hvg3akaek
First Post
I follow a handful of DnD blogs and podcasts. One I have recently stumbled upon is The Angry DM, who has written a series of articles on "DM Boss Fights":
Go ahead and read them - I'll be here when you get back :ridin
OK, so the idea really intrigues me - I have tried out Gamefiend / Quinn Murphy's "Worldbreaker" concept before, and was impressed to find another viable option to the long, grinding battle with a solo problem.
With an encounter quickly coming up (in a campaign adapted from Stephen Radney-MacFarland's adventure, "Winter of the Witch", found in Dungeon Magazine 162) wherein my players will face off against a rather large and angry white dragon (which I recently purchased just the miniature for!), I wanted to make it a more thrilling encounter than what I expected it to be: Wizard and Psion trap; Fighter holds; Warlock burns. Repeat until cooked through.
ADM's suggestion, where the monster is completely replaced at each stage, and large changes happen to the playing, fit my ideas nicely, and so I built my own boss! (see attached).
I'll go through some of the important changes. First, I loved the idea ADM gave with his dragon, in letting them roll initiative twice, and having an extra chance of saving each round. The only solo I have played that I felt lived up to the title was built similarly: but had three turns every round (Bel Shalor, the Shadow in the Flame; and I still think the only reason he defeated the party was that too many of them weren't posting).
Second, I lessened his immediate powers, so that they could build over time. An aura of 5, with 30 damage a round is pretty severe, so I limited the damage to the "bloodied" stage, and limited the flight-slowing to the second and third stages. His triple attack also turned into a double attack; and in stage three, was changed from a "kill one player good" to a "try to attack many players". Spreading out the hurt is always more fun; and lessens that whole "stop picking on me!" feeling :ridin
I also changed his encounter fear aura (standard action, burst 10) to a minor action (one creature). As written, it is effectively a game-lengthener: Dragon uses a standard action so that everyone else doesn't act. Now, for a third of his life (most likely, not long enough to attack each PC with it) he can use an otherwise not-used action to give a vicious glare at troublesome folk.
He didn't have any triggered actions, so I added in an alternate to the tail-slap; tailored to my party. They like teleporting, and since that would get around so much of his slowing-nastiness, I thought a little knock when they popped in could work nicely. Plus, the whole first stage is about the dragon really looking down his nose at the party. He gazes at them, he holds back as if they are not worth his time, and generally puts up with their attacks...until they anger him!
Stage two starts (or stage one ends?) with a power adapted from the scenario the dragon was from. In it, it's a standard action he can do once per encounter; but I felt that it would fit nicely: he realises that the party are dangerous, and takes to the air, tearing out a chunk of the mountainside as he goes. From there, he goes into artillery mode, breathing and strafing the party, with attacks pulled from his recharge power (5 or 6; so using it at will for roughly a third of the fight sounds about right) and ADM's sample dragon.
This will be tough for a certain fighter, but with the group's ability to send him flying, I doubt it will cause him to sit out for long. The rest of the party is ranged, so even with his new trigger, he will soon be bloodied...and crashing back to the ground!
Now, in stage three, he is ferocious and wanting to be done with the group. His aura is now what it would have been all along, he finally has access to his frost breath (but I have limited it further to just once...but with some miss effects), and he has a "thunderwave / shoulder-slam" like power to show off his new-found brutality.
Instead of slapping those who teleport, he now only catches those who are slow enough to be caught. His Fury power has a benefit if he attacks multiple targets - at this stage, it could all be over quickly if one PC had three attacks; and the bloodied dragon is clearly not thinking that straight. He just wants to lash out at everyone!
Finally, when the party deliver their last blow, he screams once more, and the mountain answers him - an avalanche of snow washes down over the party, either sweeping them away, or burying them (and stopping teleporting, just for fun). After the flying-dragon aspect of part two, and the possible-falling of part 1, I would assume that everyone has taken magical precautions against falling off the mountainside, but if they haven't, they are only getting what they deserve, right?
So, there's my attempt at reskinning a creature with The Angry DM's Boss template - what are your thoughts on it? An interesting challenge? Down-right terrifying? Or did I take too much away, is the dragon a little more whelpish now?
-hvg3
Go ahead and read them - I'll be here when you get back :ridin
OK, so the idea really intrigues me - I have tried out Gamefiend / Quinn Murphy's "Worldbreaker" concept before, and was impressed to find another viable option to the long, grinding battle with a solo problem.
With an encounter quickly coming up (in a campaign adapted from Stephen Radney-MacFarland's adventure, "Winter of the Witch", found in Dungeon Magazine 162) wherein my players will face off against a rather large and angry white dragon (which I recently purchased just the miniature for!), I wanted to make it a more thrilling encounter than what I expected it to be: Wizard and Psion trap; Fighter holds; Warlock burns. Repeat until cooked through.
ADM's suggestion, where the monster is completely replaced at each stage, and large changes happen to the playing, fit my ideas nicely, and so I built my own boss! (see attached).
I'll go through some of the important changes. First, I loved the idea ADM gave with his dragon, in letting them roll initiative twice, and having an extra chance of saving each round. The only solo I have played that I felt lived up to the title was built similarly: but had three turns every round (Bel Shalor, the Shadow in the Flame; and I still think the only reason he defeated the party was that too many of them weren't posting).
Second, I lessened his immediate powers, so that they could build over time. An aura of 5, with 30 damage a round is pretty severe, so I limited the damage to the "bloodied" stage, and limited the flight-slowing to the second and third stages. His triple attack also turned into a double attack; and in stage three, was changed from a "kill one player good" to a "try to attack many players". Spreading out the hurt is always more fun; and lessens that whole "stop picking on me!" feeling :ridin
I also changed his encounter fear aura (standard action, burst 10) to a minor action (one creature). As written, it is effectively a game-lengthener: Dragon uses a standard action so that everyone else doesn't act. Now, for a third of his life (most likely, not long enough to attack each PC with it) he can use an otherwise not-used action to give a vicious glare at troublesome folk.
He didn't have any triggered actions, so I added in an alternate to the tail-slap; tailored to my party. They like teleporting, and since that would get around so much of his slowing-nastiness, I thought a little knock when they popped in could work nicely. Plus, the whole first stage is about the dragon really looking down his nose at the party. He gazes at them, he holds back as if they are not worth his time, and generally puts up with their attacks...until they anger him!
Stage two starts (or stage one ends?) with a power adapted from the scenario the dragon was from. In it, it's a standard action he can do once per encounter; but I felt that it would fit nicely: he realises that the party are dangerous, and takes to the air, tearing out a chunk of the mountainside as he goes. From there, he goes into artillery mode, breathing and strafing the party, with attacks pulled from his recharge power (5 or 6; so using it at will for roughly a third of the fight sounds about right) and ADM's sample dragon.
This will be tough for a certain fighter, but with the group's ability to send him flying, I doubt it will cause him to sit out for long. The rest of the party is ranged, so even with his new trigger, he will soon be bloodied...and crashing back to the ground!
Now, in stage three, he is ferocious and wanting to be done with the group. His aura is now what it would have been all along, he finally has access to his frost breath (but I have limited it further to just once...but with some miss effects), and he has a "thunderwave / shoulder-slam" like power to show off his new-found brutality.
Instead of slapping those who teleport, he now only catches those who are slow enough to be caught. His Fury power has a benefit if he attacks multiple targets - at this stage, it could all be over quickly if one PC had three attacks; and the bloodied dragon is clearly not thinking that straight. He just wants to lash out at everyone!
Finally, when the party deliver their last blow, he screams once more, and the mountain answers him - an avalanche of snow washes down over the party, either sweeping them away, or burying them (and stopping teleporting, just for fun). After the flying-dragon aspect of part two, and the possible-falling of part 1, I would assume that everyone has taken magical precautions against falling off the mountainside, but if they haven't, they are only getting what they deserve, right?
So, there's my attempt at reskinning a creature with The Angry DM's Boss template - what are your thoughts on it? An interesting challenge? Down-right terrifying? Or did I take too much away, is the dragon a little more whelpish now?
-hvg3
Snapping Jaws (standard, encounter)
Tail Sweep (standard, recharge 
)
