So, the place that is D&D central where I live is re-opening this week, and the weekly D&D days are gearing up again. Due to Covid, my table of 6 is going to be 2-3 players, as the rest have legitimate concerns with vulnerable family members they don't want to expose.
Now, the plot of the campaign I have had to re-jig, and I have that sorted. The non-combat encounters are easy enough to overhaul. And for combat encounters, most of the monsters/ NPC's I alter the existing stats, But overall, I need a baseline to work with. If the CR rating is designed for a party of 4 players, what would be a reasonable CR rating for a party of two 7th level chars, and the same question for three 7th level chars. Typically, because of action economy, six 7th level chars can easily handle a CR 9 baseline, and I am comfortable with that, but I have never designed or DM'ed for 2 or 3 players.
If you use the DDB encounter builder you can set the number of players and the average level of the party and it will adjust the calculations accordingly. If you actively run the campaign using DDB, you can even set the encounter builder for the exact party, it won’t change anything in the calculation since 2-3 7th level PCs is what it bases its calculations on, but it might save you a bit of time.
If you use the DDB encounter builder you can set the number of players and the average level of the party and it will adjust the calculations accordingly. If you actively run the campaign using DDB, you can even set the encounter builder for the exact party, it won’t change anything in the calculation since 2-3 7th level PCs is what it bases its calculations on, but it might save you a bit of time.
I hope that helps.
I second this. I've used the same process adjusting encounters down or up as the case is needed.
If you use the DDB encounter builder you can set the number of players and the average level of the party and it will adjust the calculations accordingly. If you actively run the campaign using DDB, you can even set the encounter builder for the exact party, it won’t change anything in the calculation since 2-3 7th level PCs is what it bases its calculations on, but it might save you a bit of time.
I hope that helps.
I second this. I've used the same process adjusting encounters down or up as the case is needed.
Are you talking about the Encounter Builder that is in Beta, found under Tools? I am in it now, but can't get see any button to generate any monsters after I selected 2 chars, and 7th level, from the drop down menus.
Kobold Fight Club also will let you scale encounters to party size.
Thanks...the KFC algorithm seems to indicate that for two 7th level chars, a pair of CR 2's or a single CR 4 is reasonable, and for three 7th level chars, a single CR 6 is a Medium Difficulty encounter.
If you use the DDB encounter builder you can set the number of players and the average level of the party and it will adjust the calculations accordingly. If you actively run the campaign using DDB, you can even set the encounter builder for the exact party, it won’t change anything in the calculation since 2-3 7th level PCs is what it bases its calculations on, but it might save you a bit of time.
I hope that helps.
I second this. I've used the same process adjusting encounters down or up as the case is needed.
Are you talking about the Encounter Builder that is in Beta, found under Tools? I am in it now, but can't get see any button to generate any monsters after I selected 2 chars, and 7th level, from the drop down menus.
Let me see if you have the steps this is from a PC standpoint.
1) Select the New Encounter button.
2) Manage Characters link and add your characters and their levels.
3) search for the monsters. example: "Goblins"
4) Find the creature and click the +Add button to the right of their information block
5) The monster should appear on the right and side which already should have calculated for the Encounter Difficulty. There is a +/- that you can add and subtract creatures of that type.
6) Repeat 3-5 to add different monsters to your encounter.
7) You'll see all your encounter information at the top right.
What device are you using to create the encounters? If it a tablet/or phone I believe the encounter information of creatures and difficulty is on a hidden page that you open up with the three --- tab.
the KFC algorithm seems to indicate that for two 7th level chars, a pair of CR 2's or a single CR 4 is reasonable
KFC says 2 level 7s against a CR 4 is "medium." That is not the same thing as "reasonable."
Remember, KFC is just using the algorithm as described in DMG, which is exactly what the encounter builder does here (I personally just find KFC much more user-friendly). The word they use to describe the difficulty ("easy," "medium", etc.) is based on the assumption of 6-8 encounters per day, and this is one of them.
So what KFC is really telling us here is that if we give your two level 7 players 6-8 fights against a single CR 4 monster throughout the day, without them having an opportunity to rest, the entire in-character day's worth of adventuring would be "medium difficulty."
If we are just going to have ONE battle, then we'd want it to be at least hard and I would actually choose deadly. Because they can blow their entire set of slots and abilities on that one fight, which they would not be able to do if it's one of 6 or 7 encounters. For instance it says CR 4 is medium vs. 2 level 7s, CR 4 + CR 2 is hard, and CR 4 + CR 3 is deadly.. that is "just" deadly (I mean, CR 100 is deadly too, but way unreasonable). So if it's just one fight, I'd probably use a CR 4+2 or 4+3 against them. My guess is you'd find if it is the only fight of the day, even the "just deadly" fight would not be that hard for them.
I just last night had my level 4 party of 4 (with help from an NPC ranger's beast companion -- they're looking for the ranger and the pet was leading them to her) fight a CR 6 Legendary mini-boss aided by 6 skeletons -- at the end of a day in which they had 5 other fights and they were somewhat banged up. They won... it was hard. It took 2 hours and many rounds. All but one of them are at 6 hp or less. KFC says anything over mini-boss + 2 skeletons is "deadly." So this was way into the deadly zone. They handled it.
It was super tough, yes. They were on tenterhooks and had to use everything in their bag of tricks and every bit of tactics they could. And they even got super unlucky (the boss saved on a DC 14 Hold Person spell three separate times). And they still handled it. No one even faceplanted (though 3 of them came darn close).
So I mean... you have to take the encounter building algorithms with a grain of box of salt.
If you use the DDB encounter builder you can set the number of players and the average level of the party and it will adjust the calculations accordingly. If you actively run the campaign using DDB, you can even set the encounter builder for the exact party, it won’t change anything in the calculation since 2-3 7th level PCs is what it bases its calculations on, but it might save you a bit of time.
I hope that helps.
I second this. I've used the same process adjusting encounters down or up as the case is needed.
Are you talking about the Encounter Builder that is in Beta, found under Tools? I am in it now, but can't get see any button to generate any monsters after I selected 2 chars, and 7th level, from the drop down menus.
Let me see if you have the steps this is from a PC standpoint.
1) Select the New Encounter button.
2) Manage Characters link and add your characters and their levels.
3) search for the monsters. example: "Goblins"
4) Find the creature and click the +Add button to the right of their information block
5) The monster should appear on the right and side which already should have calculated for the Encounter Difficulty. There is a +/- that you can add and subtract creatures of that type.
6) Repeat 3-5 to add different monsters to your encounter.
7) You'll see all your encounter information at the top right.
What device are you using to create the encounters? If it a tablet/or phone I believe the encounter information of creatures and difficulty is on a hidden page that you open up with the three --- tab.
Thanks, that helps. I think this and KFC will help me build a decent set of encounters. Like I said, Covid has turned my campaign upside down. Now, instead of passing through a major city, I think I will have the players spend some time in an Urban setting.
Yes one thing that can help with a small group is to focus on non-combat instead of doing a lot of combat. Combat is where the weight of numbers comes into play. Something like a murder mystery doesn't need numbers -- for instance, Columbo pretty much solved every crime solo for about 30 years.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
One thing to add is it might be helpful to give the party an NPC. (I don’t mean a DMPC, don’t play along with the group.) I mean a minion/squire/assistant... someone who can go run errands for them and stuff so that the few players you have don’t have to split up, and when they’re in combat, even though you roll for them, since it will be the party’s NPC the players can feel a sense of pride and accomplishment when their lieutenant (or whatever) does well.
There are official sidekicks you can use, also Matt Colville has some thoughts on the matter you could borrow, I’ll link it below. But you could just as easily make it a simple-to-run Fighter Champion, or grab one of the NPC “monsters” to use as well.
Just something to consider. I hope it helps.
Here is that link I mentioned. He was specifically talking about 1-on-1 DMing, but a good bit of it also applies to small parties too:
the KFC algorithm seems to indicate that for two 7th level chars, a pair of CR 2's or a single CR 4 is reasonable
KFC says 2 level 7s against a CR 4 is "medium." That is not the same thing as "reasonable."
Remember, KFC is just using the algorithm as described in DMG, which is exactly what the encounter builder does here (I personally just find KFC much more user-friendly). The word they use to describe the difficulty ("easy," "medium", etc.) is based on the assumption of 6-8 encounters per day, and this is one of them.
So what KFC is really telling us here is that if we give your two level 7 players 6-8 fights against a single CR 4 monster throughout the day, without them having an opportunity to rest, the entire in-character day's worth of adventuring would be "medium difficulty."
If we are just going to have ONE battle, then we'd want it to be at least hard and I would actually choose deadly. Because they can blow their entire set of slots and abilities on that one fight, which they would not be able to do if it's one of 6 or 7 encounters. For instance it says CR 4 is medium vs. 2 level 7s, CR 4 + CR 2 is hard, and CR 4 + CR 3 is deadly.. that is "just" deadly (I mean, CR 100 is deadly too, but way unreasonable). So if it's just one fight, I'd probably use a CR 4+2 or 4+3 against them. My guess is you'd find if it is the only fight of the day, even the "just deadly" fight would not be that hard for them.
I just last night had my level 4 party of 4 (with help from an NPC ranger's beast companion -- they're looking for the ranger and the pet was leading them to her) fight a CR 6 Legendary mini-boss aided by 6 skeletons -- at the end of a day in which they had 5 other fights and they were somewhat banged up. They won... it was hard. It took 2 hours and many rounds. All but one of them are at 6 hp or less. KFC says anything over mini-boss + 2 skeletons is "deadly." So this was way into the deadly zone. They handled it.
It was super tough, yes. They were on tenterhooks and had to use everything in their bag of tricks and every bit of tactics they could. And they even got super unlucky (the boss saved on a DC 14 Hold Person spell three separate times). And they still handled it. No one even faceplanted (though 3 of them came darn close).
So I mean... you have to take the encounter building algorithms with a grain of box of salt.
Yeah, you sound like my kind of DM. The players probably LOVED surviving by the skin of their teeth, and will remember that encounter for some time. One thing I do, for starters, is when I get a stat block for a monster, any stat that is an odd number, I round up, and typically add one savings throw proficiency onto the stat block.
Like I said in my reply just before this one, Covid is forcing me to rewrite a lot, and I think these guys will be in an Urban setting for some time. 95% of the population is human, so I am contemplating a number of NPC's, and given the situation, "realistically", there could be a number of shaping-changing creatures from the nether regions (higher intelligence devils and demons I sometimes give Polymorph Self to, to keep the player on their toes.)
And I get what you are saying about the attrition rate on the players impacting any encounter. If they are in an Urban setting, I imagine the game will be a lot of RP'ing, with only one or two combat encounters per character's day. Based on that, Hard setting should be the minimum.
Now, this last part is purely opinion, but what kind of CR rating would you give the following NPC, which I built using a 27 point buy:
Half-Elf, 4 levels Rogue Assassin, 5 levels Hexblade, but gave him a boon (from the cult he is in) of Proficiency on Wisdom saves as well. Magic items are Boots of Elvenkind, +1 Rod of the Pact Holder, and a Ring of Spell Storing (Dimension Door and Sanctuary, both charged by another NPC). The NPC is the top assassin in the cult the players are up against, and they are being warned by a friendly NPC that this guy is after them. Char will have +13 in Deception (20 CHA), +10 in Stealth (14 Dex), +9 in Perfomance, among his 8 skills. Plus Proficiency with Poison as per the subclass. Before any poison damage is applied, and assuming Surprise (this guy would like to get close with a disguise and then zap, or use his Pact Weapon Bow at range, typically from a hidden position), and burning through all the Hexblade spells, can apply an expected value alpha in the 1st round of 90 points in the 1st strike, 19 points on the 2nd strike, so 109 points plus poison.
I would think this glass cannon (10 Con = 48 HP) is too much for 7th level chars, especially since I am going to contrive the situation so he does have Surprise. He would attack on 1st round, then run. I think it would be a great villain for an Urban setting, but don't want to pick off a player arbitrarily.
Yeah, you sound like my kind of DM. The players probably LOVED surviving by the skin of their teeth, and will remember that encounter for some time.
I think they enjoyed it.... It was 1 am by the time we finished so there wasn't much time to comment about it. It was their first encounter with a Legendary enemy too... who could do things on their turn. He kept Misty Step'ing away from their flanking attacks on him -- on their turn. ;)
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Yeah, you sound like my kind of DM. The players probably LOVED surviving by the skin of their teeth, and will remember that encounter for some time.
I think they enjoyed it.... It was 1 am by the time we finished so there wasn't much time to comment about it. It was their first encounter with a Legendary enemy too... who could do things on their turn. He kept Misty Step'ing away from their flanking attacks on him -- on their turn. ;)
Yup...that is the kind of thing I like to do to players. Actually, maybe a better term is "do for" players. Pre-Covid, my table had 3 players who DM'ed their own tables, and 2 of the other players had a ton of experience. No matter how much they try, there is going to be some meta-gaming, because it is so hard to turn off your memory banks when you go from DM to player. By altering the stat blocks, and giving creatures/ NPC's new abilities like that, the experienced players are actually facing something novel, which should enhance their enjoyment.
Three of my players are very experienced at RPGs and D&D. Two have DMed 5e. One last DMed under 3.5e, but he watches a lot of Critical Role, which is 5e. Because of this he knows all about whatever monsters the CR guys have faced... all his other knowledge comes from 3.5e or 1/2e. Then the 4th player has not played any D&D so it's all new to her.
Consequently when the cobra-headed snake-man busted out his first Legendary Action, she was quite surprised. The others had not realized he was legendary but as soon as I said it, they knew what it meant. I also (following Colville's action-oriented monsters advice) gave him a bonus action to summon another skeleton, so he was able to do that on one turn while he double-scimitar attacked someone else for his action. And he had a reaction, "Your task is not done!" which caused defeated skeletons to reassemble with 1 hp to face the party yet again. That one really freaked them out. And it gave them way more trouble than I thought because for one of those 1 hp skeletons, it lived another couple of rounds because of their terrible roles (the beast companion kept missing it, and then it kept hitting him in return).
So yeah he had a neat bag of tricks... Props to Colville and the action-oriented monsters advice. I think that battle will be one they will remember for a long time.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Three of my players are very experienced at RPGs and D&D. Two have DMed 5e. One last DMed under 3.5e, but he watches a lot of Critical Role, which is 5e. Because of this he knows all about whatever monsters the CR guys have faced... all his other knowledge comes from 3.5e or 1/2e. Then the 4th player has not played any D&D so it's all new to her.
Consequently when the cobra-headed snake-man busted out his first Legendary Action, she was quite surprised. The others had not realized he was legendary but as soon as I said it, they knew what it meant. I also (following Colville's action-oriented monsters advice) gave him a bonus action to summon another skeleton, so he was able to do that on one turn while he double-scimitar attacked someone else for his action. And he had a reaction, "Your task is not done!" which caused defeated skeletons to reassemble with 1 hp to face the party yet again. That one really freaked them out. And it gave them way more trouble than I thought because for one of those 1 hp skeletons, it lived another couple of rounds because of their terrible roles (the beast companion kept missing it, and then it kept hitting him in return).
So yeah he had a neat bag of tricks... Props to Colville and the action-oriented monsters advice. I think that battle will be one they will remember for a long time.
To carry on that theme, 6 months ago I was ready for the party of six to fight a Young Black dragon. (I just love Covid). But I give all my Dragons magic casting, and the attendant features of whatever spellcasting subclass the magic is derived from. Now, six 7th level chars will trash a Young Black, but tack on 7th level Divine Soul capabilities and spells, PLUS some legendary actions (Cantrips cost 1 LAP, 1st level spells cost 2, 2nd level spell 3 points). Now add on the ability to Quicken and Twin, and suddenly that CR 7 is not being overwhelmed by the action economy of 6 chars. Sometimes I like being lazy, and not throw a number of creatures against the group, but one monster that has multiple actions and reactions. This one fits the bill. When you have 6 chars on the battlemap, suddenly having 3 or 4 monsters also on the grid just seems to bog down the whole game.
Now, I am going to have to keep that beast in my back pocket until we can all gather together. That dragon would totally wipe out three 7th level chars.
Your point about having lots of monsters is a good one -- the battle last night took 2 hours, largely because of the six CR one-freaking-quarter skeletons.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
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So, the place that is D&D central where I live is re-opening this week, and the weekly D&D days are gearing up again. Due to Covid, my table of 6 is going to be 2-3 players, as the rest have legitimate concerns with vulnerable family members they don't want to expose.
Now, the plot of the campaign I have had to re-jig, and I have that sorted. The non-combat encounters are easy enough to overhaul. And for combat encounters, most of the monsters/ NPC's I alter the existing stats, But overall, I need a baseline to work with. If the CR rating is designed for a party of 4 players, what would be a reasonable CR rating for a party of two 7th level chars, and the same question for three 7th level chars. Typically, because of action economy, six 7th level chars can easily handle a CR 9 baseline, and I am comfortable with that, but I have never designed or DM'ed for 2 or 3 players.
If you use the DDB encounter builder you can set the number of players and the average level of the party and it will adjust the calculations accordingly. If you actively run the campaign using DDB, you can even set the encounter builder for the exact party, it won’t change anything in the calculation since 2-3 7th level PCs is what it bases its calculations on, but it might save you a bit of time.
I hope that helps.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I second this. I've used the same process adjusting encounters down or up as the case is needed.
Kobold Fight Club also will let you scale encounters to party size.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Are you talking about the Encounter Builder that is in Beta, found under Tools? I am in it now, but can't get see any button to generate any monsters after I selected 2 chars, and 7th level, from the drop down menus.
Thanks...the KFC algorithm seems to indicate that for two 7th level chars, a pair of CR 2's or a single CR 4 is reasonable, and for three 7th level chars, a single CR 6 is a Medium Difficulty encounter.
Let me see if you have the steps this is from a PC standpoint.
1) Select the New Encounter button.
2) Manage Characters link and add your characters and their levels.
3) search for the monsters. example: "Goblins"
4) Find the creature and click the +Add button to the right of their information block
5) The monster should appear on the right and side which already should have calculated for the Encounter Difficulty. There is a +/- that you can add and subtract creatures of that type.
6) Repeat 3-5 to add different monsters to your encounter.
7) You'll see all your encounter information at the top right.
What device are you using to create the encounters? If it a tablet/or phone I believe the encounter information of creatures and difficulty is on a hidden page that you open up with the three --- tab.
KFC says 2 level 7s against a CR 4 is "medium." That is not the same thing as "reasonable."
Remember, KFC is just using the algorithm as described in DMG, which is exactly what the encounter builder does here (I personally just find KFC much more user-friendly). The word they use to describe the difficulty ("easy," "medium", etc.) is based on the assumption of 6-8 encounters per day, and this is one of them.
So what KFC is really telling us here is that if we give your two level 7 players 6-8 fights against a single CR 4 monster throughout the day, without them having an opportunity to rest, the entire in-character day's worth of adventuring would be "medium difficulty."
If we are just going to have ONE battle, then we'd want it to be at least hard and I would actually choose deadly. Because they can blow their entire set of slots and abilities on that one fight, which they would not be able to do if it's one of 6 or 7 encounters. For instance it says CR 4 is medium vs. 2 level 7s, CR 4 + CR 2 is hard, and CR 4 + CR 3 is deadly.. that is "just" deadly (I mean, CR 100 is deadly too, but way unreasonable). So if it's just one fight, I'd probably use a CR 4+2 or 4+3 against them. My guess is you'd find if it is the only fight of the day, even the "just deadly" fight would not be that hard for them.
I just last night had my level 4 party of 4 (with help from an NPC ranger's beast companion -- they're looking for the ranger and the pet was leading them to her) fight a CR 6 Legendary mini-boss aided by 6 skeletons -- at the end of a day in which they had 5 other fights and they were somewhat banged up. They won... it was hard. It took 2 hours and many rounds. All but one of them are at 6 hp or less. KFC says anything over mini-boss + 2 skeletons is "deadly." So this was way into the deadly zone. They handled it.
It was super tough, yes. They were on tenterhooks and had to use everything in their bag of tricks and every bit of tactics they could. And they even got super unlucky (the boss saved on a DC 14 Hold Person spell three separate times). And they still handled it. No one even faceplanted (though 3 of them came darn close).
So I mean... you have to take the encounter building algorithms with a
grain ofbox of salt.WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Thanks, that helps. I think this and KFC will help me build a decent set of encounters. Like I said, Covid has turned my campaign upside down. Now, instead of passing through a major city, I think I will have the players spend some time in an Urban setting.
Yes one thing that can help with a small group is to focus on non-combat instead of doing a lot of combat. Combat is where the weight of numbers comes into play. Something like a murder mystery doesn't need numbers -- for instance, Columbo pretty much solved every crime solo for about 30 years.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
One thing to add is it might be helpful to give the party an NPC. (I don’t mean a DMPC, don’t play along with the group.) I mean a minion/squire/assistant... someone who can go run errands for them and stuff so that the few players you have don’t have to split up, and when they’re in combat, even though you roll for them, since it will be the party’s NPC the players can feel a sense of pride and accomplishment when their lieutenant (or whatever) does well.
There are official sidekicks you can use, also Matt Colville has some thoughts on the matter you could borrow, I’ll link it below. But you could just as easily make it a simple-to-run Fighter Champion, or grab one of the NPC “monsters” to use as well.
Just something to consider. I hope it helps.
Here is that link I mentioned. He was specifically talking about 1-on-1 DMing, but a good bit of it also applies to small parties too:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OoJMNkgEqKA&list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_&index=95&t=0s
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Yeah, you sound like my kind of DM. The players probably LOVED surviving by the skin of their teeth, and will remember that encounter for some time. One thing I do, for starters, is when I get a stat block for a monster, any stat that is an odd number, I round up, and typically add one savings throw proficiency onto the stat block.
Like I said in my reply just before this one, Covid is forcing me to rewrite a lot, and I think these guys will be in an Urban setting for some time. 95% of the population is human, so I am contemplating a number of NPC's, and given the situation, "realistically", there could be a number of shaping-changing creatures from the nether regions (higher intelligence devils and demons I sometimes give Polymorph Self to, to keep the player on their toes.)
And I get what you are saying about the attrition rate on the players impacting any encounter. If they are in an Urban setting, I imagine the game will be a lot of RP'ing, with only one or two combat encounters per character's day. Based on that, Hard setting should be the minimum.
Now, this last part is purely opinion, but what kind of CR rating would you give the following NPC, which I built using a 27 point buy:
Half-Elf, 4 levels Rogue Assassin, 5 levels Hexblade, but gave him a boon (from the cult he is in) of Proficiency on Wisdom saves as well. Magic items are Boots of Elvenkind, +1 Rod of the Pact Holder, and a Ring of Spell Storing (Dimension Door and Sanctuary, both charged by another NPC). The NPC is the top assassin in the cult the players are up against, and they are being warned by a friendly NPC that this guy is after them. Char will have +13 in Deception (20 CHA), +10 in Stealth (14 Dex), +9 in Perfomance, among his 8 skills. Plus Proficiency with Poison as per the subclass. Before any poison damage is applied, and assuming Surprise (this guy would like to get close with a disguise and then zap, or use his Pact Weapon Bow at range, typically from a hidden position), and burning through all the Hexblade spells, can apply an expected value alpha in the 1st round of 90 points in the 1st strike, 19 points on the 2nd strike, so 109 points plus poison.
I would think this glass cannon (10 Con = 48 HP) is too much for 7th level chars, especially since I am going to contrive the situation so he does have Surprise. He would attack on 1st round, then run. I think it would be a great villain for an Urban setting, but don't want to pick off a player arbitrarily.
I think they enjoyed it.... It was 1 am by the time we finished so there wasn't much time to comment about it. It was their first encounter with a Legendary enemy too... who could do things on their turn. He kept Misty Step'ing away from their flanking attacks on him -- on their turn. ;)
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Yup...that is the kind of thing I like to do to players. Actually, maybe a better term is "do for" players. Pre-Covid, my table had 3 players who DM'ed their own tables, and 2 of the other players had a ton of experience. No matter how much they try, there is going to be some meta-gaming, because it is so hard to turn off your memory banks when you go from DM to player. By altering the stat blocks, and giving creatures/ NPC's new abilities like that, the experienced players are actually facing something novel, which should enhance their enjoyment.
Same here.
Three of my players are very experienced at RPGs and D&D. Two have DMed 5e. One last DMed under 3.5e, but he watches a lot of Critical Role, which is 5e. Because of this he knows all about whatever monsters the CR guys have faced... all his other knowledge comes from 3.5e or 1/2e. Then the 4th player has not played any D&D so it's all new to her.
Consequently when the cobra-headed snake-man busted out his first Legendary Action, she was quite surprised. The others had not realized he was legendary but as soon as I said it, they knew what it meant. I also (following Colville's action-oriented monsters advice) gave him a bonus action to summon another skeleton, so he was able to do that on one turn while he double-scimitar attacked someone else for his action. And he had a reaction, "Your task is not done!" which caused defeated skeletons to reassemble with 1 hp to face the party yet again. That one really freaked them out. And it gave them way more trouble than I thought because for one of those 1 hp skeletons, it lived another couple of rounds because of their terrible roles (the beast companion kept missing it, and then it kept hitting him in return).
So yeah he had a neat bag of tricks... Props to Colville and the action-oriented monsters advice. I think that battle will be one they will remember for a long time.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
To carry on that theme, 6 months ago I was ready for the party of six to fight a Young Black dragon. (I just love Covid). But I give all my Dragons magic casting, and the attendant features of whatever spellcasting subclass the magic is derived from. Now, six 7th level chars will trash a Young Black, but tack on 7th level Divine Soul capabilities and spells, PLUS some legendary actions (Cantrips cost 1 LAP, 1st level spells cost 2, 2nd level spell 3 points). Now add on the ability to Quicken and Twin, and suddenly that CR 7 is not being overwhelmed by the action economy of 6 chars. Sometimes I like being lazy, and not throw a number of creatures against the group, but one monster that has multiple actions and reactions. This one fits the bill. When you have 6 chars on the battlemap, suddenly having 3 or 4 monsters also on the grid just seems to bog down the whole game.
Now, I am going to have to keep that beast in my back pocket until we can all gather together. That dragon would totally wipe out three 7th level chars.
Your point about having lots of monsters is a good one -- the battle last night took 2 hours, largely because of the six CR one-freaking-quarter skeletons.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.