How to Make Epic Boss Fights in D&D | Part 1

[@theDMLair]

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[@ivanandrade9605]

The boss for my level 3 party I did the main Boss were 2 green dragons but they were babies Our Druid wanted to tame them but our barbarian who had recently gotten a Molotov cocktails through it worry between the 2 enemies making a Impossible to tame our druids do did try to tame for the whole fight And halfway through the fight I was going to bring in one more baby dragon and 12 goblins but I thought my players would of hurt the baby green dragon but the druid casted shield on the baby green dragons so it was impossible to hit on our druids turn I made her roll a animal handling and a intellect saving throw she failed the saving throw for 10 round but on the 11 she passed and I told her that the baby green dragons only speck dragon and can't be tamed because no one in the party but the barbarian specks dragon and he wants to kill dragon she then got knocked out by the dragon so her spell ended and we kill one of the dragon by the barbarians axe the second dragon and goblins come in my wizard runs over and cast thunder wave in my game thunder wave stunts the enemy if it's a critical hit it was killing all of the goblins and stunned the dragon for 2 turn the first dragon then gets shot by are archer and stabbed by are rogu hidden attack killing the green dragon and are barbarians kills the last green dragon and kills our druid for casting shield on the dragon

[@supersmily5811]

One mechanic I've never seen with Legendary Actions that absolutely shocks me is one that gives the BBEG an additional turn. The ultimate way to solve the action economy problem while allowing for a solo boss to be an incredible threat is to make them apparently fast enough to have two turns a round, though I'd recommend having a limit (No more than 3 at most and usually no more than 1) of how often this can be used between long rests, so the other legendary actions you give it still get use. I made a homebrew creature called a Grand Vampire on the D&D homebrew wiki that uses this mechanic and it fits really well with the idea of more super powered vampires from recent stories where they have super speed that isn't represented in D&D.

[@dovahchicken935]

I no the opposite of that question I have a DM that's pretty bad but he's a good friend still but he sometimes ask for are armor class after rolling to hit to see if he can hit any with a single attack and pretty much it's just lowest armor class is the Target and he doesn't describe pretty much anything like an obvious difference between the armor or strength that the enemies can notice

[@GrugTheJust]

Never, ever over inflate hit points. A slugfest does not equal enjoyment. Instead, if you think the hit points are not enough, have a second form with more potent abilities, or some sort of deus ex resurrection. Is that metagaming? Hell yeah, but it's a far sight better than boring play. I'll be honest, any flimsy excuse with proper description will sell this concept as being intended the entire time. Also, I'm not saying don't reward players for being tactically sound, but understand you are one person fighting 4 people. If your BBEG isn't capable of planning for this group, YOU made the mistake. The tips I provided are a safety net to make the BBEG seem more capable.

[@parkerandrecreation]

Layers. My Bruiser (Bowser) was a barbarian tortle with fire breath who grappled and threw players off the edge of a sky platform. He appeared with 4 Kobas (kobolds with turtleshell shields). Then 2 rounds in, the Boos (poltergeists) appeared. As his HP hit half, he yelled for help and withdrew into his shell and 4 more Kobas appeared. Then as he neared the end, he gobbled a potion of Growth and enlarged.

[@littlesherlock2313]

Step 1: make the boss really, really powerful Step 2: play the boss super intelligently Step 3: soften players with minions Step 4: encounter with boss Step 5: kill a player or two Step 6: wait this is going too well... Step 7: TPK

[@theDMLair]

I like the way you think. 😁

[@laurenzreichelt4911]

This might happen to me later today ^^‘ Wish my players luck!

[@kathrynck]

That's an acceptable BBEG fight. ...it doesn't stand for Big Bad EASY Guy ;-) there should have been scrolls, potions, explosives, hirelings, and exploitative combo tactics of extreme cheese prepared for such a dire encounter.

[@lalallama2298]

Step 8: Run from the angry players

[@cheesaliciousable]

You'rre only missing the Skeletor laugh when you TPK... oh and maybe a minor insult. Like "Haha, how's it feel you cantankerouse do-gooders, the BBEG always wins in the end. See, now you donw started somthin so they'll wanna roll new toons to take the bbeg down a peg

[@thatoneVoidDemon]

“I’m especially looking at healing spirit right now” Nervous laugh in Druid

[@theDMLair]

Lol. Poor druid...

[@thatoneVoidDemon]

@@theDMLair My healing spirit got nerfed after I showed my DM it was good

[@ewr7291]

I don’t understand how that got published. I’m no balancing expert but I read the spell for the first time and was like, um... isn’t that completely broken.

[@MistressNebula]

@@ewr7291 i finished my first campaign as a player at level 40. The Ranger had access to druid spells up to level 9 and had healing spirit. He TRIED to use it on me after i got knocked out. Wanna know how much his Concentration lasted? 1 round

[@ewr7291]

@RedArcanist it’s balanced enough in combat. It’s afterwards when there’s nothing to break concentration that it breaks mechanically

[@davidpotts7116]

Here’s an idea: instead of JUST using the environment as hazards, make the BOSS use the environment as well. I took inspiration from The Witcher 3 using the Leshen monsters as recurring bosses. They literally use the entirety of their arena as a hazard zone that the players can’t predict unless the DM makes the Leshen use an action to prepare a massive root attack.

[@igorkonys1006]

Good advice, have you played lost mine of phandelver

[@davidpotts7116]

Igor Konys I haven’t played that module yet, no

[@igorkonys1006]

I qas thinking if you could give me advice on how to do a final bossfight

[@davidpotts7116]

Igor Konys what ideas do you currently have? edit: actually, do you have a Discord? It’d be easier to discuss it over that

[@igorkonys1006]

@@davidpotts7116 Yes I have discord, by the way my brother changed my profile picture for the roblox one

[@aidanallen458]

I’d say it’s always great to pull players out of their comfort zone for both boss fights and important battles. If they’re relying on a specific tactic, spell, or whatever too much, throw them something that won’t fall so easily. It’ll keep the game interesting and force players to come up with more complex solutions than just fireball, fireball, fireball

[@jgr7487]

Overly Sarcastic Productions has released a vid yesterday on Minions in Literature. it helps so much in giving BBEGs friends!

[@feedbacking6306]

Such a good channel

[@fredilhos2]

I tend not to focus the "boss Must die" mechanics... i try to make other objectives that needs to be fullfilled like "Disrupt/protect the ritual" or something like a boss that knows how to use it's lair... maybe he has a LOT of mirrors, or portals, traps etc. Home turf advantage. And if the boss is desperate i ponder: "is this boss inteligent enough to know when AND how to escape?" A villain loses a battle only to learn more about the heroes. Also i like the "minions" mechanics from 4e, when you deploy a lot of enemies with 1 hitpoint, just to overwhelm the heroes. ALSO: when it's THE boss, ALL attacks are rolled on the open, even the bosses. So the players KNOW, i cannot change a CRIT, or fudge damage. this way they get scared AF.

[@minnion2871]

In the case of a multi level dungeon like lets say a tower.... I'd say allow for the environment to be destroyed a little or perhaps a lot.... Like maybe destroying a support pillar causes part of the roof to cave in potentially causing damage to those struck by the falling debris.... Or maybe a sufficiently heavy blow to the floor can create a hole that leads to the room below... And of course stuff catching fire makes any boss room more interesting. Guess my point is the boss room/arena being dynamic and subject to changes that might help or hinder the party seems like it would make any boss fight more interesting.... Like for instance an idea I was kicking around is that you have the evil necromancer working in the top of a tower on getting his flesh golem up and running...(He has his assistant who is a tank standing guard....) Maybe some other undead minions(Such as crawling claws and maybe a couple zombies...) The basic tactics of the boss boil down to 1.Have his minions and henchman stall for time while he puts the finishing touches on the flesh golem. 2.When golem is ready orders his henchman to "THROW THE LEVER!" (Possibly have two levers in the room, one of which activates the flesh golem to bring it into the fight, and the other opens a trap door in the floor.) 3.Assuming that Kronk hits the right lever the boss will probably try to escape while "Jr." serves as the primary threat...

[@christopherfleetwood5252]

Or have the bbeg be a lich that has one of his skele minions pretend to be him and then fight the party with scrying target spells or preset up spells or spells with no obvious point of origin.

[@BOKIL100]

THIS!

[@mirjanastevanovic-radojevi6432]

I have been waiting for this for a loooooooong time, I'm so happy.

[@theDMLair]

Awesome! Happy to help.

[@mirjanastevanovic-radojevi6432]

@@theDMLair man i wish i could make videos like these,

[@dnddude9652]

**Boss appears** Players: “Alright, let’s get this over with” Players: **Kills Boss in 2 turns** Players: “Wow, that was ea-” Boss: “Sike” Boss: **Obliterates players**

[@theDMLair]

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. :D

[@dnddude9652]

But wait, there’s more! Wild Magic Sorcerer: **Revived** Boss: “Wait, why are you-“ Wild Magic Sorcerer: *”FIREBALL”*

[@siralyssongamer6522]

Excuse me. Im new to dnd. What is Sike?

[@irok1]

@@siralyssongamer6522 sike is not a D&D term. It basically means "you got tricked"

[@KingAm0]

*cough cough* balor *cough cough*

[@innocentmonster4881]

I sometimes fudge abilities for bosses. I once made an 'Outsider' type boss fight inspired by Dishonored. I had a moving environment with the boss using Blink (short range teleport) once per round. Each party member had to stay on one platform to fight the boss as well as Crow Swarms in this shadow realm.

[@timquaty3957]

Lord Paxton better be the nerdiest halfling ever.

[@vgnut007]

Eyyyy i noticed the dimir logo, niiiice

[@LordDuddy77]

Fellow agent 👋

[@Darkorange13th]

I've always wanted to be a wizard. "EXCUSE ME CAN I SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER?" "I cast shield."

[@TJTrickster]

If it is a Karen cast silence

[@kzkaa.]

@@TJTrickster pretty sure Karen are immune to silence

[@schemage2210]

So the boss should be at the very end of a dungeon playing with his doll house waiting for the heroes to show up..... I guess I know where I have been going wrong all this time. LoL. Great video, great tips.

[@theDMLair]

EPIC BOSS DOLLHOUSE FIGHT I know what I'm doing this weekend now. 😁

[@schemage2210]

@@theDMLair "no no no you didn't just call them dolls", the boss yells furiously. "These are limited edition action figures you fool. And for that insult I am now forced to kill you!!!!" Or something along those lines.

[@darcycrossingbooks]

You know, I love this idea actually. It could get very creepy real quick.

[@kjellgunnartrimbo-forthun6052]

I love how we get to see DM Luke react to the party's criticisms

[@theDMLair]

Being a DM is hard. My party of me never stops criticizing me... 😢

[@relax2413]

For the "wear your party out" part. My idea for the last "boss" of my campaign was en elf general being corrupted by darkness confronting the players. They are at 100% BUT she summon 3 zombies templars and starts a strange ritual. So players has to choose, spend ressources to kills adds ASAP and stop the ritual (start battle the corrupted elf) Or, spend less ressources and risk the ritual being completed (so they will probably fight a dark monster insead). Basically they're not fully ready for the boss at the start of the battle, but instead of crawing into a dongeon they are close to the boss and I think it adds some tension :)

[@nathanielsteward2221]

This was at just the right time! I have a massive battle in one hour!

[@theDMLair]

Awesome! Glad I could help! 😁

[@kapitan19969838]

How'd it go? I want to hear the full story and You better gave them a proper fight

[@RJ-1580]

I swear this reminds me of comments on videos of Chemistry Tutor, sorry I know that’s not the channel name

[@kendrickrochelanzot2053]

A boss I designed took place in a city where earthquakes were frequent. The place us ruled by a evil half dragon. The boss was interesting because he had a pocket kobold sorcerer that heals him in every turn he gets. After 5 turns a earth elemental pops up, the cause of the earthquakes. The fight gets easy in terms of the kobold getting scared and retreating, making the enemy lose his healer.

[@Iwant2believe78]

Hello all. Getting into D&D after 30 years since my limited introduction. It's my teens getting me into it and I have been binge watching Luke and really enjoy his videos. Was just looking forward to playing but now I am inspired to become a DM at some point. Love to world build but baby steps right? Look forward to your vids Luke and thank you.

[@VonVonnyVonVon]

Even if you don't plan to run any published campaign, read the Essential's kit's campaign, The Lost Mines of Phandelver. It explains everything in detail and analyze it to get a sense on how to run a good campaign. It's well written, well paced and a great adventure for level 1 to 5!

[@octo8715]

As an early DM, let me say that it really isn't that hard. As long as you have a good group of players, (preferably friends) you can run a great game with nothing but a piece of graph paper, some pieces of paper, and pencils.

[@jeremiebihin8150]

And as a new DM as well, I actually felt more comfortable running a campaign in a whole new world that I created. Sure it was a bit of work, but fun work, and I feel way more comfortable and ready to improvise in the world I made than in an other world where I need to go back reading all the time to check that i'm not incoherent. So sure my world may not be as rich than some published official worlds and campaign, but the player enjoy the unique character and authenticity cheers

[@Iwant2believe78]

Thank you i will look into it as study material

[@Iwant2believe78]

I feel the same way about building my own world then creating adventures and campaigns with in it because i will know and understand my world much better then a ready made world. I would be playing with my kids and their friends who are all late teens and while smart can be short sighted and non tactical so i want to make the world living and bring their actions into play on larger scales then they are used to just clearing dungeons. Thank you all and if i download discord again i might join up there to talk more.

[@RyuSpike]

I’ve been designing my boss fights with action economy in mind. If the boss and their allies don’t have actions that equal to or surpass the players’ then that is when I either add more minions or physical obstacles in the environment. When adding minions, I always choose the weakest so that they don’t deal too much damage, but still serve as a threat that’ll accumulate if my players don’t take care of them soon. Thus rewarding the players for reducing the enemy numbers before taking down the big bad. Sometimes I would even give my villains magic items if they don’t have enough actions in a turn. It serves as a way to make battles more interesting AND it teaches the players how the item is used before they can claim it. A practical form of distributing magic items.

[@bigklu4756]

"To win without risk is to triumph without glory." -- Pierre Corneille

[@mazzatramp]

WTF, tonight I will dm my first boss fight, this video was really a grace!

[@robertnett9793]

I am glad for tips like this :D really helping a lot. Last time I had my heroes face the evil warlock Halphai (a lieutenant in the army of my big bad guy, who seems to be some sort of necromancer or artificer ... he builds artifacts out of people. Think if the Riddick Necromongers had a faible for war-forged creatures). They caught him in the last moment - just before he and his minions could cross the old dwarfen bridge to the undergrund stronghold deep in the uncharted underground - basically under the nose of the bbg's army. Cleverly they sabbotaged the bridge, to cut Halphai from reinforcments so he stood alone just with his escort of super heavy 'Augmented' as they call them with terrible long axes and an overall pain in the ass. However as the bridge finally broke, it turned out dwarven constructions are sturdy. More sturdy than the ledge they were fighting on. So in the middle of the overall brutal fight, it turned from a fairly static combat on uneven terrain, to a battle of life and death sitting on a large chunk of rock hurdling down in the even less charted depths beneath the dwaven stronghold. With all the shebang of lavabombs, debris and the occasional enemy augmented soldier falling by - death-defyingly still trying to get a shot or two at the heroes on the platform. Ah - what a glorious mayhem :D I think I included some of your 'how to make combat interesting' ideas in this.

[@rockingatnothing9754]

To be honest, your videos really inspire me on how I write my campaign and I’m so thankful for the tips that you give!! You make amazing videos

[@theDMLair]

Thank you so much!!! This is very encouraging. I'm having a rough day at work right now, so I really needed that. 😁

[@adityanorbert841]

I remember this one time I nerfed the boss because I thought he was OP and then my party proceeded to wipe the floor with him

[@alchemicpunk1509]

Question: Did any one of them die? If no, do not be afraid, there should be one or two who lay down their lives in the final or mid campaign boss fight. Because a) perfect opportunity to run a revival quest or epilogue and b) that just sells to them how big this last obstacle was. It's what I learned from having that happen twice and then resisting the nerf urge that third and since then last time I ran a campaign boss. They still stomped the boss by all counts but their (highly competent) damage sponge bit the grass in the second to final round which made the rest of those rounds simply *amazing* in terms of roleplay and engagement.

[@adityanorbert841]

Nope,none of them died I don't even think they took much damage (not fully my fault but the dices fault)

[@dantedharma6252]

I did had to Nerf a Boss mid-battle because he rolled 3 consecutive 20s was a Young Green Dragon and they were 2 Lv 3 Players (was playing Phandalin)

[@terrenaven]

"Green Hag with some Scarecrows and Crawling Claws" Stop trying to spoil my fights for my players! in actuality this was a really good video though, I had thought of some of these, as I'm going to be running a spooky mystery one-shot in October, but since I'm a very (very) new DM it's great to hear tips that more experienced people like yourself have. Great video!

[@theDMLair]

Sorry... 😂

[@JoahTheThread5ive]

In the game of D&D I was playing a few weeks ago, the wizard and the cleric used pretty much all of their spell slots right before the boss fight happened. The wizard used his to make a house, and the cleric used his to... delete the Wizard's house.

[@gorgit]

Sounds like peak dnd

[@Gemini-Lion]

When preparing for my campaign I make the bosses like Players to give them a lot more depth, personally. It also makes it easier to roleplay those bosses, just making them stronger than actual individual players

[@theDMLair]

In what ways do you make them like players?

[@Crazyhaha]

One fun trick I do is surprise the players with the boss so they have to improvise with what they have and play the boss like either a very savage creature or a intelligent learning creature so that it pushes the players to make plans to take them down. For example I homebrewed a one shot and the players were on a small boat fighting my homebrew creature a cobradile, I made it so that it would watch what the players did and avoid taking damage the same way twice. Another thing that happened was that the players tried luring its head out of the water by throwing chunks of raw meat in there but then they switched it up and stuffed the meat with poisonous berries that they got eirlier in the session which really brought out that amazing feeling of outsmarting the big bad boss instead of just a simple hit till ded.

[@CrowzenOver]

Thanks, Luke! I'm currently writing a campaign, and the thing I'm struggling with is making awesome, memorable bosses for my players. This video really helped and I look forward to part 2!

[@lodeclaw]

I stole an idea from a Reddit user for the boss of my Lost Mine of Phandelver in which the big bad drow boss turned into a drider after taking a bunch of damage. It went really well. Depending on the boss, you could implement phases in the fight like this to up the ante and challenge the party.

[@CrowzenOver]

@@lodeclaw That's a good idea. I don't know how I didn't think of this before. Thanks for the tip!

[@clockwork1511]

Yesss! This could not have come at a better time, im planning a 10th lvl miniboss for the next fortnight, and this helped me tons! Cant wait for part 2! :)

[@theDMLair]

Awesome! 😁

[@FinalFayt1]

Wonderfully done. I like the part about minions, which I forgot to do on my first miniboss. First round of combat later, with the highest spell slots and action surge spent...

[@theDMLair]

Yeah...dead boss. 😢 PCs going supernova = quick boss fight

[@alexiavya722]

Lmao i’m a dm in high school My last game was a start to a new game group First encounter was 4 lizard folk with guns, a magic caster that got one shot and then created a level 1 barbarian that was raging, multiattack, and 40 hitpoints Intense fight that ended up have all 3 squishy classes downed and the Paladin 1v1ing the barbarian. The Paladin hat 2 smites left and max ho when that started and me as a dm thought she was lower so I was a little concerned that I went a little to hard, but everyone enjoyed the game 😂

[@theDMLair]

You've been DMing since high school too! 😁

[@alexiavya722]

the DM Lair but i’m still in highschool 🙃

[@Nebulosation]

One of the things I've learnt is that a boss should be resilient if they're on their own. Boost their health, but maybe keep their damage output either as is or at the lower end. This lets the fight drag out a bit and allows the boss to act more in the long run, opening up for some good roleplay as well. Also, if it's a humanoid and happen to be more susceptible to hold and/or control spells, give them some counters that the players will have to work around.

[@AchaOda]

I did my first oneshot recently as a DM (which actually turned into a two-shot and probably will be the prologue of our campaign) exactly what you said in here except for the terrain part, and I feel that's what I was missing in my first boss fight. Overall, it went from a merry band of players arriving in a city-state to an investigation on a conspiracy threatening the faith established inside of it. The boss fight was against a treacherous dragonborn knight and a group of hired bandits who were trying to unbalance the rule of that religion in place. They ended up almost killing everyone in the group. Except the players were smart enough to first locate the boss, go back to get some backup AND THEN defeat the boss in a really close fight. Thank you for the advice!

[@Skronk93]

my party fought some dudes in a warehouse once and it had a balcony that lead into an office, so the barbarian just kept throwing people off everytime they got close. great use of terrain. very fun combat

[@benwatson222]

My first boss fight as a DM was a puzzle mixed fight. The boss had armor that reduced physical damage by five, however the Boss was a mechanical golem so certain parts could be ripped off or opened with enough force. I gave them a little hints when their hits were close enough to the weakened armor points and eventually they figured out. With a little help from a Nat 20 strength check, the boss was defeated two turns after the ‘heart’ was exposed. They really enjoyed it. I like to add little boss mechanics into each fight if players are willing enough to be creative to figure them out. Just a small reward for roleplay

[@SchadDad]

Ik running CoS as a new dm, and I'm having the party meet strahd for the first time face to face next session. I'm excited to see how many characters I incapacitate before they stop trying to kill him

[@thereaIitsybitsyspider]

I think it's important to follow a basic principle with boss fights. Are things going to smoothly? Throw a wrench into things. Give the solo boss a second wind that allows him to escape instant death. Just remember to reward your players for clever planning and if they don't want to have a ton of combat, don't force it on them.

[@seraph1644]

In the middle of designing a homebrew boss. I have been spinning out trying to work out how to make the boss fights more challenging. Cheers for the help!

[@Matt-md5yt]

Glad you talked about the Big bad in this video

[@brettnelson7518]

Please be respectful of this man. He is a good guy and puts alot of time into making videos to help people. I saw a comment that broke my heart and I reported it. Be respectful as everyone here is here to learn about a game they like. Thank you DM lair for all you do. I appreciate you!

[@theDMLair]

Thanks, Brett! I think I see the beginning of the comment you reference, but it looks like it's no longer available. Someone saying something about my face or something? Lol. I caulk most of that stuff up to jealous trolls, tbh. Thank you for the support! 😁

[@brettnelson7518]

@@theDMLairYeah, there's always that one troll XD I asked him to delete it out of respect so maybe he did. It just seems a bit mean. You have such a nice community and that comment was out of place

[@alexm7141]

PC's: the boss fight is lame DM: Ahem 😡 Wizard: I cast shield!!! 😨

[@kaitokobayashi6394]

*All the 100 dragons used breath weapon from the sky*

[@masmurdermonkey9233]

@@kaitokobayashi6394 Let's just call it 1,000,000 damage. To save time.

[@alanthomasgramont]

Judging by your shirt, its clear which of the opening characters you filmed last. I feel so good about discovering that for no reason. I'm easily amused.

[@altejoh]

What i hope the next video talks about, is boss battles that become lame not because they are too easy, but because they just end up becoming slap-battles that last an entire session.

[@0MGWTF1337]

im so happy i found this now as im starting the Rise Of Tiamat this weekend and seeing her on a poster on a great series is just awesome

[@steamtasticvagabond474]

My only tip, make the fight dynamic. Something should change during the fight to change the approach. Example, my players are fighting a four armed sword robot and they shoot its head off. The robot cannot see anymore, so it start to go berserk. Then the players break it, but it starts building up electricity, so the players take cover to shield themselves for when the robot explodes

[@robinscompass5951]

While watching this I came up with a boss idea. Basically, the hero’s would be traveling through a kobold lair, but i seems very quiet. As they travel through they hear skitters, almost like a mouse’s, but much, much larger, in between dodging traps. After fighting off some kobolds they come to a clearing, where there’s kobold standing out, where there’s a guard standing in the middle of the hall, a peculiar place for a kobold. As he’s just standing there, the party sees a blur travel out from seemingly nowhere. The shadow pounces on the kobold and tears it to shreds while party is still struggling to make out its appearance. After it kills the kobold two large logs come swinging down from 2 log sized holes in the walls and smack into it with, creating lots of dust and splinters of wood. As the dust settles the monster is completely gone. I’m not sure what stat block you would use for this, but I’m thinking it would basically be a reskinned displacer beast that had solid climbing speed. (If your party wouldn’t like that then it could just be a reskinned displacer beast to throw off meta gamers.) for me the boss fight would occur in a pretty big room that looks almost like an arena, where the last few kobolds in this dungeon the thing hasn’t slaughtered (you could have scenes with lots of torn apart kobolds to show this off) are in the center, weapons drawn, when it falls on them and tears there ranks apart. After that the party moves in to see this large cat looking beast, but with huge talons on its feet and instead of a face just a huge mouth filled with rows and rows of teeth like a lampreys.

[@MassMoment]

For a boss encounter to be fun, it really helps to (1) know their abilities and (2) know their motivations. If you don't know these two things, it's hard to improvise for them on the fly. If a boss is a spellcaster, I find sometimes that giving myself a hierarchy helps a ton in deciding which spell to cast next.

[@loganfrandrup6590]

Thanks you, my players are just about to get to the first boss of the campine. And as a brand new DM, I needed this to make my boss was good to go Btw, it's a Necromancer that summons undead creatures from the inside of a well. Mean while, that same well is imiting a magical mist that every round they need to make a Con save or get delt Necrotic and Cold damage. That is the basics of it, it's only the first real boss.

[@theDMLair]

Sounds awesome to me! 😁

[@Zulk_RS]

Alright. I really needed this because I'm still struggling with how to design my BBEG's stat block.

[@GrugTheJust]

In my experience, he's right on all accounts. If it's a BBEG, you need to work in lair actions, regional effects, legendary actions, and have minions waiting in the wings to stave off a quick beatdown.

[@somethingnasty4145]

One thing that I as a dm do for solo boss fights when I give them too my players is to make sure they hurt. Hes right in saying turn economy is against them, so even recently my party squared off against a reskinned shield gaurdian, I buffed up its attack from 2d6+4 to 3d6+6 this made it so that it's two attacks felt a lot more impactful when it managed to hit.

[@eternalwatcher3628]

Another reason why boss minions are so important is because if theres only one badguy, only one player will get the satisfaction of getting the finishing blow. It's nice to give the others a chance to feel that they really made a difference. Sure, I didn't cut the Black Dragons head off, but I finished off that annoying as hell Naga that had been biting us in the ass throughout the battle.

[@deej8612]

During my campaign I threw a gigantic spider at my players. I had designed it to be a personal struggle for one of the players since she was a pyromaniac. Spider on fire? Spit web ball on fire back at party. The player caught on fast and instead used a spell I was not ready for and never thought would be used... Some sort of polymorph... Everyone laughed at the attempt and I rolled save for kicks and giggles, but when I saw it land a 1...i knew it was meant to be. I let her shrink it and stomp on it. And everyone loved it.

[@AdeptScholar]

If you want to run a solo boss creature, consider the environment [including natural obstacles and traps], yes, but also consider: the boss's method of attack and the creature's mobility. I would recommend giving a boss both a melee and a ranged attack ability, and for one of them to be an a.o.e. attack in order to help address action economy. (You could additionally look at giving them a healing/regeneration ability via a magic item [e.g. potion] or spell/spell-like ability [should they not inherently have such ability] to further "even the field"). Mobility can be important due to the fact that it can prevent them from getting surrounded and overwhelmed, so if they do not have the ability of flight, burrowing, or teleportation (invisibility could also be used here to allow them more freedom of movement), then you could make their ground-based speed greater than the average of the party. (And if you gave them a ranged/distance attack, then should they use their mobility to distance themselves, they could still be a viable threat).

[@PastorCleveland]

One thing I've started doing for boss fights (works every time) .... Don't determine the Boss' HP until the second or third round. I will describe damage and numbers for the first few rounds, but it's all a rouse. My main goal in rounds 1,2 and 3 is to see how much damage the party is doing on average. If they're doing 50 to 70 damage a round, then I can determine how many more rounds I want the boss to last, and then I assign an HP for them to reach. I do this for Three reasons - One: I want the party to feel like they're earning it. Two: I love giving out magic items and letting a party feel powerful. So, I already know just about anything I throw at them they're going to demolish. And Three: Doing this allows me to use just about any CR boss at just about any party level. Example: An Adult White dragon is a great boss fight, but it's CR 13 with only 200 HP. I've seen parties of 7th level dish out 200 HP worth of damage in three rounds! So, just nerf the dragon's damage a little and see how much damage the party is giving it for a couple rounds, and then decide on how long you want it to survive. They're doing 40 damage a round? Ok, three more rounds, that's 120 HP. .... Anyway, it works for me. The goal of the game isn't math, it's fun.

[@jokesonyou91]

Also, along the same lines as adding minions to split the party's attention, you can add additional elements to the battle. The boss has captured townsfolk and is keeping them locked up in small cages at the bottom of a pit nearby, that is quickly filling with water. The boss gets stronger when in direct sunlight, and there are levers on the temple walls that adjust the panels on the roof and walls to redirect light somewhere else. Etc.

[@gamesdisk]

I know its very videogamy but I love a muti-form fight. Beasts that hit 0 hp then respawn as something bigger and nastier. Another thing I do is give some bosses two or three turns per round, so it acts on say 17 12 and 4 for example.

[@theDMLair]

I don't know I think that's not that video gamey me to me. I think it just sounds cool and it makes bosses more interesting.

[@r.s.2890]

Mythic monsters from Theros, and a boss from Rime of Frostmaiden kind of do this.

[@Gamer_G33k]

I once ran an adventure where the party went through an abandoned facility that turns magic into usable energy. At the end of it the party went up against a group of cultists that took the facility, they freed a massive artifact and then went against the boss. The boss was a humanoid that mutated himself with Beholder genes and thus grew eye stalks. I just used the stat block for a beholder, but I forgot the anti magic cone when I did intend to use it. That actually made the fight harder and the group almost TPKed, that was until the Barbarian threw herself and the boss down a 100 foot deep pit. They both survived, and the remaining two had to fight the beholder from above. Eventually, they killed him, but struggled to do so

[@csm0304]

I make my bosses pc characters with a few minions. It makes it much more interesting and splits their attention between say 5 bandits and lvl8 wizard standing out of reach of the melee initially.

[@sharkjack]

One thing that really helps 'normal' big bads is realizing that standard turns still assume everything is happening simultaneously, so you can totally have everyone move at the same time, with the big bad setting the pace. Each turn he'd actively reposition himself to not be surrounded, to be as shielded from ranged attacks as possible etc. This also has the advantage that terrain changes every turn, allowing more stuff to interfere. Maybe you get to a bridge and the big bad trips someone. Maybe he sets off a trap. Give boss battles their own mechanics. Cornering the big bad with a complete party is still usually the win condition. Unless the big bad gets some ridiculous upgrade(which works great at the treshold of tiers of play) relatve to players, getting into a static fight will not feel satisfying.

[@eryvac0074]

I swear, that rogue voice is going to make me gnaw my ears off

[@theDMLair]

Please make a video of that so I can watch. 😁

[@eryvac0074]

@@theDMLair I'll get right on it when I figure out how

[@neinherman9989]

I read that in the rogue's voice

[@praecantrix]

Another great video. To add to your tip of planning the tactics, make sure you know the spells the boss has and think about when to use them beforehand. Really suck laying down a wall of fire only to realize after how the spell works and do next to no damage, or to realize the range on counterspell is less than the range of many other spells!

[@jasonreed7522]

Also personality, i have an idea for a Chaotic Evil PC who's entire deal is "i treasure my friends, i will do anything to protect them, even burn down this sacred forest of the elves by casting wall of fire. This way they can happily go along with a Good aligned party 99% of the time but when nobody's looking or the cleric is down, out comes the ruthless efficient evil side happily burning the world to save 3 people. My idea for this originated with the image of some wizard assassin's with rings to cast 3 spells at once taking out a fort/town/army/target by casting 2 walls of fire each facing inward and connected to eachothers walls all facing inward in a forrest. Anyway its definitely important to have the villains tactics planned out, including backups, and their general personality for how they improv when something unexpected happens.

[@alchemicpunk1509]

My prime tip for boss fights is: Use the game system you are running as a skeleton for your boss fight, not as a strict ruleset. My players will, for example fight a custom made boss that is basically an aspect of an eldritch horror whose modus operandi I grabbed from the typical Lich and Devil fights: Loads a minions surrounding a stat stick who knows a few combat spells at best. (For the record, I run necromancer and devil fights different from that because I am nothing if not an asshole about these things.) Main story reason: Such creatures would at best have basic intelligence but would still be warping the crap out of reality.

[@andrewlaverghetta715]

One of my suggestions regarding full resources… a boss doesn’t need to just die when a pre-determined number is reached. Just because a rogue gets a huge sneak attack crit, a paladin crits a 2h weapon with a huge smite, hold person eat … they don’t need to die when they reach xyz hp.

[@levithomas2700]

I had this exact same problem. The boss fight would be over in 2 rounds. So I added a bit more dynamics such as a few more hit dice and max hit points. Add some traps around the area, and maybe have the boss be in possession of a high level magic item to make the fight a bit more challenging. Or, I'd even have clues around the dungeon to indicate that the creature wasn't an ordinary one and had a special weakness they needed to figure out. However, be careful of this because if you have players who are used to dominating the battlefield, they will get frustrated real quick if the fight lasts more that 5 rounds.

[@weniswarrior666]

I recently had a boss encounter with an evil bard/rogue that was running a secret operation to drug a town's water supply and make them more susceptible to mental influence and manipulation. The fight with his minions was actually pretty intense, but the boss himself ended up being kind of a pushover. To be fair, I guess that is kinda how it goes when you take a bard's allies away.

[@BrandonGiordano]

In my experience the most important thing is to add at least one element which makes the fight unique. If you put a party against a monster and just go hit point for hit point it always feels very mundane. Try to spice it up with tactics, make the monster or BBEG interact with the enviornemnt, maybe they get desperate, maybe they try to run? Also if you create an atmosphere around the villain and give a sense of stakes it always makes it more meaningful

[@darksev.6468]

I was looking for this. Exactly this. My players are about to fight a Hag next session and that's exactly what I needed.

[@theDMLair]

Awesome! Happy I could help.

[@braydenb1581]

My biggest tip for a boss battle, make sure there is an RP element to it. So it's more than just math. Yes do all these fun things but my favourite thing I ever did was overwhelm the players with an easy kill switch. The players could auto win by breaking a dam. But that would destroy the town they've spent the last 10 sit downs interacting with. Even without them realizing the boss was gonna be hard after the first round, they were already freaking out over the obvious auto win switch.

[@cthulhuthegreatoldone7045]

I just started playing dnd and had a campaign in mind, is a boss that cant be hurt most of the time, but has like dps moments a good fun boss. Like it does a set amount of attacks then does a little resting thing when it can take damage

[@JadeyCatgirl99]

My players are about to meet the boss (if they survive this dungeon) so I am glad that I found this video. They are working through an ancient dwarven mine that leads to a gate to the Earth Plane that the boss is trying to open. They know the boss is a dark elf called M who has one staff that is used to open the door to the gate are, they have the other so this should get interesting.

[@HowtoRPG]

There is no such thing as a perfect boss fight in my opinion. I still enjoyed and agree with most the the statements you are making.

[@rossburton8775]

My tip for a cool boss fight... I tried for a while sticking legendary resistance and actions on something to beef it up (plus a bit of AC and HP as well). This usually gives it the staying power so they can't slam Hold Person or something on it and then alpha-strike it for a round one gank. I they do eat the Leg Res they can start to lock it down and get the kill. But the problem with this is that it's immune to certain tactics, but can still be taken down by a concentrated pile of attack rolls. As an alternative I've started going in reverse instead, grab something freakishly over powered that would definitely kill them all at a rate of about 1 player per turn. And then seriously handicap its damage output to the tune of maybe averaging half a PC per turn. Trust the AC, HP and beasty saving throws to keep it in the fight even after the PCs go ham on it. In theory this gives a longer fight without it being tedious, since they can spend all their cool stuff, and even without the LEG Acts, the monster can be scary when it finally gets a turn and smashes a PC to 20% health. Throw in a couple of mobility options that it perhaps didn't have before (like flight or bonus action disengage) and now the wizards can't just hide behind the tanks for the whole fight.

[@chummer2060]

I learned the hard way that a solo boss doesn't work very well. For the next one, I added some plant creatures that pop when hit and have a chance to daze/stun/sleep the characters. The huge plant creature would go after the woozy adventurers and toss them in it's mouth. They were pretty scared of that!

[@theDMLair]

That's a great idea! I'll steal that for my next plant themed adventure. 😁

[@blitzdublone3006]

Thanks, I got a whloe of great and awesome ideas for my boss fight :) This is gonna be awesome !!! :)

[@theDMLair]

Sweet! No mercy. Lol 😁

[@pavelZhd]

My 2 cents would be: 1) Be creative with Boss reactions. For example I had a boss fight that lasted only 2 rounds. But the boss had reaction specific to being hit in melee (switch places with anothe enemy and make it take the hit instead) and being attacked by a ranged attack (force the attacker to make a WIS save or get disadvantage on the attack). The boss has only like 40 hp and was vulnerable to one of the damage types the party dished out, so he was pretty squishy. But in those 2 rounds he lasted he used those 2 reactions (of which he had 3 uses per round) to dodge couple of first attacks from the party, including a sneak attack from the rogue. And when the party managed to eventually hit and basically one shot, the party were cheering. 2) Synnergise the enemies. When you plan the boss fight tactics think about how the boss will use the minions and their abilities to their advantage. Like the latest encounter I ran for my 3rd level party. The only enemies of note were the 2 Spies. An they went down pretty quickly when the party got to them, but they had a bunch of cr1/4 mooks with them, and once the party got inlo melee with the mooks, the spies started dishing out sneack attack with their hand crossbows, ripping 2 party members some new ones. At some point I even got worried that this encounter of slightly above medium difficulty might result in a TPK as the party healing magic got drained.

[@DanRaven88]

4th edition has some cool things you can pull from for monster abilities. You can kind of think of them as legendary REactions if you like. The most common example that comes to mind is that if the BBEG Dragon is reduced to half it's HP, it immediately recharges its breath weapon. Not spicy enough for you? Maybe it immediately USES its breath weapon, regardless of recharge, and then automatically recharges it anyway! Another idea I just thought of could be that as the fight drags on and the dragon becomes more desperate, the number it needs to recharge its breath weapon gets lower. So if it starts at at 5-6, when it's reduced to half hp, it needs a 4-6. At one-quarter HP it only needs a 3-6! This is probably stuff that's best employed in a home campaign. I play/DM a lot of Adventurer's League and in that setting you kind of have to follow the rules a bit more closely just because it's AL :)

[@OrangeyChocolate]

Having phases can be a good way to make a solo boss fight more interesting and challenging, even if it does end up feeling a bit "videogame-y". I ran a ghost with ice magic as a mini-boss in my one-shot. When the players knocked her down to half health, she disappeared and summoned zombies to soften up the players while she buffed herself up before rejoining the fight. The players did beat the boss without losing anybody, but it did weakened them significantly and get them scared for what was to come later. Also they enjoyed the encounter, which is what really matters to me.

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Foreshadowing is something I do Good tips and good video

[@malachihormel7994]

There's two tools I find invaluable for good boss fights: 4E style minions, and hazards which clearly threaten an area in advance. For anyone who hasn't played D&D 4E, minions were a type of enemy with 1 HP who did fixed damage (rolling less dice is good) and didn't take damage from missed attacks. They let your players feel awesome for being able to take out bunches of enemies, and they keep some heat off your boss. The telegraphed hazards are a great way to ensure combat stays mobile. No one wants to stand still trading hp until the bad guy dies, that isn't fun. But perhaps you're fighting in a collapsing cavern. Tell a player the ground beneath them begins to crack and crumble, or a shadow begins to form from the boulder that's about to occupy their space. So long as they have a round to avoid the hazard, they don't feel cheated and combat remains dynamic. It also gives some great opportunities for players to push bad guys in the way, or adds tension if the bad guy uses something to restrict their mobility. One of the best moments I've had in my group was when the fighter shoved the bard out of the way of a falling boulder, getting flattened in his place (the boulder was not an instant kill, they were both just really low and they knew the boulder's initiative was coming up). Even though those two characters hated each other, that bard went on to sing songs of the fighter's heroic deeds any chance he got for the rest of the campaign.

[@imoweenlodestone5447]

I never use dungeons for final fights..it got tired of using them. I am with you I believe in using terrain. The punch line it depends on how the characters look when they rich 6th level. For example let's say a ranger, fighter, mage assassin and healer. I would use one of the characters background in this to surprise the players...the terrain I would pick...a thunder storm, lighting touches down, strike trees and the ground. This forces the players to think, panic ect

[@O4C209]

Well this was the perfect recommendation. I have my big boss fight today for the conclusion of my mini campaign.

[@theDMLair]

Perfect timing! Good luck with the boss fight!

[@Dazyhead]

idea i want to use for a cerebus syndrome: a spore druid who gave his body to nature in order to set the world back to zero society wise. his body would be in a safe place completely mummified but kept alive and a plant would be creating clones of him. for his plan, he was experimenting on creating strains of mushrooms that can explode, called blasting caps. when the players finally find him, i would want him to be an unknown but his worked noticed, and he has to be in an already established town that the players have gotten used to, and he would be finalizing his plan for sentient mushrooms that use bodies to move around and travel. said bodies, don't need to be dead. so he would be using live people being controlled by mushrooms that chase down people and explode, raising hate levels to absolute extremes. after seeing how successful the plan goes, he would just leave the players and the town while they try to deal with the blasting cap mushrooms.

[@kevynhansyn2902]

My favorite new rule for my games is something i remember using groom Palladium Games, a 1-4 is a auto miss, of course a 1 is a critical miss. When stats and bonuses are just getting to high, and for example a pc can hit or do something on as low as a 3, well, that wouldn't fly. Its more fun that way. Also i love to give my main baddies, levels and feats and skills to go up against the players. Just about everything learns how to adapt somehow.

[@andresmarrero8666]

One could put a boss at the beginning of a dungeon as a sort of battering ram, ment to weaken them significantly right off the bat and then have the boss come back at the end of the dungeon in a more powerful and dangerous form. Heck if you want to be cheeky then you could have the boss become the dungeon itself after his second defeat and the heroes have to pay demolition if they want to get out alive.

[@vermillionwraith7810]

for bossfights a good way to make it challenging and memorable is to have the fight occur on multiple fronts. Basically have a challenge the players have to overcome other than simply taking and dealing damage. This can be a secondary goal like defusing a bomb, escaping the lair before it explodes or convincing a third party to help their side. one of my players favorite encounters is when they tried to prevent an assassination and had to spread themselves out to defend against attacks on several fronts(he then proceeds to tell me how all my other fights suck). It can also be a special ability the players have overcome. In my current campaign my players are fighting a villain who can reflect damage back at players if they fail a save but has shortcomings such as not being able to reflect area of effect damage. Even something as simple as giving your assassin npc a grappling hook can change the entire dynamic of a fight. if you need inspiration just look at boss fights in video games or films there are tons of crazy fights easily adaptable into dnd

[@jcplaysmusic6257]

Watching for my homebrew campaign, you helped soooo much! Thank you

[@theDMLair]

You're very welcome! 😁

[@thendarkendwolf8796]

In one of my DM's games my party was level 2 each person including my Paladin and we found a displacer beast fought it and almost got TPKed but thankfully to some encouraging strategy talking with other players we have a pelt and food.

[@deadly_artist]

Rewatching it since I need it now, really helpful!

[@NineInchFailz]

Your content is top tier, my dude.

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

"Nothing is more terrifying than a headless Barbie doll." What about a Barbie doll...with a head? 0.0

[@cthulhufhtagn2483]

@Natasel Lego features on flesh-colored Plasticine.

[@normal_mothman]

I think a good thing to steal from a lot of Video Games here is phases. One of my favorite bosses that I designed was Deadham, a giant pig demon. He wasn't that interesting stat wise, all he really had that was threatening was a sweeping attack, but the thing which kept the momentum of the fight going was that I was altering how he played and looked. When they reduced him to half HP, I had his skin and skeleton leap off of him and try to keep the players away. Then, when he was reduced to 10% of his HP, I had his skin fall off, hurting players attempting to climb onto him and attack him. Though it was a small detail, it really helped the players feel accomplished, and kept them from feeling they were fighting was basically just a giant chunk of hit points.

[@ZanarkandAce]

I’ve been foreshadowing my BBEG (The Queen, Lvl 3 hexblade warlock lvl 17 bladsinger wizard) since session 3. At level 7 the party used their 1 wish to write the Wish spell into her spellbook, then she wiped their memories to make them think it was done willingly. They cleared up their minds a couple sessions later and re replayed that time with her and they managed to kill here and get one of her clones out of the way. Now they have a few months until the next clone is ready to come up with a plan to kill/stop her

[@Aazdremzul]

Right now I'm throwing my players through a gauntlet of bosses in a dungeon. They are about to face a necromancer with some pretty scummy tricks, most of which are not meant to kill the intruders, but to imprison them for later use. I'm doing 3.5e, and there is a trap spell called Trap the Soul that the boss is going to keep in her boss chamber. Basically you get precious gem stones and inscribe the final word of the spell onto on object near the gem or on the gem itself. If they read the final word they immediately get their soul trapped into the stone and can only be freed upon the stones breaking. So I'm putting about 13 stones that do just that, all scattered around the room to find as treasure. On top of that, even if they kill the necromancer, she has a clone for herself and all of her fallen companions as well. She isn't the final boss, but she's like a very powerful support for all the evil beings in the dungeon.

[@stryderh.3934]

Just watched my party of 6 level 5s murk a Marid in around 3 turns, so thank you

[@dakotaruppel6707]

I like to have challenging bosses that scare your players, and interesting attacks that make combat interesting.

[@JaredHight-g4e]

Sometimes the best way to challenge an op party is to make an op party for you to use. Wizard getting cocky because he can reverse gravity? Get your own wizard to force cage him. Paladin dealing too much smite? Bear barbarian with 5,000 hp. Ranger sniping enemies from 300 ft away? Spell sniper from 600 ft away. Rogue only rolled a 60 on stealth? Counter stealth with your own rogue. Cleric? Uhhhhh warlock? Possibly my favorite boss fight was a group of corrupted clones that the mad wizard Tomas Bloodeye had made, a crazy fight with 5 lv 20 adventurers fighting imperfect clones of themselves.

[@rhysofsneezingdragon1758]

Another good tip is too subvert the final boss. For a campaign I'm running now, they believe the final boss will be the high priest of a massive cult of tiamat. But, they'll get to face the massive challenge. A necrodragon that controlled the cult.

[@DetectiveBarricade]

Don't do that too often, though, and the actual boss should still "fit" with the campaign that has been running. If it's done too often, players may come to expect it. And something too out of left field will probably feel forced.

[@agsilverradio2225]

My bossfight is a chaotic-evil spelcaster, and one of his battle companions is his fammiliar.

[@evannibbe9375]

Sounds like a pact of the chain warlock.

[@Jgpgames]

As someone who's fought several bosses I definitely agree, last boss fight we went in 2 pcs down, the warlock did some dumb shit and we killed him (no hard feelings lol) and the cleric failed a saving throw against a fiend spiderboss's mind control and wouldn't let us fight him until we knocked him out with sleep. So it ended up just me (the rogue) and the barbarian fighting a cr 8 homebrew monster at level 5. We barely made it out but I had the dust of disappearance active and the barbarian kept rolling really well to resist it's mind control, plus he had a pretty sweet magic item that let him use the lightning bolt spell a few times per day