D&D 5E What makes boss fights memorable?

[Mordhau]

When a player dies

Well that definitely works! But even just their character dying may be enough.

 

[J.Quondam]

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

Yeah. But on the bright side, those are usually the ones who also give the most memorable dying monologues.

 

[Mordhau]

It also helps if it's not the first time the PCs have faced the boss.

Think about movies, often then final fight is a rematch of an earlier fight which the heroes either lost or was inconclusive for some some reason.

This can be a challenge because players will often go to ridiculous lengths to avoid letting an enemy escape, or refuse to consider running away themselves until far too late. But of course if the players are either getting their butts kicked, before being saved by the arrival of unexpected reinforcements forcing the villain to leave, or the villain has some means of reliable escape such as a teleport, it can make them more determined to take them down the next time. But don't overuse this, because in many ways it works because it is somewhat frustrating.

 

[Bill Zebub]

This can be a challenge because players will often go to ridiculous lengths to avoid letting an enemy escape, or refuse to consider running away themselves until far too late. But of course if the players are either getting their butts kicked...

Wandering off-topic, but it occurs to me that D&D mechanics to some extent hide power differentials. The power of an adversary is dependent upon so many variables (attribute modifiers, HP, damage dice, etc.) that something like a sword swing feels largely the same, whether it's coming from a goblin or a giant. Even if you're losing badly, it's easy to blame it on your own bad rolls, and the DM's lucky rolls.

Games with dice pools, on the other hand, can immediately broadcast what you're up against. The GM throwing a whole bunch of dice on the table is the metagame equivalent to what we see in a movie.

 

[Tonguez]

I'm a great believer that Boss Fights should first be built around a story which then informs dynamic Lair Actions, tactical use of special abilities and spells and regular 'summon minion/reinforcements'.
Also taking inspiration from Video Games theres the notion of the Boss pattern (espcially random ones in table top) which allows you to do some power moves but also allows alert players to grab the advantage.

Also Bosses arent stupid and 'run away' is always an option

 

[Quickleaf]

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?

All of that can work. I was listening to a DM's roundtable on boss monsters, and I found the suggestions all revolved around treating every boss monster as this unified "boss" archetype that should look a certain way.

Personally, I think that approach is the enemy of great design. Instead, I want to know what makes this villain tick, what the core of this conflict is, what is the defining feature of the scene.

For example, I ran a "quasit farmwrecker" as what you could call a mini-boss. I wanted that to feel like an exorcism where things start so slow you almost don't realize you're in combat, progressively getting more frantic and horrific as the scene progresses. I wanted the fight to be more about figuring out why this haunting was happening than trading punches. This was a haunting boss. This wasn't a slug-fest with an orc warlord or a tactical engagement with a red dragon. This had to be spooky and require some clever thought.

When I was conceiving of the idea, I listened to Dael Kingsmill's ghost video, and designed a template based on her loose concepts about levels of manifestation & merged it with my ideas of Haunting Actions as a special type of Lair Action. Familiars were affected as if by confusion, the quasit issued several curses, farm animals were possessed, divinations were scrambled, the quasit reactively gained damage immunity and turned invisible, whispers provoked the darkest impulses of some of the heroes... until they dug up the buried family "cat" (actually an imp who was the quasit's nemesis and used to bind it to haunt the farm) & captured the quasit in a bottle.

It took about 2 hours of play with many decision points – so consistent with what most folks seem to associate with a "boss fight" – but had entirely its own feel.

 

[Peter BOSCO'S]

Talking is a free action, so bosses and dragons should monologue more than other monsters. "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your Father." "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die." "Kill for the love of Kali!" "Someday, and this day may never come, I may call upon you for a favor..."

 

[Bill Zebub]

Talking is a free action, so bosses and dragons should monologue more than other monsters. "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your Father." "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die." "Kill for the love of Kali!" "Someday, and this day may never come, I may call upon you for a favor..."

“Remember I said I would kill you last?”

I guess that’s not from a boss villain, but still.

 

[Umbran]

Lair actions help a lot, but beyond that, what things do you find to make boss fights in their lairs memorable?

The memorable things are the non-standard events the players have to do. A boss fight that's basically everyone standing there rolling to-hit and damage over and over aren't memorable.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Another thing to add to the list is the relationship the players have to the boss. If the boss is simply the last monster in the dungeon it’s less compelling than if there has been previous interactions, so that the players have an emotional investment.