PCs kill final boss too early? boss comes back with a vengeance.

[wordelo]

Ok so I was converting the 4th edition campaign line to pathfinder. We are in the drow enclave module and in that module I saw a thing that said that a dragon comes by, breathes on PCs and leaves.

I'm like well that's weird so instead I make that dragon urishtar the final boss in the NEXT module. someone they can't really touch but also to introduce him. He has his own way of thinking, cocky like most dragons. I made him an ancient umbral dragon (CR 19) PCs are lvl 13.

so he shows up breathes on them and leaves. with his speed he gets 250 feet away. and the archer fires some arrows and rolls two criticals. he is buffed like crazy and long story short they kill him before he can get another turn.

Got to admit I was a little stunned, but if he went all in it would have been a little different but I can't just take it back.

I still want to do the next module but it is drastically different. this dragon is on Orcus' radar so orcus goes to his corpse picks up his eyeball and leaves to perform his experiments.

"We will rebuild him, make him stronger."

Not only does he resurrect the dragon but he also turns him into a dread lich. Now a CR 22.

when PCs return home victorious the dragon attacks the town at some point turning most of them into shadows and capturing their souls so none can be resurrected. Much more reason to go after him than what the module suggests I think.

[Greylurker]

You could make it into a Ravener

That way it can use the souls of their loved ones for fuel

[Arachnofiend]

There's a really cool psychic undead dragon in bestiary 5 that might be interesting for this. Wish I could remember what it's called.

[Opuk0]

I think it's a Wyrm Wraith or something similar?

[Arachnofiend]

Ah, yeah that's it. Here is the stat block if the OP is interested. Looks like the CR is a bit low for what they need, though.

[My Self]

Or you could tag the Graveknight template or Lich template onto the dragon.

As for your solution, I like it, it's smart and a really good way to recover. Just make sure that your dragon won't wipe the party when they come back- they won't double crit every fight.

[Opuk0]

Dracolich is something that already exists as its own monster.

My DM speculated on creating an encounter with a Dracolich and its own Wyrmwraith.

The table was terrified speechless.

[wordelo]

Ravener looks really cool, might do that.

I thought about making it a ghost but then decided against incorporeality.

a dread lich is a more powerful version of a lich.

I couldn't find dracolich, when I did a search for lich dracolich should have came up but it didn't. a lich template on a dragon is basically a dracolich.

thanks for the boost of confidence in my idea.

[Opuk0]

Oh, yeah, Ravener is what it's called.

I must've been thinking of a Dracolisk

[Greylurker]

Dracolich was a Forgotten Realms thing from D&D. As such it can't cross over with the OGL to PAthfinder.

[wordelo]

I just added the soul consumption ability to him, he doesn't need all the other stat bonuses and such. Another reason for him to start ravaging towns. starting with the ones the PCs live in.

[Arbane the Terrible]

[SARCASM]
That'll teach those filthy PCs not to accidentally win fights when they're not supposed to.
[/SARCASM]

[Malag]

@wordelo

Let me say first that I can understand how anti-climactic it feels when characters destroy the boss in one round. Every GM eventually goes through this step. The mistake was in thinking that your CR can account for everything your PCs will do, and it never will. Even a commoner can kill dragon in right conditions although he has less then 1% chance in succeeding so. Dragons were feared due to their cunning intellect as much as their physical strength, but if your PCs already shot down the dragon that fast, raising him back might feel like you are pushing them a bit. If this is the last boss that you planned out, your options are few, but here is several scenarios that might be cool to play out.

a) Pawns In The Story

Orcus is the demon lord of Undeath. He conveniently waited for PCs to murder the dragon in order to raise him as animated undead with a purpose to destroy the nearby town or village that he resented for some time. The dragon is a mere mindless creature in this story and Orcus is pulling the strings now, something which he couldn't have done while the dragon was alive. As PCs leave, they soon hear the horror coming from the town and encounter the undead drake destroying the town. They will be tempted to shot him down again, but the situation is tricky. The dragon has a soul link with every person in town and every damage dealt to him kills people, giving him effectively unlimited pool of hp. PCs will need to quickly find a way to deal with this effect before facing the dragon again. Although dragon is a threat (CR ~15), he is slow, so PCs can outrun him easily.

b) He Is Coming Back In Pieces

Orcus (or someone else) needed parts of this specific dragon. In matter of several days, the parts have been animated as a separate undead parts that can be transplanted to regular people. Several days after PCs return, the people of the town start to go missing and several incidents of undead abominations start to pop up. PCs are required to quickly find the person who is transforming them because the time is of the essence. You can use some sort of smuggler necromancer (CR 11 or so) as final boss in the battle accompanied by several abominations.

Whatever you do, make sure to reveal who is behind the scene at the end. The PCs might have won this battle, but the fight continues on.

Adam

[Goth Guru]

c) Use every piece
If there is a chirgeon available to graft pieces of dragons to people, even the PCs will want some. What they don't realize is that around midnight the dead tissues take over and the subject will need to kill some living thing. The point is the PC wakes up with blood on their hands(or claws). Maybe they continue the adventure path being chained or caged at night, but they can't help but notice your opinion of such ghoulish behavior.

[GM 1990]

wordelo wrote:

Ok so I was converting the 4th edition campaign line to pathfinder. We are in the drow enclave module and in that module I saw a thing that said that a dragon comes by, breathes on PCs and leaves.

I'm like well that's weird so instead I make that dragon urishtar the final boss in the NEXT module. someone they can't really touch but also to introduce him. He has his own way of thinking, cocky like most dragons. I made him an ancient umbral dragon (CR 19) PCs are lvl 13.

so he shows up breathes on them and leaves. with his speed he gets 250 feet away. and the archer fires some arrows and rolls two criticals. he is buffed like crazy and long story short they kill him before he can get another turn.

Got to admit I was a little stunned, but if he went all in it would have been a little different but I can't just take it back.

I still want to do the next module but it is drastically different. this dragon is on Orcus' radar so orcus goes to his corpse picks up his eyeball and leaves to perform his experiments.

"We will rebuild him, make him stronger."

Not only does he resurrect the dragon but he also turns him into a dread lich. Now a CR 22.

when PCs return home victorious the dragon attacks the town at some point turning most of them into shadows and capturing their souls so none can be resurrected. Much more reason to go after him than what the module suggests I think.

Seems like you're taking the right attitude - not just GM revenge, but how would the "world" respond to what the PCs just did and digging deeper into the story arc.

I assume there were all kinds of PLAYER high-fives and -No Way!- when this happened. Those are the kind of lucky rolls that people will be talking about forever. Hey - if they're having that much fun, you're doing it right. And now you get to play devious GM and take the story in a different direction than you planned.

I think you'll look back on it in the end and realize it ends up being more fun overall than what you'd originally planned out.