| A Butter Idea |
The player party (which will consist of 5 level 1 characters) find themselves stranded in an abandoned, post-apocalyptic future version of their home city. In order to return home, they must find and use a magical time crystal that will transport them back to their own time. Unfortunately, said time crystal is currently in the possession of an aurosrath.
The aurosrath does not know the true function of the time crystal; it only desires to hoard it. Even if it learns of its function, all time crystals in the campaign are designed such that they don't teleport with the user. Being an incarnation of pure greed, the aurosrath will refuse to use the crystal, since it would effectively lose possession of its greatest treasure. Still, this is all cold comfort to the players, who will remain stranded in the post-apocalyptic future unless they can get their hands on that crystal.
The aurosrath is the only threat that the players have to contend with here. There are no other hostile sentient creatures. Any mindless creatures that might pose a threat are out of the way and can't be stumbled upon accidentally. There are no hazards to contend with either. There's just the players, the aurosrath, and a largely empty map with generous space to move around.
Normally, the players cannot randomly encounter this foe. However, once the party collects five treasures each worth 20gp from the area, it will sense this and begin to home in on the players, appearing within minutes. It will usually get the first turn, and open with Fetters of Debt to shake down the players.
Trying to take this thing on in a fair fight is not recommended, since it will stop at nothing to kill the players trying to loot its territory. Instead, the recommended strategy is to lure it out, get in a few hits, escape, get patched up, then lure it out again, rinse and repeat.
There are two tactics that the party can use to escape. First, the players will have easy access to fire damage, which imposes a temporary speed penalty. Second, the fights take place on abandoned city streets, allowing the players to split into two groups and try to shake its pursuit.
Still, the aurosrath is only meant to feel like a terrifyingly overwhelming foe, without being likely to actually completely wreck the party from a few unlucky rolls. As such, the aurosrath has all of its normal level 5 statistics, with the following changes:
* Its Perception bonus is reduced from +12 to +9, so players have a decent shot at evading detection through the use of Stealth, but its initiative rolls are still likely to give it the first turn.
* Its Athletics bonus is reduced from +13 to +10, so its Grab ability will be less effective. All players' Fortitude DCs are at 18 (except for the cleric whose DC is 17), so it can still cause the restrained condition on most party members with rolls of 18-20. Still, that's a lot less scary than being restrained on 15-20.
* Its Smeltable ability is triggered from 1 fire damage instead of 5, so as long as the players hit it with a fire attack, they'll slow it and give themselves an opportunity to escape.
* Although its HP is still 95, if any slashing damage reduces it to 30 HP or less, the time crystal will fall from its body, giving the players an opportunity to grab it and GTFO. If the players are able to escape, the Aurosrath will not follow them back to the past, because it will simply recover the time crystal the players leave behind and hoard it again.
* Its melee attack is reduced from +15 to +10. This makes it no longer nearly guaranteed to hit, though its critical hit rate is still quite high. Its attack damage has also been reduced from 2d6+5 to 1d8+3, so a critical hit usually shouldn't one-shot a character at full HP.
It is still able to very effectively frighten players with Demoralize, sneak up on the party unawares, and shrug off attacks consistently with high defenses. Its Fetters of Debt ability also still has a DC of 19, but since the players will never enter battle without a 20gp treasure, they always have a way to end the encumbered condition early. All of this ensures that the aurosrath remains its aura of menace and gives players the impression that they just barely manage to survive each encounter, while still defanging it just enough to prevent it from utterly steamrolling the party.