Help me find a way to make rogue useful in BBEG fight

Sammael · Nov 13, 2007

My players: out, out, OUT!

My 5-year-long campaign is slowly drawing to a conclusion. The final BBEG they will face is a very nasty living spell (vaguely based on the Living Spell template from MM3, but quite intelligent; it should be a very nasty opponent, causing harm and energy drain with its slam attack, draining all divine spells cast within 60 ft of it, and with a permanent storm of vengeance surrounding it).

The party fighters, cleric, wizard, and bard/seeker of the song should have a ball. Unfortunately, this is not the case with the party halfling rogue (archery-oriented).

He obviously can't sneak attack the ooze. He can't even flank it to give his fighter buddies a bonus. If he shoots at it, the arrows are knocked away by the storm of vengeance. Needless to say, I am sure this will cause a lot of frustration for the player, and I want to avoid this by all means necessary.

The player is quite resourceful and clever, and likes to use the environment to his advantage. Can someone help me devise an environment which will make the player feel useful? Any magical items that can be of use to him in this battle? I am sure my player will appreciate it.

blargney the second · Nov 13, 2007

The BBEG needs some nasty flunkies that can be sneak attacked. Maybe some enslaved storm giants that drastically increase the power of its storm?

Sammael · Nov 13, 2007

That could work. I was originally thinking about giving the BBEG some extra free actions to call down lighting bolts - maybe I can use the giants instead, to give the rogue something to do; by killing the giants, he is also reducing the threat to the rest of the party. Nice.

wedgeski · Nov 13, 2007

I would go the same way: perhaps a periodic uber-attack that loses potency as more of the minions are killed. What you'd need to watch out for is the other players in the group deciding that the giants might be the best targets to take out first, subsequently obliterating them, and leaving the rogue stranded during the rest of the fight.

sukael · Nov 13, 2007

I'd suggest making it an entire army of minions rather than a few discreet targets - all protected against assorted magic. Set it up right and the rogue will have a blast holding off the minion horde from the rest of the PCs (and draining the BBEG's power) while the other three focus on the BBEG. Depending on his level, he may be getting enough sneak attack dice to one-hit kill comparatively-low-hp enemies like fey or spellcasters.

VirgilCaine · Nov 13, 2007

sukael said:
I'd suggest making it an entire army of minions rather than a few discreet targets - all protected against assorted magic. Set it up right and the rogue will have a blast holding off the minion horde from the rest of the PCs (and draining the BBEG's power) while the other three focus on the BBEG. Depending on his level, he may be getting enough sneak attack dice to one-hit kill comparatively-low-hp enemies like fey or spellcasters.

How do you plan for the rogue to be sneak attacking this army?

fba827 · Nov 13, 2007

there could also be some object/person/guard/etc on an upper level that overlooks where the fight is happening (a balcony if indoors, or hilltop if outdoors, etc) and that object must be obtained simultaneous to the fight (perhaps an item that is a power source for the BBEG or is an item that will weaken the BBEG) or if it's a guard then they are up there fireing down on the PCs -- the rogue's skills could come in to play (such as climb if he has it) to get up there OR there is a crawl space to get up there but it is very crammed and only a small sized person can get through without movement penalties. If you do use people up there, however, make it more than one and spread out or else your mage will just fire away and remove that threat before the halfling can.

(it's late, sorry it isn't a more cohesive or original idea than that

)

sukael · Nov 13, 2007

VirgilCaine said:
How do you plan for the rogue to be sneak attacking this army?

Depending on level, anything from wands and scrolls of darkness and illusion spells up to a ring of invisibility.

Nifft · Nov 13, 2007

Living Spell? How about throwing in a summon monster which keeps churning out minions. These minions always appear in positions which flank party members. Thus, the Rogue should have little trouble flanking the minions from the 3rd row.

Cheers, -- N