder (not actually affiliated with fiends) but Warlock was on my short-list, I'll put some more consideration into it. Hexblade actually sounds like it might be a great fit for the don now that I think about it.

As for mooks? I didn't plan on it for this fight, but there should probably be the possibility of bringing them in if someone sounds the alarm. With Hexblade now up for consideration I might just have the don keep a collection of guard animals.


Unless your party is quite adept, I wouldn't make the bosses more than level 3 (or maybe a 3 and a 4).

Personally, I'd make the Drow a Warlock to play up the demonic bent. I like the idea of the don being an Expert that makes up for it with money (consumables mostly). Giving the don a Wild Cohort to buff up would even out the action economy a little too.

As far as the potential hirelings (why are they higher level than the party?), maybe have a couple level 2 goons that you can use.

"Hirelings" was a poor choice of wording on my part. The party is only two actual players, and they're both the most inexperienced mechanically out of my normal D&D group, so I built different pairs of companion characters that they could recruit for each mini-adventure within the greater campaign as need be (effectively these are meant to be equivalent to story companions you'd recruit in a video game). The reason they are a higher level is mainly because I need them to function as effective "oh scheiss" buttons as need be, as well as damage-soak for the party.