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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 5089970" data-attributes="member: 63">What game system are you using, and what's the level of party? Composition thereof? I'm assuming you're setting up this necromancer as a 'solo' if this is 4e, so that he can last a long time. The trick with solos is to have other hazards in the combat.Now, at 'top of the tower' are we talking roof, or "top floor"? Because if you're on a roof, there's less you can do terrain-wise, short of having the roof collapse. But you said 'twisted tower,' so how about a three-level fight, with one level that's entirely indoors (with windows around the side that you can shoot through), one level above that that has some asymmetrical parapets or balconies or whatever, linked to the other levels by stairs. And then the top level is just a roof, perhaps with some decorative gargoyles. Also, the necromancer isn't just flying on his own. He's being held aloft by commanded evil ghosts. When the PCs arrive, the ghosts of their slain allies arrive and try to drive off the necromancer's controlled ghosts, but they can't pull it off yet. The PCs have to bloody the necromancer, and once they do the necromancer can still fly, but he has to land at the end of each round; he still keeps higher mobility, but he is on the ropes.So the way I see this combat going is, the PCs reach level 1 of the tower top, which has large windows you can shoot into and out of; the place is decorated with four black crystal columns, and the crystal is full of the faces of wailing spirits. The necromancer realizes he's outnumbered and needs to change venues. The necromancer casts some Plot Magic that causes evil spirits to pour out of the walls, which acts as hazardous terrain, rapidly filling up level 1. They deal 5 necrotic damage to you if you start your turn in the area, plus the columns can spit out a minion every round or two. If you break a black crystal column (set it so it takes damage equal to two average rounds worth of melee attacks for each), though, it clears a quarter of the area, and any minions in that area. This gives the close combat folks something to do, to let them clear out the lower level. You'll see why in a second why having the lower level clear is important. (And maybe every time they destroy a column, the necromancer has to land on his next turn before he can start flying again. If they destroy all four columns and he's bloodied, he's completely landbound.)Meanwhile, some spirits  (let's say red spirits, so it's easier to tell them apart) lift the necromancer up the stairwell and to the next level. The spirits act sort of like a tether to the tower, so the necromancer can't fly more than, say, 20 feet out or 20 feet up from level 1. On level 2 there's cover, but you have to engage him at range. On level 3, you could potentially attack him in melee if they can trick him into flying over the top of the tower (which the PCs can accomplish by running from side to side of the tower), but you'll have no cover.Finally, give the necromancer a mix of single-target artillery and rechargeable zone attacks that last 3 rounds and deal ongoing damage, so the PCs have a reason to want to move between different levels of the tower. Now you'll have a nice mobile fight, where the PCs try to get to cover. The ranged guys can trade fire with the necromancer, while the melee guys go after his columns while minion ghosts attack them. But every few rounds the ranged guys have to flee downstairs when a deadly zone pops up, or the melee guys have to flee upstairs when the necromancer starts conjuring the zone indoors through the windows. At the end the necromancer gets hurt, lands, and they can pound on him.Remember, make the tower asymmetrical; that lends itself to more interesting developments. Like if the downstairs room only has windows on one side, the PCs have more options for taking cover, or luring the necromancer to one side or the other.Other perhaps important stuff: give the necromancer a way to break conditions the PCs put on him. Maybe whenever he bloodies each PC for the first time in an encounter, one of the spirits around him turns black, which represents a charge of necromantic power. He can as a free action expend a charge and end any condition affecting him, which turns the spirit back to red. Use this for stuff like dazes, stuns, and major debuffs.</blockquote>

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