My party want to go into a fighting championship with another group of adventurers, what level of pc would you give them?
My party - 5 players all level 5, do I give them a party of 5 NPC's who are also level 5? Is that how that would work? I can't seem to find any advice on this, but I know it's done quite a lot in people's games. Any ideas?
Initially I'm think a wizard, cleric, fighter, ranger and rogue.
I would not make up full PC sheets for the NPCs. They will not need 3/4 of what you would put on a level 5 character's sheet just to fight a single battle. Rather, use a regular NPC stat-block and give them a few of the special abilities of each class or subclass. But not everything. As a DM, you have enough to think about trying to run 5 characters without having to be fully familiar with 5 entire character sheets.
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While in general I agree with this statement, in this particular case I would actually use PC stats, because it sounds like the players want to try out what is basically PvP.
On the original question, the answer depends on the terms of the battle. If a TPK is an acceptable outcome (for example, the arena is sacred to the God of Battles, and by his will any who die in honorable combat within the arena will be returned to life when the battle is done), I'd go ahead and use equal levels.
Hm...
Duelist's Circle (Cleric-3)
Casting Time: 5 minutes (Ritual) Range/Area: 20' (all willing creatures in a 20' radius circle). Duration: 10 minutes, or until only one initial faction remains. Components: V,S,M School: Abjuration
This spell creates a zone where warriors can safely demonstrate their powers against others. All affected creatures are banished to a harmless demiplane (with an area matching the area of the spell, including duplicates of all objects in the area), where they are able to see and be seen, but cannot otherwise affect or be affected by the outside. A creature in the demiplane can leave by spending its action to forfeit, and is automatically removed if reduced to zero hp, or when the spell ends. Upon leaving, any wounds or effects inflicted while in the zone are immediately removed.
At higher levels: increase range and radius by 20' per level above 3.
Note that this partially replicates a common anime trope; creating safe zones for fighting is fairly common, though in that case it's usually possible to actually kill other combatants, the goal is protecting random bystanders.
The party want to join in a battle royale championship in a city for a festival, the threat of TPK will be there however if a party member goes down to 0 or below then a cleric will enter the arena, heal them and take them out of the arena. So while the threat is there it doesn't have most of the weight behind it.
My party want to go into a fighting championship with another group of adventurers, what level of pc would you give them?
My party - 5 players all level 5, do I give them a party of 5 NPC's who are also level 5? Is that how that would work? I can't seem to find any advice on this, but I know it's done quite a lot in people's games. Any ideas?
Initially I'm think a wizard, cleric, fighter, ranger and rogue.
i have done this before, it works to use PC stats. the level depends on how hard you want it to be. if you want a good chance of dying/0 hp left, go same level, if you want a good chance of success, do one level below, and if you want them to die pretty much automatically, go one level above.
There are multiple reasons for using NPCs rather than PC templates, and some have been mentioned above, but I will add another one, this is not PvP, it's PvDM and it's basically the players trying to outfight the DM or the other way around, which is for me something that is better not started at a table.
It's no more PvDM than any other battle; it's perfectly possible for the DM to be overly invested in an NPC writeup, or appropriately distanced from a PC writeup. The major reasons for not using PC writeups for NPCs are
Building PCs is a bunch of work, most of which will never get used.
PC classes tend to be glass cannons with a high ratio of offense to defense, resulting in very swingy fights.
There's a natural tendency to use a same-level party, which if played at equal skill will result in the PCs losing half the time. Coinflip fights are a good way to have an abrupt and unexpected end to a campaign.
None of these are hard prohibitions, just reasons you might not want to do it. Plenty of games don't have a distinction between PC writeups and NPC writeups.
I would just create a somewhat basic layout for each NPC. No reason to get overly detailed with them. Use a layout much like that in the monster manual. You could even re-skin a few things and save yourself some time. I have done this a few times. Even had an arena set up in a city for the players to interact with. Had several different challenges ready to go.
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My party want to go into a fighting championship with another group of adventurers, what level of pc would you give them?
My party - 5 players all level 5, do I give them a party of 5 NPC's who are also level 5? Is that how that would work? I can't seem to find any advice on this, but I know it's done quite a lot in people's games.
Any ideas?
Initially I'm think a wizard, cleric, fighter, ranger and rogue.
I would not make up full PC sheets for the NPCs. They will not need 3/4 of what you would put on a level 5 character's sheet just to fight a single battle. Rather, use a regular NPC stat-block and give them a few of the special abilities of each class or subclass. But not everything. As a DM, you have enough to think about trying to run 5 characters without having to be fully familiar with 5 entire character sheets.
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.
While in general I agree with this statement, in this particular case I would actually use PC stats, because it sounds like the players want to try out what is basically PvP.
On the original question, the answer depends on the terms of the battle. If a TPK is an acceptable outcome (for example, the arena is sacred to the God of Battles, and by his will any who die in honorable combat within the arena will be returned to life when the battle is done), I'd go ahead and use equal levels.
Hm...
Note that this partially replicates a common anime trope; creating safe zones for fighting is fairly common, though in that case it's usually possible to actually kill other combatants, the goal is protecting random bystanders.
The party want to join in a battle royale championship in a city for a festival, the threat of TPK will be there however if a party member goes down to 0 or below then a cleric will enter the arena, heal them and take them out of the arena. So while the threat is there it doesn't have most of the weight behind it.
i have done this before, it works to use PC stats. the level depends on how hard you want it to be. if you want a good chance of dying/0 hp left, go same level, if you want a good chance of success, do one level below, and if you want them to die pretty much automatically, go one level above.
I am an average mathematics enjoyer.
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its not. the DM can throw out whatever. the DM is not "trying to kill the PCs", they are throwing chalenges at the PCs that will make it fun
I am an average mathematics enjoyer.
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It's no more PvDM than any other battle; it's perfectly possible for the DM to be overly invested in an NPC writeup, or appropriately distanced from a PC writeup. The major reasons for not using PC writeups for NPCs are
None of these are hard prohibitions, just reasons you might not want to do it. Plenty of games don't have a distinction between PC writeups and NPC writeups.
what makes i that? i love making characters, and im not great at using cr, so i use pc stats about 50% of the time for NPCs.
I am an average mathematics enjoyer.
>Extended Signature<
Instead, possibly have the adventurers have several near misses or the other NPCs following the party, drawing ever closer...
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I would just create a somewhat basic layout for each NPC. No reason to get overly detailed with them. Use a layout much like that in the monster manual. You could even re-skin a few things and save yourself some time. I have done this a few times. Even had an arena set up in a city for the players to interact with. Had several different challenges ready to go.