I’m new to DMing and planning a 1 shot for some friends. Something that I’m a bit stuck on is how to buff or level up enemies for an encounter.
I’m planning to have a possible night ambush of Kenku (likely rangers or fighters if a class is needed) but they have a 1/4 challenge rating. There should be 4-5 players at level 5. What is the best way to buff them to a higher challenge rating? I may add a Gloom Stalker Ranger as their leader but I’d like to start with the Kenku.
The easiest way to tune them is to just add a bit more health to each enemy (particularly low level ones).
Another approach, if available within your story structure, is to add a couple more enemies on the 2nd turn of combat.
Lastly, you can consider terrain and other environmental factors. Also, remember whatever your goal is, if it's an early encounter, then the focus is on
depleting party resources (spells/health).
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"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
If you use 4 kenku with max HP (24) and 2 kenku with bandit captain stats, that will be a medium encounter, perfect for an adventuring day with 1 or 2 other easy encounters. (Calculated using 4 level 5 PCs, add 2 kenku if there are 5 PCs)
If you want it to be a little easier (for 4 players), only use 1 captain and have 6 kenku.
I've been using kobold fight club and dhmstark encounter calculator to balance encounters.
I love to simply reskin a monster with the stats I want. For your fight, depending on how hard you want to make it, find a few CR 1 or 2 monsters that fit the kind of attackers you want and then just use those while calling them Kenku. For simple humanoid encounters I find the Appendix B nonplayer characters in the MM to be perfect stat blocks to use for that purpose.
I’m new to DMing and planning a 1 shot for some friends. Something that I’m a bit stuck on is how to buff or level up enemies for an encounter.
I’m planning to have a possible night ambush of Kenku (likely rangers or fighters if a class is needed) but they have a 1/4 challenge rating. There should be 4-5 players at level 5. What is the best way to buff them to a higher challenge rating? I may add a Gloom Stalker Ranger as their leader but I’d like to start with the Kenku.
The easiest way to tune them is to just add a bit more health to each enemy (particularly low level ones).
Another approach, if available within your story structure, is to add a couple more enemies on the 2nd turn of combat.
Lastly, you can consider terrain and other environmental factors. Also, remember whatever your goal is, if it's an early encounter, then the focus is on
depleting party resources (spells/health).
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
If you use 4 kenku with max HP (24) and 2 kenku with bandit captain stats, that will be a medium encounter, perfect for an adventuring day with 1 or 2 other easy encounters. (Calculated using 4 level 5 PCs, add 2 kenku if there are 5 PCs)
If you want it to be a little easier (for 4 players), only use 1 captain and have 6 kenku.
I've been using kobold fight club and dhmstark encounter calculator to balance encounters.
Thanks so much for your suggestions. I’ve got a good amount to work with.
I love to simply reskin a monster with the stats I want. For your fight, depending on how hard you want to make it, find a few CR 1 or 2 monsters that fit the kind of attackers you want and then just use those while calling them Kenku. For simple humanoid encounters I find the Appendix B nonplayer characters in the MM to be perfect stat blocks to use for that purpose.
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Thanks for the help