So I run a homebrew 5e game and my players (there are 4 of them)are about to fight someone very important. My players are level 3 and I need to know how to balance this encounter. The NPC they are going to fight is a demon posing as a goddess. I want this fight to be quite hard but I also need it to be possible for them. If you can offer any advise, ideas or resources that would be great!!
Well, the DMG and XGtE have guides for balancing encounters, but honestly it is more of an art than a science.
I recommend picking a stat block that is roughly CR 4, throwing some minions in that die in about 2 hits (change their HP if needed) that come in a few at a time each turn, then just say that one of the attacks kill the boss when it feels most dramatic (should be somewhere between its average and max HP). Boom, dramatic fight that your players don't have to know you totally BSed your way through.
If we're talking about a single monster, then a CR 5 makes for a deadly encounter. Anything below that is going to be too easy for a boss fight. CR 5 for your party is worth 1800 XP (deadly treshold is 1600), but don't forget about the daily budget of 4800 XP. For such a boss fight to work, your players need to have fought 3000 XP worth of encounters beforehand without having a long rest, but make sure they have their last short rest before the big fight. Please use the Encounter Builder to help you.
If you're looking for a monster to fit the bill, then I recommend the cambion. It can alter self to easily pose as a goddess. You can make it half-demon (a cambion is the offspring of a mortal humanoid and a fiend) and have their demon parent be the BBEG. The discontinued Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes has rules on how to make a demonic cambion. In case you don't have access to it, just tell me which of the following demons you want as a parent and I'll modify the cambion for you if that's what you want. Bear in mind that the last four demons don't offer much due to being weaker, so I don't recommend them.
So I run a homebrew 5e game and my players (there are 4 of them)are about to fight someone very important. My players are level 3 and I need to know how to balance this encounter. The NPC they are going to fight is a demon posing as a goddess. I want this fight to be quite hard but I also need it to be possible for them. If you can offer any advise, ideas or resources that would be great!!
Well, the DMG and XGtE have guides for balancing encounters, but honestly it is more of an art than a science.
I recommend picking a stat block that is roughly CR 4, throwing some minions in that die in about 2 hits (change their HP if needed) that come in a few at a time each turn, then just say that one of the attacks kill the boss when it feels most dramatic (should be somewhere between its average and max HP). Boom, dramatic fight that your players don't have to know you totally BSed your way through.
(Disclaimer: long time player, barely DMed.)
If we're talking about a single monster, then a CR 5 makes for a deadly encounter. Anything below that is going to be too easy for a boss fight. CR 5 for your party is worth 1800 XP (deadly treshold is 1600), but don't forget about the daily budget of 4800 XP. For such a boss fight to work, your players need to have fought 3000 XP worth of encounters beforehand without having a long rest, but make sure they have their last short rest before the big fight. Please use the Encounter Builder to help you.
If you're looking for a monster to fit the bill, then I recommend the cambion. It can alter self to easily pose as a goddess. You can make it half-demon (a cambion is the offspring of a mortal humanoid and a fiend) and have their demon parent be the BBEG. The discontinued Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes has rules on how to make a demonic cambion. In case you don't have access to it, just tell me which of the following demons you want as a parent and I'll modify the cambion for you if that's what you want. Bear in mind that the last four demons don't offer much due to being weaker, so I don't recommend them.
Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player