D&D 5E How did the final battle in Out of the Abyss go for your table? [spoilers]

[Gwarok]

I just don't think a single boss monster is a challenge in this addition without a lot of reworking once you get past a certain level.

One of the things I wanted to do that is really simple is scale bonus STR damage with size. It's kinda silly that a Gargantuan beast with a 30 STR does little more bonus damage than a 20 STR human sized thing. Add in a x2, x3, x4 multiplier for size and big things become very scary again. We increase the carrying capacity by size, so this isn't really an illogical step. So yes, the Tarrasque gets +40 to damage per hit, but that sorta feels right. Giants and dragons become noticably more scary, to anything within their reach, as well they should be. It also fixes a lot of the "boss" fights that are too easy, which seems to be a pretty regular complaint that comes up, because a lot of bosses are actually BIG bad evil guys.

My players are currently too sold on the current system because if it's written that way they believe it that way. Fine. But don't come crying to me when you guys wipe the floor with a bunch of fire giants and are surprised the fight wasn't tougher.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

5 level 20s, actually!

One thing I'm likely going to do is boost his AC, HP, Save DC and damage output to match a CR 30 creature- it's the last fight of a three year campaign, and he's an iconic creature so I want to make sure it really gives them a run for it.

They've already had a few encounters with Saint Kargoth that they had to retreat from- I'm running him as a Death Knight with a Vorpal Sword and a few extra spells. I figure the last throwdown with him will either be right before the Demogorgon fight, or they might have to face him and Demogorgon at the same time. I'd rather stack the fights one after another to keep Demogorgon the focus, though.

It's also a little tempting to give Demogorgon two turns in the initiative order, one for each head- I'll have a better feel for that as my players get nearer to that level, though, we've got another six months or so.

I think the two turns thing would be great, wish I had thought of that.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I buffed Demogorgon myself with a lot extra things.

One he is now gargantuan instead of huge. This boosts his hit die to 20 increasing his hp. Gave him strength 30 cause I felt he might as well be maxed out (meaning all attacks are now +18 to hit). Gave him maddening presence so they had to make fairly easy charisma saves or gain a level of madness when they first see him.

Then I gave him a new multiattack. "Multiattack. Demogorgon makes two tentacle attacks and two bite attacks, then uses either his gaze or a spell."

Bite stat line +18 to hit. 2d8+10 piercing plus 2d6 fire damage. While also giving him the power to use his gaze as part of his normal routine.

Gave him a 500 ft Teleport as an action. Added Cone of Cold 3/day and Fly/At Will to his spells.

Boosted his CR by 1.

(Also a way to fly and the 500 ft teleport was added to all my demon lords. Though Graz'zt is still the only one who can do it as a legendary action)

Also gave Demogorgon a third lair action. A wave of Fear and Madness that goes throughout his entire lair effecting all creatures within. (Including his demon minions, reflecting how even they can go mad from fear in his lair.)
"Demogorgon creates a wave of fear and madness. Each creature within his lair must make a DC 15 Wisdom or Charisma saving throw (with disadvantage if Demogorgon is within line of sight.). On a failed save a creature is frightened until Initiative 20 of the next round and gains a level of madness. A creature that saves cannot be affected by this effect for 10 Minutes."

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Did anyone include minions? And by "minions" I mean a couple balors and/or mariliths and then a dozen lesser demons. Because realistically that's what a battle with Demogorgon should be like.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Not on purpose. But a bunch of the players got antsy waiting for the scrum when all the demons were gathered to end. So I threw them up against a Hezrou, rather than one of the demon lords.

Did anyone include minions? And by "minions" I mean a couple balors and/or mariliths and then a dozen lesser demons. Because realistically that's what a battle with Demogorgon should be like.

 

[Sadras]

Boss fights are tricky to pull of well. I was running a heavily modified MiBG for 9th level characters, and the first time they faced him in Duke Silvershield's body it was an absolute cake walk. I underestimated the party badly and it just felt like such an anticlimax after participating in a dozen or so great sessions of this module.
Fortunately due to a character change by the PC who actually dealt the death blow to Silvershield and through the some creative story-telling the Bhaal curse (now evolved) eventually passed onto Imbralym Skoond.

Given a second chance I was determined to ensure the next Bhaal-encounter would be epic.
When Bhaal/Skoond next attacked it happened to be the evening of the first meeting between the new Dukes of the city within a secret room under the Hall of Wonders. As it happened that night the party had received one of those black invitations to Mandorcai's Mansion which mansion I had made sentient and which had a link to the Shadowfell. Long story short, I planned a series of unique encounters (nine, including a boss fight) that stretched the characters resources and ensured a final epic boss battle. Thankfully it paid off.

Longer version - After defeating/subduing the Mansion's 'spirit' (Encounter 1) and learning the invitation had been at request by Bhaal/Skoond, they raced to the adjacent and boarded up Seskergates believing him to be hiding out there. Seskergates currently was being used by the criminal underworld (Encounter 2-3).

At this point, cries of fear and death and the howling and barking of dogs were carried on the violent winds which had gripped city - the cries and bodies led the PCs to the Water Queen's House (Social Encounter 4) - its front doors banging in the wind, waveservant corpses scattered everywhere inside as outside Umberlee's storm demanded justice for her fallen faithful...

The characters realised where Bhaal would be going and they rushed through the city to the Hall of Wonders, following the trail of blood and death, defeating the guardians, riddles and puzzles of the Hall (Encounters 5-8) to find the complex pressure plate system which opened up the to the secret passageways underneath the temple to find/interrupt Bhaal on his murder spree of the newly appointed/elected Dukes.

With his appearance initially masked, he got the jumped on them and a difficult battle ensued (Encounter 9). As a solo in Slayer form I had given him Legendary Actions but limited hit points (around 90hp).
The fight was difficult and epic primarily because the party's resources were almost exhausted, he had bested them with a surprise and the Legendary Actions made him particularly deadly. It ended with two PCs unconscious, one was attempting to revive the Flood Tide Allandra (one of the new Dukes) and the other two PCs had 15 or less hit points.

The party defeated him (Bhaal/Skoond) and decided not to kill him, so as not to pass on (take on) the evolved curse, but instead muted and blinded him and broke his fingers. They took the unconscious and bound body of their nemesis, made a deal with the sentient Mansion and dumped him into the Shadowfell hoping for the best.
The players absolutely loved it and I was happy that I had provided a meaningful challenge at the end of the story-arc.

 

[Schmoe]

What is MiBG?

 

[John Brebeuf]

What is MiBG?

Murder in Baldur's Gate

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Did anyone include minions? And by "minions" I mean a couple balors and/or mariliths and then a dozen lesser demons. Because realistically that's what a battle with Demogorgon should be like.

In the encounter there are side fights with lesser demons but no Balors. So my guys fought some minions before slapping the Prince of Demons around. But the encounter is designed that after the demonic battle royale the final foe is the last one standing.

 

[Greyson]

We played through Chapter 17: Against the Demon Lords a two of Saturdays ago. It went so badly we decided to pretend the game session never happened and will revisit the chapter next in a couple of weeks.

While the sidebar on page 218 offers the idea of players taking on the role of a demon lord, we found it woefully cumbersome. We played with five of the demon lords: Baphomet, Demogorgon, Graz'zt, Orcus, and Yeenoghu. With each of them having three Legendary Actions a round it took forever to play this out. After a couple of hours of this Legendary Actions/Legendary Resistance slog fest, we realized that as written, Orcus was the only flyer. He can conceivably hover out of the fray in (Menzoberranzan offers a thousand floor ceiling for his convenience) and ping the other demon lords to death. As the only flyer and with the wand of Orcus, he was decidedly the winner after Demogorgon's failed (and limited) telekinesis attempts.

We gave up on the idea and shall revisit this next session. Thanks for the comments and ideas on improving this encounter. I am going to incorporate ideas presented (especially MonsterEnvy) here for our second attempt at this finale. After tenth level or so 5E characters are pretty strong and hard to challenge with published adventure material. I had the same experience with my players steam-rolling adventure material in Princes of the Apocalypse after tenth level. At some points it was just a bit of a joke. Thankfully, story telling helped mask some of these system issues.

With all of that said, we have thoroughly enjoyed Out of the Abyss. It has created some great laughs, cries and lots of other memorable gaming experiences for us. We've been playing since September 2016 meeting monthly for six five to six hour game sessions.