this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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Balancing a boss fight for an Eloquence Bard! (self.dnd)
submitted 1 year ago by Psymonkee to c/dnd
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Hey,

I'm running Call of the Netherdeep for a party and have some potential final boss cheesing I need help with. Members of The Inevitable should leave now!

I have been looking at the final boss fight and it tries to have the players talk the boss down for damage/debuffs and finally surrender in different phases. These are set at increasing DC's of 15/17/19 for the 3 stages.

The tricky part is I have an Eloquence Bard in the party and at level 8 his minimum floor for a persuasion roll is 22 😬

How do I play this or alter this to make it more challenging? Obvious strategy would be to attack/silence the bard after hearing their silver tongue the first time.

I could just up the DC's but that feels like I'm diminishing the player choices and restricting other players from joining in the efforts?

Ideas/thoughts welcome!

One possible solution would be to have the boss require each player to pass a persuasion check at some time?

Individual party member bonuses for Persausion are: 0/+2/+5/+7/+12 (min roll 10, min persuasion 22 😬 ).

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[–] Ellie_The_Nurse 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I dont understand the Min Roll 10 comment.

Other than that, this seems like a chance for your bard to shine! Perhaps they should get the limelight for this one? I’d adjust the DCs with the bard in mind but maybe play up the fact they can only try this because the rest of the party is doing their job in the fight by beating the boss down, etc. ?

[–] phrankygee 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Eloquence Bards get to treat any roll on certain charisma skills as a 10, whenever they roll less than a 10. So with expertise and high charisma they can guarantee a roll of 22 or higher in those skills related to eloquent speech.

Usually the DM can set difficulties or even decide if a roll is called for at all, but this module has a chance for diplomacy, and the corresponding DC baked in.

I agree, though, that the correct answer is “Let the eloquence bard do their thing!” The chance to talk the boss down comes in “phases” for a reason. As long as you still have to survive Phase 1 and Phase 2 before you can suggest surrender in Phase 3, you’ll still have an interesting encounter.

And there is always the possibility that by Phase 3, your bard player won’t even think about using diplomacy once the fighting has already been going for a bit.

[–] Psymonkee 1 points 1 year ago

They can use persuasion in Phases 1 & 2 to lower their health too but I think you might be right with the 3rd phase 'this seems to be useless, lets kill!' mindset may well set in.

[–] Psymonkee 2 points 1 year ago

Yep, as someone else pointed out the bard gets to treat and d20 for Persuasion/Deception as a 10 and then add their modifier.

Still thinking about the boss fight and the other actions surrounding it and the greater context though, lots to think about.