Boss Fights in Living Guild

We have gotten to the point where there are multiple people, myself included, who either use or plan on using Solos with different phases. I wanted to take this moment to address some concerns with this new set of rules and try to get on the same page with them so the players feel less confused about things functioning one way in some adventures, but another way in other adventures.

From here on in I will refer to them as “Boss” monsters and I will be assuming everyone has at least heard of the AngryDM's blog and can use it as reference if needed. He also uses things as reference and he links them. Feel free to go down the rabbit-hole. I am also going to be saying some things as fact, but they are more strongly held beliefs about these things.

http://angrydm.com/2010/04/the-dd-boss-fight-part-1/

http://angrydm.com/2010/04/the-dd-boss-fight-part-2/

Why the “Boss” type over a Solo?

Solos have a lot of problems. They are effected too much by status effects, in order for them to have enough HP to survive more than a round they have to be a grind and they generally don't threaten the party at all. Yes, even bad/stupid/poorly designed parties. All of these things make them not fun and not as usable. The Angry DM explains this in detail and I feel like people already know why. 5E also addresses this with the concept of Legendary Actions and Lair Actions on some of their big monsters.  It is just a problem of the edition that 'solo' monsters should never go at the party solo.

He lists 6 points and I want to be a counter-point or add to each of those points.

1. Solos don't act enough. Many newer Solos have are ways to solve this problem as well as some elites. He is writing this Pre-MM3 (If I remember correctly) and there are other ways to have the creature 'act' that aren't its actions. Traps, lair actions, triggers on different types of events can make the fight seem more interesting in general.
2. Solos take their actions all at once. This is a continuation of the first one although it is a bit different. In order to make things 'more threatening' we might have things deal more damage, hit more often or just make their attacks which are few-and-far between just that much more badass. The problem with doing it like this is that it makes things very very swingy. Even without powering up some attacks if you have multiple triggers back to back on some monsters (An elite Brute with both a bloodied trigger and a death trigger) you can have PCs go from full health to dead and not be able to react which is un-fun. So keep in mind “up the hit and damage” should be less preferable to “more ways to take damage.”
3. Solo Fights are Static. This is what the phase mechanic is designed to solve. However keep in mind it should be Dynamic for both sides. The boss will use his big encounter powers at the start and the players will do so as well (and dailies) but this also needs to change so the players have more ways to interact with the situation. For the most static example, a monster who has lots of frequently activated close burst attacks is treated with a different approach from a monster who has devastating ranged attacks.
4. Solos get effected by conditions more than they should. This is very true, assuming the solo is actually solo in the encounter. This is not its own problem, but rather a compounding of the other ones. One of the big pieces here is the concentration on action denial hitting them harder so you want to try to have them get hit “differently” instead of “not get hit”. You don't want your monsters to have “immune to controller dailies” but instead you want them to have ways to still be a threat in the face of controller dailies. It might mean the controller doesn't get to dominate the monster and have it spend a whole round with 2 full initiatives beating itself up / doing the walk of shame, but it also shouldn't mean they do nothing either.
5. Everything cool happens at the start. This is similar to the use of mechanical encounter powers/dailies at the start and then going to the second string to do stuff, but it is more on the feel of the encounter. If the boss and players are getting the ability to do different things as you go along it feels more fun.
6. Solos don't have a sense of progress. They are either bloodied or unbloodied and you don't get the sense that the party or the monster is slowly losing or slowly gaining the upper hand. This is meant to be an epic confrontation and it needs to feel like it.

Part 2 of the blog sets up the Design Goals for this and I want to really hit on what he is talking about as well as expand a bit on how it works for the guild itself.

1. Don't uproot the rules if at all possible. Use existing mechanics. If you do not use existing mechanics be very clear on the mechanic and stick to the letter of the wording you use. The players should be able to react immediately to the situation at hand and use the information given them to make quick judgments if you are giving them new rules in a Boss Fight.
2. The “Three Acts” is important. Not because it has to be three (2 also works) but because it is enough to get the feeling as if things are always changing but not so much that we feel like nothing the players do will stick. I use Boss fights rarely in my campaign, typically 2 per Tier. Half of those are 2 phase Boss Fights and half are 3 phase boss fights. This doesn't mean every adventure can't be one of these, but they lose some of their vim and vigor if they are too common.
3. The shift between one stage and the next is crucial not only mechanically but flavorfully as well. There has to be a change of dynamic here and everything should be able to point to this one moment as 'oh, something is different'. This should be both for the players and for the monster as well. Here is a part that I find I disagree with him, but I am ok with either interpretation as long as you Telegraph (explained later) the fight. If players clearly understand that this fight will reset every phase they will be less upset if their stuff falls off. If you don't have to reset it, don't reset it. So don't let damage carry over into the new phase, also let him get rid of some conditions/problems effecting him, but I think that some stuff should still function if the story says it should function. I'll get into this later in my section on Power Selection for the PCs.
4. The intermission should generally signal a momentary breather. Something crazy happens and the PCs take a moment to wait for the smoke to clear, metaphorically speaking. Angry DM says “Recharge one encounter power or spend a healing surge for free” during the breather. Thats an ok example, but they can be more interesting or stronger if you want to. This is also a powerful way to adjust the fight based on how strong an individual party is. If the party is struggling you could give them something else. The other thing on this particular issue is going to be perception. If you allow the party to get something from the transition and when the smoke clears the boss has shed a ton of conditions and has new powers, it feels less like a 'fuck you' and more like a 'Round 2'.
5. Fuck Recharge powers. You have phases. Make them encounter powers and put some teeth on those powers. You recharge when you phase by getting new abilities. This also lets you do a lot more cool stuff with your powers as the PCs will feel less bothered by it when they know that ability is only likely to hit them once. It also can set up a sense of continuity between phases and make it feel like there is real progress. The Pyromancer might start off with a Close Burst 10 in Phase 1, but by Phase 3 he is gonna focus all that power into a Close Burst 1 to really hurt those guys who are stabbing him with sharp pointy things. It is similar thematically, but different enough that players feel the sense of progress
6. Another version of the Intermission can also be the idea behind a Storyline combat (basically a throw-away fight that the players describe their way through rather than fighting) or a simple skill challenge. The Mage transitions by going two dimensional and being sucked into a series of mirrors. PCs can spend a moment using skills to try to disarm the magical mirror / locate subtle details to see which one is real / get pissed and shatter the mirrors cause they are gonna get the right one eventually. Something that makes the intermission like a breather if you want more than a single moment in time to express it. Failure or success here could cause problems for the next phase.
7. Telegraphing is important. Telegraphing is letting the players know something is changing and giving them the ability to turn that information into action. It should not be something forced, but something that should make sense to what is going on. “The Arena Champion throws down his broken shield and pulls out a pair of brutal glowing short swords”. The players should be able to reasonably assume his AC went down and he is going to start tossing some multi-attacks their way. This should also be a way to easy describe each major point in the battle to the players so they have an idea of what is coming next. The AngryDM uses an example that can be described as “Arrogant” / “Furious” / “Desperate” as the three phases for the Red Dragon. You can describe those easily to the players and the players will have an idea of what abilities are being used for each one.

Power Selection for the PCs

In my games they fight a Boss fight once every 5 levels or so. That means once every 8 months. It also means that they will have lots and lots of time between the fights and can adjust to how their powers work differently. As a rare occasion that one of their big 'until end of encounter' powers doesn't work they way they want it to that works perfectly fine, but if you overuse the 'Boss' idea then players will choose powers that aren't more effective or more interesting or more flavorful, but will pick things designed around the idea that they need to put things on themselves to function instead of putting things on the enemy. This is something I do not think we should encourage. We are already encouraging them to optimize a bit, we don't want people to toss out powers because every boss always gets rid of everything anyway so why bother bringing a controller at all?

Format for Solos within the Guild

So what should the format for building an effective interesting Boss fight be? Lets break it down with an example.

Note: I am making the example very complex as a way to showcase the types of things you can do with the format.

Setting the Scene

This doesn't have to happen first, but it should tie in at some point with your monster. Making the fight Dynamic should function differently up in the clouds than it does down in the crowded city streets. For the purposes of this example I'll pick the “Crowded Big City Streets” as it will be important for the Skill Challenge.

# Phases

First decide if you are going with 2 phases or 3 phases and what kind of action recovery you want to go with. For the example, lets build the more complex 3 phase guy and lets also use 3 different examples of Action Recovery.

Once you have things that you want in each phase, lets start with the underlying framework of how we want them to work together. Put a name for the Phases and then work from there.

“Untouchable Bulwark” - Hiding, confident, able to use his abilities at-will. Stomp that disrupts over a large area. Soldier Archetype

“Close Combat Specialist” - The Shields are down, time to take it to team Hero. Stomp that disrupts over a smaller area. Skirmisher Archetype
“My Soul for the Fight” - This monster is willing to give his soul in service to what he wants to do and this phase gives him the chance to do it. Stomp that brings up hell with it. Brute Archetype

Next we should work on the Transitions

Phase 1: The Untouchable Bulwark is like fighting a turtle with an unbreakable shell. Inside the shield is utter darkness raining bolts down on the group. The party has to break down that shield in order to actually engage this thing.

Transition 1: The players destroy the shield causing an explosion which knocks everyone back. The Soldier drops his crossbow and then wades into melee with a pair of long heavy daggers.

Phase 2: The Close Combat Specialist gets down and dirty, fighting with ferocity and shifting all over the battlefield. But his body isn't that much stronger than a normal champion and soon shows the wear-and-tear of a 5 on 1 battle.

Transition 2: As your weapons strike into him he teeters and falls over. The words “My Soul belongs to the Fight” can be heard whispered between bloodied lips as the world is tossed around in a powerful localized earthquake. Once the dust settles the corpse of the soldier stands before you once again.

Phase 3: The Soldier is now undead, giving his soul in exchange for the will to continue the fight. You will have to rip him limp from limp and destroy the magic reanimating him before he finally rests.

HP

2 Phase boss fights you want to use Standard Monster HP (SMHP) x3 for their level. This gives them something between elite and solo hit points. If you are going to have a phase that burns HP to get out of effects, increase it to 3.5. Remember this is for each phase.

3 Phase boss fights you want to use SMHPx2.5 and x3 for things that burn their HP.

Note: This may seem like a ton of hit points. As 2 phase solos will have SMHPx6 (so 3 elites worth of hp) and 3 phase solos will have SMHPx7.5 (Almost 2 full Solos worth of HP). You must, however, keep one very important fact in mind. The players will be regaining some of their strongest attacks. Double HP solos look way less impressive if the Warlord is able to Death From Two Sides them three times in a fight.

For our example we are building a Soldier form, a Skirmisher Form and a Brute Form at level 12. SMHP at that level is 90 on the low end / 120 in the middle /150 on the high end. Our Brute form is going to be burning HP to shed conditions, so we have to toss some extra hit points his way. Phase 1 (Soldier) HP will be 120*2.5 = 300, Phase 2 HP will be 90*2.5 = 225 and Phase 3 weighs in at a whopping 150*3 for 450HP.

Defenses

The Base monster should have some defenses that exist, and then things that change going forward. Describing why the defenses change will also help you telegraph and explain what is going on. The Averages are 27/25 for level 12. So lets use that to start with. I see the soldier as being a tenacious type, so lets say he has +1 Fort and Will giving his base defenses 27/26/25/26.

In Phase 1 he is going to be a powerful bulwark so lets give him +3 to AC and +2 Fort (Defenses are 30/28/25/26).

In Phase 2 he is going to be less armored, but very quick on his feet and wary of his surroundings so +2 AC, +2 Reflex (Defenses are 29/26/27/26).

In Phase 3 he is a controlled by an outside will and trusting his undead nature to keep him alive. -2 AC, +2 Fort / +2 Will (Defenses are 25/28/25/28).

Note: These short descriptors I am using is for me to conceptualize the combat in my head, but you can just as easily use them as your descriptors for the players to telegraph how the fight is changing.

Speed/Special Defenses/Special Abilities should tie in to their overall theme

Phase 1: Speed 4, Resist 30 All, You do not gain +2 for having combat advantage against the Bulwark.

Phase 2: Speed 8

Phase 3: Speed 6, Resist 20 Necrotic/Fire, Vulnerable 5 Radiant, Teleport 4 (Burning Teleport)

Note: All 3 phases get the Saving Throws of a Solo (+5) and the Action Points of an Elite (1).

Action Recovery

Time to say how these things will continue to be a threat. Again remember I am intentionally using 3 completely different ones, but you can use all the same or variations on a basic theme.

Phase 1(The Downgrade): Its hard to do really much to stop the Bulwark and you have no line of sight or line of effect to whatever impenetrable darkness lurks within. When it is effected by a condition that would prevent a major action such as Petrified, Stunned, Restrained, Dominated, Removed From Play etc it instead gains Vulnerable 10 all for the same duration. If it is effected by a minor form of action denial such as Prone, Slow, Daze or Blind it instead has Vulnerable 5 All for the same duration. These abilities stack. For example a single power that Dazes and Immobilizes (Save Ends) would instead give the target Vulnerable 15 All until it saved instead of conferring the other benefits. The boss should get 1 Turn, plus a Super Turn with a single action.

Note: Feel free to give the players a different line from what you get. It should be clear to the players that their conditions are effecting this juggernaut, but that is able to avoid some of the harsher effects.  You can also try to list out all possibilities for them (I would suggest a Handout), list out some and be ready to make quick judgements on 'major v minor' (A macro with maybe some notes) or give the players just the basics (A Macro that just says “Major conditions give this creature vulnerable 10 all instead, minor conditions give this creature vulnerable 5 all instead. These can stack with multiple conditions”). If you use this type of mechanic it comes dangerously close to an immunity so I would use it on no more than 1 phase.

Phase 2 (Lightning Fast): This is the 'Beholder' Version of action economy. At the start of each player's Turn this creature either makes a saving throw to end a single condition on it (even if a save can not normally end the condition), shifts 4 squares and makes a basic attack against the target (Throwing a Knife or stabbing) or takes a move action to stand up. The Boss should get 1 Turn, but has enough actions with the 'beholder style' ability.

Note: Keep in mind some things are not conditions in the guild as a general rule. “Can't make opportunity attacks”, “Can't Shift”, “Can't Teleport” and “Quarried” are not traditional conditions and should not be shed via this trait.

Phase 3 (Fire Within): This corpse is filled with hellfire and the power within is burning away the effects of many of your attacks. Whenever this creature would be subjected to a condition it can instead choose to take 15 damage and makes an immediate saving throw to end the condition as the fel energies within lash out through the flesh. Whenever this creature is hit by an attack the attacker takes 5 Necrotic and Fire damage. The boss should get 2 Full Turns. One at his initiative and one at his initiative +10.

Note: The damage should be described as Necrotic or Fire but I didn't want to make it longer to say it ignores resistance or make the damage more in case someone didn't see the resist 15 Necrotic/Fire.

Transitions

Keep in mind that the key here is to have it feel dynamic for both PCs who want to use their cool abilities and monsters that you want to stay a threat and stay interesting through a long duration of play.

Minor Transitions

Something minor happens. Your focus is broken for a moment and there is a minor pause in the battle.

Named Conditions and generic penalties go away. Daze, Prone, Slow, Petrified, Immobilize, -2 Attack rolls, -2 Defenses etc.
Things that a save can end immediately get a saving throw to end them.

Unnamed conditions and class mechanics stay. Divine Challenge, Oath of Enmity, “Cannot Shift Until the end of the next turn”, “Cannot Teleport Until the end of the Next turn”

Note: The players should get the chance to recover some health and/or a bit of power.

Major Transition

Something Major happens causing there to be a break in the battle long enough that you focus on other things before the heat of battle is back on again. Not long enough to be different encounters, but certainly not a short rest.

Everything goes away unless there is an exception to the rule.

Note: The players should get the chance to recover a significant amount of health and/or power.

Transition 1 (Minor Transition, Smoke Clears)

The Bulwarks slows down, ultimately failing and malfunctioning as it explodes with energy in every direction sending showers of metal out across the city streets. Rubble falls from the nearby buildings. Close Burst 10 (Or 20 if you use a large map) vs Fortitude or Reflex pushing 5 squares and knocking Prone on a hit. None of the conditions from the previous phase apply as they were all on the Bulwark however the class mechanics should stay with the target (Quarry, Curse, Oath of Enmity).

Players are able to take a moment to gather their strength and can choose to 2 of the following:
Stand up and Shift 2 squares

Spend a healing surge regaining hit points as normal
Recover a Spent Encounter Power or Regain 2 Power Points

Transition 2 (Major Transition, Little Earthquake in the Big City)

As the soldier falls the ground trembles and cracks open in the earth with Hellfire burning bright below it. The City streets are being ripped like paper and people's voices can be heard screaming in terror as the buildings topple in on each other. This is a short skill challenge that should reward creativity and effort on the hands of the players. The goal of the challenge is to survive the trembling earth and save as many people and as much of their own hide as possible. It should take place in 1-3 scenes. Again since this is an example I'll go with the longest

Scene 1: Earthquake. The ground is shaking, people are huddling in their houses as the smell of sulfur fills the air. Checks need to be made to not fall over / succumb to falling debris or get NPCs to safety.

Scene 2: Collapse. Sinkholes open up and threaten to swallow entire buildings into a pit of glowing hellfire. Checks need to be made to not fall in / get NPCs to safety.

Scene 3: Lavaflows. Lava pours own from the cracks in the earth, filling the air with smoke that brings tears to your eyes. You can see the body starting to twich as demonic energy pours into the corpse. You know this fight isn't over, but also there are people who need your help and protection.

Depending on how the PCs do they should be able to earn rewards. If they succeed more than they fail on any particular scene they should earn a tally towards recovering during the transition.

0 Tally: The Boss emerges with a surprise round and gets +10 to initiative. The players get to choose 1 recovery option.
1 Tally: The Boss gets a +10 bonus to initiative. The players get to choose 2 recovery options

2 Tallies: The Boss has normal initiative. The players get to choose 3 recovery options and can choose the same option more than once.

3 Tallies: The Boss takes a -10 penalty to initiative. The players get to choose 3 recovery options and can choose the same option more than once.

Recovery Options:

1. Recovery an Encounter Power or 2 Power Points
2. Gain an Action Point (This does not count towards the number of action points that can be spent in an encounter but you can still only spend an Action Point once per turn)
3. Spend a Healing Surge as a Free Action
4. Place yourself anywhere you choose on the map within 5 squares of the boss.
5. One “Until the End of the Encounter” condition that was active at the end of the last Phase continues through the transition (Such as Stances or Debuffs on the boss)

Note: The best way to go about doing a transition like this is to have splash screens or a blank screen with generic labels on it. For example a good set of splash screens might have a 'map' picture of each scene that the players move through. A blank screen with generic labels would have places that the players would be going in order to make a difference “Market Square” “Blacksmith's Shop” “Tenement Building” and “Broad Street Full of Vendor Stalls” could all be different parts that the players can choose from in order to move between the scenes. For more details of where I'm getting this idea from and why take a minute to see how Scenes are setup in FATE or toss me a message and I'll give you a brief run-down.  However you do it, you want to be clear when you move them to the final map (Either a new map, or the old one with notes on it to indicate what has changes). Have the Players roll for a new initiative in 'skill challenge or exploration' initiative during the transition and then roll initiative again as they would at the start of the combat for the final phase.

Abilities and Powers

I'm not going to flesh this out right now as this is already six pages long. The abilities you should add to these monsters should stay thematically appropriate to the phase, should have a little continuity with the other phases and should work towards either kicking the party's ass or addressing one of the primary concerns with solos in a fun and interesting way. The Action Recovery that this monster has should be enough, but give some thematic things to the monster so it feels fun to move around with. Make sure the powers work with the environment as well. The Monster should be able to jump or Teleport in Phase 3 to get over Lava Flows but it shouldn't do that in Phase 1 as it makes no sense thematically/mechanically. However all 3 forms should have a good identifiable power that the players know is coming after the first time. Maybe the first big encounter power hits the whole map and is a rumbling boom from the shield slamming the ground and sending out a wave of earth. The second phase is him jumping around making miniature earthquakes at his feet near the players. In the third phase he taps the ground and lava splashes up on the adventurers.

I hope this is helpful and can provide at least a starting point for working at having good, eventful Boss Encounters in the guild.