D&D 5E Coolest/Scairiest/Most Epic 1st Lvl Boss fight?

[Staccat0]

I feel like 1st lvl characters in 5e are super-duper fragile, but it's hard to guage what a good "boss" challenge is on that level. Sometimes you want to just have a straight-up "boss monster" rather than a "boss encounter"

I feel like the math in the MM is woo wonky for this.

So hit me. What you got?

 

[iserith]

In my experience, the first couple levels just fly by, so it's really not until 3rd level or so that you're facing anything that's going to be a big boss set piece scene.

I think in designing a boss fight for a 1st-level party, you'd want to set it up where the stakes weren't necessarily life and death, but where dying was a possibility by approaching the problem in certain perhaps risky or inadvisable ways. An easy setup would be a higher CR monster that is trying to complete a particular goal or task. Successful completion of that task causes the PCs to fail in their objective, scene ends, and the villain's Very Bad Thing has made its mark on the world, however large or small. If the PCs can somehow prevent the villain from completing its task (which may or may not involve combat at the players' decision), then perhaps he, she, or it flees to be seen again some day (if possible).

 

[Unwise]

The last two 1st level boss fights I have used were:

1) Have you ever seen a care knuckle boxing tent show? It was like that, but the with wooden weapons as well as with fists. The champ knocks out foe after foe and is insulting to the village, saying the he could take on a handful of them at once. The promoter puts down a pretty big sum of money to back up the claim. The locals are all too afraid to face him and the village is losing face to the travelling merchants and folk in town. The PCs step up to take him down. They stepped up with weapons and armor, so the champ got kitted out. To their dismay he put on full plate (he was a dishonoured knight). I just used some stats for a knight (maybe captain) and he was a good encounter. Throw in some cheating if it goes too far the PCs way, throw in some crowd support if it looks too hard.
The good thing is it does not matter if they win or lose that much. After the encounter, the ex-knight is jovial and helps set their broken noses, apologising for the insults, but it makes people more interested and they bet more. He and the fight promoter, were interesting NPCs for them to meet and came in useful later.

2) Have you ever played the new Bard's Tale game? The comedic one. The PCs had to try and take down a wild horse that was terrorizing the place, it was huge, some say possessed. I just used a suped up warhorse and gave it a strong knockback effect and a flesh golem style trample. It was great, PCs getting kicked through walls and trampled. The fight ended up on a stone ring on a hill outside town. They finally killed the thing and beheaded it. Unfortunately, all the locals know you should never shed blood in the ancient ring of stones...it awakes something. It led to the following story being told: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JQpE7n6eUk

 

[Paraxis]

A big tiger used in a fighting pit with kobolds or goblins who throw spears and nets at the characters.

Give the tiger some extra h.p maybe some scars and a missing eye (something they might be able to exploit to their advantage), have the goblins or kobolds come in waves to harass them and keep from either being to overwhelming or to insignificant to area effect spells thrown at them.

 

[77IM]

Giant Octopus. He's CR1, has 52 hit points, and deals about 10 damage on a hit.

The party fights him on a series of bridges and if he grapples you with his tentacles he can drag you into the water. It's dark, murky water that the octopus can hide in, so he uses hit-and-run tactics to freak the party out. The party doesn't have to slay him, just steal the MacGuffin he his guarding in the middle of the lake (he's a magic octopus).

This would actually make an excellent centerpiece to a 5-room dungeon...

 

[ad_hoc]

Giant Octopus. He's CR1, has 52 hit points, and deals about 10 damage on a hit.

The party fights him on a series of bridges and if he grapples you with his tentacles he can drag you into the water. It's dark, murky water that the octopus can hide in, so he uses hit-and-run tactics to freak the party out. The party doesn't have to slay him, just steal the MacGuffin he his guarding in the middle of the lake (he's a magic octopus).

This would actually make an excellent centerpiece to a 5-room dungeon...

Just be sure to finish him off so he doesn't come back to jam up your opera.

 

[Staccat0]

Good thoughts happening in here.

I'm eyeballing this Minotaur Skeleton... He looks pretty cool. Maybe he has a massive maze he's been building out of habit for ages? Players do something akin to a skill challenge to not get lost? If they do they get the jump on him. If they don't he gets the jump on them? Maybe there is a magical ring that breaks the spell when removed mounted on his snout?

2d12+4 is pretty intense though. Maybe he could just have a wimpier weapon?


The octopus sounds pretty rad. I like that a lot.

 

[Rocksome]

You could also increase the threat-level whilst simultaneous making your PCs, tougher with environmental factors.

Think of a fight with a mad alchemists throwing exploding flasks, but the room is also stocked with healing potions that can be found and consumed. Deal low level AoE damage to everyone making him a threat but not as swingy as as big damage to a single target. PCs can take time-out from attacking to heal, this extends the battle and makes it seem more like a sustained epic battle.

It could also be achieved by crystals that grant energy immunity for a round or two, elvish mythaals that grant temporary HPs, or dwarven runes that grant damage reduction.

Anyway, something to that effect.

 

[AtomicPope]

I have to warn you that 1st level Boss Fights can be utterly terrifying. In our first 5E campaign our 1st level Boss Fight against a Goblin Bandit Chief and his crew almost TPKed the party. The DM didn't adjust for our Cleric not showing up and in two rounds everyone was down and it was up to my Fighter to kill the remaining Goblin Chief and two Goblins. I took cover and still got dropped to 1 hp. Used my Second Wind and got dropped to 3hp while killing the Goblin Chief as one of the Readied Goblins hit me with a Nat '20.'

The last two Goblins moved up and readied. I popped up and fired, killing one and they both missed. The last Goblin ran around the overturned table and attacked me but missed. Then I drew my sword and stabbed him, rolling like crap and barely killing him.

Absolutely nail-biting and it was our first "boss" fight. We were all playing the 'Starter Set' characters. Looking at 5e from this perspective, I believe that ANYTHING containing a creature that can take a few hits is a "boss" to first level characters. Sprinkle in a few CR 1/8 creatures and it becomes an epic boss fight.

 

[S'mon]

It's hard to get in much of a boss fight before the PCs reach 300 XP...

IMC the first battle was a tense duel between a 15 hp Orc and the 15 hp Barbarian PC, who won with 2 hp left. An Orc makes a good boss for a group of goblins or bandits, say. 22hp Gnolls are also good 1st level bosses - tons of hp but DPR quite low. Up the scale, a 22hp lizardman or 32hp thug with minions is pretty scary due to multi-attack.
Another thing you can do is create an NPC with 1st or 2nd level spellcasting but 4 or 5 hit dice.