Warning: if you are one of my players (*cough* fentor *cough*) do not read this, or I will punish you cruelly.
So this is a thread where I post the boss mechanics and gimmicks for my campaign! So you guys can give me advice and also take it as inspiration!
So the first boss is going to be a strange elemental thingy, surrounded by some goblins. The elemental is surrounded by fields or fire, ice, stone, and buffeting winds, and no attacks will get past it. However, some of the goblins are carrying large orbs that will disable the shield when thrown at the elemental. The players will have to kill one of the carrier goblins, pick up the orb, and not miss terribly against it, then dps. If they end up not damaging the boss for the entire round of combat, the shield goes back up.
more things will be posted as I come up with them!
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she/it pronouns
I watch. I wait. I listen. I like roleplaying games. Avid fan of messed up homebrew and horror rpgs. Lancer>dnd5e, go read Kill Six Billion Demons. I will shoot you with my transgenderification beam pew pew
1) Can they just pick up the goblin and throw it at the elemental?
2) The elemental forces have no effect on the goblins?
3) Is this a simple, "kill the boss to finish the quest" sort of thing? Once the PCs see that this is a very video game boss mechanic style, can they just, "F this, we're out. Let's do that other quest?"
4) Any clues that the orbs are used to 'disable' the shield?
5) Any clues that 0 damage for a full round restores the shield?
6) What's the timer/tracker? How many goblins/orbs are there? ex: Throw 1, deal damage but not kill it, 0 damage for 1 round, shield resets, grab another orb, rinse, repeat. How many times can they do this?
7) What's the threat? What is hurting them the entire time? Do the goblins fight back? Are the goblins trivial 1 hp mooks, whereas the boss is mighty and powerful?
8) As to #7, if the boss is attacking the PCs while they "figure it out", do you have clues, hints, or an escape plan or.. - let's assume the group doesn't put 2 and 2 together. Are you prepared to TPK the group because they didn't figure out your gimmick?
9) If it is a) really obvious or b) an expectation that they'll figure out the "boss mechanics", then why have parts of it in the first place? What are you trying to accomplish?
2: the goblins are servants to the elemental powers, and later they will figure out being possessed by them, so they are pretty much immune.
3: well, I have a very story driven campaign set out, so there really aren’t other quests, and there is a rather large thing blocking them from effectively escaping.
4: yes, I am stating that it is blatantly obvious that some goblins are carrying orbs that have runes on them matching that of the shield.
5: nope, but I have a dmpc, so it should be fine.
6: there are roughly 8 orbs.
7: they were hired to kill this thing, with promise of great rewards, soooo.......
8: there are quite a few hints, plus a couple of my players have played the video game that I took this mechanic’s inspiration from.
9: to kinda set the stage for the campaign, there will be a lot of puzzles and boss mechanics similar over the course.
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she/it pronouns
I watch. I wait. I listen. I like roleplaying games. Avid fan of messed up homebrew and horror rpgs. Lancer>dnd5e, go read Kill Six Billion Demons. I will shoot you with my transgenderification beam pew pew
The real kicker for me is, why do the orbs exist? They most certainly would have a secondary purpose instead of just being items carried by mind controlled goblins, that happen to be the bane of the elemental's shields.
So, my advice. It takes a lot of energy to stay in the material plane, especially when controlling multiple elements. The boss periodically opens a portal into an elemental plane and infuses an orb with elemental energy. The Goblins serve two purposes, they protect the Elemental boss and it's orbs but, their life energy also keeps the orbs from losing energy.
All the orbs have a visible tether to the boss that controls the boss' "energy level". When an orb is thrown at the boss, it's energy is lost as well as disabling the other remaining energy tethers and shielding elements for a time.
I watch. I wait. I listen. I like roleplaying games. Avid fan of messed up homebrew and horror rpgs. Lancer>dnd5e, go read Kill Six Billion Demons. I will shoot you with my transgenderification beam pew pew
Warning: if you are one of my players (*cough* fentor *cough*) do not read this, or I will punish you cruelly.
So this is a thread where I post the boss mechanics and gimmicks for my campaign! So you guys can give me advice and also take it as inspiration!
So the first boss is going to be a strange elemental thingy, surrounded by some goblins. The elemental is surrounded by fields or fire, ice, stone, and buffeting winds, and no attacks will get past it. However, some of the goblins are carrying large orbs that will disable the shield when thrown at the elemental. The players will have to kill one of the carrier goblins, pick up the orb, and not miss terribly against it, then dps. If they end up not damaging the boss for the entire round of combat, the shield goes back up.
more things will be posted as I come up with them!
she/it pronouns
I watch. I wait. I listen. I like roleplaying games. Avid fan of messed up homebrew and horror rpgs. Lancer>dnd5e, go read Kill Six Billion Demons. I will shoot you with my transgenderification beam pew pew
Sounds interesting!
1) Can they just pick up the goblin and throw it at the elemental?
2) The elemental forces have no effect on the goblins?
3) Is this a simple, "kill the boss to finish the quest" sort of thing? Once the PCs see that this is a very video game boss mechanic style, can they just, "F this, we're out. Let's do that other quest?"
4) Any clues that the orbs are used to 'disable' the shield?
5) Any clues that 0 damage for a full round restores the shield?
6) What's the timer/tracker? How many goblins/orbs are there? ex: Throw 1, deal damage but not kill it, 0 damage for 1 round, shield resets, grab another orb, rinse, repeat. How many times can they do this?
7) What's the threat? What is hurting them the entire time? Do the goblins fight back? Are the goblins trivial 1 hp mooks, whereas the boss is mighty and powerful?
8) As to #7, if the boss is attacking the PCs while they "figure it out", do you have clues, hints, or an escape plan or.. - let's assume the group doesn't put 2 and 2 together. Are you prepared to TPK the group because they didn't figure out your gimmick?
9) If it is a) really obvious or b) an expectation that they'll figure out the "boss mechanics", then why have parts of it in the first place? What are you trying to accomplish?
All things Lich - DM tips, tricks, and other creative shenanigans
1: if they feel like it, I’ll allow it.
2: the goblins are servants to the elemental powers, and later they will figure out being possessed by them, so they are pretty much immune.
3: well, I have a very story driven campaign set out, so there really aren’t other quests, and there is a rather large thing blocking them from effectively escaping.
4: yes, I am stating that it is blatantly obvious that some goblins are carrying orbs that have runes on them matching that of the shield.
5: nope, but I have a dmpc, so it should be fine.
6: there are roughly 8 orbs.
7: they were hired to kill this thing, with promise of great rewards, soooo.......
8: there are quite a few hints, plus a couple of my players have played the video game that I took this mechanic’s inspiration from.
9: to kinda set the stage for the campaign, there will be a lot of puzzles and boss mechanics similar over the course.
she/it pronouns
I watch. I wait. I listen. I like roleplaying games. Avid fan of messed up homebrew and horror rpgs. Lancer>dnd5e, go read Kill Six Billion Demons. I will shoot you with my transgenderification beam pew pew
The real kicker for me is, why do the orbs exist? They most certainly would have a secondary purpose instead of just being items carried by mind controlled goblins, that happen to be the bane of the elemental's shields.
So, my advice. It takes a lot of energy to stay in the material plane, especially when controlling multiple elements. The boss periodically opens a portal into an elemental plane and infuses an orb with elemental energy. The Goblins serve two purposes, they protect the Elemental boss and it's orbs but, their life energy also keeps the orbs from losing energy.
All the orbs have a visible tether to the boss that controls the boss' "energy level". When an orb is thrown at the boss, it's energy is lost as well as disabling the other remaining energy tethers and shielding elements for a time.
I agree with wrfdndad, there needs to be a reason, why the setup is as it is.
Makes the game much more immersive, when such events are mythical but logical.
Else, sounds interesting.
That’s actually a really good idea, thank you!
she/it pronouns
I watch. I wait. I listen. I like roleplaying games. Avid fan of messed up homebrew and horror rpgs. Lancer>dnd5e, go read Kill Six Billion Demons. I will shoot you with my transgenderification beam pew pew
That sounds pretty fun too Kotath. Makes me think of a cross between WoW Goblin Tech and Steampunk.
Mythic actions from Theros are designed to mimic multi-stage boss fights.