I'm writing an encounter for five of my friends to play through, they'll be playing a lv.4 ranger, lv.4 sorcerer, lv.4 druid, lv.4 rogue, and a fifth lv.4 character, and i wanted to make a difficult encounter where they'd be fighting a lv.10 paladin, and a lv.10 bard, but they all chose squishy classes, and i don't know if i'd be too mean to give them too hard of a fight. should i lower the level of the baddies they have to fight, or should i keep it the same?
I would say that would probably equate to a Deadly encounter, especially depending on how you build the enemies, the gear you provided them with, the amount of HP they will have, the spells they have available, etc. Without more information it would be difficult to say with certainty a "Yes" or "No". If you stack full plate armor with a shield on the paladin and jack their AC to the roof, then I would say "Yes" that is too much. As long as you keep things reasonable and fight conservatively, the party could pull off a win.
You could stack the Paladin a little (breastplate and shield) and if it's too tough, a character's attack could always knock the shield out of his grasp, dropping his AC and changing the fight. Nice bit of dramatic flair without making it obvious that you're nerfing the combat a bit to help the PC's survive.
Don't be afraid to change things up mid combat. Things are going badly when you don't want them to? A big hit by a PC rattles the bard, and he can't concentrate for a round or two to cast spells. Ideally, your combat will be perfectly balanced, tense and thrilling. But if it's not, you have other options beyond grinding your PC's into the mud.
I'm writing an encounter for five of my friends to play through, they'll be playing a lv.4 ranger, lv.4 sorcerer, lv.4 druid, lv.4 rogue, and a fifth lv.4 character, and i wanted to make a difficult encounter where they'd be fighting a lv.10 paladin, and a lv.10 bard, but they all chose squishy classes, and i don't know if i'd be too mean to give them too hard of a fight. should i lower the level of the baddies they have to fight, or should i keep it the same?
I think the odds of wiping out the party are quite high.
Bard drops hypnotic pattern and possibly locks down anywhere from 0 to all of the PCs. Paladin and bard then slaughter them one by one.
Bard could also drop some fireballs ... depending on what kind of bard they are. Or the bard casts synaptic static ... psychic fireball with extra negative effects.
The bard and paladin will be on the downside of the action economy but they will have more hit points and higher saves ... so it may come down to who gets initiative and how well each one rolls.
I'm writing an encounter for five of my friends to play through, they'll be playing a lv.4 ranger, lv.4 sorcerer, lv.4 druid, lv.4 rogue, and a fifth lv.4 character, and i wanted to make a difficult encounter where they'd be fighting a lv.10 paladin, and a lv.10 bard, but they all chose squishy classes, and i don't know if i'd be too mean to give them too hard of a fight. should i lower the level of the baddies they have to fight, or should i keep it the same?
I would say that would probably equate to a Deadly encounter, especially depending on how you build the enemies, the gear you provided them with, the amount of HP they will have, the spells they have available, etc. Without more information it would be difficult to say with certainty a "Yes" or "No". If you stack full plate armor with a shield on the paladin and jack their AC to the roof, then I would say "Yes" that is too much. As long as you keep things reasonable and fight conservatively, the party could pull off a win.
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Okay, thanks for the tips!
You could stack the Paladin a little (breastplate and shield) and if it's too tough, a character's attack could always knock the shield out of his grasp, dropping his AC and changing the fight. Nice bit of dramatic flair without making it obvious that you're nerfing the combat a bit to help the PC's survive.
Don't be afraid to change things up mid combat. Things are going badly when you don't want them to? A big hit by a PC rattles the bard, and he can't concentrate for a round or two to cast spells. Ideally, your combat will be perfectly balanced, tense and thrilling. But if it's not, you have other options beyond grinding your PC's into the mud.
I think the odds of wiping out the party are quite high.
Bard drops hypnotic pattern and possibly locks down anywhere from 0 to all of the PCs. Paladin and bard then slaughter them one by one.
Bard could also drop some fireballs ... depending on what kind of bard they are. Or the bard casts synaptic static ... psychic fireball with extra negative effects.
The bard and paladin will be on the downside of the action economy but they will have more hit points and higher saves ... so it may come down to who gets initiative and how well each one rolls.
What is the primary motivation for the Paladin and the Bard? It might be ok for them to win and instead of killing the party, they capture them.
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