Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Cthulhu3125 04-18-07, 09:50 AM	The end of my campaign approaches in 4 sessions' time. For what it's worth, the campaign log with character listings and kill count, etc, can be found here (http://www.srcf.ucam.org/curs/wiki.pl?Planes_And_Stuff), but it's a bit long and I wouldn't expect anyone to wade through it. Rather than drag details of my entire campaign into this post, I was hoping to get an idea on how other people have ended their campaigns, and what took place in the last session. I don't want to risk a battle with a single, powerful monster, because it will be an immense anticlimax when the PCs find some way I hadn't considered to immobilise and kill it in two rounds. Rather, I am considering a large pitched battle with swarms of enemy minions, probably being directed by a moderately powerful NPC. What battles have you run at the end of your campaigns?
Bounces 04-18-07, 10:11 AM	Every adventuring party makes more than one set of enemies during a campaign. Depending how your campaign has gone (I don't really feel like reading your back log right now but I might later) there might even be 2 or 3 groups pursuing the same, or conflicting, goals. For example, the most memorable campaign finale I can remember is when our DM threw us into a battle royal on a plateau above a rift to the elemental plane of water. We were carrying a powerful artifact called the mage star to the one place it could be destroyed (I know, cliche, but still). We had reached the end of the journey but now needed to cross this giant underground lake with a huge cyclone in the middle of it, to get to the temple on the other side. That's when it all fell apart. In one corner of the plateau was us. In another corner was a pack of Vampires who had been chasing us trying to get the mage star (and who had dominated one of our own come to find out). In another corner was a PC cleric and my PC Were-wolf ranger who it turned out were working for the Mistress of Shadows, and wanted the mage Star. Of course both groups came as pretty full fledged adventuring parties. If all the enemies had been fighting us directly we would have been toast, but they also had to handle eachother, which made it possible to deal with. I think 2 of our people still ended up getting dropped, and the other three only just barely survived when our Mage decided now was the time to USE the mage star and went insane from the power of it (he became an NPC instantly and started blasting everyone with 20th level arcane blasts be they good, bad, or ugly, at that point I was already dead, so I just laughed.) We ended up suceeding, but not without a heavy cost. Best finale ever. The finale is the time to pull out all the stops. Obviously you don't want to go for a TPK, that is admitting failure as a DM. But if there was ever a time to kill one or two of your party members, now is that time. I would recommend have this be a return of some BBEG that they have forgotten, maybe a camio from a different game you have played with them. Having multiple distinct groups of enemies with opposing goals makes for a very interesting finale.
drake_vampiel_d 04-18-07, 11:14 AM	my personal favorite was I had my Pcs in the midst of a War with undead (to include 3 vampires) and then fight the BBEG who almost killed them most of them were on thier last legs when they killed him
Cricket_God 04-18-07, 11:39 AM	Epic battles are usually best. Make sure that there are lots of minions though because single, powerful monsters are far more vulnerable to being killed easily than a group of monsters. Now is also the best time to push the limits of what the players can handle. You don't want a TPK, but unless the party plays smart that should be a distinct possibility.