I'm preparing one-shot for few friends, who wants to try DnD. I have basic story inspired from Diablo: Legacy of Blood, but I have no idea, how to create final boss.
Here's my concept:
1) Party will consist of four character with lvl 3 - fighter, cleric, rogue and wizard.
2) They will go through few encounters with skeletons, zombies, spiders, etc. and some puzzles. As they go through, they will find few minor magic items.
3) When they get to last but one room, there will be riddle. Spellcasting class will have to cast spell targeting rune on the ground to deactivate trap. Trap wil be that there will always be four alive skeletons - so if players kill one of them, another one will rise from different bone piles.
4) In the last room, there will be boss, but I don't know, how to build him. Basic idea of him is: fighter, which gained some magical powers from armor equiped some time ago in this chamber (it should be something like resting place of some "ancient" evil mage with connection to demons, so that mentioned powers would probably be of warlock class).
So, can any of you please give me some advice or concepts, how can I build such a character? Which spells should he have, what abilities should I give him, how many HP and so on.
Depends on the level of your party when you have the boss fight. What you are describing is basically a Wight or maybe a Merregon...maybe even a Cambion at the upper ends of the 3-5 level range. At higher levels maybe some other things.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
A Hobgoblin Devastator or Warlock of the Archfey might also suit what you're looking for. If the boss is going to be alone, I would seriously considering adding legendary actions to it though:
Will there be opportunities for rest? Being able to take a short rest will significantly affect the power of the party, long rest even more so. You probably want to allow 1-2 short rests and no long rests, given what you describe.
There aren't really any level 1-2 spells that are appropriate for ending a spell trap, so casting a spell at a point in the ground is neither obvious to PCs nor something that makes a lot of narrative sense. I would suggest just making it an object or objects that can be broken with damage.
Assuming the PCs didn't have the chance for a long rest, or a rest at all after the final trap, CR 3 might be sufficiently hard, but solitary foes are prone to being a bit dull.
4) In the last room, there will be boss, but I don't know, how to build him. Basic idea of him is: fighter, which gained some magical powers from armor equiped some time ago in this chamber (it should be something like resting place of some "ancient" evil mage with connection to demons, so that mentioned powers would probably be of warlock class).
So do you want a Fighter with some magical warlock flavor? Or a straight up warlock? I’m going to go on the assumption you want a melee guy since you mentioned magical armor and I don’t think Warlocks can wear physical armor without getting disadvantaged on their spellcasting.
So Demon Armor is an actual thing, and comes with spiked gauntlets that make otherwise unarmed strikes deal 1d8 magical slashing damage. It also comes with a curse that would make the wearer susceptible to demonic influence. Summon Lesser Demon seems like a good spell that doesn’t feel like a spell. If some fighter guy had wandered into this chamber, attuned to the armor, been taken over by demons, started speaking abyssal in such a way that he started summoning demons to his side, that sounds like the makings of a boss fight. As they talk to him, “his eyes roll back and he starts chanting in abyssal. His armor glows cherry red and two imps appear at his side in spurts of flame. They immediately move to attack. Roll initiative.” He could use his action every other round to summon more. Otherwise, he’s making two +1 unarmed strikes that deal magic slashing damage. I’d use the Knight as the base stat block, factor in the demon armor, change the greatsword to the clawed gauntlets (and allow Parry to work with the gauntlets), keep the Leadership feature as it plays so well with summoned minions, and give him the Summon Lesser Demons as an innate spell (maybe 3/day).
You also have the added dimension of him potentially being seen as a victim if his story can be made known before he attacks. Targeting him with a Remove Curse could save him as it breaks the attunement of the armor. At 3rd level, no one has that spell yet, but you could arrange for a scroll to be found. By rule, it would take a DC13 check with their spellcasting ability to cast it from the scroll successfully. Or, they could just kill him to death before he summons too many more demons.
A Hobgoblin Devastator or Warlock of the Archfey might also suit what you're looking for. If the boss is going to be alone, I would seriously considering adding legendary actions to it though:
Thanks, I realy didn't know, how to make e.g. multiclass fighter/warlock with something extra (legendary actions). I will try to ude that in some way :)
4) In the last room, there will be boss, but I don't know, how to build him. Basic idea of him is: fighter, which gained some magical powers from armor equiped some time ago in this chamber (it should be something like resting place of some "ancient" evil mage with connection to demons, so that mentioned powers would probably be of warlock class).
So do you want a Fighter with some magical warlock flavor? Or a straight up warlock? I’m going to go on the assumption you want a melee guy since you mentioned magical armor and I don’t think Warlocks can wear physical armor without getting disadvantaged on their spellcasting.
So Demon Armor is an actual thing, and comes with spiked gauntlets that make otherwise unarmed strikes deal 1d8 magical slashing damage. It also comes with a curse that would make the wearer susceptible to demonic influence. Summon Lesser Demon seems like a good spell that doesn’t feel like a spell. If some fighter guy had wandered into this chamber, attuned to the armor, been taken over by demons, started speaking abyssal in such a way that he started summoning demons to his side, that sounds like the makings of a boss fight. As they talk to him, “his eyes roll back and he starts chanting in abyssal. His armor glows cherry red and two imps appear at his side in spurts of flame. They immediately move to attack. Roll initiative.” He could use his action every other round to summon more. Otherwise, he’s making two +1 unarmed strikes that deal magic slashing damage. I’d use the Knight as the base stat block, factor in the demon armor, change the greatsword to the clawed gauntlets (and allow Parry to work with the gauntlets), keep the Leadership feature as it plays so well with summoned minions, and give him the Summon Lesser Demons as an innate spell (maybe 3/day).
You also have the added dimension of him potentially being seen as a victim if his story can be made known before he attacks. Targeting him with a Remove Curse could save him as it breaks the attunement of the armor. At 3rd level, no one has that spell yet, but you could arrange for a scroll to be found. By rule, it would take a DC13 check with their spellcasting ability to cast it from the scroll successfully. Or, they could just kill him to death before he summons too many more demons.
This sounds realy good :)
Thanks to all of you for help. I hope I can handle my first DM experience and that my party will enjoy it as well.
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Hi all reading :)
I'm preparing one-shot for few friends, who wants to try DnD. I have basic story inspired from Diablo: Legacy of Blood, but I have no idea, how to create final boss.
Here's my concept:
1) Party will consist of four character with lvl 3 - fighter, cleric, rogue and wizard.
2) They will go through few encounters with skeletons, zombies, spiders, etc. and some puzzles. As they go through, they will find few minor magic items.
3) When they get to last but one room, there will be riddle. Spellcasting class will have to cast spell targeting rune on the ground to deactivate trap. Trap wil be that there will always be four alive skeletons - so if players kill one of them, another one will rise from different bone piles.
4) In the last room, there will be boss, but I don't know, how to build him. Basic idea of him is: fighter, which gained some magical powers from armor equiped some time ago in this chamber (it should be something like resting place of some "ancient" evil mage with connection to demons, so that mentioned powers would probably be of warlock class).
So, can any of you please give me some advice or concepts, how can I build such a character? Which spells should he have, what abilities should I give him, how many HP and so on.
Thank you in advance for all your answers,
Lukas
Depends on the level of your party when you have the boss fight. What you are describing is basically a Wight or maybe a Merregon...maybe even a Cambion at the upper ends of the 3-5 level range. At higher levels maybe some other things.
A Hobgoblin Devastator or Warlock of the Archfey might also suit what you're looking for. If the boss is going to be alone, I would seriously considering adding legendary actions to it though:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/mm/introduction#LegendaryActions
Things that concern me:
So do you want a Fighter with some magical warlock flavor? Or a straight up warlock? I’m going to go on the assumption you want a melee guy since you mentioned magical armor and I don’t think Warlocks can wear physical armor without getting disadvantaged on their spellcasting.
So Demon Armor is an actual thing, and comes with spiked gauntlets that make otherwise unarmed strikes deal 1d8 magical slashing damage. It also comes with a curse that would make the wearer susceptible to demonic influence. Summon Lesser Demon seems like a good spell that doesn’t feel like a spell. If some fighter guy had wandered into this chamber, attuned to the armor, been taken over by demons, started speaking abyssal in such a way that he started summoning demons to his side, that sounds like the makings of a boss fight. As they talk to him, “his eyes roll back and he starts chanting in abyssal. His armor glows cherry red and two imps appear at his side in spurts of flame. They immediately move to attack. Roll initiative.” He could use his action every other round to summon more. Otherwise, he’s making two +1 unarmed strikes that deal magic slashing damage. I’d use the Knight as the base stat block, factor in the demon armor, change the greatsword to the clawed gauntlets (and allow Parry to work with the gauntlets), keep the Leadership feature as it plays so well with summoned minions, and give him the Summon Lesser Demons as an innate spell (maybe 3/day).
You also have the added dimension of him potentially being seen as a victim if his story can be made known before he attacks. Targeting him with a Remove Curse could save him as it breaks the attunement of the armor. At 3rd level, no one has that spell yet, but you could arrange for a scroll to be found. By rule, it would take a DC13 check with their spellcasting ability to cast it from the scroll successfully. Or, they could just kill him to death before he summons too many more demons.
Thanks, I realy didn't know, how to make e.g. multiclass fighter/warlock with something extra (legendary actions). I will try to ude that in some way :)
This sounds realy good :)
Thanks to all of you for help. I hope I can handle my first DM experience and that my party will enjoy it as well.