D&D 5E Anticlimactic Boss Fights

[Clint_L]

This kind of thing happens all the time, though that one sounds like the players had a lot of foreknowledge about Eye Tyrants and its plan, so next time you could drop something that is more of a surprise on them.

But I've lost count of the number of times that an encounter I thought would be a huge challenge turned out to be a cakewalk due to clever players, stupid DM (me) or a combination of both. Of course, then you get those encounters that you thought would be super basic and the players manage to turn into a disaster, so it goes both ways.

I think the classic example the anticlimactic boss fight has to be dragons. They are frequently used in locations that don't leave them enough room to fly about (e.g. a dungeon), and a dragon without mobility tends to die very quickly.

In classic adventures, Strahd is infamous for being a bit of an anticlimactic final boss unless played very, very carefully by the DM. If he gets stuck into melee he dies fast.

 

[pukunui]

Hence disintegrate being used to make cover. Once straight down and it is out of sight. Then it just begins tunneling. The beholder is out of sight. The Dawn spell is negated completely. And if it can figure out the course correctly, it could drop a very surprised party down into the tunnel and out of the darkness spell and begin zapping away.

I'd have had to rule that the tyrant had an exception to Halaster's "only I can alter the shape of the dungeon" rule, but even so, I simply didn't think of it at the time. If I ever run a beholder (or death tyrant) again, I'll have to remember that as a viable tactic.

Having run a few beholders in 5e now, I have to say that they are rather awkward to use mechanically. The random eye rays in combat thing makes sense from a "this prevents the DM from spamming the same eye rays at the same PCs" perspective, but it makes them trickier to use effectively in actual practice, and some of the mechanics involved with some of the rays are a bit wonky. I'm interested to see whether the

I think the classic example the anticlimactic boss fight has to be dragons. They are frequently used in locations that don't leave them enough room to fly about (e.g. a dungeon), and a dragon without mobility tends to die very quickly.

In classic adventures, Strahd is infamous for being a bit of an anticlimactic final boss unless played very, very carefully by the DM. If he gets stuck into melee he dies fast.

I agree re: dragons! Catch 'em inside, and they're toast.

As for Strahd, I managed to TPK the party when they faced off against him in CoS.

 

[Stalker0]

I will also note.... honestly a death tyrant doesn't seem all that scary to 3 level 14s. Its only CR 15 while in its lair, barely a real challenge at that point, let alone a "boss monster".

Now you could argue the 40 zombies make up the difference, that's really a question of what area damage the PCS have. There are a lot of effects that could just mow through hordes of zombies at that level (in this case apparently the cleric used dawn to do just that).

So in general, I think this encounter by the book may have been doomed to disappointment even before the great tactics were invoked.

 

[Flamestrike]

Im actually shocked it doesnt have Truesight.

 

[GMMichael]

Last night, three of my players’ 14th-level PCs went up against a death tyrant in its lair.

Fighting a genius (INT 19?) monster in its lair should be a guaranteed loss. But there's the whole thing about plans not surviving contact with the enemy... One thing they'll include in the new DMG (ha) is that you have to spend an hour per extra intelligence point coming up with contingency plans, before the game, for smart antagonists.

Have you got a similar story where the PCs happen to stumble on a boss monster’s weakness that turns what should be a deadly encounter into a triviality? And how did you deal with it?

Deal with it? When my NPCs get smashed, I feign disappointment and/or surprise, and then celebrate with the PCs.

 

[Stormonu]

shrug I would have had the beholder "fire blind". Disadvantage on the attack rolls or advantage on the saves against the rays, but still deadly beams scattering across the area in a mad attempt to root out the party.

But yeah, I've had my share of anti-climatic battles in games. It usually balances out the next time, and it only takes the PCs slipping up once (or some really bad die rolls) to turn a trivial encounter into a bloodbath sometimes. Let the PCs have their wins when they can get them, let them feel good when smart tactics win the day.

 

[Alby87]

Polymorph on a

Spoiler: Curse of Strahd, Tsolenka Pass

Roc, with Strahd riding Bucephalus in the air watching the scene. Forgot that Strahd didn't have "Counterspell". Epic boss fight ended as soon the Roc missed his saving throw

Thinking that every "solo" or "boss" monster should have, by default, "legendary resistance" in the encounter building rules.

 

[pukunui]

For those of you suggesting that the beholder should be allowed to “fire blind”, I think that’s an easy solution but one that can potentially lead to players saying “That’s not fair! Why can’t I ‘fire blind’ with my spells that require line of sight too?”

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Honest question: is line of sight actually broken by darkness?

Yes it seems so says my google...

I think, as they are all rays, I'd let the tyrant just try to hit someone inside the darkness bubble, just as a bowman can shoot blindly too.. Might be a bit free interpretation but this would be rule as fun.

 

[aco175]

Honest question: is line of sight actually broken by darkness?

Yes it seems so says my google...

I think, as they are all rays, I'd let the tyrant just try to hit someone inside the darkness bubble, just as a bowman can shoot blindly too.. Might be a bit free interpretation but this would be rule as fun.

Line of Sight (DMG 251)​

To precisely determine whether there is line of sight between two spaces, pick a corner of one space and trace an imaginary line from that corner to any part of another space. If at least one such line doesn't pass through or touch an object or effect that blocks vision -- such as a stone wall, a thick curtain, or a dense cloud of fog -- then there is line of sight.

In short, if vision isn't blocked, then you have line of sight. Shooting into blindness imposes disadvantage and the devil's sight thing likely grants the PC advantage since the target is effectively blind to you.