In the story im designing i would like the party to encounter a devourer fairly early in the arc but their level as pcs wont be up to fighting a full powered devourer (probably max lv 8-10 in the party by the time they get to it)
the party is likely to only have 4 pcs and 1 npc that is of a similar level to the party.
how can i make this beast less of a challenge?
ideally it would be weak enough to have a couple of minions (low level fiends) but still be winnable (ie hard level)
the devourer is important plot wise as its feeding off new comers villagers that sacrifice to it on a regular basis
Instead of doing a bunch of math, you can find a creature of appropriate difficulty for the party and just kind of cut-n-paste those stats onto a devourer frame. Have it do roughly the same amount of damage per round, same AC and hp, etc. Imprison Soul would take a little more fiddling, but just eyeball the damages and effects of the creatures with the CR you are aiming for and put it in that ballpark.
Honestly, “Deadly” doesn’t really mean “deadly,” just “harder than Hard.” Simply reducing the number of combat encounters that day should suffice. It’ll be a tough day, but they’ll be thrilled with their impressive victory. To be honest, almost every encounter I throw at parties I DM are in the Hard—Deadly+ range so none of us have to try shooting for more than 3 to 4 combats in the same adventuring day.
For 4 8th-level PCs, as long as they only have 1 (maybe 2) more fights that day and at least 1 short rest that should still be not only “winnable,” but without more than a relatively low chance of any of them dying. For a party of 4 10th-level PCs, they should definitely be able to handle up to 2 more fights that same day, even if it has a couple minions. (Just make sure the don’t have any special traits that are too crazy and cut back on their minions’ HP if necessary.)
And if one of the PCs does die, by those levels the party should be able to bring that PC back as long as the Devourer didn’t... you know... Devour their Souls. If you’re that concerned about it, drop the Devourer’s Claw damage to 4d6, and drop the Soul Rend damage to 5d10ish and the Save DC to 16. After all, if none of the PCs don’t drop to 0 HP, it can’t try to devour them. (If you really still think it necessary drop it down to 12-13 Hit Dice.)
Think of it like Pants. If the pants fit perfectly you don’t need stuff to hold them up. Right? Well, that’s what all that stuff in the DMG is for, “proper sizing.” If you take proper measurements and follow those calculations then you will almost always end up with a pair of pants set of encounters that fits the party perfectly, but with just enough ease they don’t have to unbutton on Thanksgiving. And on top of that, there are various suspenders pre-established within the rules to cover for DMs in case they erred while either measuring or calculating. Things should really be fine.👌
If you want to know you have the extra safety of a belt to go with those suspenders then make sure the party “obtains” a few consumables the party can take into the fight with them. It shouldn’t need to be anything bananas, just a couple things to either prevent a PC dropping, or ensure they can yo-yo if they do drop.
Make up a potion any of them could take to have the equivalent of an Aura of Life.
Maybe a Wondrous Item like a chime or bell they can ring (as if using a command word) that comes with 1d4+2 charges that can cast Healing Word for 1 charge or Mass Healing Word for 3 Charges.
Or perhaps a crystal pendant (or 2) the most “death prone” PC(s) could wear that would grant them Advantage on Death Saving Throws, and if they still fail three DSTs it immediately shatters and stabilizes them before they die.
Any of those should be enough of a thing to relatively ensure (if not guarantee) that even at 8th-level, the party would all survive the encounter agains even a full threat Devourer and a handful of whatever goobers you want to include.
IMO, the DMG goes waayyy too easy on PCs this edition, one practically has to intentionally try to kill a PC or it will likely never happen. It’s not like the older editions when D&D was all about DMs challenging Characters and Players any way possible and the Players and PCs trying to overcome whatever the DM threw at them. This edition is pretty much all about following the journey of an intrepid group of heroes, it’s basically been designed for the PCs to live ‘til the end.
In the story im designing i would like the party to encounter a devourer fairly early in the arc but their level as pcs wont be up to fighting a full powered devourer (probably max lv 8-10 in the party by the time they get to it)
the party is likely to only have 4 pcs and 1 npc that is of a similar level to the party.
how can i make this beast less of a challenge?
ideally it would be weak enough to have a couple of minions (low level fiends) but still be winnable (ie hard level)
the devourer is important plot wise as its feeding off new comers villagers that sacrifice to it on a regular basis
This is a really hard question that the DMG tries to answer in https://dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/dungeon-masters-workshop#CreatingaMonster and https://dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/creating-adventures#CreatingEncounters. The general idea is to reduce the monster's hp and / or the number of dice for its attacks, and also possibly its AC and bonus to hit / save DC. Then use a complicated chart to determine the monster's new CR. Then use a complicated formula to decide the difficulty of the encounter for your party's level and size.
The whole thing is complex and, in the end, not that reliable anyway. But maybe it can give you some confidence of being in the right ballpark.
Instead of doing a bunch of math, you can find a creature of appropriate difficulty for the party and just kind of cut-n-paste those stats onto a devourer frame. Have it do roughly the same amount of damage per round, same AC and hp, etc. Imprison Soul would take a little more fiddling, but just eyeball the damages and effects of the creatures with the CR you are aiming for and put it in that ballpark.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Honestly, “Deadly” doesn’t really mean “deadly,” just “harder than Hard.” Simply reducing the number of combat encounters that day should suffice. It’ll be a tough day, but they’ll be thrilled with their impressive victory. To be honest, almost every encounter I throw at parties I DM are in the Hard—Deadly+ range so none of us have to try shooting for more than 3 to 4 combats in the same adventuring day.
For 4 8th-level PCs, as long as they only have 1 (maybe 2) more fights that day and at least 1 short rest that should still be not only “winnable,” but without more than a relatively low chance of any of them dying. For a party of 4 10th-level PCs, they should definitely be able to handle up to 2 more fights that same day, even if it has a couple minions. (Just make sure the don’t have any special traits that are too crazy and cut back on their minions’ HP if necessary.)
And if one of the PCs does die, by those levels the party should be able to bring that PC back as long as the Devourer didn’t... you know... Devour their Souls. If you’re that concerned about it, drop the Devourer’s Claw damage to 4d6, and drop the Soul Rend damage to 5d10ish and the Save DC to 16. After all, if none of the PCs don’t drop to 0 HP, it can’t try to devour them. (If you really still think it necessary drop it down to 12-13 Hit Dice.)
Think of it like Pants. If the pants fit perfectly you don’t need stuff to hold them up. Right? Well, that’s what all that stuff in the DMG is for, “proper sizing.” If you take proper measurements and follow those calculations then you will almost always end up with a pair of pants set of encounters that fits the party perfectly, but with just enough ease they don’t have to unbutton on Thanksgiving. And on top of that, there are various suspenders pre-established within the rules to cover for DMs in case they erred while either measuring or calculating. Things should really be fine.👌
If you want to know you have the extra safety of a belt to go with those suspenders then make sure the party “obtains” a few consumables the party can take into the fight with them. It shouldn’t need to be anything bananas, just a couple things to either prevent a PC dropping, or ensure they can yo-yo if they do drop.
Any of those should be enough of a thing to relatively ensure (if not guarantee) that even at 8th-level, the party would all survive the encounter agains even a full threat Devourer and a handful of whatever goobers you want to include.
IMO, the DMG goes waayyy too easy on PCs this edition, one practically has to intentionally try to kill a PC or it will likely never happen. It’s not like the older editions when D&D was all about DMs challenging Characters and Players any way possible and the Players and PCs trying to overcome whatever the DM threw at them. This edition is pretty much all about following the journey of an intrepid group of heroes, it’s basically been designed for the PCs to live ‘til the end.
I hope that helps.
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I would second either, reducing HP, AC, Hit dice and maybe nerfing an OP ability. Or just pasting an appropriate CR statblock onto it 👍