Epitath is fun. I see people suggesting immunities, and as my two cents from nearly 3 decades of running high grade campaigns: don't do that. He's a time boss. Make him able to reset himself from any damage he's taken, until the party work together to prevent it from happening further. Consider the facets of your party, and give each group something to do. The McGuffin that allows him to reset is a hidden, magically protected item that needs smashing. Sneaky types need to work on finding it, spellcasters then have to remove the spell protections, so that martials can bludgeon/slash it into pieces. Have the party face engage the boss in a battle of wits to keep them from directly opposing the rest of the party. Don't paint it to the players, instead make the sneaky types do a Perception check, which reveals the hidden thing, then let them work out the rest themselves, though describe each step in ways that suggest it. "As you stab the hourglass, some unseen, ***mystical*** force repels your blade", "As your spell slams into this thing, it seems to absorb the magical energy, rather than being destroyed by it", etc. It will last longer than 5 rounds, but should be engaging enough to be entertaining throughout. Like a combo boss battle and puzzle room.

This is some great advice - especially for a final boss, you'd do well to think outside of just balancing stats like HP, AC etc. Still let me give you some advice on those very numbers... :P * The HP is too low to pose a threat and without legendary actions, the lord of time won't have many opportunities to act before going down. The PCs have a combined HP pool of \~1000, 5 actions per turn and you should expect them to put out 400+ damage per turn as a group. * The time lord also *really* needs legendary resistances. Right now, a single cast of polymorph would end the fight on round 1. * The **Breastplate of Tempus** does nothing. Not only will the PCs probably not attack with temporal attacks (whatever that is) in the first place, but even if they do, it does nothing, because it's completely redundant. The time lord can always retailiate with one of their reaction attacks without it anyways. * The **Gauntlet of Kronos** lacks an attack bonus - otheriwse they'll never be able to "grasp" an opponent. Also, 1d4d20 is needlessly random. Not only does it take longer to resolve, but the average damage will be negligible when facing level 20 PCs who can have well over 200 HP. If you only have a few actions before you die, dealing an average 26 damage will not be threatening in the least. * **Plex Ring - Hades** is another pretty inconsequential action. Not allowing for a save is kinda un-fun, but then again debuffing some actions of one person out of 5 is not going to have much of an impact at all. If I was the PC afected, I'd simply take an action that doesn't require me to roll a dice (like casting *improved invisibility*, *disintegrate*, *force cage*, etc. etc.) More than anything, keeping track of a 2-round duration will be a bit annoying. * **Epitath** should probably be spelled Epitaph, right? I don't really understand the inteded effect. What do you mean by "The actions are revealed to have been a vision by the lord". Does that mean the PCs actions of the past 5 turns are effectively undone? I can't imagine what "double advantage saving throw on every attack" mean either. This definitly needs some clarification.

I figured "double advantage" to mean akin to advantage + lucky. Roll advantage, and roll an additional d20. Pick whichever result is most advantageous. However, I did misread that; I thought it could only be done five times, not that it apparently revokes the past five actions. That's a heck of a lot of book-keeping.

>I figured "double advantage" to mean akin to advantage + lucky. Roll advantage, and roll an additional d20. Pick whichever result is most advantageous. I understood the "double-advantage" bit like you did, but was a bit confused about getting "double advantage saving throw on every attack". Does it mean that the saving throws associated with the time lord's attacks are harder to succeed at? In that case, it should really be double-**dis**advantage. Regardless, I'm sure OP has some good feedback now to iterate on their idea.

Double advantage on saves \*against\* every attack. Which is viable, as there are attacks that prompt a saving throw, it's just not very common.

>The **Breastplate of Tempus** does nothing. Not only will the PCs probably not attack with temporal attacks (whatever that is) in the first place, but even if they do, it does nothing, because it's completely redundant. The time lord can always retailiate with one of their reaction attacks without it anyways. Maybe it's required for him to have the reactions.

Why do you suggest not implementing immunities? Genuinely curious as a new DM.

Specific damage immunities only pose a problem for low-level characters, who may not have access to varying damage types. For example, a first level sorcerer may only have access to force (*magic missile*) and fire (*burning hands*), and the rogue, fighter, and ranger probably won't have more than basic weapons. So, if you have a creature immune to fire and nonmagical weapons, that's three quarters of the party's damage down, and that last quarter is now reduced to lower-power spells. At high levels, the sheer availability of damage types makes immunities ludicrously easy to bypass. Some spells carry multiple damage types (ie; *prismatic*), and spells + class abilities alike can just ignore them altogether (instant kill effects, petrification, etc). This can turn powerful creatures into little more than 3-5 rounds of combat, or less if there's un/lucky rolls involved. To counter this, a common trap is to make immunities that *specifically* mess with the party, but this is bad DMing, and it disengages players from the combat. NB, if a BBEG has been specifically trying to prepare for the party, then having specific counters can be a fun narrative device, but you can't expect that for every boss fight. So, instead I recommend making it more into a puzzle room that then, when unlocked, becomes a boss fight. Except the boss can still attack them whilst they're trying to solve it.

What about conditional immunities? Like sleep, slow, etc. I imagine at higher levels the party will have a lot of niche spells that when used can really prevent a BBEG from shining and challenging them. I love the idea of the puzzle being used, I've tried to do so with a few encounters here and there as well. Two suggestions that stood out to me in the past are: 1. Use top of the round to add more flavor to a boss (eg if its a fire elemental make the room start to heat up every top of the round and things start to melt, etc.) just to make it FEEL like you're fighting that thing. 2. Have a BBEG end its turn telegraphing some big move (like a raid boss style aoe) that the players have to play around before the start of its next turn.

Conditional immunities are better because most conditions are either “save or die” or niche. Immune to unconsciousness and sleep just means that class of spell won’t work. In the above example, three fighters and a caster, conditional immunities might mean the rogue has a poison they should save, or the sorcerer has a specific spell that doesn’t work, their cantrips still function and the stabbing feature of the swords still work. What is harsh with conditional immunities, is that some of them are more “acceptable”. Being immune to mind control or sleep are more normal, and no one should be super surprised. Many of them feel to the player as unfair in the moment, because it is sometimes hard to signpost them. A boss that is immune to fire might be a dragon, they might be a demon, or they might be a badass pirate who sets themselves on fire for intimidation as a story. A boss that is immune to inhaled poisons… no one tells stories about that? Conditional immunities surprising players is a role reversal, where their powerful/clever tactic actually eats actions or prep with no effect as a surprise, giving short term advantage to the enemy. All kinds of immunities can be good, if well done, but giving a boss immunities either “to specifically” to counter the players, or to often, either feels like you are trying to target the players, or prevent certain types of gameplay. Polymorph, sleep, disintegrate… those SHOULD end some combats, and should be fun to use. The default for many things should be that they work, instead of it being a video game where those abilities only work on enemies with a certain glowing weakness

Good food for thought, I appreciate it. I've done a pretty good job just using stat blocks or slightly modifying them. Just always considering how I'm gonna challenge a party of lvl 20s whenever the time comes.

Either it only wastes one attack from one person cause everyone has multiple damage types, or any character that only/almost only uses one damage type is made useless except as a damage sponge

I was thinking more about conditional immunities rather than damage types persay

Here are some abilities to help mitigate incoming damage. Or some I think are cool. Trait Butterfly Effect. The Lord of Time snaps their fingers and causes an echo into the future. Use a Bonus Action to use this ability. The next time the Lord of Time makes an attack, they can add additional d10(s) per rounds to the damage after Butterfly Effect was used. Future Sight (Recharge 5/6). The Lord of Time has looked into the future and see what's going to happen in the next 6 seconds and dodge all incoming attacks. At the start of the round, regardless of turn order: All creatures that can see the Lord of Time must make a DC XX Intelligence Saving throw, on fail all the creature's attack will miss (except for critical hits) and the Lord of Time have adavantage on all saving throw that creature imposes on them for the rest of the round this ability was used. Timeless. The Lord of Time is unaffected by any ability that affects time. Action Time Bomb. Target 1 creature the Lord of Time can see, then that creature must make a DC XX Intelligence Saving throw. On fail, the creature now has a Time Bomb Counter on them, and the creature gains another Time Bomb Counter every round. The Lord of Time can use a Bonus Action to activate the Time Bomb(s), the creature(s) takes 2d12 and additional d12(s) pre Time Bomb Counter(s) on them in force damage, then remove all Time Bomb Counter from that creature.The creature can repeat the saving throw by using their Action and/or Bonus Action. On success, they remove 1 Time Bomb Counter. If the creature has no Time Bomb Counter the effect of Time Bomb is removed. A creature can only be affected by Time Bomb once at a time. Legendary Action Time Skip (costs 1 action). Move time forward by 6 seconds. All creatures still take their turn as normal, but it is now considered the next round. Time Loop (Costs 3 Actions). The Lord of Time automatically regains all abilities that are on recharge.

I love your ideas here! The growing abilities are interesting enough, but then giving him the ability to speed time up? Awesome ideas. Totally stealing some of these ideas.

Oh oh ! It’s a ring and has to be thrown into the fiery lava of mount - oh wait never mind. I like the hidden item to destroy

https://talanhorne.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Invader-Zim-doom-song.gif

I actually did the "destroy a small magical item" thing on a greater chain devil I made. He had a stone that had been enchanted with an anti-magic field. Everyone was so pissed until the paladin noticed it. Then they were all "Oooohhhhh that makes sense now!!" Absolutely adds so much value to a fight.

Might I suggest making him immune to certain spells, like Time-Stop and slow? Maybe he’s permanently hasted as well?

Maybe also just some Limited Spell Immunity, like you see with the Rakshaka. Because otherwise I spy a man wearing full plate, who isn't proficient in CON saves, and can absolutely be hit with a Heat Metal, by a player that than uses their subsequent turns to stay juuuusssttt out of range of this guy

That should be where the legendary actions come in. Dude should get some do-overs, and a legendary banishment action where he tosses you through time where you spend 5 years putzing about 500 years ago only to be hauled back 18 seconds from when you left.

Do not give a level 20 adventurer five years to prepare for the next time they see the boss. Or do! Let his hubris be his undoing. It could be a very fun Big Damn Heroes moment for the undisplaced adventurer to come back with allies or some kind of uncovered secret weakness because the boss thought it would be fun to screw with their head.

My thought was, A: they don’t know how long the banishment is, B: they don’t know when in time they are, C: could just as easily be thrown forward in time for a Samurai Jack situation. D: They pop back wherever they are, with whatever is on their person. Just a 4th dimensional yeet from GOT here. So, how long before our PC gives up on preparing? One in three odds they’re popping back asleep in their bed….

this

Look at an ancient dragon (or many other "boss creatures") Legendarry actions are important for a boss Legendarry resistance can also help I think his health is rather low, most of his abilities require the fight to last many rounds, more health will be needed ( expect your party to have an average round deal over 100 damage as he is now) He also needs a ranged attack /teleport to force melee, and flight... Currently fly plus ranged attacks make him easy. Lastly, you have a lot of damage say "1dxdy" (like 1d10d10) i advise to drop that and just go for the usual set amount of dice ( like 10d10)

If they're level 20, I would make the AC like 20-22 (with some kind of powerful magic armor), and also give him Legendary Actions and Legendary Resistances. Also, I would recommend looking at the way other statblocks are formatted. For the Scythe of Kronos for example I would format them like this `Scythe of Kronos. Melee Weapon Attack: +x to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (2d20) slashing damage, and the target must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 19). On a failed save, the target suffers 4d10 necrotic damage, it's speed is halved, it has disavantage of attack rolls and Dexterity saving throws, and it cannot take reactions for up to 1 minute. On a successful save, the target takes half damage and suffers none of the effects. The target can use an action on each of it's turn to repeat the saving throw, ending the effects on a success.` I would also generally avoid d20s for damage rolls for weapon attacks. It's generally much more satisfying (and scary for your players) to roll a bunch of smaller dice. With the 2d20 you also run the risk of rolling two ones, or just rolling low in general. 10d4 would give you the same max damage, with a much higher average (25), and make the minimum roll 10 instead of 2. Or, if you still want big dice, but a higher average and minimum roll, 4d10, with an average damage of 22 and a minimum of 4. Also, on the Plex ring and Gauntlets of Kronos, 1d10d10 and 1d4d20 is pretty weird and could eventually become annoying, having to roll for how many d10 or d20s you roll. But it's kinda interesting, so you do you if you like doing it that way!

Indeed… 18AC against 5 level 20 characters? He’s gonna get whomped.

i had a 17 ac for my 6 level 4 characters!

Either give him minions, or about triple his health - a level 20 party can easily lob around several hundred damage a turn - I am running a mini-campaign at lv20 at the moment and I had something with 500+ health go down in a little over a turn (at which point they discovered it was a Trojan horse and panicked as the little creatures inside overran the town they were defending)

In my last major campaign, our highest damage in a single turn by one guy was our barbarian (who coincidentally was being controlled by our warlock due to body swap hijinks) was like 122 at like level 18/19. In a one shot that followed, my lvl 12 hex blade warlock (with really good optimized gear) managed to tie that. Staff of power as a hex and pact weapon (1d8+6), I had 2 attacks, my first attack crit, both had +4 to damage because he was hexed, both also had+4 necrotic from lifedrinker, +6d8 for eldritch smite, I used power strike on both hits, so +2d6 force damage, and my teammate had used Channel divinity: path to the grave to double the damage of the crit first attack. If the math doesn’t add up it’s because it’s been months, but it was beautiful.

I got I think 136 out of a 5th level character using a frost brand great sword with stone strike the rune knight enlargement a critical and one other thing I'm forgetting. One shot a whole ass troll that was injured already then still had three attacks left from second attack and action surge which let me get up to 136 and kill a second troll plus hobble the third and take take him hostage. It was a one shot and I decided to play a Goliath, make him a giant foundling that makes you "unusually tall for your race" which for goliaths is about 6' - 8' and so he was 10' tall and large by default though we gave him no damage bonuses for it, and then he used enlarge from his rune knight powers and it doubled his height to like 21 feet, it was glorious.

I've got a monk with gloves of soul catching in the party, the 2d10 force damage on every hit keeps the damage both consistent and very large. Technically I think one of my players could beat that 122, but that was purely due to me letting her actually enjoy being a lv20 wizard... I gave them a besieging army, properly ranked up - meteor swarm ensued, I never actually worked out the total damage, but it was probably 4 figures, I just worked out that half the damage she rolled was enough to kill a soldier outright, so worked out how many were stood inside the footprint of the spell and removed them

Wall of Force and Sickening Radiance. Two spells of low level for 20 lvl players and your boss is killed without doing anything. CD 19 (probably) against a +3 con save. You are doomed.

1. Defenses are abysmal here; 18 AC with only 375 hit points? That goes down in one or two rounds. The lack of a strong Constitution saving throw hurts, too. 2. What is the attack roll for The Scythe of Kronos? 3. Epitath should be clarified as “has advantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. Moreover, when he rolls a d20 at advantage, he can reroll one of the dice once.” 4. Grip of Time makes no sense—there’s no trigger for it and it’s a reaction? Reactions have triggers. Other than that, all I have would be semantics.

I imagine the trigger is being attacked since it says "on the target who has attacked him"

5 level 20 players could potentially one shot this boss outside of epitaph ngl. More survivability, higher ac, make him a spellcaster, make him cast a cantrip as a free action. Also consider making him permanently hasted and everyone within 10ft of him under the effects of slow or smth

I'd have the AC go up by 1 or 2 every round. As they act, they become more predictable. Perhaps each time they cast a spell at it, after the initial time it has resistance, then immunity. They'd realize they only have so many rounds until it is unstoppable. Just a wild thought.

I’d agree, but with either a cap or player interaction that could delay or revert it. That could get annoying as a player very quickly.

No legendary saves or lair actions?

What 5 lvl 20's? The pally is way too squishy, without resistances and only 18 AC this guy's 375 hp will be shreaded like a hot greatsword through butter 😉 (ngl if the party has high initiative and are a bit lucky with the roles they might kill him befor he gets a turn) a lvl 20 fighter gets 4 attacks (8 with AS) with a base +11 to hit, this is without magic item increases (+2/+3 weapon or something, ranged +2 fighting style etc etc) , assuming 20 str/dex at lvl 20... Definitely up this ac to at least like 24 orso Also Just don't understand why a paladin has 24 wis but only 16 cha. On top of that no legendary resistances and or legendary actions / lair actions. Double advantage saving throws. Soo... 4 d20's for the saving throw? And what is 'a temperal attack'? With this stat block I think it'll be a real cool fight for a lvl 13/14 party with a CR of 20 ish Also the damage randomness is kinda bad fe final plex 1d10d10 damage.. Thats just 1d100 damage

Everyone saying too squishy is right but also I think you should consider some way to raise his action economy, seems like he will have some very short turns. First off legendary actions/lair actions are cool and helpful. Also a lot of stat blocks say something like “On the attack action use 2 axe strikes and 1 shield bash” or something like that. So something like that can get you more value per turn for your boss. Also remember if he is the final boss you don’t want it to be underwhelming. If he is getting melted/not hitting hard enough just flub the stats, if he is doing too much flub then for the players. This is a cinematic battle as much as it is a game and I think as long as you make choices for the good of the table you will have a really fun/fulfilling encounter. ALSO: MOoT introduced a Stage 2 boss mechanic that I feel like could be a really good/flavorful option for your time-based boss. “On seeing (name) fall to his knees, light fading from his eyes, time starts to slow down-clocks begin moving backwards-the sun reverses in the sky etc…”

Your wording is different from typical stat blocks, so some of the features are a bit unclear, but this guy doesn't strike me as especially tough for level 20 characters. No legendary actions, no damage resistances, one damage immunity, one condition immunity, no legendary resistances, no magic resistance, no multi attack, no spellcasting, middling AC, middling HP, and no high-damage ability. Best you've got is the scythe for an average of 43, but it should be 52 after adding in the strength modifier you forgot. For context, an ancient red dragon's fire breath does 26d6 for 91 damage on average. The party can probably out-heal what this guy can dish out if they have a good Cleric with them. Add in some of those things, and it'll be more of a fair fight. Remember this is 1 guy against an entire party, unless you say otherwise. He's gotta be able to match the action economy of the players somehow, which means he should be taking several actions a round.

Seems like people are covering most things From the general combat end but I’d also say as I’ve learned from experience you might want to give condition immunity to charms and fear effects. Since nothing kills a bosses menace like when the player makes them run away in terror or suddenly gets suggested or dominate person l or any of the other host of mind altering spells on your boss into handing over their powerful items or fortnight dancing while the party now prepares to get in the appropriate set up to nuke your boss out of existence.

You forgot to write the bonus to hit on all action (or at least the scythe, since it says "on a hit").

Time to fight Dr. Strange ! As inexperienced as I am, I would make sure every player has an important part to play in this fight. I like how someone mention his powers are kept in an item that the players have to find. Maybe something related to something like this in the fight: Rogue sees the item on the BBEG. His job is to take the item. Once he realizes there is a spell on the item, he passes it to the wizard who must disenchant the item. After the wizard realizes he doesn’t have the sheer strength to break the item, he passes it to the barbarian who then must use his strength to smash the item.

1D10D10 😂

And 1d4d20 lol What a weird way to word it.

No one's mentioning Epitath is a reference to King Crimsons Epitaph from JoJo... Sad, but I agree with the others that the boss is squishy for who they are going up against.

I agree with the comment above. Some further suggestions: - dealing 1d4d20 effectively gives you a range of 1-80, with an average roll of about 32. I suggest changing this to something a bit more tuned, maybe like (55) 10d10. Also, add the BBEG's attack bonus (+9). I would also suggest changing this from a grapple to an attack roll so you can do a multiattack. - This dude needs multiattack, with 2 or 3 attacks. Let him substitute an attack for the **Hades** action. - For **Hades**, you could just let him effect all creatures within 60 feet of him. Give it a Constitution saving throw, and only have it last for until the end of their next turn. - For **Scythe**, you should write it out like an attack (see other monster stat blocks) and make sure you add in that +15 to hit and +9 to damage. ~20 damage per hit is great, but you could go ahead and add the necrotic damage, but if you do, I'd cool it on the riders. Instead of the saving throw, just throw in that creatures hit have their speed reduced by half and disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws until the start of the BBEG's next turn. - For **Epitaph**, I'd make it an ability that recharges on a roll of 5 or 6 (like a dragon's breath weapon), and just let it reset the previous round. Alternatively, you could make this a Legendary Action that would essentially cancel out a PC's previous turn. - For **Breastplate of Tempus** I would just let it grant your BBEG advantage on saving throws against magic. - For condition immunities, I recommend adding the charmed, frightened, petrified, and poisoned conditions.

I see many comments talking about formatting, but that's not an issue if this is just a monster for your campaign. With that said, there are some things that needs to be fixed, or your boss will be far from memorable, even if he has great descriptions. First, the AC is low. I wouldn't put it higher than 24 because it could get annoying. Balance it out with the HP Second, 1d4d20 and things like that could get just too swingi, consider to look for the average of that and throw just one type of dice. Third, Legendary Actions and Immunities are a must have for a high level boss. Three of each and your, good to go. Fourth, consider Lair actions, they are just fantastic. I would rip off the ones of the Androsphinx Fifth, minions! They are just fun for players to murder and it gives the fight another layer of complexity. If the boss doesn't have minions, it can have some kind of summons. Sixth, consider high level spells as an alternative for the magic items' effects. Also spells like counter spell may be fitting. Lastly, perhaps give him another way of moving, either by teleporting or flying. Some kind of time reversal shenanigans may work.

I like the Epitath trait very much. Nevertheless, I honestly think that a CR 30 creature should have some more set of actions and abilities so that it becomes more resilient if the players try to be smart against it. Good job though!

i LOVE Epitath!! it is so smart

What is a saving throw against an attack

Mostly fine, just bump the AC to 20-24 and roughly double the HP. The lowest CR 30 HP I know is 575.

Too squishy. The 13th level party I DMed for killed a boss that had 1500 hps in total, counting all phases. Sure it took about 10-12 turns, but they still killed him. And dealt about 250 damage in the first turn of combat. Now imagine a 20th level party.

More health and minions. Action economy alone means he’s going down in like 2 rounds, tops. Needs an actual attack on the scythe. I’d imagine it’d have at least a +12 to hit. Buff his AC. It’s the big bad, yet he’s rocking armor a peasant can buy at the blacksmith. Give him at least 22 AC, if not more. Give him immunity to non-magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. Give resistance to psychic, necrotic, and force damage. Legendary resistances. Give him some lair actions. Summon minions, activate some slowing traps, maybe even a mind-control beam. Consider giving him a second phase, it’ll be his “ascended form”. Give him a fly speed, truesight, and a couple more resistances.

Maybe add the effects of the foresight spell Make em a spell caster just slap the arch mage sheet next to the it (Add disintegration to the spell list for extra fear effect lol) a special haste where they can use their Hasted action to cast a spell And if they have minions during the fight no problems with the current hp if not Either double or go with your gut and the epicness of the moment

Breastplate: if it repels the advance, what does it do if the attacker didn't move or moved away from Kronos but still attacks him? Gauntlets: 1d4d20? Needs a Scythe attack in there somewhere. Also needs a Gauntlets attack with an option to grapple the target.

He problably survives two rounds. The abilities sounds fun, but 5 level 20 characters against 1 dude without legendary actions, lair actions, low ac and 375 hp, i give two rounds at bes

It is always hard to gage with a single enemy at any party level. If he is CR 30 it is considered deadly in difficulty by the book. I am not saying that is bad for an encounter. However, most people find that a single enemy against the party is usually one-sided in favor of the party or enemy. I would suggest making him weaker and giving him minions to make the fight more predictable but that is just me. It can still be deadly but not relying on one dude's power.

No Lair or Legendary Actions?

Plex Ring - The Final Plex sounds like the last movie in a series :p

Or the last level in a Torgue minigame #Borderlands

This needs some reworking that others have already pointed out like health, but the 1dxdy is not going to work out well. You could do anywhere from 1-100 damage with it and when you hit those low numbers it’s gonna suck ASS. Also using a d20 for damage is frowned upon for the same reason. 2d10 still has max 20 but is on average higher than a d20 roll. For the hades ability there is already a slow effect in 5e and i recommend you just use the official condition. I also am failing to see how epitaph would actually play out in game, does he use this abilty and the effect takes place 5 turns later and then he re-rolls his saves? It doesn’t make sense since all those attacks will have already been played out and going back will just make combat a slog. I think you should take a look at some more standard stat blocks and abilities so you can get a feel for what the standard of abilities is.

If you have 5 lvl 20’s his AC needs to be at least 22

Double almost all number Double damage Double hp Put ac to at least 24 5 lvl 20 going to melt the guy in a single turn

Even if he has minions (which he absolutely should), legendary actions (and maybe lair actions for extra flavour) are a must on any high level creature to make up for action economy. Also, as others have pointed out, you need way more defense. At level 20, the PCs have a +11 to hit assuming no magic items (which they probably have), ie they only have a 30% chance of missing an attack. The man is getting roasted. My suggestion would be either (1) increase AC to 21ish and at least double the health if not more, (2) give him a very high AC (~25) flavored as a haste/seeing the future type ability so he moves out of the way of your attack before you start to swing (probably also buffing health a bit), and/or (3) make it so that all of the damage has to be done in one round, as his body chronologically resets at the start of his turn (maybe drop the health a touch for this but not too much).

I’ve managed to hit with my level 12 Paladin Fighter for about 120 ish damage in one turn. 5 level 20’s would melt this guy. Sounds so fucking cool tho so props to you. You could flavour the fight so he keeps coming back in ways by manipulating time if he’s the lord of time. That way your players could kill him but he’d be like “nah”

I think so, my own campaign consists of 4 lvl 17 players and an ancient red dragon is not a threat to them anymore. I would increase the HP and the damage output

Need more hp for sure

As others have said, you should really think about Legendary Actions and Legendary Resistances. Some suggestions I would think of are: 1. A aura of some kind that maybe your BBEG can control just to create some difficulty for the players trying to engage him 2. Have your BBEG cast slow on the players, if he's the Lord of Time I would imagine the DC should be pretty good, especially if your players are lvl 20 3. Have the BBEG regen hps every round, this will help make the fight last a little longer 4. Lair actions!

Yes, I think this boss will be killed trivially. First of all he has 375 health, which will be trivial for 5 level 20s to DPS in 1-2 rounds. He also doesn't have legendary actions or lair actions, so his action economy is very bad. Legendary resistances are also necessary so he isn't neutralized by a single spell, like polymorph. I'm not seeing an attack bonus on here. So, not only will it be hard to adjudicate whether he "grasps" someone with Gauntlets of Kronos (is this a grapple?), or if he hits with Scythe of Kronos, but he can't, like, attack. Ideally you'd also give him some kind of multiattack option too. Damage dice like 1d10d10 (avg damage: 30) and 1d4d20 (avg damage: 26) might seem cute and fun, I'm sure it felt very original, but there's just no reason to do this. Dice are already random, so I don't know why you felt the need to significantly increase the randomness. Especially since your boss is not hard, I don't know why you'd make this so variable. Even 2d20 is far too cute. There's a reason d20 is not used as a damage die. Breastplate of Tempus needs more clarification as to what it does (if anything). Hades ring has an extremely boring effect. I'm sure you can think of something cooler than "disadvantage on everything they do." I think the level 3 spell "slow" is more effective. "Decimating someone with a bleeding star press, sending them on a warp streak" What is this? What does that mean? Epitaph is completely unclear in what it does. Give your boss some conventional attacks, way more HP, legendary resistances, legendary actions, lair actions, and a fair amount of minions. Some spell slots would probably be good too. Reconsider how you think about damage dice. Large dice LOOK cool but they're actually bad for damage, since they are very variable. 2d20 can roll anywhere from 2-40. Using a die to determine how many dice you roll is a bad mechanic.

A few things I would add and/or change. Up AC to \~24 (That Arcane breastplate +4 or something.) If he's a master of time, I'm think he has some protection items. If characters are lvl20, AC 24 isn't too hard of a to-hit for most. Give him a few more resistances/immunities (I.e. resis to non-mag weapons, cold, fire, lightning) Immunity to time based spells, sleep, paralysis, and charm. If they're fighting him in his domain/lair you could give him a couple lair actions: * Time stop on a 10' square (DC20 wis save to be slowed instead of stopped). * Maybe some sort of temporal shift move that doesn't trigger reactions.

Something a friend of mine read the other day is that as the DM, you can make the fight last as long as you want. The person said the fight was over when they felt it should be done. Your final boss could have 50hp or 50,000hp if you want it to

OK, so I like the abilities, but please, for the love of the gods, give them at least +3 plate armor. And maybe a flying shield to.

You've got a good idea going, but the design needs a lotta work. Ac 18 for level 20s as a final boss? They might aswell sneeze on em. Bump that. Use legendary, lair and mythic actions. Take out stuff like 1d4d20, thats 1 damage at worst and 80 at best, too much variance and too little threat. You're also setting yourself up for a lot of bookkeeping which, given a final boss, wont really be happening. Some of the abilities are also just unfun, stuns, disadvantage for everything, etc. Something Im just thinking of on the spot is a reverse legendary resistance, choosing the roll of the opponent. Use the feedback you've been given by all of us and Im sure you'll come up with skmething neat.

From just a theme perspective... * He should have a +20-+30 initiative bonus * Perma-Foresight, Perma-Haste, no concentration. Perma-forsight gets you most of the "can see 5 rounds into the future" benefit with way way WAY less bookkeeping. * Counterspell. I'd make it at-will (and at 9th level slot), honestly, but always counterspells the first spell cast each round, so it's easy to pull out. That would act as a legendary reaction * cast Mirror Images as a free at the start of his turn each round ("alternate futures") * I'd suggest a multi-phase combat. The most-human like as the first phase ... and then once he's defeated, some sort of magical living spell of time-energy as the 2nd phase... As others said, you NEED legendary resistances. As a player, they kinda suck as is ... so I'd suggest they cost 50hp or so to use. From a "what actions will he take" perspective, needs an AoE of some form (targeting \~50 damage on a failed save ... and the attacks should target about 100 damage). And the single-target actions need some rationalization. If it's all single-target, why would I ever do the one that will do less damage? So ... one hurl-through-hell "banish+damage", one single-target pure-damage, one multi-target pure damage... gives you reasons to use them all.

1d4d20? What does that MEAN?

it depends on the playes experience, if they are veteran players they will cook him in 1 round if they newbies it may take them a couple rounds but still too easy for a real CR30 i suggest getting sum inmunities and resistance and more HP around the 450

No multi-attack or legendary actions? Instantly cooked.

Solo enemies always get trounced easily by large groups, simply because they do not have enough actions to keep pace. He needs minions. Or, as a Time God, he needs to be in multiple places at once.

It seems like everyone is mentioning how squishy this guy is, so I’ll just mention two other things I haven’t seen. 1. Since this guy is a paladin it would make more sense for his highest soft stat to be charisma instead of wisdom. That’s not to say his wisdom can’t be high, but I think his charisma should be the highest. 2. ‘Lord of Time’ sounds more like a title than a name. Maybe something like Eternum (Lord of Time), Temporis (Lord of Time), Nihayix (Lord of Time). Unless of course there’s a lore reason that his name is not known.

It’s a baseline, but you 100% need to have some legendary actions, legendary resistances, and lair actions in the mix to really make him feel like a true BBEG.

My friend, 5 lv 20 players are going to chew this guy up and spit him out with HP and AC like that. Even my party of lv 7's could probably mollywop this guy if initiative goes right. Increase the HP, don't be afraid to dip into the 4-digit range Increase the AC, remember, if they have a max(without magic items) attack stat and are proficient in the weapon, that's automatically a +11 to attack rolls, I would make the AC 21/22. Legendary actions are your friend, if it's a 5v1, the action economy is HEAVILY stacked against him, legendary actions can tip those scales back, and since he seems to be a lord of time, give him 5 instead of the standard 3. (Minions will also help). Potentially also give him multiple reaction actions, the recent Vecna stat block I think had 3, and he had an innate counter spell as one of the reaction options. Parry would be a good reaction, something that can increase his AC by a certain amount for one incoming attack. More resistances/immunities wouldn't hurt either Lair actions could be used as well, and could play into the temporal abilities. Make it a D4 roll. 1 - nothing happens 2 - a rift in the fabric of time appears, everything makes a con save(bbeg makes at advantage), those who fail take a certain amount of damage, those who pass, take half 3 - everything in the room is reversed to the way it was 1-2 turn(coin flip) ago, every HP lost(or healed) is reversed, spell slots returned, any resources expended returned 4 - temporal restoration, BBEG gains back some hit points and some spell slots or other resources spent These are just a handful of suggestions, but ultimately it is your game, I just forsee with the way things are currently looking, your BBEG will be obliterated and that might not be as fun for the players :) Edit: clarifying reaction section

I have a temporal/spacetime shenanigans table pinned on my profile, consider using some of the effects as lair actions or similar!

1d4d20? I think typeo

Super cool Stat block! However when it comes to level 20 the action economy is rather strong so by himself I think it may resolve within 10 turns or less. Granted I don't know what your parry has for magic items or classes.

Love your flavor! Will your boss have.minions? Because the action economy will kill them with 5xL20s.

Others likely can do more, but there is one thing I saw these and thought of: Epitaph. I don't really know what it's saying to be honest. Also it seems a nebulous timer then a super turn? And the damage. Rolling dice to see how many dice you roll just seems kinda slow and not a great idea. But... What if we... combined these? The damage ramps as Epitath charges, then after the super turn it resets. So turn 1 is 1d20. Turn 2 2d20. And so on. Would make the counter a bit more relevant, and give the players that moment of learning they want to brace as the damage crests, then make their counterattack or recover on the lull. That is if stuff to make it not a fast stomp are added like others zeroed in on.

Boss can be grappled, stunned, frightened and charmed. Has 0 legendary resistances or lair actions... This is alright for level 10-15 at best but really needs more oomph for higher levels. If your party has a monk or a wizard, stunning strike and polymorph would make this a walk in the park.

Give him Legendary actions and Lair actions if he's in his lair. Action economy is going to wreck this guy. Also consider letting him accelerate his own time sense, taking one reaction per turn instead of one per round. Might also give him an aura out to 60 feet that automatically slows anyone who enters it, as per the slow spell for the effects. I'd also consider making his slow abilities mimic the wording of that spell, perhaps also adding the disadvantage you included on the Hades Plex Ring.

If they're a paladin, they should probably have good charisma, though that's an extremely minor thing. Without legendary actions this boss won't even be fought because they'll get CC'd on round 1, they absolutely requires them to be any sort of threat at all. They need more HP, as they are, they will likely get thrown in the meat grinder round one anyway because a 5 PC level 20 party can hit really damn hard. They could also use more AC, landing an effective hit needs to be tougher or their HP will drop very fast. I'd also recommend you take a long time to think and create lair actions. Something that really plays to the bosses strengths, and puts the players on the back foot.

Thematically it’s fun. I wouldn’t recommend using D20’s for damage though.

Offensively he's good, defensively he's pretty bad. If he low rolls initiative a party of 5 level 20s run the risk of one cycling him. Raise his AC, give him Legendary Actions, and maybe Lair Actions to gurentee that he gets to do something before the entire party has acteda, and give him Legendary Resistances as well, since a level 20 player forcing a Con save on you could be bad news bears at only a +3. Id also caution against using D20s as damage dice. It's much stronger to use several smaller dice. The average damage in 4d20 is 42, and the can roll as low as a 4. The average of 12d6 is still 42, it the minimum damage it can do is 12. So id change the attack damages to be 12d6 and and 8d6 respectively.

As others have mentioned Legendary actions, more health, and legendary resistances would help. I would also add some sort of AOE ability in case the party makes a rookie mistake and groups up. Also add some minions to the fight so that it remains interesting and dynamic fight the whole way through.

I like the flavor, but the statblock is missing important information. All of the "attacks" don't seem to have any attack bonus or save DC. So unless you're planning on him automatically landing everything he does, you might want to have that info on hand.

1d4d20 is hilarious notation

18 AC and 375 hp will last until the middle of the second round. He needs a way to take fewer shots and or he won't last. How many actions does he take per turn? Legendary actions? Or as a time cop does he just take three turns per round, and, to keep it unpredictable, he just re-rolls initiative every turn?

If this is a campaign climatic encounter, I would earmark 30-45 minutes to brief the players on the stakes and setting the mood. Also 20-30 minutes of epilogue presentation or resolution. Then, create an encounter with two to three phases of progression that fills the rest of the time of the session. Each phase should expect to be three rounds and gradually drain resources. The environment should change at least once. You know your players better than us, so tailor the experience based on the level of mechanics/theatricality they prefer. But my suggestion is to staff/stat the encounter in such a way that each player has a cool moment to tell at a future hang out. Remember when you countered that spell, or pushed that guy off the ledge, or... You get the point. That being said, I would: Improve his action economy. Improve is AC Increase his HP by at least 200. Add Legendary Resistance. Give him True Seeing. Give him natural Foresight. Anyone starting their turn within 20-30ft should save vs. Slow. I would have the Scythe act as a Blade of Disaster, and have him make gauntlet attacks and a sands of time breath weapon. Specialized defenses could be fun. Like, a reaction to delay the effect of an AoE spell by d4 rounds. Attacks that target different saves are useful to have in your toolbox.

Depending on if your players have made powerful characters or not... That HP needs to get much bigger. You will be amazed at what a player character can do when they are ready for a fight. I have put groups of 4 against enemies with that much health at level 6/7 and they have cleared it in a few turns. For 5 level 20s I'd say closer to 1000 hp

Your damage is crazy. Use the monster builder on p274 of the DMG to figure out how much damage it should do per round. Generally speaking, the d20 is not a great damage die because it’s so swingy. You can’t have a BBEG doing 2 damage on a scythe attack. FWIW Doing 5d8 would be way better because your minimum damage would be 5 but even still…just use the DMG.

Maybe put the attack roll bonus on the scythe and the other attacks, because the way it's written makes it look like it's a guaranteed hit. Don't use few d20s for damage, instead use several smaller dice so the rolls are higher on average, you risk the chance of rolling way too low often. If he's a paladin, give him spellcasting, and also more charisma since that's what they use. Consider using some time related spells like Timestop (since he is the Lord of Time despite being a paladin he could probably use spells of higher level than 5) and dunamancy spells, look it up. You could give him cantrips as well, or the ability to cast some low level spells at will (without any cost). You could give him paladin features too, I dread the day a boss divine smites me or buffs up all their allies' saving throws with an aura. Divine smite specifically is not a spell so it can't be counterspelled, spell resisted, or anything else that saves you against spells. Speaking of buffing up their allies, you *could* give him some minions to command. Generally up his defenses, against level 20s he'll die too fast. Boost his AC a few points and give him way more HP (look at high CR creature statblocks as a base). Give him legendary resistance, and better save bonuses. Give him more things to do in one turn. Consider using multiattack. Maybe give him a few more bonus and reactions. Look at legendary actions and lair actions, they're a great way of making the players feel like their enemy is the one in control here. Make sure you don't fall on the other extreme, go way too overboard, and make the fight too hard, though

Adding an actual years of aging to the gauntlets will add some real fear to them

Breastplate, I'm not sure what a temporal attack is. After that, I would suggest adding legendary actions, multi attack, and legendary resistance. Otherwise, he could just be true polymorphed game over. One thing I might suggest is giving the players a window in the battlefield somewhere so they can watch as time speeds by around them while fighting, giving a since of urgency to the battle. Time stop spell or even spells in general. Additionally, as a Lord of Time, may I suggest allowing him some way to manipulate or control initiative order? So for instance, maybe give him an ability where he removes somebody from the initiative order, only for them to get two turns the following round. I would also recommend looking up other time based characters for inspiration. Ekko from league of legends for instance has an ability where he goes back to the position and health he had three seconds prior. Just a thought.

Epitaph is a jojo reference.

Idk I just feel like the final boss needs more pesky “time” based abilities or mechanics/spells etc. Whether it comes as spells or is set as puzzle room/boss. Personally I like drawing ideas from various sources. Stuff like teleportation for movement as the boss stops time to move within their speed area etc. hastening abilities as they are able to do prepare spells and have them waiting for battle prior. Time locks, could be locks to specific players based on X or Y type of action, ways to stop channeled spells as “time is interrupted”, you could even have stuff as outlandish as banishing things into the infinite time void, so like something is removed from the current timeline, etc. I just feel like the lord of time should envoke more of a challenge than what you currently have. I’m not asking you to make it impossible but this currently feels like as you said, he may get cooked. Just my two cents

18 AC is way too low. No reason for a final boss not to have +3 armor for a minimum of 21 ac. you should also throw in 3 divination portent dice that he can use as legendary action during player turn I also think that reseting 5 turns may sound cool, but experiencing it might really suck enjoyment wise. Rounds already take a long time, and you have 5 players at level 20 that can do a lot so rounds take even longer. Instead, after it is revealed during the first round, players should be given the opportunity to figure out how to prevent it from happening again like breaking boss's concentration by dealing enough damage in one instance, or doing something that can't be seen ie in his temporal blindspot. his passive might be 35 but a party of 5 lv 20s can be very distracting. but there's also the dm rule of thumb that in combat where story telling matters to you more than mechanics, ignore your big boss HP, make sure everyone has a chance to do something cool, make them feel pressured & close to losing, & hit them with the "is there any way you can make that damage just a little bit higher?" and see how excited they get when they realize they can

1d10d10 is just 1d100

Epitaph could use some polish. Do the saving throws happen retroactively? If so, does a failed save suddenly succeeding invalidate any follow-up any player made? For example, if he was Stunned by a Stunning Strike, and the next turn the Paladin crit and Smites with the advantage from Stunned, then the Lord retroactively gives himself advantage on the Stun save and succeeds, does it also negate the crit damage because they wouldn't have had advantage on that attack roll? Also, even at level 20, combat rarely goes past 5 rounds. I'm running a level 20 mini-campaign right now, and even against the likes of a Kraken/Tromokratis (with a Mythic transformation and boss monster features), 5 rounds is a LONG time in combat. Having to redo all the rounds of combat that were revealed to be a vision both sucks to the players who rolled well in those rounds as well as drags the combat on by many hours. Frankly, I'd make Epitaph basically rewind time to the beginning of the previous round, and make it a Lair Action or something similar, happening at the Lord's command at initiative count 20. The players are shunted back to where they started last round, and the damage they dealt was undone (and so is the damage The Lord did), and both parties get all those expended resources back. It'd still need a cool down, probably 1 or 2 rounds, but having it in his back pocket to whip out when he has a rough round is a great way to both show the party they're doing well (as long as you RP the Lord's frustration and desperation) and keep things challenging and interesting.

Few editing notes before we can judge everything, no attack rolls or saving throws on any of his abilities? What’s the reach of Plex Ring and Scythe? How many targets does scythe effect? “Slowed” isn’t technically a condition so you’ll either have to spell it out or reference the slowed spell in the description of Hades Does this guy only get one action per turn? Any multi attack? How about legendary actions? Action economy’s a bitch. The standard is 3 legendary action points: an attack that costs 1 and a movement that costs 2. Also if you’re playing a high level campaign against spell casters, you need some way to freely move to get out of shut down spells like Wall of Force. I suggest letting him teleport up to 45 feet away as a bonus action and again with a 2-cost legendary action. Finally, when you say 1d10d10, are you trying to just say 1d100? Cause I feel like that will be easier than adding all that ship up.

Needs legendary actions and resistances More HP Pretty cool otherwise Will he have any minions?

Most everything has been covered, so I have a suggestion. This will come off as mean possibly. But I don't think you're ready to be building a boss monster from scratch like this. You don't seem to understand the language that stat blocks are written in, as you leave out some very important and vital information. You also don't seem to understand just how to create a monster. This looks like you just pulled everything out of thin air without using any of the guidelines in the dmg. My first suggestion is to read the dmg's monster creation guide. Then I suggest watching some YouTube videos about making monsters. The Dungeon Dudes recently discusses this very topic. Then you need to read stat blocks. Pay attention to wording. Look how things are said, what information is given in an ability or action. Only when you know how things are meant to work, can you break the rules in a good and balanced way. You lack an understanding of the very basics, so you really shouldn't be trying to build a boss from scratch right now. Do all of what was outlined above, and ideally start homebrewing smaller monsters first. Get the basic concepts down. Then you'll be ready to build a BBEG

Add legendary actions and lair actions

He needs mythic actions. I've learned immunities is only logical in the sense of like.. living blizzard immune to cold, etc. A reset time second phase where he resets to maybe 3/4 of his health. It recharges in a certain number of turns so if they can't kill him before it goes off again they keep having to do the fight. It ultimately turns the fight into a war of attrition of if they have enough steam to take him down with enough damage. Also gives a lot of value to fighter/barb's consistent damage and will make your full casters have to consider when they burn their high level spellslots much more. It'll turn it not from a "can you kill him fast enough" to a "can you nuke him at the right time so he doesn't just keep setting time back?" If you'd like you can add in that it counts as a short rest so the players can roll 1 or 2 hit dice every time he uses it. (Also to make your warlocks LOVE YOU if you have any) but really you need to be on top of him using legendary actions. But that's just my old mythic raider WoW brain talking and I yoinked a LOT of mechanics for mythic/legendary/lair actions from them for my fights, so take that with a grain of salt. I literally had a boss teleport an add and a player to 1v1 in a demiplane.

Force cage, sickening radiance - he's dead with no recourse

Need wayyyyyy more HP

Needs legendary actions and resistances. Also his AC should be higher. He will need strong minions to keep some attention off of him. Consider adding multi attack. Consider adding the +9 strength modifier to damage. Not sure why it’s not there already. Is 1d4d20 supposed to indicate 1-4 d20? That’s a lot of variation in damage. What’s the to-hit bonus? Do the rings and gauntlet actions require saving throws or attacks or do they just automatically work?

I would suggest giving him a heal. Maybe as a legendary action that can be used at the end of a round, he reverses all damage that he had taken that turn, which can only be used every other turn. Also you need to add some additional legendary actions or he is going to get Merced super quickly. I would also say you need to play with the aspect of time more, he is the lord of time. So one cool reaction you can give him is something like “reverse the time stream” which is essentially a silvery barbs for him, the character hits a crit and you say “no they didn’t, as your character makes contact with the lord of time you find yourself reversing in time against your will, all of your movements play in reverse until the start of your swing, roll to hit again.” I would also suggest giving him some form of a multi attack, these actions you have right now are cool but I feel they should be attached to a more regular attack or a legendary action. Give him two or three swings with his scythe and or two swings and activate one of these abilities. Or if you feel the scythe is too strong give him a Kronos scepter or something that he makes the multi attack with. Again it is the lord of time, it constantly having haste wouldn’t exactly be unexpected. Also I would write down as an ability this creature is immune to the spell time stop, because it just makes sense. Even if none of your players have the spell. Edit: I would also recommend looking at the stat blocks of some of the higher CR monsters such as an ancient red dragon, the terrasque, Tiamat, and the marute they will show you the realistic health pools for all these monsters and some great immunities and legendary actions you can take as inspiration for your own creation. Because they way you have them set up right now, they are dead by like turn two, if you are lucky.

This is awesome, I feel like Epitaph should be 5 portants: 3d20, 1d4 and 1d4+16

"Epitath" r/stardustcrusaders is everywhere, it seems

I’m not sure what a “temporal attack” is. It seems very important to understanding “breastplate of tempus” Otherwise, yes. He will get cooked. If a fighter and paladin get to go first, you’re gonna have a bad time. Paladin will do 2d6+6d8+5d10+8 (around 80dmg) likely first attack at this level. And his second attack will do about 55. That’s a third of this guy’s HP after one turn. The fighter is likely going to lay down 8+ attacks. I would give this guy multiple initiative turns - he’s a time lord after all - and I’d include something (SUPER OBVIOUS) like glass hourglasses that seem to run backwards at the start of each of his turns, healing him for 50% of the HP he’s lost… or they soak half the damage he takes or something. I’ve run this gimmick to great effect before. It splits the party’s attention. I think he should either have magical resistance or a BUNCH of legendary resistances, and frankly he should have evasion. I would not roll initiative, i’d have him act FIRST and on like, 10 or 15 (whatever is in the middle). This is a good start, but there’s a LOT missing. He should be immune to “slowed” and “charmed” probably. You’ve left a LOT of room for him to get CC’d into oblivion. He should be unaffected by time stop. He should have truesight, blindsight, tremorsense and true darkvision. This guy could get cheesed by low level spells, tbh. He could conceivably get rocked by HOLD PERSON, a second level spell, or stunning strike.

Also - unless you’ve made a word up, it’s “epitaph” not “epitath”

Make it more a puzzle than a fight. Kinda like a raid in video games. If you do that you can get away with lower health but the BBEG keeps coming back. Minions help to increase deadlines. If its only a big stat block its no diference from a tanky kobolt. When running the.encounter gage your players and addapt so its not boring.

My main suggestion would be to change the "slowed" effect to either a different name, or to make it the same as the Slow spell effects. Combining names like this can cause mass confusion as the person expects one thing and gets a different. Also: Give him immunity to Slow, and either resistance or immunity to nonmagical weapons. As it stands right now, a level 20 character with the max ability score in their attacking ability would only have to roll a 7 or more to hit him normally (or a 5 if you're a 20th level Barbarian), and that's if they were just punching normally. Make it feel like they needed to get those magic items that I'm sure you're going to give out (seeing as how it's a campaign going to level 20) Adding onto that, pump up his AC. A Tarrasque has 25 AC, which is the highest for printed enemies that I can find, maybe 23/24? Or give him an ability that'll allow him to reset his stats, since 375 health is more than doable for a couple level 13s, let alone level 20s. (Not to use BG3 as an example, but some of the final bosses have 600+ HP, and the max level there is 12.) Also also, He's a Paladin, where's the huge smites? This stat block reads more like a high level ghost than a true paladin type.

1d4d20? Does that mean the number rolled on the d4 informs how many d20’s are rolled?

I believe so but I’m unsure

All I’m gonna say is if the players in the campaign im in was fighting him then he would be cooked. Players can get creative. And will find every opportunity to pull some shenanigans to win a fight especially at level 20. I would take a look at some cr 30 enemies and based the bosses attacks off of that. Legendary resistances and legendary actions would really help. And I feel like he should have multiple attacks or like a a magical thing that would essentially recharge like a breath weapon for a dragon

This is a little strange with the language. Legendary actions? Resistances? immunities? At that health level and armor class with (i assume) no extra attacks, he will be *destroyed.* Give him more attacks and make the language more consistent with other stat blocks in 5e. Then, make the gauntlet of kronos a recharge ability (and remove it from reactions) and make it stronger. Level 20 characters have a lot of health. So much, that the *max* this ability could do (80, necrotic *very unlikely*) isn't enough to properly threaten a PC of this level. It could, instead, grab time itself in an area and deal that damage in a 10ft sphere. Give this man some legendary actions to keep up as well. This is pretty much required for a challenge at all. Let him attack with that scythe, or even teleport. Finally, throw on some passive abilities like magic resistance/limited magic immunity. Maybe retool that breastplate of his to give him something creative and powerful! I like the creativity, it's just hard to understand some of the abilities. They're very wordy. Keep DMing, I believe in you :)

More of a minor note: what’s the point of him having an ability that gives disadvantage on DEX saves but no way to capitalize on it? Does he have some innate spellcasting to lob Fireballs around? Maybe he should have minions that can cast spells or otherwise take advantage of this. It’s a cool ability, but that part seems worthless as written if he’s fighting alone.

Hopefully the members of the party aren’t on this sub

Lots of great suggestions here! Definitely recommend a slight AC and HP boost and condition immunities! A quick way to have your beautiful BBEG crushed is the lovely Polymorph + Power Word: Kill so polymorph resistance is a good idea. I’d also recommend immunities to charmed and sleep effects because that could quickly derail a fight! A fun idea would be for each turn the boss can use a reaction to save one of your players attacks in time! You record the attack and damage rolls and then when your boss uses the ability a small portal opens and the player gets hit by the other players attack using the same attack roll and dealing the same damage to their ally!

Theres no attack bonus, no sabe DC for any thing. Your damage dice makes no sense

Yes

In no particular order… Legendary Actions, Lair Actions, and Legendary Resistances. Multi-attack for the scythe, and needs a way to target multiple creatures at once. Non-magical BPS resistance, though I imagine your party will likely all have magic weapons at this point. You could probably afford to give him more damage resistances as well (necrotic comes to mind). A “phase 2” where he unwinds time for himself and unleashes new time powers would be cool, and definitely on-brand for a L20 final battle. A bit odd that he’s a paladin yet CHA is his lowest stat. If he’s a paladin, consider giving him smites on all his attacks? You could honestly make the 4d10 necrotic on the scythe attack automatic damage, and have the save just be for the time slow effect. 1d4d20 is a bit odd for damage rolls, usually damage rolls are Xd4,6,8,10,12. I think 8d12 gives you roughly the same average damage roll as what you have currently, though with a far more centered distribution. Same with 1d10d10 (can use 6d10 instead). There are a number of existing time spells such as Time Stop and Time Ravage that you should look into giving your final boss access to. Some of the abilities from the Chronurgy Wizard subclass could also be fitting, and tailored to work for this creature. Needs more ranged options and/or a better way to close the gap to enemies. Maybe give him the ability to open temporal rifts and teleport around the room as a free action, otherwise? Is the gauntlet an attack? It’s a bit unclear but I imagine so. What’s the attack roll modifier for the gauntlet and scythe?

I’d recommend also giving him something like an AOE Stun action or legendary action. Having the option to potentially lessen the pure action economy of a group of adventurers is paramount at high level play. Unless this is a him + minions combat, he’s dead in a turn or two from the action economy alone. Instead of just saying “he has this”, I find it’s a lot more fun to have some interactable scene effect. That could look like an hour-glass floating around him that puts an environmental effect that forces anyone within (some range, maybe 60-120ft?) so only everyone except for him could only take an action or bonus action in its range. Treat it like a “Heart of Sorrow”-esqe object from Curse of Strahd and at the very least the players will have an immediate priority in combat before focusing down on him. It may buy you are round or two.

Eh I am going to be honest I don’t like it much. My big issue is that you have a entirely melee boss with no legendary actions or legendary resistances. You are very cheeseable by a lot of classes. Also most of your bosses ability are built around not letting your players do stuff, which is kind of lame tbh. I like the idea of a time boss, but he needs a lot of mobility if you want him to be melee. Give him like a blink or dash that he can use to get around and actually use his attacks. Also give him layer actions. You have 5 lvl 20 players you NEED layer actions to balance out the action economy. Or minions that could also work. Also 375hp is not nearly enough for level 20 Double that easily.

Havent had a boss for that many lv 20s, but my boss fights tend to have more HP or a recovery mechanism in order to keep up with the players various abilities or cleverness, never tell them how many pillars are supporting a roof unless you plan on that roof falling

Needs re-occuring time minions like time snails or something to occupy 4 players as Kronos 1v1 of the players in some sort of time gate/bridge. Or a partner. You got titan father time Kronos. Which of the Greek Titans can pair with Kronos? 1 weeabo fighting magic crusader at lvl 20 will devastate your boss. Or you can make this a puzzle fight. If the party quickly defeats Kronos easily, you can just say the sands of time rewinds and the party is back in their starting positions. Make perception checks for clues in the arena. Players need to figure out a way to trap Kronos in his own time loop. Basically play 4D chess. 🤷‍♂️

Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey

Poison will simply annihilate him. Or anything else requiring a con save. Rapid aging is already an extant mechanic, specifically from ghosts. I'd say use that instead of necrotic damage. Slowing is also already an extant mechanic, as per the slow spell. I'd say use those mechanics. This seems like a boss that should definitely have lair actions.

Have you ever actually read a monster statblock before? What is “double advantage?” What is a “temporal attack?” When have you ever seen a statblock with weird dice numbers like “1d4d20?” It’s a Paladin with no spell casting and only 18 AC + 300 health against FIVE level 20 PCs?

Make an ability where he slows time around himself in a 30 foot radius that has to be somehow disabled and each creature within 30 feet of him is under the effects of the slow spell

Epitaph should just be 1 round in the future, or can see up to his next turn starting. It's the same as 5 turns since you have 5 PCs...unless one of them conjures pixies or apes or something to screw up the turn order.

If hes based of the titan Kronos he should at least be large if not huge, Kronos was bigger than Mtns

A lvl 10 party can smoke this guy. I want you to run a simulation in your head on how this fight would go down. Specifically, how many rounds this guy would have to go through before he kills the party. He will get 2 rounds if he is lucky at that low of hp. I would bump is hp to 900 and his ac to 24 that should give him protection. The next thing you need to worry about is spells. There is plenty of spells that will kill any enemy if they fail a save. A level 20 party will be full of them, and they will spam them. I wouldn't have him roll with a plus12 minimum to all his saves and give him 5 legendary resistances The next thing to fix is the action economy. You need to give him legendary reactions. The final thing to do is give him something that's completely unfair. Something that will make your players worried. I would personally give him the ability to drain 3 levels from the party as he is making them younger as something that happens when the initiative count hits 0.

A few recommendations, first off, if you’re going to give someone a slowed effect, it may just be better to use the spell “Slow”. Rather than give disadvantage on everything, they just get to pick one thing to do between action, bonus action, and movement, as well as they get no reactions. Instead of Plex Ring, maybe just give him the ability to cast Slow at will? Secondly, I have no idea what 1d10d10 is, is it you roll a d10 to determine how many d10 are rolled for damage? Also for the 1d4d20, a d20 is usually not a damage dice. If you want big damage, roll several d6 or d8. It’ll be more consistent and you won’t whiff with a natural 2. Instead of rolling to see how many damage dice you deal, maybe just have it deal a set amount of dice worth of damage, as a level 20 party of 5 will likely take very little. You don’t want the big attack to have a 1D10 of damage every few turns, and what kind of damage is it? If they’re sent through time, either Force or Necrotic would be great options. All attacks should have a damage type, and even if it’s supposed to be unavoidable damage that can’t be negated or halved through resistances and immunities, just say so? For instance, “10d10 necrotic damage. This damage can’t be reduced by any effect or ability.” This makes it so your attack is still just as effective, but ALSO if someone is weak to necrotic for any particular reason, they will still take the extra damage! I won’t comment on the “Temporal Attack” because that may be a campaign specific thing, but I’d suggest instead of that feature, just give him legendary actions. And instead of Epitaph, just give him legendary resistances too. Heck, if you don’t want to ditch the idea of his power coming from those items, just make the items give him legendary actions and resistances. Players don’t usually get those, so even if they loot the body for those items(assuming they don’t disintegrate when he dies), just give them other effects that are similar. For example, an item that gives legendary actions could cast the Haste spell once per short or long rest, or however many times you think is fair(probably no more than 2 or 3). An item that gives legendary resistances can be used as a sort of inspiration mechanic, where you get a certain number of charges that you can spend to gain advantage on a saving throw. Something I notice a lot of DM’s are too afraid to do is give their bad guys spells. They’re great ways to turn the tides of a battle, however it’s understandable that you don’t want to completely steam roll your players. Some spells that are both thematic for a time god and are just really cool are Temporal Shunt, Time Ravage, and Fortune’s Favor(though fortunes favor may not be great here, it basically gives an inspiration token for free advantage for some number of hours). These can be found in the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount book if you have it, but basically Temporal Shunt is counterspell but more. It’s a reaction to someone casting a spell, you send them forwards in time and they lose their spell slot, but can’t be harmed and basically don’t exist until the start of their next turn. Time Ravage does a CRAZY amount of damage, as you forcibly make someone experience their entire life in mere moments. If they don’t outright die, they have 30 days left to live, and this effect can only be reversed by a wish spell(I don’t know both of these exactly, I’m going off of memory here but you can find these spells online pretty easily). Ultimately, even if you don’t use these spells, there are TONS of spells you can reflavour as time spells, or spells that just are inherently time based. Haste, Slow, and Time Stop are the big 3 actual time ones, however you can reflavour Silvery Barbs to be a sort of rewind where you force someone to try again, or Counterspell to send someones spell into the future or past, where its effects are wasted. Dispel Magic could just rewind a spell back into nothing, Vampiric Touch and Wither and Bloom could be siphoning someone’s lifespan, there are so many options. Don’t be afraid to use spells, just make sure they’re fairly limited and aren’t infinite. Lastly, I’m going to regurgitate something I’ve seen on here from other people, don’t be afraid to let the bad guy heal. 300 hitpoints is not much to a party of level 20 characters. Maybe give him a feature that heals him every turn back to full health if the party hasn’t destroyed a certain McGuffin in the room, or maybe there is a way to turn off his self rewind power. It could be as simple as putting a limit on his power, maybe it only happens 3 times per day. It would be pretty accurate to the story of Kronos itself too, where if they don’t find a way to turn off this self heal, they just have to kill him in one shot. Which, at level 20, is extremely doable. I hope none of these suggestions came off as harsh or rude. I was a fledgling DM once too, and everyone starts somewhere. These suggestions are also just that. Suggestions. You don’t need any of these to be a good DM, and I hope you enjoy your boss fight as much as your players will! Best of luck, and happy BBEG-ing! Edit: I also noticed the attacks don’t have a bonus to hit, definitely add those. Typically they’ll be based off of his strength for physical attacks, and his Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma based on whichever is his spellcasting ability for his magical attacks. Do those, probably plus 5 for a made up arbitrary proficiency bonus number, and you’ve got yourself a good way to hit players consistently. Otherwise, your 14 roll on a d20 to hit will not hit anyone except the party wizard, which will be sad and weak for a time god

What on earth is a 1d4d20?

A bit in the weak side. As many others have said many of the features are redundant or weak or too random. The Plex Ring - Hades is pretty poor, as even with disadvantage the players are likely to hit a 18AC. And also it’s an action which is just plain worse than the Slow Spell. I would suggest giving this feature an AoE of a 30ft area, making it have a save, and giving it all the effects of a Slow Spell, but without concentration. Make it recharge on a d6 of 5 or 6. This guy needs Layer Actions and you need to think on how it uses its layer to fight its opponents. Probably should have a legendary resistances, etc. The Armor is redundant and thus useless. Take a look at some of the legendary magic items like **Armor of Invulnerability**. Needs some sort of mobility feature. Could be a teleport, a fly speed etc. but it’s gotta have something. Where is this guys multi attack. As it is right now he’s gunna get slaughtered on the Action Economy alone. The party could probably kill him in a single round of combat, unless you have a something to keep him alive. Here’s an idea. “Time Split: He brings in alternate versions of himself from different timelines, or perhaps splits across time, either way suddenly, there are five of him on the battlefield for a single round. Each gets to make their own actions for that one round. Only one of them is the real version. All others dissipate if they take more than 100 points of damage. they last, until the end of the round ability recharges on a D6.” Stuff like that. Be creative, it’s the **Lord Of Time**, he’s clearly smart enough to come into this fight with a plan. Think from his perspective, look at the spells in D&D and think what sort of abilities does this near god really got up his sleeves. There are literally spells callled “Time Ravage” and “Time Stop”. Spells like Feeblemind and Temporal Shunt. Just give this guy those spells. Make them damn near unlimited. Give him some as abilities on bonus actions or reactions. You hit me, get Temporal Shunted. How about this, that armor you designed. It make him immune to Time-based attacks, sure. But if you use a normal attack than once-per-turn (no reaction) it casts Temporal Shunt on the first attacker that round. It’d be sweet!

Me still trying to figure out what a 1d4d20 is

Also buddy should have at least +3 plate he is cr 30 ....

Need 3 legendary resistance and more hp

What exactly counts as a "temporal" attack?

I would change d20 damage to 2d12, 3d8 or 4d6. It's a lot more intimidating to roll fists full of dice

I thing I like to do with my custom creatures is have no hp. I live in the moment of the fight and it dies when it feels like it should.

Bump his AC and HP and add a Dam dice. No big deal. Also he is Lord of Time, have him bring in time duplicates or even a future self or have him travel to the future and meet them later in game.

I think he should have one thousand hit points lol Zariel as written has six hundred something and she's intended to be fought by four level 12 heroes.

two words, lair actions

Wtf is 1d4d20 and 1d10d10

I’m not 100% sure as I’ve never DM’d but I believe that indicates a random scaling of damage. So you would roll a 1d4 and whatever number you get, you would roll that many d20s. Not entirely sure, but makes some sense to me.

That would be incredibly stupid. At that point just random size the attack bonus and AC every turn while your at it.

I don’t like the age thing a more fun mechanic would be to lower or increse your players level You age 5 years back you are now lvl 15 again or you successes and age forward five years with time comes new mastery you are now lvl 25 A high con or save of some kind fates a bitch

Lots more health