Okay so I have a one shot session on Sunday the party consists of 5-10 level 3 PC’s, this is the largest group I have ever had the pleasure of DMing for. Any suggestions on what CR that can be used for the encounter, also 4 of these players are new or returning so something that’s difficult enough to keep them interested but not too difficult to that they lose interest would be appreciated.
Thank you in advance for the help and suggestions.
CR is a rough measure of difficulty, but there's a lot of factors that adjust how difficult it will be, such as the action economy, and factors like movement speed and flight.
If your target is between what's classified as "Medium" and "Hard", you may consider the following:
5 characters:
(8) CR 1/4 creatures: Boars, Drow, Giant Centipedes, Goblins, Skeletons, Sprites, Swarms of Rats, Wolves, Zombies, etc.
(5) CR 1/2 creatures: Cockatrice, Giant Wasps, Gnolls, Grey Ooze, Hobgoblins, Magmin, Rust Monsters, Shadows (probably go down to 3 Shadows, or you might get a TPK), Worgs.
(13) CR 1/4 creatures: Boars, Drow, Giant Centipedes, Goblins, Skeletons, Sprites, Swarms of Rats, Wolves, Zombies, etc.
(10) CR 1/2 creatures: Cockatrice, Giant Wasps, Gnolls, Grey Ooze, Hobgoblins, Magmin, Rust Monsters, Shadows (probably go down to 3 Shadows, or you might get a TPK), Worgs.
(3) CR2 creatures: Ghasts, Giant Boars, Gibbering Mouthers, Griffons, Ogres, Swarms of Poisonous Snakes, Wererats (If your party has had the chance to acquire silvered weapons, or has magical attacks),
Adjust encounters up or down accordingly depending on how many players you have, and how much trouble they're having with the encounters. If you start a little lighter, then ramp it up, you should be able to avoid an accidental TPK.
I think your bigger issue is going to be keeping everyone interested. 10 PCs (some of whom are new and won’t know what they’re doing) plus the DM means during combat a player could easily be waiting a half hour between turns. You might want to see if someone else would also DM and break the group in half.
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Okay so I have a one shot session on Sunday the party consists of 5-10 level 3 PC’s, this is the largest group I have ever had the pleasure of DMing for. Any suggestions on what CR that can be used for the encounter, also 4 of these players are new or returning so something that’s difficult enough to keep them interested but not too difficult to that they lose interest would be appreciated.
Thank you in advance for the help and suggestions.
CR is a rough measure of difficulty, but there's a lot of factors that adjust how difficult it will be, such as the action economy, and factors like movement speed and flight.
If your target is between what's classified as "Medium" and "Hard", you may consider the following:
5 characters:
(8) CR 1/4 creatures: Boars, Drow, Giant Centipedes, Goblins, Skeletons, Sprites, Swarms of Rats, Wolves, Zombies, etc.
(5) CR 1/2 creatures: Cockatrice, Giant Wasps, Gnolls, Grey Ooze, Hobgoblins, Magmin, Rust Monsters, Shadows (probably go down to 3 Shadows, or you might get a TPK), Worgs.
(3) CR 1 creatures: Animated Armor, Bugbears, Deathdogs, Dire Wolves, Ghouls, Giant Spiders, Harpies, Lions, Specters, Tigers.
10 Characters:
(13) CR 1/4 creatures: Boars, Drow, Giant Centipedes, Goblins, Skeletons, Sprites, Swarms of Rats, Wolves, Zombies, etc.
(10) CR 1/2 creatures: Cockatrice, Giant Wasps, Gnolls, Grey Ooze, Hobgoblins, Magmin, Rust Monsters, Shadows (probably go down to 3 Shadows, or you might get a TPK), Worgs.
(6) CR 1 creatures: Animated Armor, Bugbears, Deathdogs, Dire Wolves, Ghouls, Giant Spiders, Harpies, Lions, Specters, Tigers.
(3) CR2 creatures: Ghasts, Giant Boars, Gibbering Mouthers, Griffons, Ogres, Swarms of Poisonous Snakes, Wererats (If your party has had the chance to acquire silvered weapons, or has magical attacks),
Or for a Hard final fight:
(3) CR3 creatures: Basilisk, Giant Scorpions, Hell Hounds, Manticores, Mummies, Werewolves, Wights, Winter Wolfs.
Adjust encounters up or down accordingly depending on how many players you have, and how much trouble they're having with the encounters. If you start a little lighter, then ramp it up, you should be able to avoid an accidental TPK.
Thank you for this it helped a lot.
I think your bigger issue is going to be keeping everyone interested. 10 PCs (some of whom are new and won’t know what they’re doing) plus the DM means during combat a player could easily be waiting a half hour between turns. You might want to see if someone else would also DM and break the group in half.