[4e] Please help me design Santa Claus!

[Pramxnim]

Hello good people of the playground! It's been a while since I started a thread in the homebrew section, and this time I would like to ask for your help on a task which I think I am ill-prepared for.

In two days, I'll be running a one-shot Christmas campaign which will involve the PCs hunting down the "Jolly Red Rooftop Lurker", a terrible entity who has been terrorizing a small town somewhere in the middle of the Arctic, near the North Pole.

The campaign will use pre-made characters (I don't know who the potential players might be, and I can't assume they'll have enough knowledge of 4e to make a character on the spot) of 11th level, meant for 4-5 PCs. I will probably refer to the Dungeon Delve supplement to get a feel for how these encounters should be run, and probably modify some MM monsters for standard creeps the PCs will encounter.

The main thing is, I want the final boss, the 'Rooftop Lurker' (aka Santa) to be a completely homebrew monster with unique attacks, but I have no idea where to start the homebrew. I'm thinking of a level 12-14 Elite monster (either a Lurker, Leader or Controller), and hence I've come to the playground to ask for your help.

Thank you in advance for your time!

[Volin]

What demon santa should be like depends a lot on how you want to run him. Are the players fighting him all alone on the roof, will he have demon elves or reigndeath accompanying him? If he is alone he should be a solo, while I would make him an elite otherwise. That's at least where you should start.

[Pramxnim]

I'm thinking of making him a Solo Controller with a bunch of respawning minions which will serve no other purpose than to be literal cannon fodder (he'll throw them as grenades at the PC). The man himself will be a Medium Undead Humanoid, and the encounter will consist of him and Rudolph, likely a Large Undead Magical Beast (Elite Soldier, I'm thinking) and a bunch of low level minions.

Thanks for the reply, and if you need any more information, I'll be happy to provide them.

[erikun]

I would think small-sized minions which try to grapple the PCs would work best. They aren't a danger per se, but it effectively immobilizes the PCs until they kill off the minions.

I would think of Santa as being a big guy in hide armor (either red or drenched in blood) riding a reindeer with a glowing nose. "Ominous crimson glow," if you want to be dramatic. Attacks would either involve him charging through for attacks with a lance, or a close burst from the reindeer blinding (save ends). Needless to say, getting under cover would be the best idea, if those minions pouring out of his bag weren't holding you in place.

One think I liked was the Boss Compendium from a while back. The idea is simple - make fights interesting and dynamic. You could start on a sloping rooftop, with Santa riding around on his reindeer, but when he becomes bloodied, he lands and "stomps on the roof", knocking the snow off and dumping everyone into the alley below. (Athletics to avoid damage, or perhaps even avoid falling off.) From there, the fight continues with Santa unmounted, either because Rudolph is fighting independently, or because Rudolph died when Santa was reduced to half health. Heck, the falling reindeer could be what jarred all the snow loose.

[Mando Knight]

Make him a minion-spawner like the Pod Demon from MM2: He's pulling out eldritch golem "toys" from the massive burlap sack over his shoulder.

[Zexion]

For his stats he should have strong Wisdom, Charisma, Constitution (hey, that belly can take a hit and bounce it back), average Intelligence but weak Strength (though enough to carry his sack) and Dexterity (because he's so fat).

Maybe he could cast some spells at will? Not strong ones, but little weak ones like something to grow plants, make people happy (NOT suggestion), something like that. Also, he shouldn't be Undead. He should be Divine Outsider (Holidays), because he's a patron saint, right?

[Zexion]

sorry, make that LOW Dexterity. Because he's so fat.

[Pramxnim]

Thanks for the suggestions, but Santa is undead in this game because I'm not basing him off of Saint Nicholas, but I'm using a fan-formed image of Santa from CommissionedComic, hence the Undead thing.

I have a rough draft of Santa's statblock here. What does everyone think?

Endboss: (Santa)
Level 13 SOLO CONTROLLER (Undead Humanoid LEADER)
Str 20 Con 19 Dex 12 Int 16 Wis 18 Cha 20
HP: 524/524, Bloodied: 262
AC 27, Fort 26, Ref 25, Will 26
Resist 10 Fire, Resist 10 Cold
Santa Palm Thrust! (Standard – At-Will): Reach 2, +18 vs. AC, 2d6+5 damage.
Burlap Bag Smack! (Standard – At-Will): Reach 2, +18 vs. AC, 2d6+5 damage, Ongoing 5 Necrotic damage (SE).
Santa C-C-Combo! (Standard; At-Will): Santa makes a Bag Smack and a Palm Thrust.
Improvised Elf (Gnome) Grenade (Standard – At-Will): +16 vs. Reflex, Area burst 1 within 10, 1d8+5 Necrotic. -2 AC (EoNT).
You’re on the Naughty List! (Minor 1/Round, At-Will): +15 vs. Will. Debuff. Dazed (EoNT)
Spawn Clockwork Elf Minion (Minor 1/Round, At-Will): Spawns a Clockwork Elf Minion within 5 squares of the Red Rooftop Lurker. Only usable if there are less than 4 Clockwork Elf Minions at the start of its turn.
Blubber Belly (Immediate Reaction, At-Will, when the Rooftop Lurker is hit by a creature adjacent to it): +16 vs. Fort, the target is pushed 3 squares and dazed until the end of its next turn.
Icicle Drop (Standard; Recharge 5-6): Close Blast 5, +16 vs. Ref; 2d8+5 Cold Damage, and the target is slowed (Save Ends). The area of the blast is difficult terrain until the end of the Rooftop Lurker’s next turn.
Bloodied Drop (Free; when first bloodied; encounter): Icicle Drop recharges, and Rooftop Lurker uses it immediately.
Threatening Reach

[erikun]

First, what is his natural reach? Because the first two attacks are "Reach 2" while 'You’re on the Naughty List!' doesn't have a range.

Blubber Belly seems quite strong - knockback and daze means that anyone hit with it can only respond with a charge (and likely won't be using a power that turn). I guess it isn't much worse than knockback and prone, though, and Mr. Lurker can only use it once per turn.

Other than that, it seems to be just a lot of At-Will attacks. Icicle Drop is the only Encounter power, and that even has a recharge. I hope you mix it up and keep it interesting, because otherwise it will just be the party standing around Blubberboy and trying to weather the occasional Icicle Drop/Blubber Belly attacks.

[Pramxnim]

His natural reach is 2, for being Large. I'm sorry for the sketchiness, but I wrote it up too late at night (I didn't fully write up Rudolph either, and I think I'll just wing it a bit with these two).

The encounter will probably run like erikun suggested: a two-stage battle, one with Santa using Rudolph as a mount (the reindeer will provide mount benefits) and the next with the two as separate. There will be lots of little clockwork elves running around, exploding and creating shrapnel that'll generate more difficult terrain to hopefully slow the PCs down.

You're right about Naughty List not having a range, I'll just jot it down as Ranged 20 when the battle is run (not entirely sure the party will make it there in time though).