I am currently in a group where we are about to go up against some hags, specifically a Night Hag coven. We are very under powered and will likely tpk, however we are kind of stuck with it at the moment (one of our party has been captured by the coven) so if we are going to survive do something clever to get out of it. In our chat outside the game we thought it may be a good idea to disguise self into a vampire (Specifically Strahd) and a vampire spawn (only 2 of us have disguise self) in attempt to intimidate and free them that way. We think this is our best bet to escape, but this brings me to my question:
How would you go about building an encounter specifically between monsters? Obviously it depends on the monsters involved, the number on each side of the fight, abilities, etc., but is there a general rule of thumb say: x number CR 7s should be decent against 1 CR 15? Another scenario would be if I wanted my group to witness a fight between an ancient dragon and giants and I wanted it to be a close battle, how many giants should I include?
And a follow up question, how would a night hag coven do against Strahd and a single vampire spawn? Lol
There isn't really a way to truly compare monsters in a fight against each other, but here's one possible comparison:
The adjusted XP value of the night hag coven (3x CR 7 creatures) is ~17,500
The adjusted XP value of Strahd + 1 spawn (1 CR 15 + 1 CR 5 creature) is ~22,000.
For trying a fight against each other, and assuming the fight does not involve one of Strahds environmental weaknesses (sunlight, running water), I'd give the edge to Strahd: Regeneration, hit point max reduction (and healing) plus summoning other creatures and the hags not resisting his necrotic damage, plus legendary resistance, and the fact that the hags lose most of their spellcasting when one of them dies.
That said, they might not kill each other, given Strahds mist form and the hags etherealness, either could escape prior to their deaths.
I am currently in a group where we are about to go up against some hags, specifically a Night Hag coven. We are very under powered and will likely tpk, however we are kind of stuck with it at the moment (one of our party has been captured by the coven) so if we are going to survive do something clever to get out of it. In our chat outside the game we thought it may be a good idea to disguise self into a vampire (Specifically Strahd) and a vampire spawn (only 2 of us have disguise self) in attempt to intimidate and free them that way. We think this is our best bet to escape, but this brings me to my question:
How would you go about building an encounter specifically between monsters? Obviously it depends on the monsters involved, the number on each side of the fight, abilities, etc., but is there a general rule of thumb say: x number CR 7s should be decent against 1 CR 15? Another scenario would be if I wanted my group to witness a fight between an ancient dragon and giants and I wanted it to be a close battle, how many giants should I include?
And a follow up question, how would a night hag coven do against Strahd and a single vampire spawn? Lol
Thanks in Advance!
There isn't really a way to truly compare monsters in a fight against each other, but here's one possible comparison:
The adjusted XP value of the night hag coven (3x CR 7 creatures) is ~17,500
The adjusted XP value of Strahd + 1 spawn (1 CR 15 + 1 CR 5 creature) is ~22,000.
For trying a fight against each other, and assuming the fight does not involve one of Strahds environmental weaknesses (sunlight, running water), I'd give the edge to Strahd: Regeneration, hit point max reduction (and healing) plus summoning other creatures and the hags not resisting his necrotic damage, plus legendary resistance, and the fact that the hags lose most of their spellcasting when one of them dies.
That said, they might not kill each other, given Strahds mist form and the hags etherealness, either could escape prior to their deaths.
XP is also what I was thinking (since it is also the method for balancing an encounter against PCs).