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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Tips on Designing Encounters against Solo Monsters
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<blockquote data-quote="Jarrod" data-source="post: 5039465" data-attributes="member: 13253"><p>I've started using solos either backed up with other monsters (such as summonable minions) or in multi-stage fights. I think the latter works better. For example, a recent fight:</p><p></p><p>The PCs are chasing down a devil summoner as he attempts to summon a bodyguard. Unfortunately, he's assassinated first (oopsie) and so the summoning goes off uncontrolled. Queue (PC level + 1) solo brute...</p><p></p><p>The fight ran in three phases. In the first the devil was immobilized (he was _big_ and so stuck in the floor) so the PCs got to pile on damage without too much risk. They were running around trying to patch up the magic circle he had been summoned into, so it worked pretty well. And for some reason describing this guy as capital-H huge scared them <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p>Phase 2 started when the big guy bloodied. He began thrashing around, which collapsed the floor. So now everyone's falling into this planar portal. The falling debris created pathways back up the library (basically four intertwined 5' wide paths) that the PCs had to scramble up. The devil was below them and didn't take part in this phase, but instead summoned fire elementals to harass the PCs as they moved. </p><p></p><p>The final phase began when the PCs made it out of the portal. I described it as sucking in the rest of the complex with them escaping just ahead of the vortex. Then the remaining fire elementals and the devil showed up <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> </p><p></p><p>---</p><p></p><p>To summarize:</p><p></p><p>1) Multiple badguys</p><p>2) Multi-stage encounters</p><p>3) Changing the terrain to keep things interesting.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jarrod, post: 5039465, member: 13253"] I've started using solos either backed up with other monsters (such as summonable minions) or in multi-stage fights. I think the latter works better. For example, a recent fight: The PCs are chasing down a devil summoner as he attempts to summon a bodyguard. Unfortunately, he's assassinated first (oopsie) and so the summoning goes off uncontrolled. Queue (PC level + 1) solo brute... The fight ran in three phases. In the first the devil was immobilized (he was _big_ and so stuck in the floor) so the PCs got to pile on damage without too much risk. They were running around trying to patch up the magic circle he had been summoned into, so it worked pretty well. And for some reason describing this guy as capital-H huge scared them ;) Phase 2 started when the big guy bloodied. He began thrashing around, which collapsed the floor. So now everyone's falling into this planar portal. The falling debris created pathways back up the library (basically four intertwined 5' wide paths) that the PCs had to scramble up. The devil was below them and didn't take part in this phase, but instead summoned fire elementals to harass the PCs as they moved. The final phase began when the PCs made it out of the portal. I described it as sucking in the rest of the complex with them escaping just ahead of the vortex. Then the remaining fire elementals and the devil showed up :) --- To summarize: 1) Multiple badguys 2) Multi-stage encounters 3) Changing the terrain to keep things interesting. [/QUOTE]
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