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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hastur_nz" data-source="post: 7338132" data-attributes="member: 40592">Beef them up to be more like a PC of their hit dice, so more powers, give them their full proficiency bonus (i.e. based on HD not CR), useful magic items, and so on.And seriously, take the time to make sure it's not just 4+ PC's vs 1 NPC, that's just doomed to failure.  Make sure the NPC starts with allies that are also a credible threat not just one-hit speed-bumps, and don't be afraid to make it dynamic like additional allies arrive each round as long as condition X exists.But I agree with others here - 'humanoid' BBEG shouldn't be stacked with powers that PC's don't - most people are OK that "monsters are different", especially a boss-monster, but for many, allowing an NPC to also have lair actions and legendary actions etc, is a step too far and breaks immersion (unless there's some strong story reason why your NPC somehow became super-powered).  Also, it's way more fun for players, to have to deal with a dymamic, multi-threat, combat, than just wail away at a single foe until it's dead.For example, the last "human BBEG" my group fought, transformed into a kraken-beast that had a multi-step 'solo' setup ala Angry DM / 4e, and every round town guard(s) was transformed into a Sea Spawn; also, an important NPC was running away (which caused a PC to chase him).  Just a simple example - most of my BBEG fights are with monsters of some kind - I tend to keep my 'humanoid' NPC's out of direct combat with the PC's (bad-guys exist, and sometimes meet the PC's, but almost always they are untouchable - Age of Worms campaign was a good example of this, where most of the NPC's were in a grey area not designed for cannon-fodder).</blockquote>

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