What monsters have you run against your party that you noticed was a much harder/easier monster to fight than you thought? The Korred and Bodak come to mind.
Forgot to mention, what Challenge Rating do you think these creatures, and others, should be?
CR is kind of just a suggestion. And there is a lot about the difficulty of an encounter that can vary depending on items, environment, PC classes, and player experience.
When my group were 2nd level, I put them up against a wizard who knew Blight. I didn't really think very carefully about it, and when he cast it on the party's ranger, who's sort of their tank, he took her from full health to 0 when she passed the saving throw. Had she failed, she'd have immediately died outright from massive damage. I learned a lesson about comparing potential damage output to PC health BEFORE running the encounter that day.
If I remember correctly, I'd taken the Illusionist (ostensibly, CR3, should be fine for a 2nd-level party, I thought) and swapped out some of its known spells for some from the Necromancer's list.
When my group were 2nd level, I put them up against a wizard who knew Blight. I didn't really think very carefully about it, and when he cast it on the party's ranger, who's sort of their tank, he took her from full health to 0 when she passed the saving throw. Had she failed, she'd have immediately died outright from massive damage. I learned a lesson about comparing potential damage output to PC health BEFORE running the encounter that day.
If I remember correctly, I'd taken the Illusionist (ostensibly, CR3, should be fine for a 2nd-level party, I thought) and swapped out some of its known spells for some from the Necromancer's list.
I think by the time you give the illusionist the damage output of the necromancer, you have something more along the lines of a CR5 or 6.
I've made that mistake before. My party in Dungeon of the Mad Mage recently went against an archmage that I switched out some of his higher level spells for more powerful ones, like time stop with power word kill, teleport with prismatic spray, mind blank with feeblemind, and the battle was way harder than I expected. The party wizard was power word killed, the paladin petrified by prismatic spray, the artificer banished to Carceri, the only one unaffected was the rogue, who ended the archmage and slowly brought back the rest of the party. That mage was probably around CR 16-18 with those changes.
Dragons can really kick player butt if people don't spread out to avoid their breath weapon. Anything with a huge one-use ability like that is scary. I don't think CR should change for them, though.
Dragons can really kick player butt if people don't spread out to avoid their breath weapon. Anything with a huge one-use ability like that is scary. I don't think CR should change for them, though.
Many dragons were actually given the wrong CR. Compare the young white dragon to the young green dragon and you'll see what I mean. Breath weapons are supposed to be assumed to hit two creatures. Sometimes, it seems like the developers got their math wrong.
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What monsters have you run against your party that you noticed was a much harder/easier monster to fight than you thought? The Korred and Bodak come to mind.
Forgot to mention, what Challenge Rating do you think these creatures, and others, should be?
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
CR is kind of just a suggestion. And there is a lot about the difficulty of an encounter that can vary depending on items, environment, PC classes, and player experience.
When my group were 2nd level, I put them up against a wizard who knew Blight. I didn't really think very carefully about it, and when he cast it on the party's ranger, who's sort of their tank, he took her from full health to 0 when she passed the saving throw. Had she failed, she'd have immediately died outright from massive damage. I learned a lesson about comparing potential damage output to PC health BEFORE running the encounter that day.
If I remember correctly, I'd taken the Illusionist (ostensibly, CR3, should be fine for a 2nd-level party, I thought) and swapped out some of its known spells for some from the Necromancer's list.
I think by the time you give the illusionist the damage output of the necromancer, you have something more along the lines of a CR5 or 6.
I've made that mistake before. My party in Dungeon of the Mad Mage recently went against an archmage that I switched out some of his higher level spells for more powerful ones, like time stop with power word kill, teleport with prismatic spray, mind blank with feeblemind, and the battle was way harder than I expected. The party wizard was power word killed, the paladin petrified by prismatic spray, the artificer banished to Carceri, the only one unaffected was the rogue, who ended the archmage and slowly brought back the rest of the party. That mage was probably around CR 16-18 with those changes.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Dragons can really kick player butt if people don't spread out to avoid their breath weapon. Anything with a huge one-use ability like that is scary. I don't think CR should change for them, though.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Many dragons were actually given the wrong CR. Compare the young white dragon to the young green dragon and you'll see what I mean. Breath weapons are supposed to be assumed to hit two creatures. Sometimes, it seems like the developers got their math wrong.