Hey everyone, I'm new at dming as this is my first campaign and it's a homebrew. My issue is my players arent really having trouble with what I throw at them. Tonight my group of 5 lvl 4s took on 3 girallons and 2 chimeras. Grant it the monsters were also fighting each other (gs vs cs) but still. Only one of my players struggled in the fight and that's because of a really good turn for a girallon. What can I do to nerf/balance the players without ruining it for them. I mean next session is they're supposed to fight a but load of cultists, but still, I feel like combat is in their favor and I dont know what to do.
I'm pretty new to DMing as well so take my advice with a grain of salt. If they're going to be fighting a large group I'd mix in some elites with boosted stats and maybe a miniboss or two with some special skills depending on group setup. Encounter balance is a really tricky thing to get right especially when starting out so best bet is have a plan for them to blow through it and one for them to be getting stomped and adjust as needed. Kobold Fight Club is a pretty good place to check out for a general idea when it comes to encounters.
My advice is plan encounters, both combat and non combat, based on your story line and focus on everyone having fun. Sometimes they’ll breeze through encounters and sometimes they’ll struggle. As you gain experience you’ll get better at judging how strong to make the encounters but you’ll never get it perfect. But if you focus on everyone having fun it will work out.
Sometimes you just need to max health. I would also think about how long you feel fights should go. Not all fights should be life or death. It can be good to have a couple fights where the players feel like gods.
Also, don't hesitate to have warring monsters that were fighting each other turn on a common enemy - the players. The players can be fought over after they are dead.
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DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd[Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player] Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale Ru's Current Status
What can I do to nerf/balance the players without ruining it for them.
Don't nerf your players.
Boost your monster encounters. Plus while they may have breezed this fight they used some spell slots, abilities. Throw another encounter at them, a couple more before theycan rest and they'll be challenged because they've used up limited resources.
First, are you using the intended action/rest economy? If your PCs are going into every encounter fully rested it is no surprise that they are having an easy time of it. The game intends that they will face several encounters between each opportunity to rest, and so will not have their full complement of abilities available each time.
Are your monsters using tactics, cover, etc? Do they stand back and use ranged attacks to soften the arty up? Do they hide behind obstacles? Do they disrupt spell casters and attempt to break concentration? Are they foolish enough to charge pole arm users?
Are your combats all "white room" fights? Try fights on difficult ground, constricting terrain, or with some other pressure also happening.
Also remember most monsters will break off and run away if the fight starts to go against them. The less intelligent a creature is, the more likely it is to run from a fight. The one exception being mindless creatures such as undead, they will fight until destroyed. Animals however look for easy fights, they often don't attack unless they certain of an easy win, and will run at the first damage. Intelligent creatures will use hit and run tactics.
It's been my experience that the power balance in 5E is weighted in favor of the players, so I would take the CRs with a grain of salt.
When planning an encounter, think of you players abilities and weaknesses and try to find monsters that can counter their attacks to minimize damage.
Also, plan what the monsters will do ahead of time (the tactics and strategy they'll use). Not every encounter should be a head on confrontation. Surprise attacks, flanking, lead players into a dead end, or a trap, etc are some options.
Hey everyone, I'm new at dming as this is my first campaign and it's a homebrew. My issue is my players arent really having trouble with what I throw at them. Tonight my group of 5 lvl 4s took on 3 girallons and 2 chimeras. Grant it the monsters were also fighting each other (gs vs cs) but still. Only one of my players struggled in the fight and that's because of a really good turn for a girallon. What can I do to nerf/balance the players without ruining it for them. I mean next session is they're supposed to fight a but load of cultists, but still, I feel like combat is in their favor and I dont know what to do.
I'm pretty new to DMing as well so take my advice with a grain of salt. If they're going to be fighting a large group I'd mix in some elites with boosted stats and maybe a miniboss or two with some special skills depending on group setup. Encounter balance is a really tricky thing to get right especially when starting out so best bet is have a plan for them to blow through it and one for them to be getting stomped and adjust as needed. Kobold Fight Club is a pretty good place to check out for a general idea when it comes to encounters.
My advice is plan encounters, both combat and non combat, based on your story line and focus on everyone having fun. Sometimes they’ll breeze through encounters and sometimes they’ll struggle. As you gain experience you’ll get better at judging how strong to make the encounters but you’ll never get it perfect. But if you focus on everyone having fun it will work out.
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Sometimes you just need to max health. I would also think about how long you feel fights should go. Not all fights should be life or death. It can be good to have a couple fights where the players feel like gods.
Also, don't hesitate to have warring monsters that were fighting each other turn on a common enemy - the players. The players can be fought over after they are dead.
DM: Adventures in Phandalin [Khessa], The Dread of Strahd [Darya], Dragons of Stormwreck Isle [Rook], Baldur's Gate Mysteries [4-Player]
Player: Oona in MO's Icewind Dale
Ru's Current Status
Don't nerf your players.
Boost your monster encounters. Plus while they may have breezed this fight they used some spell slots, abilities. Throw another encounter at them, a couple more before theycan rest and they'll be challenged because they've used up limited resources.
First, are you using the intended action/rest economy? If your PCs are going into every encounter fully rested it is no surprise that they are having an easy time of it. The game intends that they will face several encounters between each opportunity to rest, and so will not have their full complement of abilities available each time.
Are your monsters using tactics, cover, etc? Do they stand back and use ranged attacks to soften the arty up? Do they hide behind obstacles? Do they disrupt spell casters and attempt to break concentration? Are they foolish enough to charge pole arm users?
Are your combats all "white room" fights? Try fights on difficult ground, constricting terrain, or with some other pressure also happening.
Also remember most monsters will break off and run away if the fight starts to go against them. The less intelligent a creature is, the more likely it is to run from a fight. The one exception being mindless creatures such as undead, they will fight until destroyed. Animals however look for easy fights, they often don't attack unless they certain of an easy win, and will run at the first damage. Intelligent creatures will use hit and run tactics.
It's been my experience that the power balance in 5E is weighted in favor of the players, so I would take the CRs with a grain of salt.
When planning an encounter, think of you players abilities and weaknesses and try to find monsters that can counter their attacks to minimize damage.
Also, plan what the monsters will do ahead of time (the tactics and strategy they'll use). Not every encounter should be a head on confrontation. Surprise attacks, flanking, lead players into a dead end, or a trap, etc are some options.
I'll definitely do that, thanks!
Thanks everyone for your input. I definitely have a lot to do for the next session. Thank you all for your help.