Anti-climactic BBEG battles

[Altamont Ravenard]

MORE SUNLESS SPOILERS:

It's been a while since I played this, but I thought Belak's area was covered with thick scrub, which hampers movement?

Well, the "courtyard" near the tree didn't seem to contain any thorny bushes. Also, even if it did, the threat is 1 point of subdual damage on a failed fort save :\

AR

 

[kigmatzomat]

Anyway, if Belak lets the Fighters get within hacking range in the first round he's in a lot of trouble; he wants to have a round or two to cast Entangle. Fortunately the terrain makes this happen. (Another DM I know put Belak up in the tree, which also solves this problem). Also, our DM added an additional minion for the final battle since we were 6x 3rd level characters and therefore above the standard power curve for the finale.

Ahhh, here we have GM planning. You can get by with OTS modules but it won't be perfect; being willing to make changes is the best, especially when it comes to tactics.

I can't count the number of GMs (or players) who at the end of a fight look down and say "D'oh! I had a McGuffin of Enemy Vanguishing! How did I forget?!?" Plan out at least the first 3 likely rounds of combat. You know your players and what they are prone to doing so you should be able to play the "if BBEG does this, they'll do that and he'll do this...." game.

I've got a fairly big brouhaha coming up and I've got the best manuevers for the BEGs written down so I don't forget. Some of it is "attacks closest foe" while other notes are "flies+turns invis, un/holy word, symbol, summon- Adult Arrowhawk - target casters" so I don't spend time dithering, which is extra important with casters or high-level characters with special maneuvers.