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<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 8667265" data-attributes="member: 87792">IMO you are missing a major part of what makes things truly cool, which is why I allow every major bad guy one major twist that's not on the statblock, which I refer to as the &quot;I am not left handed&quot; moment. If you watch any heist movie the protagonists plan everything out in detail - and then something goes pear shaped. And the rest of the movie is about how things actually get back on track and have to deal with the new information. It's the one thing this boss was keeping in reserve just in case, and is deliberately keeping secret. It's not a counter to everything - but is a gamechanger (the last one was that the boss had made a deal with PCs of players who could no longer make it and summoned them as reinforcements; the boss did get away but that was thanks to Plane Shift on their statblock). But I always keep in mind that the job of a DM is close to that of a pro wrestling heel; to be booed and to sell it as if the face will lose - but in the end to go down. And let's face it &quot;I am not left handed either&quot; was insanely cool and could not have happened without the setup where the game was changed. But each boss only gets one; this isn't Calvinball and I'm not trying to win, just to massively ramp up the tension. It also has to be unique.&nbsp; I also don't use it with what is already a phase-changing boss (like a 4e dragon) as that ramp up has the same purpose.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 8667265, member: 87792"] IMO you are missing a major part of what makes things truly cool, which is why I allow every major bad guy [I]one[/I] major twist that's not on the statblock, which I refer to as the "I am not left handed" moment. If you watch any heist movie the protagonists plan everything out in detail - and then something goes pear shaped. And the rest of the movie is about how things actually get back on track and have to deal with the new information. It's the one thing this boss was keeping in reserve just in case, and is deliberately keeping secret. It's not a counter to everything - but is a gamechanger (the last one was that the boss had made a deal with PCs of players who could no longer make it and summoned them as reinforcements; the boss did get away but that was thanks to Plane Shift on their statblock). But I always keep in mind that the job of a DM is close to that of a pro wrestling heel; to be booed and to sell it as if the face will lose - but in the end to go down. And let's face it "I am not left handed either" was insanely cool and could not have happened without the setup where the game was changed. But each boss only gets one; this isn't Calvinball and I'm not trying to win, just to massively ramp up the tension. It also has to be unique. I also don't use it with what is already a phase-changing boss (like a 4e dragon) as that ramp up has the same purpose. [/QUOTE]

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