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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 8572193" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>Nice, sounds like fun! We did one of these at the end of our Tomb of Annihilation game – the druid player took the reins for a 17th level one-shot using everyone's characters against his uber-grung druid. He definitely created a phased boss battle that started on the ground and then went into the air as the druid rode a roc through a storm.</p><p></p><p>Baphomet (MToF version) vs. your fresh 13th level party should be a good baseline.</p><p></p><p>A couple considerations:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Average 13th level Hit Points are ~81 or so. On his turn Baphomet dishes out ~83 damage on average, so enough to down the average fresh PC, but not enough to kill them outright. That's about right for a serious boss encounter. Either Baphomet can threaten every member of the party each round, or he can mow down one of them, so that <em>without</em> healing / good strategy / luck, the fight would last ~4 rounds.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Whereas your party is able to dish out maybe ~130 damage per round if not more, so they should be able to take Baphomet down in ~3 rounds barring one of them getting taken out of the fight.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Besides Legendary Resistances (I often find those an unsatisfactory mechanic but YMMV), Baphomet has no way to shake off stun-locking. That's why I like "condition mitigating" traits – I'll post a sample of one of mine called Enduring below.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the paladin/sorcerer PC has Aura of Courage that will be a big help to nix the demon's Frightful Presence.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You can use (or not use) Baphomet's Reckless Attack as a way to make the fight a little harder or easier on the fly, as this could grant the rogue PC advantage/sneak attack bonus damage with no effort required on their part.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The archer fighter PC might be able to perch or maneuver out of Baphomet's range and snipe away, unless Baphomet burns its <em>teleport </em>to reach them, because Baphomet has no ranged attacks. That might be something to consider in your design of the map and area where the fight happens & how to use <em>wall of stone </em>to create cover for Baphomet.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Finally the <em>maze</em> spell is one that requires special handling when deployed against PCs, in my humble view. When I had Acererak use it against a PC, I gave the player a little extradimensional space to explore and learn a couple facts & a weakness about Acererak within before finding his way back to the Material Plane.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">My instinct would be to use some kind of distance/reality-warping maze that allows Baphomet to manipulate the distance PCs are from him, essentially pushing the melee types further away, and pulling the archer closer in. Or things like there's suddenly a pillar granting Baphomet half-cover that just sprouted up out of nowhere. Kind of an extension of one of its lair actions.</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 8572193, member: 20323"] Nice, sounds like fun! We did one of these at the end of our Tomb of Annihilation game – the druid player took the reins for a 17th level one-shot using everyone's characters against his uber-grung druid. He definitely created a phased boss battle that started on the ground and then went into the air as the druid rode a roc through a storm. Baphomet (MToF version) vs. your fresh 13th level party should be a good baseline. A couple considerations: [LIST] [*]Average 13th level Hit Points are ~81 or so. On his turn Baphomet dishes out ~83 damage on average, so enough to down the average fresh PC, but not enough to kill them outright. That's about right for a serious boss encounter. Either Baphomet can threaten every member of the party each round, or he can mow down one of them, so that [I]without[/I] healing / good strategy / luck, the fight would last ~4 rounds. [*]Whereas your party is able to dish out maybe ~130 damage per round if not more, so they should be able to take Baphomet down in ~3 rounds barring one of them getting taken out of the fight. [*]Besides Legendary Resistances (I often find those an unsatisfactory mechanic but YMMV), Baphomet has no way to shake off stun-locking. That's why I like "condition mitigating" traits – I'll post a sample of one of mine called Enduring below. [*]If the paladin/sorcerer PC has Aura of Courage that will be a big help to nix the demon's Frightful Presence. [*]You can use (or not use) Baphomet's Reckless Attack as a way to make the fight a little harder or easier on the fly, as this could grant the rogue PC advantage/sneak attack bonus damage with no effort required on their part. [*]The archer fighter PC might be able to perch or maneuver out of Baphomet's range and snipe away, unless Baphomet burns its [I]teleport [/I]to reach them, because Baphomet has no ranged attacks. That might be something to consider in your design of the map and area where the fight happens & how to use [I]wall of stone [/I]to create cover for Baphomet. [*]Finally the [I]maze[/I] spell is one that requires special handling when deployed against PCs, in my humble view. When I had Acererak use it against a PC, I gave the player a little extradimensional space to explore and learn a couple facts & a weakness about Acererak within before finding his way back to the Material Plane. [*]My instinct would be to use some kind of distance/reality-warping maze that allows Baphomet to manipulate the distance PCs are from him, essentially pushing the melee types further away, and pulling the archer closer in. Or things like there's suddenly a pillar granting Baphomet half-cover that just sprouted up out of nowhere. Kind of an extension of one of its lair actions. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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