Post by electrohydra on Nov 29, 2018 18:25:33 GMT -5
Kit wanted me to make a list of bosses that either require or favor ranged weapons to fight. I've mentioned many times how many bosses (And even regular monsters, but those won't be in this thread) either require ranged attacks or are disproportionately strong against melee characters, leading to a very feel-bad for melee characters. So here is my list.
Ranged-Critical Bosses :
These bosses are impossible to beat without using a ranged weapon for at least a portion of the fight.
Minautor - I hesitated to put this boss in this category, because some melee characters will be able to fight it. Ultimately though I put him here because it will not be the case for most melee characters. While it's theoretically possible for any character to beat it to death with punches, that is not very realistic unless the PC is trained in a skill that lets their punches do more damage (Stealth or Unarmed Fighting). Animal Training also works here, notably.
Quelzarn - The first and most simple ranged-critical boss. This one is simply unreachable in all stages of the fight.
Dragons (All) - Like the Quelzarn, these are unreachable, but not for the whole fight. Still, you require ranged weapons for a significant amount of the fight.
Shelob - Like dragons, Shelob requires you to use a ranged weapon for part of the fight. Though on top of that, the webs make it hard to actually reach the eggs before they hatch if you are using a melee weapon, further complicating the issue.
Ranged-Leaning Bosses :
These bosses have abilities or styles that heavily favor ranged characters, but are not impossible to beat with only melee.
An Unfortunate Diver - Again this is the one I hesitated most to put here, but while the ranged-leaning is fairly minor, it's the most typical one - Powerful, self-centered AoEs. The Diver has this, though he doesn't spam it so it's not too bad. But these kinds of abilities mean the optimal way to fight is to have one PC in melee holding the boss off while everyone else uses ranged weapons so they don't get hit by the AoE.
Aquatic Monstrosity - If the Diver is the least bad of this category, then the Monstrosity is the worst. It's self-centered AoE is both very powerful, hard to counterplay, and continuous. Staying in melee with this thing for any length of time is extremely dangerous, even if it's not focusing you. Meanwhile, ranged characters can shoot it with very little risk.
Otyugh - Again a monster with a self-centered AoE, this one isn't too bad because the AoE has counterplay - You can walk out of it, and it doesn't follow the Otyugh. So while there is a ranged advantage, it can be (mostly) negated by good tactics. Like the Diver, this one isn't really a problem. It just requires melee characters to play a little smarter then ranged ones.
Toxiloth - Melee AoEs are much, much harder to avoid then ranged ones, both because you have a lot less time to react and because PCs in melee tend to be much more clumped up together then ranged ones. If it shoots out a ranged AoE, it's very likely to hit only one PC, even with a large number of players because they are so spread out. On the other hand, if multiple PCs engage it in melee, it's melee AoEs will very likely hit multiple characters at once. One top of that, if it hits you with a melee AoE, you are very likely to get hit again because of the Knockdown effect, while he rarely will throw out a second ranged AoE at you before you've had time to get up.
Non-Ranged Leaning Bosses
These bosses aren't particularly more or less easy to kill for melee or ranged PCs.
The Masters
Rip & Tear - You could argue that this boss might actually be a little melee-focused because of the Smoke Clouds which are good for melee PCs but bad for ranged ones.
If any bosses aren't here, it's because I haven't fought them enough to make an informed opinion on them.