[DF 1-3] Boss is a Demon Melee Fighter: Design a Party to Combat Him

[Stripe]

I was just going to discuss this among acquaintances, but decided to write an open letter to the whole community so anyone who wanted to participate could do so.

Using only canonical rules as written in GURPS Basic Set: Characters, GURPS Basic Set Campaigns, GURPS Magic, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons, and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 3: The Next Level, and no other books including GURPS Martial Arts or GURPS Low-Tech or further books from the Dungeon Fantasy series (So no Artificers or Ninja, etc.) or other sources such as such as Pyramid (so, no Mystic Knights, etc.), how would you design an ideal starting player character party of four using the advance knowledge that the dungeon ahead has a demon melee warrior as a co-boss? Please only use the templates as written to the letter. Standard starting value of 250/-50 points and $1,000 average starting money.

The boss is basically Goro from the Mortal Kombat franchise -- a nine-feet-tall four-armed ogre warrior abounding with bulging muscles. He's even named Orog as a play on that name.

The most noticeable differences between Orog and his Mortal Kombat likeness are that he's equipped with heavy magic armor, magic weapons and has a magic large shield, and he can breath fire (4d burn, Jet, Takes Extra Time, and it might require mana). He also has ram-like horns and jutting tusks as well as four small, deeply-inset eyes, the top set of which are protected by a cranial plate and none of which offer passages to the brain location. He has no Vitals, either. His knuckles, upper set of arms, shoulders and spine are bristling with spiky growths.

He has ST in the 22-24 range, and all combat skills -- of which he has practically all melee weapon and unarmed skills -- in the same range. He has Trained by a Master and Weapon Master (All Muscle-Powered Weapons). He is SM +1. He has two Extra Attacks and all of his limbs count as Strikers. He has Injury Tolerance (Damage Reduction) 1, halving all damage taken. He'll have around DR 10 (Tough Skin) and additional DR 6 for his head, not counting armor (yikes!). As a demon, he also has Immunity (All Mind Control), but none of the disadvantages such as Dread or Cannot Harm Innocents (still blocked by pentagrams, though). Combat Reflexes, Very Fit, and High-Pain Threshold, of course.

It's also somewhat possible that he'll have Supernatural Durability requiring mana with a vulnerability to holy weapons or weapons blessed by a "good" deity.

In short, he's a demonic war machine.

First thing, Orog will challenge the party to an immediate, one-on-one fight between he and the party's chosen champion, who must be present (so, no summons, though the arena is a no-mana/sanctity area anyway). The party's champion gets to pick if the fight is to the death, unarmed, or armed with a variety of melee weapons from a selection provided. No BYOW ("bring your own weapons") and no armor, but pretty well every standard fantasy melee weapon may be chosen and there are several of each, including oversize versions. None are magical (again, no-mana arena anyway), but all are of the highest quality, balanced and often Dwarven.

Whoever losses either dies or agrees to become the winner's slave for the rest of their life. Orog will keep his end of the bargain.

The battle takes place in a cavernous room. I won't go into specifics, but it's a complicated layout. The party can chose to fight Orog outside the arena in the center and if they win, they will gain that which they seek -- access to the exit door on the other side of the room. It's probably also possible that they can used ranged attacks from outside the arena against Orog, but in doing so will loose N large and powerful golems, and that's a Bad Idea. Orog will warn them of the consequences for such treachery.

Anyone not participating in the arena battle are free to leave. They don't even have to stay and watch. So, the benefit to accepting Orog's challenge is clear: one dead character is better than the chance of a total party kill.

He will be designed to be a tough boss character against the entire party, so a one-on-one melee fight in a no-mana arena will come to a forlorn conclusion, which will be immediately apparent.

The challenge is made to take advantage of a Knight or Swashbuckler's Vow to never refuse a challenge to combat. However, a Knight/Swashbuckler isn't required in the party's composition, and even if there is one with that disadvantage, they may not be inclined to accept for whatever reason (including poor role playing).

Though the players won't know it unless they try, Orog most certainly will parley, haggle, barter and maneuver as to the specifics of the challenge! He fears neither pain nor death, of course, and desires only glorious combat in the area. If he can bargain a fair fight, he will, but he'll naturally always try to retain at least a slight advantage, if possible. The alternative, of course, is fighting all of the party members at once outside the no-mana arena and that may mean losing! He's been charged with defending the exit door and will try his best to do so.

All that said and done, how would you take on this challenge? How would you design a party knowing there was such a boss at the end? Would you sacrifice a PC for the greater good, or accept the challenge expecting to win? Would you chance the total-party kill? Would you try deception? Can you think of any good loopholes around the challenge? Any suggestions?

Thanks!