"Boss" template?

[StreamOfTheSky]

Hi all.  As I start upon DMing for the first time in years, I find myself once again pondering whether or not to try and institute a "boss" template for important NPCs / major encounters.  Much to my chagrin, the players decided to go with a caster-heavy party of:

Druid
Beguiler
Shaper Psion
Fighter/Barbarian going Dervish

And I'm concerned about encounter-ending spells/powers doing...well, you know.  Once in a while I don't mind, but I don't want a significant amount of the big fights to (effectively) be over on round 1.  Especially since the adventure path I'm using has a humanoid empire and its forces as the primary antagonists and is supposed to somehow remain challenging through level 20, despite humanoids having a huge target painted on their backs when it comes to "spells that insta-jib you with pitiful ease  In fact, the evil empire has a force specifically dedicated to fighting mages....made up of humans and orcs....  Granted, they're clerics and eventually could just go "lol, AMF," but still.

So anyway.  I've long considered +1 CR template that mainly gives a truckload of unexplainable boss immunities as a quick and easy patch, but is that too "video gamey"?  If not, I could use help picking out exactly what the template does.  CR +1 is a significant boost, it should probably include some offensive or special abilities and not just passive immunities.  I'm also open to things that find a happy balance between not being protected from encounter ending spells (which I dislike) and playing right into 3E's absolutes one-upmanship game (which I also dislike, generally) as long as it isn't too complicated / long-winded.  Like, I once had an NPC who could feel fear, but like any good Shonen anime protagonist, fought through it.  Game effect: he could be shaken, but never panicked nor frightened.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

1 level dip of Monk (yeah yeah I know) gets a +2 to each save.
And a smidge of other things, for an un-associated level < CR+1.


1 charge item of the Second Chance psi power, pre buffed.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/secondChance.htm

[StreamOfTheSky]

Sometimes, the save doesn't negate the effect or even matter...

I was thinking like...

- Immune to death effects, charms, compulsions, stun, daze, paralysis, petrification, unwanted polymorphing,
- Can't be made more fearful than Shaken
- Abilities cannot be drained, damaged, and/or penalized below 1

[linklord231]

Sometimes, the save doesn't negate the effect or even matter...

I was thinking like...

- Immune to death effects, charms, compulsions, stun, daze, paralysis, petrification, unwanted polymorphing,
- Can't be made more fearful than Shaken
- Abilities cannot be drained, damaged, and/or penalized below 1

That, plus an ability that lets the boss roll initiative twice, and act on both counts.  Should alleviate the action economy problem somewhat. 

Negative levels is also notably absent from the list - maybe say that a Boss can only suffer from, say, 5 negative levels at a time?

[PlzBreakMyCampaign]

Just do the PBMC lazy fix for pre-written stuff but then do it to your own custom creations: double all the numbers. x2 saves, x2 hp, x2 initiative, x2 SR, etc. Generally when you do this, try to follow your own advice and not give the boss DCs for SoD's that will upset one of the players. Fair is fair.

[Nunkuruji]

Depending on the setup, sometimes it's simply action economy that works against the Boss, if he doesn't have meaningful minions acting as well.

Can throw Heroic Surge in there to help, and/or give it steroids.

[ketaro]

Sometimes, the save doesn't negate the effect or even matter...

I was thinking like...

- Immune to death effects, charms, compulsions, stun, daze, paralysis, petrification, unwanted polymorphing,
- Can't be made more fearful than Shaken
- Abilities cannot be drained, damaged, and/or penalized below 1

A good way, in my opinion, to deal with fear effects autowinning but also not making them useless should they be utilized excessively could be to simply make multiple grades of Shaken, each one adding a stacking -2.

[ImperatorK]

How about Monster of Legend? Oh, and give them DivR 0.

[veekie]

Sometimes, the save doesn't negate the effect or even matter...

I was thinking like...

- Immune to death effects, charms, compulsions, stun, daze, paralysis, petrification, unwanted polymorphing,
- Can't be made more fearful than Shaken
- Abilities cannot be drained, damaged, and/or penalized below 1

That, plus an ability that lets the boss roll initiative twice, and act on both counts.  Should alleviate the action economy problem somewhat. 

Negative levels is also notably absent from the list - maybe say that a Boss can only suffer from, say, 5 negative levels at a time?

I'd combine this with some kind of shake-it-off ability for nondamaging spells and effects. They get to save again each round until the nasty falls off, which gives you an intermediate benefit for debuff and disabling spells, without letting them actually end the whole fight.

[Ithamar]

Voidmind (MMIII) is a +1 CR template that gives a ton of awesome immunities, as well as a couple of useful bonus feats.

[Unbeliever]

Trailblazer has an action point driven one, which gives them the chance to take additional actions and shake off save-or-suck effects, I think.