I need a solid boss encounter. (DnD 3.5)

[Salmon_Samurai]

Before you go throwing out suggestions, I want to say thank in advance for the awesome responses I've got in other topics of mine. This is a solid community.

Anyway a little info on the party:

There are six members. Five of us at level 4 (Wizard, Fighter/Thief, Duskblade, an Evil aligned Cleric, and more of a straight up Fighter), and one of us at level 7 (a gnome Ranger). None of us power game or meta or anything. We all play to have a good time. I'm looking for a fun/challenging boss fight but nothing that's like... We wouldn't stand a chance against it, ya know? The only requirement is it has to be a beast/animal for the quest. I've been looking through the Monster Manual but with how one of my last quests went I can't judge this for s**t and I don't really get CR and have never really used it.

Any help would be appreciated. I've been DMing for a looong time but still could be a hell of a lot better.

[Tralk]

Were-tyrannosaurus Troll.


It's a CR 10.

[Brasten]

Your first issue is major action disparity. Solo bosses with that much imbalance of action will get ripped apart.

Again, 6 Standard Actions to 1.

This means any truely epic boss fight is going to need filler of some kind.

What you haven't given is the context so far. A Boss without context is just another random encounter. What's the story been so far? What's the setting like. Any overarching theme on the enemies to date?

The following is mathematical walk though of the 3.5 encounter building logic, to help improve your DMing.

By numbers the Average Party Level should be 4.5 or 5 (D&D rounding), with and extra 2 members that throws on at least another level for APL 6, maybe 7.

An Very Difficult encounter (eating between then 30% — 75% of the party resources in one go) is Encounter Level +1 to +4. Overpowering (90% resource expenditure expected) is +5.

Assuming you don't want an Overpowering lets stick with EL (APL) + 4, or 10 (note Challenge Rating number Tralk arrived at).

I would actually disagree with a single big foe, even a Were-T-Rex. Between the Figher, Ranger, and Cleric there is likely enough HP to go around.

Lets message the Encounter Tables a bit.

EL 10 breaks down as:

1 CR 9,10, or 11 Monster
2 matched CR 8s
3 CR 7
etc.

And my favorite, the Mixed Pair EL 9 and EL 7. This means a "Boss" of CR 9 and then a group of "filler" at EL 7. Say 3 of them at CR 4 or 4 at CR 3.

CR 9 Boss
4 "minions" at CR 3

This gives you better action parity with the party and something to actually threaten the Wizard and Duskblade with, something else for them to throw spells at. My suggestions on encounter setup will depend on what you answer about the current story/situation. Also if you can provide details on the combat styles of the PCs: typical spell load out on the wizard and cleric, blasty, buffy, controlly?), how many ranged vs Melee, domains armor types, any quarky equipment use (like tangle foot bags or smoke sticks).

My initial thought is a HP and Armor heavy tanky boss in the middle, two decently resistant Flank Guards, and two support Archers with Cover and High Ground. That's about a simple as one can go.

Another option is to spend some or all of that Mixed Pair allotment on Traps (read Environmental Hazards).

[Salmon_Samurai]

Brasten

Your first issue is major action disparity. Solo bosses with that much imbalance of action will get ripped apart.

Again, 6 Standard Actions to 1.

This means any truely epic boss fight is going to need filler of some kind.

What you haven't given is the context so far. A Boss without context is just another random encounter. What's the story been so far? What's the setting like. Any overarching theme on the enemies to date?

The following is mathematical walk though of the 3.5 encounter building logic, to help improve your DMing.

By numbers the Average Party Level should be 4.5 or 5 (D&D rounding), with and extra 2 members that throws on at least another level for APL 6, maybe 7.

An Very Difficult encounter (eating between then 30% — 75% of the party resources in one go) is Encounter Level +1 to +4. Overpowering (90% resource expenditure expected) is +5.

Assuming you don't want an Overpowering lets stick with EL (APL) + 4, or 10 (note Challenge Rating number Tralk arrived at).

I would actually disagree with a single big foe, even a Were-T-Rex. Between the Figher, Ranger, and Cleric there is likely enough HP to go around.

Lets message the Encounter Tables a bit.

EL 10 breaks down as:

1 CR 9,10, or 11 Monster
2 matched CR 8s
3 CR 7
etc.

And my favorite, the Mixed Pair EL 9 and EL 7. This means a "Boss" of CR 9 and then a group of "filler" at EL 7. Say 3 of them at CR 4 or 4 at CR 3.

CR 9 Boss
4 "minions" at CR 3

This gives you better action parity with the party and something to actually threaten the Wizard and Duskblade with, something else for them to throw spells at. My suggestions on encounter setup will depend on what you answer about the current story/situation. Also if you can provide details on the combat styles of the PCs: typical spell load out on the wizard and cleric, blasty, buffy, controlly?), how many ranged vs Melee, domains armor types, any quarky equipment use (like tangle foot bags or smoke sticks).

My initial thought is a HP and Armor heavy tanky boss in the middle, two decently resistant Flank Guards, and two support Archers with Cover and High Ground. That's about a simple as one can go.

Another option is to spend some or all of that Mixed Pair allotment on Traps (read Environmental Hazards).

To be more specific:

The quest that I needed the boss for is really just a random encounter, so it didn't have to be too specific. The quest itself is a competition of sorts held by a duke to see who, out of 4 groups, can clear the cities districts of monsters and allot the most points. If you've played Final Fantasy 9; it's basically the Festival of the Hunt. Having it be a monster or animal that wouldn't destroy the party outright was the only problem I faced. You were as likely to see wolves as you were harpies.

The guy who plays our wizard role plays him as being veritably insane and he does a good job of it. His spell layouts are relatively random and change from day to day from being extremely useful to totally useless. The Duskblade functions more as a fighter than supporting caster as he mainly channels spells through melee attacks and the cleric mainly uses offensive spells and personal buffs. He plays a selfish, evil cleric of Nerull very well.

We have virtually no ranged attacks for either role playing reasons or lack of forethought: the straight fighter believes archery is for cowards, the fighter/thief hasn't thought to buy a bow yet, and the gnome ranger has a small sized shortbow; obviously almost useless. He focuses on dual wielding and jumping on his opponents to stab them repeatedly before he gets bucked off. There's a lot of flair and flavor in the group and I love all of their characters.