My party is gonna fight the first BBEG in their campaign, and I don't know how much health I should give it. It is vampire necromancer, and the party is level 6, f that helps.
Depends on how long you want the encounter to be and what other defensive capabilities are involved. Level 6 is near the top of glass-cannon-ness for PCs so you may want extremely high defense relative to offense.
I'd do this one of two ways. you could drag out the fight, give the boss about 250 hp, but relatively low AC, between 16-18 and low attack power to compensate, or you can go for the below 150 hp route, where the boss hits hard and has stacked AC, between 19-22
That's a very good question! You want the BBEG to be tough enough that it's not an anticlimactic pushover, but not so tough that you're risking a TPK in round two. But it's a hard question to answer because we don't know your party's strengths and weaknesses. A vampire necromancer will mainly be using ranged spells for damage. And as a vampire, maybe they can fly. A flying BBEG basically means the melee players are out of the fight. So the BBEG may not need too many hit points if half the party can't even reach him to hit him. Also, a necromancer is a spooky dude. So maybe you decide that whenever the BBEG does necrotic damage, he heals a little bit. Or whenever he bites someone, he heals a bunch. That's some classic vampire stuff right there! So the BBEG may not need a big pile of hit points at the start if he can heal or recover hit points throughout the fight. Also, a necromancer will probably have a bunch of undead minions helping and protecting him, like maybe a dozen skeletons or zombies. These minions aren't intended to be a challenge for the party. They're just intended to soften the party up a little so when the party meets the BBEG, they're not at full strength. So the combined hit points of all those minions are essentially an extension of the BBEG. Oh, and vampires are known to be charming fellows. So during the fight the vampire may try to charm the party's toughest warrior into protecting him by attacking the rest of the party. So that character's hit points also become like an extension of the BBEG's hit point total for a round or two.
So yeah, there's a lot of variables to plug into the equation, which makes it hard to give a straightforward answer. But here's the good news: the only person who knows how many hit points the BBEG has is you! To the players at the table, either the BBEG is up, or he's down. That's it. A or B. 1 or 0. At the end of each round, just give the players a vague idea of how the BBEG looks. He'll start out looking "strong and confident", then "hurt but determined", then "bloodied and worried", then "gravely wounded and trying to escape". But you still need a number to start with. Fine. Look at your players' characters and guesstimate the maximum amount of damage that the entire party could dish out in one round. That's what the BBEG starts with. And if the party is rolling really bad, that's all the BBEG gets. But if the party is rolling really good, then maybe the BBEG heals a bit during the fight. I'm not saying you should fudge the numbers to make the fight narratively compelling, because I don't want to start a flame war in the Forums. I'm just saying that without a compelling story about a band of misfit adventurers barely scraping by in a fight, D&D looks a lot like doing taxes for fun.
One of the most interesting things I ever heard was a guy telling a story about a DnD club he ran at his middle school. One day, he was watching a kid DM a fight with a big dragon, and he noticed the kid wasn't keeping track of the dragon's hp. At the end of the class, he pulled the kid aside and asked him how he managed to keep track of the dragon's hp. The kid said, "oh, I didn't do that."
The guy said, "Well, how do you know when the fight is over?"
The kid rolled his eyes and said, "The fight is over when it stops being fun."
I don't give any of my bosses hp. Their henchmen, random encounters, whatever, I might. But bosses? Waste of time. You give the boss hp, one of two things always happens:
The fight draaaaaaaaaags on foreeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvveeeeeeer because the boss has too much hp, and the players burned all their good spells, and now they're just slugging it out with this dude whowill. not. die.
You have a boss who you want to escape to fight another day, and then suddenly the party paladin crits, smites, and one-shots him and your whole campaign crumbles to dust in your hands.
Instead, just do what that kid does. Have the players fight the guy, and at a narratively appropriate moment, he dies. Maybe the paladin smites and crits. The vampire is dusted, the party cheers, the player who has the paladin is the hero for the night, everybody buys him a beer! Maybe the wizard moans "god, this is my last spell slot - here goes nothing." The vampire is dusted and everybody lets out a cry of jubilant relief. Maybe the vampire drops the party cleric, and is standing over the body, about to deliver the killing blow and raise him as an undead servant. The party rogue sneak attacks, saving the day!
You simply cannot have an interesting narrative if you're tracking hp for boss fights. So throw it out. If your players are suspicious, scribble something on a notepad behind your screen, or type numbers into your computer or whatever. I've been running games for years now, and nobody has ever noticed or complained that their fights seem to end just as the energy is cresting, but never before it flags. Nobody has ever complained that they always win, and they never die. Nobody has ever mentioned, even casually, that a fight that was going against them ended somewhat abruptly, or that a boss who was clearly meant to get away got away.
I'm assuming you're homebrewing. The first question would probably be: is this an introduction encounter to your BBEG or are your players meant to fight and defeat it? The suggestion of lasting 3 to 4 rounds is a good place to start. You don't want to drag out a fight for too long, but if it's all over by round 2... it can feel kind of underwhelming. Do keep track of the damage it's being dealt, especially if this creature is meant to be encountered again (would be silly if it had "less hp" the 2nd time around).
Personally, though I use a module, I change HP all the time, especially since 2014 stat blocks can get overwhelmed pretty quick by 2024 PCs. An encounter with random-like marauders can end quickly, it helps boost the PCs confidence and make them feel heroic. Likewise, it feels great when that more prominent creature gives them a run for their money so they can feel challenged.
One of the most interesting things I ever heard was a guy telling a story about a DnD club he ran at his middle school. One day, he was watching a kid DM a fight with a big dragon, and he noticed the kid wasn't keeping track of the dragon's hp. At the end of the class, he pulled the kid aside and asked him how he managed to keep track of the dragon's hp. The kid said, "oh, I didn't do that."
The guy said, "Well, how do you know when the fight is over?"
The kid rolled his eyes and said, "The fight is over when it stops being fun."
I don't give any of my bosses hp. Their henchmen, random encounters, whatever, I might. But bosses? Waste of time. You give the boss hp, one of two things always happens:
The fight draaaaaaaaaags on foreeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvveeeeeeer because the boss has too much hp, and the players burned all their good spells, and now they're just slugging it out with this dude whowill. not. die.
You have a boss who you want to escape to fight another day, and then suddenly the party paladin crits, smites, and one-shots him and your whole campaign crumbles to dust in your hands.
Instead, just do what that kid does. Have the players fight the guy, and at a narratively appropriate moment, he dies. Maybe the paladin smites and crits. The vampire is dusted, the party cheers, the player who has the paladin is the hero for the night, everybody buys him a beer! Maybe the wizard moans "god, this is my last spell slot - here goes nothing." The vampire is dusted and everybody lets out a cry of jubilant relief. Maybe the vampire drops the party cleric, and is standing over the body, about to deliver the killing blow and raise him as an undead servant. The party rogue sneak attacks, saving the day!
You simply cannot have an interesting narrative if you're tracking hp for boss fights. So throw it out. If your players are suspicious, scribble something on a notepad behind your screen, or type numbers into your computer or whatever. I've been running games for years now, and nobody has ever noticed or complained that their fights seem to end just as the energy is cresting, but never before it flags. Nobody has ever complained that they always win, and they never die. Nobody has ever mentioned, even casually, that a fight that was going against them ended somewhat abruptly, or that a boss who was clearly meant to get away got away.
This is the way I have always ran my Boss level encounters. I always had trouble balancing combat and so I just said the hell with it when it came to boss fights. I make sure the encounter is challenging but if it becomes to much strain on the party then it is just not enjoyable for the characters. Personally I do not think that a DM should be trying for a TPK and it is something that is a hindrance on the story that you are trying to tell. It will make your life easier as a DM and the game more enjoyable for the rest of the group.
My party is gonna fight the first BBEG in their campaign, and I don't know how much health I should give it. It is vampire necromancer, and the party is level 6, f that helps.
Depends on how long you want the encounter to be and what other defensive capabilities are involved. Level 6 is near the top of glass-cannon-ness for PCs so you may want extremely high defense relative to offense.
I'd do this one of two ways. you could drag out the fight, give the boss about 250 hp, but relatively low AC, between 16-18 and low attack power to compensate, or you can go for the below 150 hp route, where the boss hits hard and has stacked AC, between 19-22
Having fun? I would hope so. Lets see how much fun you're having after the lich starts dipping into it's 1/day spell slots.
Yes I'm aware my username is completely awful, just do your best to ignore it.
That's a very good question! You want the BBEG to be tough enough that it's not an anticlimactic pushover, but not so tough that you're risking a TPK in round two. But it's a hard question to answer because we don't know your party's strengths and weaknesses. A vampire necromancer will mainly be using ranged spells for damage. And as a vampire, maybe they can fly. A flying BBEG basically means the melee players are out of the fight. So the BBEG may not need too many hit points if half the party can't even reach him to hit him. Also, a necromancer is a spooky dude. So maybe you decide that whenever the BBEG does necrotic damage, he heals a little bit. Or whenever he bites someone, he heals a bunch. That's some classic vampire stuff right there! So the BBEG may not need a big pile of hit points at the start if he can heal or recover hit points throughout the fight. Also, a necromancer will probably have a bunch of undead minions helping and protecting him, like maybe a dozen skeletons or zombies. These minions aren't intended to be a challenge for the party. They're just intended to soften the party up a little so when the party meets the BBEG, they're not at full strength. So the combined hit points of all those minions are essentially an extension of the BBEG. Oh, and vampires are known to be charming fellows. So during the fight the vampire may try to charm the party's toughest warrior into protecting him by attacking the rest of the party. So that character's hit points also become like an extension of the BBEG's hit point total for a round or two.
So yeah, there's a lot of variables to plug into the equation, which makes it hard to give a straightforward answer. But here's the good news: the only person who knows how many hit points the BBEG has is you! To the players at the table, either the BBEG is up, or he's down. That's it. A or B. 1 or 0. At the end of each round, just give the players a vague idea of how the BBEG looks. He'll start out looking "strong and confident", then "hurt but determined", then "bloodied and worried", then "gravely wounded and trying to escape". But you still need a number to start with. Fine. Look at your players' characters and guesstimate the maximum amount of damage that the entire party could dish out in one round. That's what the BBEG starts with. And if the party is rolling really bad, that's all the BBEG gets. But if the party is rolling really good, then maybe the BBEG heals a bit during the fight. I'm not saying you should fudge the numbers to make the fight narratively compelling, because I don't want to start a flame war in the Forums. I'm just saying that without a compelling story about a band of misfit adventurers barely scraping by in a fight, D&D looks a lot like doing taxes for fun.
I hope this helps at least a little.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
Hear me out: Don't.
One of the most interesting things I ever heard was a guy telling a story about a DnD club he ran at his middle school. One day, he was watching a kid DM a fight with a big dragon, and he noticed the kid wasn't keeping track of the dragon's hp. At the end of the class, he pulled the kid aside and asked him how he managed to keep track of the dragon's hp. The kid said, "oh, I didn't do that."
The guy said, "Well, how do you know when the fight is over?"
The kid rolled his eyes and said, "The fight is over when it stops being fun."
I don't give any of my bosses hp. Their henchmen, random encounters, whatever, I might. But bosses? Waste of time. You give the boss hp, one of two things always happens:
Instead, just do what that kid does. Have the players fight the guy, and at a narratively appropriate moment, he dies. Maybe the paladin smites and crits. The vampire is dusted, the party cheers, the player who has the paladin is the hero for the night, everybody buys him a beer! Maybe the wizard moans "god, this is my last spell slot - here goes nothing." The vampire is dusted and everybody lets out a cry of jubilant relief. Maybe the vampire drops the party cleric, and is standing over the body, about to deliver the killing blow and raise him as an undead servant. The party rogue sneak attacks, saving the day!
You simply cannot have an interesting narrative if you're tracking hp for boss fights. So throw it out. If your players are suspicious, scribble something on a notepad behind your screen, or type numbers into your computer or whatever. I've been running games for years now, and nobody has ever noticed or complained that their fights seem to end just as the energy is cresting, but never before it flags. Nobody has ever complained that they always win, and they never die. Nobody has ever mentioned, even casually, that a fight that was going against them ended somewhat abruptly, or that a boss who was clearly meant to get away got away.
The boss has as many HP as it needs to last about 4 rounds and die dramatically
Although the dramatic death isn't a necessity.
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I'm assuming you're homebrewing. The first question would probably be: is this an introduction encounter to your BBEG or are your players meant to fight and defeat it? The suggestion of lasting 3 to 4 rounds is a good place to start. You don't want to drag out a fight for too long, but if it's all over by round 2... it can feel kind of underwhelming. Do keep track of the damage it's being dealt, especially if this creature is meant to be encountered again (would be silly if it had "less hp" the 2nd time around).
Personally, though I use a module, I change HP all the time, especially since 2014 stat blocks can get overwhelmed pretty quick by 2024 PCs. An encounter with random-like marauders can end quickly, it helps boost the PCs confidence and make them feel heroic. Likewise, it feels great when that more prominent creature gives them a run for their money so they can feel challenged.
This is the way I have always ran my Boss level encounters. I always had trouble balancing combat and so I just said the hell with it when it came to boss fights. I make sure the encounter is challenging but if it becomes to much strain on the party then it is just not enjoyable for the characters. Personally I do not think that a DM should be trying for a TPK and it is something that is a hindrance on the story that you are trying to tell. It will make your life easier as a DM and the game more enjoyable for the rest of the group.
Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll definitely end up using one of these!