Need advice: What is a good creature for a campaign climax?
ruleslawyer
Registered User
How 'bout six warforged that can transform into dinosaurs, and then all of them...
Never mind.
Sorry; just saw the Transformers movie trailer.
Seriously, singular villains are fine as long as they have friends.
Never mind.
Sorry; just saw the Transformers movie trailer.
Seriously, singular villains are fine as long as they have friends.
Lord Zardoz
Explorer
You cannot go wrong with Tentacles
Go with a customized Kraken.
- Give the thing a move of 40 flying, so that it can exist outside of the water.
- Apply the Pseudo Natural Template. Looking at the Manual of the planes, a standard HD Kraken would get 24 spell resistance, Electricity and Acid resistance of 20, 10 / +3 Damage reduction)
- Double the HD to 40 (580 Hp)
- Kick the AC to 35
- Add regeneration at a rate of 20 per round
- Add caster levels or Psion levels
- Make all attacks as tentacle rakes (2d8 + 12)
- Give this Pseudo Kraken 8 actions per round
- Allow each tentacle a potentially independant grapple
- Allow it to become ethereal at will.
- Add feats used by dragons for flying attacks
Now, if you do all as I suggest it, your party is probably screwed. But scale it back appropriately. The key is that you give this bastard as many actions as it has tentacles.
Giving it huge HP and big regeneration will let the thing eat a huge level of punishment but keep coming back. The players will really have to work to put this thing down. I would try to balance this thing so that it has staggeringly effective defensive capabilities, but only a moderate damage output. You want to make this fight last.
Besides, how often will you get to run a 40 HD Psionic Pseudo Natural kraken capable of extra actions?
END COMMUNICATION
Go with a customized Kraken.
- Give the thing a move of 40 flying, so that it can exist outside of the water.
- Apply the Pseudo Natural Template. Looking at the Manual of the planes, a standard HD Kraken would get 24 spell resistance, Electricity and Acid resistance of 20, 10 / +3 Damage reduction)
- Double the HD to 40 (580 Hp)
- Kick the AC to 35
- Add regeneration at a rate of 20 per round
- Add caster levels or Psion levels
- Make all attacks as tentacle rakes (2d8 + 12)
- Give this Pseudo Kraken 8 actions per round
- Allow each tentacle a potentially independant grapple
- Allow it to become ethereal at will.
- Add feats used by dragons for flying attacks
Now, if you do all as I suggest it, your party is probably screwed. But scale it back appropriately. The key is that you give this bastard as many actions as it has tentacles.
Giving it huge HP and big regeneration will let the thing eat a huge level of punishment but keep coming back. The players will really have to work to put this thing down. I would try to balance this thing so that it has staggeringly effective defensive capabilities, but only a moderate damage output. You want to make this fight last.
Besides, how often will you get to run a 40 HD Psionic Pseudo Natural kraken capable of extra actions?
END COMMUNICATION
A couple of ideas...
Any reason you can't go classic? What about the Terrasque? That means "World Destruction" to most players. Maybe even bumb up the critters INT if the BBET (Big Bad Evil Thing) needs some smarts. If the players have never fought Big T before (and they know of the creature) the fight will be memorable simply because they actually fight the ledgendary (for good or ill) Big T.
A second option is that there is more than one critter for the end sequence. Either a multi-enemy fight or one fight on the heels of another. I bring this up for a couple of reasons...
A creature that sleeps and will destroy the world screams Terrasque to me (or C'thullu (I can't never spell his name right)) but a CR20 for a 20th level party doesn't seem very climactic to me.
Second: you've mentioned that the campaign has been fairly undead heavy. So you could have The Critter be an undead but have something else there as well (a high level cultist?). This serves two purposes: an undead in the fight will let the Anti-Undead PC have something to add to the final fight but hopefully won't steal the spotlight because the other enemy won't be undead. Second, everything I have read says that multiple enemies tend to lead to better fights because the PCs will have to split their focus between The Critter and the other enemy.
Any reason you can't go classic? What about the Terrasque? That means "World Destruction" to most players. Maybe even bumb up the critters INT if the BBET (Big Bad Evil Thing) needs some smarts. If the players have never fought Big T before (and they know of the creature) the fight will be memorable simply because they actually fight the ledgendary (for good or ill) Big T.
A second option is that there is more than one critter for the end sequence. Either a multi-enemy fight or one fight on the heels of another. I bring this up for a couple of reasons...
A creature that sleeps and will destroy the world screams Terrasque to me (or C'thullu (I can't never spell his name right)) but a CR20 for a 20th level party doesn't seem very climactic to me.
Second: you've mentioned that the campaign has been fairly undead heavy. So you could have The Critter be an undead but have something else there as well (a high level cultist?). This serves two purposes: an undead in the fight will let the Anti-Undead PC have something to add to the final fight but hopefully won't steal the spotlight because the other enemy won't be undead. Second, everything I have read says that multiple enemies tend to lead to better fights because the PCs will have to split their focus between The Critter and the other enemy.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Stormborn
Explorer
I too say you can't go wrong with a Dragon, but how about this for a back story:
A Dragon scholar set out to explore the other planes but came back transformed. Unwelcomed,and uncomfortable, among the other dragons he found his way (or maybe even caused) the Mournland, whose eldritch energies nurish him. From there he has been manipulating others, using his powers to appear as needed to get what he wants - which ultimatelly is still knowledge.
As to how he was transformed: my first choice would be a Pseudonatural template for a Cthullu-esque BBEG, but others are obviously possible. Or you could use a planar dragon, somethign the PCs are unlikely to have ever encountered or even heard of. Or to go a completly different direction you could use one of the Avatars of Elemental Evil presented in MM4, but say that it grew their naturally as part of the properties of the Mournland, was summoned as a weapon and caused the Mournland but found itself trapped, or was somethign benign and got transformed when the Mournland developed.
A Dragon scholar set out to explore the other planes but came back transformed. Unwelcomed,and uncomfortable, among the other dragons he found his way (or maybe even caused) the Mournland, whose eldritch energies nurish him. From there he has been manipulating others, using his powers to appear as needed to get what he wants - which ultimatelly is still knowledge.
As to how he was transformed: my first choice would be a Pseudonatural template for a Cthullu-esque BBEG, but others are obviously possible. Or you could use a planar dragon, somethign the PCs are unlikely to have ever encountered or even heard of. Or to go a completly different direction you could use one of the Avatars of Elemental Evil presented in MM4, but say that it grew their naturally as part of the properties of the Mournland, was summoned as a weapon and caused the Mournland but found itself trapped, or was somethign benign and got transformed when the Mournland developed.
Shemeska
Adventurer
Valesin said:
An exiled noble Baatezu or former Lord of the 9 - ie Moloch, etc. It's easier to reobtain political power back home once you've grasped something on the prime, or even pulled an entire world back to Baator with you.
As far as Tanar'ri and Obyriths/proto-Tanar'ri: I'd lean towards Fraz Urblu, with other possibilities being Dorsain the Ghoul King (and sometimes vassal of Orcus or Yeenoghu), and Lupercio the 'Baron of Sloth' or another one of Pale Night's errant children.
And for the 'loths:
Xenghara the Angel of Desolation. An exiled unique yugoloth lord, one of the 'altraloths', and one who exists as something of a pariah after butchering the night hag coven that helped elevate him to unique status (he did so the moment his contractual service to them ended). He looks like an ash gray solar who exudes an aura of despair and meloncholy.
You might also go with Anthraxus (after all, he has to have been up to something since being deposed as Oinoloth by Mydianchlarus).
And of course, there's always one of the Baernaloths toying with a prime material world, either one of the Demented themselves or another one of the Baern not associated with that group. I've created a bunch of them that might fit the bill, especially Methikus sar Telmuril, 'The Flesh Sculptor'.
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DungeonMaster
First Post
I'de go with a hellfire wyrm from the MM2.
It has a shapechange ability that allows it to "appear" like any devil threat you want it to.
High SR 37, but not impossible. It has sending and demand at will so it can be a well informed and well organised mastermind.
Hit them with demand every 10 minutes. Be creative with the suggestion, if the party doesn't act quickly they can be completely neutralised at a distance. The hellfire wyrm can do this from anywhere, another plane of existence, inside a volcano, every 10 minutes (per sending).
It will have the following things active: true seeing, improved invisibility, misdirection, unholy aura, sitting on unhallowed ground with a spell effect that pleases you tied to the entire area (I like dimensional anchor) and possibly active walls of fire. Don't forget the magic circle vs. good that gives it bonuses to saves in this area.
Remember to use the quicken spell-like ability feat to it's utmost. In the MM2 that feat allows the monster to quicken EACH of its spell like abilities 1/day.
So as soon as your PCs pop up:
Quicken blasphemy to stun lock them + flyby attack breath weapon + infernal aura.
Then blasphemy to stun lock them + quicken summon a gelugon + infernal aura damage.
If the blasphemy/fear is working well then it should just use its action to keep them stun locked and have the gelugon beat the stuffing out of them.
If it isn't working then switch in a quickened greater dispel.
Otherwise moderate success would have the gelugon cone of cold + fear aura, the hellfire wyrm breath + infernal aura + quickened fire-storm.
Greater dispel any items or characters that seem to be working too well and quicken a lesser ability like hold person, wall of fire or pyrotechnics, have the gelugon isolate PCs with walls of ice or keep hammering away the cones of cold. Breath weapon whenever possible as 7d10 of the fire damage cuts through all resistances effectively.
If they start to win, teleport/fly away and shapechange into a fiend that regenerates (pit fiend for instance), heal up to full and return to the fight.
Quickened greater dispel on a wizard then a full attack with some decent power-attack works well too. Dispel magic weapons, nice chuncky legacy weapons and staffs of power.
You could even start with dispelling rather than damaging spells.
Should make for a hell of fight.
It has a shapechange ability that allows it to "appear" like any devil threat you want it to.
High SR 37, but not impossible. It has sending and demand at will so it can be a well informed and well organised mastermind.
Hit them with demand every 10 minutes. Be creative with the suggestion, if the party doesn't act quickly they can be completely neutralised at a distance. The hellfire wyrm can do this from anywhere, another plane of existence, inside a volcano, every 10 minutes (per sending).
It will have the following things active: true seeing, improved invisibility, misdirection, unholy aura, sitting on unhallowed ground with a spell effect that pleases you tied to the entire area (I like dimensional anchor) and possibly active walls of fire. Don't forget the magic circle vs. good that gives it bonuses to saves in this area.
Remember to use the quicken spell-like ability feat to it's utmost. In the MM2 that feat allows the monster to quicken EACH of its spell like abilities 1/day.
So as soon as your PCs pop up:
Quicken blasphemy to stun lock them + flyby attack breath weapon + infernal aura.
Then blasphemy to stun lock them + quicken summon a gelugon + infernal aura damage.
If the blasphemy/fear is working well then it should just use its action to keep them stun locked and have the gelugon beat the stuffing out of them.
If it isn't working then switch in a quickened greater dispel.
Otherwise moderate success would have the gelugon cone of cold + fear aura, the hellfire wyrm breath + infernal aura + quickened fire-storm.
Greater dispel any items or characters that seem to be working too well and quicken a lesser ability like hold person, wall of fire or pyrotechnics, have the gelugon isolate PCs with walls of ice or keep hammering away the cones of cold. Breath weapon whenever possible as 7d10 of the fire damage cuts through all resistances effectively.
If they start to win, teleport/fly away and shapechange into a fiend that regenerates (pit fiend for instance), heal up to full and return to the fight.
Quickened greater dispel on a wizard then a full attack with some decent power-attack works well too. Dispel magic weapons, nice chuncky legacy weapons and staffs of power.
You could even start with dispelling rather than damaging spells.
Should make for a hell of fight.
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