D&D 5E First time DM - One shot combat with Homebrew weapons

So I've designed a one shot and I am planning on having three main instances of combat. I'd like some help planning that since this is my first time trying to DM. Ive attached the last iteration of the campaign in word doc, but here's some important info:

The PCs will be level 7. I haven't limited their class choices, but I have laid out some magical weapons that i have designed to have neat effects, but nothing game breaking. I confirmed with one of my DM buddies that they'd work well for the levels and setting.

For first combat, I want it to have hordes of enemies coming at them, small creatures without any set hit point value solely there to give the PCs a chance to learn and figure out their weapon abilities (ex: one pulls nearby enemies closer and another pushes away a tad). I was planning on just free lancing the quantity of these hordes until I threw in a couple brute enemies to really sink their teeth into. If there's four PCs at level 7 with a little bit of a bonus with these magical weapons, what CR should I look for in this encounter? Or quantity of enemies? It's a cave-type setting where any enemy they see is basically going to be shadow or dark mass versions of the real creatures.

Second combat will be short and more distraction. They'll be in a puzzle room and they'll be holding enemies at Bay while one or two party members try and stop a trap-triggered poison from killing them all. For this I had planned a free brutes or one large enemy. Just a body to occupy two or three of them. I've debated taking this out if they're moving slowly and just have them solve the puzzle in the room. Wanted to leave myself options...

The final combat has the boss. This will be almost solely focused on taking out Mr. Boss man with I think two ranged baddies off to the side. It'll start impossible and I'll try and get them close to death. Once that happens, a story-driven event kicks in and the boss is killable now through magical means. What CR would I look at for a single opponent boss against four level 7 PCs? He'll ideally be a shadow/dark humanoid enemy so I'm wondering what I should model him after. Any knights or abyssal beings that would be close to this?

If it's a reference that you suggest or specifics, that's fine. I'm just kind of lost with building encounters and I really want this to go well. Being my first bout at DMing, they'll be patient, which is why I'm focusing more on story and encouraging them to get into the RP. Our sessions usually last 3-4 hours so I've gotta cram a lot of stuff into that time.

I think you're making it hard on yourself with higher level characters for your first time. I'd go with a local goblin cave to be cleared or something. I wish you apl the best, but my advice is don't be hard on yourself if you get tripped up as it can become quite complex quite quickly.

I would also plan on the initial combat encounter and the boss encounter. Keep the others up your sleeve if you have time. Sometimes in your head you have an idea on how long things will take, but the players have completely different ideas.

Also if players are sitting around talking to npcs in town or something, dont sweat it. If they're drivong the game, theyre having fun. If you notice some starting to disengage or look bired thats when you can drive the story forward or pull out one of your reserve encounters.

Rules ive found most players are happy for you to take your time on make rulings on, but pacing is what makes people really enjoy a game

More specifically my thoughts are:

As they enter the cave/ruins give a foreboding feeling. Darkness, menacing shadows, distant sounds of your choice.

Encounter 1 could occur when someone makes a noise. You coild have waves upon waves of low level enemies. 5e works well for this. My thought is "shadow orcs". Orc like stats but the creatures appear as shadows. You can forwarn the sound that more appear to be coming as they are fighting the current lot, putting pressure on them. Keep hammering them until they start to weaken and then drop the waves. If you want to add brutes you can have large shadows with ogre stats. But not too many.

When they get to the puzzle, see how they go. If you want to add pressure you can forewarn them of the sound of more approaching hordes. If they can get through the puzzle room and feel they've avoided a fight then itll feel close (they dont know what you have planned).

The last fight i could recommend a death domain paladin from the dmg? Dont have the book at the moment but am unholy warrioir that upon death makes all his minion shadows around him evaporate could be a nice conclusion to the fight. Oh and add minions to a boss fight. Solos dont work well in 5e

Lpoppe22 said:

So I've designed a one shot and I am planning on having three main instances of combat. I'd like some help planning that since this is my first time trying to DM. Ive attached the last iteration of the campaign in word doc, but here's some important info:

The PCs will be level 7. I haven't limited their class choices, but I have laid out some magical weapons that i have designed to have neat effects, but nothing game breaking. I confirmed with one of my DM buddies that they'd work well for the levels and setting.

For first combat, I want it to have hordes of enemies coming at them, small creatures without any set hit point value solely there to give the PCs a chance to learn and figure out their weapon abilities (ex: one pulls nearby enemies closer and another pushes away a tad). I was planning on just free lancing the quantity of these hordes until I threw in a couple brute enemies to really sink their teeth into. If there's four PCs at level 7 with a little bit of a bonus with these magical weapons, what CR should I look for in this encounter? Or quantity of enemies? It's a cave-type setting where any enemy they see is basically going to be shadow or dark mass versions of the real creatures.

Second combat will be short and more distraction. They'll be in a puzzle room and they'll be holding enemies at Bay while one or two party members try and stop a trap-triggered poison from killing them all. For this I had planned a free brutes or one large enemy. Just a body to occupy two or three of them. I've debated taking this out if they're moving slowly and just have them solve the puzzle in the room. Wanted to leave myself options...

The final combat has the boss. This will be almost solely focused on taking out Mr. Boss man with I think two ranged baddies off to the side. It'll start impossible and I'll try and get them close to death. Once that happens, a story-driven event kicks in and the boss is killable now through magical means. What CR would I look at for a single opponent boss against four level 7 PCs? He'll ideally be a shadow/dark humanoid enemy so I'm wondering what I should model him after. Any knights or abyssal beings that would be close to this?

If it's a reference that you suggest or specifics, that's fine. I'm just kind of lost with building encounters and I really want this to go well. Being my first bout at DMing, they'll be patient, which is why I'm focusing more on story and encouraging them to get into the RP. Our sessions usually last 3-4 hours so I've gotta cram a lot of stuff into that time.

Click to expand...

Be aware that most folks on ENWorld (and pretty much any other public forum where file-sharing happens) will be very reluctant to open a Word document from someone unfamiliar. Viruses. I suggest uploading a PDF if you need to, or, even better, encapsulate everything you need in just a few paragraphs in your original post.

Anyhow...

Proceeding with just having read your OP, it strikes me that you're trying to cram in three tactical/puzzle combats into a 3-4 hour game, with the players running brand new 7th-level PCs they won't be totally familiar with. Frankly, I've been DMing for years and would be surprised if I could pull off such a feat!

Here's what I'd do with your outline (which I'm assuming is tailored to your groups' play style of a slightly more "railroady" leaning):

1. Hordes of enemies
Good, start with a bang! As long as you're keeping the horde of monsters to waves of about 12 critters of CR 1/4 or less (e.g. goblins), I think you'll have a good challenge for the PCs; this is based on Unearthed Arcana Encounter Building guidelines. You mention "shadow or dark mass versions of the real creatures"; if you mean the Shadow undead monster in the MM, be wary of using large numbers of Shadows which can be far deadlier than encounter building calculations will suggest.

For this combat, I'd suggest noting the hit dice of the monster you choose and writing down the HP range (e.g. 2d6 goblin equates to 2-14 hp), then improvise monster death based on "cool factor" of the PCs attacks, erring toward the lower end of that monster range.

2. Puzzle while holding monsters at bay
The only reason to play out combat in this scene (given you only have 3-4 hours) is to keep puzzle-adverse players engaged. If all the players are into puzzles, then you can just narrate them holding monsters at bay without resorting to rolling initiative again and breaking out the dice. Personally, I'd count on just having time for the puzzle, no combat here.

3. Deus ex machina
It's very hard to pull off a deus ex machina without rankling the players' feathers. They want to play the heroes, after all, not be saved by your favorite NPC or some divine light or somesuch. And, personally, I almost never do it because I want the rare 1-2 it happens in a campaign to be really really special.

That said, a reasonable challenge for your party of four 7th-level PCs would be a CR 9 monster, preferably one with legendary & lair actions. I think a Gray Slaad could serve as a reasonable starting place for a "shadow warrior" type, or a Champion or Warpriest (if you have Volo's Guide to Monsters). Depending on party's damage out put with those magic items, you may need to skew towards the higher HP range for your boss monster.

Thanks guys! I do think I've bitten off maybe a little too much and I'll trim some of it, but I'll definitely check out the suggestions.

I think narrating incoming troops or impending Doom in the puzzle room will help keep things together a bit better.

I like the idea of the death domain paladin as the final boss. Plays close to the story character I had dreamed up in my head. I also think I'm gonna move the "interjection" from the NPC to happen upon beating the boss instead of in the middle of combat. Maybe as someone is about to land the killing blow... Do the end dialogue and then give the team the option of finishing him or releasing him. Let the PCs decide.