While reading the advice boards as the lurker I am, I came up with some interesting ideas for bad guys that you Game Masters may enjoy using at some point. I know I certainly intend to do so.
First: The Anime Uber Fighter
I've been watching some Anime so the sense of speed has been in my mind when the idea came up. In other posts you find many people asking how to make a BBEG not die in a few rounds of combat. This in the vein of making them truly terrifying without being godly.
So I came up with a simple idea to make it happen. I'd suggest not doing this in the first couple of levels for effect. The recommendation would only start having these kind of guys at level 5+ of any adventure probably. So what am I suggesting? Simple - The kind of anime characters that not only hit like trucks but move almost too fast for the untrained eye to see them.
Effectively the BBEG would most likely have spring attack somewhere in his build. Now what the PCs see is that he moves up and does a simple attack that may hurt via Vital strike or just a basic one. When the PCs first attack (to represent never facing a foe like this) they can hit rather easily but realize that they are simply swinging through air. A sort of image of the person is cut through but for all intents and purposes appears to still remain there as if he never moved ala silent image possibly. At this point a perception check for those *after* that first attack is made with a relatively moderate to high DC to see where the bad guy REALLY is.
So after the attack the bad guy is actually 15 feet away or even in the middle of everyone. This is what they'd see if they made their perception checks and those who notice may attempt to get after him for that round.
That is my idea, though I want to get ideas on the ways PCs can not be overwhelmed by such an opponent and more ways than simply perception to figure things out. To keep perception from being the ONLY thing able to follow an elite guy that moves so fast. Blind fight I'd think may have a shot if the person is adjacent at the end of the BBEG's move?
Some may ask if the PCs could eventually do the same and I think if allowed it at all, it would be through the Spring Attack feat and house ruled to be as above. Now I don't know if I'd necessarily tell any PC until someone bothers to obtain it by that point or gets some mentoring from an in-game NPC to give away the secret.
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Second: The Invincible Warrior
This can go for almost any class and not a fighter specific type of BBEG. Some have come up with the concept that an intelligent weapon controls a body moreso than a person wielding an intelligent weapon. I didn't want to limit this BBEG to simply an intelligent weapon or magic weapons at all. It could go a number of ways in so much that he is invincible as long as he has a weapon in hand. Obviously his fight would most likely be near a weapon rack of some sort.
The fight I'd envision would be some form of weapons armory and his HP is counted as the weapons on the wall and in his hands. To hurt him is effectively to sunder them all somehow. The things that I would be curious about here is:
1) How, in a not in your face obvious fashion, do I give hints to this method of beating the bad guy to make them figure it out and get the satisfaction of doing so?
2) What limitations of attacks would be necessary once they do figure it out to make it a decent fight afterwards? i.e. fireball wouldn't destroy the weapons but shatter certainly would speed things up! Also, hammers would be more effective in sundering the weapons over piercing or slashing since they aren't being wielded and being forced against said blades.
Thanks for the advice and feel free to use these ideas for your games ^_^
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For the first guy, my best idea is that he actually has two AC's-- his after-image has an AC of about 13 and his actual AC is like 24. If a PC hits the after-image but not him, he "teleports". If a PC actually beats his real Ac, they land an actual hit.
I think the best way to balance this would be to make his "teleportation" random-- he can't bounce into a tactically advantageous position every time. Area of Effect attacks like fireball will help too, though I think this guy needs to be a monk and would thus have good saves.
For the second guy, make sure that when the PC's meet this guy you take extra pains to describe exactly how many weapons there are in the room, and what kind they are, and which racks they're on. That'll at least get the message through that it's important to know that. Maybe the PCs will start wielding some of his weapons themselves? Of course, my biggest concern is that this Invincible Warrior will, upon losing all his weapons, try to steal the PC's. Are the players going to be forced to sunder their own weapons?
For the first guy, my best idea is that he actually has two AC's-- his after-image has an AC of about 13 and his actual AC is like 24. If a PC hits the after-image but not him, he "teleports". If a PC actually beats his real Ac, they land an actual hit.
I think the best way to balance this would be to make his "teleportation" random-- he can't bounce into a tactically advantageous position every time. Area of Effect attacks like fireball will help too, though I think this guy needs to be a monk and would thus have good saves.
For the second guy, make sure that when the PC's meet this guy you take extra pains to describe exactly how many weapons there are in the room, and what kind they are, and which racks they're on. That'll at least get the message through that it's important to know that. Maybe the PCs will start wielding some of his weapons themselves? Of course, my biggest concern is that this Invincible Warrior will, upon losing all his weapons, try to steal the PC's. Are the players going to be forced to sunder their own weapons?
Concerning the first guy, I do like the suggestion of having two different ACs and random location. Probably roll a d6 to figure how many squares away he ends up and a d10 or so to determine which squire in that "circle" of squares he may be in. I disagree it needs to be a monk though for some campaigns it makes more thematic sense. I wanted to tack it to Spring attack to make the feat more interesting and give BBEG martial types something neat.
For your second suggestion I do agree with taking pains to mention all that. I had not considered him attempting to take the PC's weapons at all. That makes it a very different fight that I think would be great to be honest! Though generally people bring one uber weapon or two and the rest mundane to cover situations ala ghost touch. Hard to sunder a magical sword with a mundane weapon.
This also brings people to using disarm maneuver in the fight which would be an amusing twist. Besides sundering the weapons the PCs may have to team up to 'pin' the guy and probably get their weapons back that way. I don't want to say that I'd make him have greater disarm so even the BBEG gets attacks of opportunity trying to take the PC's weapons.
For using the BBEG's weapons it would take away the guy's arsenal and 'hp' albeit unknowingly. They both become very creative and thought provoking fights requiring everyone to work as a team against one person. I wouldn't do anything cheesy like giving him a rock or stick being the equivalent of a sword for his invincibility either.
I think these 'abilities' you could say, can make for a single BBEG that is scary, different, not necessarily overpowered and forces the PCs to certainly work together.
Think of anything else that can be covered?