Hey, guys.
You know how in some videogames you defeat a boss and then he transforms, becoming a monster, and you have to fight it again?
I like doing that kind of thing in my game, keeping it for climatic fights. In 3.5, I did it with Craft Contingent Spell - revivify + heal to get them back in the fight plus whatever transformation spell I wanted.
Pathfinder doesn't have multiple contingencies (for good reason), so in my current game I'm using modifier orbs of dragonkind. They have all the powers of orbs of dragonkind and orbs of dragonshape, plus if you're defeated when you have one, it casts heal + form of the dragon III on you. So far it only happened once (my players are fighting an organization that is gathering the robs) but the effect was so very well. I even threw a Valkyrie Profile reference for good measure - "my soul burns... my power has awakened!"
Of course, I won't be able to use the orbs of dragonkind every campaign (neither do I want to do it). Basically, what I'm asking here is:
- do you have any stories about dual form bosses in your Pathfinder game?
- do you know of any ways to get dual form bosses in the Pathfinder rules, even if you haven't used it yourself?
Thanks in advance!
In my campaign the PC's are fighting false god avatars (and the champions each has corrupted). For this every major fight (7) is a "dual form" battle of sorts.
One was a necromancer infused with a shade. When the necromancer died the shade popped up to harass the PC's (his own champions weapons hurt the shade). Another was a champion Orc (dual shield user, and uber AC) who guarded the coin Golem. When the champion fell his blood awakened the Golem (avatar of a greed god). Another Avatar was a winter witch held captive by Giants (who had stolen the special artifact). The PC's defeated the "boss" giant, only to be back stabbed by the (poor, starving, innocent) winter witch (built a frost maze and stole their belongings), that they had "rescued".
Another encounter will be an Ooze fight (still need to find or create a good Ooze boss stat block), the "Boss' will look like all the other Oozes he controls (while the sealed room slowly fills, creating an aquatic battle zone), the PC's must keep track of the boss as he moves about the battlefield hiding amongst his minions (hoping to drown the PC's).
The PC's are very good at killing bosses so the fights do not drag out for long like many dual boss encounters can, and I fill the time between with many "oregon trail" encounters and mini encounters (minions and traps).
Alchemist clones could be fun to play with, and the classic Lich phylactery issue (kill the boss, find out he was a Lich glamored to look alive). Then they must discover where he his his Phylactery before the fighter dies (naturally the fighter will have to "hold the line" while the wizards do the real work =p).
Use dual encounters sparingly (or make one of the fights very easy (Boss CR / 2) so it goes quick and lets the PC's feel like they are doing some damage).
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Just do it. The CR shouldn't matter whether the players fight one monster followed by another or one monster that turns into another.
Oh, but you do have to shout "Playtime is OVER! GRANT. ME. POOOOWOWWWWRRRRRRRR!" It's in CRB page 724.
The sad thing is that actually checked the core book for a page 724.
Well played.
I tend to do stuff like this (though not quite like this), by having it so I'd prep some stuff to give the BBEG once they hit 1/2 health, depending on how hard or easily the party is finding the boss. But it's not usually a second form. More, the boss stays the same, more or less, but gets some new boon.
That would be the "turns red" trope.
Problem with that is, sometimes the PCs can kill the boss before it can turn red.
That would be the "turns red" trope.
Problem with that is, sometimes the PCs can kill the boss before it can turn red.
Yeah, specially beacause the first form is classically a humanoid - and humanoids have low HP.
I've always wanted to use an intellect devourer (with class levels) lich inside of another undead (maybe a death/graveknight or another lich). So you kill the evil undead overlord, only to find out he's not really the one in charge afterall. Or just that he's so evil his brain lives on.
Another classic is to have the BBEG arise as a worm-that-walks or a ghost right after he's slain in combat. You know, there's no reason you could go from original mortal life -> worm-that-walks->ghost. Heck, if you were near some sort of planar breach to the lower planes, you could even throw in some demonic or infernal form somewhere in there.
Magic Jar (or a ghost's malevolence or a shadow demon's magic jar) is another option, so long as you keep the original BBEG's body safe.
If you have access to AP #46 (Carrion Crown: Wake of the Watcher) check out the Spawning Canker in the bestiary that's in the back of that book. Or just do some digging for it and you'll probably find it online.
Nothing says "Round 2: Fight!" like killing the villain only for their head to explode in a burst of tentacles, and for the tentacle-piloted corpse to get back up for a second try.
I say just do it. Consider it a unique monster ability for a homebrew creature.
Some guys have the ability to reform or reincrnate after being killed. Just have this version come with a form change.
I've only done it at low levels but here's how:
1. I had zombies filled with the following: swarms, oozes or a beheaded. Once they got hit, as a Swift action their "other" makes itself known. Not really dual form, but along the same lines.
2. The Swarmlord: the PCs enter a cave with weird walls and fight a humanoid with a Worm-that-Walks or Amalgam Creature kind of template. Once they defeat it, the walls start to shudder and flake, finally exploding in a sea of different kinds of mundane vermin. Instead of attacking the PCs though, the swarms begin rebuilding their "lord" and the key is to destroy the various hives and nests in the walls
3. Akata blues: an akata is an aberrant creature that embeds itself in a host, eventually kills the thing and animates the corpse as a zombie. Finally the fully developed akata leaves the zombie destroying the host corpse in the process. Form 1 - the living host (an APL +0 fight). Form 2 - a powerful zombie (an APL +1 zombie fight with templates to keep it competitive). Form 3 - the super-akata (an APL +2 akata with templates to keep it competitive).
There's other ways I'm sure.
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I use the concept of "worldbreakers" that gained popularity in 4th edition.
Have an "initial state" with a number of HP. This will be the 'before' phase of the boss. It fights until reduced to 0 or fewer HP.
Instead of dropping at 0 hp, the enemy will instead transform into a new state with a new set of HP.
My dragon bosses do this. You fight the 'regular dragon' first. If you reduce it to 0 hp it's mortal coil is destroyed and the Elemental Dragon within bursts forth (made of the element of the dragon's breath). To truly defeat the dragon you must now kill the elemental form.
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I use the concept of "worldbreakers" that gained popularity in 4th edition.
Have an "initial state" with a number of HP. This will be the 'before' phase of the boss. It fights until reduced to 0 or fewer HP.
Instead of dropping at 0 hp, the enemy will instead transform into a new state with a new set of HP.
My dragon bosses do this. You fight the 'regular dragon' first. If you reduce it to 0 hp it's mortal coil is destroyed and the Elemental Dragon within bursts forth (made of the element of the dragon's breath). To truly defeat the dragon you must now kill the elemental form.
Holy cow, I absolutely love this idea. Do you mind if I steal it for my games?
Holy cow, I absolutely love this idea. Do you mind if I steal it for my games?I use the concept of "worldbreakers" that gained popularity in 4th edition.
Have an "initial state" with a number of HP. This will be the 'before' phase of the boss. It fights until reduced to 0 or fewer HP.
Instead of dropping at 0 hp, the enemy will instead transform into a new state with a new set of HP.
My dragon bosses do this. You fight the 'regular dragon' first. If you reduce it to 0 hp it's mortal coil is destroyed and the Elemental Dragon within bursts forth (made of the element of the dragon's breath). To truly defeat the dragon you must now kill the elemental form.
Steal away. I shamelessly stole it myself!
I stole this Leotheras the Blind encounter and converted it to pathfinder. Worked out incredibly.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?290212-Best-4E-Tactical-Encount ers/page4