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2026-02-08

The Stone Sentinel

The Stone Sentinel boss arena
The Stone Sentinel — Act 1's first boss.

The first boss is in. The Stone Sentinel — 180 HP, three actions on a four-turn cycle:

  1. Charge(turn 1): no damage, "winding up" intent telegraphed. Buffs Strength by 2.
  2. Slam (turn 2): 26 damage, single hit. Reads as the punish for not blocking.
  3. Stoneshield (turn 3): gains 18 block. Buys the boss a turn; punishes burst-damage builds.
  4. Loop.

The hardest part wasn't the encounter — it was the pacing. First pass: Slam was 18 damage, fight ended in 5 turns with no drama. Bumped to 32 damage and the fight became unfair against a deck that hasn't found Defend yet. 26 ended up as the number that punishes complacency without instakilling a draw that whiffs.

Two design rules I'm setting for myself:

  1. Telegraph everything.A boss attack the player can't see coming is a bug. Every action shows its damage in the intent badge above the head.
  2. The cycle should rhyme. A 4-turn loop with a heavy hit on turn 2 means a player can plan a Defend turn ahead, every loop. Predictability = depth, not boredom.

Two more bosses planned for act 1: the Reaper (drains HP from you on hit, punishes long fights) and the Choir of Archons (multi-enemy fight where they buff each other). Each pulls a deck in a different direction.