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<blockquote data-quote="Uller" data-source="post: 6981689" data-attributes="member: 413">My intention is to play him the way the adventure intends.&nbsp; He will harass them to test them and amuse himself.&nbsp; He will kite the heck out of them, weaken them before encounters and take the opportunity to attack them when they are weakened from other encounters.&nbsp; The animated armor idea is a good one but I think it changes the nature of fighting him.&nbsp; So I think I will pass on that one.&nbsp; If this were my own adventure, I'd consider going with it.&nbsp; But I want my players to experience Ravenloft as it was meant to be.&nbsp; They get harried by the villain until they find some way to immobilize him and kill him. The point of him is to avoid going to toe-to-toe with the party for very long.I think one thing to make him tougher for a higher level party is just make his Children of the Night recharge on a short rest if he rests in his tomb, make it a bonus action (only usable if the sun is down) and always use the table on page 239 of CoS...so in 1d4 rounds some non-trivial monsters show up to aid him.&nbsp; If he escapes and can spend an hour resting in his tomb he can do it again.I think rather than have the Heart of Sorrow kick in immediately and he can cut it off as a bonus action, instead have it kick in as soon as he is below half hp and he can't cut it off at all.&nbsp; So with no modifications, he has 144 hp...it kicks in at 72 hp.&nbsp; So let's say he is sitting at 100 hp then takes an attack that does 52 hp of damage.&nbsp; He will drop to 72 (taking 28 damage) and the other 24 will behave as per the description of that item.&nbsp; Narratively this well be &quot;He is wearing down under your onslaught and you land a mighty blow to his face.&nbsp; You expect to see his jaw removed from his head, but when he turns back to you he is fine!&quot;&nbsp; At that point, unless he is cornered he will begin to look to escape, rest and heal so as to avoid using it all up.&nbsp; He wants to maintain it.&nbsp; It will give me a reason to have him retreat even if he is winning and will freak the party out because he will suddenly seem to become invulnerable.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Uller, post: 6981689, member: 413"] My intention is to play him the way the adventure intends. He will harass them to test them and amuse himself. He will kite the heck out of them, weaken them before encounters and take the opportunity to attack them when they are weakened from other encounters. The animated armor idea is a good one but I think it changes the nature of fighting him. So I think I will pass on that one. If this were my own adventure, I'd consider going with it. But I want my players to experience Ravenloft as it was meant to be. They get harried by the villain until they find some way to immobilize him and kill him. The point of him is to avoid going to toe-to-toe with the party for very long. I think one thing to make him tougher for a higher level party is just make his Children of the Night recharge on a short rest if he rests in his tomb, make it a bonus action (only usable if the sun is down) and always use the table on page 239 of CoS...so in 1d4 rounds some non-trivial monsters show up to aid him. If he escapes and can spend an hour resting in his tomb he can do it again. I think rather than have the Heart of Sorrow kick in immediately and he can cut it off as a bonus action, instead have it kick in as soon as he is below half hp and he can't cut it off at all. So with no modifications, he has 144 hp...it kicks in at 72 hp. So let's say he is sitting at 100 hp then takes an attack that does 52 hp of damage. He will drop to 72 (taking 28 damage) and the other 24 will behave as per the description of that item. Narratively this well be "He is wearing down under your onslaught and you land a mighty blow to his face. You expect to see his jaw removed from his head, but when he turns back to you he is fine!" At that point, unless he is cornered he will begin to look to escape, rest and heal so as to avoid using it all up. He wants to maintain it. It will give me a reason to have him retreat even if he is winning and will freak the party out because he will suddenly seem to become invulnerable. [/QUOTE]

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