I'm trying to plan a one-shot for brand new players in hopes of getting them hooked so we can keep a game going. My thought is to pit them against a pack of lycanthropes (werewolves), with the alpha being much more powerful than the rest.
The Monster Manual says werewolves have 58 hit points. Is this too easy for a party that will be level 2 or so at the end of the adventure? Please don't tell me I'm dumb or boring. It's my first attempt.
Use the CR calculations in the DMG. They're calibrated for a long adventuring day (6-8 encounters), so their idea of an "easy", "average", or even "deadly" encounter may feel too easy if there are fewer fights to drain PCs resources. You're not going to want that large a pack of werewolves in any given fight.
The big concern is that werewolves have immunity to normal weapons. Unless you go out of your way to supply the players with silvered weapons, they're likely to end up in a situation where many of them can't hurt them at all, which is both no fun and really likely to get them all killed.
I'm trying to plan a one-shot for brand new players in hopes of getting them hooked so we can keep a game going. My thought is to pit them against a pack of lycanthropes (werewolves), with the alpha being much more powerful than the rest.
The Monster Manual says werewolves have 58 hit points. Is this too easy for a party that will be level 2 or so at the end of the adventure? Please don't tell me I'm dumb or boring. It's my first attempt.
First and most important rule, pay attention to the abilities of creatures. You'll notice that werewolves have immunity to Bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing unless the weapon is magical or silvered. So ask yourself if the party has magical or silvered weapons. If no, only spell casters can deal damage to them. Your level 2 party is doomed from the start.
Also note the effects of the bite attack. Pcs at level 2 can't deal with that, so you need an in game solution. Also how are you going to deal with a PC who doesn't want to be cured? (I always handle this by removing the curse or doing two claw attacks)
You now need to look at the to hit of the monster. It has +4 so you probably have roughly a 50% chance to hit your pcs at level 2.
Now we need to look at damage. Looks like max damage is going to be 20 points with an average of 10-13.
Now look at your PCs hp. Pcs probably have roughly 12-15 hp at level 2. [Substitute your actual pcs hp here]
Their hp is really close to the damage one werewolf would do in a round if the werewolf hits both attacks. Because the party hp is so close to the average damage and below the max, you want to assume the werewolf hits nearly at 100%. So we know our werewolf will kill a PC in 1-2 rounds. Now we need to figure out how long it will take our PCs to kill the werewolf. This is where keeping track of their average damage is a good idea.
But we know at level 2 we probably have d6 + 3 damage and a +5 to hit. So give the AC of the werewolf our PCs will hit for 7 damage per round on average (technically a little higher because most classes will have a way to increase that and some could use a 2d6 weapon, once again you would need your specific classes here).
So can the PCs kill the werewolf before it kills them? Let's assume 4 players. That's 28 damage to the werewolf and one PC going down. Next round that's 21 damage (due to the down PC.) a group of 4 PCs can probably handle a single werewolf, with multiple PCs going down and needed help. (You can also spread out the attacks to keep PCs up).
Two werewolves is going to be very difficult and could tpk the party long before dying.
It looks like what you have in mind is going to need the PCs to be level 5. So I wouldn't recommend it.
My thought was to give PCs a chance to find either silvered weapons or magic items that would help them overcome the pack. I also want to drop enough clues for them to figure out what they will be facing so that they can prepare well. Obviously, I don't want to send them in to be slaughtered, or they won't want to play anymore.
So then, based on what you're telling me, it seems like my idea may be too challenging for a first adventure. Maybe I should save lycanthropes for a later venture?
So then, based on what you're telling me, it seems like my idea may be too challenging for a first adventure. Maybe I should save lycanthropes for a later venture?
Probably.
Also, there are lycanthropes that are not werewolves. A wererat is probably a much more viable fight, with the same caveat about the weapons.
My advice with werewolves is to use regeneration instead of immunity. The loup garou which is basically a remastered more powerful werewolf has the following trait.
Regeneration. The loup garou regains 10 hit points at the start of each of its turns. If the loup garou takes damage from a silver weapon, this trait doesn’t function at the start of the loup garou’s next turn. The loup garou dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn’t regenerate.
It still takes damage but it won't die without a silver weapon, I then just say if they can reduce it to 0 then it falls unconscious and appears dead but will wake up later. The werewolf can then do fake out deaths and hide the fact that it is a werewolf instead pretending to be undead or something else. If a man gets stabbed and crawls out of his grave people won't think werewolf but that is something they could do.
I also encourage you to play with the idea of a werewolf a bit because it is so well known players will catch on to the basic idea very quickly. If you want any mystery you may need to do something extra.
Sometimes if I want to make it so the werewolf lasts longer ill add the stipulation that . Typically this is for a boss werewolf who must be killed in order to be able to cure others. In that case you can imprison them by say leaving a silver dagger in their heart but if it is ever removed the heal and there could be something like under a certain phase of the moon they gain the power to escape such a prison.
They also don't need to be tied to the phases of the moon the same way. If you have a good moon goddess then it may make more sense for them to be more powerful under a new moon when the goddess cannot interfere with them. This works well with say a werewolf priest of Shar opposing Selune. In this situation I'd do something like regular silver only works under moon light allowing them to escape when Shar is strongest under a new moon or in total darkness. They transform under a full moon involuntarily because Selune is trying to force them to give themselves away as a monster. Alternatively they could be a follower of Selune cursed by Shar with the opposite arrangement, under the moonlight Selune protects them and they don't transform where as in the darkness they go mad and transform under Shar's influence.
My thought was to give PCs a chance to find either silvered weapons or magic items that would help them overcome the pack. I also want to drop enough clues for them to figure out what they will be facing so that they can prepare well. Obviously, I don't want to send them in to be slaughtered, or they won't want to play anymore.
So then, based on what you're telling me, it seems like my idea may be too challenging for a first adventure. Maybe I should save lycanthropes for a later venture?
Do you happen to know how many players you are going to have and their classes?
You can have a werewolf who is the boss and then have some very low CR 1/4 creatures, provided you get the party silvered weapons. Since you are a first time DM and this is the first game with the party, I wouldn't recommend this. Everything can be mathematically perfect, but the skill level of the party is important. Like i know my party has played 5e forever, which means they are constantly forgetting about weapon masteries. I need to take that in consideration when making an encounter. (Obviously you want to remind players about abilities they forget, but the more complex of an encounter I'm running the less likely I am to remember those things as well.) SInce you aren't use to Dming and this is going to be the first game with these players, you don't want to go very with a very difficult fight. Even as experienced as I am, if you give me a monk (I've never played one in 20+ years) or a druid (My favorite class, but moon druids are significantly different now) I may not be able to handle a difficult encounter compared to if I was playing a fighter.
I believe the DMG warns you about using CRs higher than the party, I would also be cautious about CRs = to the party at low levels. (The higher level the party is, the more the rules for encounters matter less and less, and the more how many encounters and opponents are going to matter more)
As jl8e mentions, you could go with weaker Lycanthropes. The Jackalwere at CR 1/2 with a Wererat Boss CR 2 is one such encounter possibility.
Though the number of encounters you are going to have per day needs to be factored in. Ideally if there are going to be several encounters you may need to stay with CR 1/4 to CR 1/2 creatures with a CR 1 boss at the end. But a lot also depends on the number of players and their specific classes. If you have a couple of healers, you might be able to be more deadly because they can just bonus action healing word and get people back into the fight. No healers means you want to go with some weaker encounters and ,make sure some healing potions are found, since once someone goes down, they are likely going to be out of the fight.
So if you really want Lythrancopes I would go with the Jackleweres and Wererat boss or have a Jacklewere boss.
Quick and Easy way to make a boss. Notice the HP says 18 (4d8) for the Jackalwere. So double the hp. Then round up. So Jackalwere Boss is going to have 18*2 = 36 rounded up to 40 hp. Normally I'd add an extra damage die so Scimitar would be 1d6 +2 slashing +1d6 (probably poison). In this case, I Think We want to give the Jacklewere Boss two attacks With his Scimitar. Bump his dex by +1. This gives him an AC of 13 and +5 to hit. (Basically you want to make him more likely to hit than the lower level versions).
Jackelwere's have an ability called Sleep Gaze. A word of advice, keep an eye on things that remove a player from the fight. This can be from getting killed, paralyzed, taken over by the boss. These types of events will quickly head into a death spiral, as the parties action economy drops significantly below the enemy. If you have 5 jacklewere's and 4 PCs, they could all fail the save and everyone is asleep. What I would do in your case is take Sleep Gaze away from the low level Jackelwere's and let the Jackalwere Boss keep it. Next, once a PC falls asleep, you really want the PCs to know that they can use an action to wake up the creature. Have them make an arcana check or something to tip them off they can wake a creature up.
This is really great information and advice. I am using the DMG as a reference as I plan, but it is difficult to put all of the pieces together like this. I really appreciate it!
You could just use regular wolves instead of werewolves. They’re a classic low-level antagonist. Maybe they act as pets for the werewolves. Party kills the wolves, upsets their werewolf masters, and now there’s a reason why the bad guys care about the PCs. Like John Wick, except the PCs are the bad guys. Then if the group keeps playing, they work their way up to fighting werewolves. That also avoids the damage immunity issue. And you can gradually let the players understand what’s happening. After a few levels, let them realize what they’re up against, then figure out about the damage immunity, then figure out a way to overcome it. That’s the trick to telling a story: slowly reveal the information.
It is hard being a first time dm, infact i am one myself. Stick to what you think is right. But, I would reccomend scaling the battle depending on how much the players have actually played dnd. When I first started dming all my players were new. were about 5 sessions in now. But,, their first battle was three giant wolf spiders. Not to hard right? wrong. They all died. Thats when I learned to scale my battles.
Here's an easy trick to maintain balance: always be ready to add combatants.
If you see that they're chopping through your mobs, prepare 3-4 extra ones that you use only in that case. Have some ranged attackers appear. Have some flyers appear.
Scaling battles is really easy if you think they might knob your boss too quickly--just add more enemies.
And if you are going to use wolves: it’s tempting to throw a bunch at them. I mean, wolves run in packs right?
But 5e wolves have the traits pack tactics and prone. Pack tactics means if two (or more) gang up on one character, they get advantage to hit. That’s a big boost. And then when they do hit, the target is either prone automatically (2024) or has to make a strength save (2014). You would think this is not too big of a deal, the wolves already have advantage from pack tactics. But where prone really can TPK a 1st-2nd level party is when the party tries to run, and half their move gets eaten up by getting back to their feet. Now fleeing isn’t really an option either.
It’s little stuff like this that can make the CR assigned a bit…tricky.
I agree with neepers00 above. At first err on the side of making an encounter too easy. You can always have more critters show up as reinforcements. Or, just let the party have an easy win. There is nothing wrong with designing an encounter that you know the party is gonna roll over with ease. It can make them feel like the heros. And then when they get to the big fight, the difference in difficulty will stand out even more.
And on a slightly more non-lycanthropic note; If you want to hook them, play to their strengths. Set up encounters where they get to shine, make them feel like their choices and abilities matter, pressure them, but only as much as they can handle. Try to make every encounter about THEM, not the monsters (which are basically just obstacles anyway most of the time).
Give them the feeling of actually being the main characters. <3
Ok, hold on. This exact thing happened to me. My characters were level one and I though there was no way they could take on two werewolves and an alpha that I made way stronger. If they're smart. They sure can. Trust me when I say it doesn't really matter how much HP a monster has if it is outnumbered 5 to 1. If you plan to make a werewolf encounter and you want it to be longer than 3 rounds remember this 'more the merrier.' The main thing for scaling is not making the monsters more powerful, its making more little guys. Even the most seasoned adventurers might struggle against a horde of 140 commoners more than they would against a Tarrasque.
Also you should keep in mind how good your party is at D&D's combat. For example, my party is very clever and competent strategists and had very good synergies with their choice of class. Not everyone is like this. I learnt how good my party was very quickly after going easy on them with my self made encounters, and like everyone I was once a first time DM as well.
Another note: When you DM, everyone is there ultimately to have fun and be there for you. If its your first encounter and everyone dies, it's just part of the learning experience. Every session you become a better DM. And hey, it's better than dying halfway through the story.
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"Uh, I have Illusory Script. I think I can read that."
Ok, hold on. This exact thing happened to me. My characters were level one and I though there was no way they could take on two werewolves and an alpha that I made way stronger. If they're smart. They sure can. Trust me when I say it doesn't really matter how much HP a monster has if it is outnumbered 5 to 1. If you plan to make a werewolf encounter and you want it to be longer than 3 rounds remember this 'more the merrier.' The main thing for scaling is not making the monsters more powerful, its making more little guys. Even the most seasoned adventurers might struggle against a horde of 140 commoners more than they would against a Tarrasque.
Also you should keep in mind how good your party is at D&D's combat. For example, my party is very clever and competent strategists and had very good synergies with their choice of class. Not everyone is like this. I learnt how good my party was very quickly after going easy on them with my self made encounters, and like everyone I was once a first time DM as well.
Another note: When you DM, everyone is there ultimately to have fun and be there for you. If its your first encounter and everyone dies, it's just part of the learning experience. Every session you become a better DM. And hey, it's better than dying halfway through the story.
I really want to know how 5 level one characters managed to defeat 3 werewolves, especially with one of them being made stronger. Even assuming that somehow those level one characters got silvered or magical weapons to even be able to damage the werewolves at all, That's still 6 attacks to their 5. And even with all 5 PCs ganging up on one werewolf, they still aren't likely to take the werewolf out round one, where if the Werewolf hit most PCs with both their attacks, that PC is going down. Even a fighter/Paladin could go down with some unlucky rolls. Barbarian is probably the only class that could survive at round one from two attacks. But even then only if they managed to rage.
Ok, hold on. This exact thing happened to me. My characters were level one and I though there was no way they could take on two werewolves and an alpha that I made way stronger. If they're smart. They sure can. Trust me when I say it doesn't really matter how much HP a monster has if it is outnumbered 5 to 1. If you plan to make a werewolf encounter and you want it to be longer than 3 rounds remember this 'more the merrier.' The main thing for scaling is not making the monsters more powerful, its making more little guys. Even the most seasoned adventurers might struggle against a horde of 140 commoners more than they would against a Tarrasque.
Also you should keep in mind how good your party is at D&D's combat. For example, my party is very clever and competent strategists and had very good synergies with their choice of class. Not everyone is like this. I learnt how good my party was very quickly after going easy on them with my self made encounters, and like everyone I was once a first time DM as well.
Another note: When you DM, everyone is there ultimately to have fun and be there for you. If its your first encounter and everyone dies, it's just part of the learning experience. Every session you become a better DM. And hey, it's better than dying halfway through the story.
I really want to know how 5 level one characters managed to defeat 3 werewolves, especially with one of them being made stronger. Even assuming that somehow those level one characters got silvered or magical weapons to even be able to damage the werewolves at all, That's still 6 attacks to their 5. And even with all 5 PCs ganging up on one werewolf, they still aren't likely to take the werewolf out round one, where if the Werewolf hit most PCs with both their attacks, that PC is going down. Even a fighter/Paladin could go down with some unlucky rolls. Barbarian is probably the only class that could survive at round one from two attacks. But even then only if they managed to rage.
You could potentially out range them preventing any attacks from occurring especially if you have the old surprise rules, forced movement or restraining abilities. Movement speed and range for dnd can be very binary if it works out in your favor then you can be practically invulnerable. It's also not unusual for dms to have environmental hazards that can be manipulated in the parties favor.
It wouldn't have been easy and they would have needed a few things to go in their favor but it is possible.
Ok, hold on. This exact thing happened to me. My characters were level one and I though there was no way they could take on two werewolves and an alpha that I made way stronger. If they're smart. They sure can. Trust me when I say it doesn't really matter how much HP a monster has if it is outnumbered 5 to 1. If you plan to make a werewolf encounter and you want it to be longer than 3 rounds remember this 'more the merrier.' The main thing for scaling is not making the monsters more powerful, its making more little guys. Even the most seasoned adventurers might struggle against a horde of 140 commoners more than they would against a Tarrasque.
Also you should keep in mind how good your party is at D&D's combat. For example, my party is very clever and competent strategists and had very good synergies with their choice of class. Not everyone is like this. I learnt how good my party was very quickly after going easy on them with my self made encounters, and like everyone I was once a first time DM as well.
Another note: When you DM, everyone is there ultimately to have fun and be there for you. If its your first encounter and everyone dies, it's just part of the learning experience. Every session you become a better DM. And hey, it's better than dying halfway through the story.
I really want to know how 5 level one characters managed to defeat 3 werewolves, especially with one of them being made stronger. Even assuming that somehow those level one characters got silvered or magical weapons to even be able to damage the werewolves at all, That's still 6 attacks to their 5. And even with all 5 PCs ganging up on one werewolf, they still aren't likely to take the werewolf out round one, where if the Werewolf hit most PCs with both their attacks, that PC is going down. Even a fighter/Paladin could go down with some unlucky rolls. Barbarian is probably the only class that could survive at round one from two attacks. But even then only if they managed to rage.
You could potentially out range them preventing any attacks from occurring especially if you have the old surprise rules, forced movement or restraining abilities. Movement speed and range for dnd can be very binary if it works out in your favor then you can be practically invulnerable. It's also not unusual for dms to have environmental hazards that can be manipulated in the parties favor.
It wouldn't have been easy and they would have needed a few things to go in their favor but it is possible.
As I remember it, the fighter was downed quickly and given lycanthropy. The werewolves then tried to flee, but I (the party druid) cast entangle and all three failed the strength save like three turns in a row. With all that, we almost managed to defeat the alpha. (I think the DM just ignored the immunity)
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"Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are to fast: I would catch it."
"I cannot comment on an ongoing investigation."
"Well of course I know that. What else is there? A kitten?"
"You'd like to think that, Wouldn't you?"
"A duck."
"What do you mean? An African or European swallow?"
Ok, hold on. This exact thing happened to me. My characters were level one and I though there was no way they could take on two werewolves and an alpha that I made way stronger. If they're smart. They sure can. Trust me when I say it doesn't really matter how much HP a monster has if it is outnumbered 5 to 1. If you plan to make a werewolf encounter and you want it to be longer than 3 rounds remember this 'more the merrier.' The main thing for scaling is not making the monsters more powerful, its making more little guys. Even the most seasoned adventurers might struggle against a horde of 140 commoners more than they would against a Tarrasque.
Also you should keep in mind how good your party is at D&D's combat. For example, my party is very clever and competent strategists and had very good synergies with their choice of class. Not everyone is like this. I learnt how good my party was very quickly after going easy on them with my self made encounters, and like everyone I was once a first time DM as well.
Another note: When you DM, everyone is there ultimately to have fun and be there for you. If its your first encounter and everyone dies, it's just part of the learning experience. Every session you become a better DM. And hey, it's better than dying halfway through the story.
I really want to know how 5 level one characters managed to defeat 3 werewolves, especially with one of them being made stronger. Even assuming that somehow those level one characters got silvered or magical weapons to even be able to damage the werewolves at all, That's still 6 attacks to their 5. And even with all 5 PCs ganging up on one werewolf, they still aren't likely to take the werewolf out round one, where if the Werewolf hit most PCs with both their attacks, that PC is going down. Even a fighter/Paladin could go down with some unlucky rolls. Barbarian is probably the only class that could survive at round one from two attacks. But even then only if they managed to rage.
You could potentially out range them preventing any attacks from occurring especially if you have the old surprise rules, forced movement or restraining abilities. Movement speed and range for dnd can be very binary if it works out in your favor then you can be practically invulnerable. It's also not unusual for dms to have environmental hazards that can be manipulated in the parties favor.
It wouldn't have been easy and they would have needed a few things to go in their favor but it is possible.
As I remember it, the fighter was downed quickly and given lycanthropy. The werewolves then tried to flee, but I (the party druid) cast entangle and all three failed the strength save like three turns in a row. With all that, we almost managed to defeat the alpha. (I think the DM just ignored the immunity)
You guys were pretty smart about it, using entangle and getting some really decent rolls. And you guys almost killed the alpha. Because that alpha was important for later on, I had them retreat along with the other two werewolves. But even so, you totally could've taken down the werewolves using the caltrops you set up and the campfire as an environmental hazard. Because of the way you guys handled the encounter at level one, I gave you the XP anyways. But as Jormundur knows very well, that wasn't the only time he outsmarted werewolves...
The characters (if they are experienced enough) could find a way for them to get the lycanthropy curse via this and give you a pain in the back regarding their werewolf forms as there are a lot of things that you can do for that.
The characters (if they are experienced enough) could find a way for them to get the lycanthropy curse via this and give you a pain in the back regarding their werewolf forms as there are a lot of things that you can do for that.
That was the intent. They (the DM) gave one of my party members lycanthropy as a story hook.
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"Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are to fast: I would catch it."
"I cannot comment on an ongoing investigation."
"Well of course I know that. What else is there? A kitten?"
"You'd like to think that, Wouldn't you?"
"A duck."
"What do you mean? An African or European swallow?"
I'm trying to plan a one-shot for brand new players in hopes of getting them hooked so we can keep a game going. My thought is to pit them against a pack of lycanthropes (werewolves), with the alpha being much more powerful than the rest.
The Monster Manual says werewolves have 58 hit points. Is this too easy for a party that will be level 2 or so at the end of the adventure? Please don't tell me I'm dumb or boring. It's my first attempt.
Use the CR calculations in the DMG. They're calibrated for a long adventuring day (6-8 encounters), so their idea of an "easy", "average", or even "deadly" encounter may feel too easy if there are fewer fights to drain PCs resources. You're not going to want that large a pack of werewolves in any given fight.
The big concern is that werewolves have immunity to normal weapons. Unless you go out of your way to supply the players with silvered weapons, they're likely to end up in a situation where many of them can't hurt them at all, which is both no fun and really likely to get them all killed.
(Or you could modify the werewolves.)
First and most important rule, pay attention to the abilities of creatures. You'll notice that werewolves have immunity to Bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing unless the weapon is magical or silvered. So ask yourself if the party has magical or silvered weapons. If no, only spell casters can deal damage to them. Your level 2 party is doomed from the start.
Also note the effects of the bite attack. Pcs at level 2 can't deal with that, so you need an in game solution. Also how are you going to deal with a PC who doesn't want to be cured? (I always handle this by removing the curse or doing two claw attacks)
You now need to look at the to hit of the monster. It has +4 so you probably have roughly a 50% chance to hit your pcs at level 2.
Now we need to look at damage. Looks like max damage is going to be 20 points with an average of 10-13.
Now look at your PCs hp. Pcs probably have roughly 12-15 hp at level 2. [Substitute your actual pcs hp here]
Their hp is really close to the damage one werewolf would do in a round if the werewolf hits both attacks. Because the party hp is so close to the average damage and below the max, you want to assume the werewolf hits nearly at 100%. So we know our werewolf will kill a PC in 1-2 rounds. Now we need to figure out how long it will take our PCs to kill the werewolf. This is where keeping track of their average damage is a good idea.
But we know at level 2 we probably have d6 + 3 damage and a +5 to hit. So give the AC of the werewolf our PCs will hit for 7 damage per round on average (technically a little higher because most classes will have a way to increase that and some could use a 2d6 weapon, once again you would need your specific classes here).
So can the PCs kill the werewolf before it kills them? Let's assume 4 players. That's 28 damage to the werewolf and one PC going down. Next round that's 21 damage (due to the down PC.) a group of 4 PCs can probably handle a single werewolf, with multiple PCs going down and needed help. (You can also spread out the attacks to keep PCs up).
Two werewolves is going to be very difficult and could tpk the party long before dying.
It looks like what you have in mind is going to need the PCs to be level 5. So I wouldn't recommend it.
My thought was to give PCs a chance to find either silvered weapons or magic items that would help them overcome the pack. I also want to drop enough clues for them to figure out what they will be facing so that they can prepare well. Obviously, I don't want to send them in to be slaughtered, or they won't want to play anymore.
So then, based on what you're telling me, it seems like my idea may be too challenging for a first adventure. Maybe I should save lycanthropes for a later venture?
Probably.
Also, there are lycanthropes that are not werewolves. A wererat is probably a much more viable fight, with the same caveat about the weapons.
My advice with werewolves is to use regeneration instead of immunity. The loup garou which is basically a remastered more powerful werewolf has the following trait.
It still takes damage but it won't die without a silver weapon, I then just say if they can reduce it to 0 then it falls unconscious and appears dead but will wake up later. The werewolf can then do fake out deaths and hide the fact that it is a werewolf instead pretending to be undead or something else. If a man gets stabbed and crawls out of his grave people won't think werewolf but that is something they could do.
I also encourage you to play with the idea of a werewolf a bit because it is so well known players will catch on to the basic idea very quickly. If you want any mystery you may need to do something extra.
Sometimes if I want to make it so the werewolf lasts longer ill add the stipulation that . Typically this is for a boss werewolf who must be killed in order to be able to cure others. In that case you can imprison them by say leaving a silver dagger in their heart but if it is ever removed the heal and there could be something like under a certain phase of the moon they gain the power to escape such a prison.
They also don't need to be tied to the phases of the moon the same way. If you have a good moon goddess then it may make more sense for them to be more powerful under a new moon when the goddess cannot interfere with them. This works well with say a werewolf priest of Shar opposing Selune. In this situation I'd do something like regular silver only works under moon light allowing them to escape when Shar is strongest under a new moon or in total darkness. They transform under a full moon involuntarily because Selune is trying to force them to give themselves away as a monster. Alternatively they could be a follower of Selune cursed by Shar with the opposite arrangement, under the moonlight Selune protects them and they don't transform where as in the darkness they go mad and transform under Shar's influence.
Do you happen to know how many players you are going to have and their classes?
You can have a werewolf who is the boss and then have some very low CR 1/4 creatures, provided you get the party silvered weapons. Since you are a first time DM and this is the first game with the party, I wouldn't recommend this. Everything can be mathematically perfect, but the skill level of the party is important. Like i know my party has played 5e forever, which means they are constantly forgetting about weapon masteries. I need to take that in consideration when making an encounter. (Obviously you want to remind players about abilities they forget, but the more complex of an encounter I'm running the less likely I am to remember those things as well.) SInce you aren't use to Dming and this is going to be the first game with these players, you don't want to go very with a very difficult fight. Even as experienced as I am, if you give me a monk (I've never played one in 20+ years) or a druid (My favorite class, but moon druids are significantly different now) I may not be able to handle a difficult encounter compared to if I was playing a fighter.
I believe the DMG warns you about using CRs higher than the party, I would also be cautious about CRs = to the party at low levels. (The higher level the party is, the more the rules for encounters matter less and less, and the more how many encounters and opponents are going to matter more)
As jl8e mentions, you could go with weaker Lycanthropes. The Jackalwere at CR 1/2 with a Wererat Boss CR 2 is one such encounter possibility.
Though the number of encounters you are going to have per day needs to be factored in. Ideally if there are going to be several encounters you may need to stay with CR 1/4 to CR 1/2 creatures with a CR 1 boss at the end. But a lot also depends on the number of players and their specific classes. If you have a couple of healers, you might be able to be more deadly because they can just bonus action healing word and get people back into the fight. No healers means you want to go with some weaker encounters and ,make sure some healing potions are found, since once someone goes down, they are likely going to be out of the fight.
So if you really want Lythrancopes I would go with the Jackleweres and Wererat boss or have a Jacklewere boss.
Quick and Easy way to make a boss. Notice the HP says 18 (4d8) for the Jackalwere. So double the hp. Then round up. So Jackalwere Boss is going to have 18*2 = 36 rounded up to 40 hp. Normally I'd add an extra damage die so Scimitar would be 1d6 +2 slashing +1d6 (probably poison). In this case, I Think We want to give the Jacklewere Boss two attacks With his Scimitar. Bump his dex by +1. This gives him an AC of 13 and +5 to hit. (Basically you want to make him more likely to hit than the lower level versions).
Jackelwere's have an ability called Sleep Gaze. A word of advice, keep an eye on things that remove a player from the fight. This can be from getting killed, paralyzed, taken over by the boss. These types of events will quickly head into a death spiral, as the parties action economy drops significantly below the enemy. If you have 5 jacklewere's and 4 PCs, they could all fail the save and everyone is asleep. What I would do in your case is take Sleep Gaze away from the low level Jackelwere's and let the Jackalwere Boss keep it. Next, once a PC falls asleep, you really want the PCs to know that they can use an action to wake up the creature. Have them make an arcana check or something to tip them off they can wake a creature up.
This is really great information and advice. I am using the DMG as a reference as I plan, but it is difficult to put all of the pieces together like this. I really appreciate it!
You could just use regular wolves instead of werewolves. They’re a classic low-level antagonist. Maybe they act as pets for the werewolves. Party kills the wolves, upsets their werewolf masters, and now there’s a reason why the bad guys care about the PCs. Like John Wick, except the PCs are the bad guys. Then if the group keeps playing, they work their way up to fighting werewolves.
That also avoids the damage immunity issue. And you can gradually let the players understand what’s happening. After a few levels, let them realize what they’re up against, then figure out about the damage immunity, then figure out a way to overcome it. That’s the trick to telling a story: slowly reveal the information.
It is hard being a first time dm, infact i am one myself. Stick to what you think is right. But, I would reccomend scaling the battle depending on how much the players have actually played dnd. When I first started dming all my players were new. were about 5 sessions in now. But,, their first battle was three giant wolf spiders. Not to hard right? wrong. They all died. Thats when I learned to scale my battles.
Here's an easy trick to maintain balance: always be ready to add combatants.
If you see that they're chopping through your mobs, prepare 3-4 extra ones that you use only in that case. Have some ranged attackers appear. Have some flyers appear.
Scaling battles is really easy if you think they might knob your boss too quickly--just add more enemies.
And if you are going to use wolves: it’s tempting to throw a bunch at them. I mean, wolves run in packs right?
But 5e wolves have the traits pack tactics and prone. Pack tactics means if two (or more) gang up on one character, they get advantage to hit. That’s a big boost. And then when they do hit, the target is either prone automatically (2024) or has to make a strength save (2014). You would think this is not too big of a deal, the wolves already have advantage from pack tactics. But where prone really can TPK a 1st-2nd level party is when the party tries to run, and half their move gets eaten up by getting back to their feet. Now fleeing isn’t really an option either.
It’s little stuff like this that can make the CR assigned a bit…tricky.
I agree with neepers00 above. At first err on the side of making an encounter too easy. You can always have more critters show up as reinforcements.
Or, just let the party have an easy win. There is nothing wrong with designing an encounter that you know the party is gonna roll over with ease. It can make them feel like the heros. And then when they get to the big fight, the difference in difficulty will stand out even more.
And on a slightly more non-lycanthropic note; If you want to hook them, play to their strengths. Set up encounters where they get to shine, make them feel like their choices and abilities matter, pressure them, but only as much as they can handle. Try to make every encounter about THEM, not the monsters (which are basically just obstacles anyway most of the time).
Give them the feeling of actually being the main characters. <3
Ok, hold on. This exact thing happened to me. My characters were level one and I though there was no way they could take on two werewolves and an alpha that I made way stronger. If they're smart. They sure can. Trust me when I say it doesn't really matter how much HP a monster has if it is outnumbered 5 to 1. If you plan to make a werewolf encounter and you want it to be longer than 3 rounds remember this 'more the merrier.' The main thing for scaling is not making the monsters more powerful, its making more little guys. Even the most seasoned adventurers might struggle against a horde of 140 commoners more than they would against a Tarrasque.
Also you should keep in mind how good your party is at D&D's combat. For example, my party is very clever and competent strategists and had very good synergies with their choice of class. Not everyone is like this. I learnt how good my party was very quickly after going easy on them with my self made encounters, and like everyone I was once a first time DM as well.
Another note: When you DM, everyone is there ultimately to have fun and be there for you. If its your first encounter and everyone dies, it's just part of the learning experience. Every session you become a better DM. And hey, it's better than dying halfway through the story.
"Uh, I have Illusory Script. I think I can read that."
I really want to know how 5 level one characters managed to defeat 3 werewolves, especially with one of them being made stronger. Even assuming that somehow those level one characters got silvered or magical weapons to even be able to damage the werewolves at all, That's still 6 attacks to their 5. And even with all 5 PCs ganging up on one werewolf, they still aren't likely to take the werewolf out round one, where if the Werewolf hit most PCs with both their attacks, that PC is going down. Even a fighter/Paladin could go down with some unlucky rolls. Barbarian is probably the only class that could survive at round one from two attacks. But even then only if they managed to rage.
You could potentially out range them preventing any attacks from occurring especially if you have the old surprise rules, forced movement or restraining abilities. Movement speed and range for dnd can be very binary if it works out in your favor then you can be practically invulnerable. It's also not unusual for dms to have environmental hazards that can be manipulated in the parties favor.
It wouldn't have been easy and they would have needed a few things to go in their favor but it is possible.
As I remember it, the fighter was downed quickly and given lycanthropy. The werewolves then tried to flee, but I (the party druid) cast entangle and all three failed the strength save like three turns in a row. With all that, we almost managed to defeat the alpha. (I think the DM just ignored the immunity)
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You guys were pretty smart about it, using entangle and getting some really decent rolls. And you guys almost killed the alpha. Because that alpha was important for later on, I had them retreat along with the other two werewolves. But even so, you totally could've taken down the werewolves using the caltrops you set up and the campfire as an environmental hazard. Because of the way you guys handled the encounter at level one, I gave you the XP anyways. But as Jormundur knows very well, that wasn't the only time he outsmarted werewolves...
"Uh, I have Illusory Script. I think I can read that."
The characters (if they are experienced enough) could find a way for them to get the lycanthropy curse via this and give you a pain in the back regarding their werewolf forms as there are a lot of things that you can do for that.
That was the intent. They (the DM) gave one of my party members lycanthropy as a story hook.
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