Situation Saturdays,
Colossal Boss fight!
Every Dungeon Master has wanted a towering opponent to walk into view and see the horrified look on the Players faces...
And Every player has wanted a chance to go "Shadow of the Colossus" and feel the ground shake as the giant corpse falls.
Let's make it happen! I'll show you through one I just made that was actually very fun and sandbox capable.
1.) Set-up:
Have a trusted NPC or Spy Network they know of drop the knowledge bomb, " We have reports that a creature as tall as a tower is heading this way. You may have two days, tops. He is accompanied by (Sorceress your guys know of and hate, re-occuring enemy, etc) "
They could either stay in the town they are in, giving more cover and the presence of the local guard to aid them, but resulting in mass collateral damage... or they could choose any geographical landmark in the area and choose to set up a defense.
• You can be as descriptive or non-descriptive as you would like. The players will most likely ask, "Is it just the creature, or an army, too?"
• One of the players ( who wasn't at the session that day ) and an NPC were both being stabilized and healed by the local cleric, meaning they just couldn't run away.
2.) The Foreplay,
• Have the creature and/or the Sorceress who accompanies it be re-occurring characters, or at a minimum a member of the faction that opposes them. I made the creature a mutated version of an earlier opponent, and the Sorceress the lover of it who watched the party kill him in front of her eyes. The local Necromancers offered to revive him, in return for her assistance. Of course, he wasn't quite the "same" when revived, but mutated by death.
• I handed my players a map of the surrounding area and said,
" Where would you like to fortify? You could also stay in town and fortify that."
(They chose a mountain for terrain advantage. They loved deciding over bodies of water, forest, or the like. It felt very tactical to them, and I tried my very best to accommodate them.)
• You can kind of push your players brainstorms in the right direction if they can't think of where to go and what to bring.
My players:
- The Rogue went to the lumberjack and smith in an effort to make a few palisades to transport out there. I gave them discounted prices due to saving the town from a Wraith Necromancer in prior encounters.
- The Wizard went to the barracks to asks for volunteers from the militia. They got two swordsmen and an Archer after a poor charisma check and performance. ( He is more power-gamer than roleplayer but I wanted to reward him for trying. )
- The Cleric rode out there with the Fighter a day early to scout the area and start digging foxholes and a trench at the base of the mountain. I had them do a Con save for exhaustion check after digging all day ( They had bought oil barrels they planned on pushing towards the trench and lighting it ablaze. )
The players are more or less prepared, Then they get the news,
" The creature is still heading towards town, there must be some way to distract it and come towards the mountain pass."
So the wizard rode on horseback to do the Recon.
Once arriving, he used his spell sniper feat, firing at it from very far away. It was then that he realized the boss had a huge "godzillla-like" breath beam weapon that cut through the forest after the wizard had angered him. He quoted Gandalf as he pushed his horse to ride faster. To put a little stress on him, I had him roll some Easy DC con saves for his horse. When he barely passed on the way back to the defenses, I had his horse collapse underneath him.
3.) The Fight itself:
• As the Colossal comes towards their area of choosing, you should have them roll med-high DC fear save. This will probably poke a hole or two in their defenses. Some of your power-gamers may ask, " What am I allowed to do in fear?" squint emoticon" Run, and if you can't run, just take the dodge action for 1 minute or until you save.
• I let them have cover which adds to armor class. However, because initiative is not "rounds" but simultaneous, if they lean out of cover of palisades/foxholes to attack, they can be targeted that round
The Colossus itself:
AC: Start high, get lower. I did mine 22,20,18 as the fight progressed, describing pieces of his thick skin breaking in places.
• Attack: Breath Weapon is fun. Now, it's not fair to target certain players, as some may get butthurt, some have 13 AC, some have 20 AC, and it's weak when a boss simply misses his one attack.
So I took one from ‪#‎ThePlayersDM‬'s youtube:
I roll 2d6. I get a 1 and 3.
Each player rolls 1d6. ( and NPC's, too )
If they roll a "1" or a "3", the breath weapon hit them.
I tailor it to their level, for mine it was just 4d10 with a reflex DC save for half.
For players above level 10 you may need to do 10d10.
Otherwise, A bite/grapple stolen from 5E's T-Rex.
• The ascent: Luckily, his spiky carapace provides good handles for climbing. I made it 4 checks of 15 ft each to reach the Sorceress on top. Failure by more than 5 would mean falling.
( Or like my figher did while acting in character, is using both hands to motion at the sorceress... then having nothing to hold on with, fell. )
Advanced:
Sorceress fires at them in an attempt to dislodge them and induce falling damage.
(( If my players were fighting around / walking by the feet I gave them low dexterity checks to avoid the large feet stomping around, to get the feeling of being "tiny rats" underfoot. ))
•Most of your party will probably try sniping/spell hitting her, but she can just hide behind head if the Evocation spells get too hot.
Advanced: She could cast healing spells on the creature.
If the Sorceress falls off due to a bad check or a player, the monster may become enraged. I had him, being of low intelligence, look at the fighter who had caused her to fall and stood over her maimed body as she flailed in pain.
I had him make an almost crying shout, and showing anguish on his distorted features as the energy of his beam started to gather around his teeth...
My party knew next turn that the mutant would destroy both the fighter and his lover as they died together.
The colossus didn't mind a Ranger digging around in his abdomen from a weak spot in the armor, nor the mass amounts of magic missiles and arrows being poured in him. It finally took everything they had, and he ended up falling on and crushing his love as the tower of a creature fell.
The fighter, lucky roller that he is, nearly maxed his Dexterity saving throw to get out from under it in time.
4.) Aftermath: This encounter was fun due to the free range they were given to improvise and build, the looming threat of danger, and boss mechanics that switched it up, as well as provided to be his own terrain as well. They watched their palisades defend the militia they brought, the foxholes gave them chances to pop healing potions, and while two nearly died, it felt tense and thrilling more than a "lost cause."
I awarded them much loot and XP, especially for creativity or "acting-in-character" even if that is not the best/smartest decision. I also gave the Dragonbon Fighter the ability to eat pieces of the heart to "re-class" from Champion to Eldritch Knight, which he quickly accepted.