I'm a brand new DM about to run my first campaign, just a one-shot. I decided to write my own story for various reasons, and it's finished except for a few details. My main BBEG (at least in this one-shot; she's actually a part of a bigger story that I'll continue with other friends who want to play and is working for a local night hag which these players won't encounter) is a doppelganger that is posing as a local noblewoman. My question is this: what would make a fair fight against 4 level 3 PCs who are all brand new to D&D? (Also, there's a possibility of there actually being 6 PCs, two of them aren't sure if they'll be there yet, so I'll stay flexible with the amount of baddies depending on if they can play.) The fight will most likely take place in the noblewoman's estate. I have no idea if they'll kill her or if she'll escape, but I'm making sure they have at least one prior skirmish with some goblins so at least they get to kill *somebody*. :D Is one doppelganger enough, or should I bring in more? Or add other, smaller enemies as well? I've never come across a doppelganger in my own playing or watching others play, so I'm clueless and curious.
And this could be a very silly question, but is there a formula for calculating how many bad guys/how strong the bad guys should be based on the amount of players and their skill level? I feel like there has to be, and I just haven't come across it. I don't want to overwhelm my friends, but I also don't want the fights to be easy and boring.
It is hard to say without knowing character builds. At CR 3, a Doppelgänger theoretically is a fair fight for a party of four level 3 characters, but CR is a bit of a disaster so that is not very helpful. The encounter builder will help by saying if a fight is “hard” or “deadly” - you’ll generally want “deadly” for a boss fight, since it tends to underestimate player characters.
Additionally, 5e is built around fairly short combats, so your monster, as written, will likely die quickly do to low HP. These problems will be exacerbated with six players.
Adding more monsters will not fix this problem, since they’ll likely still fixate on the big bad, kill it quickly, then be stuck with a bunch of dull cleanup of smaller monsters.
That said, you are the dungeon master - you get to define if monsters are different than as written. You can easily increase the Doppelgänger’s hitpoint total drastically to make the fight last longer and be more of a challenge. You can even change the hitpoint totals mid fight to make it longer/shorter, either by adding a healing mechanic or just straight “cheating” and changing the monster’s current health (you’re the DM; you can cheat to make the game more fun for your players).
Add in a few “lair actions” as well to make the fight feel dynamic - you can rip these from other monsters. I might avoid ones that damage and focus on terrain changing effects - you would have to scale down the damage to the lower party level, and that can be challenging to balance if you don’t have a feel for it yet.
By its math, a CR 3 Doppelganger would be a Medium level of difficulty for a party of 4 players at that level. If you want to make things a little harder, the BBEG isn't going to just shift into a grey-skinned monster to fight them. It may retain the noblewoman's form and convince some of the guards that she is being attacked by the party. Or, she could have a pet Mimic on standby to help out if the party needs a bit of a challenge. You could also consider giving the BBEG a few cantrips, like Mind Sliver, Poison Spray, Primal Savagery, Shocking Grasp, or Vicious Mockery. Just something to spice up combat a bit without adding too much power.
The CR on a doppelganger is assuming the doppelganger ambushes the PCs (and is thus doing 4d6+4 twice during round 1); without that it's barely a CR 2. A doppelganger that gets exposed by the PCs is not going to get ambush.
Honestly, you might be best off just using a night hag and having your real threat be a coven. It can do the acting part all by itself (change shape ability), is quite durable (but low damage), and can run away (using etherealness or plane shift) if the fight doesn't seem worth continuing (or as a DM you realize that you overestimated the PCs).To make it more interesting, you might mix up its spell list, making it a level 3-4 spellcaster shouldn't break the PCs and gives it a natural reason to run away (out of spells).
A doppelganger is a good villain but as a single fight on its own it's not super interesting. They really need some minions or some extra abilities which you can easily justify through them adopting a persona.
As for it's difficulty, it has an unusually high to hit chance for it's cr but below average damage and defense.
This is a good opportunity for a multi-stage fight. First, they fight her guards. You should be able to arrange it so you can just have the number of guards equal the number of players. Once they're engaged with the guards, maybe after a round or two, she flees. They chase her. She's gone, but there's a servant to question. The servant reluctantly tells them which way she went. As soon as they turn away, backstab from the doppelganger, and you roll straight into the second fight.
This way, they'll feel like they've had a good fight, even if neither fight was actually that challenging.
Also, if they've figured out that they're up against a doppelganger, they can feel clever by not falling for the servant trick.
If you've got six players, you should definitely give her some backup for the fight. Numerical advantage is a big deal. (So she probably needs it even if there are only four, just less.) A spell caster would be good for variety. Or maybe another doppelganger. (Or both -- you can take a spell caster monster and just say "it's a doppelganger".)
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Hi all!
I'm a brand new DM about to run my first campaign, just a one-shot. I decided to write my own story for various reasons, and it's finished except for a few details. My main BBEG (at least in this one-shot; she's actually a part of a bigger story that I'll continue with other friends who want to play and is working for a local night hag which these players won't encounter) is a doppelganger that is posing as a local noblewoman. My question is this: what would make a fair fight against 4 level 3 PCs who are all brand new to D&D? (Also, there's a possibility of there actually being 6 PCs, two of them aren't sure if they'll be there yet, so I'll stay flexible with the amount of baddies depending on if they can play.) The fight will most likely take place in the noblewoman's estate. I have no idea if they'll kill her or if she'll escape, but I'm making sure they have at least one prior skirmish with some goblins so at least they get to kill *somebody*. :D Is one doppelganger enough, or should I bring in more? Or add other, smaller enemies as well? I've never come across a doppelganger in my own playing or watching others play, so I'm clueless and curious.
And this could be a very silly question, but is there a formula for calculating how many bad guys/how strong the bad guys should be based on the amount of players and their skill level? I feel like there has to be, and I just haven't come across it. I don't want to overwhelm my friends, but I also don't want the fights to be easy and boring.
Thank you all so much! I appreciate it!
It is hard to say without knowing character builds. At CR 3, a Doppelgänger theoretically is a fair fight for a party of four level 3 characters, but CR is a bit of a disaster so that is not very helpful. The encounter builder will help by saying if a fight is “hard” or “deadly” - you’ll generally want “deadly” for a boss fight, since it tends to underestimate player characters.
Additionally, 5e is built around fairly short combats, so your monster, as written, will likely die quickly do to low HP. These problems will be exacerbated with six players.
Adding more monsters will not fix this problem, since they’ll likely still fixate on the big bad, kill it quickly, then be stuck with a bunch of dull cleanup of smaller monsters.
That said, you are the dungeon master - you get to define if monsters are different than as written. You can easily increase the Doppelgänger’s hitpoint total drastically to make the fight last longer and be more of a challenge. You can even change the hitpoint totals mid fight to make it longer/shorter, either by adding a healing mechanic or just straight “cheating” and changing the monster’s current health (you’re the DM; you can cheat to make the game more fun for your players).
Add in a few “lair actions” as well to make the fight feel dynamic - you can rip these from other monsters. I might avoid ones that damage and focus on terrain changing effects - you would have to scale down the damage to the lower party level, and that can be challenging to balance if you don’t have a feel for it yet.
Good luck!
As for quick and dirty math, I use this site.
By its math, a CR 3 Doppelganger would be a Medium level of difficulty for a party of 4 players at that level. If you want to make things a little harder, the BBEG isn't going to just shift into a grey-skinned monster to fight them. It may retain the noblewoman's form and convince some of the guards that she is being attacked by the party. Or, she could have a pet Mimic on standby to help out if the party needs a bit of a challenge. You could also consider giving the BBEG a few cantrips, like Mind Sliver, Poison Spray, Primal Savagery, Shocking Grasp, or Vicious Mockery. Just something to spice up combat a bit without adding too much power.
The CR on a doppelganger is assuming the doppelganger ambushes the PCs (and is thus doing 4d6+4 twice during round 1); without that it's barely a CR 2. A doppelganger that gets exposed by the PCs is not going to get ambush.
Honestly, you might be best off just using a night hag and having your real threat be a coven. It can do the acting part all by itself (change shape ability), is quite durable (but low damage), and can run away (using etherealness or plane shift) if the fight doesn't seem worth continuing (or as a DM you realize that you overestimated the PCs).To make it more interesting, you might mix up its spell list, making it a level 3-4 spellcaster shouldn't break the PCs and gives it a natural reason to run away (out of spells).
A doppelganger is a good villain but as a single fight on its own it's not super interesting. They really need some minions or some extra abilities which you can easily justify through them adopting a persona.
As for it's difficulty, it has an unusually high to hit chance for it's cr but below average damage and defense.
This is a good opportunity for a multi-stage fight. First, they fight her guards. You should be able to arrange it so you can just have the number of guards equal the number of players. Once they're engaged with the guards, maybe after a round or two, she flees. They chase her. She's gone, but there's a servant to question. The servant reluctantly tells them which way she went. As soon as they turn away, backstab from the doppelganger, and you roll straight into the second fight.
This way, they'll feel like they've had a good fight, even if neither fight was actually that challenging.
Also, if they've figured out that they're up against a doppelganger, they can feel clever by not falling for the servant trick.
If you've got six players, you should definitely give her some backup for the fight. Numerical advantage is a big deal. (So she probably needs it even if there are only four, just less.) A spell caster would be good for variety. Or maybe another doppelganger. (Or both -- you can take a spell caster monster and just say "it's a doppelganger".)