Balancing the final fight

[Rob-hin]

Hey everyone (rudar,you shouldn't be reading this! spoilers )

I'm currently DM'ing my first quest and I've written it myself. Well, actually it's not really done yet as I'm missing an ending. I know what I want but I'm not sure how tough I should make it.

The thought is to let the players...
- Bard
- Ranger
- Monk
- Druid
All current level 8, approching 9.

... kill a
- wizard/acolyte of the skin
Current level 6/5

The acolyte of the skin wants to free a demon, so I'm thinking about the ending battle being in the dimentional prison of this demon. I'm not sure if I want to involve the demon in the fight, so far I'm going with no as I'm thinking about a sequal with the demon as the main villain.

I want to make it an exciting battle, but since I'm still pretty much a newbie, as both a player and a DM, I'm not sure how to balance the ending battle. So I've got some questions.

Should I let the acolyte of the skin have henchmen and if so what should they be?
What should the difference in level between the characters and the acolyte of the skin be?
Do I need to use areas of effect to help the villain, like a evil aura or something? What other bonuses should the villain have in terms of special items and can I buy him more then he should have at that level?
Should I cheat?

I know I have a lott of questions and I don't expect you guys to give me an instant answerr to them all, but I can really use some help.

 

[Ferret]

I think you can run it as just the acolyte, unless your party is powerful then a cohort is ok. They should already be challanged bt it being a few levels above them, make sure it isn't my more then 2 at the most though.

 

[Rob-hin]

Can one character of just 2 levels higher have a real fight against a group of 4 adventurers?
A thing I would be afraid of is, for example a mind affecting spell wich puts the acolyte out of order (like paralyse) so the rest can inflict damage while the acolyte can't react.

 

[James McMurray]

I would definitely suggest giving him some henchmen. Against a single foe an EL of 2 higher than the party is not always as challenging as it might first appear. Coordinating their efforts on a single target lets a party dish out quite a bit of hurt really fast.

I'd give the guy either

a) a devoted defender bodygaurd two levels less than the Acolyte (9 in this case) or

b) several mooks (perhaps 4 level 5 fighters) whose primary purpose is to ensure that the party can't just walk up to the bad guy and start whacking on him. Giving them Improved Disarm or Sunder can make them reals pains in the tush. or

c) several traps in the final area. He'd know where they were and could avoid those areas. You could also make them activatable by pulling levers or pshing buttons near the bad guy (as a move equivilent action). The traps should be fairly low CR and could focus more on seperating the party then on actually killing them. Walls that drop down or spring up, cages that fall from the cieling or spring from the floor, and a ring of fire that sprouts up around the Acolyte could make for an interesting battle.

You could even combine the aboe by lowring the single henchman's level, the number of mooks, or the danger level of the traps involved.

 

[Squire James]

I can see 2 ways you can improve the final encounter.

1. Mooks R Us. Unless it totally doesn't suit the BBEG's style, give him some pawns to push around. You don't have to make them very powerful... just enough so a PC who targets the BBEG during his first turn "pays for it" in some fashion. 4 mooks of CR 5 or so will do fine... little demon mooks would be excellent!

2. First You Gotta Reach the Guy. Whether or not you use #1, it would probably be good to make the BBEG a little hard to reach. If he has his own dimsensional prison area to play with, perhaps he has some sort of special control over the environment that he can change with a wave of his hand. Bump the BBEG CR up by 1 to compensate.

PC's REMEMBER fights against fire-immune wizards who hurl spells, gobs of lava, and minor demons at the PC's from the middle of their lava pools!

 

[Rob-hin]

Good idea!
The Acolyte has 20 fire resistence and magma deals 2d6 damage. So it would require the playes to be creative.

I think I'll put the Acolyte in the middle of a pool of magama and surround him with some minor demons. And if they don't defeat him withing a sertain number of rounds, the demon escapes. I hope it won't be to complex for me to handle, but I like the sound of it. Thanks