I swear this isn’t what the title sounds like. I’ve been running Zuggtmoy as of late, and I just feel like she’ll fall flat in combat. Her real power i think in combat is just commanding allies, or having them take damage. I want to make her more threatening but not broken.
One of my thoughts was give her a few levels in spore druid. That’d give her some more spells, but is that too much/little? Any suggestions would be very welcome.
I don't know what a few levels in spore druid would do for her. Assuming you are using the MPMM statblock then she's clearly designed around having a lair filled with plants and fungi, as well as her being a recurring villain that charms the martials making unable to attack her and using them as living shields against the rest of the part. If you want to make her more of a stand & fight enemy then I'd change the time scale for some of her abilities:
Infestation Spores (3/Day):
Zuggtmoy releases spores that burst out in a cloud that fills a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on her, and it lingers for 1 minute. Any creature in the cloud when it appears, or that enters it later, must make a DC 19 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is infected with a disease called the spores of Zuggtmoy, which lasts until the creature is cured of the disease or dies. While infected in this way, the creature can't be reinfected, and it must repeat the saving throw at the end of each turn, ending the infection on a success or taking 8d8 necrotic damage on a failure as the infected creature's body is slowly taken over by fungal growth. After three such failed saves, the creature dies and is reanimated as a spore servant if it's a type of creature that can be. When Zuggtmoy starts her turn within these spores she regains 20 hit points.
Pseudopod.
Melee Weapon Attack:+13 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) force damage plus 9 (2d8) poison damage and the target must make a DC 19 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned until the end of their next turn..
I wouldn't bother with class levels, just give her extra spells or special abilities. Zuggtmoy is plenty dangerous if she's able to engage with the PCs (at least, plenty to be appropriate for CR 23), the problem is that with 30' of movement and no special movement types, she can't really engage with PCs who try to stay away from her.
I would be tempted by giving her tree stride (fungi) plus abilities/legendary actions/lair actions that create patches of fungal threats such as brown mold, green slime, yellow mold (for all, use Zuggtmoy's save DC of 19 instead of default).
Increase her HP to 400+. Increase damage to 3d8+6 force and 3d8 poison.
Increase the DC on her mind control spores. Id say 20 or higher depending on your party. You don't want it so high everyone fails, but you do want it high enough at least a couple of PCs might fail.
Important note: increasing the save DC will mean you'll want to control how much more powerful you make her.
Have the mind control spores do 4d8 poison damage (half in a successful save) that way she is still dealing damage.
give her some kind of teleportation ability. put ledges into her lair. make secret passages. have her pop out at random, attack, then leave. keep them on their toes i say toes!
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Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
I swear this isn’t what the title sounds like. I’ve been running Zuggtmoy as of late, and I just feel like she’ll fall flat in combat. Her real power i think in combat is just commanding allies, or having them take damage. I want to make her more threatening but not broken.
One of my thoughts was give her a few levels in spore druid. That’d give her some more spells, but is that too much/little? Any suggestions would be very welcome.
I don't know what a few levels in spore druid would do for her. Assuming you are using the MPMM statblock then she's clearly designed around having a lair filled with plants and fungi, as well as her being a recurring villain that charms the martials making unable to attack her and using them as living shields against the rest of the part. If you want to make her more of a stand & fight enemy then I'd change the time scale for some of her abilities:
Infestation Spores (3/Day):
Zuggtmoy releases spores that burst out in a cloud that fills a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on her, and it lingers for 1 minute. Any creature in the cloud when it appears, or that enters it later, must make a DC 19 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is infected with a disease called the spores of Zuggtmoy, which lasts until the creature is cured of the disease or dies. While infected in this way, the creature can't be reinfected, and it must repeat the saving throw at the end of each turn, ending the infection on a success or taking 8d8 necrotic damage on a failure as the infected creature's body is slowly taken over by fungal growth. After three such failed saves, the creature dies and is reanimated as a spore servant if it's a type of creature that can be. When Zuggtmoy starts her turn within these spores she regains 20 hit points.
Pseudopod.
Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) force damage plus 9 (2d8) poison damage and the target must make a DC 19 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned until the end of their next turn..
I wouldn't bother with class levels, just give her extra spells or special abilities. Zuggtmoy is plenty dangerous if she's able to engage with the PCs (at least, plenty to be appropriate for CR 23), the problem is that with 30' of movement and no special movement types, she can't really engage with PCs who try to stay away from her.
I would be tempted by giving her tree stride (fungi) plus abilities/legendary actions/lair actions that create patches of fungal threats such as brown mold, green slime, yellow mold (for all, use Zuggtmoy's save DC of 19 instead of default).
Increase her HP to 400+. Increase damage to 3d8+6 force and 3d8 poison.
Increase the DC on her mind control spores. Id say 20 or higher depending on your party. You don't want it so high everyone fails, but you do want it high enough at least a couple of PCs might fail.
Important note: increasing the save DC will mean you'll want to control how much more powerful you make her.
Have the mind control spores do 4d8 poison damage (half in a successful save) that way she is still dealing damage.
give her some kind of teleportation ability. put ledges into her lair. make secret passages. have her pop out at random, attack, then leave. keep them on their toes i say toes!
Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Incidentally, what level/how powerful are the PCs? CR 23 just isn't a decent boss against tier 4 PCs, but it might be reasonable against tier 3.
These are some awesome suggestions! The players are nearing level 15 btw