Chase scene bossfight with skill challenge? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Chase scene bossfight with skill challenge?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
mwrosser
Apr 27, 2009 18:43:04 Hey guys,

I need some ideas for this boss fight. I am envisioning that the boss and his cronies are chasing or racing the PCs. Here is the situation

The PCs need to get to Waterdeep with valuable information ASAP. The recurring villain is trying to prevent this. I'd like to make this a series of run and gun encounters with possible circumvention by skill challenges, culminating in a boss fight.

Here are some basic ideas I have so far, any input would be welcome.

1. Use skill challenges involving nature, endurance, perception, heal, stealth, athletics, and insight to avoid encounters and make progress towards waterdeep.

2. Use multiple easy to moderate encounters (populated mostly with minions) set up as ambushes or as the villains catching up to the party to create a series of brief but vicious skirmishes.

3. The main villain is riding a dire wolf with a small squad of warhorse mounted riders using goblinoids, wolves and some humans as his troops.

Problems:

1. How would you flavor the skill challenges, what complexity etc, any ideas on specifics?

2. How to impose a time limit on the encounters so that they PCs are motivated to run rather than try to stand and fight?

3. Any ideas on encounter set ups to use for skirmishes and ambushes

Any and all relevant ideas would be appreciated.
#2
crossblade
Apr 28, 2009 2:13:03 Well, I'd firstly give the party horses, themselves (you didn't say if they had any or not). This gives them a chance to catch up.

1. Use skill challenges

It sounds like you're using 4e, I'm not familiar with it, unfortunately for this. Is Ride checks in 4e? Or possibly could those count under athletics? What's the path to Waterdeep like? There could be fallen trees in the road, a perception check could be used for those.

2. How to impose a time limit on the encounters so that they PCs are motivated to run rather than try to stand and fight?

How far is it to Waterdeep? How fast can a direwolf run/move? Math would be the answer to this one.

3. Any ideas on encounter set ups to use for skirmishes and ambushes

#1 ties into #2 here. The PCs could have to decide to make their mounts run (a full round skill?)/double move to catch up to the BBEG, or make 1 'ride' check and make 1 attack action in a round.
Perhaps the BBEG could tell the minions to grab some hostages who are conveniently on the road side, and the PCs have to figure out -on the fly- how to save the hostages from the enemy riders, without the rider dropping the hostage if the PC strikes down the rider.

It's really all reliant on if the PC's follow the BBEG, hopefully they will; and if they don't at first, just have the BBEG hell insults and gloat as he runs off, mocking the PCs is a great way to get them to want to kill the BBEG.
Try to think up something to avoid projectiles as the BBEG takes off though.
#3
mwrosser
Apr 28, 2009 7:37:38 The PCs are being chased, not the other way around.

Hazards on the road is a good idea, thanks.

Waterdeep is pretty far away, but its a straight shot down the road and/or river.

What can I use to motivate the PC's to try and outrun the villain, rather than stand and fight?

My only thought is to use a clearly overwhelming force.
#4
space_dragon
Apr 28, 2009 23:00:19 Overwhelming force is the correct answer. Have the villain demonstrate his power by single handedly killing some really big monster right at the beginning (preferably a monster that the PC's as a party have recently failed to defeat). If they couldn't take the monster that he just pwned, they will realize that they don't have a hope of beating him.
#5
descrii
Apr 29, 2009 0:57:46 I don't know if you want to put the BBEG in a fight with a big monster. That would mean you either have to have him kill the monster "in a cutscene" while the PCs are mysteriously unable to do anything, or you give the PCs a chance to jump in against the BBEG while he is engaged with the big monster, which is tempting for the players (and might realistically be the end of BBEG).

But in 4e, in my experience, players have an excellent reason to be afraid of too many enemies, especially if they know those aren't minions. Maybe you can have the BBEG accompanied by enemies of a type they've fought and learned to respect. They should be able to gauge at a glance that there is too much force there to fight.

Then the typical overland trip checks will work for the skill challenge. The countryside is thick with the minions of the enemy, passing messages by the howl of wolves or flying creatures (...harpies, ravens, whatever. In my game, goblins have an affinity for cuckoos...). Endurance checks to keep moving, nature checks to find the way off road, perception checks to spot potential ambushes, maybe a bluff check to get across a guarded bridge, a diplomacy check to convince some bandits on the road to delay the BBEG, etc.

The BBEG starts "behind." He can get "close" or "very close" or fall "far behind" or "very far behind." Each time they succeed in a check, he falls farther behind. Each time they fail, they end up in a combat with some of his minions and he gets one step closer. If the fight runs over five rounds, he gets two steps closer.

If he's "very close" and gets closer, he catches up to them and there's some kind of combat. Maybe he tries to capture them or something. It's a tricky thing to figure out how this doesn't kill everyone.

If he's "very far behind" and falls back again, the group loses him completely and arrives safely in Waterdeep.

Don't tell the group that the bad guy is "behind" and gets closer, though. When he's "behind" they can hear the excited baying of his dire wolves and the distant shouts of men and goblins. When he's "close," they start seeing his party through gaps in the trees, or they can see the glow of the pursuer's torches. When he's "very close" his party breaks the treeline, dire wolves foaming and berserk, and they sound their horns at the sight of the players. He's less than a bowshot behind! Similarly, the howling fades and the wolves' baying subsides when the party is farther away.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 mwrosser Apr 27, 2009 18:43:04	Hey guys, I need some ideas for this boss fight. I am envisioning that the boss and his cronies are chasing or racing the PCs. Here is the situation The PCs need to get to Waterdeep with valuable information ASAP. The recurring villain is trying to prevent this. I'd like to make this a series of run and gun encounters with possible circumvention by skill challenges, culminating in a boss fight. Here are some basic ideas I have so far, any input would be welcome. 1. Use skill challenges involving nature, endurance, perception, heal, stealth, athletics, and insight to avoid encounters and make progress towards waterdeep. 2. Use multiple easy to moderate encounters (populated mostly with minions) set up as ambushes or as the villains catching up to the party to create a series of brief but vicious skirmishes. 3. The main villain is riding a dire wolf with a small squad of warhorse mounted riders using goblinoids, wolves and some humans as his troops. Problems: 1. How would you flavor the skill challenges, what complexity etc, any ideas on specifics? 2. How to impose a time limit on the encounters so that they PCs are motivated to run rather than try to stand and fight? 3. Any ideas on encounter set ups to use for skirmishes and ambushes Any and all relevant ideas would be appreciated.
#2 crossblade Apr 28, 2009 2:13:03	Well, I'd firstly give the party horses, themselves (you didn't say if they had any or not). This gives them a chance to catch up. 1. Use skill challenges It sounds like you're using 4e, I'm not familiar with it, unfortunately for this. Is Ride checks in 4e? Or possibly could those count under athletics? What's the path to Waterdeep like? There could be fallen trees in the road, a perception check could be used for those. 2. How to impose a time limit on the encounters so that they PCs are motivated to run rather than try to stand and fight? How far is it to Waterdeep? How fast can a direwolf run/move? Math would be the answer to this one. 3. Any ideas on encounter set ups to use for skirmishes and ambushes #1 ties into #2 here. The PCs could have to decide to make their mounts run (a full round skill?)/double move to catch up to the BBEG, or make 1 'ride' check and make 1 attack action in a round. Perhaps the BBEG could tell the minions to grab some hostages who are conveniently on the road side, and the PCs have to figure out -on the fly- how to save the hostages from the enemy riders, without the rider dropping the hostage if the PC strikes down the rider. It's really all reliant on if the PC's follow the BBEG, hopefully they will; and if they don't at first, just have the BBEG hell insults and gloat as he runs off, mocking the PCs is a great way to get them to want to kill the BBEG. Try to think up something to avoid projectiles as the BBEG takes off though.
#3 mwrosser Apr 28, 2009 7:37:38	The PCs are being chased, not the other way around. Hazards on the road is a good idea, thanks. Waterdeep is pretty far away, but its a straight shot down the road and/or river. What can I use to motivate the PC's to try and outrun the villain, rather than stand and fight? My only thought is to use a clearly overwhelming force.
#4 space_dragon Apr 28, 2009 23:00:19	Overwhelming force is the correct answer. Have the villain demonstrate his power by single handedly killing some really big monster right at the beginning (preferably a monster that the PC's as a party have recently failed to defeat). If they couldn't take the monster that he just pwned, they will realize that they don't have a hope of beating him.
#5 descrii Apr 29, 2009 0:57:46	I don't know if you want to put the BBEG in a fight with a big monster. That would mean you either have to have him kill the monster "in a cutscene" while the PCs are mysteriously unable to do anything, or you give the PCs a chance to jump in against the BBEG while he is engaged with the big monster, which is tempting for the players (and might realistically be the end of BBEG). But in 4e, in my experience, players have an excellent reason to be afraid of too many enemies, especially if they know those aren't minions. Maybe you can have the BBEG accompanied by enemies of a type they've fought and learned to respect. They should be able to gauge at a glance that there is too much force there to fight. Then the typical overland trip checks will work for the skill challenge. The countryside is thick with the minions of the enemy, passing messages by the howl of wolves or flying creatures (...harpies, ravens, whatever. In my game, goblins have an affinity for cuckoos...). Endurance checks to keep moving, nature checks to find the way off road, perception checks to spot potential ambushes, maybe a bluff check to get across a guarded bridge, a diplomacy check to convince some bandits on the road to delay the BBEG, etc. The BBEG starts "behind." He can get "close" or "very close" or fall "far behind" or "very far behind." Each time they succeed in a check, he falls farther behind. Each time they fail, they end up in a combat with some of his minions and he gets one step closer. If the fight runs over five rounds, he gets two steps closer. If he's "very close" and gets closer, he catches up to them and there's some kind of combat. Maybe he tries to capture them or something. It's a tricky thing to figure out how this doesn't kill everyone. If he's "very far behind" and falls back again, the group loses him completely and arrives safely in Waterdeep. Don't tell the group that the bad guy is "behind" and gets closer, though. When he's "behind" they can hear the excited baying of his dire wolves and the distant shouts of men and goblins. When he's "close," they start seeing his party through gaps in the trees, or they can see the glow of the pursuer's torches. When he's "very close" his party breaks the treeline, dire wolves foaming and berserk, and they sound their horns at the sight of the players. He's less than a bowshot behind! Similarly, the howling fades and the wolves' baying subsides when the party is farther away.