Need Help with Homebrew Final Boss

[Arctic Wolf]

Hey again Quickleaf. Well first off, stage 2 is also taking some of his hit points so that way I don't overtax the players. I will throw some ideas for stage 2 in a bit. For Time Skip, how about I teleport the enemy? How does that sound? Temporal Disjunction was suppose to be a -2, I should of done more proof reading when it was transfered over xD. Well that was the plan, I was going to have a little time in before stage 3 where Nihilious lets the PCs *feel* his timeline so they know what he has seen and how much of a threat he is. Should I let Sphere of Ultimate Destruction do that for the last stage? It would make sense since that is when I would expect the PCs to be bloodied. Yep, I just realized *oh hey this is like a beholder lol*. So that should be fun. And yep Time Rip is suppose to be vs fortitude. Do you think I should switch up defenses a bit? It seems like someone with a weak fort and will def will do badly against this guy. Do you think I should add any resistances to Nihilious for stage 3? Well thanks again and hope for your feedback

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Iwouldn't mind givin you my two cents, but am finding it really hard to read (on both my home and work computers). Any chance on you making it more compact, particularly the front and back ends of it (so, the non-power bits)?

 

[Arctic Wolf]

Ok, made it more compact and boy, that was fun heh. But yeah, hope it is easier to read

 

[Unwise]

Interesting discussion. I am in a bit of a rush, so please excuse me if this has been mentioned before.

I would like to add a couple of suggestions>
1. Why not give him an obscene amount of APs? Like 10. It is an interesting way to give a solo monster more attacks and fits well with the time mottif.

2. How about he gets to use an AP after every PCs that does? He steals some of their time.

3. An ability that slows people, taking them out of time a bit, so a slow and a -4 to hit as they attack too slowly.

4. The stuns should probably give +20resist or something. As the person is out of time, they cannot be hurt properly.

5. That is a lot of stunning, will that be fun?

6. I like the power that makes you re-roll attacks. How about his standard attack makes you roll twice and take the lowest on your next attack if you are hit by it? If you resist it however, you roll twice and take the highest instead. He tries to warp your fate and time, but if it fails it gives him wrong information.

7. He does not make the same mistake twice. If he misses you, he gets to roll twice and take the best on his next attack on you.

8. I suggest he summons boss monsters from the parties past. I think this can be a great RP event. He summons the dragon that they first killed in heroic. The creature is now just a standard monster. It really shows the heroes progression as well as adding interesting helpers to the fight. What if he started out summoning the orc king they killed, who turns up, but is now just a minion. He keeps summoning more recent bad guys though, if the party takes too long to kill him, he summons the latest Efreeti Lord or whatever that they most recently struggled to kill. It is nice to have a reminder of all the progress they have made.

 

[Arctic Wolf]

@ Unwise : 1. You think 3 turns in a round is not enough to show this? I mean I could see him having 5 APs per phase to show the same thing but more turns makes sense to me.

2. I could see this working if I went with more APs. I'll see if that is good based on other feedback though.

3. Most abilities have a slow and -2 attack, you think it should be a higher attack penalty?

4. The only move that sorta stuns is Time Stop and to me it seems like freezing the PC so their turn ends if they attack.

5. Time Stop is the only move that sorta stuns.

6. That does sound interesting, might throw that in there.

7. Might make that another trait but for stage 3. It would work well since technically he can be affected by effects.

8. That would prolly be good for stage 2 since it is similar to what I planned.

 

[Quickleaf]

Hey again Quickleaf. Well first off, stage 2 is also taking some of his hit points so that way I don't overtax the players. I will throw some ideas for stage 2 in a bit.

Ah ok, that makes sense.

For Time Skip, how about I teleport the enemy? How does that sound?

My approach to monster design is to start from the story. So what's the story of "Time Skip"? What does it look like when Nihilous uses it and what is it supposed to represent?

Temporal Disjunction was suppose to be a -2, I should of done more proof reading when it was transfered over xD. Well that was the plan, I was going to have a little time in before stage 3 where Nihilious lets the PCs *feel* his timeline so they know what he has seen and how much of a threat he is. Should I let Sphere of Ultimate Destruction do that for the last stage? It would make sense since that is when I would expect the PCs to be bloodied.

You do realize when you flow from answering one piece of feedback to the next without any quotes or even a paragraph it is rather hard to follow?

Yep, I just realized *oh hey this is like a beholder lol*. So that should be fun.

Heh, whaddya know?

And yep Time Rip is suppose to be vs fortitude. Do you think I should switch up defenses a bit? It seems like someone with a weak fort and will def will do badly against this guy.

An endgame boss should have the ability to target AC and two NADs reliably. That's IMO of course. With Nihilous you've got a whole lot of powers targeting Fortitude, maybe vary it up?

Do you think I should add any resistances to Nihilious for stage 3?

No, I only use resistance when it's pretty clearly demanded by the story or D&D lore; even then I like to combine (or replace) resistance with other traits. Nihilous doesn't need resistance and it doesn't fit into the story you wrote up for him. Though if your PCs are using chronomancy that may be another story...

Well thanks again and hope for your feedback

You're welcome. Now you've got the rest of your campaign ahead of you!

 

[Unwise]

@ Unwise : 1. You think 3 turns in a round is not enough to show this? I mean I could see him having 5 APs per phase to show the same thing but more turns makes sense to me.

2. I could see this working if I went with more APs. I'll see if that is good based on other feedback though.

3. Most abilities have a slow and -2 attack, you think it should be a higher attack penalty?

4. The only move that sorta stuns is Time Stop and to me it seems like freezing the PC so their turn ends if they attack.

5. Time Stop is the only move that sorta stuns.

6. That does sound interesting, might throw that in there.

7. Might make that another trait but for stage 3. It would work well since technically he can be affected by effects.

8. That would prolly be good for stage 2 since it is similar to what I planned.

Nevermind me, I did not see the stat sheets on the bottom of the last page. Was responding to the earlier broader concepts and pre-revision abilities.

Regarding the slow and -2 to attack. It could be an interesting ability that gives people -2 to attack for every action they take (after the first?) so if you want to attack, move and draw a weapon, you are at -6 to hit. If you just want to attack you are at -2. It is sort of like a daze, but a bit more fun as it does not leave people stuck unable to do things. Also less deadly as it still allows for unimpeded healing.

I also like abilities that make people unable to target their friends. It scares the pants off people. So a time-shift that stuns or damage and makes it so that only the lord of time can interact with you. You can't see/effect your friends, and vis versa.

I once had a time dragon do this on a battlefield scale. Each person fought him alone for a few turns. Normal intiative etc, but they were unable to flank, unable to heal others, unable to shift friends, unable to guard, grant attacks, buff friends or revive the fallen. It scared the pants off people and really made them appreciate teamwork. While this effect was active, the dragon got a go after each PCs turn, but could only interact with that particular PC, so it could not just gank somebody outright.

 

[Arctic Wolf]

I really like that ability that that time dragon had and might steal it. I could have them make a a heal role to see if their healing can get the other person otherwise it is wasted. So here is how I envision it:

The PCs will be thrown out of the sand tornado where they were fighting past enemies and see a desert with tons of longswords with the sun and the moon on either side. In between both is a growing tree of souls and they see Nihilious on top of it watching them. The PCs see him finish a spell and suddenly feel different as they slowly realize that even though each of them are there, their timelines don't intersect anymore and that they must defeat him.

I think that sounds badass lol

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks for making things more readable - I would XP you but it won't let me.

I think some things are worded poorly (for example the multiple goes in a turn), but if this is only for home play that doesn't really matter and I won't go into that.

Personally, I think he has way too many powers, especially for something that is only 1/3 a solo.

As well, I think he may get too many attacks in a round - I haven't DMed or played epic tier yet, but as far as I count it he essentially gets 15 attacks a round (he has 3 passes, each with full actions, in which he can make 1 attack as a standard, 1 as a minor, and 3 as a move). That seems... a bit much.

About all the powers that make the PC an older version of themselves - will that have a mechanical effect? Why all of them older? If its just flavour, I don't think you need it in the power description.

The blade empowerment thing has potential - I take it you haven't figured out what the blades do yet. Personally, I would build it into the power itself - do something like the scroll mummy, where you make a list of different effects within the power and have the DM roll each time to see which is used.

 

[Unwise]

Hi Arctic Wolf, I agree that is can be fun to separate people, it came make things look grim for them just before the end. The thing is though, I think they should all come back together at the final moment, to kick the bad guy together as a team. Maybe just the final round or so.

Maybe there is a tiny fourth stage. When they have been working together (yet seperate) to beat the guy, he realises that something is terribly wrong and he is losing. He then splits himself up between time. If even one of those fragments survives, he will be reborn in another time and/or is unkillable in the present.

So the last 50HP or so, he truly is a different enemy for each PC. Damage one does, does not effect the other. So the fighter beats his version of the bad guy. He now is sent back to real time. He can see that the guy is on his last legs and is dying. Thing is though, until all the shattered aspects of the guy have been slain, he is unkillable in this timeline.

So the fighter then has to hold the guy off, waiting for every PC to finish off their little bit of the guy. Then they all come back together in the main timeline and can finish him off. At this stage it is more of an execution.

Social interaction wise, I think this works as
A) Your PCs are cheering each other on
B) Each PC feels like the hero, as they "soloed" the guy
C) There is great tension, as how does the cleric do enough damage to the guy in time? Will the rest of the group live fighting the "present" for long enough for the cleric to chip away at his 'shard' of the guy?
D) In the end, only as a group can they succeed. It reinforces the teamwork.

Two suggestions would be:
1) Don't make the seperation stage last too long. Leaders and Controllers will really struggle during this period and Defenders are not doing their job, theives are not backstabbing etc. It takes everybody out of their comfort zone, which is only fun in moderation.
2) Have some way of the group using religion/arcana/nature to enter into the time-shard of somebody who is about to lose, or has lost. Otherwise the guy remains unkillable.
3) Alternatively, if any guy does lose his solo fight, then the party can use a skill challenge to cut off that segment of the BBEG, which makes him killable again, but will result in his surviving (much less powerful) in another time line. So he can come back one day.

Just some random thoughts to consider. Glad you liked the base idea.

P.S. Just had an idea for any character that does not have an epic destiny sorted out. In the end, they kill the guy, but he splits into 1000 pieces to be reborn at 1000 times over 1000 worlds. He gives a big muhahahaha. One or more of the PCs can then harness his energy, stealing part of his time portfolio. They then become his eternal bane. Everywhere he is reborn, they too are reborn and the BBEG is forced to play out defeat at their hands 1000+ times over until the end of time. A pretty cool ending for someone who has not got one sorted out, or who has the Eternal Champion, Demigod, Eternal Seeker, Wayfarer or a few other EDs.