DMs! Have you ever had a “boss encounter” turn into a cakewalk? What happened?

[WhosDaDungeonMaster]

Polymorph in my opinion is a save or die spell. The PCs will polymorph a powerful foe into a slug or something, then cram the body into a small space, like a crevice in a rock wall, and end the spell and the expanding body instantly crushes the monster into paste.

I just read up on Polymorph since it keeps popping up in the thread. First, I would change it to a Constitution or even Charisma save, not Wisdom. Also, as many spells have done in the past, as DM I would rule that a polymorph creature returning to natural form in a space insufficient for its size appears in the closest unoccupied space available that is sufficient for its size. That would stop such tactics.

Another option is change the CR options (the creature must be changed into an equivalent CR or less) to sometime like "the creature must be changed into a CR between one-half its original CR to its original CR". Thus, something with CR of 18, could only be polymorphed into a CR 9 to CR 18.

I don't know, others would have more experience with it in game, but it seems like changes along those lines would stop the abuse of polymorph.

 

[mortwatcher]

I just read up on Polymorph since it keeps popping up in the thread. First, I would change it to a Constitution or even Charisma save, not Wisdom. Also, as many spells have done in the past, as DM I would rule that a polymorph creature returning to natural form in a space insufficient for its size appears in the closest unoccupied space available that is sufficient for its size. That would stop such tactics.

Another option is change the CR options (the creature must be changed into an equivalent CR or less) to sometime like "the creature must be changed into a CR between one-half its original CR to its original CR". Thus, something with CR of 18, could only be polymorphed into a CR 9 to CR 18.

I don't know, others would have more experience with it in game, but it seems like changes along those lines would stop the abuse of polymorph.

there are no CR 9 beasts, and only 1 CR8, 7 and 6 beasts in the official material, so that would require some homebrewing
I think polymorph is limited enough resource (lvl 20 wizard has only 3 lvl4 spell castings), that it should be powerful, big bads have legendary saves for that

 

[Nebulous]

I just read up on Polymorph since it keeps popping up in the thread. First, I would change it to a Constitution or even Charisma save, not Wisdom. Also, as many spells have done in the past, as DM I would rule that a polymorph creature returning to natural form in a space insufficient for its size appears in the closest unoccupied space available that is sufficient for its size. That would stop such tactics.

Another option is change the CR options (the creature must be changed into an equivalent CR or less) to sometime like "the creature must be changed into a CR between one-half its original CR to its original CR". Thus, something with CR of 18, could only be polymorphed into a CR 9 to CR 18.

I don't know, others would have more experience with it in game, but it seems like changes along those lines would stop the abuse of polymorph.

Those are all good ideas. The spell HAS been abused, and it is probably too low level for the potential lethality of it. I'll keep those ideas in mind whenever they are high enough level to cast it again, which won't be too long.

By lethal though, I mean my players insta-killing something by being clever. Having
a space large enough to return to would easily fix that issue.

 

[Nevvur]

Archmage neutered by the Blindness spell. It was supposed to be a capture-the-PCs scenario and he even got a surprise round, but they survived his opening gambit, landed the Blindness, and forced him to flee (Teleport) on his turn the next round.

He made a reappearance later after taking appropriate precautions. The fight was a lot closer that time, but still felt kind of meh after they embarrassed him so thoroughly in their first meeting.

 

[5ekyu]

I just read up on Polymorph since it keeps popping up in the thread. First, I would change it to a Constitution or even Charisma save, not Wisdom. Also, as many spells have done in the past, as DM I would rule that a polymorph creature returning to natural form in a space insufficient for its size appears in the closest unoccupied space available that is sufficient for its size. That would stop such tactics.

Another option is change the CR options (the creature must be changed into an equivalent CR or less) to sometime like "the creature must be changed into a CR between one-half its original CR to its original CR". Thus, something with CR of 18, could only be polymorphed into a CR 9 to CR 18.

I don't know, others would have more experience with it in game, but it seems like changes along those lines would stop the abuse of polymorph.

I have a global house rule of no death by dice and that means that I do not suffer a "save or die" effect to live.

If a spell /effect does not have a save/re-save round-by-round or action escape (shake to wake) and imposes z strong enough effect to stop participation it gets one of two changed:
Contagion style - lesser effect for time while a three-way save race goes on.
Banish(name?) - style where it has to be continued over a long period to reach longer duration and effect.

More drama over choices and options than good/bad dice.

 

[Umbran]

Ever have a boss become a cakewalk? Yeah. My (bad) dice luck is legendary. I could flop at having a Tarrasque eat a party of 5th level characters on a good night.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

My group in my last 5e game went though Demogorgon like crap through a goose. 3 rounds of slap down humiliation for the "prince of demons" at the hands of a 10th/11th level party no less. He decided to not reform in the abyss after that and the rest of the demons started looking for new lines of work.

 

[Mouseferatu]

3 rounds of slap down humiliation for the "prince of demons" at the hands of a 10th/11th level party no less.

Okay, you're gonna have to give us more details on this one!

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Okay, you're gonna have to give us more details on this one!

Some huge Paladin smite crits and rogue sneak attack crits were key, and just the ability of party of 6 PC to pile on the damage against the low AC of 5e even after I maxed his HP. They had some luck on their side but it was disappointing that the final fight of the campaign was one of the lamest. We were playing full feats and magic but the whole campaign was either cakewalks or a near TPK. Crits are wildly overpowered IME in 5e when you are doubling all bonus dice as well.

That ended the campaign, where do you go after you defeat the greatest demon in the game at mid level? I didn't want it to be like Supernatural where you have to try to one up beating Lucifer in the later seasons. So the PC retired in glory and riches and we started up a different system for my game. Was fun is one sense to finally get the demon princes on the table after so many years but they were not very...princely IME.

 

[Stalker0]

I had planned on introducing the Villain early and forcing the PCs to flee from him and his minions. The shadow rogue(it was 3.5 I forget the exact class) had hidden, ambushes the villain with multiple crits(and didn’t they ‘explode’ back then?) and basically killed my villain in 1 attack round.

If I have learned one thing in my many years of DMing its this. Never put the Villain in front of the party unless you are ready for it to die