70 Tips for Better Boss Battles
I asked twitter for some advice on how to create better boss battles and received the following fantastic tips:
A few things I have done that I think help: -build the hype of the creature or encounter -add narrative flair to combat descriptions -fudge the math/rules if you have to.Add health, or to hit bonuses as need be to maintain suspense. (Rudo_Rampage)
A whole lot of it is heralding the creature's power/potency before the fight - letting them see the danger, how the creature works, etc. Then having the fight take place in an interesting place or under interesting circumstances makes up for any mechanical shortcoming. (DropTheDie)
An element the boss could have plausibly prepared based on their knowledge of the characters, especially if a minion escaped. Not a hard counter that makes it unfun like 20 counterspell slots, but some kind of hidden ace. Bloodied triggers from 4E are also pretty great. (JasonRGBest)
An escape plan for the big boss so he comes back later (and with friends) (SatansToast)
An 'oh shit' moment. Fights tend to get stale after a few rounds, so to keep it interesting something has to happen. Be that the environment doing something weird, or the boss entering a different phase with supporting visual descriptions for palpable effect (cloudsincats)
Back up enemies or surprises waiting in the Wings, for a potential Phase 2 as the gamer kids call it. Adjust HPs as needed on the fly. Its ok to add to a Boss, even at low levels, 1 or 2 Legendary reactions to keep action economy balanced and efficient, not sloging down combat. (BenByrdNYC)
Best advice I ever got was treat it like an epic boss fight in a video game- give it multiple stages, a transformation, maybe a comeback. Doesn't hurt to have it change colors or reel back dramatically when they hit a weak spot. (bfriendlygiant)
Boss battles should challenge not only the party physically but the parties ideals. I tend to make my adventures shorter, but the enemies they face will have much more impact on them (RinandStyx)
But then out of it's belly burst out 5 negotiable Neogi. Or, from its chest comes a solicitous Slaadi. Always go Cosmic horror . (CousteauMagee)
casually start slipping in Legendary Action and flavor it as a stressful fight or phase 2 of the boss encounter (4Kingdoms_TTRPG)
Context. It needs to feel in place, like they should be there. A goblin or kobold chieftain won't be doing menial labour, right? But would be out there to claim the important relic before anyone else. (RedSkyGames1)
Dynamic arenas (maro79901530)
Dynamic environments that the boss can take advantage of. For instance, a creature that can hide in darkness should be encountered where there are patches of darkness. (DarrinScott11)
Every solid hit from the PC should hurry! Boss is indignant, then expresses pain and anger, then fear / even plea for mercy. Make it emotional (TroyScribe)
EVERYONE GETS LEGENDARY ACTIONS! Reroll the Initiative for your BBEG every round so the PCs never know when he's going to go. Minions are way more fun. Area effect traps or weapons that hit people further away. The BBEG is READY for the group and has surprises in store. (BZBeezley)
Evolutions and shifting battle fields. Keeping the sense of doom and death just within reach. Promoting cool moves and team moves. (GravityFail87)
Give characters (and enemies) a reason to keep moving. Make the environment active, and have it require interaction, so that the players have a constant choice every turn between "attack the boss" and "stop the world from killing us." (WalrockHomebrew)
Give the boss a strong theme. Build in a way the PCs can exploit that theme. Even if it is as simple as 'uses lots of cold attacks, so get out those resist cold effects', it makes PCs feel they are rewarded for engaging. (crowroadaw)
Give the environment an initiative and use the "spells as environment†rules to make the location a participant. (newbiedm)
Have character development stakes in the combat (ZipperonDisney)
Have the bbeg call some allies to the field, something supes op or maybe a npc they met before has actually been in team with the bbeg (Dzzynuts)
Having a weakness and/or an upgrade aspect. Like in Zelda games, when you can't defeat a boss unless you strike its belly. Players feel so good when they figure out the enemy's weakness! Similarly, a "ticking clock” upgrade that happens if they don't do XYZ in time. (neversaydice)
Havr the villain switch bodies. Or be a revanent. (SeanHRuch)
Hit point thresholds gates behind Sub goals. Ex can't lower below 75% until being down magic barrier (idk break generator crystals). Or fire ballista to hook into huge shield ha dread it away opening boss up to damage. Or certain acts can strip resistance or immunity (Lee_Morgan7)
Honestly? Minions, both leading up to and during the battle. There's "kill the archmage”, then there's "Battle through a gauntlet of animated armors, golems, elemental myrmidons, and apprentice wizards then kill the archmage without a long rest (I_Be_Rad)
I always like to think of some clever way to win if everyone works together. As an alternative to just fighting (BGroat)
I always try to keep all of my encounters fresh by using uncommon creatures that the players might not know how to play against, so it gets them thinking. Magic is a good way to keep your players on their feet, as well as lair actions. (someguyethan)
I don't necessarily try to create memorable bosses but more so unique ones. I had a recent party face off against a Shield Guardian on a shrinking platform which was fun and different. It's hard to make battles "pop,†cuz more than not it's down to the dice rolls. :/ (veitanah)
I enjoy using @mattcolville's Action Oriented Monster idea for building my boss encounters. https://t.co/03j5U5Yl2g (Gasvti)
I like a boss battle that forces the players to consider whether this boss should be battled. Moral and ethical ambiguity prepped across the campaign with a strong boss monologue finisher. They're not a boss simply because they've got a bunch of epic stats. (mike_sell)
I like having the monster attacks or even the players attacks affect the battlefield, creating A new one. (MikeMelloD)
I love multi-phase fights that aren't dependent on HP but other effects like minions dying, terrain changing, turn number etc. It's very rare that I've enjoyed running a single-target boss battle due to the nature of action economy. (leithbrownlee)
I usually make a multi-phased boss fight. Phase 2 starts after they beat phase one, etc. Maybe an evil aristocrat fights with spells until they exhaust his hp, then unveils himself as a dragon. Phase 3 starts after they smash down through the floor into his horde with me hp. (ubersnail)
If using a grid, use a size and terrain features that encourage player movement. Letting them get all get to the boss in a single turn quickly creates the "I attack. Next” player pattern. This also helps split the party up and stop then attacking from a "safe†formation (JacquespPryor)
Ignore the boss's HP. But don't tell your players. Describe hits and wounds as normal, but ignore the numbers themselves. When the battle feels almost done, especially when the players are beaten and battered, let the PCs describe the final few blows, especially the kill shot. (Higgins802)
Ignore the rules for creating a boss. Bosses don't have limitations on class abilities that PCs have. Go nuts. Also, having them escape by the skin of their teeth seems to help. (AdventuresSun)
It may not sound fair, but once the boss falls below half health I just start having it shoot off AOE attacks as extra actions each round and kinda turn it into a DPS check. Players seem to feel the tension spike and start to go for broke in their attacks. (EmileOberon)
It's hard in a single adventure to create a bad guy that the players are really concerned with defeating. For that big battle, I like to have multiple stages. Maybe reinforcements, or a transformation something unusual. (TuckerAuthor)
Lair actions and interactive environments are the fastest way to liven up any battle encounters for me. Often times it will be improv'ed on the fly on exactly what the encounter needs, but I always make sure to stay consistent once I figure out what I want. (Faustuszero)
Legendary resistances/actions, lair actions, interactive environments, multiple forms/phases. Look to your video game RPGs for good examples. A room-wide AoE that requires you to hide behind pillars. The boss going invulnerable and summoning minions that need to be killed, etc.. (CMSLOPOrion)
Make sure there exist a real Emotional reason for the heroes to take the fight. Or surprise and let them steamroll the BBEG :-) (rekendahl)
Make the environment in which the combat take place a memorable one. Flowing lava, on giant clockwork cogs, underground during an earthquake, that kind of thing. (NAlexWhite)
Memorable arenas with 1 or 2 dynamic elements. Most recently I had a fight at a megalith structure with both an airship weavimg around the field & two of the enemies focusing on toppling a pillar. I also once had an allip with 2 "nothic" minions who had an impact on death. (PinkGeek008)
Memorable boss battles? Scenery; tactics; party (or character) impact. For example the party's Orc Barbarian is fighting the Orc whom betrayed his clan instead of a burning building while the rest of the party is on the outside with little to no information. (Slit518)
Multiple stages, like a Dragon Ball villain, a battleground that changes as the fight progresses, and 1 HP minions.¸ (_michaelgleason)
Multiple stages. You can keep layering on problems or change the battle field as the party overcomes challenges or not use them if they are struggling (iron_vulture)
Multi-stage. Innocent folk to protect. Timers. Use all of @DailyDael's ideas for dragons. Changing environments. Also, as with all good heroic fiction, we know the heroes will win, the question is, at what price. So working out the price of victory and making it obvious. (EightBitTony)
My best one was in a video gamed theme setting where I could more easily justify phases. It's easier to make the players feel threatened and also like bad asses when there is a punishing early phase and a less punishing kerb stomp phase. (Turtullian)
My best tip is that you set it up the best you can but let things play out. The best boss battles are the ones the players feel they won honestly and through their own actions. You give up a lot of control in a #TTRPG (optionalrule)
My short answer is to copy the Chrono Trigger boss fights (JojoFoHo)
Narrated Special actions (like quick time events) Map/arena effects Puzzle fights (andreas_mwg)
Obvious, maybe, but a good boss needs to have as much agency as a PC. (Andrew_Ervin)
Often targeting characters or destruction of the area, they almost never remember the names (if bosses aren't like the major BBEG), the numbers, and why they were fighting lol (irunvillains)
Prep tactics, ways for the boss to use the environment that fit in with the story and character. But I know for my group, the best way for a boss to "pop" is to take advantage of any poor decisions they make, and possibly kill a character. Other groups may have different needs. (noahgrand)
Prepare additional waves of monsters to support the boss. Give the boss a variety of additional skills. Always change the name to counter meta gaming. Adjust the fight on the fly if it is too hard/too easy: add/distract monster waves, remove/add skills. But: don't fudge rolls. (DiceaufEis)
Second, "real,†boss emerges after the first one is down. (badpaper)
Setting and set up - a battle in a regular cave is just another battle but tougher. A battle on a rope bridge over a chasm, or surrounded by lava memorable. Are their minions deployed strategically? Did the big boss have ambush traps in the lair? (Craken_MacCraic)
Stakes, lairs, and the build up to the boss. I had a medium size dungeon with all these clues built up the only at the last chamber before the boss the party had to figure out what they were going to fight and a failure of this fight could lead to the destruction of the town (late_smiles)
Start turning their favorite npcs evil or into monstrosities by some evil entity but have each npc describe it different... Your party puts the best descriptors together and you go from there (aguilera_drew)
The best boss battles require the party to exhaust every option....casters have no more slots...melee are reduced to their worst weapon....at least one player is knocked unconscious. They have to FEEL like they barely made it. (shantzonlife)
The secret lies not in the battle itself, but in how many times that villain caused trouble to the PCs, tossed a number of minions to fight them while the villain accomplished its objectives, how many times the PCs pursued it, just to find out they'd been misleaded... (ChaosDomine)
The stakes should be high, but more importantly, multiple failure states really get things going. When the players have to juggle things like "We have to beat the bad guy, but ALSO have to save the NPCs, and we ALSO have to stop the bad guy's mad ritual from reaching completion"; (JoshuaBarbeau)
There is a lot of good advice in Fate Adversary Toolkit that is useful beyond Fate (though for Fate it is *excellent*). (CommanderPulsar)
Throw the book away and do a mix of features and abilities. If the Boss is a humanoid create it like a character not as an standard enemy with Cr rating. (Bellmig)
Try to use the environment to add flavour. Add a mechanic that depending on what the heroes do, the boss can power up further. Add more kobolds 😳 (PBPublishing1)
Two encounters before the final chapter with the boss does the trick.Kill a NPC that the players for some reason love. (Marcel_Fondeur)
Use build up to the fight to set the stakes. Either have NPCs warn about it or let players do their own research to build the hype. Don't let it be just a numbers game. Add a new mechanic to it, have a dynamic environment or give the bad guy some exploitable weakness. (McSwaggerDuff)
Vengeance - The campaign needs to have made it personal between the BBEG and the players. Death Can Happen - Players need to know Death is waiting to collect their souls. Riches - speaks for itself Unexpected Trap/Danger - Things go from bad to worse. Can it be thwarted? (sanishiver)
Watching CR has shown me that Legendary Resistances (used well) work really well for adding tension, but also giving the players a sense of whittling away at the enemy. They all get angry for a moment, and then say to themselves "Okay, that's one. Only two more and we got him." (OfficialAPoD)
Waves of monsters, legendary resistance and don't try to counter the characters abilities; instead lean into it. If they have good CC, give them a horde of weaker mobs, if they good burst dps give them something HUGE, etc and after that comes the endboss! (HeGe_977)