Ok, so I have an artificer with an AC of 18, using scale mail and shield, and a Barbarian with AC of 17 No armor/shield. I then have a squishy rogue and cleric. How do I hurt the tanks?
The artificer has optimally a +2 to his dex modifier, hit him with saving throws, such as from Ankhegs or Centaur Troopers. The barbarian in general probably has good physical stats in general, go for his mental stats, wisdom saves like from Gibbering Mouthers or Lamias could work. In general, the usage of non-AC based damage typically counters high AC, like how Fire Elementals burn anything that's in its space, regardless of saves or stats.
Probably not. But that’s kind of the point. Down the healer so they have to heal themselves then have the tanks use the help action to stabilize then your monsters can cast on the tanks.
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“And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out! Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thou foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.'"
It's a system. The frontliners fight, the back liners support. AC of 17 or 18 should be close to a 50/50 hit chance, even at level 1. Magic doesn't care about AC.
But it's a system: Stress the parts enough, and the system fails. Hold Person on the rogue, silence the cleric, whittle down the tanks. But then of course, you risk winning the fight. Which might be the point, but not if you're the GM.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Seriously, if someone has optimised their character to have a high AC, it's because they want to be in the thick of it, tanking hits. If you bypass this, you're nullifying why they built the character.
It's the old "Shoot the Monk" mentality. Monks can deflect missiles and slow fall, so many DMs (wrongly) stop shooting at them, because they feel their job is to damage them. In reality, your job is to control the world around the party, and Joe Bloggs the Bandit has no idea that the guy without armour on is a monk who'll send that arrow back down his windpipe at twenty paces.
If you want to get through the high armour without making the world counter their ability, limit what they can achieve with high armour instead. Throw an ambush at them with a bunch of little guys who are fishing for crits on the armour, but hitting the other party members consistently, who approach from multiple directions. Add in some spells which force saves, but don't focus them on the armoured guy until the enemy would actually do so - a smart enemy might open with it, but less smart enemies might go a round of failing to hit before they call in some alternatives. Goblins might throw alchemist's fire at them, to try and get through armour, or send a volley of arrows their way to try and get through with a high roll. With an AC of 18, anything with +3 to hit will hit them on a 15+, so 1/4 of the time. Send 8 arrows their way and you should expect 2 hits. Get someone to grapple them, or throw one bigger guy into the mix - goblins with their Ogre they sent to crush the artificer like a tin can. Then, let the artificer relish every time they roll a 17 to hit, and they miss.
Let them have this in the early game. When they get to higher levels, you'll be back asking "how do I not kill my party with a monster with +9 to hit?". Armour gives diminishing returns as levels go higher, so let them have this.
I'd respectfully suggest you're thinking about encounters in the wrong way.
If you want to hurt player characters a DM can do that by just dropping in a high AC, high damage, and high HP monster with legendary actions and lair actions. Heck you could just drop in the biggest monster you find in MM.
Encounters, unless we're talking random encounters, should have a purpose or reason for occurring. The party have stumbled into an abandoned mine which Kobolds have made their home - the reason the encounter happens is that the kobolds are defending their lair. The corrupt baron has sent mercenaries after the party, and a fight ensues. You as a DM want to give your party a cool heroic set-piece, so you have them encounter a dragon as they're travelling through the wilderness. The reasons don't have to be complex and can be as simple as that last one - you want to give the players a cool moment.
Here's the tricky thing about these systems (5e and 5.5e): they are inherently weighted such that if a DM follows the advice in the DMG and RAW the player characters will be victorious more than 60% of the time. That's just fundamental to the way the game is designed. So every DM goes into encounters knowing that this enemy short of teleporting or running away is going to end up dead or captured.
The aim then is not to deal equal amounts of damage to each player character. Rather I'd argue that for a really enjoyable combat encounter you want to give each character a chance to shine. You want the artificer to be dealing out damage, or maybe switching up their infusions to exploit a vulnerability. You want the Barbarian to be able to get up close and smashy, smashy. You want the rogue to be able to sneak around and get off their sneak attacks. You want the Cleric to be dealing out protective auras, healing, and the like. So you set up the battlefield to exploit that. There needs to be cover for the Cleric and Rogue to take cover behind. There needs to be some open space for the Artificer to use their Steel Defender or Artillery, or what have you. Providing cover for the weaker/squishier characters is often one of the best ways to naturally present an environment where the enemy is going to be forced to focus on the higher AC player characters. The more attacks against these characters, the more chance of hitting and dealing damage. It's really that simple.
Look to design encounters that highlight and show off the player character abilities. If you want to challenge the player character abilities then create environments for the encounter that will provide that challenge. Got a player who's become reliant on their ranged attacks? Set up a guard room with low ceilings and not enough space to get distance. Got a lot of melee focused characters? Set up an encounter with levels, height, and cover from which enemies are peppering the party with ranged fire. Castle/fort towers are a real challenge for both melee and ranged characters as demonstrated by Cragmaw Castle in Lost Mine of Phandelver. They're likely still going to win the day, but it'll shake things up.
There is another, somewhat controversial tool in the kit that you could choose to use. If you do use this tool I believe you must use it with care and with good reason. The DM quite simply has the ability to fudge rolls. Now there's much debate about this and I understand why - it's open to abuse. However, rarely do people take into account the level of trust that a party need to have the DM is not an opponent but a level-designer and world builder. The good DM is never hoping the party fail. So, let's use a prior example. If I drop down a dragon encounter in my world to give the party a cool hero moment. I want that moment to feel cool. To make that happen I want the Dragon to get off a few breath weapon attacks right? It needs to swoop and fly and do the cool things dragons can do. So, I might choose to fudge the recharge roll on the breath weapon. I might even allow the dragon to make a breath weapon attack and an action to make this thing seem bigger and badder. I won't of course be aiming for everyone to go down or to injure the player characters in a significant way. What I'm seeking to do is to create an obstacle in that moment that provides a sense of accomplishment when the party eventually defeat the monster.
As I say, this is a tool to use with care and precision. Use it incorrectly and you'll lose all player trust. Use it too often and you'll destroy the flow of the table. It's kind of like knowing when to drop a Marut in front of the party. These constructs just hit the PC - no 'to hit' roll, they are 100% accurate. In the right situations they can shock a party once they hear that the monster is always going to hit and deal 60 damage. This isn't a monster that a good DM is using all the time however. It's a tool in the kit that we use in the right moments. If in doubt that you can use the tool well though, don't try it. It's like trying to drive an HGV before having learnt to drive a car.
Ok, so I have an artificer with an AC of 18, using scale mail and shield, and a Barbarian with AC of 17 No armor/shield. I then have a squishy rogue and cleric. How do I hurt the tanks?
The artificer has optimally a +2 to his dex modifier, hit him with saving throws, such as from Ankhegs or Centaur Troopers. The barbarian in general probably has good physical stats in general, go for his mental stats, wisdom saves like from Gibbering Mouthers or Lamias could work. In general, the usage of non-AC based damage typically counters high AC, like how Fire Elementals burn anything that's in its space, regardless of saves or stats.
Spells
Target the cleric.
Then let inevitability take over.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
kill the healer or just hit them with attacks that ignore AC. I.e. spells
Do you think he can handle it?
Probably not. But that’s kind of the point. Down the healer so they have to heal themselves then have the tanks use the help action to stabilize then your monsters can cast on the tanks.
“And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out! Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thou foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.'"
How you hurt the tanks? You deal damage.
It's a system. The frontliners fight, the back liners support. AC of 17 or 18 should be close to a 50/50 hit chance, even at level 1. Magic doesn't care about AC.
But it's a system: Stress the parts enough, and the system fails. Hold Person on the rogue, silence the cleric, whittle down the tanks. But then of course, you risk winning the fight. Which might be the point, but not if you're the GM.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Don't.
Seriously, if someone has optimised their character to have a high AC, it's because they want to be in the thick of it, tanking hits. If you bypass this, you're nullifying why they built the character.
It's the old "Shoot the Monk" mentality. Monks can deflect missiles and slow fall, so many DMs (wrongly) stop shooting at them, because they feel their job is to damage them. In reality, your job is to control the world around the party, and Joe Bloggs the Bandit has no idea that the guy without armour on is a monk who'll send that arrow back down his windpipe at twenty paces.
If you want to get through the high armour without making the world counter their ability, limit what they can achieve with high armour instead. Throw an ambush at them with a bunch of little guys who are fishing for crits on the armour, but hitting the other party members consistently, who approach from multiple directions. Add in some spells which force saves, but don't focus them on the armoured guy until the enemy would actually do so - a smart enemy might open with it, but less smart enemies might go a round of failing to hit before they call in some alternatives. Goblins might throw alchemist's fire at them, to try and get through armour, or send a volley of arrows their way to try and get through with a high roll. With an AC of 18, anything with +3 to hit will hit them on a 15+, so 1/4 of the time. Send 8 arrows their way and you should expect 2 hits. Get someone to grapple them, or throw one bigger guy into the mix - goblins with their Ogre they sent to crush the artificer like a tin can. Then, let the artificer relish every time they roll a 17 to hit, and they miss.
Let them have this in the early game. When they get to higher levels, you'll be back asking "how do I not kill my party with a monster with +9 to hit?". Armour gives diminishing returns as levels go higher, so let them have this.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
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The rogue should only end their turn in melee range about half the time, and the cleric should be a midline character, so there isn't really an issue.
I'd respectfully suggest you're thinking about encounters in the wrong way.
If you want to hurt player characters a DM can do that by just dropping in a high AC, high damage, and high HP monster with legendary actions and lair actions. Heck you could just drop in the biggest monster you find in MM.
Encounters, unless we're talking random encounters, should have a purpose or reason for occurring. The party have stumbled into an abandoned mine which Kobolds have made their home - the reason the encounter happens is that the kobolds are defending their lair. The corrupt baron has sent mercenaries after the party, and a fight ensues. You as a DM want to give your party a cool heroic set-piece, so you have them encounter a dragon as they're travelling through the wilderness. The reasons don't have to be complex and can be as simple as that last one - you want to give the players a cool moment.
Here's the tricky thing about these systems (5e and 5.5e): they are inherently weighted such that if a DM follows the advice in the DMG and RAW the player characters will be victorious more than 60% of the time. That's just fundamental to the way the game is designed. So every DM goes into encounters knowing that this enemy short of teleporting or running away is going to end up dead or captured.
The aim then is not to deal equal amounts of damage to each player character. Rather I'd argue that for a really enjoyable combat encounter you want to give each character a chance to shine. You want the artificer to be dealing out damage, or maybe switching up their infusions to exploit a vulnerability. You want the Barbarian to be able to get up close and smashy, smashy. You want the rogue to be able to sneak around and get off their sneak attacks. You want the Cleric to be dealing out protective auras, healing, and the like. So you set up the battlefield to exploit that. There needs to be cover for the Cleric and Rogue to take cover behind. There needs to be some open space for the Artificer to use their Steel Defender or Artillery, or what have you. Providing cover for the weaker/squishier characters is often one of the best ways to naturally present an environment where the enemy is going to be forced to focus on the higher AC player characters. The more attacks against these characters, the more chance of hitting and dealing damage. It's really that simple.
Look to design encounters that highlight and show off the player character abilities. If you want to challenge the player character abilities then create environments for the encounter that will provide that challenge. Got a player who's become reliant on their ranged attacks? Set up a guard room with low ceilings and not enough space to get distance. Got a lot of melee focused characters? Set up an encounter with levels, height, and cover from which enemies are peppering the party with ranged fire. Castle/fort towers are a real challenge for both melee and ranged characters as demonstrated by Cragmaw Castle in Lost Mine of Phandelver. They're likely still going to win the day, but it'll shake things up.
There is another, somewhat controversial tool in the kit that you could choose to use. If you do use this tool I believe you must use it with care and with good reason. The DM quite simply has the ability to fudge rolls. Now there's much debate about this and I understand why - it's open to abuse. However, rarely do people take into account the level of trust that a party need to have the DM is not an opponent but a level-designer and world builder. The good DM is never hoping the party fail. So, let's use a prior example. If I drop down a dragon encounter in my world to give the party a cool hero moment. I want that moment to feel cool. To make that happen I want the Dragon to get off a few breath weapon attacks right? It needs to swoop and fly and do the cool things dragons can do. So, I might choose to fudge the recharge roll on the breath weapon. I might even allow the dragon to make a breath weapon attack and an action to make this thing seem bigger and badder. I won't of course be aiming for everyone to go down or to injure the player characters in a significant way. What I'm seeking to do is to create an obstacle in that moment that provides a sense of accomplishment when the party eventually defeat the monster.
As I say, this is a tool to use with care and precision. Use it incorrectly and you'll lose all player trust. Use it too often and you'll destroy the flow of the table. It's kind of like knowing when to drop a Marut in front of the party. These constructs just hit the PC - no 'to hit' roll, they are 100% accurate. In the right situations they can shock a party once they hear that the monster is always going to hit and deal 60 damage. This isn't a monster that a good DM is using all the time however. It's a tool in the kit that we use in the right moments. If in doubt that you can use the tool well though, don't try it. It's like trying to drive an HGV before having learnt to drive a car.
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