Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 erk_ Feb 02, 2009 23:34:58	I'm trying to make a "boss" fight for the end of a very short dungeon (a series of tests granting access to an elven city sealed away from time). Players are level 4, a wizard, ranged-ranger, fighter, and insp. warlord. I'm aiming for around encounter level 7, which gives me a budget of 1200. My players are fairly strong, so I tend to aim a little high on the budget. Now for what I have planned. The overall fight looks like this on paper: 2 crossbow turrets (or 1 elite), DMG88 3 warforged soldiers, MM261 (one bloodied) 1 stone harrier, Draconomicon98 1 fire beetle +2, MM30 3 crawling gauntlets, OG142 The tough part comes with the pacing of the fight. Rather than dump a ton of monsters out right away, I want this to be a bit of an endurance battle. Here is how I see it so far. 1) players enter a narrow, dark corridor. Two hefty statues (warforged soldier stats) block the far end. They come to life when approached/accosted. Might start out by asking players a riddle or a puzzle; if successful I'll turn this into a skill challenge. Knowing my players, they won't succeed and the statues will attack. In close quarters the statues charge the melee combatants and engage. Each statue has a weapon in one hand and the other hand free. 2)As soon as a statue is bloodied, it activates the crossbow turrets. Two large sections of walls slide aside, revealing a wide open space all around the group, with some features for tactical movements. Crossbow turrets are situated at the far ends of the newly opened space. They attack the ranged combatants first. Note: When a statue falls, its free hand breaks off the body and comes to life using Crawling Gauntlet stats. The gauntlet immediately gets to take its turn as an immediate interrupt, then rolls initiative and proceeds normally afterwards. 3)When one statue is dead and the other bloodied, a recessed section of the floor moves aside to reveal a Stone harrier (l4 controller). At the opposite end of the room, a mechanical fire-spouting tank-like thing (fire beetle +2 stats) trundles in. 4)Finally, when both statues are dead, their broken parts come to life and move together to form a final warforged soldier. It enters play bloodied, but has an action point to spend. From here I may include a few more terrain changes but otherwise all opponents have been introduced. Thoughts?
#2 lulzapalooza Feb 03, 2009 14:18:36	F.N.A. As in "'effin' aye!" That sounds awesome!
#3 erk_ Feb 04, 2009 10:56:26	F.N.A. As in "'effin' aye!" That sounds awesome! Thanks Lulz, I appreciate the support. Anyone else have words? A friend of mine has concerns that this sort of fight would get very tedious, as there are so many "Not over yet!" moments. Thoughts?
#4 dex_the_king Feb 04, 2009 11:35:36	I agree, it does sound awesome. I think your players should get over the "it's not over yet" aspect, so long as you don't run battles like this often. It will be really satisfying to finish off the last monster.