When you ask how to balance a boss encounter and everyone tells you “give it minions”…but like, what if I actually want the boss to be one ultra-powerful thing that can toss the party around by itself? /u/TheAzureAzazel DnD: Roll for Initiative!

Literally every single time I’ve seen someone give advice on running boss encounters, I’ve always seen the addition of minions being brought up.

Like, I get that action economy is heavily weighted in favor of whichever side has the most people, but surely there are other solutions than just “more dudes”?

I really like the idea of bosses that don’t need backup, and can be a challenging fight entirely on their own.

Literally every single time I’ve seen someone give advice on running boss encounters, I’ve always seen the addition of minions being brought up.

Like, I get that action economy is heavily weighted in favor of whichever side has the most people, but surely there are other solutions than just “more dudes”?

I really like the idea of bosses that don’t need backup, and can be a challenging fight entirely on their own.