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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stormrunner" data-source="post: 3630821" data-attributes="member: 13471">From the OP's description, sounds like the BBEG specializes in buffing his underlings, instead of whopping foes personally.  This helps the DM a bit, as you can then increase his level by 1 or 2 with less chance of Instant TPK.  So, bard song or something with auras (marshal, dragon shaman, commander auras from Heroes of Battle).Then, a squad of LBEGs, say about 8 or so, each one roughly equal to a PC.  Lets say 2 casters (one blaster, one buffer) of 9th level, and 6 fighters of 8th level.  Give the fighters, oh, Fig 6/Exotic Weapon Master 2, and have each one wield a different exotic weapon (but otherwise have identical stats, HP, etc to cut down on prep time).Then, each LBEG has a personal squad of 4-5 mooks of 3rd level or so.  These are Cleave/Fireball fodder, their purpose is to delay the PCs a round or so while the LBEGs drink potions/cast buffs.  If any survive the first round they can serve as flanking backstops.  The BBEG has a slightly better squad, 4 5th-lvl archers who are there to annoy the PCs by poinking them for minor damage each round until the PCs spend a round or so to wipe them out (again, giving the BBEG time to self-buff, and making the fight last longer than 1 round).</blockquote>