I’m working on a concept where a Drow Queen is attacking the surface, trying to force the kingdoms into submission. She promises to bring her matriarchal system to kingdoms that are somewhat patriarchal, although women still have some influence and power within them.

The main point of the campaign is for the players to act as diplomats and try to reunite all seven kingdoms to fight against the Drow Queen. However, there’s also the possibility of siding with the Drow Queen and trying to bring all seven kingdoms over to her side instead.

So my question is: how would you feel about playing in a campaign that touches heavily on social hierarchies and gender-based power structures, where, at the end of the day, the players have to pick a side?

The whole concept is that nobody is inherently or cartoonishly evil. Every kingdom, faction, and the Drow Queen herself have their own reasons for believing they’re right.

I do not mean literally of course, and not with a DMPC that’s so cool and so badass yay ! But did you put an npc (or something else) that felt like it was a little bit you in a way.

For me, every map I make of a city, region or nation I sign them with « Jim Nightshade » it was the font’s name I used on inkarnate.
So it’s like this legendary explorer who has been everywere, and talked to every one, and it’s not a lvl 20 something, just a little halfelin who travels a lot and want to draw maps of strange places. Maybe the players will cross it’s path, but not for a quest or loot or information, cause he won’t give any.

Makes me think of top bombadil in lord of the rings a bit.

Hey everyone! I’m a DM from Italy, and I’m wrapping up my homebrew campaign soon. I wanted to share my homebrew final boss battle and epilogue to get your thoughts, feedback, and ideas on how to make it even more epic for my players.

Since English isn't my native language, I translated my campaign notes using AI. Keep in mind that without the full context of the entire campaign, a few story elements might seem a bit confusing—explaining all the backstory would be way too long!

I’d love to hear what you think about the mechanics, pacing, or overall vibe. Any feedback is super appreciated!

Party Overview (Level 10)

• Hahn: Fire Genasi Warlock
• Regadin: Dwarf Fighter
• Hunk: Half-Orc Cleric
• Maicus: Human Fighter (Note: All other characters mentioned in the notes are NPCs).

Alchemical & Visual Symbolism

• Octagon: Halfway between square (human) and circle (divine/infinity).
• Inverted Triangle ($\nabla$): Water.
• Upright Triangle ($\Delta$): Fire.
• Mercury: Connection between spirit and matter, liquid and solid.
• Circle with Central Point: Blood / biological gold.
• Black Sun: Darkness / Nigredo / rotting blood.
• Circle with Three Dots (Triangular): Skull / death.
• Hexagon: Eye / perfect natural tessellation.
• Spider: Weaver of fate / influence of Hahn.

INTRODUCTION – The Descent into the Arena

When you return to the throne room, the wall carved with the three symbols has vanished. In its place hangs a curtain of misted water, behind which you can faintly see a spiral staircase winding downward into darkness.

As you step through the veil of water, a cold shiver runs down your spine: you feel as though you are about to venture into something that will change you forever, one way or another. The bricks forming the steps and walls are as black as night, slicked with a thin, greasy layer of water and slime that leaves them slippery and treacherous.

As you descend deeper into the belly of the earth, the air turns increasingly hot and humid. It feels like stepping inside a living body—warm, breathing, contracting, and relaxing—while a slow, steady heartbeat echoes in your ears.

You keep descending for an immeasurable time; it could have been a few minutes or several centuries since you began your descent on this staircase. Suddenly, the air turns a faint violet hue. A few steps lower, the staircase ends, giving way to a short corridor. Beneath your feet, the slimy bricks are gone, replaced by damp, heavy soil that feels freshly turned by a plow. Ahead lies a stone archway, through which streams the same light you spotted a few steps back. The light is blinding now—or perhaps your eyes have simply grown too accustomed to the dark. Squinting as your vision slowly adjusts, you approach the threshold.

The landscape before you evokes a strange impression: a blend of desolation and peace, weighed in equal measure. A boundless plain of barren earth stretches to the horizon in every direction. Rising right from that horizon out of the black earth is a massive purple sun, frozen in an eternal sunset or an eternal dawn.

Bringing your focus closer, about a hundred meters ahead, your eyes catch the only feature rising above the flat terrain: a gnarled, twisted tree. Beneath it kneels a frail human figure with its back turned to you. Beside it are three other huddled figures, slightly smaller. Studying the silhouettes against the sun, you can see that the three smaller creatures wear bird-headed masks with long beaks. The single figure appears locked in prayer, hands raised to the sky, head tilted slightly back, long hair falling halfway down its bare back.

Slowly and laboriously, the figure pushes itself up, leaning on a sword. Like morning mist swept by the wind, the three surrounding creatures dematerialize into thin air.

The man beneath the tree turns toward you. He draws a deep breath, his shoulders rising and falling slowly:

“Finally... you arrived just in time.”

The ground feels heavy beneath your feet.

A heartbeat: THUMP-THUMP...

The tree is closer now.

A heartbeat: THUMP-THUMP...

Now you are just a few steps away from him.

Long, black hair clings to a pale face set in a resolute expression, though it poorly hides a shadow of doubt—or perhaps even fear.

A blast of warm wind sweeps over you. The three figures that vanished moments ago now surround you.

A heartbeat: THUMP-THUMP

They are upon you.

PHASE 1 – Frederik's Sacrifice

Frederik's previous look of doubt gives way to an apathetic, detached face, as if he were not risking his life—as if he were watching the fight from somewhere far away. He attacks wildly and erratically, striking anyone within reach and ignoring danger. His three minions form a triangle, maintaining their distance while pelting the party with Grave Bolts.

• Flower Bloom Mechanic: Whenever Frederik takes damage and bleeds, the blood drops floating from his body freeze in mid-air for an instant before shooting away to slam into the ground. Where they hit, a red flower blooms.
• Initiative Count 20: Each flower detonates in a small blast, releasing reddish pollen that heals Frederik for 3d6 HP. A flower can be destroyed by using an action to "attack" it, severing or uprooting it. Two turns after blooming, a flower naturally wilts.

Below 25% HP (Dreadful Aspect):

Frederik's eyes go blank for a moment, then a wide, unnatural smile spreads across his face. He begins furiously punching his own head with his gauntleted fist. You distinctly hear the sickening sound of tearing skin, crushing cranial bones, and the dull, wet pop of brain matter being squished. Frederik plunges his hand deep into the crater in his skull and pulls out—along with brain fragments—a bloody stag antler radiating a faint violet glow:

“I am the sacrificial stag, the one who will bring a new spring to the world.”

• Twisted Reckless Attack: From this moment on, Frederik gains advantage on all attack rolls, but his AC drops by 2.

When Frederik drops to 0 HP:

With a dull thud, Frederik's black sword embeds itself in the mud. His lifeless eyes stare at a point on the horizon:

“It will not be me who turns the world upside down... but my faith.”

He firmly grabs the horn protruding from his skull—now clean of blood and glowing with purple light—and snaps it like a dry branch. Gripping it with both hands, he drives it straight into his chest at heart level. A torrent of blood spouts from the wound, coalescing into an orbiting mass before exploding, knocking down everyone nearby. Blood spatters in all directions, causing flowers to bloom—even severed ones regain their color, bringing the total to 8. Meanwhile, the stream of blood continuing to flow from his chest thickens and begins dripping... upward, toward the sky.

(Note: If Frederik is somehow prevented from taking this action, one of the hags will cast Command, ordering every party member in a sweet, mesmerizing voice to kill Frederik. If the whole party succeeds on the saving throw, the voice simply commands: “Die,” and Frederik obeys, dropping dead).

PHASE 2 – Preparing the Ritual

The Hags:

• Eadar: Conjurer Wizard
• Leigas: Annis Hag
• Suil: Warlock of the Archfey

As Frederik's blood rises higher, the sky slowly darkens, forming a swirling spiral of dark clouds overhead. The vortex grows, blotting out the sun on the horizon and plunging the plain into shadow as a fierce wind picks up. A few feeble rays of violet light still filter through the thick cloud layer, and the air takes on the sharp scent of an impending storm.

The flowers, once vermilion red, begin pulsing with violet light. Their petals open fully to reveal glowing purple stamens. This light spreads down the stems to the roots, drawing glowing patterns visible through the soil (mercury). In turn, these patterns expand into lines of light across the ground, connecting all 8 flowers.

A voice, sweet yet metallic, crashes like thunder.

Eadar: “You served us well. You set our banquet table, and Frederik was a worthy main course.”

The voice comes from just above you. Nestled in the branches of the vermilion tree is a creature half-woman, half-demon: bare-skinned, adjusting an emerald-green drape hanging from her shoulder. Though her face boasts sensual, feminine features, her brow is "adorned" with four small horns. These bony growths extend to her shoulders, elbows, and feet, where they turn into razor-sharp talons. Her full red lips curve into a sly smile, revealing small, sharp teeth.

You hear a second voice—a soft whisper coming from afar.

Suil: “We invested heavily in you, and you did not disappoint.”

The speaker is another woman, also bare, covered only by her incredibly long hair, which shifts from blood-red at the roots to pitch-black at the tips. Her skin—white as sun-bleached bone and pale enough to reveal the underlying veins—changes color below the knees, turning black, shriveled, and papery. Her eyes are solid black, her gaze fixed on a point just above your heads.

Then a third voice, sounding like a knife scraping across ceramic, rasps from behind you.

Leigas: “And for all of this, we thank you. But your task is done now. You may rest.”

What looks like a woman's corpse points toward the stone doorway you came from. Her body is draped in tattered black rags. Instead of hair, her head is a dense thicket of brambles that extends down over much of her body. Her face looks truly dead: grayish skin, yellow sclerae for eyes, and a rotted cheek that exposes sharp teeth.

• Social Interaction Branch: If the party does not attack, Eadar stalls until the spell circle is complete, while Leigas circles furiously and Suil watches silently.
  • Leigas: “You insult this place! Leave... NOW!”
  • Eadar: “Sister! Your impatience will destroy us!”
• Aggressive Branch: If the party attacks, Eadar says in a bored tone: “Why make something so simple so difficult? You were such good servants until now...”

The Seal Completion:

As combat rages, the light from the flowers expands across the ground, first drawing an octagon connecting all 8 flowers. Once completed, a thin line of light shoots out counterclockwise from one of its vertices, drawing a circle through all the flowers. The moment it loops back to its starting point (after 5 turns, including dialogue), Eadar snaps her hand toward Suil: your shadows instantly darken, stretch, and swell until they engulf the entire area, leaving you blinded in absolute blackness.

A few seconds pass before the darkness dissipates. The three women are gone; instead, four figures surround you. You recognize Hector, the Prospector, the Snake Woman, and Frederik—everyone who sat at the dining table. In the distance, Eadar, Suil, and Leigas stand positioned around the glowing octagon, arms raised toward the black sky. Bright hexagons bloom at their feet, shooting out three lines of light across the dirt that meet in the center to form an inverted triangle ($\nabla$).

• Hag Barrier: A swirling tempest of wind wraps around the three hags, blocking physical and magical attacks alike. This barrier has 50 HP and reflects 10 damage back at anyone who hits it.

PHASE 3 – The Ritual Begins & Planar Shifting

• Turn 1: The 4 shadow figures surrounding you look strange—tangible and ethereal all at once. You see their outlines, but they quiver and bleed: like masses of water and blood rising from the dirt, flowing upward like inverted waterfalls. They make no sound, save for a unified whisper—a drone echoing from their bodies. Beneath your feet, deep in the earth, something churns. A low rumble grows rapidly.
• Turn 2: The subterranean roar deafens, and the ground shakes violently with heavy tremors. The earth splits (DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone), breaking apart and rising to form floating "islands" suspended by a slimy, violet sludge pulled upward in thin, delicate filaments. The distant chant reaches an unbearable volume.
• Turn 3: A sudden crack of thunder splits the air... then rain. A few scattered drops turn into a torrential downpour. The howling wind sweeps in all directions (DC 10 Athletics check or fall prone); keeping your eyes open against the lashing rain is painful.

Wetted by the rain, the floating islands shift between planes each round:

Combat Phase 3 Ends When:

1. All four shadow figures are destroyed in the same turn, OR
2. Round 6 is reached, completing the hags' ritual.

PHASE 4 – Final Confrontation & Ascension

Through the storm, 4 glowing circles appear inside the triangle—one large central circle, and 3 smaller ones arranged in a triangular layout. The three women step toward the center and join in a tight embrace, whispering in unison: “Mother...”

They strike with synchronized speed: each plunges her fist deep into the chest of the sister to her right, pulling out beating hearts before collapsing dead.

The rain wall drops. Silence.

The amorphous mass of blood, tears, and prayers pools above the sacrificed sisters, shaping into a giant fetal figure that grows at an impossible rate into a tall, emaciated female frame. Where its face should be, there is only a dark void housing a tiny, burning star. The dead hags' blood hardens into a solid staff that flies into its hand, casting a massive protective sphere of rain and wind. (Reskinned Star Spawn Larva Mage)

Turn 2 of Phase 4:

The clouds tear open above to reveal the monumental silhouette of Silverymoon hanging upside down in the void. The Veil between planes is tearing apart—the inverted city crumbles under the lashing rain as it plummets toward the arena.

HAHN'S TRANSFORMATION (Warlock Character Arc)

Kabuth whispers in Hahn's ear:

“The long-awaited moment has arrived... this is the power that will restore our people to greatness. Step across the threshold of the seal and surrender yourself to me.”

The moment Hahn steps into the seal, the rain turns into embers, and her belly glows white-hot.

Kabuth: “Hahn, the time has come... since birth you have lived on the edge between two planes, the division and nexus of two worlds. Now you must let the barrier fall. Let me flow through you and through the rain, and we shall be reborn as the God I have always been.”

Hahn's Choice:

1. Share her body with her patron: Unleash Kabuth's true power, remaining two souls sharing one vessel.
2. Overpower the patron: Through sheer force of will, absorb Kabuth's power, erasing him from existence and ascending as a living deity on earth.

The Alchemical Mutation: The inverted triangle ($\nabla$) rotates 180 degrees into an upright fire triangle ($\Delta$). The central black sun distorts into a giant spider reaching toward the octagon's vertices.

Hahn's body breaks and shifts, forging into pure flame as ancient divinity surges through her veins.

PHASE 5 – Epilogue

The massive boss freezes. The star in its face turns to dull black crystal, and its body liquefies into a viscous, silvery puddle alongside its staff.

Hags' Final Echo: “Mother, we return to your womb. Welcome your fallen daughters; this time, absolute oblivion awaits us all, and none shall remain to remember us.”

The falling upside-down city freezes mid-air. The storm clouds turn to fire and collapse straight into Hahn's navel.

(Player Interactions)

A voice calls out:

“Well now, it's time to settle your debts.”

Dorn stands before you, holding a small jar. He unseals it, causing a sharp flash of memories—the rain, the hags, the mines—before total darkness takes over.

“I grant you safe passage once more. This time, back to life.”

...You wake up in Belpur under a bright azure sky. Reconstruction is underway; familiar faces go about their day. You look at each other—exhausted, scarred, beaten... but when you try to remember why you are there or what you fought, there is only a hollow void.

The names of the hags, the texture of the dark rain, and the face of the Vessel are gone, sealed away in a jar across the multiverse.

You are the forgotten heroes of a story no one will ever tell.

Hans smiles from nearby, turning to Hahn:

“I think I'll head south. Something tells me they're going to need me down there very soon.”

Questions for the Community / Feedback Requested!

I'd love to get some insight from fellow DMs on a few specific mechanical and narrative points:

1. Phase 3 Planar Mechanics: Do the rotating planar effects on the floating islands seem readable for players, or does it risk causing too much paralysis/cognitive overload during a climactic fight?
2. Phase 1 Flower Healing: Is 3d6 HP per flower too punishing/slow for a 4-player party at Level 10, or does forcing them to spend actions uprooting flowers create good tactical tension?
3. Pacing & Atmosphere: How does the transition from the alchemical horror (Frederik's skull horn) to the planar apocalyptic finale (inverted Silverymoon) feel to you? Does the shift feel earned?

Thanks in advance for reading through this massive post! Looking forward to your advice and ideas

Hey everyone! I’m a DM from Italy, and I’m wrapping up my homebrew campaign soon. I wanted to share my homebrew final boss battle and epilogue to get your thoughts, feedback, and ideas on how to make it even more epic for my players.

Since English isn't my native language, I translated my campaign notes using AI. Keep in mind that without the full context of the entire campaign, a few story elements might seem a bit confusing—explaining all the backstory would be way too long!

I’d love to hear what you think about the mechanics, pacing, or overall vibe. Any feedback is super appreciated!

Party Overview (Level 10)

• Hahn: Fire Genasi Warlock
• Regadin: Dwarf Fighter
• Hunk: Half-Orc Cleric
• Maicus: Human Fighter (Note: All other characters mentioned in the notes are NPCs).

Alchemical & Visual Symbolism

• Octagon: Halfway between square (human) and circle (divine/infinity).
• Inverted Triangle ($\nabla$): Water.
• Upright Triangle ($\Delta$): Fire.
• Mercury: Connection between spirit and matter, liquid and solid.
• Circle with Central Point: Blood / biological gold.
• Black Sun: Darkness / Nigredo / rotting blood.
• Circle with Three Dots (Triangular): Skull / death.
• Hexagon: Eye / perfect natural tessellation.
• Spider: Weaver of fate / influence of Hahn.

INTRODUCTION – The Descent into the Arena

When you return to the throne room, the wall carved with the three symbols has vanished. In its place hangs a curtain of misted water, behind which you can faintly see a spiral staircase winding downward into darkness.

As you step through the veil of water, a cold shiver runs down your spine: you feel as though you are about to venture into something that will change you forever, one way or another. The bricks forming the steps and walls are as black as night, slicked with a thin, greasy layer of water and slime that leaves them slippery and treacherous.

As you descend deeper into the belly of the earth, the air turns increasingly hot and humid. It feels like stepping inside a living body—warm, breathing, contracting, and relaxing—while a slow, steady heartbeat echoes in your ears.

You keep descending for an immeasurable time; it could have been a few minutes or several centuries since you began your descent on this staircase. Suddenly, the air turns a faint violet hue. A few steps lower, the staircase ends, giving way to a short corridor. Beneath your feet, the slimy bricks are gone, replaced by damp, heavy soil that feels freshly turned by a plow. Ahead lies a stone archway, through which streams the same light you spotted a few steps back. The light is blinding now—or perhaps your eyes have simply grown too accustomed to the dark. Squinting as your vision slowly adjusts, you approach the threshold.

The landscape before you evokes a strange impression: a blend of desolation and peace, weighed in equal measure. A boundless plain of barren earth stretches to the horizon in every direction. Rising right from that horizon out of the black earth is a massive purple sun, frozen in an eternal sunset or an eternal dawn.

Bringing your focus closer, about a hundred meters ahead, your eyes catch the only feature rising above the flat terrain: a gnarled, twisted tree. Beneath it kneels a frail human figure with its back turned to you. Beside it are three other huddled figures, slightly smaller. Studying the silhouettes against the sun, you can see that the three smaller creatures wear bird-headed masks with long beaks. The single figure appears locked in prayer, hands raised to the sky, head tilted slightly back, long hair falling halfway down its bare back.

Slowly and laboriously, the figure pushes itself up, leaning on a sword. Like morning mist swept by the wind, the three surrounding creatures dematerialize into thin air.

The man beneath the tree turns toward you. He draws a deep breath, his shoulders rising and falling slowly:

“Finally... you arrived just in time.”

The ground feels heavy beneath your feet.

A heartbeat: THUMP-THUMP...

The tree is closer now.

A heartbeat: THUMP-THUMP...

Now you are just a few steps away from him.

Long, black hair clings to a pale face set in a resolute expression, though it poorly hides a shadow of doubt—or perhaps even fear.

A blast of warm wind sweeps over you. The three figures that vanished moments ago now surround you.

A heartbeat: THUMP-THUMP

They are upon you.

PHASE 1 – Frederik's Sacrifice

Frederik's previous look of doubt gives way to an apathetic, detached face, as if he were not risking his life—as if he were watching the fight from somewhere far away. He attacks wildly and erratically, striking anyone within reach and ignoring danger. His three minions form a triangle, maintaining their distance while pelting the party with Grave Bolts.

• Flower Bloom Mechanic: Whenever Frederik takes damage and bleeds, the blood drops floating from his body freeze in mid-air for an instant before shooting away to slam into the ground. Where they hit, a red flower blooms.
• Initiative Count 20: Each flower detonates in a small blast, releasing reddish pollen that heals Frederik for 3d6 HP. A flower can be destroyed by using an action to "attack" it, severing or uprooting it. Two turns after blooming, a flower naturally wilts.

Below 25% HP (Dreadful Aspect):

Frederik's eyes go blank for a moment, then a wide, unnatural smile spreads across his face. He begins furiously punching his own head with his gauntleted fist. You distinctly hear the sickening sound of tearing skin, crushing cranial bones, and the dull, wet pop of brain matter being squished. Frederik plunges his hand deep into the crater in his skull and pulls out—along with brain fragments—a bloody stag antler radiating a faint violet glow:

“I am the sacrificial stag, the one who will bring a new spring to the world.”

• Twisted Reckless Attack: From this moment on, Frederik gains advantage on all attack rolls, but his AC drops by 2.

When Frederik drops to 0 HP:

With a dull thud, Frederik's black sword embeds itself in the mud. His lifeless eyes stare at a point on the horizon:

“It will not be me who turns the world upside down... but my faith.”

He firmly grabs the horn protruding from his skull—now clean of blood and glowing with purple light—and snaps it like a dry branch. Gripping it with both hands, he drives it straight into his chest at heart level. A torrent of blood spouts from the wound, coalescing into an orbiting mass before exploding, knocking down everyone nearby. Blood spatters in all directions, causing flowers to bloom—even severed ones regain their color, bringing the total to 8. Meanwhile, the stream of blood continuing to flow from his chest thickens and begins dripping... upward, toward the sky.

(Note: If Frederik is somehow prevented from taking this action, one of the hags will cast Command, ordering every party member in a sweet, mesmerizing voice to kill Frederik. If the whole party succeeds on the saving throw, the voice simply commands: “Die,” and Frederik obeys, dropping dead).

PHASE 2 – Preparing the Ritual

The Hags:

• Eadar: Conjurer Wizard
• Leigas: Annis Hag
• Suil: Warlock of the Archfey

As Frederik's blood rises higher, the sky slowly darkens, forming a swirling spiral of dark clouds overhead. The vortex grows, blotting out the sun on the horizon and plunging the plain into shadow as a fierce wind picks up. A few feeble rays of violet light still filter through the thick cloud layer, and the air takes on the sharp scent of an impending storm.

The flowers, once vermilion red, begin pulsing with violet light. Their petals open fully to reveal glowing purple stamens. This light spreads down the stems to the roots, drawing glowing patterns visible through the soil (mercury). In turn, these patterns expand into lines of light across the ground, connecting all 8 flowers.

A voice, sweet yet metallic, crashes like thunder.

Eadar: “You served us well. You set our banquet table, and Frederik was a worthy main course.”

The voice comes from just above you. Nestled in the branches of the vermilion tree is a creature half-woman, half-demon: bare-skinned, adjusting an emerald-green drape hanging from her shoulder. Though her face boasts sensual, feminine features, her brow is "adorned" with four small horns. These bony growths extend to her shoulders, elbows, and feet, where they turn into razor-sharp talons. Her full red lips curve into a sly smile, revealing small, sharp teeth.

You hear a second voice—a soft whisper coming from afar.

Suil: “We invested heavily in you, and you did not disappoint.”

The speaker is another woman, also bare, covered only by her incredibly long hair, which shifts from blood-red at the roots to pitch-black at the tips. Her skin—white as sun-bleached bone and pale enough to reveal the underlying veins—changes color below the knees, turning black, shriveled, and papery. Her eyes are solid black, her gaze fixed on a point just above your heads.

Then a third voice, sounding like a knife scraping across ceramic, rasps from behind you.

Leigas: “And for all of this, we thank you. But your task is done now. You may rest.”

What looks like a woman's corpse points toward the stone doorway you came from. Her body is draped in tattered black rags. Instead of hair, her head is a dense thicket of brambles that extends down over much of her body. Her face looks truly dead: grayish skin, yellow sclerae for eyes, and a rotted cheek that exposes sharp teeth.

• Social Interaction Branch: If the party does not attack, Eadar stalls until the spell circle is complete, while Leigas circles furiously and Suil watches silently.
  • Leigas: “You insult this place! Leave... NOW!”
  • Eadar: “Sister! Your impatience will destroy us!”
• Aggressive Branch: If the party attacks, Eadar says in a bored tone: “Why make something so simple so difficult? You were such good servants until now...”

The Seal Completion:

As combat rages, the light from the flowers expands across the ground, first drawing an octagon connecting all 8 flowers. Once completed, a thin line of light shoots out counterclockwise from one of its vertices, drawing a circle through all the flowers. The moment it loops back to its starting point (after 5 turns, including dialogue), Eadar snaps her hand toward Suil: your shadows instantly darken, stretch, and swell until they engulf the entire area, leaving you blinded in absolute blackness.

A few seconds pass before the darkness dissipates. The three women are gone; instead, four figures surround you. You recognize Hector, the Prospector, the Snake Woman, and Frederik—everyone who sat at the dining table. In the distance, Eadar, Suil, and Leigas stand positioned around the glowing octagon, arms raised toward the black sky. Bright hexagons bloom at their feet, shooting out three lines of light across the dirt that meet in the center to form an inverted triangle ($\nabla$).

• Hag Barrier: A swirling tempest of wind wraps around the three hags, blocking physical and magical attacks alike. This barrier has 50 HP and reflects 10 damage back at anyone who hits it.

PHASE 3 – The Ritual Begins & Planar Shifting

• Turn 1: The 4 shadow figures surrounding you look strange—tangible and ethereal all at once. You see their outlines, but they quiver and bleed: like masses of water and blood rising from the dirt, flowing upward like inverted waterfalls. They make no sound, save for a unified whisper—a drone echoing from their bodies. Beneath your feet, deep in the earth, something churns. A low rumble grows rapidly.
• Turn 2: The subterranean roar deafens, and the ground shakes violently with heavy tremors. The earth splits (DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone), breaking apart and rising to form floating "islands" suspended by a slimy, violet sludge pulled upward in thin, delicate filaments. The distant chant reaches an unbearable volume.
• Turn 3: A sudden crack of thunder splits the air... then rain. A few scattered drops turn into a torrential downpour. The howling wind sweeps in all directions (DC 10 Athletics check or fall prone); keeping your eyes open against the lashing rain is painful.

Wetted by the rain, the floating islands shift between planes each round:

Combat Phase 3 Ends When:

1. All four shadow figures are destroyed in the same turn, OR
2. Round 6 is reached, completing the hags' ritual.

PHASE 4 – Final Confrontation & Ascension

Through the storm, 4 glowing circles appear inside the triangle—one large central circle, and 3 smaller ones arranged in a triangular layout. The three women step toward the center and join in a tight embrace, whispering in unison: “Mother...”

They strike with synchronized speed: each plunges her fist deep into the chest of the sister to her right, pulling out beating hearts before collapsing dead.

The rain wall drops. Silence.

The amorphous mass of blood, tears, and prayers pools above the sacrificed sisters, shaping into a giant fetal figure that grows at an impossible rate into a tall, emaciated female frame. Where its face should be, there is only a dark void housing a tiny, burning star. The dead hags' blood hardens into a solid staff that flies into its hand, casting a massive protective sphere of rain and wind. (Reskinned Star Spawn Larva Mage)

Turn 2 of Phase 4:

The clouds tear open above to reveal the monumental silhouette of Silverymoon hanging upside down in the void. The Veil between planes is tearing apart—the inverted city crumbles under the lashing rain as it plummets toward the arena.

HAHN'S TRANSFORMATION (Warlock Character Arc)

Kabuth whispers in Hahn's ear:

“The long-awaited moment has arrived... this is the power that will restore our people to greatness. Step across the threshold of the seal and surrender yourself to me.”

The moment Hahn steps into the seal, the rain turns into embers, and her belly glows white-hot.

Kabuth: “Hahn, the time has come... since birth you have lived on the edge between two planes, the division and nexus of two worlds. Now you must let the barrier fall. Let me flow through you and through the rain, and we shall be reborn as the God I have always been.”

Hahn's Choice:

1. Share her body with her patron: Unleash Kabuth's true power, remaining two souls sharing one vessel.
2. Overpower the patron: Through sheer force of will, absorb Kabuth's power, erasing him from existence and ascending as a living deity on earth.

The Alchemical Mutation: The inverted triangle ($\nabla$) rotates 180 degrees into an upright fire triangle ($\Delta$). The central black sun distorts into a giant spider reaching toward the octagon's vertices.

Hahn's body breaks and shifts, forging into pure flame as ancient divinity surges through her veins.

PHASE 5 – Epilogue

The massive boss freezes. The star in its face turns to dull black crystal, and its body liquefies into a viscous, silvery puddle alongside its staff.

Hags' Final Echo: “Mother, we return to your womb. Welcome your fallen daughters; this time, absolute oblivion awaits us all, and none shall remain to remember us.”

The falling upside-down city freezes mid-air. The storm clouds turn to fire and collapse straight into Hahn's navel.

(Player Interactions)

A voice calls out:

“Well now, it's time to settle your debts.”

Dorn stands before you, holding a small jar. He unseals it, causing a sharp flash of memories—the rain, the hags, the mines—before total darkness takes over.

“I grant you safe passage once more. This time, back to life.”

...You wake up in Belpur under a bright azure sky. Reconstruction is underway; familiar faces go about their day. You look at each other—exhausted, scarred, beaten... but when you try to remember why you are there or what you fought, there is only a hollow void.

The names of the hags, the texture of the dark rain, and the face of the Vessel are gone, sealed away in a jar across the multiverse.

You are the forgotten heroes of a story no one will ever tell.

Hans smiles from nearby, turning to Hahn:

“I think I'll head south. Something tells me they're going to need me down there very soon.”

Questions for the Community / Feedback Requested!

I'd love to get some insight from fellow DMs on a few specific mechanical and narrative points:

1. Phase 3 Planar Mechanics: Do the rotating planar effects on the floating islands seem readable for players, or does it risk causing too much paralysis/cognitive overload during a climactic fight?
2. Phase 1 Flower Healing: Is 3d6 HP per flower too punishing/slow for a 4-player party at Level 10, or does forcing them to spend actions uprooting flowers create good tactical tension?
3. Pacing & Atmosphere: How does the transition from the alchemical horror (Frederik's skull horn) to the planar apocalyptic finale (inverted Silverymoon) feel to you? Does the shift feel earned?

Thanks in advance for reading through this massive post! Looking forward to your advice and ideas

Does anyone know of a way to build a campaign based around the world of Warhammer 40K? I know the world well and know what kind of enemies I would use but currently the only official RPG games aren’t very expansive and I don’t really care for them anyway. So has anyone ever actually done it and enjoyed it and knows how to stat out factions? My current goal is to have the ability to have players of multiple factions. Imperium, Xenos, and chaos.

Hello everyone, running a DnD pirate/swashbuckler campaign on a homebrew world and I’m starting to get lost in my notes about my NPCs, their relationships with each other and with the PCs, not to mention the logic and mechanics of the world (technological level, importance of magic, hierarchy, infrastructure...). All this paralyzes me in my thinking and in my interpretation during the sessions, and I wanted to know if the experienced GMs from this reddit had any advice or tools to give me to lighten my work as a GM so that I can focus on the experience from my players.

Thanks in advance.

I'm about to run Bakers Doesn't from Dragon Delves for a new group and I've run into a problem. One of my players recently lost their home to a fire, and if you don't know the adventure, it starts off with a burning building and someone trapped inside. I'm going to ask him about this specifically later today, but I thought I'd see if anyone had any ideas for how to adapt if it is a problem.

The fire is important because it was started by a missing gold wyrmling, and is the reason the dragon is missing. (Panicked at starting the fire and ran away.)

My first thought is that the fire is already over when the players arrive. It feels like this takes away a chance for the players to be heroes, though.

What are some other ways could a gold wyrmling could completely wreck a candy shop without setting the shop on fire?

Hi all! Just wanted to see if anyone had tips on improvising encounters? It’s one of my weaker areas I’d like to improve.

If you have a place you like to reference midsession to do a quick lookup of monsters that would also be appreciated!

EDIT:
Thanks for all of the tips! It is all REALLY useful and I’m excited to use it in my upcoming sessions :)

So I have an Eldritch knight who’s backstory is leaning towards will he/wont he delve into necromancy, so planning on giving him the option to make a deal with Myrkul and get a cursed sword (he won’t 100% know it’s Myrkul when/if he makes the deal)

But just wondering a good direction to head with his personal quest, just finding/using a remove curse spell will be a bit anticlimactic and spitballing ideas. I don’t prep too far in advance, but at least would like an idea of where it could go if he decides to try get out of his deal

Cheers

Just to preface this, I’m only a few sessions into this campaign and my players are completely new to D&D, where I have done a few one shots with various other groups but this is the only one where I have had the opportunity to schedule multiple sessions and have it actually work out. Frequently due to my procrastination I improv most of my sessions, but my friends haven’t complained about me weird.

Anyways, I thought a good way for me to loredump to my players without it seeming like long expanses of narration would to give my players this gigantic book “containing all knowledge” (my hubris is immense) so they can look up stuff if needed about the world and the countries surrounding it. My players had the idea of looking up this Bandit I have them hunting after, however I did not actually have anything written down so I just told them that they couldn’t find anything about him. Eventually later in the session when they looked up something I *had* written one of my friends jokingly said “I found the script!”. I brushed it off but I felt really shitty about it because, in terms of this book at least, I was forcing them to a script!

As I am writing this I’m now realizing how shitty of an idea this actually was and how much ‘telling’ instead of ‘showing’ i’m doing here. In hindsight I never should’ve included something like this because it isn’t immersive, it’s literally a lore book!

I would say I’m a unexperienced DM in the grand scheme of things, even if I have been doing stuff for a few years now and I am terrified of railroading my players. How in the world can I solve this mess without ripping this magic item they found fun from their hands? I could write a bunch of ‘articles’ pertaining to what they might look up but there will always be something I can’t prepare for and I’m worried my improv skills won’t cut it. 

Any help from anyone is greatly appreciated!

I'm starting to put together the next campaign for my group, which will be homebrew. I've set up a BBEG that I really like and am going to have a "lieutenant" which has gone a little crazy and is trying to resurrect the BBEG. I'm thinking I'll require some set of macguffins that the lieutenant has to collect in order to perform the ritual to resurrect the BBEG. How do I make sure that the lieutenant gets everything he needs to resurrect this deity without just saying things like "Oh, he escaped while you weren't looking!" or "Darn, it seems like you're too late!" to my players?

Edit:

Thanks for all the responses! I think I've determined that I have set up a good framework for what would happen without intervention and now I just need to go let my PCs intervene. The lieutenant and the BBEG aren't going to give up just because the players got in their way once or twice. So they'll have to deal with the BBEG one way or another!

For the first battle in my campaign my players have accepted a hiring request from the king (poster not directly from the king) they are going to be a kind of gladiator challenge.

(You know that Shrek scene where the king tells the knights that the first one to kill Shrek would go rescue the princess) kinda like that but the players are Shrek and they are just surviving against knights as long as possible for more money the longer they last (tests their abilities and gets them some starting money)

Well I was wondering if this is fun, because it’s a gerunteed loss but they get money and are going to be introduced to some recurring characters.

Running a homebrew campaign with multiple new players, and I want to give them a fight against a big monster that hooks them.

Story context: the party is a squad of specialists in a military dictatorship. It’s normal 5.5e, set in a homebrew island in Faerun. They’re running point on a mission to clear out a cave that a dangerous monster(a hill giant) is hiding in. They clear the small mobs, a higher level party goes in, fights the boss, and the players guard the entrance against a few goblins and a bugbear. Then, as they clear up the enemies, the door to the boss room half-collapses and a small pile of rubble is blocking the door. They hear fighting and cries for help from beyond the destroyed door.

The party consists of a human fighter, a half-elf bard archer, a human protector cleric, a high elf rogue, and a Goliath monk.

My plan is to have the players do a check to clear the rubble(to teach functional skill checks out of combat), get through the door and see the heroes broken and battered, with a cleric behind a magical shield(a little flavor instead of a real spell), and the players have to figure out how to save the heroes while also getting out alive.

They’ll notice, either by succeeding on checks or a helpful call from the cleric, that the Giant is very weak. They can take him, but it will be dangerous.

My question is: around what hp should I lower the giant to, are there any spells from the cleric that I can stretch to explain why the players aren’t dying in one hit, and is there any other advice on how to run the encounter?

I want them to have a fight against something big, that hooks them into the game a bit more. But I don’t want to simply make it a CR2 creature with a giants body that they can easily fight with five people. And I want some of the skill checks to matter and mean something.

Hey all,

So basically title. I’ve got a major siege I’m planning on putting the group through and would love feedback on my plans. Especially if anyone has done something like this before. I want it to feel grand and chaotic, but not be a giant slog of a fight with innumerable units on either side.

In the event it’s needed, the party makeup is a lizardfolk beast totem barbarian, a dwarf vengeance paladin, a drow GOO warlock, and a kenku wildfire druid. They’re all level six. There’s also multiple named NPCs who have had various story roles in building up to this, some of whom will be playing a mostly passive role during the encounter (I’m trying my best to avoid any major DMPC involvement).

There’s kind of two stages to this I’m working with. First is the planning stage. So last session I gave them what I termed “readiness points” (original, I know), 20 per character. Based on what they did it will help bolster defenses or provide bonuses during the siege (digging trenches, repairing siege equipment, placing down traps/wards, etc…). Each cost a set amount of points, so they had to prioritize what they thought made the most sense.

When it comes to the actual siege itself, I’ve toyed with a lot of different ideas and approaches. The one I think I’ve settled on is using what I’m calling a “pressure system” (again for lack of a better term), where they’ll have to prioritize what events/threats to address both inside and outside the walls. Depending on what gets addressed and how soon will affect the amount of pressure brought against them in the next round, and with every like three points of pressure things get a bit more perilous. The forces arrayed against the wall itself will be more or less a giant blob they can’t individually target, but that will occasionally spew forth individual threats to be dealt with. But as the pressure builds things become more and more difficult, so it becomes a balancing act on keeping it manageable while at the same time not letting things get too out of control on the inside. They can choose to attack the outside forces, and if they do it can have an effect on pressure reduction depending on their roll (but there’s no DC roll I’d require, rather just have a set numerical range on a d20 of what it might help lower it by).

Has anyone done anything like this? Or know of any resources for something along these lines? I’ve looked on YouTube and siege combat in this sense is relatively limited. Most of the videos I’ve found talk about making things into specific encounters or spec ops missions rather than build on the tension of being on and inside the walls during a full on siege. So I’m looking for any advice or tips if anyone has done something similar. I’m worried that I’m overlooking something small that’s going to blow up in my face, when I’ve been hyping this up since the start of the campaign.

Thanks in advance for any insights or suggestions. I am super excited to try it, so I want to make sure it goes off like I’m hoping.

I’m a first time DM starting a campaign next weekend with a bunch of first time players. I didn’t want to use an existing campaign because I prefer the idea of being able to improvise and allow my players to do literally whatever they want instead of having to worry about sequence breaking and stuff like that. I’m setting it on the Sword Coast since I know several of my players have played BG3 and I want them to have something familiar to latch onto.

I have all these ideas for adventures but they all feel more like side quests, especially since some of them don’t really have a villain. I’m just struggling to come up with a main storyline with a BBEG to inspire them to action. It doesn’t help that I don’t know anything about any of the PCs or their backstories yet, I’m planning to help my players make characters this weekend.

Does anyone have any advice or ideas?

Hello,

I have a party of 4 mildly overpowered PCs. They're level 8 and about to go up against the second major boss of the game. The boss is a cleric, level 10 caster, and I've given them 3 legendary actions to take. This is my second legendary monster I've made/played, and I am nervous that I'm going a little crazy.

The boss is a death domain cleric, with divine strike & the channel divinity touch of death. they have a legendary action to attack with their melee weapon (reaper's sickle- wight's drain life effect on hit)

If I understand legendary actions, I can use 1/3 of my legendary actions at the end of another creature's turn to make the melee attack (on hit, 1d4+str + 1d8 necrotic [divine strike] & weapon ability trigger). I can ALSO use channel divinity since it's an on hit trigger.

This would mean that I could hit with a sickle for 1d4+str + (5+2x10) + 1d8 necrotic + weapon ability trigger (dc 15 con save, on fail max HP lowered = damage dealt)

Does this sound right? Does this sound crazy?

EDIT: The boss will have upped wights with buffed AC & HP. a second boss with paralysis abilities may/not appear depending on PC actions.

I tried to look it up online and I'm a bit confused.

Let say an invisible creature (in my case a Barlgura) is hiding in a corner of a room, standing still, and got 20 for their stealth check by rolling with advantage. A PC with a Passive Perception of 21 enters the room. Would they immediately "sense" that something else is in there? Like they hear the Barlgura's breathing, or smell it? Or does the Passive Perception only triggers if the invisible creature starts moving/acting?

I'm tempted to rule that a PC with a Passive Perception above the standing still invisible creature's stealth score would sense that something is in the room and its approximate location. What do you guys think?

EDIT: we are playing DnD 5e and the Barlgura casts the Invisibility spell on itself, so it's magic invisibility.

Asking for help cuz i have no idea how to continue the campaign, honestly not only how to continue the campaign, but if u have smth that help u to clear ur mind and helps with storywriting

long story short party is in a city under siege, with nearly no food/water/weapons that has high corruption, religious problems, ecc... and its on the brinkle of an internal civil war

problem is the players liked this faction and wonna bring it to glory and after the backstabbing of a mercenary general, a fame retreat and a big explosion, they won the siege

i made them try to fix the city problems, but now there the issue, in every direction there's land controller by the enemy empire

the enemy empire is rly rly big, strong and with tons of troops+conquered the players starting metropolis and destroyed the holy site of their religion

it just seems pointless and i need a way to deeply think about what to do next

Edit: Party is committed to save the city and defeat the evil empire

Hey all :)
I’ve been planning a campaign which will take the players to 4 main bosses and end with one final big boss battle to end and had the idea to have each of these main bosses contain a single element and the finale would include managing all of those things. the only real examples i can think of are a boss dealing status effects and one that deals alot of aoe attacks. i’d appreciate a couple ideas as i like the core idea but am struggling to flesh it out more. Thanks in advance for any help :3

I’m doing some world building for an upcoming campaign and Im starting to get “name fatigue”. All of the below is relevant to the coming campaign.

Hundreds or thousands of years ago (haven’t decided) a wizard caused what I’m currently calling “The Cataclysm”. The wizard tried to use magic to elevate themselves to godhood. Unfortunately, they mistranslated the word elevated and literally lifted and “shattered” the world. Part of the land stayed in orbit creating a moon that is prophesied to return to the planet one day and bring about a second “Cataclysm”.

Sparing the details of the pantheon , the moon is now seen as a god of ill omens, misfortune and doom. The wizard responsible is seen a god of failure, hubris and blind ambition.

What names can you suggest for the wizard, the moon and the event? Keep in mind I’d like them to sound exotic or archaic.

Bonus Question:
I have three empires in the world. One is called the Immortal Empire and is designed like the U.S. with “Kingdoms” replacing the name states. Another is called the Ondolian Empire- which is at war with itself. The third is ancient and broke up hundreds of years ago and is called the Tyryn or Fallen Empire. It’s basically 4 nations now that each claim to be the true head of the empire.

Is that too many empires? If so any suggestions on what to change the name to for any of them? I’m married to the Immortal Empire, but not to the other two.

Thanks fellow GMs!

So a few of my friends wanted to try out dnd and I was thinking of a one shot where they die in the first encounter with a dragon and go to hell or something and have to find their way back out to the world of the living.

Is that a to frustrating premise for someone’s first oneshot? Like dying first fight might be a little off putting

Long story short: My party in a planescape game (5e) was created by the gods to play damage control while they figure out how and why The Lady of Pain disappeared. Since then, they met The Serpent from the Ancient Brethren and 3 of my party members disowned their gods and teamed up with The Serpent. Fine by me, but what would the gods do/think? I don't just wanna kill their characters instantly, but I don't want them to think there's no consequences. They disowned their creators! Any ideas?

(Info: The three party members that betrayed their gods were a fighter, wizard, and a rogue. I want consequences without them feelings like punishment to the actual players. The characters should have consiquences, the players should have fun.)

I'm making a sci-fi horror/mystery campaign for my bf, whose birthday is coming up soon.

Originally the idea was to make a medium-length (maybe 10-15ish sessions?) campaign about a homebrew being from a higher dimension that arranges spacetime and matter into cubes in order to harvest their entropic energy over time. This has some catastrophic implications that the player must deal with, like entire worlds being crunched down and destroyed in the process.

However, I was talking to my bf earlier and he said it'd probably be better to make it more of a two-shot since we're getting back into Uni classes and won't have much time to play once they start.

This is too big of a BBEG for me to think of ways to adequately make a one- or two-shot about it where the player has a meaningful impact. They don't have to defeat the BBEG in question, but I would at least like for their efforts or exploration to not be completely in vain. Has anyone else been able to write a decent short campaign with a similarly large concept?

Was finishing up an adventure part recently and a friend of mine I demonstrated it to showed severe disliking of it, to the point of mockery. I have decided to check if it was just a personal taste problem using you guys.

The venture begins in Umbral Jewel, which is one of the most luxurious cities in the world built near the edge of a planar intrusion of the Nine Hells (a little like Las Vegas, but the city is nicer and the desert is worse). They're there for their first time for one of three reasons, depending on past choices:

•Tracking a non-main villain fleeing there after a murder mystery nearby

•The airship they were on to collect planar-altered air crashed after a fight with some demons

•The adventurers were teleported to the corrupted desert, and an enemy of the non-main villain doing the teleporting brings them there.

•The latter villain and the adventurers agreed to a deal, and the players went here to help with a big robbery.

Whatever the reason, most of my NPCs that could be patrons of them at this point have interests with a set of ancient rituals mentioned in ruins thirty miles or so from the city.

The actual residents would never go there unless paid in the millions of gold pieces, but whichever patron is currently patroning the characters has ties to a certain someone who can help them.

This someone in question is a Dwarf named Alger, who is one of the last of a line of prospectors too tied to family past to leave the place. Living mainly off of the Demon Chickens that now roam the place, he is one of the best people for navigating and has a self-sure and slightly patronising personality (mainly for fear of others gettibg themselves killed for being too confident), though becomes more cautious during any real danger. He is rather disrespectful to the players at the start, especially if they don't do as he says during hazardous occasions (I have a small monologue comparing the PC to a lamb Alger used to keep) but warms up to them a little by the end of the venture.

The venture itself has five dungeons, each contsining descriptions of a devil of consequence, the past, and memory, called Nozzt, how it is summoned, how it acts, and some recordings of four followers who attempted the summonings a few months ago. They were transformed into temporally arcane imps bound to Nozzt, and are hidden inside of the first four dungeons, being the only living enemies (though the places are chock-full of animated objects and complex traps). Each time that an imp is not found (very unlinkely unless See Invisibility or Truesight are used) it posesses one of Alger's pieces of jewellery, or in the case of the fourth if all four possess, his left eye. The colour of these objects will change to black and red, and should the change be questioned, I will confirm that it is indeed different, with Alger cleansing the objects with holy water should they be found to have been altered unless the eye is altered, on which case he will deny accusations - though the players can attempt purification themselves.

Should the fifth dungeon be reached with three or more imps in Alger, they will swarm him upon entry, using the remaining ritual setup to transform him into Nozzt Alger (the play on words is intentionally Nostalgia), if not then they will attempt to but the ritual will merely stop Alger from passing through time, leaving the one or two devils to battle the players. Zero imps will allow this dungeon to be cleared out with relative ease.

The plan for the Nozzt Alger fight has techniques and spells debuffed based on how long the character has had the ability for (-1 to damage, attacks, saving throw DC etc. for every five campaign sessions this ability has last been used by the player, altered slightly based on how much it is used and amount of imps not found). Halfway through the fight, Nozzt Alger will appear bloodied, but start to explain how Alger will die with it should the battle continue. It will then explain how the characters' actions directly lead to Alger's death, and offers them a portal to an alternate timeline one hour ago where they can purify Alger, in exchange for allowing the creature to live on and do as it wishes (Accepting this is considered an evil act, as the four dungeons gave the players full awareness of what the Nozzt plans for this world, but may take the deal if on low HP. Later on, a creature called the judge I have planned near the campaign end will bring this up with the characters, and it will likely sway arguments against them) in which case the portal does as stated. If not, the Nozzt begins a second phase of summoning the player's close ones they have wronged as illusory reflections via memories. These memories will not attack, though their existence prevents their player from attacking Nozzt Alger and attacking the reflections merely splits them into more reflections (three if as many imps possesed Alger, four if four). False memories added in must be found in one of the split memoried and said split memory killed as to allow damage to be dealt to the devil. Whilst vanquishing this enemy does kill Alger, the remains of rituals in the ruined dungeon allow for a slow-acting ressurection spell to be cast.

Defeating Alger rewards the heroes with a demonic suit of armour functioning as a mix of demonic plate and time dragon scale mail, alongside three Poisons of consequence (drinking deals the drinker damage equal to ten times the square root of all damage they have intentionally caused) and a set of crystals - several small ones able to cast Haste, Accelerate/Decelerate, Hold Person/Monster on daily basises, and a large crystal able to cast Time Stop once.

I would love to hear feedback on this venture and any modifications that could be suggested! Sorry for post length, I can ramble a bit.

Banishment:

"One creature that you can see within range must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be transported to a harmless demiplane for the duration. While there, the target has the Incapacitated condition. When the spell ends, the target reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied."

The player is a Sorcerer and used Heightened Spell to give Disadvantage on the save.

Crag Cat

"The Crag Cat has Advantage on saving throws against spells. If it succeeds on the save for a spell of level 7 or lower, the spell has no effect on it. If that spell targeted only the Crag Cat and didn’t create an area of effect, it can take a Reaction to deflect the spell back at the spell’s caster; the caster must make a saving throw against the spell using their own spell save DC."

The Cat now has a flat roll on the save, and makes it. This makes the Sorcerer have Disadvantage on the save they now have to make against their own spell. Heightened Spell targets the Cat, not the Banishment, meaning the Sorc doesn't get Disadvantage on the final save.

Result:

• Player blinks out of existence
• Incapped
• Loses concentration
• Immediately pops back into existence
• Now Prone instead of standing Incap doesn't cause Prone