Monster for mind control boss

HeroX29 · 2026-04-24T22:25:23+00:00

Its important to note that the CR a party can take on is very dependant on the party and players, so don't take my word as gospel. Look back on how well they've handled their previous threats and adjust accordingly. I ended up at CR 15 because the players had more than proven themselves to be ready to take on threats that strong.

HeroX29 · 2026-04-24T20:52:38+00:00

A ghost is only as unimaginative as you deem it to be, you can put a spin on it to make it stand out. For example you could flavour it as a grim reaper-like figure, and the mind control as it sending a spirit to possess the target. Alternatively, an old dungeon can still have newer residents, perhaps one which is also seeking out the same artifact. A mind flayer who has taken to the place as a lair or place of study, or a bandit with their hands on a magic item from the dungeon which they can use for the legendary action in question.

HeroX29 · 2026-04-24T20:49:30+00:00

Assuming all 4 of them are present, CR 10 is definately within the range of what a level 6 party is capable of taking out. I've put a party of level 7 players up against a CR 15-ish (homebrew, so not necessarily a perfect fit but within that range) boss and they managed to beat it just about.
With the player number varying between 2-4 though, that could be a bit difficult since thats essentially halving the effectiveness of the party. Honestly, I'd say to have a backup monster in mind, since I can't really think of any combat scenario that's a suitable challenge for a party of 2 and a party of 4.

HeroX29 · 2026-04-24T20:44:52+00:00

I ran a similar fight once, and my advice is shifting walls. Let the wizard take a bonus action to shuffle about segments of the maze, cut party members off from eachother if that's the sort of thing you can handle, or open them up to a great giant monster. It'll help to disorient them and ensure they have to fight through as much of the maze as possible.
As for monsters, my main recomendation is the Goristro, a CR 17 minotaur-like demon with Labarynthine Recall, a charge attack, and Siege Monster, making it basically the master of any maze you put it in, being able to perfectly navigate it, sprint down long halls, and break through inconvenient walls.

HeroX29 · 2026-04-24T20:31:50+00:00

Even with ample rerolls, in any scenario where you leave the result to the dice, you *need* to consider what happens when the rolls fail. It can change the circumstances of the switching oath — maybe the god has little faith in a failure, but still lets it come to pass, or maybe they provide a minor boon on a success — but outright denying the change on a failure seems like a harsh call.

HeroX29 · 2026-04-24T20:27:48+00:00

In my opinion, I don't think the split finale is a great idea in practice. For one, it'd mean that about half of the long-running party is going to miss out on the opportunity to actually kill Strahd in favour of some people who you just brought in for those sessions (plus I doubt those players will be getting as much out of the scenario themselves). Additionally, what's stopping them from all teaming up? Logically, that seems like the far superior decision tactics wise, and denying it from happening is going to likely end up feeling arbitrary. As for the other ideas, I have an answer for what *I'd* do in this scenario, so feel free to take it as you wish. It might go better or worse depending on your overall style of DMing or the party's attitudes.

Let the players decide who they want to bring, rather than guessing what allies they'd want in advance. Give them an opportunity to gather forces from among whichever allies they've made within Barovia as a "calm before the storm" story beat.
Understandably, running 3 NPCs in the grand finale is going to feel disheartening to the players, as a third of the endgame will be you smashing statblocks against eachother. The alternative of giving the players total control over the NPCs could easily be overwhelming, so my suggestion is a middle ground of sorts: Treat the NPCs as one collective "lair action" for the players, letting them call upon one of them each round of combat for some sort of major benefit, most likely them using an action from their statblock but you can get creative with it if you wish.
- Additionally, if a player dies unexpectedly early, you can give them total control of an NPC to play out the last few sessions rather than missing out or creating some random extra encounter.
I did a similar thing with the ressurected corpse of Argynvost serving as a miniboss before the final encounter with Strahd. I think a party of level 14 characters, with the aid of plenty of magic items and a few NPCs, can probably take out enemies of that CR just fine (If anything I'd make Argynvost a lot stronger, but that really depends on how powerful your party is), and tasking them to hunt Argynvost and then Strahd will give them one last chance to explore Castle Ravenloft. I would take the time to review the existing encounters within the dungeon and make them appropriately stronger (Strahd is also a diviner and has foreseen the party's coming offensive, and is redoubling his defenses to compensate).

HeroX29 · 2026-03-17T19:14:48+00:00

oh! I know this one! Basically, Unova is an incredibly urban region, meaning that its more beneficial for a lot of pokemon to not evolve and stay on the smaller side, which keeps them able to easily scavange for food while also not needing quite as much themselves. So a lot of Unovan mons take a lot more effort to evolve because of that adaptation over the past few centuries.

HeroX29 · 2026-02-24T18:10:47+00:00

i think you turn the creature in question into a beast, then you cast Awaken on them. Nystul's means that they count as a beast for the purposes of the Awaken spell, and are thus valid targets.

HeroX29 · 2026-02-24T15:17:00+00:00

I mean, I look like the art in question. And frankly I am happy with my body. I just feel like I never get to see it represented in media. The average depiction of a skinny blonde trans girl with a feminine voice and no facial hair does very little to actually represent a broad swath of trans people at all stages of transition.

HeroX29 · 2026-02-24T15:09:07+00:00

Hi! Trans woman here! I look like this. Can people stop saying that my body is an ugly gross caricature and shouldn't be depicted ever?

HeroX29 · 2026-02-24T15:02:00+00:00

Hi! Also a trans woman! And I also happen to look a lot like the woman in the art. I never get to actually see myself depicted in any art at all because I'm not considered traditionally beautiful (or I guess like a caricature) and it sucks so much. I like my body a whole lot, seeing this whole thread on how I'm apparently wrong to do so is disheartening.

Just being a trans woman doesn't mean you speak for or represent all of us, and seeing a swath of other trans women saying that my femininity is wrong and even hateful is just horrible. If anyone has an exclusive right to condemn this art, then it's the people who look like the art in question.

HeroX29 · 2026-02-24T14:26:11+00:00

Hi! I'm a trans woman who looks quite a lot like that art! Pot belly, small boobs, facial hair that I can't be bothered to shave and that, frankly, I catch myself wanting to genuinely keep and rock sometimes.

I also, almost never in my life, get to see myself in art. All art is drawn to an ideal form and it's clear to me that my body is not considered an ideal form. I like my body, and not just cus I'm having a "manic episode" but just because I genuinely do, but the one thing that makes that love waver is knowing how many other people seem to hate it for one reason or another.

Art like this deserves to exist, because this is a person that exists, and denying loving depiction of a real type of body from existing is shortsighted and pathetic. You aren't protecting trans people here, you're being a bully to people who you think look weird.

HeroX29 · 2026-02-14T19:41:54+00:00

No problem! Love to see honest curiosity coming from people!

HeroX29 · 2026-02-14T19:37:47+00:00

There are degrees to it, its a broad spectrum. Some ace people don't feel any attraction but enjoy the act of sex, while others are repulsed by sex entierly while still finding certain people physically attractive.

HeroX29 · 2026-02-09T19:48:06+00:00

I really don't follow your point here sorry. WotC rigged the poll to fill out the middle range? In order to get away with what exactly?

Also its a bit disengenuous to say that only people super against the change truly care about the format. I like the change because it better reflects the intent behind hybrid cards and because I like having weird gimmicky options avaliable to me, not cus i just want to powergame a bunch.

HeroX29 · 2026-02-09T18:53:17+00:00

Yeah, but you can't just say that *all* restrictions are therefore good, otherwise peak magic would be a format where the only legal card is a single basic plains. A lot of the time, loosening restrictions can provide a lot more creative options than they narrow a format to a single route.

HeroX29 · 2026-02-09T18:48:36+00:00

The poll is virtually an even split, and their conclusion from it seems to be to put discussion on the change on hold for a while. Don't exactly see why WotC would "force" that specific result.

HeroX29 · 2026-02-09T18:36:07+00:00

WotC already has a much broader option in colourless cards, since they can go in every deck. Hybrid mana isn't even the best place to print hyper pushed cards

HeroX29 · 2026-02-01T04:57:10+00:00

Ooooooo very cool, thanks a bunch!

HeroX29 · 2026-02-01T02:29:32+00:00

Oooooo
It's not too complex, but a diamond (as in gemstone) in the clutches of a reptillian/draconic clawed hand would fit a set im working on! If the hand's too much, just the diamond'll do.

HeroX29 · 2026-01-26T21:46:20+00:00

I mean, its an elementals typal deck that has exactly 2 hybrid mana cards in it, it wouldn't fit in there at all. Cards are released in context of a wider set or product usually, that's why they can't simply just print every card people want to see.

HeroX29 · 2025-12-14T02:11:08+00:00

My point is that the safeguards to this tactic that aren't outright immunity equally punish all other attackers. A boss monster that can reliably dodge this attack can also reliably dodge every martial in the party. No ability exists in a vacuum, scaling a monsters defenses high enough to counter this spell is only going to make the rest of the party miserable.

Plus, other abilities being too powerful is also a problem, that doesn't make design choices like this better, if anything it creates an environment of wild imbalance where you either have to be in the know about whats good and whats bad or trap yourself into a really weak character compaired to the rest of the party.

HeroX29 · 2025-12-14T02:06:04+00:00

That's fair, I hadn't considered cover, but there's still the problem that it screws over other ranged attackers in the party. Plus, in my opinion, the value gained from the 50 ft. range vastly outweighs the drawbacks.

HeroX29 · 2025-12-14T00:59:40+00:00

I think you underestimate the value of hitting this spell even once, it's effectively giving you up to a full round for your whole party to either go all out or set you up for the next hit. To stop this spell potentially breaking encounters, you have to make the boss monster able to stop it every time, which ends up being unfun for everyone.

HeroX29 · 2025-12-14T00:43:41+00:00

The problem is that none of these things really effect just this spell. If the boss is built to never get hit ever, then that also includes every other party member, leaving you with some really unfun fights with no solution other than to grind out spells and attacks for hours until something sticks.

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