The first boss fight is coming up in my first campaign of PF2 with three other system newbies (Champion, Fighter, and Psychic). I have three combat encounters planned so far (a big battle with the PCs and NPC allies vs a small army of skeleton guards, an optional battle against an Animated Armor that will reward a little macguffin + lore that can debilitate the boss a little, and the boss fight proper) and I've been running combat simulations of all these encounters for weeks now, yet I'm still unsure on if my boss encounter (Level 2 + two level 0s) is solid.
The level 0s are two brutes (skeleton warrior and a reskinned skeleton goblin) but the boss is a somewhat intelligent, gish-y spellcaster (his memory and mental faculties are a bit shot as he's been reanimated against his will by a much stronger necromancer). I'm trying to strike a balance where the party (3 level 1s and a level 0 NPC) will be in danger but not have a TPK happen, and I know how swingy low levels can be just based on my combat tests.
I found in my testing that the boss is extremely vulnerable to the Champ and the Fighter as they have a really good synergy with the Champion wielding a bo staff and being able to reach Trip while the Fighter flanks and Double Slices and AoOs him to death, and Warp Step led to the boss really struggling with action economy as a result of needing to Stand and then Warp Step to reposition effectively, so I deigned to give him an action that essentially gives him Warp Step for 1 action without provoking reactions (if he is prone he can use it to Stand in place of one of the Strides, but this Stand still provokes reactions as normal) as well as ways to inflict Grabbed and Sickened on the party (he has a fist attack that does negative damage with the Grab trait, and an action that forces a Will save on whoever he has grabbed against being Sickened). The arena is small enough that his mobility won't lead to completely out maneuvering the party, but it will require the Champ and Fighter to be mobile in order to get into position, or make use of Delay to be reactive to his mobility.
I've been planning to run him as casting Guidance on his two lackeys at the start so they can potentially chunk some people in the party down as he kites around them with Phase Bolt, and when his lackeys go down he'll be utilizing True Strike in combination with his melee attacks.
I'm trying to be creative in how my bosses use their action economy, but I'm worried this is too much for the first boss. Any tips on where to go from here and how to run these low level bosses?
Hard to tell due to the NPC ally. Without the NPC, that would be an Extreme Encounter, so it really depends on how useful they are. Also, spellcasters are the most dangerous type of boss encounters overall, but what you described should be fine.
I would make the brutes level -1. That would be almost an Extreme encounter XP wise without counting the NPC ally. If it proves too easy, just give the minions a bit of extra HP.
I would also refrain from homebrewing Warp step like that. You can just use the Psychic amped version. A once per fight use of that should be good enough. Making one of the core features of a class useless through homebrew this early will feel really bad on the players part, I assure you.
I also asume the enemies are fighting at home. Play with the terrain, if the boss has good mobility tools, give him places to retreat, or create chokepoints to protect themselves so they have to deal with the brutes first. As long as it is reasonable stuff, it usually makes encounters more fun IMO.
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You've got three other system newbies, and it's going to be their third PF2 combat encounter ever?
My advice - start low and work up. Severe is probably about right for a big boss fight, but I'd want to make sure they'd had at least a few moderate encounters first, both so they can get a bit more comfortable with running encounters in this system and so you can get a better feel for how much they can handle.
Worth noting... you've been running combat tests. That means that right now, you're likely a lot more skilled at this system than they are. You also know exactly what the enemies are. In your tests, you're likely not making a bunch of mistakes int eh first round or two as you try to figure out what's going on, or being surprised by what the enemies pull out.
So yeah. "Severe" means it'll probably be okay, but my suggestion would be to fit in another moderate encounter or two and make sure that they're comfortable with the system before you throw them into the teeth of that thing... especially when you've deliberately tuned it against their particular strategies.
I will say... if your first boss starts out looking really impressive, but then legit just goes down like a chump because he simply can't handle the party's Awesome Thing? That's not actually a bad outcome. Obviously, if you let that happen with every boss encounter, that can quickly result in a serious reduction in perceived threat, but it's not a terrible thing to have happen from time to time, and the first boss encounter with a new system isn't a bad time for it.
The NPC is using a longbow and has access to Guidance and Heal for a supportive role, (the only source of combat healing the party has is through potions, and the Psychic didn't take any combat utility spells) and I might give him Disrupt Undead as well. I've been running these tests with him only having one spell slot out of two because I'm working under the assumption that he'll use at least one cast of Heal beforehand, but he also has Treat Wounds outside of combat and a few minor healing potions to help in this regard as well, so he might join the party with 2 slots instead.
I'll test out the brutes being -1 and see how it pans out as well.
You've got three other system newbies, and it's going to be their third PF2 combat encounter ever?
My advice - start low and work up. Severe is probably about right for a big boss fight, but I'd want to make sure they'd had at least a few moderate encounters first, both so they can get a bit more comfortable with running encounters in this system and so you can get a better feel for how much they can handle.
Worth noting... you've been running combat tests. That means that right now, you're likely a lot more skilled at this system than they are. You also know exactly what the enemies are. In your tests, you're likely not making a bunch of mistakes int eh first round or two as you try to figure out what's going on, or being surprised by what the enemies pull out.
So yeah. "Severe" means it'll probably be okay, but my suggestion would be to fit in another moderate encounter or two and make sure that they're comfortable with the system before you throw them into the teeth of that thing... especially when you've deliberately tuned it against their particular strategies.
I will say... if your first boss starts out looking really impressive, but then legit just goes down like a chump because he simply can't handle the party's Awesome Thing? That's not actually a bad outcome. Obviously, if you let that happen with every boss encounter, that can quickly result in a serious reduction in perceived threat, but it's not a terrible thing to have happen from time to time, and the first boss encounter with a new system isn't a bad time for it.
This is fair. The Champ and Fighter have been wising up to their synergy (especially as I've been pushing them to do so as their first encounter looked a lot like 5e combat with very little tactical thinking on their part) and the Champ especially has been so far quick to pick up on the value of Trip, flanking, and Delay, but I placed the aforementioned optional Animated Armor encounter to enforce that further, since the thing goes down like a chump to the two of them.
And good point, if the boss ends up going down quick, I won't be upset, but I wanted to give it some ways to deal with their particular synergy so they don't end up autopiloting into the Trip > Flank > AoO rotation in the future.
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I will say... if your first boss starts out looking really impressive, but then legit just goes down like a chump because he simply can't handle the party's Awesome Thing? That's not actually a bad outcome.
Yeah, one of the best memories I have from playing this system was from the very first bossfight we did, this was like a week after the system released. I was playing a Bard and a friend was playing a Monk with Dragon stance. I casted Magic Weapon on him and a lingering Inspire Courage, my last slot and my last focus point. The boss casted a spell, we rolled quite badly and almost died. Then the monk just stride to the boss face, used flurry, got a nat 20 and the combat was over. We lost our s&+$, it was super fun.
Fighting higher level creatures at level 1 in PF 2e can be...challenging. The first four or so levels with my newbie PCs consistently required suboptimal tactics/die roll fudging on my part to keep things fun and prevent "lolrandom you just die" stuff, especially from poison and persistent damage.
Spellcasting boss means this is somewhat obviated, because the dang thing isn't swinging at some unholy to-hit and one-hit dropping people with crits, it's just giving them debuffs (spellcasting bosses get more and more painful the higher level you are, if they have debuffs). Being only a creature 2 also helps keep its pluses lower.
Also, bear in mind how beat up they are from previous encounters and play it by ear. If they haven't burnt their healing spells/Battle Medicine beforehand that gives you a cushion.
In my tests I've deliberately set their healer NPC to only have 1 slot available for Heal, so that I can determine if the encounter is reasonable with lessened supplies. I'm definitely no stranger to playing stuff by ear (although fudging isn't super viable since we're playing in Foundry), so I can adapt the enemies' strategies on the fly if need be. I mainly want to prioritize fun, as in my personal experience these players really hate being taken out of a fight (one of them quit another's campaign in another system cuz he got hit by a much nastier equivalent to Fleeing during our first boss fight) so I'm trying to avoid quick kills if I can.
Worth noting... you've been running combat tests. That means that right now, you're likely a lot more skilled at this system than they are. You also know exactly what the enemies are. In your tests, you're likely not making a bunch of mistakes int eh first round or two as you try to figure out what's going on, or being surprised by what the enemies pull out.
So yeah. "Severe" means it'll probably be okay, but my suggestion would be to fit in another moderate encounter or two and make sure that they're comfortable with the system before you throw them into the teeth of that thing... especially when you've deliberately tuned it against their particular strategies.
I would definitely second that.
A level +1 enemy is just fine for a boss enemy. Unless they have deliberate counters to the party's abilities that the players are not being warned about.
So in your next round of combat tests, see what happens if the party spends a round or two trying out their normal strategies and having them not work. It may be that it is fine and they can recover and adapt - that is the goal at least. But at low levels, the characters don't have very many second choice options. If their primary tactics are not working they may not have a backup plan available. And they may run out of HP and time to implement a plan even if they do have one.
In PF2, when a combat snowballs, it snowballs fast. In either direction.
I would definitely second that.
A level +1 enemy is just fine for a boss enemy. Unless they have deliberate counters to the party's abilities that the players are not being warned about.
So in your next round of combat tests, see what happens if the party spends a round or two trying out their normal strategies and having them not work. It may be that it is fine and they can recover and adapt - that is the goal at least. But at low levels, the characters don't have very many second choice options. If their primary tactics are not working they may not have a backup plan available. And they may run out of HP and time to implement a plan even if they do have one.
In PF2, when a combat snowballs, it snowballs fast. In either direction.
In my tests the boss' mobility doesn't FEEL overwhelming, as usually he's the only target by the time it becomes relevant to dealing with the party's tactics, the biggest effect it has is burning turns through making the martials move to his new location, and protecting him from effectively getting stunlocked by allowing him to escape Prone and flanking in 1 action, I intend for it to be largely a defensive ability with some offensive applications (using it to reach the squishier Psychic or NPC and engage them in melee)
Basically, I want their synergy to still work, just not have the boss be overwhelmed by it. However, I definitely will run some more tests with your suggestions.
Another thought - roquepo mentioned not using a homebrewed version of Warp Step. I both agree and disagree.
A custom ability for enemies is often a very good thing. There are plenty of examples in the bestiaries of creatures that have some unique abilities - especially reactive abilities. A Giant Fly for example with its "Avoid the Swat" reaction.
So creating a custom ability for the boss enemy that is based on Warp Step and is used defensively to prevent the party from trivializing the encounter by stunlocking the boss makes a lot of sense.
Don't call it Warp Step though. Since that is something that the players could get their hands on - but then be unsatisfied since it doesn't work the same way for them that it does for the boss.
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Another thought - roquepo mentioned not using a homebrewed version of Warp Step. I both agree and disagree.
A custom ability for enemies is often a very good thing. There are plenty of examples in the bestiaries of creatures that have some unique abilities - especially reactive abilities. A Giant Fly for example with its "Avoid the Swat" reaction.
So creating a custom ability for the boss enemy that is based on Warp Step and is used defensively to prevent the party from trivializing the encounter by stunlocking the boss makes a lot of sense.
Don't call it Warp Step though. Since that is something that the players could get their hands on - but then be unsatisfied since it doesn't work the same way for them that it does for the boss.
Yeah, I've made sure to call it something different, although I just found out the name I used for it ("Shadow Step") is used by something else in the game already, so I'll need to rename it real quick. Maybe something like "Necrotic Jaunt"?
If you really want to go that route, you can always make the caster use a scroll of Time Jump. It would look like a trully last resource act considering how expensive those are (30gp is quite a lot at those levels), and in case your party somehow gets to oneshot them, it would be a really cool reward to have, kind of like an easter egg.
You can even make him hold a scrollstaff, wear scroll robes or something similar as a tell for your players that this thing has a trick up their sleeve.
Worth noting... the first few levels of PF2, the first level especially, are sometimes referred to as "rusty dagger shanktown". This is primarily because the available damage is high enough as compared to the available HP that it's very possible to have people suck down two or three unlucky rolls and just die.this can happen to enemies (not a problem) and to PCs (not great).
One thought... at least make sure that you're handing out hero points appropriately and that the PCs know of their value as lifesaving resources.
Worth noting... the first few levels of PF2, the first level especially, are sometimes referred to as "rusty dagger shanktown". This is primarily because the available damage is high enough as compared to the available HP that it's very possible to have people suck down two or three unlucky rolls and just die.this can happen to enemies (not a problem) and to PCs (not great).
One thought... at least make sure that you're handing out hero points appropriately and that the PCs know of their value as lifesaving resources.
Yeah, I looked into them more and realized I wasn't handing them out as I was supposed to in sessions 1 and 2, and I'm going to be not-so-subtly nudging my players to use them if I see scenarios where they could be useful ("Oh geez, you failed that really important attack roll/skill check/save, do you wanna try rerolling that?"), because they're a little prone to ignoring options they haven't seen work first-hand. I was also going to get the macro for Foundry that automatically hands out hero points on a timer.
If you really want to go that route, you can always make the caster use a scroll of Time Jump. It would look like a trully last resource act considering how expensive those are (30gp is quite a lot at those levels), and in case your party somehow gets to oneshot them, it would be a really cool reward to have, kind of like an easter egg.
You can even make him hold a scrollstaff, wear scroll robes or something similar as a tell for your players that this thing has a trick up their sleeve.
I actually quite like this idea and might scrap the original homebrewed action for this, although I do hope it doesn't give my players the impression of "if we blow up every boss as fast as possible we'll get cool stuff", but I'll see how it pans out in the first place.
I don't think they will get that idea unless you do it several times. Trying to end encounters quick is generally a good strategy for your players to learn, though.
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This might be of use to you. Jason Bulmahn one of Paizo's senior designers has his own YouTube channel explicitly for giving advice to new GMs. In this video he walks his friend Dan through designing his first ever PF2 dungeon complete with Boss.