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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 8147333" data-attributes="member: 20323">If you wanted to go the route of an adventure focused on scheming and intrigue, you could focus the session on undermining Tiamat's power base by subverting Bel (and potentially her abishai army) against her, negotiating for the Ruby Rod of Asmodeus which binds Tiamat to the Nine Hells, tricking her and/or Vlaakith into nullifying the "Red Dragon Compact" between Gith and Tiamat to deprive her of legion of red dragons, leveraging one of her chromatic dragon jilted lovers to learn her weakness, stealing treasures from the main Temple of Tiamat to get her to destroy her own temple in a rage and undermine her follower base, etc. So that when the final confrontation happens in the last hour, Tiamat's supreme vanity is proven to be her undoing as the PCs have methodically undermined every step of her plan, making her a hollow threat with no power to free herself.If you wanted a more traditional knock-down battle, then I'd play up the multi-part aspect of Tiamat. She has 5 heads, representing 5 vices: arrogance, greed, hate, spite, and vanity. She has been characterized as having three forms: Dark Lady, Chromatic Queen, and Dracolich form. I'd double down on that idea and create multiple threat/challenge vectors in the fight themed off of these things (and potentially tying into the PCs' final story beats). For example:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Storm of Spite: Wherever the showdown takes places, there is a 5 mile windswept aura of darkness (no light stronger than dim light is possible, and magical sunlight is repressed) of spiteful whispering sounding like multi-tonal insidious vaguely feminine voices. Animals and/or NPCs may be found cowering in fear within this storm. These whispers dredge up old lingering wounds and resentments of anyone entering the storm. This is an opportunity to showcase past inter-party conflict and either given them the satisfaction of having overcome those moments, or the opportunity to explore further conflict. You may wish to throw some illusions in here, and anyone falling for them must make an Intelligence save or be unable to treat anyone as an ally until the first phase of the fight ends. Also! The WHISPERS BARD should be able to manipulate the voices magically (by expending spell slots) to hear spiteful whispers from Tiamat's many enemies about her weaknesses, giving that PC the opportunity to shine and turn Tiamat's storm against her. The storm also gives the RANGER the opportunity to use Primeval Awareness to sense the direction to a dragon within the low-visibility storm.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rubies of Imprisonment: As Tiamat emerges on the wing, she is circled by three ioun stone-like rubies which glow dark red with infernal inner light, part of the spell binding her to the Nine Hells. These rubies move in an erratic orbit, being buffeted by the storm winds. Each acts like a sensory stone, providing some memory of Tiamat to anyone touching it (you can mine events from your campaign or turn to the FR wiki), however they are extremely hard to reach, and are treated as being equipped by Tiamat... unless you happen to be an ARCANE TRICKSTER ROGUE who can use mage hand to Sleight of Hand in the midst of combat. The LORE BARD should realize the nature of these rubies, and will further be aware that they are imbued with Tiamat's greed and covetousness, such that anyone with a ruby on their person must make a Wisdom save at the end of their turn or be compelled to steal from an ally during their next turn. This makes the rubies a bit of a "hot potato" scenario, and doubles down on the "greed is downfall" theme that runs through Tiamat's history. During this 1st phase, Tiamat is slightly weakened from escaping the Nine Hells and lacks Legendary Actions, and prioritizes destroying the rubies (AC 24, 10 hit points, and resistance to all damage) and using breath weapons; each one she destroys restores one of her Legendary Actions. OTOH, each one that a PC accesses the memory to should give some insight into Tiamat's powers.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hour of Hate: Emitting a terrible roar, Tiamat seems to assume a shadowy skeletal form momentarily before discorporating into the winds, and various abishai begin swarming the party. I'd have her roar force Concentration checks for all PCs sustaining ongoing spells/effects requiring Concentration. Close observation of the VENGEANCE PALADIN and SHADOW SORCERER reveals that a darkness clings over them and their shadows slowly distort to appear more spike/draconic the more abishai each kill. If either kill a number of abishai greater than their Wisdom modifier (or something like that, you'll need to fine tune numbers/trigger), they become possessed by Tiamat as per the dominate person spell (no save). Remove curse can remove the effect from them, as can sunlight if the PCs devise a way despite the storm's light-dimming properties. The VENGEANCE PALADIN can also make a sacrifice of some kind (their magic sword, their eyes, or something suitably dramatic for that PC) to invoke their god's might to banish the abishai and lift the curse on him/herself or on the shadow sorcerer. Whereas the SHADOW SORCERER can expend a 7th+ level spell slot to take control of the storm / dissipate the storm and lift the curse on him/herself or on the paladin. The lesson is not to focus on the things you hate (the abishai) but upon the things you love (each other). There may be an opportunity for TIEFLING hijinx with the abishai too, depending on how you've explored the tiefling's racial backstory so far.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mother of Lies: Tiamat reappears at ~2/3 HP under the effect of an advanced version of mirror image which gives her four images (so there appear to be 5 Tiamats)... If she has four duplicates, you must roll a 3 or higher to change the attacks' target to a duplicate. If she has three duplicates, you must roll a 6 or higher to change the attack's target to a duplicate. With two duplicates, you must roll an 8 or higher. With one duplicate, you must roll an 11 or higher. The trick here is using what they know about Tiamat based on your campaign, Storm of Spite, Rubies of Imprisonment, and the party's LORE BARD to deduce which of the images is false. There should be very subtle differences between them; for example, one might boast that she is the Master of All Metallic Dragons (false), another might have a scythe instead of a barbed wyvern stinger on her tail (false), another might lack a critical injury sustained in the fight so far (false), etc. The PCs could just rely on true seeing...brute force multiattacking...or spells targeting saving throws... but  those are a costly expenditure of resources. During this 2nd phase, she focuses on spellcasting to weaken the party. When she is reduced to ~1/3 HP, she assumes the form of the Dark Lady (dark-haired shadowy woman) surrounded by a sphere of force that crackles with hellfire that looks trapped with the force. If the storm was ongoing, it ends by sucking into the Dark Lady; I'd have this process force Concentration checks for all PCs sustaining ongoing spells/effects requiring Concentration.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sphere of Vainglory: During this time, Tiamat taunts the PCs, basks in her own arrogance, and causes beasts in the area (including mounts, animal companions, and familiars) to be wracked by terrible pain and begin to morph into drake-like or wyvern-like versions of themselves (Tome of Beasts has some nice higher CR drakes, like the Elder Shadow Drake, Rust Drake, Deep Drake, and Star Drake). After three rounds, the fleshwarping becomes permanent & their alignment changes to CE as a minion of Tiamat, unless targeted by a 9th level dispel magic. If no one in the party has a mount, animal companion, or familiar, you can include some animals in the area which begin to be warped. This is the BEAST MASTER RANGER's time to shine, being able to expend spell slots and make ability checks to soothe animals and prevent them from being warped by Tiamat's dark magic. The trick is that anytime a PC deals damage to one of these fleshwarped drake-beasts, the PC must make a Charisma save or find their consciousness swapped with that of the drake-beast! Greater restoration will restore a PC back into their body. Normally, only a disintegrate spell will bring down the sphere prematurely, but clever roleplay indulging Tiamat's vanity only to twist it at the end might force her to make a Concentration check – failure indicating the sphere of force fails. Otherwise, the sphere drops only when there are no more hostile creatures fighting the PCs and no more animals in danger.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Finale: Tiamat resumes her chromatic queen form at ~1/3 HP and attacks the PCs with everything she has got during this 3rd phase. To prevent her from discorporating, there may be some final mythical step the PCs must take, either something you've revealed in the campaign heretofor, or something the LORE BARD can know (or maybe tip your hat to the player, and let him/her declare what this final mythical step is to seal Tiamat away / kill her for good).</li> </ul></blockquote>

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