How to make this a fun djinn fight for relatively new players? (Bryan: Stay out, I know you're out there)
I'm working on a new boss fight for a 5-person level 8 party of fairly new people. I wanted to give them something completely different, so I figured a fight on a small 20x20 circular rooftop with a stealthy djinn might be fun. I'd love to hear thoughts on how to make this a good time. My main idea is to force the party to figure out creative ways to find the djinn, since they don't have any way to see invisible creatures in their normal set of abilities. Things like throwing sand in the air, or holding ropes between each other to detect the silent wind motion as he moves around. Stuff that is more flavorful than a normal straight fight.
I'll also be throwing players off the roof, forcing them to make agility saves to grab hold of ropes that are on the edge of the building, then strength checks to pull themselves back up. Have some moderate injuries occur if they roll badly. What suggestions would you have for me to make this a fun fight?
Izel, Guardian Djinn
Large Elemental (Air), Lawful Neutral
- Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
- Hit Points 152 (16d10 + 64)
- Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 18 (+4) 22 (+6) 18 (+4) 16 (+3) 20 (+5) 18 (+4)
- Saving Throws Dex +10, Con +8, Wis +9, Cha +8
- Skills Insight +9, Perception +9, Stealth +10
- Damage Resistances lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
- Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion
- Senses truesight 60 ft., passive Perception 19
- Languages Auran, Common
- Challenge 12 (8,400 XP)
Elemental Demise. If the djinni dies, its body disintegrates into a warm breeze, leaving behind only equipment the djinni was wearing or carrying.
Innate Spellcasting. The djinni's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 16, +8 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will:Mage Armor: You touch a willing creature who isn’t wearing armor, and a protective magical force surrounds it until the spell ends. The target’s base AC becomes 13 + its Dexterity modifier. The spell ends if the target dons armor or if you dismiss the spell as an action.
Greater Invisibility: (Concentration) You or a creature you touch becomes invisible until the spell ends. Anything the target is wearing or carrying is invisible as long as it is on the target’s person. The target can attack or cast spells without becoming visible.
3/day each:
> Wind Wall: Requires concentration. You create a wall of strong wind on the ground at a point you can see within range. The wall is up to 50 feet long, 15 feet high, and 1 foot thick, or a ringed wall up to 20 feet in diameter, 15 feet high, and 1 foot thick. It lasts for the duration, blocking arrows, smaller creatures, gases, and fog.
> Lightning Bolt: You release a bolt of lightning that arcs toward a target you can see within range. A line of electricity 100 feet long and 5 feet wide blasts out from you in a direction you choose. Each creature in the line must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking 8d6 lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Actions
Multiattack. The djinni makes two scimitar attacks.
Wind Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) slashing damage plus 5 (1d10) lightning damage.
Windforce Blade (Enhanced Multiattack). If Izel hits a target with both attacks during his Multiattack, the target is pushed 10 feet away from him.
Whirlwind (1/Day). As an action, Izel transforms into a whirlwind for one turn, moving in a straight line up to 60 feet. Any creature in the path of the whirlwind must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 18 (3d12) bludgeoning damage and is thrown 15 feet in a random direction and knocked prone. On a successful save, the creature takes half damage and is not thrown or knocked prone.
Legendary Actions
Izel can take legendary actions, choosing from the options below.
Wind Push. After every enemy's turn, Izel rolls a D20; on a 13 or higher, he uses the wind to move that enemy if they are within 60 feet of him. The target must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be pushed 15 feet away from Izel and knocked prone.
Wind Buffet. Izel creates a small burst of intense wind around himself. Each creature within 10 feet of Izel must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or take 17 (3d10) bludgeoning damage and be pushed 10 feet away from him. Using Wind Buffet breaks Izel’s concentration and ends his turn.
Lair Actions
- At the start of each turn, roll a D20. On a 10 or higher, all creatures on the battlefield are pushed 5 feet in a random direction determined by a d8 roll. This unpredictable movement simulates the chaotic nature of the winds that Izel commands.
What's the composition of your party? Primary spellcasters will make a difference here since they'll have up to level 4 spells available, they might have spells that will work very nicely for them. For example, Raulothim's Psychic Lance will let them target any creature whose name they know, whether they can see it or not. Might be a good twist. If they don't have the spell regularly available, maybe a custom scroll of it designed specifically to target this Djinn? Or perhaps a more double-edged (and desperate) Sickening Radiance?
For a more martial-focused party, maybe something like a lasso that's difficult for the Djinn to remove for some reason could help. First, it would tether him within a certain range, and could theoretically point the party in his direction.
Remember that following rules as written, unless the Djinn is taking the Hide action invisibility doesn't directly correlate to being undetectable; his movements are traceable when he's invisible if he's not taking the time to move stealthily. That means that maybe they can hear a rush of wind when he moves and be aware of the square he's in but can't rely on effects that require them to see him, and will still have disadvantage on attacks against him. Of course, it's up to you whether you want to follow that or not, but if things aren't looking great for the party, then burning some of the Djinn's actions hiding will give them a bit more of an edge (above and beyond being a 5 to 1 fight). This might eliminate some of the potential frustration that not being able to locate him could cause.
Party has a druid, bard, paladin, warrior, ranger.
Thanks for mentioning how hide works here. I think I'll add a bonus action for him that allows him to hide, but give hints as to the location when I describe the sand whipping around on the battlefield.
I'd really like to see the party come up with something creative like tying ropes around their waists in order to both not fall off the roof and also prevent the djinn from moving easily through their ranks without being seen. I'd love for them to have an "aha!" moment where they figure out how to reliably find him and then commence to whollop him quickly as a team.
Ok, so for that party, I'd be particularly aware that the Druid could potentially cast Locate Creature and then be able to point directly at the Djinn for the next hour. I don't know if they're going to be going in to this fight with foreknowledge of the kind of enemy they're going to face, but a devious spellcaster might make a plan like that. Faerie Fire is also a quick fix to invisibility that the Druid may choose to prepare, if given the opportunity.
The good news is that they probably don't have a ton of other spells available to them that wouldn't also risk hurting the party. They might try casting Fog Cloud, but the Djinn could blow that away easily.
I can't really think of a great nonmagical way of detecting the Djinn that would either be long-lasting or infinitely repeatable. Ropes and nets are breakable, bags of flour (or the like) are one-use and impractical to stock up on, and waiting for someone to get hit in order to determine where the strike came from is... probably not the most preferable course of action. Ground-based traps and looking for footprints won't work either since the Djinn can attack from 5 feet in the air.
Grappling the Djinn once detected could grant them a moment to wail on him, but any forced movement of the character holding him in place will break the grapple (unless you rule that they can hang on to him with another check, perhaps) so it's truly only momentary.
Long story short, I think there are a lot of different ways for the party to detect him momentarily and in that moment everyone strikes out. Prepared actions to attack the Djinn's location will be big, and if they can figure out a way to lock him into a known position they'll do great. Dispel Magic or a failed concentration check will also turn off his Improved Invisibility until he recasts it.
Detect Magic might also work if the caster uses their action to see the aura of his invisibility spell, giving away his location.
Druid could potentially Wild Shape into a creature with Blindsight as well.
The druid player is my wife. She's very new to DnD and I do not think she'd think of this, but that is a very clever tactic!
Thank you for these ideas. I think those are all great ways to have the party fight creatively. I'd be happy to see them use any of these tactics!
In case they start to really get stuck, I've added a bonus action where the djinn snaps his fingers and uses the air to pull weapons out of their hands and towards the djinn. That'll get them moving in the right direction.