Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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I'm creating a 2014 5e campaign with 2 fighters 1 rogue and a cleric. they are level 10 right now and I keep throwing level 10-12 monsters at them right now and its not enough. I need something challenging for them. they really like combat. it seems that that's all we do because they like it so much. I would like something that almost kills them and encourages them to be more willing to try some roll play for once. what monsters can I throw at them?
My BBEG is a level 20 artificer and I hope to get them to level 17-18 by that time but I need something challenging now.
just for some more back information they are fighting the knights of the purple cross. a group of people that are attacking them because they recognize the BBEG. the BBEG has convinced you that he and his master (there is no master) they are the good guys and that they are using you to get rid of the bad guys. but its up to you to find you that Bill (BBEG) is the bad guy... any way right now they are in a ossuary church and Bill has been fighting with this Good (bad) guy and I just don't know what I can make him./her I'm thinking a cleric but I don't know if that would be too obvious.
what do you guys think? for the next few session they are in the Ossuary and then a library and then they are getting ambushed on the trail to see a town that's being attacked by a war machine. any ideas? any ideas for stats of the war machine?
any help would be great! I appreciate you guys!
There are several stats for huge Colossus, such as the literal Colossus in the 2024 Monster Manual and the Warforged Colossus in Rising from the last War, but those are CR 25, probably would lead to a TPK. A skinned Hellfire Engine from Mordenkainen Presents would be in the CR range you're aiming for and is a fun, dynamic enemy.
It should come at them alone though because it is CR 16
He doesn't have much besides the skin on his bones. Me: I'll take the skin on his bones, then.
"You see a gigantic, monstrous praying mantis burst from out of the ground. It sprays a stream of acid from it's mouth at one soldier, dissolving him instantly, then it turns and chomps another soldier in half with it's- "
"When are we gonna take a snack break?"
The descriptions for how hard an encounter are are under the assumption that the party will fight a bunch of encounters a day. (It's supposedly calibrated for 6-8.)
If the party only fights one or two encounters a day, they're likely to walk all over your "deadly" encounter without breaking a sweat. It's when they actually have to manage their resources that they really get challenged.
That said, how many monsters do you set them against? A party has a big advantage against a single monster, just due to the relative number of actions. A small group of slightly-lower CR enemies, especially with synergies between their abilities, is going to be a bigger challenge than a higher-CR enemy, even if it has legendary actions. (In particular, caster types need the support to keep the PCs off them.)
That's not going to work. Players like what they like. They're more likely to either think that you're playing unfair, or decide that they need to step up their game.
If you want a different type of game, you need to talk to your players about it. Ideally at the start of the campaign, so they can set their expectations accordingly.
If that BBEG is built as a level 20 character, the players are going to go through him like a hot knife through butter. Characters are too fragile, and monster stat blocks are better balanced for that. (But an unsupported caster monster will, I repeat, still get smeared without support.)
Thank you for your advice. If I’m understanding correctly more monsters at once. And my BBEG should have a monster stat block because characters are too easy to go through.