I'm a new DM running a campaign for the first time, and I really want to have an encounter with a single, powerful enemy that the party must work together to overcome. Problem is, the party currently has six members, and I'm not sure what monster I could use for this. The book recommends a monster with Challenge Rating 2 for a group of six 1st-level PCs, but most of the CR 2 creatures can drop a level 1 PC in a single hit (often doing enough damage to kill them outright) I could use a CR 1 monster, but then I worry that the PCs will kill it before it gets a chance to do anything. I could fudge the monster's damage rolls so it always leaves the PCs one or two HPs from falling, but I feel like my players would catch on pretty quick if I did that. Any suggestions?
D&D 5E Help balancing solo encounters for a party of six
iserith
Magic Wordsmith
You're going to need a CR 3 for the challenge to be of Medium difficulty, CR 4 for Hard, CR 5 for Deadly. But even "Deadly" doesn't mean someone will die, only that it's possible.
I'd recommend a Deadly monster that has some tricks that can be exploited to reduce the difficulty. A flesh golem has an aversion to fire, for example, so if the PCs are able to learn this before the encounter, they can prepare accordingly and set it up where the golem almost always has disadvantage on attacks. You can add something like this to any monster. Some terrain the PCs can take advantage of may also be good.
Alternatively, you can choose a Deadly monster who has better things to do than swat at flies because he, she, or it has another goal to pursue. Success in the challenge is preventing the monster from achieving the goal. Attacks on the PCs in this case would be incidental since the monster is using its action every round (or almost every round) to work toward said goal.
I'd recommend a Deadly monster that has some tricks that can be exploited to reduce the difficulty. A flesh golem has an aversion to fire, for example, so if the PCs are able to learn this before the encounter, they can prepare accordingly and set it up where the golem almost always has disadvantage on attacks. You can add something like this to any monster. Some terrain the PCs can take advantage of may also be good.
Alternatively, you can choose a Deadly monster who has better things to do than swat at flies because he, she, or it has another goal to pursue. Success in the challenge is preventing the monster from achieving the goal. Attacks on the PCs in this case would be incidental since the monster is using its action every round (or almost every round) to work toward said goal.
Okay, that would be perfect.
Sword of Spirit
Legend
Yes, if a monster is as challenging as you want, it is probably going to be able to one-shot 1st level PCs if it is targeting them. The game is especially swingy at low levels. My 3rd level party has spent a lot of time at the first few levels, because I use an altered XP chart. Deaths have happened.
Satyrn
First Post
Yeah, I wouldn't fudge. Instead, modify the monster ahead of time so that its attacks are weaker. And while you're at it, increase the monster's hit points significantly.
I also like giving monsters an interesting way to heal quickly, because it's a way to fudge hit points without actually fudging them. I've had devils who heal fully when standing in fire, for example, and demons who have a recharging attack that lets them heal 20 hp if they hit. I find this works best when the healing is significant enough to make the players want to stop it happening again, and there's a way the players can try to stop it (don't let the devil stand in the fire, don't let that demon's attack hit anyone, etc.).
I honestly don't feel like a health buff is necessary. A Killer Whale (CR 3) Has 90 HP, and most of my players will deal about 1d8+3 = 7.5 damage per hit. Divide the HP, and you get 12 hits, which assuming the PCs hit about 50% of the time, means 24 attacks (or four rounds) to kill the whale. That seems about right.
Greenstone.Walker
Adventurer
6 characters will murder your monster. For every one of its actions they have six (or more, if features like Action Surge are used).
I suggest you make it a multi-part monster, with multiple actions of multiple initiative counts, steadily losing actions as the PCs do more damage to it.
For example, a four armed demon with four attacks, each attack on a different initiative number. When the PCs have done, say, 25 points of damage to it, it loses one arm and one attack. 25 HP for the next arm (but the damage for the first arm doesn't carry over) and so on. When all the arms are gone, a ghostly figure bursts out of the corpse of the creature and attacks a final time.
Effectively, the characters are fighting five different creatures but it looks like one big creature and feels epic.
I suggest you make it a multi-part monster, with multiple actions of multiple initiative counts, steadily losing actions as the PCs do more damage to it.
For example, a four armed demon with four attacks, each attack on a different initiative number. When the PCs have done, say, 25 points of damage to it, it loses one arm and one attack. 25 HP for the next arm (but the damage for the first arm doesn't carry over) and so on. When all the arms are gone, a ghostly figure bursts out of the corpse of the creature and attacks a final time.
Effectively, the characters are fighting five different creatures but it looks like one big creature and feels epic.
Otterscrubber
First Post
if you want a longer more dramatic fight, perhaps choose a good CR1 monster that won't one-shot your heroes, but put in some kind of mechanic to make the fight more interesting. Perhaps some altar that gives the BBEG damage resistance vs all or regeneration that can be brought down by an investigation/arcana check. But to be honest, 6 heroes will drop a CR 1 monster pretty fast. Perhaps several mechanics in play?
Or better yet, give them a tough fight against something that very well might kill them in one hit, but let them get some intel on it's capabilities so that the only way they can win is to think of something clever. Don't even bother thinking of anything yourself, just give them what looks like an un-winnable situation and see what they come up with. I have done this several times in the campaigns and I have been pleasantly surprised by the creativity of the players. In situations like this don't be too strict on the rules, if they come up with something outlandish that isn't quite covered by the rules, wave your DM wand and ad-hoc how it plays out. This has lead to some very interesting encounters in my experience. Good luck!
Or better yet, give them a tough fight against something that very well might kill them in one hit, but let them get some intel on it's capabilities so that the only way they can win is to think of something clever. Don't even bother thinking of anything yourself, just give them what looks like an un-winnable situation and see what they come up with. I have done this several times in the campaigns and I have been pleasantly surprised by the creativity of the players. In situations like this don't be too strict on the rules, if they come up with something outlandish that isn't quite covered by the rules, wave your DM wand and ad-hoc how it plays out. This has lead to some very interesting encounters in my experience. Good luck!
Quickleaf
Legend
Usually, this would call for a legendary monster (and potentially some homebrewing). However, since you've got 1st-level PCs and the lowest CR legendary monsters are Yestabrod (CR 4, OotA) and Unicorn (CR 5), you'll probably want to make your own or think outside the box.
My suggestion is a ritual arena combat with a Nilbog (CR 1, VGtM), and a whole tribe of goblin onlookers. When "slain", the nilbog can possess any of the goblins in the crowd – turning it into the new nilbog – before they are declared victorious by the chief. So the trick is the PCs need to prevent it from possessing any goblins through plot-devised magic, protection from evil, or something else. A few keys to running this "solo" encounter smoothly...
- Play up the goblin politics; the chief really wants the nilbog gone, but can't act against it directly due to the elevated place the nilbog holds in goblinoid culture (and the chief being subject to the Nilbogism trait). So the chief demands everyone follow the rules of the ritual combat strictly; if PCs start attacking the goblin crowd, that's going to forfeit the ritual combat. You'll want A LOT of goblins, far more than a fair fight, to disincentive "let's just kill them all" thinking.
- The nilbog only has 7 hit points and possessing a goblin takes an action. It's possible, depending on your party's composition & optimization (and good rolls), that they might take out the nilbog fast, leaving it playing catch-up the rest of the fight just possessing goblins. Two potential solutions here: one is to run with it and have the new nilbog use Nimble Escape to hide amid the crowd until its next turn when it can use its action for spells/attacks, while the other is to slightly cheat & give the nilbog a high initiative score (20 or so).
- Since it's easy to "kill" the goblin possessed by the nilbog, be generous with interpreting how the players can use the Ready action.
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Satyrn
First Post
Excellent. Paying attention to this now will definitely help you in the future. You may vey will be right, but if this doesn't last as long as you expect, then you will learn if you want to adjust future monsters or not.
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