Currently running a Homebrew campaign and I have been a little hesitant to use higher level spells on my players. Level 6 onwards. Currently the party is between level 10-12.
I want to give them a challenge and not take it too easy on them, but don't wanna go full Dark Souls either. Hate to one-shot a player when a spell does 16d10 damage. Thoughts.
I would think about the consequences. At level 10-12, 16d10 is quite likely to render a player unconcious and a high roll (or crit if it is a spell attack) could kill. You do not want to kill the only member of the party capable of revival but I see know problem with having a chance of knocking the fighter who just used action Surge to hit them 6 times.
An archdruid who does not use foresight will be very easy for the party to kill.
Generally speaking against level 10 to 12s most high level spells are fine to use. There are exceptions the one that comes to mind is meteor swarm that could tpk by itself
My rule of thumb is I’ll use spells that are 1 level higher than the party can cast. It’s not perfect, and you still need to double check an individual spell, but I find it works as a guideline.
9th level spells are perfectly fair game on level 10-12 PCs. The way 5e combat is set up, if you aren't either maiming multiple PCs or obliterating a single PC during the first round of combat you aren't really challenging the PCs.
It might help you to take some notes during a few combat encounters during your campaign, and find out: how many rounds does the enemy usually survive, and how many attacks do they actually get to make? Just knowing that can really help you balance your encounters to be more challenging. If your enemies only get 2-4 tries to do anything useful, then crank up that damage until those 2-4 hits actually mean something.
Also, if the party has access to Revivify or similar spells, just getting 1 PC down to 0HP doesn't necessarily mean that much unless it's the healer.
It might help you to take some notes during a few combat encounters during your campaign, and find out: how many rounds does the enemy usually survive, and how many attacks do they actually get to make? Just knowing that can really help you balance your encounters to be more challenging. If your enemies only get 2-4 tries to do anything useful, then crank up that damage until those 2-4 hits actually mean something.
Also, if the party has access to Revivify or similar spells, just getting 1 PC down to 0HP doesn't necessarily mean that much unless it's the healer.
Going down to 0 HP doesn't mean that much if the (concious) party members have access to any form of healing, unless as a DM you continue attacking the unconcious until they are out of death saves.
Most PC deaths I have encountered have not involved death saves. The last two in games I have been involved in were a crit in a low level game causing enough damage to insta kill and (in a another campaign) a mind flayer sucking out the PCs brain.
Most PC deaths I have encountered have not involved death saves.
I've seen it happen, but mostly when the PCs have lost the fight, everyone is down or fleeing, and the winners are indifferent about the PCs dying (won't finish them off, but also won't go to any particular effort to keep them alive).
Most PC deaths I have encountered have not involved death saves.
I've seen it happen, but mostly when the PCs have lost the fight, everyone is down or fleeing, and the winners are indifferent about the PCs dying (won't finish them off, but also won't go to any particular effort to keep them alive).
That would probably depend on the monster, a chimera might proceed to "eat" the fallen party member. An arch mage might just think there dead etc.
By this time you should not be throwing random bad guys at them for the most part.
You should have a whole gang of NPC's made up that can challenge them. In a straight up fight group on group. Remember though NPC's are people too and will not fight to the death unless they are forced. Which means they will learn about the parties capabilities. If the bad guys need to use high level spells they will.
As for the players, well they should be working as a group by now. Knowing each others strengths and weaknesses. Have a standard marching order and a semblance of tactics. Something they almost always do in battle.
The bad guys should be working the same way. In fact the bad guys should have a pool of thugs to draw on when needed to help out.
Make up the bad guys just like making up any normal group and think of what they would do.
My rule of thumb is I’ll use spells that are 1 level higher than the party can cast. It’s not perfect, and you still need to double check an individual spell, but I find it works as a guideline.
This is what I do. Its powerful but not overpowering and it also gives a player caster something to maybe look forward to. A few times I've had a player saying "I can't wait to cast that spell!"
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Currently running a Homebrew campaign and I have been a little hesitant to use higher level spells on my players. Level 6 onwards. Currently the party is between level 10-12.
I want to give them a challenge and not take it too easy on them, but don't wanna go full Dark Souls either. Hate to one-shot a player when a spell does 16d10 damage. Thoughts.
I would think about the consequences. At level 10-12, 16d10 is quite likely to render a player unconcious and a high roll (or crit if it is a spell attack) could kill. You do not want to kill the only member of the party capable of revival but I see know problem with having a chance of knocking the fighter who just used action Surge to hit them 6 times.
An archdruid who does not use foresight will be very easy for the party to kill.
Generally speaking against level 10 to 12s most high level spells are fine to use. There are exceptions the one that comes to mind is meteor swarm that could tpk by itself
My rule of thumb is I’ll use spells that are 1 level higher than the party can cast. It’s not perfect, and you still need to double check an individual spell, but I find it works as a guideline.
That seems like a fair rule
9th level spells are perfectly fair game on level 10-12 PCs. The way 5e combat is set up, if you aren't either maiming multiple PCs or obliterating a single PC during the first round of combat you aren't really challenging the PCs.
It might help you to take some notes during a few combat encounters during your campaign, and find out: how many rounds does the enemy usually survive, and how many attacks do they actually get to make? Just knowing that can really help you balance your encounters to be more challenging. If your enemies only get 2-4 tries to do anything useful, then crank up that damage until those 2-4 hits actually mean something.
Also, if the party has access to Revivify or similar spells, just getting 1 PC down to 0HP doesn't necessarily mean that much unless it's the healer.
Going down to 0 HP doesn't mean that much if the (concious) party members have access to any form of healing, unless as a DM you continue attacking the unconcious until they are out of death saves.
Most PC deaths I have encountered have not involved death saves. The last two in games I have been involved in were a crit in a low level game causing enough damage to insta kill and (in a another campaign) a mind flayer sucking out the PCs brain.
I've seen it happen, but mostly when the PCs have lost the fight, everyone is down or fleeing, and the winners are indifferent about the PCs dying (won't finish them off, but also won't go to any particular effort to keep them alive).
That would probably depend on the monster, a chimera might proceed to "eat" the fallen party member. An arch mage might just think there dead etc.
By this time you should not be throwing random bad guys at them for the most part.
You should have a whole gang of NPC's made up that can challenge them. In a straight up fight group on group. Remember though NPC's are people too and will not fight to the death unless they are forced. Which means they will learn about the parties capabilities. If the bad guys need to use high level spells they will.
As for the players, well they should be working as a group by now. Knowing each others strengths and weaknesses. Have a standard marching order and a semblance of tactics. Something they almost always do in battle.
The bad guys should be working the same way. In fact the bad guys should have a pool of thugs to draw on when needed to help out.
Make up the bad guys just like making up any normal group and think of what they would do.
This is what I do. Its powerful but not overpowering and it also gives a player caster something to maybe look forward to. A few times I've had a player saying "I can't wait to cast that spell!"