I'm writing a oneshot which I plan on running around Halloween, and it's based on a voodoo villain, loosely based on the shadow man from princess & the frog, who takes up residence in a large manor house and is in the process of sacrificing the town (and the party)'s souls to their patron. Party has to go in and fight their way through the minions and then on to the BBEG.
And that's where I'm stumped. The mechanic which inspired this was an idea for voodoo doll enemies who each have a link to the party members, so that any attack on them is also directed at the party member (making it a puzzle on attacking them with the right things, so that it has less effect on the party members).
For the final fight, I am wanting to include a ticking clock (after each round, the ritual can progress), but I am struggling to make the right fit for the BBEG.
He's not going to be hitting the party, and I can't imagine him sending huge spells their way. I want him to be elusive, but not outright annoying. I can't figure out a good mechanic for his fight which will make it a satisfying challenge - him teleporting around will make melee characters hate it and ranged characters love it. Him trying to hit the party will do the opposite. I'm inclined to make the fight more against his minions, and then have him be comparatively easy once you can get to him, but I'm unsure how to do it.
Ideas I've had:
- Minions in the mirrors, in a ballroom of mirrors. Potentially travelling through mirrors? - Shadows which turn each party member into a voodoo-doll of another, making them share saves and attacks, so that they have to challenge their fighting style (EG, if something attacks the paladin, the same attack is rolled against the wizard, which may have different effects!) - Fighting through a shadow dimension, which they can pursue him into, to nullify the teleportation. The shadow dimension is a jumbled hallway of doors, all of which lead to different places in the manor house, emerging from the shadows. There would be hostile environments here for the party.
But none of it is quite the right thing, right now. I need some help! Ideas and inspirations, and we'll see where it goes!
Give each room either an enemy or a trap in it, then have the BBEG be able to teleport between the rooms using mirrors or whatever. The party can thus limit his movement by breaking the mirrors while overcoming the traps / minions in each room eventually trapping him in a single room where they'll be able to kill him. For a ticking clock you can have them gain 1 point of exhaustion every X-rounds.
If you go with the shadows, what if you are able to even the odds to defeat the bad guy by making him use his magic on a mirror by accident, thus creating a shadow of himself you the players can target! (Sigh) That was a good episode.
As far as them changing so someone is fighting a shadow of someone else, that could be interesting. One thing to keep in mind is DnD Character sheets aren’t meant to function or stack up with Monster stat blocks. (So I have heard.) Thus I’m not sure if you should really use their player sheets against them and instead just create a shadow monster that resembles different party members at different times. Maybe it confuses the attacker somehow? I’m just not sure how to make it so the battle is winnable.
My idea overall: you have to rely on non-damaging attacks to stun or hold back the shadows, otherwise you take the damage your corresponding shadow takes. These are summoned by the boss as the fight goes on. However, if you can get the BBG to use his cloning attack on a reflective surface, he creates a shadow of himself that attacks him but that you can still double up with area of effect attacks. Maybe it’s even a magic mirror that you can attack someone’s reflection to get around doing damage directly to them!
Example: you can hit both the Bad Guy and his shadow with Wall of Fire at the same time while also surrounding your shadows so they don’t attack you out of “fear” of damaging themselves. If they were smart they would stand in the fire themselves so they would damage you, but I would think there would be limits to such a powerful spell.
Another idea: Hypnotic Pattern could still stun the shadows, including the BBG’s since it would lack and legendary resistances.
I would just be careful of making the whole battle rely on them only winning if they use the shadow trick. Otherwise to them its’ an unwindable battle. So make sure the BBG doesn’t somehow become invincible and you have to use the shadow trick.
Good luck, and treat that person in the mirror nicely!
Whenever I hear manor house, I think of the old Castle Amber module. It was fantastic. Goodman games gave it the 5e treatment a few years back. It’s kind of spendy but it might be worth checking out.
To add about the mirrors, if you break a mirror you get bad luck. That could translate into a disadvantage.
Being a one shot, you could make the BBEG personal guard and Lieutenants be the actual fight. Make them high enough levels/CR which results in the party being basically depleted when they get to the BBEG, who has nothing left. If needed give the BBEG a wand of a big spell (fistful of dice for are damage) and then nothing, the BBEG raises his hands in surrender, the wand explodes and is therefore useless. campaign over.
Give each room either an enemy or a trap in it, then have the BBEG be able to teleport between the rooms using mirrors or whatever. The party can thus limit his movement by breaking the mirrors while overcoming the traps / minions in each room eventually trapping him in a single room where they'll be able to kill him. For a ticking clock you can have them gain 1 point of exhaustion every X-rounds.
I love this idea! It means I will need to plan about 6 such rooms for the house, but that is all part of the fun! It also means I can throw in my favourite mechanic - random dice rolls!
I'm thinking west-wing billiard room, east wing ball room, trophy room (lots of animal heads, which I can use for whatever puzzle/trap I come up with), Library (shadows of characters coming from books could be cool!), master bedroom, and the dining room. As a ballpark list, but I will have to do research into the best rooms for a manor house to involve! Maybe a chapel one...
The idea of having him hit himself is a very niche tactic and not one I would expect the party to conclude on, which makes it a cool story but maybe not so great for a DnD puzzle-fight! it does sound cool though!
To me, a voodoo doll "attack" would not use an attack roll. Attack rolls are meant to represent some degree of accuracy, which wouldn't make sense if you're stabbing a doll.
I think it would be better represented by a saving throw, especially a WIS save because those tend to represent resisting magical damage. For that reason, I think you should pick some kind of Bard as nearly every damage option they have (excluding the martial subclasses) is done through saves. Lore Bard would be the most appropriate because you could have Cutting Words be you manipulating the target with the doll to make it harder for them to save/resist and any spell that feels particularly "voodoo-y" could be grabbed with magical secrets.
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Hey all!
I'm writing a oneshot which I plan on running around Halloween, and it's based on a voodoo villain, loosely based on the shadow man from princess & the frog, who takes up residence in a large manor house and is in the process of sacrificing the town (and the party)'s souls to their patron. Party has to go in and fight their way through the minions and then on to the BBEG.
And that's where I'm stumped. The mechanic which inspired this was an idea for voodoo doll enemies who each have a link to the party members, so that any attack on them is also directed at the party member (making it a puzzle on attacking them with the right things, so that it has less effect on the party members).
For the final fight, I am wanting to include a ticking clock (after each round, the ritual can progress), but I am struggling to make the right fit for the BBEG.
He's not going to be hitting the party, and I can't imagine him sending huge spells their way. I want him to be elusive, but not outright annoying. I can't figure out a good mechanic for his fight which will make it a satisfying challenge - him teleporting around will make melee characters hate it and ranged characters love it. Him trying to hit the party will do the opposite. I'm inclined to make the fight more against his minions, and then have him be comparatively easy once you can get to him, but I'm unsure how to do it.
Ideas I've had:
- Minions in the mirrors, in a ballroom of mirrors. Potentially travelling through mirrors?
- Shadows which turn each party member into a voodoo-doll of another, making them share saves and attacks, so that they have to challenge their fighting style (EG, if something attacks the paladin, the same attack is rolled against the wizard, which may have different effects!)
- Fighting through a shadow dimension, which they can pursue him into, to nullify the teleportation. The shadow dimension is a jumbled hallway of doors, all of which lead to different places in the manor house, emerging from the shadows. There would be hostile environments here for the party.
But none of it is quite the right thing, right now. I need some help! Ideas and inspirations, and we'll see where it goes!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Give each room either an enemy or a trap in it, then have the BBEG be able to teleport between the rooms using mirrors or whatever. The party can thus limit his movement by breaking the mirrors while overcoming the traps / minions in each room eventually trapping him in a single room where they'll be able to kill him. For a ticking clock you can have them gain 1 point of exhaustion every X-rounds.
…any Power Ranger’s fans here?
If you go with the shadows, what if you are able to even the odds to defeat the bad guy by making him use his magic on a mirror by accident, thus creating a shadow of himself you the players can target! (Sigh) That was a good episode.
As far as them changing so someone is fighting a shadow of someone else, that could be interesting. One thing to keep in mind is DnD Character sheets aren’t meant to function or stack up with Monster stat blocks. (So I have heard.) Thus I’m not sure if you should really use their player sheets against them and instead just create a shadow monster that resembles different party members at different times. Maybe it confuses the attacker somehow? I’m just not sure how to make it so the battle is winnable.
My idea overall: you have to rely on non-damaging attacks to stun or hold back the shadows, otherwise you take the damage your corresponding shadow takes. These are summoned by the boss as the fight goes on. However, if you can get the BBG to use his cloning attack on a reflective surface, he creates a shadow of himself that attacks him but that you can still double up with area of effect attacks. Maybe it’s even a magic mirror that you can attack someone’s reflection to get around doing damage directly to them!
Example: you can hit both the Bad Guy and his shadow with Wall of Fire at the same time while also surrounding your shadows so they don’t attack you out of “fear” of damaging themselves. If they were smart they would stand in the fire themselves so they would damage you, but I would think there would be limits to such a powerful spell.
Another idea: Hypnotic Pattern could still stun the shadows, including the BBG’s since it would lack and legendary resistances.
I would just be careful of making the whole battle rely on them only winning if they use the shadow trick. Otherwise to them its’ an unwindable battle. So make sure the BBG doesn’t somehow become invincible and you have to use the shadow trick.
Good luck, and treat that person in the mirror nicely!
…no, seriously. They look up to something.
Whenever I hear manor house, I think of the old Castle Amber module. It was fantastic. Goodman games gave it the 5e treatment a few years back. It’s kind of spendy but it might be worth checking out.
To add about the mirrors, if you break a mirror you get bad luck. That could translate into a disadvantage.
Being a one shot, you could make the BBEG personal guard and Lieutenants be the actual fight. Make them high enough levels/CR which results in the party being basically depleted when they get to the BBEG, who has nothing left. If needed give the BBEG a wand of a big spell (fistful of dice for are damage) and then nothing, the BBEG raises his hands in surrender, the wand explodes and is therefore useless. campaign over.
I love this idea! It means I will need to plan about 6 such rooms for the house, but that is all part of the fun! It also means I can throw in my favourite mechanic - random dice rolls!
I'm thinking west-wing billiard room, east wing ball room, trophy room (lots of animal heads, which I can use for whatever puzzle/trap I come up with), Library (shadows of characters coming from books could be cool!), master bedroom, and the dining room. As a ballpark list, but I will have to do research into the best rooms for a manor house to involve! Maybe a chapel one...
The idea of having him hit himself is a very niche tactic and not one I would expect the party to conclude on, which makes it a cool story but maybe not so great for a DnD puzzle-fight! it does sound cool though!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
To me, a voodoo doll "attack" would not use an attack roll. Attack rolls are meant to represent some degree of accuracy, which wouldn't make sense if you're stabbing a doll.
I think it would be better represented by a saving throw, especially a WIS save because those tend to represent resisting magical damage. For that reason, I think you should pick some kind of Bard as nearly every damage option they have (excluding the martial subclasses) is done through saves.
Lore Bard would be the most appropriate because you could have Cutting Words be you manipulating the target with the doll to make it harder for them to save/resist and any spell that feels particularly "voodoo-y" could be grabbed with magical secrets.