At the end of my next campaign I want a epic brutal end battle. The party will be level 20 Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue. This will bring them to the steps of the Starstone Cathedral facing off against Razmir and a couple of servants.
Now my question is first off what equipment should Razmir have on him? I am figuring him to be a venerable Human level 19 Wizard. A stat tree for him would also would be cool to include if you wish.
As for one of his two minions I am thinking about a Masked Golem increased size and abilities, maybe bumping him up to a CR 15. What abilities would you suggest adding to it to powering him up?
The other minion is a mind controlled Ancient White Dragon with Gold Trimmed Scales CR 15. Or would the dragon, the golem, and Razmir be to much for a level 20 standard adventuring party to handle?
I think you're going too weak, rather than too strong, actually. Razmir is going to be a CR 19 (I assume you're giving him PC stat-array and equipment). The golem and the dragon will be CR 15 each. 15 + 15 + 19 = 20 (funny how encounter math works, isn't it?). A CR 20 encounter will properly use 1/5 or so of the resources of a level 20 party.
How to make it nastier? If you want Razmir to be maintained at 19th level, give him more/nastier minions. As a high level wizard with the resources of a country at his disposal, he should have access to gate spells. Have him bring some friends. Like a pit fiend sort of friend. He should also have some more mundane bodyguards, like a small army of fighters (or giants or what have you). He never goes anywhere without an entourage.
As for the golem, it might be easier if you're not comfortable with monster design to take an existing golem and tweak it rather than building a giant mask golem from scratch. Swapping out the fluid form of a mithral golem, for example, for the masks of a mask golem would get you a CR 16.
What about upgrading the White Dragon to Great Wyrm making him a CR 18? Then the Pit Fiend which is CR 20 summoned and controlled, with the supped up giant Mask Golem with Fluid Form CR 16.
As for Razmir I was thinking of epic gear such as Staff of the Magus, and the like.
Instead of toughening the opponents, how about placing them in a tough environment for the PCs? Traps that establish brief anti-magic effects, debilitating poisons, invisible barriers, unstable flooring that allows the BBs to fire off spells as the party tries to advance? Or maybe hidden teleport circles that would interfere with the PCs coordinated advance?
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Use preparation to your advantage. Most critical will be tactics.
Goals 1) Avoid taking full attacks, 2) Divide and Conquer. 3) Have an escape plan or doomsday effect.
Remember at this level you make the terrain. E.g mix illusionary and real walls/floor to your benefit. Remember lvl 19 wizards are smart and attack weak points.
It seems to me kind of low-challenge for the final battle. But you could always give Razmir summoning powers and bring in more baddies based on how well the party is doing.
Well they are near the Starstone Cathedral so I could easily produce any type of terrain imaginable as they attempt to stop him from ascending to Godhood. What spells should I have Razmir already cast such as Shield or Mage Armor etc... Since Razmir will know they are coming he should be fully prepared, if not also having his minions ready to ambush.
Now my question is first off what equipment should Razmir have on him? I am figuring him to be a venerable Human level 19 Wizard. A stat tree for him would also would be cool to include if you wish.
Well if you really want to make it hard give him an Epic Fantasy array.
Start with a base of:7/18/15/18+2/7/7
Belt of Physical Perfection +6, Headband of Mental Superiority +6 (fluff this as his mask), Venerable Age + 4 Attribute Points from level ups
=7/18/15/33/17/17
If you really want to make him strong, insight tomes so +5 to all (he owns a kingdom, he probably afford it)
=12/23/20/38/22/22
Ring of Spell Turning and a Ring of Blinking. Robes of Xin-Shalast, Necklace of Adaptation, Bracelet of Second Chances, Cloak of Resistance +6 should make him more resilient. Throw in a Staff of the Magi and maybe some other filler items and he's fully equipped. Put in the wayfinder with 3 slots of orange ioun stones or something and magical knack (wizard) for the lost CL.
Since he's making his own divine magic you could give him the Pathfinder Savant Class and add some spells onto his list. Stuff like Any spell, maybe cure spells, maybe heal, earthquake, destruction, dictum/blasphemy, prayer, ill omen. A mix of fluffy debuff/buff and damage spells. Just so they know he's closer to divinity than they thought.
As for one of his two minions I am thinking about a Masked Golem increased size and abilities, maybe bumping him up to a CR 15. What abilities would you suggest adding to it to powering him up?
Have a bunch of the small ones that merge together like lantern archons to become one big one for a few rounds with special attacks?
The other minion is a mind controlled Ancient White Dragon with Gold Trimmed Scales CR 15. Or would the dragon, the golem, and Razmir be to much for a level 20 standard adventuring party to handle?
Depends how tactical everyone is. If you're having the dragon throw down breath attacks, spam spells, generally be annoying from the air while the golem(s) goes after casters and Razmir summons monster after monster after monster beyond the reach of the melee then that might get really hard really fast. If the golem is engaged with the melee and the dragon is on the ground fighting with natural weapons and the occasional breath while Razmir throws damage spells then no.
Well, if the baddies are prep that can really up the power scale tremendously. But I would still make more bad guys.
One of the things I have done that works pretty well is decoys.
Have several (say 4 or 5) groups running around that are magically disguised to look like the main bad guys. Put them around 1/2 level. Just dangerous enough that they can't be ignored (once they are identified as secondary targets).
If you want to see a well-done (imho) high level wizard, look no further than Runelord Karzoug (AP #6). Granted, that is for 3.5 but it wouldn't take too much to modify him.
Even so, he's only CR 20 and you will want more than that as a grand finale for your APL 20 group. Make sure you have given them plenty of encounters beforehand (I don't think the standard 4/day holds up at high levels personally since there are so many more resources available to high level PC's, you have to go with more encounters per day).
An epic encounter would be CR 23 or so, depending on how skilled your players are and how strong your PCs are. So you might shoot for something along those lines. Good luck!
P.S. I'm planning my own grand finale for my 6 level 20 PCs and it's versus a CR 25 baddie (plus his minions). Good stuff!
Alright so what now have figured is Aioran's stats and magic items for Razmir figuring the items would bump his CR up to maybe a CR 21. Making sure he has all buffs in place and prepared to throw plenty of summoned minions between himself and the party.
Allowing the Golem, Dragon, Kyton, and other minions to eat at them slowly. I see him as being the cowardly type to hide behind his minions unless forced to do otherwise.
I plan on upgrading the Ancient White Dragon to a Great Wyrm bumping his CR up to 18 using him to harry the foes as they attempt to advance toward Razmir. Maybe using Ice Tomb to trap the Cleric to hinder the party's healing abilities, if not them then the Wizard to help slow their damage output.
The Golem, a fluff altered Adamantine Golem CR 19, I am thinking he will bull rush and trample the Fighter to lock him into combat and force him away from Razmir. I want to keep him and the Fighter engaged for as long as possible, as I am sure a stiff strike on Razmir from a Fighter would take a good chunck of his HP out.
The last one is a Kyton Eremite CR 20 that has been brainwashed into following Razmir, using him to blitz the party in fast full round attacks. though being the "strongest" using him as cannon fodder allowing him to take full round attack so he may in turn gain a grapple and eviscerate them with his claws.
Or did I just over do it with the Kyton. o.o lol XD then again I've been low balling it this entire time.
If you bump Razmir up to level 20 and give him PC WBL (880k gp) then he is CR 20. If he is level 20 but only has NPC WBL (159k gp, huge difference) then he is CR 19.
Assuming you give him PC WBL and he is level 20 then he is CR 20.
White dragon = CR 18.
Golem = CR 19.
Kyton = CR 20.
Total exp = 307,200 + 153,600 + 204,800 + 307,200 = 972,800 which equates to a CR 23 or 24 encounter. If you knock Razmir's WBL down to NPC level then it would be a solid CR 23 encounter, which seems quite doable to me for an APL 20 party.
How about 40 level 1 Magus' as his personal guard? Each magus is equipped with a CL 9 wand of magic missle with one charge in it. They divide their attacks evenly among the party doing 50D4+50 force damage to each party member on the first round. Should be a pretty low CR and cost for the wands. If the BBEG has reason to beleieve that certain party members always have shield up then have his minions target accordingly. High level players usually don't worry much about Magic Missle so usually don't have defenses for it.
Then the Magus' close to melee to act as interference for the boss and his more powerful minions. It will take some time to kill them off and they buy time for the BBEG and the real threats to get some nasty done. They could attempt to do disarms or trips using True Strike (one of their own level 1 spells), etc to foul up the party. Disarm the fighter/Rogue of their weapon/weapons or the mage of their staffs/wands, cleric of their holy symbols and carry them to the BBEG or appropriate BBEG minion for them to use/hold onto//destroy/hide in a bag of holding/whatever.
They won't do much to harm the actual party after the first blast but they will be able to slow the party down a lot if played smart and some decent rolls will cause havoc with their gear. Plus the first volley of Magic Missles should give them pause or use up some powerful healing pretty fast.
And the totals CR of the 'Personal Guard' is pretty darn low and the cost of their gear is almost nothing. Even fully kitted out in Mastercraft armor and weaoins and the one charge wands, should not cost too much.
If that first volly seems too harsh, lower the Caster Level of the wand to what you think would be appropriate for the difficulty you want.