Author Topic: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group  (Read 2750 times)

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Khorus

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Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« on: April 14, 2011, 01:55:08 PM »
So lvl 1 adventure, everyone wanted a lower power game with less magic in it (think hyborean style). So I'm tasked with making an end boss that is tough without being to tough. He is going to be the pirate captain vs group of 4-5 melee chars. I'm thinking lvl 3 Fighter or rogue with magic gear and some lackeys. Any guidance? I have a hard time making npc's for fights.

Lo77o

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2011, 03:05:20 PM »
Make him a  level 3 Bard with Dragonfire Inspiration.

Have him stand somewhere hard to get to but close to the fight, such as an elevated place with protective bars, or behind a closed door with a slit in it etc.. Then have him inspire 2-3 lvl 1-2 warriors, and a bunch of rats or cats.

That would make all his mooks do an extra 1d6 elemental damage.

His 3 spells known would be. Grease, Disguise Self and Silent Image.

After the group has finished off his minions, he will run back and drop a Grease on the elevation that leads up to him so to make people fall back down. He will hide behind "Silent Image" walls, or use Silent Image to make fake bridges or fake "safe ground" over pit traps. And at the end he will use disguise self and a decent bluff check to make the party think he is a prisoner. Maybe they will "rescue" him and they can meet up with him again later, or they will figure out his ruse and kill him.
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JaronK

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2011, 03:21:51 PM »
Consider Crusader... if they all gang up on him he'll go down, but otherwise he can just keep healing.  Then give him a few appropriate minions.

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Rejakor

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2011, 03:35:17 PM »
Make him level 5ish, but not optimized.  Give him imp. trip, and have him use a rapier/cutlass in one hand.  Have him make use of terrain, swing on ropes etc.  Either start him off with some minions or have minions burst in periodically while the party is trying to catch up to him.  Write down some pithy one-liners for him to use as he bullrushes them off the quarterdeck, or swings up and boots the archer in the stomach.

Give him some random shitty magic items (scarab of protection) but if there's a lot of ranged in the group make sure he has some kind of way of avoiding ranged attacks, whether it's good AC, high winds, or the Deflect Arrows feat, as ranged attacks would cut down his terrain advantages, and him.  Make sure to give him a decent con mod, don't stint, he needs enough hp to survive 5-6 rounds of combat.

Khorus

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2011, 03:51:34 PM »
The bard is SO SO EVIL AN IDEA. lol, I do like the idea of the minion waves as he dances around. Would a whip be effective? Maybe disarming and low lvl mooks beating the team down?

Lo77o

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2011, 04:09:35 PM »
The bard is SO SO EVIL AN IDEA. lol, I do like the idea of the minion waves as he dances around. Would a whip be effective? Maybe disarming and low lvl mooks beating the team down?

You could arm him, but the whole idea is to keep him out of harms way, play him as craven as you can. He would be rather squishy as a lvl 3 bard. If you give him a level or two more under his belt he might be able to withstand a few attacks.

On another note... JaronK give me an idea. Make him a Crusader/Bard.. any mix of levels will do for a low optimized party. That way he can stay in the fight with his minions... Especially if they try and protect him so the players will have to move around to get to him.
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Lo77o

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #6 on: April 14, 2011, 05:45:39 PM »
Rufferraz the Bugbear Pirate

Bugbear  Bard 2 / Crusader 1

Medium Humanoid (Goblinoid, Dragonblood)
Hit Dice: 3d8+1d10+2d6+13 (34 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 20 (+4 Dex, +3 natural, +3 Studded Leather), touch 14, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+5
Attack: Rapier +9 (1d6+2 18-20/x2)
Full Attack: Rapier +9 (1d6+2 18-20/x2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spells, Maneuvers
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft, Scent, Bardic Music, Bardic Knowledge, countersong, fascinate, inspire courage +1, steely resolve 5, furious counterstrike
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +10, Will +4 (+1 on saves vs paralysis and sleep)
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 12
Skills: Perform (Oratory) +10, Tumble +13, Bluff +10, Balance +13, Hide +4, Move Silently +8, Spot +1, Listen +1
Feats: Dragontouched, Weapon Finesse, Dragonfire Inspiration
Challenge Rating: 4 (Actually 3.5)
Treasure: Studded Leather, +1 Harmonizing Rapier
Alignment: Usually chaotic evil

Spells Per Day  (3/1 save DC 11 + level) (Caster Level 2)
Level 0 Spells: Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Read Magic, Message
Level 1 spells: Disguise Self, Grease


Stances
Martial Spirit (Heals 2 HP on successful attack)

Maneuvers (Initiater Level 3)
Crusader Strike (Heals 1d6+3 on strike)
Stone Bones (DR 5/adamantine for one round after a successful attack)
Foehammer (Attack ignores DR, and deals an extra 2d6 damage)
Leading the Charge (After successful attack, allies gains +4 to hit target for 1 round)
Battle Leaders Charge (As full round action, make a charge where no one gets attacks of opportunity. If you hit +10 damage)


Dragonfire Inspiration. (When using inspire courage, you may substitute the normal benefit for +1d6 fire damage on all melee attacks, for you and all allies who can hear you.

+1 Harmonizing Rapier (Takes over your concentration of your bardic music after first round. Last 10 rounds)
« Last Edit: April 15, 2011, 12:09:27 PM by Lo77o »
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Felix Underwood

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2011, 06:02:37 PM »
It might help to clarify a few things... by "tough without being to tough", do you mean no TPK?  Are you looking to make it deadly without outright killing them?

To that end, maybe make the bad guys slavers.  Or make slavery big enough in the local economy that other potential enemies are wont to take the PC's alive as well.

Also, does "less magic" mean less magic items?  magic users?  (both?)

Dragonfire Adept with Entangling Exhalation (as low as 1st level) can hurt their mobility, and give them a hint of anxiety at the thought of being trapped and overwhelmed by mooks.  Tanglefoot bags can do something similar for others.  Use Saps and Truncheons for non-lethal.

Warlocks with Summon Swarm (also 1st level) can do automatic damage with a chance the swarm can Nauseate/Distract them.

Reserve Feats for Wiz/Sor can give them all-day AoE.

Keep your BBEG alive with sacrificial body guards (level 1 human warriors, with Constant & Duitiful Guardian feats from DotU), or make it a Conjuration specialist with the Abrupt Jaunt ACF.

If you really want to mess with them, have a God-Blooded (vecna) changeling, and use him to spy/infiltrate them.

Khorus

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #8 on: April 14, 2011, 06:34:51 PM »
I want them to get to the ragged edge and some strategy without me mowing them down.

Khorus

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2011, 10:51:09 AM »
Btw I took your Bugbear Idea and used it except I made it an awakened ape, going to try and sneak up on them unsuspecting, OH look the pirates had a pet gorrilla, OMG ITS ON MY FACE

Lo77o

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2011, 11:26:23 AM »
Hehe, easy enough, just change the fluff and call it a monkey.

Let me know how the fight goes.
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Felix Underwood

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #11 on: April 15, 2011, 11:32:38 AM »
Well, non-lethal attacks would help in the 'not mowing them down' department.

If they get a whiff of you pulling your punches, it might harm their suspension of disbelief.  Also, save-or-suck attacks like sleep are anticlimactic.  Whereas if you hammer them with HP damage, but half of it happens to be non-lethal, they still have the fear of death/capture, but you have more margin of error with their survivial.


Here's a few submissions in the funny department:

Bad Horse (a.k.a. The Thoroughbred of Sin)
Awakened Warhorse (animal)
Racial HD 4 / Rogue 1 / Barbarian 1 (lion totem ACF for pounce)  (CR 4)
No-one expects it from an innocent looking horse, it should get a suprise round partial-charge against flat-footed opponents.  With a high enough initiative modifier, it can get another full-round attack against flat-footed.

Dr. Horrible
Human Artificer
If the players are predominantly good, use the guideline from the DMG:  "requires specific class or alignment to use" to make his equipment only useful to Evil characters.  Evil-aligned items would limit thier usefulness to the PCs.  If you use the BoVD variant where evil objects can cause spooky effects on those nearby (like nightmares or turning hair white), they are even likely to destroy them.  You could use item cost reduction shenanigans and the 30% discount for being evil items to spread the Encounter Wealth further and justify giving Dr. Horrible whatever items you want him to have, to make him a challenging encounter.  But ultimately that wouldn't matter if the PC's would just destroy them... in that case, feel free to reward with gold and silver as appropriate for the Encounter Level.

Moist
Human Cloistered Cleric
With access to the Water domain, optimize use of create water spell....

Mixster

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2011, 11:58:41 AM »
Consider:

Human Factotum 3/Pouncing Barbarian 1 (or sneak attack hit and run fighter if you fancy that).
(if 32 point buy):
Str 16
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 8
Cha 8
He'd be using two weapons, that can trip (possibly two reflavored Kuysari Gamas). Get him Jotunbrud and Improved trip so he can trip reliably (str + int + 8 is enough against most player characters).
Then have him fight them in places where they'll fall off if they are tripped, like on a mast or something like that. Have him use tanglefoot bags and that kind of jazz to do some battlefield controlling.

His minions could be a couple of Pirate Buccanneers (rogue 1), who will pepper them with light crossbow bolts (or handguns if they have them, even though they are inferior) while they are on rails where they can't use their dex bonus. They will be using good climb bonuses to get around the ship, and have their captain ground them so they can apply sneak attack. He could also be employing some Warrior 1 brutes, with a good con score that are there to soak up the damage, while his reach handles the day.
Monks are pretty much the best designed class ever.

JaronK

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JohnnyMayHymn

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #13 on: April 15, 2011, 08:03:25 PM »
Have them pelted with harpoons from above in the rigging, once impaled they have to make a strength check to pull it out, you could then have the harpoons tied to heavy objects that drop and hoist up impaled party members.

Or drop the heavy object overboard,

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Lo77o

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Re: Need a bad guy to challenge low powered group
« Reply #14 on: April 21, 2011, 02:16:45 PM »
So.. how did the encounter go ?
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