I could use a bit of help. We recently lost a couple players, so our party is down to 3. As the DM, I though I might supplement the party with an NPC with full on character levels until we find more players. I'm hoping this will help the survivability of the group and require me to do a bit less work scaling all the encounters down in our Storm King's Thunder game.
The group is 7th level and consists of two druids (summoner and beast master) and a rogue sniper. I'm thinking they could use a good tank that can hold the focus of enemies and keep them away from the rest of the party. But I've never made one, so I thought I'd ask for guidance. If other folks have other ideas on what might be helpful, feel free to chime in.
My only request is that the character isn't too complex to run while also trying to manage the encounters. My goal is to create a character who can help supplement and support the rest of the party and not take the spotlight.
P.S. If you're in the San Jose, CA area and are looking for a game, let me know.
Barbarian with Totem warrior, bear at level 3 or Ancestral Protectors
Totem warrior with bear at 3 gives resistance to everything but psychic while raged.
Ancestral Protectors give disadvantage when an enemy attacks a creature besides the barbarian and at 6, the ability to reduce damage based on a dice roll and can invoke resistances onto the allies that are being attacked all while raged. It's circumstantial but it greatly mitigates damage your PCs will take while encouraging it to stack onto one of the highest hit die in the game.
Ancestral Guardians Barbarian is probably the best tank in the game while raging. Cavalier Fighter is the best at holding enemy's attention full time, especially in a party that has plenty of healing. It's pretty straightfoward: wear heavy armor, maximize STR and CON, hit enemies with your melee weapon and keep them within 5 feet of you.
Consider Variant Human with the Sentinel or Prodigy (Athletics, for grappling) feats.
If you're running STK, take a look at the information at the end of chapter 3 for Harshnag. He's been super useful in giving my players help, without stealing the spotlight.
Maybe let them come across a Shield Guardian? I guess a CR 7 Shield Guardian would be overpowered for a level 7 party, but you could give it the statistics of a Helmed Horror (CR 4) and call it a Lesser Shield Guardian or something.
If you're looking for definitely making it a character class NPC and you want it to be simple, the simplest there is is the fighter champion. Heavy armor, shield, sword
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Do Barbarian Totem Warrior Bear. They get resistance to pretty much everything. At 14th level enemies have disadvantage attacking players other than yourself. You'll also have a ton of health.
Having a set up like that is awesome since healing the Barbarian will make him basically unkillable. Since you have 2 druids you can have them feed the Barbarian good berries to replenish his hp. In a way each berry heals 2x what it normally would since the Barbarian is going to have resistance.
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Hi all,
I could use a bit of help. We recently lost a couple players, so our party is down to 3. As the DM, I though I might supplement the party with an NPC with full on character levels until we find more players. I'm hoping this will help the survivability of the group and require me to do a bit less work scaling all the encounters down in our Storm King's Thunder game.
The group is 7th level and consists of two druids (summoner and beast master) and a rogue sniper. I'm thinking they could use a good tank that can hold the focus of enemies and keep them away from the rest of the party. But I've never made one, so I thought I'd ask for guidance. If other folks have other ideas on what might be helpful, feel free to chime in.
My only request is that the character isn't too complex to run while also trying to manage the encounters. My goal is to create a character who can help supplement and support the rest of the party and not take the spotlight.
P.S. If you're in the San Jose, CA area and are looking for a game, let me know.
Barbarian with Totem warrior, bear at level 3 or Ancestral Protectors
Totem warrior with bear at 3 gives resistance to everything but psychic while raged.
Ancestral Protectors give disadvantage when an enemy attacks a creature besides the barbarian and at 6, the ability to reduce damage based on a dice roll and can invoke resistances onto the allies that are being attacked all while raged. It's circumstantial but it greatly mitigates damage your PCs will take while encouraging it to stack onto one of the highest hit die in the game.
You only lose if you die. Any time else, there's opportunity for a come back.
Ancestral Guardians Barbarian is probably the best tank in the game while raging. Cavalier Fighter is the best at holding enemy's attention full time, especially in a party that has plenty of healing. It's pretty straightfoward: wear heavy armor, maximize STR and CON, hit enemies with your melee weapon and keep them within 5 feet of you.
Consider Variant Human with the Sentinel or Prodigy (Athletics, for grappling) feats.
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If you're running STK, take a look at the information at the end of chapter 3 for Harshnag. He's been super useful in giving my players help, without stealing the spotlight.
Maybe let them come across a Shield Guardian? I guess a CR 7 Shield Guardian would be overpowered for a level 7 party, but you could give it the statistics of a Helmed Horror (CR 4) and call it a Lesser Shield Guardian or something.
If you're looking for definitely making it a character class NPC and you want it to be simple, the simplest there is is the fighter champion. Heavy armor, shield, sword
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Do Barbarian Totem Warrior Bear. They get resistance to pretty much everything. At 14th level enemies have disadvantage attacking players other than yourself. You'll also have a ton of health.
Having a set up like that is awesome since healing the Barbarian will make him basically unkillable. Since you have 2 druids you can have them feed the Barbarian good berries to replenish his hp. In a way each berry heals 2x what it normally would since the Barbarian is going to have resistance.