Brainstorms! Shared ideas about solo adversaries.


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


This thread's idea was spawned off of some comments found in the latest BBEG thread.

This will be a centralized location for ideas on how to run, design and prepare for solo encounters, where it's the adventuring party against one super bad dude.

The general weakness of a solo encounter is a little thing known as action economy. This means that the players will almost always overwhelm a BBEG with more actions than it can handle. This is the big problem with solo encounters and we will try to address it in this discussion.

I will soon he posting examples of what I believe good solo's would be for low, mid and high levels. Feel free to beat me to the punch with some of your own examples.

Also, you can consider this to be the place to pimp you BBEG, or have it pimped for you.

Have at it friends!

Liberty's Edge

Hexcaliber wrote:

This thread's idea was spawned off of some comments found in the latest BBEG thread.

This will be a centralized location for ideas on how to run, design and prepare for solo encounters, where it's the adventuring party against one super bad dude.

The general weakness of a solo encounter is a little thing known as action economy. This means that the players will almost always overwhelm a BBEG with more actions than it can handle. This is the big problem with solo encounters and we will try to address it in this discussion.

I will soon he posting examples of what I believe good solo's would be for low, mid and high levels. Feel free to beat me to the punch with some of your own examples.

Also, you can consider this to be the place to pimp you BBEG, or have it pimped for you.

Have at it friends!

Well, I try to stay away from such encounters because I have personally torn down a handful of them in as few as 2 rounds myself on my particularly successful wizard I played for several years.

First and foremost they must be a prepared NPC. Guards up against nasty spells, resistances out the wazoo, and immunity to gimmick save/suck spells.

Next step is to allow them some form of crowd control to throw at the party. Be it a moving maze, or some effects that temporarily disable a member or 2 at a time. This adds to the frustration any given player is feeling when he loses a turn or two to an iceblock or a wall shoots up in front of him. This can be used in a good way to make them hate the guy.

Last thing I suggest it make the guy really good at disarming and sundering, most players wont expect it and when the fighter loses grip of his +3 Flaming Burst Greatsword I assure you the look on his face will be precious.


I've found that druids are good, with their ability to control the battlefield and summon creatures. Summoned creatures can attack the party, and with spells to control the battlefield, PCs have to deal with the summoned creatures.

Liberty's Edge

How about making an enemy that has autonomous pieces to its body so that it acts as one but each piece gets its own action, with each piece destroyed reducing the number of actions it gets in a round. Give it the Splash Damage vulnerability of swarms if it has enough of these pieces, but if it's a single digit number it should be fine if run similarly to a single creature.

Think old-school RPG bosses where each arm, the head and the weird chest piece would be it's own "attackable" thing with its own actions, but was considered part of the same creature. Chrono Trigger had a lot of these bosses.

Of course, this is something that would likely only be usable once in a blue moon without getting cheesy.


Another possibility would be a master trapmaker who basically makes his entire lair a trap. When confronted by the PCs he can throw a switch and parts of the floor, walls and ceiling move while blades swing back and forth, giant tops whirl around, flammable items burst into flame, all at random or according to a predetermined program.

There was a Kim Possible episode (perhaps more than one) where KP went up against villians like that. She and her friends would have to dodge all manner of deadly machines while trying to get to the BBEG.

This also reminds me of the climactic scene in _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ where

Spoiler:
Jack Skellington confronts Oogey Boogey, but first has to get past all his mechanical machinery.


A suggestion I made in a similar discussion was to have a feat that gives extra actions in a round when alone and outnumbered. There should be no great problem with letting PCs take it since they should rarely be alone, but giving the BBEG an extra standard action each round could spice up solo encounters.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Location, Location, Location! There was actually a really good thread about a solo BBEG idea (that I'll likely steal). I believe the thread was here

The basic idea (including some awesome suggestions) is a deaf oracle with the Heaven's Mystery using Lure of the Heavens to stand in a pond. After knowing the party is nearby (alarm spell or something else to let her know), the oracle buffs up, casts silence on the door and obscuring mist in the pond. The oracle can then proceed to start summoning a whole plethora of creatures while being effectively invisible within the fog.

You can get really creative with the encounter. Maybe have her hold a charge of an inflict spell and use spring attack to come out of the fog and get back in.


A simple solution to making solo BBEGs more worthwhile is to give them lackeys so that they can have cannon fodder.

Seriously. The BBEG is a wizard? He has some summoned creatures. Fighter? Well, a CR 12 fighter and his 12 CR 1/3 minions doesn't seem that bad for a 10th level encounter. Just add 10 if your wizard prepares fireball and you're good.

I don't get the fascination with the solo BBEG prowess. The cards are way stacked against them. I once put a level 14 evil cleric up against 8 level 8 PCs and the PCs still won without anyone dying. I mean, come on!


Efreeti with a little tweaking.
They get Improved Initiative for free. They also use Quickened Scorching Rays. Change up some feats for Power Attack and Cleave. Get the most uses out of your actions. Since this BBEG will be outnumbered, Cleave will work great. Drop Wall of Fire to divide and disorient the group. Focus attacks or spread out the damage. Against a group of 7th or 8th level adventures, this enemy can be quite challenging if used correctly.

Advance it and give it Quickened Fireballs. Use Wall of Fire to shape the field, cast Greater Invisibility and go to town.


The easiest way to stop PCs from ganging up on the BBEG is to separate them. A Rod of Rulership can be an effective TPK, wherein throwing a 'Orb of Maze' at the biggest 'gun' amongst the PCs and then using spells such as Wall of Fire to split up the PCs or Slow to reduce their overall effectiveness can help wonders, and even allow a relatively weak 'Boss' to wreak havoc.

Divide and Conquer is generally the easiest way for a 'Boss' to get the drop on the PCs. A Ranger wearing a Chainmail Shirt of Spell Resistance (19) in a room full of beams and pillars could potentially wreak absolute havoc on a party by using Acrobatics and the Stealth Skill to take cover behind the unusual terrain, attack from range, and from above on potentially flat-footed opponents, unleash his spells such as Spike Growth and Plant Growth to hem in PCs, summon animals to distract the PCs while he gets to a new location, lace his arrows with poisons to potentially cripple the PCs and use tricks like flasks of Alchemists Fire to make the PCs dodge out of the way and into vicious traps.

Now, inevitably the PCs will find a way to get him down and into 'their' territory, via sundering the pillars/beams, blanketing the area with damaging spells such as Fire Seeds, Sleet Storm (make his Acrobatics check really, really high so he'll fall and possibly break his neck), Call Lightning, Deeper Darkness (make the Ranger blind to where he's jumping and/or the locations of the PCs), Wind Wall, Animate Objects (Turn one of the pillars into a construct loyal to you!) Daylight (potentially blind the Ranger), Fog Cloud (same as Deeper Darkness), Gust of Wind (blow him away!), Solid Fog (to stop him jumping around and then belt the surrounding area with attack spells and ranged attacks), Ice Storm, Halluncinatory Terrain, Mind Fog (hehehehe), Wall of Force (he jumps and smacks into the invisible wall of force and slides down to the ground in a boneless heap, classic. I've used this on Dragons chasing us through the air, very evil, very hilarious), but they will have had to have fought like bloody Demons themselves to have won, and it will be a victory they will remember well!


pjackson wrote:
A suggestion I made in a similar discussion was to have a feat that gives extra actions in a round when alone and outnumbered. There should be no great problem with letting PCs take it since they should rarely be alone, but giving the BBEG an extra standard action each round could spice up solo encounters.

I took that and turned it into a complete feat chain. Players can take these feats, but are unlikely to get much benefit from them. The idea is that when faced with long odds you can channel you adrenaline into a super human last stand.

One Against Many
Prerequisite: 5HD
When outnumbered and alone you may activate this feat to gain an extra move action per round for up to one round per hit dice. Should you cease to be outnumbered or alone the effect ends. You may do this once per day. The extra action takes place at your normal initiative +10.

Improved One against Many
Prerequisite: 10HD, One Against Many
When outnumbered and alone you may activate this feat to gain one extra standard action per round for up to one round per hit dice. Should you cease to be outnumbered or alone the effect ends. You may do this once per day. The extra action takes place at your normal initiative +10.

Greater One against Many
Prerequisite: 15HD, Improved One against Many
When outnumbered and alone you may activate this feat to gain one extra full round action per round for up to one round per hit dice. Should you cease to be outnumbered or alone the effect ends. You may do this once per day. The extra full round action takes place at your normal initiative +10.

Back against the wall
Prerequisite: One Against Many
While One Against Many is active, you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to your AC and a +1 circumstance bonus to saves for each creature by which you are outnumbered.

Lucky to be Single
Prerequisite: One Against Many
While One Against Many is active, you may reroll a single d20 roll each round.


The summoner actually makes a pretty descent solo enemy. A couple of summoned critters the eidolon some battlefield control, and the summoner himself should be enough to divert the player attention enough ways. As someone pointed out a druid, or even a conjuration wizard could accomplish something similar.

Another thing I like is traps as encounters. There was alot of detail on this in dungeon scape and I use it pretty readily. Have the big bad litter the area with elaborate traps, taking potshots, throwing spells or just cackling at the party as they wade through them. Just make sure the whole party has a way to deal with the traps (dispelling, smashing them, using utility spells to bypass them) so that its not a whole encounter of only the rogue playing.

Liberty's Edge

Age of Worms had a great example of that at least twice that I can think of:

1)

Spoiler:

was the massive advanced CR20 carrion crawler - but was in a cave that was choked with spore releasing fungus (which the crawler was immune to) that caused per round Will saves or love wisdom due to the hallucinogenic property of the fungus.

That was the last encounter that happened in our campaign; getting ready to finish chapter 10. My players beat the creature by:

Spoiler:

after a few rounds of being quite feeble and ineffective against it, the wizard decided to end the fight. He cast Time Stop, Gate (solar angel), then dropped 3 delayed blast fireballs - [/times stop]

That was the difference maker. Sure the PCs did prevail - but it took almost all of the high level spells in the wizard's repertoire to defeat it.

and the other notable one was...

Spoiler:

The spell weaver lich. It could cast up to 6 spells a round - so long as each were 1st level. The hook on that is that it has 6 arms and could cast spells using a number of arms equal to the level of the spell - so any combo of spells that equaled 6 or one spell of 6 or more. Add Quicken Spell to its feat repertoire (which it didn't have) can make for a very nasty and well-prepared wizard BBEG encounter. Every round it could cast a bunch of defensive stuff - and still get in a jab or two.

I will overall mirror the sentiment of the other posts - location location location. Setting the scene to be on the BAD guys terms is usually the difference.

Use the creatures immunities and strengths to their advantages. Poison immunities fight in areas with poison, fire immunities in firey pits, flying creatures attacking while characters are climbing the side of a mountain etc.

Just as nature in our world takes advantage of its surroundings, creatures in the fantasy RPG world would do the same.

Spoiler:
like the pyroclastic dragon in Shackled City that you encounter when in a lava filled cavern!

White dragons for instance - are smart enough to know that their vulnerbility to fire is a well known fact to would-be dragonslayer heroes - such a creature would naturally take steps to mitigate that disadvantage.

Robert

Liberty's Edge

Utgardloki wrote:

Another possibility would be a master trapmaker who basically makes his entire lair a trap. When confronted by the PCs he can throw a switch and parts of the floor, walls and ceiling move while blades swing back and forth, giant tops whirl around, flammable items burst into flame, all at random or according to a predetermined program.

There was a Kim Possible episode (perhaps more than one) where KP went up against villians like that. She and her friends would have to dodge all manner of deadly machines while trying to get to the BBEG.

+1 For the awesome idea.

+1 again for the KP reference :)


Kolokotroni wrote:

The summoner actually makes a pretty descent solo enemy. A couple of summoned critters the eidolon some battlefield control, and the summoner himself should be enough to divert the player attention enough ways. As someone pointed out a druid, or even a conjuration wizard could accomplish something similar.

Another thing I like is traps as encounters. There was alot of detail on this in dungeon scape and I use it pretty readily. Have the big bad litter the area with elaborate traps, taking potshots, throwing spells or just cackling at the party as they wade through them. Just make sure the whole party has a way to deal with the traps (dispelling, smashing them, using utility spells to bypass them) so that its not a whole encounter of only the rogue playing.

I got the impression that you didn't much care for this when I did it in my game. =P

On the extra actions line of thinking:
I'm not too thrilled with blowing 3-5 feats for your BBEG on simply being able to keep up with a party. How about this:

One Against Many
At the start of an encounter, if you are alone and outnumbered, you may roll your initiative twice, though the second roll takes a -5 penalty. You act on both initiative counts. If, during the encounter, you gain 1 or more allies (on the fence whether this should count summoned monsters or not), or are no longer outnumbered, you lose your second set of actions.

Army of One
Prerequisites: 5 HD and One Against Many
At the start of an encounter, if you are alone and outnumbered by 5 to 1 or more, you may roll you initiative two additional times, at -5 and -10, acting on all 3 initiatives. If, during the encounter, you are no longer outnumbered 5 to 1, you lose your lowest initiative. In all other ways this functions as One Against Many.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

I think a consensus here is that one solid way to go is fitting the monster to the terrain.

One thing I mentioned in the previous thread is that pairing a monster with serious reach against a party who's stuck with limited range of movement can really bring out the solo in a monster. I once had players do battle with a cryohydra from a giant spiraling staircase leading down into darkness (Modified from an encounter in The Shackled City. The creature had reach, seven attacks a round, and could get most players in any given round.

As a digression... Furthermore, with the funky way life and death work for Hydras, they couldn't just HP it to death. Hydras are surprisingly effective that way. Perhaps one way to look at it would be to think of battles where out-damaging isn't the win-point.


Good point Drakli, and thanks all around to everyone contributing to this thread. Things are shaping up quite nicely.

Enviorment certainly is key. When the PC's have to come to the bad guy it's on his/her terms. An interesting thought experiment might be to find a way for the BBEG to bring the terrain to the players.


yeti1069 wrote:
Kolokotroni wrote:

The summoner actually makes a pretty descent solo enemy. A couple of summoned critters the eidolon some battlefield control, and the summoner himself should be enough to divert the player attention enough ways. As someone pointed out a druid, or even a conjuration wizard could accomplish something similar.

Another thing I like is traps as encounters. There was alot of detail on this in dungeon scape and I use it pretty readily. Have the big bad litter the area with elaborate traps, taking potshots, throwing spells or just cackling at the party as they wade through them. Just make sure the whole party has a way to deal with the traps (dispelling, smashing them, using utility spells to bypass them) so that its not a whole encounter of only the rogue playing.

I got the impression that you didn't much care for this when I did it in my game. =P

You mean the gate trap with the skeletons? I actually really enjoy that. I was just disappointed because my transposition spells failed. Damn will saves.


Drakli wrote:

I think a consensus here is that one solid way to go is fitting the monster to the terrain.

One thing I mentioned in the previous thread is that pairing a monster with serious reach against a party who's stuck with limited range of movement can really bring out the solo in a monster. I once had players do battle with a cryohydra from a giant spiraling staircase leading down into darkness (Modified from an encounter in The Shackled City. The creature had reach, seven attacks a round, and could get most players in any given round.

As a digression... Furthermore, with the funky way life and death work for Hydras, they couldn't just HP it to death. Hydras are surprisingly effective that way. Perhaps one way to look at it would be to think of battles where out-damaging isn't the win-point.

Amusingly enough that same encounter with our group I one shoted the hydra by critting a scorching ray from a warmage.

And as for hydras being 'hped' i think it depends on the group. If you have more then one heavy hitter in the group (character designed first and foremost for damage) it is better to go after its hp and not its heads. Its only if you dont have alot of primary damage that its better to start cleaving and burning heads.

Edit:
As a side note, monsters with multiple attacks AND reach can make descent solo candidates (you still need to do work to keep it from getting whomped). The only problem is if it gets a full attack on a single pc that pc may very well get killed outright (yeti can give an example with a hydra i believe).

I did however have a pretty descent encounter with the monster at the end of the Carrion Hill Module. He had a number of tentacle attacks along with grab on each, which could be used along with its reach to hold the party at bay.


One successful solo BBEG fight I set-up went as follows:

Minotaur with seriously beefed up stats and gear (some template for MM 3, 4 or 5--can't recall--that gave them a tentacle and some psionic abilities) and the Knockback feat (I LOVE this feat!) standing on a raised platform. Stairs wound up to the top, where the mino was hanging out, and the players had to get by him in order to progress (platform had a bridge at one end leading off to a citadel).

The minotaur had reach and Combat Reflexes, enough attacks and damage to be a real threat to anyone up top with him, some immunities and good enough saves to make an easy win difficult, and the ability to knock characters out of the fight for 1-4 rounds (depending on where they landed, or if they had featherfall) to pose a pretty significant challenge to a party of 6 adventurers at level 9.

He also posed a challenge from a tactics standpoint, as the group's usual tactic of charging in and tearing things up, relying on their AC or HP to deal with AoOs, didn't really work, since they often wouldn't be able to reach him.

[EDIT]
Ah, Kolo, I had remembered you being frustrated with the fight, but not why.

And yeah...big monsters with a lot of attacks can be problematic...Threw a beefy hydra at a group of really powerful PCs, in the hopes of challenging the group, but one (admittedly foolish) PC teleported to the hydra ahead of the group to lay some hurt, and ended up taking half of the hyrda's attacks (had it attack city guard and pedestrians as well) and he died in the first round of combat, even with a couple of misses.

That's definitely one potential pitfall of going with a monster that is beefy enough to deal with a whole party--if, for some reason, only one person can be the target of the monster's ire, they're very likely to get dramatically overwhelmed in short order.


yeti1069 wrote:


[EDIT]
Ah, Kolo, I had remembered you being frustrated with the fight, but not why.

And yeah...big monsters with a lot of attacks can be problematic...Threw a beefy hydra at a group of really powerful PCs, in the hopes of challenging the group, but one (admittedly foolish) PC teleported to the hydra ahead of the group to lay some hurt, and ended up taking half of the hyrda's attacks (had it attack city guard and pedestrians as well) and he died in the first round of combat, even with a couple of misses.

That's definitely one potential pitfall of going with a monster that is beefy enough to deal with a whole party--if, for some reason, only one person can be the target of the monster's ire, they're very likely to get dramatically overwhelmed in short order.

Yea i was frustrated because it was a fun encounter my chessmaster wizard was perfectly suited for but whom the dicegods decreed would not be making a meaningful impact.

But yea, that is one of the bigger pitfalls of solo monsters. If he is strong enough to take on a whole party by themselves, they are a huge threat to a single member of the party. If you are ok with an occassional unintended pc death its not a big deal but it will definately come up, especially if you employ divide and conquer methods to keep the players from ganging up on the monster/enemy.


Terrain advantage is a must. You don't really need anything else if you do it right. Darkness spell, flight, stealth, freedom of movement in rough terrain, invisibility, and many more all prevent the players from ganging up. If only 1-2 PCs can get attacks, and they are not full attacks, then your BBEG can totally own them.

Force PCs to help eachother with their actions. For instance, use telekenesis to throw the fighter over the edge of a cliff, forcing the wizard to go save him before terminal velocity, thus potentially killing 1 PC while distracting annother and removing both from the fight.

Illusions are your friend.

For single bruisers, reach and enough movement. Trips are nasty with combat reflexes.


A few ideas:

Low Level - Trap-making kobold rogue. Entire lair is filled with traps designed to inconvenience and separate the party, as well as convenient hiding places to give full cover and or movement under cover. For example, a maze of tunnels connecting to each other to small for medium size creatures to move through standing up. Maximizes sneak attack opportunities. Mix in some incapacitating poison on the kobold's weapons and traps and you've got a tough encounter.

Mid Level - Brute fighter with high AC and multiple attacks in magic-dead zone/permanent anti-magic field/wild magic area. Take away their buffs and magic doodads and most parties will feel like they are fighting naked. A fight which would normally be laughably easy becomes terrifying, particularly for the wizard reduced to swinging a quarterstaff.

High Level - Genius level wizard in sanctum sanctorum. Absolutely no opportunity to surprise unless PCs come up with own genius level plan. In all likelihood wizard fully buffed and reinforced before PCs even arrive, and has probably whittled their resources down bit by bit as they fight through the lair to the sanctum. Magical traps, healing items and other magic boosters shoulc be secreted about the room.

I love BBEG encounters, despite the challenge represented by economy of actions. As many have pointed out, in a fair fight the BBEG gets stomped by multiple PCs. The DM's challenge is to make sure that it's not a fair fight. Just a few simple rules on how I plan/design them to make them challenging.
-- BBEG should usually be smart and played accordingly. No punches pulled.
-- BBEG should rarely be surprised unless party really comes up with a great plan to do so.
-- BBEG's lair should be rigged to give him advantages and give attackers problems.
-- BBEGs should have sources for reinforcements.
-- BBEGs should decline combat if the odds aren't in their favor. they didn't get to be BBEGs by being stupid. There should always be an escape route. When the odds don't look good or the battle is turning against them, the BBEG should use it. Then come back at a time of his own choosing for a little payback, with friends. I love recurring villains.
-- BBEG should mitigate economy of actions problems by working to quickly separate/distract/incapacitate/eliminate individuals in the party to lessen the odds. The best tactics are not always those that deal the most damage.
-- BBEG should concentrate on eliminating threats one at a time rather than spreading attacks. Sometimes that means going after the weakest/most vulnerable first.
-- Given choice, buffers/healers die first.
-- BBEG should stay mobile, not allow himself to be cornered or flanked, even if that means sacrificing full attack himself.


Ultimately, a BBEG is the BBEG because they are powerful enough to cow everything else the PCs have faced, be it hired minions, summoned monsters, bound demons and elementals or hordes of shambling Undead.

BBEGs will almost never take on 4-to-1 odds unless they are incredibly arrogant or believe themselves to be that skilled. They have accumulated great wealth and power, made themselves a force to be reckoned with in at least the territory they control, if not nearby domains, and have likely survived several assassination attempts and attempted coups. A Caster BBEG is likely to have been scrying on anyone within the region who has been making a name for themselves, while a Non-Caster would likely have built up a spy-network of some form or another to do the same.

A truly Evil BBEG could very well have directed the PCs towards a 'faux base' simply to learn what the party can do, and when they are finally given the 'real' location would have been able to build/stock a deathtrap that would not only harm the PCs, but after they enter, lock them in place so the only way out is to brave every single trap and monster in their path. When the PCs finally emerge, there is the BBEG, long-duration buffs in place and ready to kick ass and take names when the PCs are at their weakest moment.

Hostages are also another excellent way for the BBEG to handle PCs. I believe in the Book of Evil (Forget the actual name, sorry) that there was a magical item that enabled the Master to drain health and vitality from the Slave, so every time the PCs attack the BBEG he simply drains hitpoints from the hostage to recover, taunting the PCs with this even as he prepares a truly lethal counter-attack. Either they kill her slowly through trying to hack the BBEG up or they let the BBEG kill them, or better yet, serve him via a Magical Contract, and he'll promise to release her without any further harm.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber
Kolokotroni wrote:

[

Amusingly enough that same encounter with our group I one shoted the hydra by critting a scorching ray from a warmage.

And as for hydras being 'hped' i think it depends on the group. If you have more then one heavy hitter in the group (character designed first and foremost for damage) it is better to go after its hp and not its heads. Its only if you dont have alot of primary damage that its better to start cleaving and burning heads.

You know, that's a good point.

Especially since hydra are specifically designed in such a way so that damage outputting them to death isn't supposed to be the usual best solution. That's why they have Fast Healing OMG. I think it suggests that Solo Monsters, maybe moreso even than most encounters, need to be tailor-made to the party. If you have heavy hitters, maybe a creature like the hydra isn't the solo for you.

Or give the hydra DR and energy resistance (Fiendish Templaaaaate!)

As for the danger a properly designed Solo might pose to one single party member... well... I have been known to tear apart the sorcerer who thought standing right in front of the musclebound were-baboon with a glaive was a good idea.

Don't look at me like that... ...He got better.

Sczarni

note: house rules include Hostage Holding (gun/knife to head)= capable of Coup de grace. They also include Action Points, a la Eberron.

1: The super awesome robot. This thing is as big as you can reasonably fit in the area. If the PC's are in a village, it's Huge, maybe Gargantuan. If in a city, or aboard a ship, it's Gargantuan, maybe Colossal. Unstoppable by brute strength, clever PC's have to attract it's attention, then hold off it's point defense system while the Wizard/Rogue/Cleric manages to detect, defeat, and/or disable the control mechanism.

Perhaps that leads INTO the massive construct, where a brief dungeon crawl leads to some other BBEG.

2: Clones, Simulacra, Magic Jar, or the similar. Used to best effect when you foreshadow and really GET the players at the endgame. The looks when they realize the +4 Headband of Int with Linguistics and Spellcraft was actually a Magic Jar laden trap, and the personality wants control of the wearer.

Bonus points if you can pull it off on the sly, and the victim PC's player is cool with the plot twist. (Think Carla the Circlet from Record of Lodoss War)

3: Duplicates of yourself. More than having backups or riding in jewelry, simply multiply yourself for the final battle. Perhaps illusions, perhaps mooks, long lost brothers, or incomplete clones of the BBEG.

If you have made the whole adventure/game about special Forms or Attacks, or what have you, here's your opportunity to run with it. The BBEG has mastered some esoteric means to "cheat" in combat...he runs faster, takes more actions, can survive seemingly obvious death (regeneration?), can form himself into 3 identical duplicates once a day, for some amount of time.

Somewhere in the Savage Tide boards, someone is talking about Bosses with One Piece, Unique Ability style power setups. If you play it just right, and let the PC's get access to some of the Esoteric Abilities, they'll play along.

4: Summoner. The fastest RAW summoner I could make was a 3.5 Master Conjurer with Rapid Spell. There was an Unearthed Arcana mod that allowed for standard action Summon Monster spells without level increase, IIRC, as well. Put out hordes of monstrous beasts of doom (that can smite, most often), buff to the nines, and skeedaddle. Leave trails of your summoned monsters for the party to deal with, and keep on the move.

A Druid on a fast mount or in fast wildshape form can pull this off well too, with some more "Hide in Plain Sight" style stealth as well. Who shoots all the stray dogs or cats in a neighborhood, and if you're not 1st level, you're not hunting rats.

5: Dual Action beasty. Demogorgon got it, plenty of his dudes did as well. I recommend this for specific type creatures, like end bosses or things with, say, two actual heads.

6: Aura of Doom critter. Just by being in it's presence, you're getting zapped. Maybe for just a little bit of damage, but if it's all the time, you have to reconsider your positioning, healing capacity, and overall HP limits. This is great for undead or other critters that get stronger by draining life or levels or whatever. Slap on whichever flavor of BBEG suits your needs, and you're all set.

7: The "Never Saw It Coming" BBEG. This is Joe, the lantern bearer you hired at 1st level, and kept paying throughout your career. Or she's the bartender in the 3rd village you visited, remember, the one you burned down in that big fight? Or, a trusted hireling or merchant you've established a rapport with.

Used sparingly, this is a FANTASTIC BBEG, since the plsyers usually have an emotional attachment to them. Plenty of twists abound, including: blackmailed good guy being forced, unknowing brainwashed subject, ignorantly aimed do-gooder, dominated or confused people. When you spring this on them, be ready for anything.

In general, one needs to remember what the BBEG is there for. The PCs are going to encounter her, MAYBE listen to her monologue, reject her offer of friendship/truce/employment, and proceed to layeth the smack downeth.

She's good for 3-4 rounds of combat, if you're lucky, and then the PCs get to gloat, the players get to add up new numbers on their character sheet, and the DM must reassemble the BBEG, or come up with a new one.

All of the above suggestions are FANTASTIC. Fog + Water + Water Walk = sad faced PC's, especially when they blow away the fog and meet a summoned Hydra...

I leave you with this, all you evil DM's out there.

The Cyclops racial ability, Flash of Insight, basically allows the critter to "declare a natural 20" once a day. Of course, they would still need to confirm an attack roll, and the 20 couldn't make it able to do things, like use a skill untrained if appropriate. I believe they're on the Druid summon list, as well.

-t


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber
HalfOrcHeavyMetal wrote:
Ultimately, a BBEG is the BBEG because they are powerful enough to cow everything else the PCs have faced, be it hired minions, summoned monsters, bound demons and elementals or hordes of shambling Undead.

You know, it's perhaps telling that when I think of a Solo Monster, I don't usually think of a BBEG. I have trouble conceiving of major villains not taking every advantage they can (especially when it comes to escape.)

Usually, I think of things like the BBEG's favorite pet "Rancor" aka Froghemoth, Hydra, Behir, etc. or the unholy thing the BBEG's unleashing upon the world (Tarrasque, Lovecraft-Monster, whatever.)

A significantly powerful (and foolhardy?) underling might suit the bill, "Let me take them down for you, boss. They can't stand against the might of my Icy Doom!"

On the other hand, if the BBEG is something like a gargantuan dragon or uber-demon, or wormgod... yeah, that I can see as a solo... seeing as it's a giant monster what can crush people to bloody smears and all.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber
psionichamster wrote:
The Cyclops racial ability, Flash of Insight, basically allows the critter to "declare a natural 20" once a day. Of course, they would still need to confirm an attack roll, and the 20 couldn't make it able to do things, like use a skill untrained if appropriate. I believe they're on the Druid summon list, as well.

You know what's scary? A cyclops with a Vorpal Sword. Yeah.


Kolokotroni wrote:


Yea i was frustrated because it was a fun encounter my chessmaster wizard was perfectly suited for but whom the dicegods decreed would not be making a meaningful impact.

But yea, that is one of the bigger pitfalls of solo monsters. If he is strong enough to take on a whole party by themselves, they are a huge threat to a single member of the party. If you are ok with an occassional unintended pc death its not a big deal but it will definately come up, especially if you employ divide and conquer methods to keep the players from ganging up on the monster/enemy.

This is especially true when you have parties larger that 4.

My DM was having fits with a 6 person party, because solo monster that could actually challenge us could also one round our fighter and paladin with a full attack action.

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