Hi, I am a new DM currently running ghosts of saltmarsh, and I am currently at a crossroad between choosing a monster that I think is too easy and one that is too hard. See I want to have my players fight a golem for story reasons. They are level five so the options would be either a flesh golem or a clay golem. With the clay golem I am worried about him outright killing members of my party, no one has above a D8 hit dice and the clay's attack can kill a party member by reducing their hit points past 0. This comes after another really big fight.
I don't mind if a clay golem kills a member of my party, as long as it's not a guarantee. I don't want to put my players up against overwhelming odds, just challenge them.
Rather than deciding between an "actual" golem that is too easy or hard, I would find an a monster stat block that appropriately challenges your party and reskin it as the golem you need for your story.
If you want to use official golems, there are two with a CR in between those of the Flesh and Clay golems. Just look up "golem" in the Monster list. They're both in adventure modules though, so you may have to buy them to have access to them in DDB. Another option would be to homebrew one and create it in DDB yourself for your campaign.
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Dead in Thay has a Reduced Threat Clay Colem that might be what you want. You'd have to buy it but... worth it to get what you want and not have to deal with converting or modding the monster yourself, if you are new at this.
Looking at the regular Clay Golem, the big problem is the immunities to non-magic weapons -- the party might not have a lot of magic weapons at level 5. You'd know your group.
If I were going to throw this thing at a level 5 party, I would probably take away the Haste, cut its damage a little bit, and convert the immunities to resistances. That might be enough for a fully rested level 5 group to take it out.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
In general if faced with the choice of too easy or too hard for a D&D party, choose too hard but also include some sort of environmental factor that acts as an escape hatch. The old "higher level NPC who conveniently comes along to rescue the party" is usually too obvious so avoid that, but something like, "the golem's massive arms smash into the cliff face and a crack races up through the sandstone and shale, another hit like that and the whole thing might come crashing down" which allows them to be clever and trigger a rockslide on their own, or you could just pull that trigger a few turns down the line if it looks like they're having too hard a time.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Dead in Thay has a Reduced Threat Clay Colem that might be what you want. You'd have to buy it but... worth it to get what you want and not have to deal with converting or modding the monster yourself, if you are new at this.
Looking at the regular Clay Golem, the big problem is the immunities to non-magic weapons -- the party might not have a lot of magic weapons at level 5. You'd know your group.
If I were going to throw this thing at a level 5 party, I would probably take away the Haste, cut its damage a little bit, and convert the immunities to resistances. That might be enough for a fully rested level 5 group to take it out.
Thanks, I decided to go with the reduced threat clay golem
You are the master of your own ship. Stop relying on printed words to steer your vessel. Modify them as you see fit. I feel this has become a trap in 5E. The very nature of this edition and how it is conveyed via media to the players fosters a certain dependency that past editions didn't.
The OP is a new DM. It is common for new DMs to rely on printed material until they get a feel for things. There's nothing wrong with that.
And they're clearly already moving beyond just following what's on paper. Looking at what's there, gauging if it's really appropriate and then trying to find something that's a better fit is a big step forward.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
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Hi, I am a new DM currently running ghosts of saltmarsh, and I am currently at a crossroad between choosing a monster that I think is too easy and one that is too hard. See I want to have my players fight a golem for story reasons. They are level five so the options would be either a flesh golem or a clay golem. With the clay golem I am worried about him outright killing members of my party, no one has above a D8 hit dice and the clay's attack can kill a party member by reducing their hit points past 0. This comes after another really big fight.
I don't mind if a clay golem kills a member of my party, as long as it's not a guarantee. I don't want to put my players up against overwhelming odds, just challenge them.
Rather than deciding between an "actual" golem that is too easy or hard, I would find an a monster stat block that appropriately challenges your party and reskin it as the golem you need for your story.
If you want to use official golems, there are two with a CR in between those of the Flesh and Clay golems. Just look up "golem" in the Monster list. They're both in adventure modules though, so you may have to buy them to have access to them in DDB. Another option would be to homebrew one and create it in DDB yourself for your campaign.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Dead in Thay has a Reduced Threat Clay Colem that might be what you want. You'd have to buy it but... worth it to get what you want and not have to deal with converting or modding the monster yourself, if you are new at this.
Looking at the regular Clay Golem, the big problem is the immunities to non-magic weapons -- the party might not have a lot of magic weapons at level 5. You'd know your group.
If I were going to throw this thing at a level 5 party, I would probably take away the Haste, cut its damage a little bit, and convert the immunities to resistances. That might be enough for a fully rested level 5 group to take it out.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
In general if faced with the choice of too easy or too hard for a D&D party, choose too hard but also include some sort of environmental factor that acts as an escape hatch. The old "higher level NPC who conveniently comes along to rescue the party" is usually too obvious so avoid that, but something like, "the golem's massive arms smash into the cliff face and a crack races up through the sandstone and shale, another hit like that and the whole thing might come crashing down" which allows them to be clever and trigger a rockslide on their own, or you could just pull that trigger a few turns down the line if it looks like they're having too hard a time.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Thanks, I decided to go with the reduced threat clay golem
You are the master of your own ship. Stop relying on printed words to steer your vessel. Modify them as you see fit. I feel this has become a trap in 5E. The very nature of this edition and how it is conveyed via media to the players fosters a certain dependency that past editions didn't.
The OP is a new DM. It is common for new DMs to rely on printed material until they get a feel for things. There's nothing wrong with that.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
And they're clearly already moving beyond just following what's on paper. Looking at what's there, gauging if it's really appropriate and then trying to find something that's a better fit is a big step forward.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].