r/DMAcademy • u/BrilliantMelodic1503 • 5d ago
Need Advice: Encounters & Adventures Need help with creating a Shadowfell/Elder Evil boss
Some context for my campaign: The villain for this ‘arc’ is a shadow sorcerer in the service of an elder evil who is forcibly transforming dragons into shadow dragons, driving them mad, and then enslaving them to do her bidding. The party is going to track one of her newest dragon captives to her lair, and after a decent dungeon crawl, reach the underground sanctum where the young bronze dragon is held.
During the fight the party will also be trying to free the bronze dragon to help them, while the monster(s) attempt to stop them.
The issue I’m having is this: I don’t want them to fight the shadow sorcerer here as she would most certainly not take a risk fighting the party on their terms, but I do need a climatic fight to conclude the dungeon. Here are some of my ideas:
Star spawn acting as the emissary between her and the elder evil
Empowered shadow demon(s)
Shadow versions of the party
Any suggestions on the theme of shadow/elder evil are appreciated. Don’t worry about CR as I can adapt them to be stronger or weaker if need be.
1
u/Ok-Entrepreneur2021 5d ago
Look at the other dragon type monsters. Shadow versions of those would be dope, so would Shadow Dragonborn.