So, for some crazy reason, my dnd party has gotten me making a stat sheet for Caiphon the Elder Evil. (hover over text) Here's my best attempt at it with the information there is on him. Any feedback is welcome!
I can't really talk numbers as I'm not familiar with such high CR creatures but from a design stand point I would add some sort of movement to his legendary actions and add some effect to Arcane Cudgel or Arcane Blast to make them more unique abilities. At the moment Cudgel is just a melee arcane blast but this is a gargantuan star like creature! Surely more happens if it gets close enough to melee you 😵💫
Your Saving Throws are a bit high, even for CR 30. I could see the Wisdom being 18, but not that and both Int and CHarisma. Compare with Aspect of Tiamat.
Darkvision is high as well.
Your passive perception is also a bit high, but not unreasonaly so.
Discorporation should list a value, or at least a range We talking days, years, centuries?
That regeneration is very high, particularly without an exception. Particularlly as you made him immune to spells of 6th or lower level stopping things like Chill Touch. That basically leaves a Wish spell. If this was his only defensive ability, fine. But combined with the legendary resistance and magical immunity it is too much. Limit it in some way or drop the Immunity or drop the regeneration.
Multi-Attack reads weird. Rewrite it to clarify 3 blasts + spell OR 3 cudgels plus spell. Honestly, it should probably 3 attacks OR 1 attack plus spell, he is already a bit powerful for attack
Psychic Blast looks like it is not a ranged attack, but instead an area spell. Fix it
Counterspell should not be at will. Make it 5x day. Note, with +17 Arcana even not upcast he just needs to roll a 2 in order to counterspell something.
Legendary Spellcasting should cost more than 2 actions. At least 3 actions, if not 5, given how he can make attacks and cast spells normally. Right now he can do 3 attacks and cast a spell and do reactions for Counterspell AND cast two more spells during the same round.
He should not be resistant to Force damage, most high-level Arcane spells deal Force damage.
All his DC should be the same (it just makes running the monster so much easier).
Spellcasters are effectively useless against him, in not a fun way. Seriously, I can't see a spellcaster being able to do a single thing during such a combat, between magic immunity, legendary resistance, Globe of Invulnerability, extremely high saves + magic resistance, and unlimited counterspell...
Regeneration should always have a way to block it, otherwise there is really no point having it and the monster should instead just have higher hit points.
Psychic Burst should be a Wisdom saving throw as it is a fear effect which is always a Wis save in 5e.
Magic Weapons is a redundant feature, his weapons do Force damage so "magical" vs "non-magical" makes no different at all.
Spellcasting as a Legendary Action should require 3 Actions.
The hit points look much too high, especially considering he has both regeneration and a legendary action to heal himself.
I tried looking for someone who made an Elder Evil adjacent creature to reference but no one has made one so far, so I'm kinda going off thin air for this one. I genuinely appreciate your suggestions, as I'm a fairly new dm/homebrewer as well. I will respond top to bottom.
Points 1 - 3: I'll definitely nerf the saving throws a bit!
Point 4: Most likely decades/centuries as he is literal starlight lmao.
Point 5: Would lowering his immunity to spells to lv 5 or below, as well as make it magical resistance balance it out a bit more? Or would i need to change it a bit more?
Point 6: Will definitely reword, and I think that works a bit better as well for his attacks.
Point 7 and 8: will indeed fix
Point 9: Given the cost of the Spellcasting, how many legendary actions should he have total? just to make sure I'm not absolutely squishing my party during the boss fight.
Thank you for taking the time to read through my stat block! I really appreciate the advice.
Thank you for the advice! I have a few clarifying questions:
1) if spellcasters are useless to caiphon in the not fun way, how would i change him to be able to let spellcasters harm him? drop a few of the redundancies with immunity/resistance?
2) how would one block his regeneration? im open to the idea but dont quite know how to work it.
3) what would you recommend the max hp for him be? I want him to be a liiiiittle beefier because he's moreso the fallback bbeg that they are all aware will indeed kill them if they so much as trip while fighting him, but not so beefy its impossible.
Thank you again for the criticism! I really appreciate it :)
1) if spellcasters are useless to caiphon in the not fun way, how would i change him to be able to let spellcasters harm him? drop a few of the redundancies with immunity/resistance?
I'd bring down his saving throws to ~ +15-+16, and get rid of his magic immunity all together. That would leave him with Counterspell - which can be interesting to try to avoid, Globe of Invulnerability - which can be a good "ahha!" moment for them to figure out, and Legendary Resistances - as a backup to avoid him getting crippled by something.
For the Regeneration, make it so it doesn't function if he takes Radiant or Necrotic damage, since he's vulnerable to those anyway.
For hitpoints ~200 per player character is probably good enough to feel beefy.
So, for some crazy reason, my dnd party has gotten me making a stat sheet for Caiphon the Elder Evil. (hover over text) Here's my best attempt at it with the information there is on him. Any feedback is welcome!
I can't really talk numbers as I'm not familiar with such high CR creatures but from a design stand point I would add some sort of movement to his legendary actions and add some effect to Arcane Cudgel or Arcane Blast to make them more unique abilities. At the moment Cudgel is just a melee arcane blast but this is a gargantuan star like creature! Surely more happens if it gets close enough to melee you 😵💫
Your Saving Throws are a bit high, even for CR 30. I could see the Wisdom being 18, but not that and both Int and CHarisma. Compare with Aspect of Tiamat.
Darkvision is high as well.
Your passive perception is also a bit high, but not unreasonaly so.
Discorporation should list a value, or at least a range We talking days, years, centuries?
That regeneration is very high, particularly without an exception. Particularlly as you made him immune to spells of 6th or lower level stopping things like Chill Touch. That basically leaves a Wish spell. If this was his only defensive ability, fine. But combined with the legendary resistance and magical immunity it is too much. Limit it in some way or drop the Immunity or drop the regeneration.
Multi-Attack reads weird. Rewrite it to clarify 3 blasts + spell OR 3 cudgels plus spell. Honestly, it should probably 3 attacks OR 1 attack plus spell, he is already a bit powerful for attack
Psychic Blast looks like it is not a ranged attack, but instead an area spell. Fix it
Counterspell should not be at will. Make it 5x day. Note, with +17 Arcana even not upcast he just needs to roll a 2 in order to counterspell something.
Legendary Spellcasting should cost more than 2 actions. At least 3 actions, if not 5, given how he can make attacks and cast spells normally. Right now he can do 3 attacks and cast a spell and do reactions for Counterspell AND cast two more spells during the same round.
Counterspell is also a reaction, not an action.
If think your passive perception math is off
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Notes:
Fly Speed should include "(hover)"
He should not be resistant to Force damage, most high-level Arcane spells deal Force damage.
All his DC should be the same (it just makes running the monster so much easier).
Spellcasters are effectively useless against him, in not a fun way. Seriously, I can't see a spellcaster being able to do a single thing during such a combat, between magic immunity, legendary resistance, Globe of Invulnerability, extremely high saves + magic resistance, and unlimited counterspell...
Regeneration should always have a way to block it, otherwise there is really no point having it and the monster should instead just have higher hit points.
Psychic Burst should be a Wisdom saving throw as it is a fear effect which is always a Wis save in 5e.
Magic Weapons is a redundant feature, his weapons do Force damage so "magical" vs "non-magical" makes no different at all.
Spellcasting as a Legendary Action should require 3 Actions.
The hit points look much too high, especially considering he has both regeneration and a legendary action to heal himself.
I tried looking for someone who made an Elder Evil adjacent creature to reference but no one has made one so far, so I'm kinda going off thin air for this one. I genuinely appreciate your suggestions, as I'm a fairly new dm/homebrewer as well. I will respond top to bottom.
Points 1 - 3: I'll definitely nerf the saving throws a bit!
Point 4: Most likely decades/centuries as he is literal starlight lmao.
Point 5: Would lowering his immunity to spells to lv 5 or below, as well as make it magical resistance balance it out a bit more? Or would i need to change it a bit more?
Point 6: Will definitely reword, and I think that works a bit better as well for his attacks.
Point 7 and 8: will indeed fix
Point 9: Given the cost of the Spellcasting, how many legendary actions should he have total? just to make sure I'm not absolutely squishing my party during the boss fight.
Thank you for taking the time to read through my stat block! I really appreciate the advice.
Thank you for the advice! I have a few clarifying questions:
1) if spellcasters are useless to caiphon in the not fun way, how would i change him to be able to let spellcasters harm him? drop a few of the redundancies with immunity/resistance?
2) how would one block his regeneration? im open to the idea but dont quite know how to work it.
3) what would you recommend the max hp for him be? I want him to be a liiiiittle beefier because he's moreso the fallback bbeg that they are all aware will indeed kill them if they so much as trip while fighting him, but not so beefy its impossible.
Thank you again for the criticism! I really appreciate it :)
I'd bring down his saving throws to ~ +15-+16, and get rid of his magic immunity all together. That would leave him with Counterspell - which can be interesting to try to avoid, Globe of Invulnerability - which can be a good "ahha!" moment for them to figure out, and Legendary Resistances - as a backup to avoid him getting crippled by something.
For the Regeneration, make it so it doesn't function if he takes Radiant or Necrotic damage, since he's vulnerable to those anyway.
For hitpoints ~200 per player character is probably good enough to feel beefy.
I have 5 (maybe 6 depending on availability down the line) players, so i feel the ~1k health abides by that rule?
the regen tip is very helpful and makes quite a bit of sense
and thank you for the tweak suggestions! ill be posting a updated version in the near future!