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Hey, I'm planning to make an adventure where they players are stuck in a town while masked assailants keep attacking in different places.
It's four players (Paladin, Rogue, Bard, Sorcerer), all of them level 2 (and probably level 3 by the time the final fight rolls along).
I wanted to design a assailant so that the first time, beating one of them on his lonesome is hard already.
Then, the second encounter will probably have another assailant with some added difficulty (I'm thinking environmental hazards).
The third encounter would be special. The assailants, unbeknownst to the players, are actually the same person - a time traveller and many of his alternate selves. I thought it would be cool for TWO or THREE of the assailants (with some teamwork feats to showcase them) to fight the players, and hint the players that they are somehow connected by having them share a hit point pool.
Don't know what to make for the fourth encounter, but it should be the final round and the most exciting.
So I wanted help in making the enemy, what class etc. would be the best. It will be an Aasimar for race, that much I know.
Any ideas for the fourth encounter too?
They already met him the first time. He beat the snot out of them because they all had cursed equipment (funny kind of cursed equipment) and just toyed around with them while they flailed helplessly.
I want this to be a challenging boss. They crushed their level 1 adventure via tons of Sneak Attacks (Rogue is a Knife Master), a bunch of 2H Greataxe swings by the Paladin, and all the raw power of spells of the Sorcerer.
The Bard helped, in some way I am certain.
But I want this boss to give a good run for their money, but I want him to be defeatable via tactics and not just godly rolls.
honestly you could have them all be different
get a good mix of classes and such
if hes coming back in time maybe he retrained into a fighter
or a ranger
or a summoner
hell if PC's can do it why not the NPC's
if you want a challenge you need a mixture of enemies
just having a bunch of front line fighters, then the party just kites them
if its all archers, then the party just uses cover until they can close distance to melee
hell you could have one of them be a mounted cavalier if your really evil
that would force them to stay in alleyways and spend their move actions avoiding him
hell use your MAGICAL DM POWERS and let him take the wings feat like 7 levels early
there is any number of things you can do
i would recommend synthesist for a big tough BBEG that still have stuff to do after the eidolon goes down
hell any kind of summoner at that level can pose a challenge
a buffed up eidolon gets real nasty real fast
There are quite a few ways to shut down some of your players most powerful abilities, and if the antagonist has faced them several times then it's likely they took notes and did their homework. You could even tailor certain aspects of the encounter to test them morally or mentally.
Concealment (like Blur) will completely negate the rogue's sneak attack unless they have shadow strike (they won't), and also add 20% miss chance to the Paladin. And it's only a level 2 spell.
Paladins are a bit easy and cheap to toy with. Present a "you can kill me *or* save the orphans" scenario to split them from the party for a bit. Alternatively make your antagonist pragmatic, chaotic or misunderstood but not actually evil to prevent the Smite Evil beatdown.
Make sure you know the strengths and weaknesses of each character. If none of them have darkvision then confront them in pitch darkness and make a point of using the light level rules. They'll have to use creative means, perception and teamwork to find you. Alternatively have the entire area silenced - does your bard have a visual performance for inspire courage?
Your players will not enjoy being shut down though, so make sure you give them options and creative alternatives to be useful. If you plan on using darkness or silence then make sure there are torches for light or alchemical items for the Sorcerer to use etc.
Minions, minions, and fire. Give your BBEG a lot of mooks (if he can travel through time, then he can do favors/make connections with gangs/make mercenary contracts/raise dead/capture and train animals, very easily. If the party has more than one target to deal with, it can make a boss last a LOT longer, especially if he waits in the shadows for AFTER they have used up their spells/heals. Plus sentient Mooks can have contracts (dated for next week? Orders to be here and attack the party now, from 5 YEARS ago?! How could they know?)
Alchemist, who constantly changes archetypes can leave the party guessing (mutagen? Sneak attack? Bomber? Spellslinger?), and not require much in the way of a respec.
Guardianlord makes a very valid point. The biggest advantage of a group of PCs is in the Action Economy of the game. There are more of them so they get more turns than the BBEG.
Even this out with a few other enemies and it works better. Choosing foes with weapons or abilities that hamper the party will also stop them cakewalking through. Something as simple as henchmen with nets and bows can entangle the party and put a few arrows in them as they escape.
Mix in difficult terrain, enemies on higher levels, cover etc. and you can create a Tucker's Kobolds scenario.
As for a single enemy that can be flexible and challenge a party - Druids are an obvious one. A level 5 druid can cast while wildshaped, summon, melee and generally do a bit of everything. A Magus, Cleric, Oracle, Inquisitor, Alchemist or similar could also fit the flexible caster/melee role. Wizards and Clerics are the stereotypical BBEG though, mainly because you can build their spell list flexibly and magic is powerful.
I like the pitch darkness fight! I can really build upon that thematically.
The cavalier fight is something i like too. They have to cross town as one of the last challenges so that would be a great fight to include.
What level should the boss be? For 4 level 2-3 PCs.
PS: The Paladin can't Smite Evil because the boss is Neutral Good by the way. He's trying to kill himself as a kid.
Remeber that even when the scenario is about the boss, you base encounters on the total CR of enemies involved. Your boss could be level 2 and have a load of henchmen, or higher level and have few. It's often better to have the boss below the maximum allowed CR in order to give them support.
I like the idea of a NG "baddie" by the way!
PS: The Paladin can't Smite Evil because the boss is Neutral Good by the way. He's trying to kill himself as a kid.
If he wants to die... let him. Give him his past self, he commits suicide, party leaves.
PS: The Paladin can't Smite Evil because the boss is Neutral Good by the way. He's trying to kill himself as a kid.If he wants to die... let him. Give him his past self, he commits suicide, party leaves.
The kid is held in a magically protected temple that the town was built upon that the time traveler cannot enter. (This is the same reason why the guy can't swarm the PCs.)
His plan for getting to the kid is obtaining a whole lot of dynamite and blowing the town apart and that likely includes the PCs.
If the PCs discover he's a time traveler AND discover who he is, they can kill the kid themselves, given they fight through the ruins before the ritual takes place.