Hi guys, hope you're all getting lots of D&D in during the pandemic!
Was hoping someone could give me some help on figuring out how to figure out fair encounters between two groups of monsters.
A Thieves Guild in my campaign is running an underground fighting pit, and the fights can be bet on. I've picked a few fights where it's 1v1 and am just using two monsters with equal CR. For example, a Champion (CR9) vs a Young Blue Dragon (CR9).
I'd also like to do some fights where it's multiple combatants vs a single combatant. Like a bunch of guards (1/8CR each) vs a Rhino (CR2), but I'm having trouble figuring out, in this case, how many guards would be a fair fight against a Rhino.
I'd also like to have Chimera (CR6) fight a Minotaur (CR3), but that doesn't seem fair. Would I just add another Minotaur?
Adding another Minotaur is an alright idea although I am still thinking that the chimera would have the edge. Maybe add another Minotaur but also give them like some armor or a good weapon to fight the chimera with.
I think the thing to do is run mock battles between the monsters to see what happens. Then that can give you a feel for how long the fights last, if one side always wins, etc.
A straight CR to CR won't always tell you what's fair. In the Chimera example, it can fly and avoid all of the minotaur's attacks, no matter how many there are.
But, unless the players are really into watching the turn by turn breakdown of the dice rolls, it would be simpler and faster to just decide yourself who's going to win and then narrate the battle. For example: "The rhino charges and gores one of the guards immediately. He flies into the air and crashes with a thud into the ground, lying motionless. The other six guards remaining quickly surround the beast and stab it until it goes down."
But, unless the players are really into watching the turn by turn breakdown of the dice rolls, it would be simpler and faster to just decide yourself who's going to win and then narrate the battle. For example: "The rhino charges and gores one of the guards immediately. He flies into the air and crashes with a thud into the ground, lying motionless. The other six guards remaining quickly surround the beast and stab it until it goes down."
This! I think fully developing a combat where the players cannot intervene might turn boring, and maybe favour one of the monsters in a way that you haven't predicted. Instead you can just make a roll dice (example 1-10 the chimera wins, 11-20 the centaur wins) and you narrate it in an epic way.
This way you can also easily make unbalanced fights but with chances for the underdogs: example the current monster champion in the arena against an aspirant (1-15 the champion wins, 16-20 the aspirant wins) allowing for high risk-reward bets.
Here's what I would recommend... rather than run a full battle, do three contested rolls between the monsters. Maybe STR vs STR, DEX v DEX, and CON v CON, to represent in general how the creatures perform against each other for the length of a battle. Maybe you could choose more specific contests depending on creature type... perhaps for the Champion vs the Young Blue Dragon would have the Champion Making an Insight Check vs the dragon's Deception Check to represent the Champion out-thinking his opponent.
Whichever way you choose to do it, the creature that wins 2 of those contests would be declared the winner. A lucky roll might allow a weaker opponent to take victory and result in a higher payout for anyone who bet on them.
My plan was to run it cinematic-ally for sure. I like the idea of the three contested rolls!
I was more trying to figure out how to sorta balance when it's more than once creature vs just one creature. One of my thoughts was to have the players be able to fight using the monsters to see who wins, but maybe for simplicity, I can just let the dice decide.
My plan was to run it cinematic-ally for sure. I like the idea of the three contested rolls!
I was more trying to figure out how to sorta balance when it's more than once creature vs just one creature. One of my thoughts was to have the players be able to fight using the monsters to see who wins, but maybe for simplicity, I can just let the dice decide.
If your players are interested, it could be fun to hand them the monster stat sheet and let them play through the combat themselves. The main problem is just the time sink... if only one player is really interested it could be annoying for the other players to sit and wait for one person to play out a fight on their own. But if they're all into the concept it could be fun... they might even bet against each other, and each takes control of the monster they're betting on.
Hi guys, hope you're all getting lots of D&D in during the pandemic!
Was hoping someone could give me some help on figuring out how to figure out fair encounters between two groups of monsters.
A Thieves Guild in my campaign is running an underground fighting pit, and the fights can be bet on. I've picked a few fights where it's 1v1 and am just using two monsters with equal CR. For example, a Champion (CR9) vs a Young Blue Dragon (CR9).
I'd also like to do some fights where it's multiple combatants vs a single combatant. Like a bunch of guards (1/8CR each) vs a Rhino (CR2), but I'm having trouble figuring out, in this case, how many guards would be a fair fight against a Rhino.
I'd also like to have Chimera (CR6) fight a Minotaur (CR3), but that doesn't seem fair. Would I just add another Minotaur?
Any help would be appreciated :)
Adding another Minotaur is an alright idea although I am still thinking that the chimera would have the edge. Maybe add another Minotaur but also give them like some armor or a good weapon to fight the chimera with.
I think the thing to do is run mock battles between the monsters to see what happens. Then that can give you a feel for how long the fights last, if one side always wins, etc.
A straight CR to CR won't always tell you what's fair. In the Chimera example, it can fly and avoid all of the minotaur's attacks, no matter how many there are.
But, unless the players are really into watching the turn by turn breakdown of the dice rolls, it would be simpler and faster to just decide yourself who's going to win and then narrate the battle. For example: "The rhino charges and gores one of the guards immediately. He flies into the air and crashes with a thud into the ground, lying motionless. The other six guards remaining quickly surround the beast and stab it until it goes down."
This! I think fully developing a combat where the players cannot intervene might turn boring, and maybe favour one of the monsters in a way that you haven't predicted. Instead you can just make a roll dice (example 1-10 the chimera wins, 11-20 the centaur wins) and you narrate it in an epic way.
This way you can also easily make unbalanced fights but with chances for the underdogs: example the current monster champion in the arena against an aspirant (1-15 the champion wins, 16-20 the aspirant wins) allowing for high risk-reward bets.
Here's what I would recommend... rather than run a full battle, do three contested rolls between the monsters. Maybe STR vs STR, DEX v DEX, and CON v CON, to represent in general how the creatures perform against each other for the length of a battle. Maybe you could choose more specific contests depending on creature type... perhaps for the Champion vs the Young Blue Dragon would have the Champion Making an Insight Check vs the dragon's Deception Check to represent the Champion out-thinking his opponent.
Whichever way you choose to do it, the creature that wins 2 of those contests would be declared the winner. A lucky roll might allow a weaker opponent to take victory and result in a higher payout for anyone who bet on them.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Thanks guys!
My plan was to run it cinematic-ally for sure. I like the idea of the three contested rolls!
I was more trying to figure out how to sorta balance when it's more than once creature vs just one creature. One of my thoughts was to have the players be able to fight using the monsters to see who wins, but maybe for simplicity, I can just let the dice decide.
If your players are interested, it could be fun to hand them the monster stat sheet and let them play through the combat themselves. The main problem is just the time sink... if only one player is really interested it could be annoying for the other players to sit and wait for one person to play out a fight on their own. But if they're all into the concept it could be fun... they might even bet against each other, and each takes control of the monster they're betting on.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium