Killing the grind: phased "boss" fights

[Garthanos]

It was a proof of concept, nothing more.

Thanks for the thread!

 

[Halivar]

I just got to thinking about a Penny Arcade D&D post that had a photo of a falling combat. Gave me an idea: a phase that occurs in mid-air, where teleporters and flyers have a tactical advantage could be fun, too.

Phase 1: Collapsing cliff-face, fighting boss + minions.
Phase 2: Falling for 5-6 rounds into a lake.
Phase 3: Aquatic combat against the solo.

Such a fight would have three different mechanics for movement. During falling, characters can make acrobatics checks to move in mid-air, while in the water they make athletics checks. If you constructed the encounter correctly, you could have different characters shine in each phase.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Awesome post Markn, I like this idea quite alot - much better than the original poster who was trying to recreate the WoW Onyxia fight for some reason

Personally I think the only place where the original post had any real problems was the "shrugs off all effects and marks and takes wing" bit, and possibly the motivation.

To me part of playing D&D is throwing a spanner in the works of the bad guys. If the dragon is prevented from taking flight, then that's what happens, and it's all good. The phase will still proceed pretty much the same, but the players have the option of continuing to wail on the dragon itself instead of paying attention to anything else.

That said, I might reverse the order of the last two phases: in the second phase the dragon plays the caution card, takes wing and empowers the brood warders. The third phase is where the dragon is in desperation, coming down to fight alongside it's minion hatchlings in a desperate, last ditch defense of the nest.

 

[Markn]

Phase 1: Collapsing cliff-face, fighting boss + minions.
Phase 2: Falling for 5-6 rounds into a lake.
Phase 3: Aquatic combat against the solo.

Such a fight would have three different mechanics for movement. During falling, characters can make acrobatics checks to move in mid-air, while in the water they make athletics checks. If you constructed the encounter correctly, you could have different characters shine in each phase.

Nifty concept. I think I will play around with this and tweak it for my group but something like this sounds pretty fun if done right.