I've been trying to put together an epic, scare-the-pants off them encounter..but one that my players should be able to defeat (easier if they can figure it out).

I was thinking about putting a really big droid (a nemesis, maybe based off the assassin droid) in a room that it cannot get out of, along with some minions. The idea is that the players will encounter the monster droid, and probably take a Really Hard hit or two, then back off, realizing that it's too tough to take in a standup fight.

The idea is that it will start to create minions (using itself and the other stuff in the room for parts), incurring strain first, and then wounds. Eventually it should be at a point where the players can take chances on damaging it.

The idea is that the fight should be epic (as benefits the climax of a chapter) and maybe scare the pants off of them. They won't be able to run, because the Big Game Hunter in the group is going to insist that it go down (or if they do, she might just incur a new obligation of shame or cowardace )

So, I'm trying to decide how to do the self-damage part, and the minion groups. I think they should be pretty challenging, so I'm figuring 4 minions per group (one per member), and something like a stormtrooper profile for the minions. Maybe with a boost to the wounds. The party has spent about .. 60 xp, and didn't focus on stats at creation, so they're rolling between YYG and GGG for ranged combat. I'm debating on 3 or 4 groups of minions before the nemesis will be self-damaged enough to take down. 3 feels right..I'm worried that more than that will be a problem. The big guy probably needs an ability to grant a minion group a free maneuver too, so they're more dangerous.

At 19W, 10S (from the assassin droid), I think losing 6 strain per group would be pretty good, but if the party gets off some lucky shots I might eyeball that down. That'd leave it with 7 soak and 11 wounds...still enough to make it pretty darn scary.

From those of you with more experience, how tough do you think that would be to survive? We've got a colonist (doctor), 2 explorers (archeologist, big game hunter), and a pilot (smuggler). None of them are really focused on combat except the big game hunter. The colonist only has a stun weapon, in fact. Should I consider downgraded the Adversity ability or soak as the Big Bad Evil Robot hurts itself?

Thanks

I would start with a base droid (the one you want them to fight when it is at its weakest) On top of its base statistics i would add the statists for a minion group composing all of the extra minions you wish to use. This will result in a droid that will have 5 ranks in its fighting skill and a lot of WT and ST. As each minion group is released from the main droid decrease its statistics accordingly. At frist only its WT and ST will be reduced. Once you drop down to the final minions howevr its attack rolls will begin to decrease also.

Useing this apprcah I would start with a driod similar to the B1 battle droid as opposed to the assasin. This will allow for the greates effect from the extremly tough droid to a week droid.

I dont have a rule book with me so i cant give many specifics and this if from memory, but this is how I would acomplish your goal.. PS I may steal this idea for my game if you dont mind.

Elegant, and simple.

You sir, are the man (if appropriate)

lol yes it is appropriate, and I appreciate it. There are other ways of doing what you want but this was the first that came to mind.

Don't forget to have them do a Fear check at the start to help convey just how scary it is! (And likely have them suffer some consequences for it, making the fight more challenging.... or at least appearing so.)

Fear check..got it.

haha.

I know I'd be scared. This is my current writeup. He's based on an imperial officer with upgrades for the minion groups (stormtroopers)

Boss Bot (Full Strength) (nemesis)

Brawn4, Agi 4, Int 4, Cun 4, Will 4, Pres 4

Ranged (Heavy 5), Cool 5, Disipline 4, Vigilance 4

Adversity 2, Computer Control (Spend one maneuver to grant a minion group a free maneuver)

Create Droid Guards (Spend one maneuver and downgrade to create a group of minion droids)

Soak 10, W 28, Str 29, Blaster Rifle equivalent

(I really wanted to upgrade the blaster rifle, but I'm already afraid the first shot is going to wipe out SOMEONE...if I upgrade it to something with autofire...shudder)

Boss Bot ( 1 downgrade )

Brawn4, Agi 4, Int 3, Cun 3, Will 3, Pres 3

Ranged (Heavy) 4, Cool 4, Disipline 4, Vigilance 3

Adversity 2, Computer Control (Spend one maneuver to grant a minion group a free maneuver)

Create Droid Guards (Spend one maneuver and downgrade to create a group of minion droids)

Soak 9, W 23, Str 24, Blaster Rifle equivalent

Boss Bot ( 2 downgrades )

Brawn 3, Agi 3, Int 3, Cun 3, Will 3, Pres 3

Ranged (Heavy) 4, Cool 4, Disipline 4, Vigilance 3

Adversity 1, Computer Control (Spend one maneuver to grant a minion group a free maneuver)

Create Droid Guards (Spend one maneuver and downgrade to create a group of minion droids)

Soak 7, W 18, Str 19, Blaster Rifle equivalent

Boss Bot ( depleted )

Brawn 3 , Agi 3, Int 2, Cun 2, Will 2, Pres 2

Ranged (Heavy) 3, Cool 3, Disipline 3, Vigilance 2

Adversity 1, Computer Control (Spend one maneuver to grant a minion group a free maneuver)

Soak 6, W 13, Str 14, Blaster Rifle equivalent

Looks good,

I recomend downloading a couple of the sample charchters and running a play test on the unit. Where you control both sides and see how difficlut of a chalange it is. When I did this on the last charchter I made I realized I had a lot of tweaking that needed to be done. Also how much time were you planning between the spawing of each minion group?

I actually have all of the character sheets. I could probably do that with the real characters pretty quickly. Hmm.

The idea is that the party sees the Big Bad Evil Robot (and probably takes a crit) and backs off when I make it obvious that the robot cannot fit through the doorway. The BBER then responds by creating a minion group and directing it out to follow the party. I assume that the party will wreck the minions (though computer control could make them tough...tougher if I also steal the imperial officer ability to grant an extra action). I'd like to think this group will last probably two rounds.

I'm thinking at that point, the BBER will drop another minion group and move them out, then drop the next group the next round. After that, it'll just make angry noises and beat on the wall

If the party doesn't go in after it for a few turns, I'll have it burst through the wall and force the issue, but it'll be noticably depleted at that point. I can also tailor the amount of wounds and strain and soak it will have based on how scared they are.

Wow this all reminds me of the Isotope-5 Droid boss battle from SWTOR on Makeb, the first time you encounter it as the imps, not the mob version or the golden fury that the pubs fight.

If your undecided on the make and model of the droid you could totally make it a refurbished Isotope-5 droid.

I like the encounter structure, but I must have missed the part where you've described the environment. It's been my experience that this is the cherry on top of the encounter sundae. Maybe you could add something like chemical pools, arcing electricity, or the cold hard vacuum of space as a factor? Sometimes you can use the environment to drive the action forward.

I would recommend you give them a few hints as to its origins and perhaps weaknesses so the group doesn't try to do a stand up fight. You do have an archaeologist in the group maybe some old hints to this thing and coded messages that don't reveal everything but helps them develop a decent strategy. A lot of groups get tunnel vision when it comes to the big bad. Some times it just because they want to see what's on the other side of that door or how the story ends. I had a gm do something similar in a game and all we had to do is back up and just draw everything into a narrow hallway instead of fighting in the main chamber. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way and we wiped because we didn't have a clue what all was in there or what exactly we were facing. Just my point of view. You also may want to have it where perhaps one of the things they find (especially for the guy with just a stun weapon) are some weapons to help kill it. A good ion pistol or rifle could be useful for that encounter. Again merely suggestions Oh and if you want an image of a big robot maybe this is a screen capture of the last time it was encountered. Pretty sure this would scare the heck out of them.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FGL6nXLSNUY/TrrDfzK_gPI/AAAAAAAAGBc/Rzgy0hUQdlo/s1600/Star%2BWars%2BThe%2BOld%2BRepublic%2Bbattle%2Bdroid%2Bscreenshot.jpg

The encounter went largely as planned, I think. I'm trying to do the session writeup now so hopefully it'll be available on my LJ later today...but it is Monday, and no plan survives contact with Monday.

I had set the stage with some creepy burrowing robots with claws a mile long. They came up out of the sand and scared the beejeebers out of a couple of the party. That fight was not going well for the team since the heavy hitter just couldn't roll at all. So they were already on edge. After sneaking around for a bit, they'd found their way into the rear of the remains of Ancient Alien Complex. (In my canon, the Infinite Empire is largely unknown outside of academic circles. This complex was an old research post with the BBER the only thing left.) The entire complex was dark, except for the light from an active containment field (the party came in behind it) and some creepy blue light highlighting the burst-outward-from-the-frame-bank-vault-thick-doors.

They were suitably cautious.

Because of the fallout from the CLAWS, the party was in hard shape (almost everyone had taken at least one crit by this time..some of them pretty good ones), so I reduced the defenses of each minion group that spawned past the first. That was probably overkill on the 'don't kill the party' lines, but it was getting late and I think everyone was already suitably brown-pants'd.

Another big bad coming up. Figured I'd toss this out since someone mentioned stealing the last one.

The PC's will, obligingly, sneak in through the front door (because they must sneak...they are PC's). They will be faced with the remains of a still-partially-functioning computer system sticking out of a wall at an odd angle, the rest of the facility that it was attached to having been demolished by ancient tectonic upheaval. The catch is that a mature roggwart has moved in, and the force-powered computer has latched onto it (literally) and is using the beast as a sort of avatar. It is quite old, and quite large, having been kept alive directly by the machine.

The players will be yelled at by the thing, but it will have no meaning (being a 30000 year old language coming out of a creature with no real ability to speak), and then it's going to start chucking force-infused rocks at the party.

Tenatively, I'm going to use the captive rancor stats, buffed a bit. The thrown rocks will probably be dmg 10, knockdown, and ensnare 1. (If struck, the aura will transfer to the players and slow them for several rounds, making it difficult to stand and move in). I might make the rocks more dangerous, actually, since I don't want EVERYONE to stand back and pelt it with blaster fire when it can't respond. Just the wimpy ones.

Another big bad coming up. Figured I'd toss this out since someone mentioned stealing the last one.

The PC's will, obligingly, sneak in through the front door (because they must sneak...they are PC's). They will be faced with the remains of a still-partially-functioning computer system sticking out of a wall at an odd angle, the rest of the facility that it was attached to having been demolished by ancient tectonic upheaval. The catch is that a mature roggwart has moved in, and the force-powered computer has latched onto it (literally) and is using the beast as a sort of avatar. It is quite old, and quite large, having been kept alive directly by the machine.

The players will be yelled at by the thing, but it will have no meaning (being a 30000 year old language coming out of a creature with no real ability to speak), and then it's going to start chucking force-infused rocks at the party.

Tenatively, I'm going to use the captive rancor stats, buffed a bit. The thrown rocks will probably be dmg 10, knockdown, and ensnare 1. (If struck, the aura will transfer to the players and slow them for several rounds, making it difficult to stand and move in). I might make the rocks more dangerous, actually, since I don't want EVERYONE to stand back and pelt it with blaster fire when it can't respond. Just the wimpy ones.

That all sounds pretty cool. You should really mess with the environment on this one. Have the ground be unsteady, and let the force rocks physically knock players down pits or block entrances or doorways. Have a Despair cause more parts of the facility to collapse from earthquake. Given that you don't want people to just stand back and fire on the roggwart, go ahead and have it be nearly invulnerable from the front and describe blaster bolts deflecting off its carapace, while also noting that it is constantly shifting to keep its chest facing the players' attacks. If that doesn't clue them in, have an advantage go toward a bolt deflecting off a wall and onto its back, causing it obvious pain and distracting it. This should get the players moving around trying to flank the thing. They may also trying caving the monster in, which, if they pull that off too early, allows you to have the ground break apart and get them to have to save each other, and maybe even have the monster pop back out and grab one of them, leading the others on a chase. If you have it grab someone, make it be a character who hasn't gotten to do a lot during the combat. I hope it's a fun battle!

That all sounds pretty cool. You should really mess with the environment on this one. Have the ground be unsteady, and let the force rocks physically knock players down pits or block entrances or doorways. Have a Despair cause more parts of the facility to collapse from earthquake. Given that you don't want people to just stand back and fire on the roggwart, go ahead and have it be nearly invulnerable from the front and describe blaster bolts deflecting off its carapace, while also noting that it is constantly shifting to keep its chest facing the players' attacks. If that doesn't clue them in, have an advantage go toward a bolt deflecting off a wall and onto its back, causing it obvious pain and distracting it. This should get the players moving around trying to flank the thing. They may also trying caving the monster in, which, if they pull that off too early, allows you to have the ground break apart and get them to have to save each other, and maybe even have the monster pop back out and grab one of them, leading the others on a chase. If you have it grab someone, make it be a character who hasn't gotten to do a lot during the combat. I hope it's a fun battle!

Hmm. I need to review the rules for a knockback like ability that I could tie in. I might have to give the beast a higher agility than I'd intended so that I can generate some more advantages to trigger specials. That thing about knocking them out of sight is good. Especially if I can do it to the wookie big game hunter and someone else steals the kill

I also think that I'm going to have it in two phases, depending on how well the players do against it. They've recently upgraded weapons and skills, and I'm not entirely sure how much more effective they are going to be.

I do know that I've got to check on crit resistance...stupid vibroaxes...