D&D 5E What makes boss fights memorable?

[Sacrosanct]

Lair actions help a lot, but beyond that, what things do you find to make boss fights in their lairs memorable? Obviously, we want to avoid having bosses just be bigger bags of HP. Are mooks and minions critical? More lair actions? Suggestions on how the boss will interact with objects and the environment within its lair?

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I think having objectives aside from or in addition to killing/knocking out the boss can help. Another thing is having a boss that changes as it reaches certain thresholds of remaining health, especially if the form requires the PCs to adjust their tactics.

 

[darkwillow]

When a player dies

 

[toucanbuzz]

Changing and dynamic events + long-lasting.

Just standing and trading punches = boring.

• The boss should never be alone. The party needs low-level minions to mow through;
• The environment should change such as an earthquake that causes rubble to fall from the ceiling upon combatants and a shifting slide as the floor buckles;
• the boss should ebb and flow, perhaps retreating as reinforcements come in and healing. They're a boss because they've learned how to survive longer than others;
• the boss should have access to something that empowers them that can be removed by the players, such as cages with captives that the boss uses to restore his life; free the captives and take away this power, or a healing pool attuned to them that if drained or defiled takes away that option;
• a surprise should occur when the boss is "bloodied" (50% hp) or the like, such as a defensive ability triggers and a portal opens, dropping you all into the Astral Plane for a weightless fight where movement is based off Intelligence scores.

Obviously level of the boss affects what all you can do, but applying this to the Orc Chieftain in his lair:

The Chief has 6 goblin slave soldiers and an overseer. Take out the overseer and the slaves will lose their will to fight.

He also has two elite guards (max hp orcs) and a witch doctor. The terrain includes a large barrel of potent moonshine, his bed, and several torches on the walls (hiding 3 levers that trigger rockfalls on particular squares that the Orcs will try and use, PCs might notice). If the witch doctor dies, its spirit spawns a shadow that indiscriminately attacks the nearest living target, lasting 5 rounds or until destroyed.

On round 3, one of the enemy accidentally hits the moonshine barrel. Its contents spill over the floor, making an area treacherous (difficult terrain). It is also highly flammable.

If the boss goes to 50% hp, he sheds the extra damage and gets a save with advantage against any ongoing effects. Reinforcements, low level enemies, come in (reduced if the PCs were successful in an earlier mission). He tries to retreat to a secret door (a floor hatch like in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, hard to find the trigger) where he has a stash of healing supplies. If he can't move, his minions will try to carry or drag him at the cost of their lives. He will spend up to 3 rounds healing before climbing a ladder that leads to a hidden ledge above the battlefield and sniping with a heavy crossbow he has stashed up there. He ducks out of sight so he cannot be targeted. The middle rung of his ladder has concealed poison spikes that he knows to avoid.

Anyhoo, just off the top of my head to make boss battles more dynamic.

 

[Scottius]

Stakes/Objectives beyond just kill or be killed.

Roleplaying in combat, the big bads words and actions and encouraging the players to do so as well.

Having built up to this encounter during the campaign. Using minions, foreshadowing, and other techniques to build suspense for the showdown.

Interesting terrain/locales.

Minions/support. Lair and legendary actions as an alternative. But a single creature without any other way to balance the action economy equals a anticlimactic encounter.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Near-TPK

 

[AnotherGuy]

When a player dies

Sure, but sometimes it can be challenging to replace decent roleplayers.

 

[jgsugden]

When a player dies

Near-TPK

When we're talking about what has made a boss fight memorable - fair enough. However, if we're talkinag bout what we should do to make a boss fight memorable, these are not great suggestions. PCs dying generally makes the heroes feel like failures, not heroes. They remember it, but it can be a bitter memory for some.

Putting aside the health of the PCs, the elements of great boss battles in my experience are:

1.) Great use of environment: The battles I remember usually have dynamic terrain, features, obstacles, hazzards and staging. You might even include traps or tricks. While the boss should be the focus of the battle, the terrain should be getting an oscar for supporting actor. Minions, if used.

2.) Sensible design: Don't build a battle to challenge the players, build the battle that makes sense for the story. If the design of the final battle is a great strategic challenge, but makes no sense given the adventure that led to it, it takes players out of the game. For the battle to stand out, it has to make sense as part of the story that has been set up.

3.) Stakes: There has to be stakes to the battle that matter to the PCs. If they're just digging through a dungeon somewhere in the woods and killing the thing at the bottom, it will not be memorable. However, if there is a reason they need to kill it, and now, before something bad happens, then it has a chance to mean more.

4.) Violence is not always the answer: Make sure there are elements that can be resolved without a fireball or sword. They don't need to be mandatory, but having the option of doing something other than casting a spell or rolling an attack roll makes things interesting.

5.) Dynamic enemies: They have to move, interact, and change the battlefield to be interesting foes. If all they do is roll attack rolls and withstand attacks, they'll be boring.

6.) Something unexpected: There should be something unexpected to either be discovered through scouting, or encountered unexpectedly during the combat. Nothing catches interest like a twist.

7.) Fair: The PCs need to walk away either with the win, or feeling like they could have won if they rolled decently or made fewer mistakes.

8.) Degrees of Success: The best battles I've seen had ways for the PCs to lose, to barely get through it, to win, or to kick butt. Players love to feel clever by kicking butt rather than just getting the victory, after all.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Set Pieces!

Stuff to take cover behind, climb on, use against the bad guy.

Gimme a fireplace I can shove them into, a table to knock over as an obstacle, tress a big ape is brachiating from, stalagmites to drop on fools, a portrait of his mother to befoul. Anything but an empty room.

 

[Bill Zebub]

When we're talking about what has made a boss fight memorable - fair enough. However, if we're talkinag bout what we should do to make a boss fight memorable, these are not great suggestions.

Maybe I didn't read the OP carefully enough, and they are looking for specific suggestions for how to make them memorable, not just what makes them memorable.

But I'll stand by my answer: the most memorable fights are the ones where you are on the edge of your seat, wondering if you're going to survive.

How to achieve that, on the other hand, is tricky, especially if you think DMs shouldn't adjust things on the fly, but should simply be neutral arbiters of the rules. I don't have a problem, as DM or player, with the DM using more/fewer minions and varying how intelligently monsters play, in order to keep that tension.