Forum

[White Tornado]

I think the battle will be very unsatisfying for the PC's if they take the backseat and let the Royal Guard do most of the fighting, regardless of the BBEG's level and powers. So why can't you give the BBEG some help? Perhaps a small army of undead, a gnoll cult, orc mercenaries, or just evil humans. Let the Royal Guard burst in first and fight the skeleton army (or whatever is appropiate) in a fierce battle. After a few rounds of heavy fighting, all the while PC's standing in the back, let the BBEG appear (teleport? stealth? secret door? invisibility?) and attack the PC's. Unless he is a Solo at least four levels higher, the PC's should be able to stand their ground. They might run. Or one or two Royal Guards leave the battle with the skeleton army to attack the BBEG and assist the PC's, and will be the first to get whacked by BBEG.

Years ago, my party wanted to fight two nemesises who had sided with an evil thieves' guild. They took a bunch of "honorable thieves", and a bunch of monk followers, so I added in more evil thieves. There was a massive fight going on between evil thieves and "good" thieves and monks, while the thief/swashbuckler PC was dueling his nemesis in a clock tower (stole that from a movie), and the other PC's were running around the building to find and fight their illusionist nemesis. It was great! (as a sidenote, I just narrated the fight between thieves and monks, rolling a die every now and then to see which side was doing better)