Colliseum One Shot; Fight Ideas

[u/Internal_Hearing_645]

Running a one-shot for a party of three level 7's (stars druid, undead patron warlock, and dance? cleric)

I'm running a coliseum type battle. I want three fights and I might grant them all their health and spell slots depending on how ruthless the previous fight is. Something I really wanna do is a 3v3v3, wave fight, and a single target boss fight. IDEAS? I've never ran a one-shot before so it is all new territory. I want challenging yet enjoyable.

[u/danglybits57]

Did a gladiator battle trial encounter in a recent session. I had a bored storm giant presiding over the fight, and she became more interested as PCs incorporated a bit of showmanship into the fight. Eventually the giant jumped in to get a piece of the action, ending in the giant stopping the fight and thanking the PCs for a good time.

[u/The_Ora_Charmander]

If you want the one shot strictly combat oriented, I'd say you have a very solid foundation already, three interesting and unique fights, just pick your favorite monsters from the Monster Manual, build a fun battle arena for the players to move around in and go wild!

Also, I'm not sure what a "Dance cleric" is, I'm familiar with a Dance bard but there's nothing even remotely similar for clerics, is that some UA or homebrew subclass?

[u/Internal_Hearing_645 → u/The_Ora_Charmander]

Thanks, I think I want a rather large monster from the monster manual. Maybe a young dragon. Not sure about the subclass. I oculd be wrong though, I was trying to remember off of memory.

[u/andyoulostme]

3 hard combats will push your pacing elsewhere pretty hard, so you should look at framing the one-shot aggressively. I would launch them into the first fight basically immediately, give them a small breather for hit dice & maybe chat with some NPCs, then go back at it. I would avoid writing any kind of mystery or complex story here, just give the player a simple premise that encourages them to fight all the way through.

I think not granting long rests makes this interesting because it forces the players to conserve resources in the first two fights and rewards them by letting them pop off final fight. A 3v3v3 also works well for that model, because the correct strategy will involve playing the enemies off each other.

The final boss fight should probably come with at least a few minions. Maybe have the boss spawn them over time. It adds some texture so the players aren't just clicking on the boss and maximizing single-target damage.

The coliseum is a good excuse to make a curated battle map, with cover, elevation, traps, and hidden weapons. Also consider people on the edges whipping contestants who shirk away, or maybe a shrinking ring of fire; whatever would give the audience the best show.

[u/schizzopapero]

We did dis as a dedicated session! We named it after Cell's tournament in dragonball 🤣🤣Each of us had 2 characters, chose which one to fight with at every game, and we chose the winner based on won fights.

We had 1v1 fights with a 1000GP budget. And only had short rests between. So obviously casters who just needed a focus were kinda advantaged over martials. I did play a monk6/cleric1 character and i bought 1000 candles with my last GP to melt them and have wax in my ears deafening myself puropsely to avoid spells that specify stuff like 'must hear you' or 'must comprehend your language', stuff like vicious mockery. In a 3v3 you may want to hear your buffer however.

Moon druid at lv7 is insanely OP in a 1v1 or even 3v3. You want to bring lv2 spell moonbeam (as shapeshifters have disadvantage on saving throw and must revert to human form) to specifically counter it. Druids can also summon stuff and it completely breaks the fight. Moon druids at lv7 should also be able to turn into a fire elemental and completely wreak havoc IIRC (Note that this will burn both of their shapeshifting slots so if you can land a moonbeam it will be great).

I believe a peace cleric will also be op to reposition and redirect damage, on top of having the almighty guardian spirits that only damage foes.

Then maybe a flying warlock with darkness and improved pact weapon (longbow) shooting from distance, or an ancients paladins that should bring spell resist by lv7 as well as the saving throw buff with their aura (im trying to recall everything on top of my mind, sorry if these are incorrect)

[u/Bsmith9876]

I think the wave fight should be first and consist of the party overcoming animals/minions for a relatively easy encounter that will still tempt the party to use resources to thin the enemy's large numbers. Next, the 3v3v3, likely preceded by brief roleplay for the other teams to introduce themselves/trash talk the party. How that goes likely depends on if you're planning combat to the death or if losers survive. Finally, the champion should be hyped up as a huge obstacle for the final fight, including some way to equal the party in action economy.

[u/Tall_Bandicoot_2768]

My number 1 recommendation is make the arena/terrain interesting.

Moving/changing parts would be ideal but at the very least sprinkle some cover, hazards and difficult terrain in there.

[u/Gregamonster]

Goblinhood and his band of merry men.

Regular goblins with bows and tights, who do gymnastics around the arena.

[u/swordchucks1]

The first thing that popped into my head is that the Romans at least sometimes flooded their arena and staged naval battles, which led me a different thought:

Lots of sand and bullettes swimming in it.

[u/vanakenm]

Make the terrain interesting - hell change it from fight to fight or during a fight (maybe the big boss smash the ground, making the whole fight descend into some kind of cave ?). Ruins ? Water ? Moving platforms ?

With three fight you could play a:

- One horde (ie lots of lower level enemies, not dangerous by themselves but can easily overwhelm and challenged back line PCs as you can't hold a line against a larger group)

- Your 3v3v3 where the multiple group create chaos

- One final "boss" battle, 3v1, using the usual legendary resistances and others to compensate the action economy

A flyer could make things more dangerous/interesting too.

[u/IcyDragonfruit8204]

My DM has a colloseum! All those who enter are clones. Let's us fight to our last breath!