I'm VERY new to d&d, and I am setting up a campaign. I have most of the lore and etc. worked out, but I have no idea about pacing the bosses!
This first boss is actually going to be a trio of bosses at the same time.
After about 3~5 sessions, they will be fought.
Around what stats on average would there be for a boss fight like this for the bosses? I only really need the averages and the maximum/minimum recommended stats, thanks!
This sort of question is unfortunately impossible to answer without 1. Knowing your party size, composition, and desired level at the time of the fight. 2. Knowing what type of bosses you want (melee bruiser, elegant swordfighter, mage etc). 3. If you are making then human, or some other race, or basing them off of something in the Monster Manual. There are a lot of really good subreddits that I have found assistance in. I hope you find something that helps! :)
This sort of question is unfortunately impossible to answer without 1. Knowing your party size, composition, and desired level at the time of the fight. 2. Knowing what type of bosses you want (melee bruiser, elegant swordfighter, mage etc). 3. If you are making then human, or some other race, or basing them off of something in the Monster Manual. There are a lot of really good subreddits that I have found assistance in. I hope you find something that helps! :)
What they said
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If I haven’t offended you, don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll get to you eventually.
I also would recommend not *making* any creatures if you're new to dnd. There are plenty of options available in the books that give all sorts of different challenges and flavor. Use one (or three) of those to get your desired result - as a new player, you probably won't be as able to make the detailed & balanced monster statblocks that the books have.
The CR on a statblocks should be equivalent to a fight with four PCs of the same level. So a CR 7 monster theoretically would be a decent fight for four level 7 characters. The balancing isn't always perfect, but it's a good baseline to wrap your head around.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
A relatively easy way to add some of your own flavor is to add environmental mechanics to increase tactical difficulty and make things more interesting. So you could take a premade enemy of the appropriate cr and add some environmental hazards.
For example last sunday my friend gave us an amazing boss encounter. There was a wall of liquid iron that pulled us towards it at the start of each turn at an increasing rate like a magnet. There was plenty of room to move but the wall was instant death, so we had to keep using our movement to avoid the wall and position ourselves in a smart way. I enjoyed it very much. 😄
For the next session in a recently started campaign, I’m gonna have the players investigate missing fishermen, and put them against some Sahuagin. I’m thinking that the water will add some fun mechanics, especially with the tactics I’ll be using against them, and the fact that there will be five of them in a small fishing boat.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If I haven’t offended you, don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll get to you eventually.
For the next session in a recently started campaign, I’m gonna have the players investigate missing fishermen, and put them against some Sahuagin. I’m thinking that the water will add some fun mechanics, especially with the tactics I’ll be using against them, and the fact that there will be five of them in a small fishing boat.
I also would recommend not *making* any creatures if you're new to dnd. There are plenty of options available in the books that give all sorts of different challenges and flavor. Use one (or three) of those to get your desired result - as a new player, you probably won't be as able to make the detailed & balanced monster statblocks that the books have.
The CR on a statblocks should be equivalent to a fight with four PCs of the same level. So a CR 7 monster theoretically would be a decent fight for four level 7 characters. The balancing isn't always perfect, but it's a good baseline to wrap your head around.
This is my stance for the most part, but sticking to the book doesn't have to be the entire answer here either.
I do think it is fair game to make a unique creature and re-purpose an appropriately CR'd monster to fit what you desire. Nothing wrong with taking a Ankheg and making it into a hydra that spits a line of poison out of each mouth once every 5-6 turns, or to a character of complete fiction to fit your setting. So if you can't find a monster perfect for your setting within the premade monster setup, this is another solution that doesn't come with a high burden to the DM as far as balancing goes, as changing the name of a monster and the fluff of a monster wont change the CR. Other than that, i don't change stats too much, maybe a slight HP tweak or slight saving throw tweak depending on what your party's starting matrix was or their weapons being magical or non magical, anything more and you start risking an imbalance.
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I'm VERY new to d&d, and I am setting up a campaign. I have most of the lore and etc. worked out, but I have no idea about pacing the bosses!
This first boss is actually going to be a trio of bosses at the same time.
After about 3~5 sessions, they will be fought.
Around what stats on average would there be for a boss fight like this for the bosses? I only really need the averages and the maximum/minimum recommended stats, thanks!
This sort of question is unfortunately impossible to answer without 1. Knowing your party size, composition, and desired level at the time of the fight. 2. Knowing what type of bosses you want (melee bruiser, elegant swordfighter, mage etc). 3. If you are making then human, or some other race, or basing them off of something in the Monster Manual. There are a lot of really good subreddits that I have found assistance in. I hope you find something that helps! :)
What they said
If I haven’t offended you, don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll get to you eventually.
I also would recommend not *making* any creatures if you're new to dnd. There are plenty of options available in the books that give all sorts of different challenges and flavor. Use one (or three) of those to get your desired result - as a new player, you probably won't be as able to make the detailed & balanced monster statblocks that the books have.
The CR on a statblocks should be equivalent to a fight with four PCs of the same level. So a CR 7 monster theoretically would be a decent fight for four level 7 characters. The balancing isn't always perfect, but it's a good baseline to wrap your head around.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
A relatively easy way to add some of your own flavor is to add environmental mechanics to increase tactical difficulty and make things more interesting. So you could take a premade enemy of the appropriate cr and add some environmental hazards.
For example last sunday my friend gave us an amazing boss encounter. There was a wall of liquid iron that pulled us towards it at the start of each turn at an increasing rate like a magnet. There was plenty of room to move but the wall was instant death, so we had to keep using our movement to avoid the wall and position ourselves in a smart way. I enjoyed it very much. 😄
Finland GMT/UTC +2
That’s a fun idea!
For the next session in a recently started campaign, I’m gonna have the players investigate missing fishermen, and put them against some Sahuagin. I’m thinking that the water will add some fun mechanics, especially with the tactics I’ll be using against them, and the fact that there will be five of them in a small fishing boat.
If I haven’t offended you, don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll get to you eventually.
Sounds good!
Finland GMT/UTC +2
This is my stance for the most part, but sticking to the book doesn't have to be the entire answer here either.
I do think it is fair game to make a unique creature and re-purpose an appropriately CR'd monster to fit what you desire. Nothing wrong with taking a Ankheg and making it into a hydra that spits a line of poison out of each mouth once every 5-6 turns, or to a character of complete fiction to fit your setting. So if you can't find a monster perfect for your setting within the premade monster setup, this is another solution that doesn't come with a high burden to the DM as far as balancing goes, as changing the name of a monster and the fluff of a monster wont change the CR. Other than that, i don't change stats too much, maybe a slight HP tweak or slight saving throw tweak depending on what your party's starting matrix was or their weapons being magical or non magical, anything more and you start risking an imbalance.