i am building a wizard as a boss fight with specific spells. how do you guys determine the challenge rating of the wizard to put into a encounter builder.
Here is the wizard spells: The mage is a 9th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). The mage has the following wizard spells prepared: Cantrips (at will): infestation, primal savagery, poison spray 1st level (4 slots): chromatic orb (poison damage only), ray of sickness,mage armor,shield 2nd level (3 slots): dragon’s breath (poison damage only),Acid Arrow ,Blur 3rd level (3 slots): feign death,counterspell,stinking cloud 4th level (3 slots): dimension door 5th level (1 slot): contagion
with most of his higher level spells not dishing out any damage, its hard for me to calculate a CR to determine the difficulty of an encounter. I would just normally throw the guy at the party but he is a "boss" and want to make sure the encounter is a decent challenge but not a TPK.
Here is the encounter if it matters:
my encounter i am building has the wizards above with possibly 3 giant spiders and 2 cultist shooting light crossbows at the heroes.
my party of 5 4th levels have the opportunity to have some town guards and guard commander (a 2nd level goliath fighter) to fight along side them
i was also thinking of changing the three giant spiders to a phase spider and a reduced threat shield guardian (in spider form)
Work out how much damage the creature can put out in the first three rounds, divide that by 3, then compare that to the table in the DMG to get the Offensive Rating (OR).
Look its AC and HP up on the same table to get the Defensive Rating (DR).
The Challenge Rating (CR) is the average of OR and DR. CR = ( OR + DR ) / 2.
But always remember, this is not an exact science. The ratings are pretty woolly.
CRs are guidelines and often based on how many resources your party still has at the time of the encounter. My experience is that as the party levels up and gets more used to working together, the CRs become less and less useful.
What does the encounter look like?
Is the wizard prepared, are they aware of the party ? Is this at range or in a closed space?
How many resources will the party have? are they fresh off a long rest or down to their last spell?
Is this a recurring villain, should they be able to get away?
Why do they not have "mage hand" to cast contagion with?
Does the party have an attachment to the guards/commander? would those be willing to spread good or bad word about the party? Will the party try to keep them alive?
A wizard doesn't get to level 9 by being bad, with that spell selection they should have minions, traps and all kinds of other things in their lair/tower/mansion etc as it seems you have a spell theme going. They should also flee far earlier. By the same token, how common are level 9 people in your world?
Since you want this to be a boss fight, consider adding lair actions or reactions to even out the action economy between the wizard and the party.
Sorry for adding more questions. You know the wizard and its motivations and how important that is to that area of your world.
Hope that helps some :)
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"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
1.) The wizard will be ready. The wizard is a "wanted man" in the city because he caused a terrible disease to spread through the town. i am going to have the party hear from the guards that the Wizard has been found and the party approaches the wizard as he is packing to get out of town. I have in mind that he encounter will begin with some range and will be set on a pretty large battle map.
2.) The party will be at full power and off a long rest.
3.) Right now, he is not a reoccurring villain but if it makes the most sense for the wizard to cast dimension door to fight another day and get more powerful. Then i can write that in. This campaign is my own little world so anything can happen lol
4.) The mage hand was overlooked. i can definitely add it
5.) The guards and the party have a good relationship. The guards helped the heroes out in a pretty tough battle against zombies and the heroes saved the town from the disease king spider that the wizard created. With that said, I would only imagine that the party will try to keep the guard commander a live and not waste too much effort on the guards.
yeah i have the wizard using a legendary action to call on some giant spiders and he will be assisted by his assistants that will be shooting light crossbows.
Thanks for the quick reply. my question with wizards is that the first three rounds may not be actually causing damage. for instance casting contagion or stinking cloud. no damage but definitely hinders the party
Thanks for the quick reply. my question with wizards is that the first three rounds may not be actually causing damage. for instance casting contagion or stinking cloud. no damage but definitely hinders the party
In terms of CR, that doesn't count. If a mage spends a round making it so that the PCs can't do anything, the net effect on the combat is zero (mage did no damage, pcs did no damage). Just count how much damage the foe could do if it spent 3 rounds doing its best shot.
i am building a wizard as a boss fight with specific spells. how do you guys determine the challenge rating of the wizard to put into a encounter builder.
Here is the wizard spells:
The mage is a 9th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). The mage has the following wizard spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): infestation, primal savagery, poison spray
1st level (4 slots): chromatic orb (poison damage only), ray of sickness,mage armor,shield
2nd level (3 slots): dragon’s breath (poison damage only),Acid Arrow ,Blur
3rd level (3 slots): feign death,counterspell,stinking cloud
4th level (3 slots): dimension door
5th level (1 slot): contagion
with most of his higher level spells not dishing out any damage, its hard for me to calculate a CR to determine the difficulty of an encounter. I would just normally throw the guy at the party but he is a "boss" and want to make sure the encounter is a decent challenge but not a TPK.
Here is the encounter if it matters:
my encounter i am building has the wizards above with possibly 3 giant spiders and 2 cultist shooting light crossbows at the heroes.
my party of 5 4th levels have the opportunity to have some town guards and guard commander (a 2nd level goliath fighter) to fight along side them
i was also thinking of changing the three giant spiders to a phase spider and a reduced threat shield guardian (in spider form)
Work out how much damage the creature can put out in the first three rounds, divide that by 3, then compare that to the table in the DMG to get the Offensive Rating (OR).
Look its AC and HP up on the same table to get the Defensive Rating (DR).
The Challenge Rating (CR) is the average of OR and DR.
CR = ( OR + DR ) / 2.
But always remember, this is not an exact science. The ratings are pretty woolly.
CRs are guidelines and often based on how many resources your party still has at the time of the encounter. My experience is that as the party levels up and gets more used to working together, the CRs become less and less useful.
What does the encounter look like?
A wizard doesn't get to level 9 by being bad, with that spell selection they should have minions, traps and all kinds of other things in their lair/tower/mansion etc as it seems you have a spell theme going. They should also flee far earlier. By the same token, how common are level 9 people in your world?
Since you want this to be a boss fight, consider adding lair actions or reactions to even out the action economy between the wizard and the party.
Sorry for adding more questions. You know the wizard and its motivations and how important that is to that area of your world.
Hope that helps some :)
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
Thanks for the reply.
1.) The wizard will be ready. The wizard is a "wanted man" in the city because he caused a terrible disease to spread through the town. i am going to have the party hear from the guards that the Wizard has been found and the party approaches the wizard as he is packing to get out of town. I have in mind that he encounter will begin with some range and will be set on a pretty large battle map.
2.) The party will be at full power and off a long rest.
3.) Right now, he is not a reoccurring villain but if it makes the most sense for the wizard to cast dimension door to fight another day and get more powerful. Then i can write that in. This campaign is my own little world so anything can happen lol
4.) The mage hand was overlooked. i can definitely add it
5.) The guards and the party have a good relationship. The guards helped the heroes out in a pretty tough battle against zombies and the heroes saved the town from the disease king spider that the wizard created. With that said, I would only imagine that the party will try to keep the guard commander a live and not waste too much effort on the guards.
yeah i have the wizard using a legendary action to call on some giant spiders and he will be assisted by his assistants that will be shooting light crossbows.
Thanks for the quick reply. my question with wizards is that the first three rounds may not be actually causing damage. for instance casting contagion or stinking cloud. no damage but definitely hinders the party
In terms of CR, that doesn't count. If a mage spends a round making it so that the PCs can't do anything, the net effect on the combat is zero (mage did no damage, pcs did no damage). Just count how much damage the foe could do if it spent 3 rounds doing its best shot.
Got it. Thank you for your help!