D&D 4E PEACH: 4e epic solo

[mneme]

Hmm. Ok, thinking about what you're trying to for here...

I think the idea of making her the whole battlemat makes perfect sense. Get rid of the aura, the immuities, the domination punish, and the condition sheding.

Instead, Biovarre should be a solo trap. Give her a pool of hit points to disable her "heart", but as a trap, she ends up being immune to action removal, as she doesn't take actions at all, instead she has a bunch of automatic things that happen at the beginning of each player's turn, plus part of the "trap" that generates minions to fight. Instead of the fight being a long slow slog with a huge "blank you" to ranged characters, it ends up being a mobile race of characters trying to throw off the conditions dropped on them by biovarre's tentacles and get away from the latest batch of minions while still continuing to pour damage on her heart.

To make it more interesting, I'd be tempted to give her three or four hearts instead of one, in the same general area, each with their own pool of hit points, but too far from one another to be affected by the same burst attack. Perhaps each one amps up how upset she is and gives her more power to act against the adventurers when it's destroyed (but makes the other hearts more vulnerable), so the fight becomes a race from heart to heart trying to disable all the hearts before the plant's defenses overwhelm the heroes.

 

[666Sinner666]

I really like the idea of making it a trap in lieu of a monster. With your more detailed description it really makes great sense. Depending on how its done it could either be more fun than beating it to death or more boring that beating it to death.

As a trap you could create different zones that inflict different conditions that change as the players progress through the trap, in meneme's suggestion destoying hearts for example. Starting off with things like restraining and slowing then moving up to dazing and inflicting damage and ongoing damage with aftereffects and worse conditions for failed saves. You could even keep the idea of not allowing players to teleport in the combat due to the constantly growing and writhing vines so they have to slog through it.


A more detailed concept borrowing the hearts idea:

• The entire battlemat is Biovare. A writhing intelligent plant monster who is continually consuming the world around her. There is no fleeing only sucess or death.
• Biovare has 4 hearts each placed around the battlemat at least 10 squares apart.
• Each heart has 250hp and resist 15 all.
• A player may make a perception check as a minor action at the start of their turn and a success results in a bonus to their next athletics, endurance, or acrobatics check.
• While all 4 hearts are present each player at the start of their turn must make either an endurance, athletics, or acrobatics check to move on their turn no more than 5 squares per action. On a failed check the player is restrained save ends, aftereffect the player is slowed until the end of their turn.
• When the first heart is destoryed the remaining three hearts pulse violently and the vines grow more rapidly. Anyone currently restrained takes ongoing X damage and is dazed save ends all. For those not currently restrained the battlemat is now difficult terrain. Moving three or more squares on a turn now requires an endurance, athletics, or arcobatics checks. Failure and the PC is prone and restrined save ends. While restrained the PC takes X damage at the start of their turn. Aftereffect the player is dazed until the end of their turn.
• When only two hearts remain the vines are no longer just trying to keep you away from the hearts but attacking you as well. Any player that is prone and restrained when the second heart is destroyed is now stunned, restrained, and ongoing X damage save ends. Aftereffect: They are now dazed until the end of thier turn. At the start of each players turn the vines whip and lash violently at the player causing X damage. Moving is now even more dangerous. For each new square a player moves into they take X damage and any square beyond the second requires an athletics, edurance, or acrobatics check. Failure results in the player falling prone and becoming restrained and stunned save ends with a -X to save. In addition the player now takes X additional damage at the start of their turn. If the player fails their first saving throw they are now so hopelessly engulfed in vines that another player must now help them by spending a standard action while adjacent to the player. Doing so allows the player being helped to make a save, with no negatives, to escape.
• When only one heart remains all of the above for when two hearts remained is still in effect. In addition checks are now made with a -X and saves are made with a -X. Also, at the start of every players turn a Biovare minion is placed within burst 5 of the last heart with a maximum of 4 minions at any one time. Any player attempting to move more than two square while withing burst 5 of the last heart is now subject to a +X vs reflex attack that pulls the player 3 squares, prone, and grabbed save ends. If the player fails their first saving throw they are now so hopelessly engulfed in vines that another player must now help them by spending a standard action while adjacent to the player. Doing so allows the player being helped to make a save, with negatives, to escape. If the player fails a second time they are now stunned and require a heal check to save with a -X. (Essentially they are petrified but no damage resistance or ritual requirement.)

It's pretty rough but thats how I would envision it working as a trap.

 

[mneme]

Yes, that kind of thing, though probably needs some tweaking for actual play. I like the idea of having the Heart be quiescent on arrival, though it should recognize a threat in a combat round or two even if the PCs don't do anything hostile; after all, they're In Her Heart!

I'd also make the minions show up earlier (maybe even in the first active stage; in the passive stage, Biovarre might be passively feeding on anything that's Not Biovarre, and might be a hazard), and I think that for EL30, 250hp per heart (even with res 15 all) is a little low, as I'd be concerned about parties killing multiple hearts in the first round using crit cheats (and 265 damage on a crit for a 30th level character isn't all that hard--I can trivially get to 130+ with a leader-optimized avenger with a +4 weapon at 16th) and coordinated attacks.

Hmm. I think I'd also want the early stages to be a bit more skilly--(with Heal and Nature (and maybe stealth) checks used to keep Biovarre from noticing the PCs while they use other skills to set up a coordinated attack on the primary protection for the hearts (maybe seedpods? Something--which prevents the hearts from being destroyed without entering an active stage while being a useful goal for a coordinated attack duirng the quiescent stage; fail to keep Biovarre from waking, and you have to deal with her hearts through the protection or take it down while she's actively trying to attack you, but succeed and you're effecitvely starting the combat in stage 1 instead of stage 0.

 

[666Sinner666]

Yes, that kind of thing, though probably needs some tweaking for actual play. I like the idea of having the Heart be quiescent on arrival, though it should recognize a threat in a combat round or two even if the PCs don't do anything hostile; after all, they're In Her Heart!

Yeah, the layout needs serious work so its not a giant wall of text requiring tons of reading and rereading. Setting up a round count until Biovare rears its ugly head is also a good idea. This way if the PC's don't deal with the hearts in time then they have to deal with Biovare, seedpods, and the hearts all at once and in order too.

1.) Seedpods (hearts immune to damage until destroyed)
2.) Hearts (Biovare, if she wakes, immune to damage until destroyed)
3.) Biovare (aka main heart)

I'd also make the minions show up earlier (maybe even in the first active stage; in the passive stage, Biovarre might be passively feeding on anything that's Not Biovarre, and might be a hazard), and I think that for EL30, 250hp per heart (even with res 15 all) is a little low, as I'd be concerned about parties killing multiple hearts in the first round using crit cheats (and 265 damage on a crit for a 30th level character isn't all that hard--I can trivially get to 130+ with a leader-optimized avenger with a +4 weapon at 16th) and coordinated attacks.

My idea was to make the hearts themselves stage one and Biovare the monster stage two. Wrapping a trap, skill challenge, and combat encounter all in one. Admittidly I did a bad job of expressing that though.

Hmm. I think I'd also want the early stages to be a bit more skilly--(with Heal and Nature (and maybe stealth) checks used to keep Biovarre from noticing the PCs while they use other skills to set up a coordinated attack on the primary protection for the hearts (maybe seedpods? Something--which prevents the hearts from being destroyed without entering an active stage while being a useful goal for a coordinated attack duirng the quiescent stage; fail to keep Biovarre from waking, and you have to deal with her hearts through the protection or take it down while she's actively trying to attack you, but succeed and you're effecitvely starting the combat in stage 1 instead of stage 0.

Good ideas! I have actually grown rather attached to the entier concept and am going to do my best to bring it to life. I'll post it all once I'm finished.

 

[mneme]

Looking forward to it!

 

[Otterscrubber]

Awesome to see all the input and watch a good idea take shape