I am currently running a campaign that is fairly close to Rise of Tiamat and there is a good chance they will have to fight her at the end. But there is a new player coming in who has a backstory involving alot of demons.
The basic question would be, If the one player's backstory would end in having to fight an aspect of a demon lord and anothers' would have them fight Tiamat, Would that be too much for 1 campaign? (Tiamat would definetally be the end boss)
If you are going to continue the campaign, you could use that backstory to start the next story arc.
Alternatively, you could have demons be involved in the summoning, or as side effects of the summoning before the finale.
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"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
I think two simultaneous fights would definitely be too much, and two big big fights might be too much.
I believe it's probably best to conclude that character's personal arc before the final confrontation. Perhaps one branch of demons is trying to get involved in Tiamat's summoning and it's involving the demons, as suggested by Koradgee above. Perhaps a sect of demons is using the chaos and confusion of Tiamat's impending summoning to try and summon their own demon lord aspect - which needs to be destroyed before the party can go on.
i'd say fight the demon first. My instinct tells be to have the demons show up as close to directly before they try to go kick Tiamat's ass as you can manage. You will want a rest or a senzu bean between these fights of course. What you want to accomplish is here is to make them nervous about fighting Tiamat by having a challenging fight that makes them question whether or not they challenge a god if a demon gave them trouble.
This way the backdrop for this fight is the pending apocalypse, an apocalypse they might not be able to stop. BUT!, make sure that deep down they know they have to try.
And if they do steam roll the demon, they have the confidence to succeed and that's good to.
I’d agree with the above suggestion of saving the demons for the next campaign. Tying up all the storylines can seem forced, and it’s not necessary. And it won’t give that character’s story its due if it feels like you were just checking a box. Sometimes things don’t end neatly. I know I always like when a show, towards the end of season 1, introduces the season 2 villain. Alternatively, tell the new player to make a different background, since this campaign is about dragons. If they want a demon character, they need to save that for the next campaign. It’s too late in the game to throw in a new villain at this point.
Yeah I mean if you're taking the campaign all the way to level 20 then realistically you would have a few 'Major' boss fights. It would track that there could be more then one major side story or side arc, or bosses that would be cropping up on the way to the end boss. It also kind of depends on how long you have take between level ups. If there are a bunch of sessions between fighting the demon lord and fighting Tiamat then it wouldn't be a problem at all.
Oh, I misunderstood the first post. I though you were just trying to shoehorn in a demon right before the end. This can work really well, the way you’re spacing it should be fine. And you can use the demon to give them some treasure or lore or something that will help them in the Tiamat fight, to help tie them together.
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Dear dungeon masters,
I am currently running a campaign that is fairly close to Rise of Tiamat and there is a good chance they will have to fight her at the end.
But there is a new player coming in who has a backstory involving alot of demons.
The basic question would be, If the one player's backstory would end in having to fight an aspect of a demon lord and anothers' would have them fight Tiamat, Would that be too much for 1 campaign? (Tiamat would definetally be the end boss)
Any thoughts?
If you are going to continue the campaign, you could use that backstory to start the next story arc.
Alternatively, you could have demons be involved in the summoning, or as side effects of the summoning before the finale.
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
I think two simultaneous fights would definitely be too much, and two big big fights might be too much.
I believe it's probably best to conclude that character's personal arc before the final confrontation. Perhaps one branch of demons is trying to get involved in Tiamat's summoning and it's involving the demons, as suggested by Koradgee above. Perhaps a sect of demons is using the chaos and confusion of Tiamat's impending summoning to try and summon their own demon lord aspect - which needs to be destroyed before the party can go on.
Good luck! Sounds like an epic campaign for sure!
i'd say fight the demon first. My instinct tells be to have the demons show up as close to directly before they try to go kick Tiamat's ass as you can manage. You will want a rest or a senzu bean between these fights of course. What you want to accomplish is here is to make them nervous about fighting Tiamat by having a challenging fight that makes them question whether or not they challenge a god if a demon gave them trouble.
This way the backdrop for this fight is the pending apocalypse, an apocalypse they might not be able to stop. BUT!, make sure that deep down they know they have to try.
And if they do steam roll the demon, they have the confidence to succeed and that's good to.
I’d agree with the above suggestion of saving the demons for the next campaign. Tying up all the storylines can seem forced, and it’s not necessary. And it won’t give that character’s story its due if it feels like you were just checking a box. Sometimes things don’t end neatly.
I know I always like when a show, towards the end of season 1, introduces the season 2 villain.
Alternatively, tell the new player to make a different background, since this campaign is about dragons. If they want a demon character, they need to save that for the next campaign. It’s too late in the game to throw in a new villain at this point.
They would face Tiamat at level 20 after which the campaign ends.
The demon lord would be the end boss of a story arc that might play out around level 15-17
Yeah I mean if you're taking the campaign all the way to level 20 then realistically you would have a few 'Major' boss fights. It would track that there could be more then one major side story or side arc, or bosses that would be cropping up on the way to the end boss. It also kind of depends on how long you have take between level ups. If there are a bunch of sessions between fighting the demon lord and fighting Tiamat then it wouldn't be a problem at all.
Oh, I misunderstood the first post. I though you were just trying to shoehorn in a demon right before the end.
This can work really well, the way you’re spacing it should be fine. And you can use the demon to give them some treasure or lore or something that will help them in the Tiamat fight, to help tie them together.