My campaign involves the characters joining an expedition of a bunch of other adventurers into Underchasm, a recently discovered pit that's so deep that it leads into the Underdark. The expedition is lead by a veteran adventurer.
This veteran adventurer is the BBEG. In addition to having been an adventurer for centuries (he's a high elf), he's also secretly a master thief specializing in collecting magic items. The characters hear other expedition members talking about one of a robbery at Candlekeep Library, in which several legendary items were stolen. He currently has an absolutely insane amount of magic items.
The BBEG is trying to reach the bottom of the Underdark out of pure desire to explore. However, at the deepest point there is a mind flayer city whose inhabitants keep adventurers from the gate leading to unexplored regions. He secretly made a deal with the mind flayers of the city, saying that if they would open the gate so he could explore the uncharted underground, he would bring them a bunch of adventurers to serve as food. This is why he started the expedition in the first place.
I have a few concerns that I'm not sure about, and would like some help working out:
Would introducing the BBEG to the players early on and having him present most of the time be problematic? To keep his abilities from outshining the party, I plan to have him use his magic items as little as possible (the story reason being he wants to hide that he's a magic item thief). In addition, I plan to have the expedition get split up numerous times. Is there anything else I should worry about?
The BBEG's sole strength is the sheer number of magic items he has on his person. Any advice on how to make this an entertaining boss fight? I plan to use only 2 homebrew items (a device that gives him regeneration, and a device that acts sort of like a compactable armory), and the rest will be from the DMG only. I plan on having this character being competent enough to take on the party with as few minions as possible. Any ideas on what magic items he should have?
Thank you for your help!
Note: The campaign starts at 1st level and I intend to have my players face the BBEG at the mind flayer city at about 7th-9th level
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"And that day, a red rain fell from the sky here."
This is reminding me of Jarlaxle from the Drizzt books. :)
The main problem I see about him being with the party is the party figuring it out. Proximity to the bad guy could clue them in on how he's not exactly what he seems. Make sure you know his alias inside and out. He would need non-suspicious sounding contingencies for everything accept the hints you want to leave. As for him outshining them, he could claim that an old adventuring wound makes him less capable. In that way, he could hang out in the back of the party and influence the outcome only when needed to. What class is he (besides magic item thief)? I would suggest Artificer if you haven't determined that, since that would give him to ability to attune to more items. Also, he could claim artificer reasons if he ever needs to activate the magic items. There's also something to say for fighter, though, flavor wise. It would justify him being qualified enough to lead the tour.
Wand of Wonder could be fun, but it probably would be too chaotic. Animated Shield seems relatively useful. A Belt of Giant Strength could be beneficial. Winged Boots could allow him to snipe the party without melee fighters being able to do anything. Cloak of Invisibility would really mess with them. Circlet of Blasting, dust of sneezing and choking (he could throw it at them or 'gift' it to the party previous to combat), Necklace of Fireballs, ring of shooting stars, ring of the ram, and staff of thunder and lightning are all good damaging spell effects items. Would you want him spell sniping or attacking with a really powerful sword? I was operating on the assumption that you wanted spell sniping style. If not, there are several very cool swords in DMG.
One problem I see is attunement slots. Are you planning to ignore attunement requirement, or are you trying to avoid 3+ attuned items? It's fine if you want to ignore it in this case. You could also homebrew an item that gives him unlimited attunements or have him be a very high level artificer who get 5 (or is it 6?) attunement slots at higher level.
One more question- what are you going to do when he's dead and the players have all this stuff? That could make it very hard to balance encounters. Are they supposed to return them to Candlekeep? If you have chaotic party member that might not happen. I would suggest having Candlekeep officials track them down if they don't.
I think it's a good idea to have a magic items master as your final boss... you rarely get to play as enemies who carry a lot of magic items, because if you do after the fight then the players get all that same cool stuff and suddenly they're too powerful. It might even be fun for you to have one last big fight not long after your BBEG has been defeated, so then they can use all those cool magic items at least once.
Anyway, I think you've already got a really solid plan for how to integrate this character into the story. I think if you play him as more of a non-combatant who's mostly just being escorted it would help to keep players from suspecting him of being as powerful as he is. Plus it keeps him from feeling like a DMPC, which is common in stories where players are with one specific NPC for a long time.
As for magic items, I recently did a one-shot with a heavy focus on magic items, so I've been looking at them a lot lately and have some that come to mind.
First of all is a Figurine of Wondrous Power. This is a quick and easy way for your BBEG to summon minions despite coming alone. There are different options for them, but he can get things like a Griffin, a pair of Lions, or an Elephant, and they don't require attunement and there's no limit to how many he can carry. So it could just be a feature he has where he reaches into his pocket, pulls out a statue and suddenly there's a Griffon everyone has to deal with.
Another solid choice is an Animated Shield and a Dancing Sword. They both kind of do the same thing, thematically... just a floating shield that boosts his defense without occupying his hand and a magic sword that attacks over and over.
I'd also recommend a Cloak of Displacement... just give everyone in the party disadvantage to attack him. A nice and simple magic item that boosts his defense but smart players can work around if they're playing smart and paying attention to how all his doodads work.
I think the instinct might be to go with Boots of Levitation or Winged Boots to give him extra mobility, but I'd actually recommend Boots of Springing and Leaping. It gives him a lot more mobility and might even come up during the main campaign, but don't seem like a suspicious magic item for an explorer to own. Plus for gameplay reasons there's a little more excitement in a guy who can only jump to specific points instead of just floating where ever he wants.
I feel like a Bag of Holding is really obvious and probably not really worth mentioning, but it frees you up to have him carry large objects that might have made his collection too obvious.
Stuff like a Staff of Thunder and Lightning. It's cool because it functions as a quarterstaff but it has a lot of magical effects tied to it.. however, those effects aren't spells so they can't be counterspelled or anything.
I'd also give him a ring of Evasion. Hell, give him any ring you can think of, but the reason I bring up a Ring of Evasion specifically is because it's kind of like having Legendary Resistance, but specifically for DEX saves.
What class is he (besides magic item thief)? I would suggest Artificer if you haven't determined that, since that would give him to ability to attune to more items. Also, he could claim artificer reasons if he ever needs to activate the magic items. There's also something to say for fighter, though, flavor wise. It would justify him being qualified enough to lead the tour.
One more question- what are you going to do when he's dead and the players have all this stuff? That could make it very hard to balance encounters. Are they supposed to return them to Candlekeep? If you have chaotic party member that might not happen. I would suggest having Candlekeep officials track them down if they don't.
I was thinking he would be a fighter/rogue type. I would make him an artificer but I don't want to give him spellcasting. As for magic item attunement, I decided that he will have another custom item that allows him to swap attunement with one item as a bonus action. As for the Candlekeep officials, I really like that idea as a short arc as a follow-up to this campaign arc.
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"And that day, a red rain fell from the sky here."
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Hello everyone!
My campaign involves the characters joining an expedition of a bunch of other adventurers into Underchasm, a recently discovered pit that's so deep that it leads into the Underdark. The expedition is lead by a veteran adventurer.
This veteran adventurer is the BBEG. In addition to having been an adventurer for centuries (he's a high elf), he's also secretly a master thief specializing in collecting magic items. The characters hear other expedition members talking about one of a robbery at Candlekeep Library, in which several legendary items were stolen. He currently has an absolutely insane amount of magic items.
The BBEG is trying to reach the bottom of the Underdark out of pure desire to explore. However, at the deepest point there is a mind flayer city whose inhabitants keep adventurers from the gate leading to unexplored regions. He secretly made a deal with the mind flayers of the city, saying that if they would open the gate so he could explore the uncharted underground, he would bring them a bunch of adventurers to serve as food. This is why he started the expedition in the first place.
I have a few concerns that I'm not sure about, and would like some help working out:
Would introducing the BBEG to the players early on and having him present most of the time be problematic? To keep his abilities from outshining the party, I plan to have him use his magic items as little as possible (the story reason being he wants to hide that he's a magic item thief). In addition, I plan to have the expedition get split up numerous times. Is there anything else I should worry about?
The BBEG's sole strength is the sheer number of magic items he has on his person. Any advice on how to make this an entertaining boss fight? I plan to use only 2 homebrew items (a device that gives him regeneration, and a device that acts sort of like a compactable armory), and the rest will be from the DMG only. I plan on having this character being competent enough to take on the party with as few minions as possible. Any ideas on what magic items he should have?
Thank you for your help!
Note: The campaign starts at 1st level and I intend to have my players face the BBEG at the mind flayer city at about 7th-9th level
"And that day, a red rain fell from the sky here."
This is reminding me of Jarlaxle from the Drizzt books. :)
One problem I see is attunement slots. Are you planning to ignore attunement requirement, or are you trying to avoid 3+ attuned items? It's fine if you want to ignore it in this case. You could also homebrew an item that gives him unlimited attunements or have him be a very high level artificer who get 5 (or is it 6?) attunement slots at higher level.
One more question- what are you going to do when he's dead and the players have all this stuff? That could make it very hard to balance encounters. Are they supposed to return them to Candlekeep? If you have chaotic party member that might not happen. I would suggest having Candlekeep officials track them down if they don't.
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
I think it's a good idea to have a magic items master as your final boss... you rarely get to play as enemies who carry a lot of magic items, because if you do after the fight then the players get all that same cool stuff and suddenly they're too powerful. It might even be fun for you to have one last big fight not long after your BBEG has been defeated, so then they can use all those cool magic items at least once.
Anyway, I think you've already got a really solid plan for how to integrate this character into the story. I think if you play him as more of a non-combatant who's mostly just being escorted it would help to keep players from suspecting him of being as powerful as he is. Plus it keeps him from feeling like a DMPC, which is common in stories where players are with one specific NPC for a long time.
As for magic items, I recently did a one-shot with a heavy focus on magic items, so I've been looking at them a lot lately and have some that come to mind.
First of all is a Figurine of Wondrous Power. This is a quick and easy way for your BBEG to summon minions despite coming alone. There are different options for them, but he can get things like a Griffin, a pair of Lions, or an Elephant, and they don't require attunement and there's no limit to how many he can carry. So it could just be a feature he has where he reaches into his pocket, pulls out a statue and suddenly there's a Griffon everyone has to deal with.
Another solid choice is an Animated Shield and a Dancing Sword. They both kind of do the same thing, thematically... just a floating shield that boosts his defense without occupying his hand and a magic sword that attacks over and over.
I'd also recommend a Cloak of Displacement... just give everyone in the party disadvantage to attack him. A nice and simple magic item that boosts his defense but smart players can work around if they're playing smart and paying attention to how all his doodads work.
I think the instinct might be to go with Boots of Levitation or Winged Boots to give him extra mobility, but I'd actually recommend Boots of Springing and Leaping. It gives him a lot more mobility and might even come up during the main campaign, but don't seem like a suspicious magic item for an explorer to own. Plus for gameplay reasons there's a little more excitement in a guy who can only jump to specific points instead of just floating where ever he wants.
I feel like a Bag of Holding is really obvious and probably not really worth mentioning, but it frees you up to have him carry large objects that might have made his collection too obvious.
Stuff like a Staff of Thunder and Lightning. It's cool because it functions as a quarterstaff but it has a lot of magical effects tied to it.. however, those effects aren't spells so they can't be counterspelled or anything.
I'd also give him a ring of Evasion. Hell, give him any ring you can think of, but the reason I bring up a Ring of Evasion specifically is because it's kind of like having Legendary Resistance, but specifically for DEX saves.
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I was thinking he would be a fighter/rogue type. I would make him an artificer but I don't want to give him spellcasting. As for magic item attunement, I decided that he will have another custom item that allows him to swap attunement with one item as a bonus action. As for the Candlekeep officials, I really like that idea as a short arc as a follow-up to this campaign arc.
"And that day, a red rain fell from the sky here."