As you can see in the title, I want a very powerful main villain in my campaign, any ideas welcome, homebrew allowed, no joke comments. I'm talking about you, you trolls willing to tear multiple threads to chaos. Has to be able to be beat by 10 level characters or over.
I mean, the Tarrasque is the quintessential "nigh-unkillable" monster. I think your question is too vague for the community to be of much help. We'd need a lot more detail to know what you're looking for.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
What level is the party? How many players? What classes? Optimizers or casuals?
Generally speaking you just want to find something with high AC and HP; a flight speed is also helpful for limiting the engagement window, although you don't necessarily want to make that too much of a thing. Having the Move Legendary Action or a teleport variant is also a good way to avoid making it easy for the party to pin down.
Really, giving a BBEG staying power is more about encounter design; from high tier 2 on a decently put together party can chop apart a single target pretty easily. If you want an encounter to challenge a party, getting them to use up resources ahead of time and not letting them just mob the boss are two of the most straightforward options.
For The_Ace_of_Rogues, the party is level 11, there are 3 players, one is a cleric for the god Loki, one is new, he doesn't know his class yet and one is a wizard, evocation, the cleric and the wizard are optimizers and have been know to exploit the tiniest weakness in all the enemies I give them. The new one I haven't seen yet though. Thank you for the advice though.
For VanZoeren: Sorry about the little detail, the details are above, although, I disagree that the "Tarrasque" is the hardest boss, because even if the party is first level, the Tarrasque has no ranged attacks, so they can get a hot air-balloon and camp him by only doing ranged attacks. For more detail, I want the most unbeatable monster, not a huge chuck of health. Any ideas are welcome.
So I don't have any actual monsters, but a good idea is a 'reflect magic' option. Don't tell the player's about this. Don't make it a permanent thing, so the wizard is still capable of being in the fight. Even a magic resistance will be good.
Maybe pick out a monster with good saves verusus high AC, and equip it with magic items, of course you should never really let them fight the BBEG alone, it would have minions.
So my example would be: A Dao who has a Ring of Fire Resistance, +2 Maul and a Mantle of Spell Resistance
The Dao would have 2 Earth Elementals, where both Dao and Elementals would be moving under the ground whenever they've done their attacks to avoid being targeted, unless if the party can find a way to make this tactic redundant, additionally there would be 4 Azer's.
The Azer's can't be fireballed to death, the Earth Elementals are weak to some damage, but otherwise bullet sponges and the Dao will focus on casting spells and being in the back, and with a +5 INT, WIS and +6 CHA save with advantage against magic, they surely wont be able to melt the Dao,
And for added longevity, make it so that the Earth Elementals can as a bonus action on their turns give the Dao resistance towards all damage until the start of their turn, and the other elemental as a bonus action gives the Dao a damage threshold of 15 until the start of their turn. Flavour it in a way that tells the players the Earth Elementals are visibly enhancing the Dao making it a futile move to only focus on a Dao powered up, forcing the players to focus on the Earth Elementals. You can describe a vague beige line going from the elementals to the Dao or etc.
However, you could go with Stranger Things and put them up against Demogorgon ... certainly a powerful foe. Another option would be a spellcasting Ancient Dragon.
One thing to keep in mind is that there are common tricks that it sounds like some of your players would like to use. Forcecage (and in some cases Wall of Forece) + Sickening Radiance can be a death sentence for any creature, especially if they lack the ability to teleport. The Demogorgon has a Spellcasting ability but lacks teleport spells.
So, I would be sure to give some teleportation abilities to whichever creature you choose. You might also want to add in the ability to subtly cast some or all of their spells. Counterspell is likely to be a favorite option for the wizard for example.
I agree with you that the Tarrasque isn't a good choice due to the lack of ranged attacks and flight.
The devil Zariel might be a good choice since she comes with Teleport built in without it being a spell that could be countered. However, she needs a better con save since +9 is really not enough against the stun from a high level monk - a level 20 monk has a better than 50% chance of stunning Zariel AND can blow through their legendary saves in one round. I haven't found an Asmodeus stat block but they would likely be an even more formidable opponent but you'd likely need to home brew it.
Yes, I agree that reflect magic can be broken if the characters don't know that they have it, but I think if the monster has it for free and can do it every round, that spellcasters will have a problem. Thanks for the idea.
Has to be able to be beat by 10 level characters or over.
But that sounds like an HP sponge. And that's not an interesting fight. I like encounter design better than giving exotic and inventive builds to BBEG's to try and make them durable and cool. Usually (to my mind) the latter results in boring fights.
When the party assaults the BBEG's stronghold, I like him to show up repeatedly to hurl damage at the PC's - then retreat to the next line of defense before the current one falls. Wear them down over time. When they need to take a rest, he should launch a counter attack of some sort. To my mind, that makes an interesting and credible fight. Piling on damage and hitpoints and resistances ... just doesn't.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Did have a chance to read everyone’s responses, at work, but if homebrew is ok then find a monster that fit’s thematically and is fairly strong. Then you can alter HP, AC, give legendary actions and saves etc. so that it gets the survivability it needs.
As you can see in the title, I want a very powerful main villain in my campaign, any ideas welcome, homebrew allowed, no joke comments. I'm talking about you, you trolls willing to tear multiple threads to chaos. Has to be able to be beat by 10 level characters or over.
I mean, the Tarrasque is the quintessential "nigh-unkillable" monster. I think your question is too vague for the community to be of much help. We'd need a lot more detail to know what you're looking for.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
What level is the party? How many players? What classes? Optimizers or casuals?
Generally speaking you just want to find something with high AC and HP; a flight speed is also helpful for limiting the engagement window, although you don't necessarily want to make that too much of a thing. Having the Move Legendary Action or a teleport variant is also a good way to avoid making it easy for the party to pin down.
Really, giving a BBEG staying power is more about encounter design; from high tier 2 on a decently put together party can chop apart a single target pretty easily. If you want an encounter to challenge a party, getting them to use up resources ahead of time and not letting them just mob the boss are two of the most straightforward options.
For The_Ace_of_Rogues, the party is level 11, there are 3 players, one is a cleric for the god Loki, one is new, he doesn't know his class yet and one is a wizard, evocation, the cleric and the wizard are optimizers and have been know to exploit the tiniest weakness in all the enemies I give them. The new one I haven't seen yet though. Thank you for the advice though.
For VanZoeren: Sorry about the little detail, the details are above, although, I disagree that the "Tarrasque" is the hardest boss, because even if the party is first level, the Tarrasque has no ranged attacks, so they can get a hot air-balloon and camp him by only doing ranged attacks. For more detail, I want the most unbeatable monster, not a huge chuck of health. Any ideas are welcome.
So I don't have any actual monsters, but a good idea is a 'reflect magic' option. Don't tell the player's about this. Don't make it a permanent thing, so the wizard is still capable of being in the fight. Even a magic resistance will be good.
Studded Leather: He does exactly what I do
Natural Armor: But better
Maybe pick out a monster with good saves verusus high AC, and equip it with magic items, of course you should never really let them fight the BBEG alone, it would have minions.
So my example would be:
A Dao who has a Ring of Fire Resistance, +2 Maul and a Mantle of Spell Resistance
The Dao would have 2 Earth Elementals, where both Dao and Elementals would be moving under the ground whenever they've done their attacks to avoid being targeted, unless if the party can find a way to make this tactic redundant, additionally there would be 4 Azer's.
The Azer's can't be fireballed to death, the Earth Elementals are weak to some damage, but otherwise bullet sponges and the Dao will focus on casting spells and being in the back, and with a +5 INT, WIS and +6 CHA save with advantage against magic, they surely wont be able to melt the Dao,
And for added longevity, make it so that the Earth Elementals can as a bonus action on their turns give the Dao resistance towards all damage until the start of their turn, and the other elemental as a bonus action gives the Dao a damage threshold of 15 until the start of their turn. Flavour it in a way that tells the players the Earth Elementals are visibly enhancing the Dao making it a futile move to only focus on a Dao powered up, forcing the players to focus on the Earth Elementals. You can describe a vague beige line going from the elementals to the Dao or etc.
Thats my take on it.
There is no unbeatable monster :)
However, you could go with Stranger Things and put them up against Demogorgon ... certainly a powerful foe. Another option would be a spellcasting Ancient Dragon.
One thing to keep in mind is that there are common tricks that it sounds like some of your players would like to use. Forcecage (and in some cases Wall of Forece) + Sickening Radiance can be a death sentence for any creature, especially if they lack the ability to teleport. The Demogorgon has a Spellcasting ability but lacks teleport spells.
So, I would be sure to give some teleportation abilities to whichever creature you choose. You might also want to add in the ability to subtly cast some or all of their spells. Counterspell is likely to be a favorite option for the wizard for example.
I agree with you that the Tarrasque isn't a good choice due to the lack of ranged attacks and flight.
The devil Zariel might be a good choice since she comes with Teleport built in without it being a spell that could be countered. However, she needs a better con save since +9 is really not enough against the stun from a high level monk - a level 20 monk has a better than 50% chance of stunning Zariel AND can blow through their legendary saves in one round. I haven't found an Asmodeus stat block but they would likely be an even more formidable opponent but you'd likely need to home brew it.
Yes, I agree that reflect magic can be broken if the characters don't know that they have it, but I think if the monster has it for free and can do it every round, that spellcasters will have a problem. Thanks for the idea.
Why not just use the OG Iron Golem from 3E D&D? Immune to vast majority of spells, not just the 5E version that has mere resistance to all magic.
If you think your players are really confident, max out the hp on that golem and increase its damage output by another die or two.
But that sounds like an HP sponge. And that's not an interesting fight. I like encounter design better than giving exotic and inventive builds to BBEG's to try and make them durable and cool. Usually (to my mind) the latter results in boring fights.
When the party assaults the BBEG's stronghold, I like him to show up repeatedly to hurl damage at the PC's - then retreat to the next line of defense before the current one falls. Wear them down over time. When they need to take a rest, he should launch a counter attack of some sort. To my mind, that makes an interesting and credible fight. Piling on damage and hitpoints and resistances ... just doesn't.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Give them their opposites. create a cleric, wizard, and whatever 3rd guy class is. all higher levels though and better magic items.
use something that takes away their reactions and bonus actions Time clockworks, when within 15' radius time is unstable and can only take 1 action
Did have a chance to read everyone’s responses, at work, but if homebrew is ok then find a monster that fit’s thematically and is fairly strong. Then you can alter HP, AC, give legendary actions and saves etc. so that it gets the survivability it needs.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?