Dungeon's Bosses : Tweaking

[Eters]

This is one of those "difficult and probably too much work to implement" suggestions, but hopefully it inspires.

In Arelith, death is supposed to be something serious, despite it mechanically, not being such, I believe that if we want such to become true, then PvE's deaths, should have just as much meaning as PvP's deaths.

How many times did we killbash Abazuur, Paush, Mifano, the giant lords, Earl manfried, and the list goes on. Their deaths became so meaningless it almost breaks the immersion of the setting, for, even if in PvP one can killbash another person and literally walk around with their severed head, there are rules in place (24h rule, etc) that make it so that there is a small repercussion to death, atleast.

For PvE sadly, one can kill Abazuur 12 times a day, for example, and such makes it so that bosses that are supposed to be feared, become nothing more than a running joke, which kills alot of the "thrill" of raiding epic dungeons.

For my suggestion, there will be 2 parts.

Part 1 : The Narrative.

Please, make it if possible so that bosses with unique names and lore, don't die in battle, but retreat after being defeated, leaving behind a "Trophy" rather than being beheaded. Abazuur can drop a horn, Paush his keys, Mifano his eye, whatever. The boss in Pandemonium (Which I will not give details about to not ruin the fun for those who didn't face it yet) for example, upon defeat, appears behind, and rather than just dying, says something and flees, which makes it logical.

I also suggest that not all bosses get such a treatement, and only those with notoriety and a story behind them, for the rest of the bosses, that aren't truly anything special, I suggest keeping their heads removable, but changing their names to something generic like "Wharftown Bandit Leader" "Minotaurs War General" "High Shaman of the Tribe" , which means that another after them may take their place, and would explain why they keep coming back (because it's not the same creature you killed, just another one with the same rank) , such would also work for writs as it makes more sense for the writgiver to ask you "Raid X place and kill their general" rather than "Raid X place and REPEATEDLY SLAUGHTER THIS ONE SPECIFIC GUY."


Part 2 : The Challenge

While balance and the ability to best some bosses is indeed, nice, I believe that, compared to PvP (where balance is important to a degree) , PvE Bosses don't have to be balanced, or fair, Bosses that are supposed to be godlike and scary, SHOULD BE GODLIKE AND SCARY.

2 persons can kill Paush the Overlord, as it stands currently, a druid can stomp through the Hive Mind (Which is supposedly inhabited by the most terrifying species in the underdark), 2 persons can kill an aspect of a GOD, i think the proportions have been distorted largely and the entire vibe of going somewhere dangeous only remains in few, select places (Beholders for example are still challenging to many, and Unknown is terrifying as it should be.)

Make the hard bosses , well, harder, much harder, and give boss dungeons the thrill they deserve to get, leave the battle with always, a hint of uncertainty, rather than predictable to the point of becoming nothing but a chore.

To give an example : Paush the Overlord, for example, shouldn't be killable, at all, one could fight it until he reaches near death, then he drops his key and retreats for a moment, giving people just enough time to loot the chests, by that time, Paush would return at full strength, and they'll have to make way to the exit while pushing him away. The purpose would be "Raid Paush's lair and loot him, then get the hell out of there." Rather than "Let's kill the archdemon that rules this specific plane." Because in my opinion, such should inplicate a plot behind it's defeat (a new demon taking his place etc.)

Sorry for the very long proposition, and thank you for taking time to read it.