
Ogadim |
If you have played 8 and 16 bit RPGs, you may be familiar with this type of boss. A "Load-Bearing" Boss is usually at the top of some structure (typically a tower) and when defeated that structure begins to crumble and collapse. Is there a Pathfinder way to recreate this scenario where upon defeat of the BBEG the surrounding structure/pocket dimension/area begins a slow but inevitable collapse that the PCs must escape or be crushed/trapped?

MrSin |

The game unfortunately doesn't create very good rules for chases or 'scenes' where you run or escape from something. The best compromise I've found is to have the area crumble during the final encounter narratively and then have effects of the slowly dissolving world or the boss's actions used as part of the actual encounter. Another option is to have the players run backwards through the maps you already drew and deal with the change in scenery destroying your exits. At higher levels they tend to just fly over it all or teleport though. Same thing happens with chases, if your familiar with those mechanics. Keep in mind narratively you can always instill a feeling of rush, even when there isn't really any, and additionally you can throw an encounter, even a weak one, after the end in order to get the players to freak out. Similar to letting them deal with the slowly dissolving area around them when running back, and you can mix it all to create something that mechanically shows a dissolving world or crumbling tower while still having combat and urgency.

Arturius Fischer |

There's several ways of doing this, but unfortunately they require a little 'fiddling' by the DM to make them work. They all require a bit of creativity if you want them to work based on the rules, rather than just deciding it.
The easiest way to do this is actually to use 'minions' of the BBEG that will cause catastrophe after its death.
For instance, in Eberron there were airships that were powered by bound Elementals. A sufficiently powerful enemy could have his own personal customized ship with a much more powerful Elemental than usual powering it, one which only he could control and force to do his bidding. Upon the enemy's death, the Elemental is freed from control but not its prison, so it decides to escape the latter by aiming the ship at the ground at maximum speed. Upon impact the ship and contents (including the PC's) will be destroyed. Now the players have a time limit (however long you've decided for this to happen) to race through the ship to an area where they can escape. If they are lower level or low on spells, they may not have the ability to escape on their own, so instead they may have to find the equivalent of 'lifeboats' in the time limit to escape, perhaps even fighting crew that are trying to escape as well.
Another could involve a powerful spawning Undead (or Necromancer that created one and used it to form his own 'pyramid scheme' of control). The BBEG is at the top of the food chain and has established multiple chains of command with him on top. Either he's Lawful and has ordered them to allow the PC's to pass and fight him without interruption, or he's Chaotic and needs to prove himself amongst the other, non-directly controlled villains. Or perhaps the PC's are just running an assassination mission on the BBEG and his underlings discover the attempt after they start the fight, or perhaps they were successful in engaging him and he's just called upon his minions to help. At any rate, they kill him and then pyramid is broken and all the lesser-powered but WAY numerically greater enemies have gone absolutely nuts. They all want to fight each other or escape, and can't agree on who should be in charge, but the one thing they can agree on is that the PC's need to die horribly while they are weakened from fighting the boss. Of course, the BBEG had a sufficiently shielded area that prevents the standard teleport-kill tactics, so they have to escape the area before they can escape in such a fashion or be taken away by those who can.

Rynjin |

If your BBEG has a demiplane, things can get fun in conjunction with Contingency (triggered on his death) used as a "Screw you clause". For obvious reasons, this is really a high level set of options.
Option 1: Mage's Disjunction Contingency dispels the Demiplane. Perhaps a bit too instantaneous for your tastes, but perhaps consider letting it dissolve the plane one piece at a time instead of all at once.
Option 2: Have it cast Greater Create Demiplane and use the Portal feature. It opens on the Plane of Fire, Negative Energy, Water, etc. and starts to be consumed in fire/covered by deadly negative energy/flooded/etc. The party must escape the plane before it's subsumed.
Option 3: Also involving Greater Create Demiplane, have it add the "Erratic Time" quality of the plane. Less a load bearing boss, and more a plot hook for a "Won the battle, lost the war" scenario where the PCs kill the BBEG...but within the plane, while only a few seconds passed, a year or more passed on the outside. The enemy's generals and other minions have finished his evil plans in the interim, and such.
There's other options too, but really too many to name. Demiplanes are fun.

Ogadim |
I would primarily like to keep it within the bounds of the rules as much as possible. I'm willing to smudge some things or setup purposeful spells to keep escape options limited (such as enclosed spaces to counter flying or permanent dimensional anchor to stop teleportation). The simplest setup I can think of is a) having it happen before the PCs have access to escape spells such as fly and the various teleports, b) the BBEG has minions of some sort (golems seem the easiest in terms of mindlessly controlled destruction), c) the BBEGs dying breath has a command word that activates the minions and they begin knocking out actual load-bearing structures such as pillar in the final encounter room.
I like the creative ideas you have put forth so far. Very interesting takes on the self-destruct trope, and I enjoy a story-driven workaround as opposed to a blatant "wizard did it" when possible.

Corlindale |
A physical collapse of the enemy fortress should work well enough, like MrSinn also suggested.
Just make sure you have a carefully drawn map of the entire area on your battlegrid beforehand. Eeach round more hazards and obstacles (which you planned out in advance) are added to the map at various places - collapsed pillars, rubble, fires starting, etc... The PCs have to get out quickly before the area collapses entirely, but the minions of the boss are still fighting to keep them in (or also fighting to reach the way out, competing with the PCs!)
Some of the most memorable encounters of the campaigns I have played had elements of this - one was a burning building with rapidly spreading fire attacked by undead creatures, another a battle arena which was ravaged by earthquakes that left gaping cracks in the ground all over the place.

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Perhaps the BBEG is actually a giant Caryatid Column, and is literally the support beam for the dungeon. It would explain why the PCs knew exactly where to find him/her.
In fact, you could have the entire dungeon be populated entirely by animated statuary that is a part of the dungeon itself if you wanted. Perhaps the thing is actually a giant war machine that's trundling along the countryside, and the PCs have to infiltrate it and take it out. Maybe they were sent in to assassinate the "pilot" and claim the thing in the name of the King, but it turns out the pilot is part of the structure?

haruhiko88 |

I think there were some rules in the gamemaster's guide or somewhere. Chases can be fun but you have to think on your feet a bit if you intend to use this system.

Sereinái |

I'm just imagining a BBEG standing in an old hall and as the PCs enters he waves his staff and the Atlas styled statues wake up and start moving in on the heroes only to have the whole room collapse in on the baddies.
If your evil guy is using golems give him profession Architect so he doesn't mess with load bearing golems