The final boss in this one-shot I'm working on works best as a wraith counterpart to the NPC the players are helping. Years prior, he was killed by the thing when it was just a wraith-like entity that attempted to absorb his spirit but failed, as the NPC was making a pact with a god of death that allowed him to live. However, it's still got a chunk of him and appears as a corrupted version of the NPC.
Now, I have no experience adjusting monsters/creatures in such a way as to maintain their theme but increase their CR, and in this case, I'm thinking of the wraith statblock to work from. Since I'm not sure how many party members there will be once we finally have the session (anywhere from 4 to 8 party members at level 4, including the NPC), I'm trying to prep for that, and at this point, my main challenge is having versions of this creature with different CRs that reflect the level of difficulty (Hard) that I would want for the final fight. How should I go about this, and what resources would be good to draw from?
The easiest adjustments to a stat block are to either the HP or AC of a monster. Both of those stats simply prolong a fight, making it cost more resources to kill, in the long run it adds nothing to a fight.
If you look in the DMG there is a section dedicated to creating a monster, and in that section there is a table which covers basic stat information and how it affects the CR of the creature. From a mathematical stand point it is fairly straight forward and can be used to great effect, from a creative stand point it can be a little confusing when you delve in deeper. Simply re-skinning a wraith is easy enough if you use the initial table and the information relevant to it, you can adjust the CR with minimal effort.
If you are looking to augment the creature and make it more personal, I'd suggest looking a little deeper into the process and see how those numbers interact with each other and how adding or removing abilities may affect the CR as well. As you are using a base creature the process should still be fairly straight forward, you should be able to see how your adjustments will affect the final CR of the creature by adding and removing different traits, abilities, and whatever else strikes your fancy.
A legendary creature can take a certain number of special actions — called legendary actions — outside its turn. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. A legendary creature regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn. It can forgo using them, and it can’t use them while incapacitatedor otherwise unable to take actions. If surprised, it can’t use them until after its first turn in the combat.
I usually add one legendary action to bosses in Tier 1, but with 8 party members, I would give it 2.
Another way to add difficulty to an encounter is the combat area. Adding sections of difficult terrain (which the wraith can ignore) can be effective, or adding trapped areas.
You can also opt to give the Wraith minions. You can base these off of any monster, and then give them 1hp. Easy to kill, but still deadly.
Finally, you may want to give the boss itself 'levels'. When they deplete it's first pool of HP, the boss may "change" in some way, perhaps gaining some extra resistance, or gaining a new power, for the next pool of HP.
Well, the Sword Wraith Commander is a CR 8 version of a Wraith (CR 5) that can also summon 1d4+1 Sword Wraith Warrior (CR 3) monsters. Both stat blocks are in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes.
Failing that, just upping the defenses and attack/damage rolls by +2 is a good start and maybe adding in some spells or features from other monsters that you like wouldn't be a bad idea.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
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I'm using 5e here, just to clarify.
The final boss in this one-shot I'm working on works best as a wraith counterpart to the NPC the players are helping. Years prior, he was killed by the thing when it was just a wraith-like entity that attempted to absorb his spirit but failed, as the NPC was making a pact with a god of death that allowed him to live. However, it's still got a chunk of him and appears as a corrupted version of the NPC.
Now, I have no experience adjusting monsters/creatures in such a way as to maintain their theme but increase their CR, and in this case, I'm thinking of the wraith statblock to work from. Since I'm not sure how many party members there will be once we finally have the session (anywhere from 4 to 8 party members at level 4, including the NPC), I'm trying to prep for that, and at this point, my main challenge is having versions of this creature with different CRs that reflect the level of difficulty (Hard) that I would want for the final fight. How should I go about this, and what resources would be good to draw from?
The easiest adjustments to a stat block are to either the HP or AC of a monster. Both of those stats simply prolong a fight, making it cost more resources to kill, in the long run it adds nothing to a fight.
If you look in the DMG there is a section dedicated to creating a monster, and in that section there is a table which covers basic stat information and how it affects the CR of the creature. From a mathematical stand point it is fairly straight forward and can be used to great effect, from a creative stand point it can be a little confusing when you delve in deeper. Simply re-skinning a wraith is easy enough if you use the initial table and the information relevant to it, you can adjust the CR with minimal effort.
If you are looking to augment the creature and make it more personal, I'd suggest looking a little deeper into the process and see how those numbers interact with each other and how adding or removing abilities may affect the CR as well. As you are using a base creature the process should still be fairly straight forward, you should be able to see how your adjustments will affect the final CR of the creature by adding and removing different traits, abilities, and whatever else strikes your fancy.
The easiest way is to add Legendary Actions.
A legendary creature can take a certain number of special actions — called legendary actions — outside its turn. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. A legendary creature regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn. It can forgo using them, and it can’t use them while incapacitatedor otherwise unable to take actions. If surprised, it can’t use them until after its first turn in the combat.
I usually add one legendary action to bosses in Tier 1, but with 8 party members, I would give it 2.
Another way to add difficulty to an encounter is the combat area. Adding sections of difficult terrain (which the wraith can ignore) can be effective, or adding trapped areas.
You can also opt to give the Wraith minions. You can base these off of any monster, and then give them 1hp. Easy to kill, but still deadly.
Finally, you may want to give the boss itself 'levels'. When they deplete it's first pool of HP, the boss may "change" in some way, perhaps gaining some extra resistance, or gaining a new power, for the next pool of HP.
Well, the Sword Wraith Commander is a CR 8 version of a Wraith (CR 5) that can also summon 1d4+1 Sword Wraith Warrior (CR 3) monsters. Both stat blocks are in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes.
Failing that, just upping the defenses and attack/damage rolls by +2 is a good start and maybe adding in some spells or features from other monsters that you like wouldn't be a bad idea.