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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kbrakke" data-source="post: 7146416" data-attributes="member: 6781797">Ignoring the terminology criss-cross: When I make a very challenging character for my players to fight, I make their combat ability an extreme example of the characters skill. A semi-recent example was when my players were gearing up with their final showdown against a Rakshasa Maharaja who had been antagonizing them for levels. The players were level 24 by this point, so a simple rakshasa would just die. To make him a solo encounter worthy of a story arc ending I made him a very powerful wizard, but not just "a" wizard, I made him the best wizard he could be for scheming and plotting. This meant I wanted his ability in combat to reflect his duplicitous nature. In this way he had made several simulacra of himself (5 others) with a portion of his spellcasting and gave him the ability to swap places with his duplicates. (A combination of the benign transposition and the trickery cleric). So I take two normal medium to high level things (An archmage and a Rakshasa) and combine them with a twist(An archmage rakshasa with a squad of simulacra who buff him and who he can swap places with.)Another tactic I employ is make a rough approximation of a high level character and then give it some magical twist, either an item that the players can then get, or some unique thing that puts them over the edge of normal PC ability. Legendary actions are a simple start and let the players know that the enemy is like them but more, but not the only way. Another Rakshasa based example. An associate of the wizard confronted the party, she was the brawn. So I started with her being a 20th level fighter. Then I added legendary actions and a unique item. Her sword was a sentient vorpal blade with her dead sister. The players were astonished and frightened when half way through the fight she commanded her sword to fight, and then began to tear in to the PCs with claws and bites while the sword now had its own turn. So that's what I do. High level character with a twist, or take one aspect to an extreme.</blockquote>

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