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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Hello all, I'm getting ready to DM for the first time, and I'm worried about my final encounter. I want it to be challenging but I don't want to kill a PC just because I made the fight too hard. It's three PCs, level 5, experienced players, and they should be a little depleted from a resource perspective by the time they get to the end. Is a Cambion, Incubus, and three Hell Hounds too difficult?
The 2014 encounter builder puts this at twice deadly, so I'm thinking it might not go well.
Assuming 5.5 monsters For level 5 characters according to the DMG you have an XP budget of 750 each for medium or 1,100 for hard, times three gives you 2,250 for medium or 3,300 for hard. With that in mind let’s look at the monsters you want. A cambion is 1,800 XP, an incubus is 1,100 and the Hell Hounds are 700 each for a grand total of 5,000. That’s well above what the DMG considers hard for that level, and with five total monsters making a total of eight attacks per round they’re also probably going to dominate the action economy against three players making probably six attacks per round. Maybe drop two of the Hell Hounds or the Cambion for a fairer but still tough fight
The xp budget system isnt great, but it should give you an idea.of what ballpark youre targeting:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/dmg-2014/creating-adventures#CreatingEncounters
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/dmg-2024/creating-adventures#XPBudgetperCharacter
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” — Voltaire
Assuming you have the sheets, you can run it by yourself to see how it goes. It won't tell you how it will go, but it'll give you some idea how close to the edge you're running.
That's a good idea!
Well, they would be outnumbered and probably outgunned. Cut out the Incubus or the Cambion, and you may have to fudge the stats on the hell hounds a tad bit.
https://battlecast.gg/
I ran it through this nifty AI simulator someone else on these forums made, and it didn't go too well... but I haven't tested the thing enough yet to know how accurate it is.
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?"
I do not recommend using AI for this kind of thing because it does not and cannot know the rules.