Okay so i have this challange ware my group of 7th level players are sitting with there army in the forest when fairies join the festivities, the fairies than ask the players to come join them for a massive feast with there king!
Now I am going creepy old school fairy with this, like pans labrynth style horror. Ware they go to this dinner and its all illusions and the fey use massive suggestion spells and such to keep the players docile and there armies relaxed and they will basically do this until one of the players ( Most likely the brilliant mage a illusions specialist who has a rule against ever harming anyone with magic so refuses to use any damage spells but.. god is he unstoppable ) will likely clue into whats going on and try to escape or dispell the illusion or find a way out.
Theres several layers to this, they can steal a fey key and just escape any time they want, but convincing the other players is hard and all there soldiers, plus the fey king has a bunch of young girls from the near by village he is planning to merry one and eat the rest.
But heres the thing.. Theres no hard rules to monster creation in 5e not like there was i n pathfinder so i have no idea whats balenced, my best bet would be to take a pretty normal humanoid creature and give it a bunch of spells and such. But the Fey king is suppose to be good at locking the players down, keeping them subdued and docile, so not something i want them to just kill at the first sign of something up, something powerful enough to make them behave carefully and with fear.
Also they have been transported to the fey realm ware even if they go throught he front door of the palace they are still in the wrong realm and need to get the watchers room to take his fey king and the prison to save the girls all while avoiding the arcane eye of the watcher.
Now heres the puzzle iv worked out... At least a thousand fairies, ( enough in one area to create 2 or 3 large swarms )
The fey king is a faceless man with strange joints and a bloated stomach, he cannot speak or see anything he is effectively blind so i want him to be a few CLs above what the players can handle... but theres another fey, his watcher, a sly faun-like fey with amazing eyes... he can see anything, pierce any illusion, watch the players from anyware, his whole thing is he can see and stay out of harms way. So when combat starts first instinct might be to attack the powerful fey king but if they kill the watcher the king will be blind, he wont be able to see them or fight them or communicate anything to them. ( of course the overseer cant die forever but long enough for the players to get the upper hand )
So I want to make a challange with a powerful being at the centre, a watcher without much health but still a deadly spell caster and slippery bugger probably CL 5 or 6? And 3 swarms of fairies. against 4 level 7 players. A elven monk, a human barbarian, a human rogue and a half elf wizard. Now it might seem dangerous but there goal is to not kill the players but keep them here forever.
Villain Fey King: Spells Fear Aura: All Creatures looking upon him must succeed DC 18 Will Save Hold Person Aura: All targets who can see you must succeed DC 18 Will Save Arcane Lock: Door becomes unpassable. Break or Pick DC increases by 10. Sleep: Roll 11D8 Must Exceed Hitpoints +2 D8 For Every Spell Slot. Alter Self: Change Aspects of Your Body or appearence. Dispell: Spells 3rd or Lower automatically end. Otherwise DC 10+ Spell level. Minor Illusion: Create a sound object or image to trick the mind. DC 18 Int. Major Image: Create an image of a creauture or object DC 18 Will Save. Vampiric Touch: 7D6 Of necrotic Damage gain HP equal to half the damage. Greater Invisibility: You or Target of your choice becomes invisible Halluinatory Terrain: Change aspects of the land and world around you DC 18 Int. Create Object: Can conjure small objects into being. Dominate Person: Beguile the mind of a single humanoid target DC Wil 18 save. Summon Woodland Creature: Summon a fey ally or group of fey allies. Planer Binding Mass: Binds fey to his will DC 18 Charisma Save Phantasmal Force: Target can be made to believe and feel illusions 1D6 Dmg Shape Dream: Implant and warp the dreams of a sleeping target. Telikinisis: Throw target upto 30 feet or hold for DC 16 str save. Mass Suggestion: Impant a suggestion into the minds of all you see DC 18 Will. Mirage Arcane: Fabricate upto 1 mile of turrain into whatever shape DC 18 Int. Plane Shift: Charisma Saving throw to negate, On hit target is plane shifted. Teliport: To teliport an unwilling target they must succeed on a DC 18 Will. Polymorph: Will Save DC 18 or be transformed for upto an hour. Wish: The Fey King can grant wishes but encuraging him to do so is not easy. Counter Spell: If spell is 3rd or lower it fails. DC 10+ Spell level to cancel a spell. Silence: You cannot make a sound for 10 minutes for 20 feet around you.
Combo: If you try to dispell the illusion. - Counter Spell + Suggestion + Illusion ( Cover Up Odd Behavior ) Combo: Telikinisis into room + Hold Portal with Ally. Combo: Phantasmal Force - To create any image ( such as freezing solid within 10 ft ) Combo: If Awlin tries to alert the soldiers: Mass Suggestion Calm + Illusion to hide auwlin from all ( even Bjiorn ) "They Cant See or Hear you"
Engulf: Stomach
Villains Watcher: Spells Blink: Move to a space in sight. See Invisible: Reveals Invisible Target. Spider Climb: Travers Walls and Ceilings. Clairvoyanc: By covering both eyes he can watch anyplace with a invisible floating orb/eye. Arcane Eye: By covering a eye he can watch anyplace with a floating eye. PassWall: Creates a passage 5 feet wide and 8 feet tall in any wall or surface. Scrying: Can observe or hear unaware creature anyware in the world. DC 18 Will Save if aware. Mass Suggestion: Impant a suggestion into the minds of all you see DC 18 Will.( Calm Soldiers ) True Sight: Allows creature to see things as they truely are. Plane Shift: Charisma Saving throw to negate, On hit target is plane shifted. Project Image: Can Create a mirror image of himself anyware. Charm Person: Makes target friendly to you, Advantage if hostile DC 18 Will Save.
I did the research on the spells and upgraded the fairies making both a fairy swarm and a singular fairy for this.
Fairy Tiny Fey. Chaotic Evil. Armor Class 18 (natural armour) Hit Points 10 (3d8 + 9) Speed 20 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 3 (-4) 20 (+5) 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 15 (+2) 20 (+5) Saving Throws Dex +7, Con +4 Skills Perception +3, Stealth +7 Damage Resistances necrotic Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13 Languages Sylvan. ( Watcher can only speak sylven ) Challenge 1/2 (200 XP)
MAGIC RESIST Advantage on magic savingthrows.
ABILITIES Innate Spellcasting. The fairy's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 16). The fairy can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: Invisibility: You or target becomes invisible. Wild Shape: Can shift to small animals. Druid Craft: Nature based magic tricks. Disguise Self: Alters Appearence DC 16 Int Save. Dancing lights: The Fairy glows brightly to illumate.
1/day each: Charm person: Target DC 16 will save or become friendly. Suggestion: Implant Ideas into targets mind DC 16 Will Confusion: DC 18 Will Target takes random actions. Detect thoughts: Read the surface thoughts. DC 16 Will. Dispel magic: DC 10 + the spell level. Fly: Touch Willing Target to Grant Flight. Hold Portal: Door becomes unpassable break DC + 10 Polymorph: Will Save DC 16 or be transformed. Goodberry: Produce a Berry that instantly sates hunger. Entangle: Target must suceed DC 16 STR or be restrained. Sleep: Roll 6D8 Must Exceed Hitpoints
ACTIONS Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 0 ft., Single Target. Hit: 10 (1d4) piercing damage,
Thats my fairy.
Anyway... I need to know how to create this baddy so he is powerful but not unkillable and how to give him a DC 18 spell save ( otherwise our wizard will see right through his illusions immediatly and wont have any fun seeing as how he gets a illusion detection like trap sense AND a +7 on all investigation checks against illusions )
If somebody could help me make this guy id love it... but i do need to figure out how to give him the caster DC i need.
Basically the king has some young human girls locked a way, once the players catch wind that everythign is not hunky doory with this fairy invitation to a grand feast ( most likely will be our wizard who figures out the players are being kept in a docile illusionary state with a combination of suggestion and phatnasmal force spells, and that the fay intend to keep them as party guests forever ) he will need to figure out how to react... a direct conflict with two powerful beings and about a thousand pixies is going to be very dangerous so he would likely need to sneak around and not let on that he has broken there control over him... find the fey key, save his friends and the girls captive here, all while avoiding the watchers gaze.. and all the watcher has to do is cover one of his eyes to cast a arcane eye or clarvyance spell to watch the players, and he has true sight as well so even invisibility is likely to fail.
The fay dont want to kill the playrs but keep them as dinner guests forever
So any outbursts or fussing will be met with a calm and suggestion spell to get them to become docile again...
so its like a mental hospital in movies, ware everyone takes there medicine to keep them in a state of complacency.
Yes, you really seem to want far too much out of your fey lord.
If we run what your party through an encounter calculator, you get the following results:
Easy: 1400 XP
Medium: 3000 XP
Hard: 4400 XP
Deadly: 6800 XP
Those are the encounter budgets you can work with to challenge your party. From there, you can work on what would be an interesting Fey encounter by looking up various monsters and spending your xp budget. You can flavor your monsters to taste after the fact. As an example, I'll show you a "Hard" encounter for four level 7 players:
Out of that spread you get six monsters (technically seven since the Korred can cast Conjure Elemental for one of four earth themed elemental creatures). The Hag is known for its illusion spells and the Dryads can all use their Fey Charm ability to keep the players in line until you want them to begin trying to notice something is wrong. If you feel your party might not be challenged enough, you can always adjust the spell lists of these creatures to make them more to your liking.
I have learned not to underestimate my players. They clear even hard challanges with ease. I want your opinion on this creature i made, the Faceless One. the Fairy Lord. What CL do you think this is? How much XP is it worth? And is it a decent challange.
THE FACELESS ONE Medium Fey, Chaotic evil Armor Class: 18 (natural armor) Hit Points: 153 (18d8+72) Speed: 30 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 16 (+3) 16 (+3) 18 (+4) 18 (+4) 15 (+2) 20 (+5) Skills: Intimidation +9, Perception +7, Stealth +8 Damage Resistances: cold, fire, lightning, all nonmagical Weapons. Damage Immunities: Necrotic. Condition Immunities: charmed, frightened, poisoned, Illusions, Sleep. Senses: Blinded ( Attack Rolls Against have Advantage, All Attack Rolls have Disadvantage ) Languages Sylven, Common ( Understand Only ) telepathy 120 ft.
ABILITIES Innate Spellcasting. The faceless One's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 18). The Faceles One can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
Magic Resistance. The Faceless One has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Magic Weapons. The Faceless One's attacks are magical in nature.
At will: Detect thoughts: Read the surface thoughts. DC 16 Will. Druid Craft: Nature based magic tricks. Disguise Self: Alters Appearence DC 16 Save. Dispell: Spells 3rd or Lower automatically end. Otherwise DC 10+ Spell level. Greater Invisibility: You or target becomes invisible. Minor Illusion: Create a sound object or image to trick the mind. DC 18 Int. Arcane Lock: Door becomes unpassable. Break or Pick DC increases by 10. Alter Self: Change Aspects of Your Body or appearence. Halluinatory Terrain: Change aspects of the land and world around you DC 18 Int. Create Object: Can conjure small objects into being. Shape Dream: Implant and warp the dreams of a sleeping target. Suggestion: Implant Ideas into targets mind DC 18 Will
3/day each: Sleep: Roll 11D8 Must Exceed Hitpoints +2 D8 For Every Spell Slot. Major Image: Create an image of a creauture or object DC 18 Will Save. Vampiric Touch: 7D6 Of necrotic Damage gain HP equal to half the damage. Summon Woodland Creature: Summon a fey ally or group of fey allies. Planer Binding: Binds Single fey to his will DC 18 Charisma Save Telikinisis: Throw target upto 30 feet or hold for DC 18 str save. Teliport: To teliport an unwilling target they must succeed on a DC 18 Will. Counter Spell: If spell is 3rd or lower it fails. DC 10+ Spell level to cancel a spell. Silence: You cannot make a sound for 10 minutes for 20 feet around you.
1/day each: Mass Fear: All Creatures looking upon him must succeed DC 18 Will Save Mass Hold Person: All targets who can see you must succeed DC 18 Will Save Dominate Person: Beguile the mind of a single humanoid target DC Wil 18 save. Planer Binding Mass: Binds fey to his will DC 18 Charisma Save Phantasmal Force: Target can be made to believe and feel illusions 1D6 Dmg Mass Suggestion: Impant a suggestion into the minds of all you see DC 18 Will. Mirage Arcane: Fabricate upto 1 mile of turrain into whatever shape DC 18 Int. Plane Shift: Charisma 18 Saving throw to negate, On hit target is plane shifted. Polymorph: Will Save DC 18 or be transformed for upto an hour. Wish: The Fey King can grant wishes but encuraging him to do so is not easy.
Combo: If you try to dispell the illusion. - Counter Spell + Suggestion + Illusion ( Cover Up Odd Behavior ) Combo: Telikinisis into room + Hold Portal with Ally. Combo: Phantasmal Force - To create any image ( such as freezing solid within 10 ft ) Combo: If Awlin tries to alert the soldiers: Mass Suggestion Calm + Illusion to hide auwlin from all ( even Bjiorn ) "They Cant See or Hear you"
Engulf: Stomach
ACTIONS
Multiattack. The Faceless One can use its Fey Walk and makes three melee attacks. ( Can Feywalk betwene each action )
Fey Kings Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage, or 8 (1d10 + 3) slashing damage if used with two hands.
Unarmed Slam 1D6 and you are thrown 30 feet in any direction dealing an extra D6 for every 10 feet of movement.
Fey Walk. The Faceless One can magically teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing or carrying, up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.
Engulf . The FacelessOne engulfs a Medium or smaller creature grappled by it. The engulfed target is blinded , restrained, and unable to breathe, and it must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw at the start of each of the Fey Kings's turns or take 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
"Its torso splits open from hip to nape of its neck into a large toothy maw splaying its body open"
It's really hard to judge these custom monsters of yours because, again, you are trying to cram too much into one creature. You need to look at monsters that are close to the target you are shooting for and design similarly. In your case, maybe a CR 10 monster with Legendary Actions like an Aboleth would be a good framework to start from. Get a feel for what is "okay" for a creature of that power level and design something similar, with the same number of powers and abilities. You don't need pages of powers for a monster that your party might end up killing in five rounds. You are not building a character. You are building an eventual combat encounter. If you want a character that will not likely fight the players, then construct your Fey like an NPC and don't worry about it.
I am trying to be prepared for the players, I have situational powers to be applied based on the many ways the players may tackle the challange, granting versitility and options. Iv always felt the biggest problem iv had with 5e was the fact that once the 2 or 3 moves a creature has are used the fights devolve into a mess of mashing your attack till the enamy dies, or vice versa, I tend to design enemies with a wide arrange of powers so a fight never has to fall into a bash-fest and every turn can have something new and interesting happening to keep the players on there toes. not trying to make the enemies more powerful just more interesting to face.
You can design like that in an elegant way in 5e as well. I'd type out and example, but I'm on mobile now and that would be a pain. If someone else hasn't explained it to you by tomorrow, I'll see what I can do. Your main issue though is that you are confusing a "kitchen sink" style of design with having multiple tactical options to challenge your players. Maybe it would help if you listed your players' characters for us and explained what you think you need to challenge them?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Matthias, helpful advice, but not at all helpful without a copy of the DMG in front of you. The monster's main attribute is his innate spellcasting. Let's go through the spellcasting, shall we? First off, if his spell save is 18, than all his spells have a spell save of 18, no exceptions. With the amount of spells the fey lord has right now, I would hesitate to say a 20th level party could beat him. The At Will spells already create a pretty expansive spellcaster. To keep the feeling that the lord has right now, I would mostly take from the bard spell list and not go higher than 5th. Cantrips, and 1st and 2nd level spells are great for at will, hallucinatory terrain not so much, 2nd and 3rd 3 times a day and 4th and 5th once per day.
Another thing to help those helping you, tooltips, now you don't have to explain what every spell does!
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
What are your players build? You said you have 4 level 7 players... This looks like overkill... Can you post their status... maybe there is something wrong with them...!
About the "Faceless One": It can cast a lot of non-harmful spells and it doesn't really have a great damage output... I mean, 1d8+3 damage it's too low... A solo monster for this party would have CR10 if it's suppose to be a difficult challenge. Take the Young Red Dragon for example.
Your monster doesn't do much in combat, he is not a threat to be dealt; your players don't really have to be worried with his damage while fighting other monsters in the encounter .
Here I have a feeling if you looked at the script layout you will understand the mission. I keep thinking he is too weak the players will crush em in just a few turns.
Heres the thing. Its the DMs responsibility to not just phase shift your players to a plane of
fire and watch them burn. I have to make it fun so if a spell would make the fight not fun, why would I use it? I have the spells layed out and listed incase at the time something interesting pops up and i knwo what all the spells do and do not need to look through the books, its not that i plan to use every spell. I will severely gimp the potential fun that can be had by limiting the amount of things that can happen in this encounter.
Here look over the mission specs and see how I handle the events of the game. ( not to mention i can cut his health in half at any point or nerf his attacks behind the DM screen to give the players a edge if things get too dire.
https://ufile.io/5x3rf Check out this file if you get the time, its the entire mission specs and layout. I would like the feedback.
Yes, the link is broke for me too. It would be better if you posted the basic stats of your players and we could give to a general idea of what would challenge them (mathematically).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Okay so i have this challange ware my group of 7th level players are sitting with there army in the forest when fairies join the festivities, the fairies than ask the players to come join them for a massive feast with there king!
Now I am going creepy old school fairy with this, like pans labrynth style horror. Ware they go to this dinner and its all illusions and the fey use massive suggestion spells and such to keep the players docile and there armies relaxed and they will basically do this until one of the players ( Most likely the brilliant mage a illusions specialist who has a rule against ever harming anyone with magic so refuses to use any damage spells but.. god is he unstoppable ) will likely clue into whats going on and try to escape or dispell the illusion or find a way out.
Theres several layers to this, they can steal a fey key and just escape any time they want, but convincing the other players is hard and all there soldiers, plus the fey king has a bunch of young girls from the near by village he is planning to merry one and eat the rest.
But heres the thing.. Theres no hard rules to monster creation in 5e not like there was i n pathfinder so i have no idea whats balenced, my best bet would be to take a pretty normal humanoid creature and give it a bunch of spells and such.
But the Fey king is suppose to be good at locking the players down, keeping them subdued and docile, so not something i want them to just kill at the first sign of something up, something powerful enough to make them behave carefully and with fear.
Also they have been transported to the fey realm ware even if they go throught he front door of the palace they are still in the wrong realm and need to get the watchers room to take his fey king and the prison to save the girls all while avoiding the arcane eye of the watcher.
Now heres the puzzle iv worked out... At least a thousand fairies, ( enough in one area to create 2 or 3 large swarms )
The fey king is a faceless man with strange joints and a bloated stomach, he cannot speak or see anything he is effectively blind so i want him to be a few CLs above what the players can handle... but theres another fey, his watcher, a sly faun-like fey with amazing eyes... he can see anything, pierce any illusion, watch the players from anyware, his whole thing is he can see and stay out of harms way.
So when combat starts first instinct might be to attack the powerful fey king but if they kill the watcher the king will be blind, he wont be able to see them or fight them or communicate anything to them. ( of course the overseer cant die forever but long enough for the players to get the upper hand )
So I want to make a challange with a powerful being at the centre, a watcher without much health but still a deadly spell caster and slippery bugger probably CL 5 or 6? And 3 swarms of fairies. against 4 level 7 players.
A elven monk, a human barbarian, a human rogue and a half elf wizard.
Now it might seem dangerous but there goal is to not kill the players but keep them here forever.
Villain Fey King: Spells
Fear Aura: All Creatures looking upon him must succeed DC 18 Will Save
Hold Person Aura: All targets who can see you must succeed DC 18 Will Save
Arcane Lock: Door becomes unpassable. Break or Pick DC increases by 10.
Sleep: Roll 11D8 Must Exceed Hitpoints +2 D8 For Every Spell Slot.
Alter Self: Change Aspects of Your Body or appearence.
Dispell: Spells 3rd or Lower automatically end. Otherwise DC 10+ Spell level.
Minor Illusion: Create a sound object or image to trick the mind. DC 18 Int.
Major Image: Create an image of a creauture or object DC 18 Will Save.
Vampiric Touch: 7D6 Of necrotic Damage gain HP equal to half the damage.
Greater Invisibility: You or Target of your choice becomes invisible
Halluinatory Terrain: Change aspects of the land and world around you DC 18 Int.
Create Object: Can conjure small objects into being.
Dominate Person: Beguile the mind of a single humanoid target DC Wil 18 save.
Summon Woodland Creature: Summon a fey ally or group of fey allies.
Planer Binding Mass: Binds fey to his will DC 18 Charisma Save
Phantasmal Force: Target can be made to believe and feel illusions 1D6 Dmg
Shape Dream: Implant and warp the dreams of a sleeping target.
Telikinisis: Throw target upto 30 feet or hold for DC 16 str save.
Mass Suggestion: Impant a suggestion into the minds of all you see DC 18 Will.
Mirage Arcane: Fabricate upto 1 mile of turrain into whatever shape DC 18 Int.
Plane Shift: Charisma Saving throw to negate, On hit target is plane shifted.
Teliport: To teliport an unwilling target they must succeed on a DC 18 Will.
Polymorph: Will Save DC 18 or be transformed for upto an hour.
Wish: The Fey King can grant wishes but encuraging him to do so is not easy.
Counter Spell: If spell is 3rd or lower it fails. DC 10+ Spell level to cancel a spell.
Silence: You cannot make a sound for 10 minutes for 20 feet around you.
Combo: If you try to dispell the illusion. - Counter Spell + Suggestion + Illusion ( Cover Up Odd Behavior )
Combo: Telikinisis into room + Hold Portal with Ally.
Combo: Phantasmal Force - To create any image ( such as freezing solid within 10 ft )
Combo: If Awlin tries to alert the soldiers:
Mass Suggestion Calm + Illusion to hide auwlin from all ( even Bjiorn ) "They Cant See or Hear you"
Engulf: Stomach
Villains Watcher: Spells
Blink: Move to a space in sight.
See Invisible: Reveals Invisible Target.
Spider Climb: Travers Walls and Ceilings.
Clairvoyanc: By covering both eyes he can watch anyplace with a invisible floating orb/eye.
Arcane Eye: By covering a eye he can watch anyplace with a floating eye.
PassWall: Creates a passage 5 feet wide and 8 feet tall in any wall or surface.
Scrying: Can observe or hear unaware creature anyware in the world. DC 18 Will Save if aware.
Mass Suggestion: Impant a suggestion into the minds of all you see DC 18 Will.( Calm Soldiers )
True Sight: Allows creature to see things as they truely are.
Plane Shift: Charisma Saving throw to negate, On hit target is plane shifted.
Project Image: Can Create a mirror image of himself anyware.
Charm Person: Makes target friendly to you, Advantage if hostile DC 18 Will Save.
I did the research on the spells and upgraded the fairies making both a fairy swarm and a singular fairy for this.
Fairy
Tiny Fey. Chaotic Evil.
Armor Class 18 (natural armour)
Hit Points 10 (3d8 + 9)
Speed 20 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
3 (-4) 20 (+5) 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 15 (+2) 20 (+5)
Saving Throws Dex +7, Con +4
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances necrotic
Senses blindsight 30 ft., darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Sylvan. ( Watcher can only speak sylven )
Challenge 1/2 (200 XP)
MAGIC RESIST
Advantage on magic savingthrows.
ABILITIES
Innate Spellcasting.
The fairy's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 16). The fairy can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will:
Invisibility: You or target becomes invisible.
Wild Shape: Can shift to small animals.
Druid Craft: Nature based magic tricks.
Disguise Self: Alters Appearence DC 16 Int Save.
Dancing lights: The Fairy glows brightly to illumate.
1/day each:
Charm person: Target DC 16 will save or become friendly.
Suggestion: Implant Ideas into targets mind DC 16 Will
Confusion: DC 18 Will Target takes random actions.
Detect thoughts: Read the surface thoughts. DC 16 Will.
Dispel magic: DC 10 + the spell level.
Fly: Touch Willing Target to Grant Flight.
Hold Portal: Door becomes unpassable break DC + 10
Polymorph: Will Save DC 16 or be transformed.
Goodberry: Produce a Berry that instantly sates hunger.
Entangle: Target must suceed DC 16 STR or be restrained.
Sleep: Roll 6D8 Must Exceed Hitpoints
ACTIONS
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 0 ft., Single Target.
Hit: 10 (1d4) piercing damage,
Thats my fairy.
Anyway... I need to know how to create this baddy so he is powerful but not unkillable and how to give him a DC 18 spell save ( otherwise our wizard will see right through his illusions immediatly and wont have any fun seeing as how he gets a illusion detection like trap sense AND a +7 on all investigation checks against illusions )
If somebody could help me make this guy id love it... but i do need to figure out how to give him the caster DC i need.
DM's Guide, chapter 9.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Anymore advice?
Yes, you really seem to want far too much out of your fey lord.
If we run what your party through an encounter calculator, you get the following results:
Those are the encounter budgets you can work with to challenge your party. From there, you can work on what would be an interesting Fey encounter by looking up various monsters and spending your xp budget. You can flavor your monsters to taste after the fact. As an example, I'll show you a "Hard" encounter for four level 7 players:
Banquet of the Fey King - Hard (4,400 xp)
1 Korred (The Fey King) (2,900xp)
1 Green Hag (A member of the court) (700 xp)
4 Dryad (Courtly attendants) (800xp)
Out of that spread you get six monsters (technically seven since the Korred can cast Conjure Elemental for one of four earth themed elemental creatures). The Hag is known for its illusion spells and the Dryads can all use their Fey Charm ability to keep the players in line until you want them to begin trying to notice something is wrong. If you feel your party might not be challenged enough, you can always adjust the spell lists of these creatures to make them more to your liking.
I have learned not to underestimate my players. They clear even hard challanges with ease.
I want your opinion on this creature i made, the Faceless One. the Fairy Lord. What CL do you think this is? How much XP is it worth? And is it a decent challange.
THE FACELESS ONE
Medium Fey, Chaotic evil
Armor Class: 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points: 153 (18d8+72)
Speed: 30 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
16 (+3) 16 (+3) 18 (+4) 18 (+4) 15 (+2) 20 (+5)
Skills: Intimidation +9, Perception +7, Stealth +8
Damage Resistances: cold, fire, lightning, all nonmagical Weapons.
Damage Immunities: Necrotic.
Condition Immunities: charmed, frightened, poisoned, Illusions, Sleep.
Senses: Blinded ( Attack Rolls Against have Advantage, All Attack Rolls have Disadvantage )
Languages Sylven, Common ( Understand Only ) telepathy 120 ft.
ABILITIES
Innate Spellcasting.
The faceless One's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 18). The Faceles One
can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
Magic Resistance.
The Faceless One has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Magic Weapons.
The Faceless One's attacks are magical in nature.
At will:
Detect thoughts: Read the surface thoughts. DC 16 Will.
Druid Craft: Nature based magic tricks.
Disguise Self: Alters Appearence DC 16 Save.
Dispell: Spells 3rd or Lower automatically end. Otherwise DC 10+ Spell level.
Greater Invisibility: You or target becomes invisible.
Minor Illusion: Create a sound object or image to trick the mind. DC 18 Int.
Arcane Lock: Door becomes unpassable. Break or Pick DC increases by 10.
Alter Self: Change Aspects of Your Body or appearence.
Halluinatory Terrain: Change aspects of the land and world around you DC 18 Int.
Create Object: Can conjure small objects into being.
Shape Dream: Implant and warp the dreams of a sleeping target.
Suggestion: Implant Ideas into targets mind DC 18 Will
3/day each:
Sleep: Roll 11D8 Must Exceed Hitpoints +2 D8 For Every Spell Slot.
Major Image: Create an image of a creauture or object DC 18 Will Save.
Vampiric Touch: 7D6 Of necrotic Damage gain HP equal to half the damage.
Summon Woodland Creature: Summon a fey ally or group of fey allies.
Planer Binding: Binds Single fey to his will DC 18 Charisma Save
Telikinisis: Throw target upto 30 feet or hold for DC 18 str save.
Teliport: To teliport an unwilling target they must succeed on a DC 18 Will.
Counter Spell: If spell is 3rd or lower it fails. DC 10+ Spell level to cancel a spell.
Silence: You cannot make a sound for 10 minutes for 20 feet around you.
1/day each:
Mass Fear: All Creatures looking upon him must succeed DC 18 Will Save
Mass Hold Person: All targets who can see you must succeed DC 18 Will Save
Dominate Person: Beguile the mind of a single humanoid target DC Wil 18 save.
Planer Binding Mass: Binds fey to his will DC 18 Charisma Save
Phantasmal Force: Target can be made to believe and feel illusions 1D6 Dmg
Mass Suggestion: Impant a suggestion into the minds of all you see DC 18 Will.
Mirage Arcane: Fabricate upto 1 mile of turrain into whatever shape DC 18 Int.
Plane Shift: Charisma 18 Saving throw to negate, On hit target is plane shifted.
Polymorph: Will Save DC 18 or be transformed for upto an hour.
Wish: The Fey King can grant wishes but encuraging him to do so is not easy.
Combo: If you try to dispell the illusion. - Counter Spell + Suggestion + Illusion ( Cover Up Odd Behavior )
Combo: Telikinisis into room + Hold Portal with Ally.
Combo: Phantasmal Force - To create any image ( such as freezing solid within 10 ft )
Combo: If Awlin tries to alert the soldiers:
Mass Suggestion Calm + Illusion to hide auwlin from all ( even Bjiorn ) "They Cant See or Hear you"
Engulf: Stomach
ACTIONS
Multiattack.
The Faceless One can use its Fey Walk and makes three melee attacks.
( Can Feywalk betwene each action )
Fey Kings Longsword.
Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage, or 8 (1d10 + 3) slashing damage if used with two hands.
Unarmed Slam
1D6 and you are thrown 30 feet in any direction dealing an extra D6 for every 10 feet of movement.
Fey Walk.
The Faceless One can magically teleports, along with any equipment it is wearing or carrying, up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.
Engulf .
The FacelessOne engulfs a Medium or smaller creature grappled by it. The engulfed target is blinded ,
restrained, and unable to breathe, and it must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw at the start of each of the Fey Kings's turns or take 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
"Its torso splits open from hip to nape of its neck into a large toothy maw splaying its body open"
It's really hard to judge these custom monsters of yours because, again, you are trying to cram too much into one creature. You need to look at monsters that are close to the target you are shooting for and design similarly. In your case, maybe a CR 10 monster with Legendary Actions like an Aboleth would be a good framework to start from. Get a feel for what is "okay" for a creature of that power level and design something similar, with the same number of powers and abilities. You don't need pages of powers for a monster that your party might end up killing in five rounds. You are not building a character. You are building an eventual combat encounter. If you want a character that will not likely fight the players, then construct your Fey like an NPC and don't worry about it.
I am trying to be prepared for the players, I have situational powers to be applied based on the many ways the players may tackle the challange, granting versitility and options.
Iv always felt the biggest problem iv had with 5e was the fact that once the 2 or 3 moves a creature has are used the fights devolve into a mess of mashing your attack till the enamy dies, or vice versa, I tend to design enemies with a wide arrange of powers so a fight never has to fall into a bash-fest and every turn can have something new and interesting happening to keep the players on there toes.
not trying to make the enemies more powerful just more interesting to face.
You can design like that in an elegant way in 5e as well. I'd type out and example, but I'm on mobile now and that would be a pain. If someone else hasn't explained it to you by tomorrow, I'll see what I can do. Your main issue though is that you are confusing a "kitchen sink" style of design with having multiple tactical options to challenge your players. Maybe it would help if you listed your players' characters for us and explained what you think you need to challenge them?
As I said, chapter 9 of the DMG has everything you need to know to figure out a monster's challenge rating.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Matthias, helpful advice, but not at all helpful without a copy of the DMG in front of you. The monster's main attribute is his innate spellcasting. Let's go through the spellcasting, shall we? First off, if his spell save is 18, than all his spells have a spell save of 18, no exceptions. With the amount of spells the fey lord has right now, I would hesitate to say a 20th level party could beat him. The At Will spells already create a pretty expansive spellcaster. To keep the feeling that the lord has right now, I would mostly take from the bard spell list and not go higher than 5th. Cantrips, and 1st and 2nd level spells are great for at will, hallucinatory terrain not so much, 2nd and 3rd 3 times a day and 4th and 5th once per day.
Another thing to help those helping you, tooltips, now you don't have to explain what every spell does!
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
What are your players build? You said you have 4 level 7 players... This looks like overkill... Can you post their status... maybe there is something wrong with them...!
About the "Faceless One": It can cast a lot of non-harmful spells and it doesn't really have a great damage output... I mean, 1d8+3 damage it's too low... A solo monster for this party would have CR10 if it's suppose to be a difficult challenge. Take the Young Red Dragon for example.
Your monster doesn't do much in combat, he is not a threat to be dealt; your players don't really have to be worried with his damage while fighting other monsters in the encounter .
"...the absence of war does not mean peace.."
Here I have a feeling if you looked at the script layout you will understand the mission.
I keep thinking he is too weak the players will crush em in just a few turns.
Heres the thing. Its the DMs responsibility to not just phase shift your players to a plane of
fire and watch them burn. I have to make it fun so if a spell would make the fight not fun, why would I use it? I have the spells layed out and listed incase at the time something interesting pops up and i knwo what all the spells do and do not need to look through the books, its not that i plan to use every spell. I will severely gimp the potential fun that can be had by limiting the amount of things that can happen in this encounter.
Here look over the mission specs and see how I handle the events of the game. ( not to mention i can cut his health in half at any point or nerf his attacks behind the DM screen to give the players a edge if things get too dire.
https://ufile.io/5x3rf Check out this file if you get the time, its the entire mission specs and layout. I would like the feedback.
I can't see the file. :)
"...the absence of war does not mean peace.."
Yes, the link is broke for me too. It would be better if you posted the basic stats of your players and we could give to a general idea of what would challenge them (mathematically).