Help me with a BBEG

[OakwoodDM]

First things first, I apologise if this is in the wrong place or if it's less than coherent. I've chosen to do it fairly late at night.

On to the problem. I'm running a PbEM DnD 3.0 game for some friends and I've come up with a plot whereby the city they're in is under siege by an army of deformed people. These people are Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Goblinoids, all of whom have had the Fiendish template added, as well as a fiendish graft (from the Fiend Folio) They are led by two lieutenants (I'm not sure of the details yet, but that's something I'll figure out on my own) and overseen by a floating glass ball. This ball is being posessed by a fiend of some kind with enough levels of Fiend of Posession (again, FF) to posess an object, but not enough to do so to a living thing. This is where I hope you come in. I need a fiendish entity which has powers which will be interesting and challenging to a 6 person 6th level party when it has no use of its body. Unfortunately, the CR system's not much help here, as the hp, AC etc are that of the ball, rather than the fiend. Of course, there will be guards for them to deal with as well, as a glass ball on its own wouldn't be too difficult to smash!

This creature (as would be implied by the post title) is intended to be a thorn in the PCs' sides for quite some time, with a climax (if the campaign lasts that long) of them taking it on face to face.

So, any suggestions?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Steel_Wind]

They are led by two lieutenants (I'm not sure of the details yet, but that's something I'll figure out on my own) and overseen by a floating glass ball. This ball is being posessed by a fiend of some kind with enough levels of Fiend of Posession (again, FF) to posess an object, but not enough to do so to a living thing. This is where I hope you come in. I need a fiendish entity which has powers which will be interesting and challenging to a 6 person 6th level party when it has no use of its body. Unfortunately, the CR system's not much help here, as the hp, AC etc are that of the ball, rather than the fiend. Of course, there will be guards for them to deal with as well, as a glass ball on its own wouldn't be too difficult to smash!

The glass ball can itself be quite challenging without overpowering the characters. To reply - very off the cuff with the immediate thoughts that leapt to mind:

1 - The glass ball is not a ball at all but is a glass statue which resembles a beholder. This need not influence its powers in the least, but could be a powerful misdirection in terms of its abilities.

2 - The glass ball is completely dark and radiates a slight darkness. From a distance, it resembles, through its description given to the players - a sphere of anihilation. Getting near the glass ball will not be on top of the players to do list. Staying away from it will seem like a Very Good Idea.

3 - The Unborn: See Glen Cook's Dread Empire series. The thing in that series' floaty transparent ball was a child possessed by a demon - ripped from Mommy's womb before it was born - still in the placenta. That hardened over time so you had this really creepy thing: a monstrous fetus floating around in a bubble and lobbing serious power. Maybe way off here, but would such a being's "soul" be so weak that said fiend could overcome it and possess it?

Anyways...

As to general powers, *never* underestimate the "I'm invisible and I'm flying" defence. Without a way to detect it - the glass ball rises up and out of range and cannot be seen. It's more or less safe.

The trick would be - that the range of whatever power it's exerting requires it to be within a certain range to "do it's thing". Maybe it is exerting some control over one of the Lieutenants?

For fun, you might make one of the Lieutenants a Dread Guard - perhaps the main "thing" which the demon possesses to do his evil deeds. The fact the Dread Guard is not alive would not be entirely obvious at all. It's a 5HD CR2 critter - and whilst being possessed - it might have some of the demon's spell abilities together with the Dread Guard's immunities: it's an interesting critter without being overpowering.

In that sense, the "Glass Ball" is just a sphere in disguise and its importance is not entirely obvious. The demon will be acting mainly through the Dread Guard.

PC's discover link - attack sphere - make it withdraw beyond possession range of Dread Guard - destroy Dread Guard or have Dread Guard go immobile and stop fighting...

Scene as Dread Guard Falls

DM: The being in the black demonic armor falls with a clang of finality to the ground, lying motionless. Something about that fall sounds odd to you though...

PC1: I stab it. Coup de gras. Make sure it's dead
PC2: Me too. DIE!!!
DM: As you slip your sword under the helm to slit it throat and make sure its dead, the helm and the gorget separate. DM: Roll Spot Check
PC1: 18!
DM: It's empty.
PC2: Empty?
DM: Quite empty. Not a trace of blood either.
PC2: I'm looking around for it. Where is it?
PC3: Uhmm guys? That's not him.
PC1: What do you mean "that's not Him?"

Run with it. Give the demon few magical powers and perhaps switch it over to nearly all psionic abilities in its "sphere" form.

EDIT: How about a Babua - Book of Vile Darkness CR 7 or a Spinagon - Manual of the Planes CR4 as the base before adding Fiend of Possession?

The Babua with telepathy and fly (amongst others) as a spell like ability moves your glass ball around, keeps it in contact with others while still keeping its Fiend of Possession powers low.

 

[OakwoodDM]

First of all, thanks very much for the advice.

The glass ball can itself be quite challenging without overpowering the characters. To reply - very off the cuff with the immediate thoughts that leapt to mind:

1 - The glass ball is not a ball at all but is a glass statue which resembles a beholder. This need not influence its powers in the least, but could be a powerful misdirection in terms of its abilities.

I guess I'm quite lucky. My players hardly meta-game at all, and so (since they've never met one IC) would not expect anything in particular from a Beholder shaped thing.

2 - The glass ball is completely dark and radiates a slight darkness. From a distance, it resembles, through its description given to the players - a sphere of anihilation. Getting near the glass ball will not be on top of the players to do list. Staying away from it will seem like a Very Good Idea.

This has a similar problem to the first. Couple that with the fact that most of them wouldn't know what a Sphere did if it was sitting under a neon sign declaring the name!

3 - The Unborn: See Glen Cook's Dread Empire series. The thing in that series' floaty transparent ball was a child possessed by a demon - ripped from Mommy's womb before it was born - still in the placenta. That hardened over time so you had this really creepy thing: a monstrous fetus floating around in a bubble and lobbing serious power. Maybe way off here, but would such a being's "soul" be so weak that said fiend could overcome it and possess it?

Another great idea, but the game's not quite that dark. I intend for it to get quite grim for the PCs, but only in terms of overwhelming odds and paranoia, rather than mature themes.

As to general powers, *never* underestimate the "I'm invisible and I'm flying" defence. Without a way to detect it - the glass ball rises up and out of range and cannot be seen. It's more or less safe.

The trick would be - that the range of whatever power it's exerting requires it to be within a certain range to "do it's thing". Maybe it is exerting some control over one of the Lieutenants?

For fun, you might make one of the Lieutenants a Dread Guard - perhaps the main "thing" which the demon possesses to do his evil deeds. The fact the Dread Guard is not alive would not be entirely obvious at all. It's a 5HD CR2 critter - and whilst being possessed - it might have some of the demon's spell abilities together with the Dread Guard's immunities: it's an interesting critter without being overpowering.

In that sense, the "Glass Ball" is just a sphere in disguise and its importance is not entirely obvious. The demon will be acting mainly through the Dread Guard.

PC's discover link - attack sphere - make it withdraw beyond possession range of Dread Guard - destroy Dread Guard or have Dread Guard go immobile and stop fighting...

Scene as Dread Guard Falls

DM: The being in the black demonic armor falls with a clang of finality to the ground, lying motionless. Something about that fall sounds odd to you though...

PC1: I stab it. Coup de gras. Make sure it's dead
PC2: Me too. DIE!!!
DM: As you slip your sword under the helm to slit it throat and make sure its dead, the helm and the gorget separate. DM: Roll Spot Check
PC1: 18!
DM: It's empty.
PC2: Empty?
DM: Quite empty. Not a trace of blood either.
PC2: I'm looking around for it. Where is it?
PC3: Uhmm guys? That's not him.
PC1: What do you mean "that's not Him?"

Run with it. Give the demon few magical powers and perhaps switch it over to nearly all psionic abilities in its "sphere" form.

I was hoping really for a more straight up fight. They'll have done a bit of sneaking and some misdirection in taking out the Lieutenants first, so I planned a basic four or so guards defending this glass orb that does nasty stuff. I'll probably just scan the MM for interesting powers and the PHB for spells and make up a unique fiend from there (It's not like he needs real stats for quite some time yet!).

Thanks a lot for the help, though.

 

[Thanee]

If I understand you right, you are basically looking for a "base creature" now.

How about an Aboleth?

It makes sense, since they cannot really leave the water, so the fiendish Aboleth chose this route to "attend" the battle.

Bye
Thanee