D&D 5E Balancing party vs NPC encounter

[CarlosDosBrickos]

I have a party of 6 4th level characters being pursued by a vengeful NPC.

I want my NPC to be scary, tough, and (hopefully) a recurring villain. I see him as making hit and run attacks, focusing on one target at a time, trying to whittle the party down, then vanishing.

I've gone for a wood elf level 8 archfey blade pact warlock. He has Misty Escape, Dimension Door, Greater Invisibility etc; lots of sneaky tricks in his locker that should help him get out of the fight if things go badly for him. I can team him up with some mooks to run interference.

I'm a bit concerned though: he might be too deadly offensively (I could give him Blight: 8d8 damage against a single target!), and with only 67 hp too easy to take down in a single round if the PCs focus fire. I'm really not too sure how to balance this encounter properly.

Can anyone offer any advice?

 

[ExploderWizard]

Best advice for an NPC you want to be scary and recurring:

NEVER HAVE HIM/HER ENGAGE THE PCs IN COMBAT !!

Your 8th level NPC will get ground into meal by a party of six level fours.

In order to be truly frightening, the players have to want to NOT encounter him. A level 16-18 NPC fully geared for bear might be enough. Anything less than 1 shot 1 kill per PC will NOT deter them from clamping down and fighting to the bitter end.

Any attempts to orchestrate combats between said villains and PCs then just have them magically escape at some point will just irritate the players to no end.

Players are rabid dogs once engaged. The ONLY thing they understand and respect is getting their faces stomped into the mud so bad just the memory of that npc hurts.

 

[GMMichael]

Yeah, 6 PCs is a lot for anyone. And why would someone in his right mind (aha!) want to fight six people at the same time? Unless he's an ogre...

The recurring villain does a much better job of surviving if his slights against the heroes are social or behind-the-scenes instead of combat related.

 

[steeldragons]

EW's suggestion is, of course, the best way to go. There should be no question that this recurring villain NPC could [and would!] stomp the whole party without breaking a sweat.

Couple other things to keep in mind/you might want to try:
1. There is no "balance" with the recurring Big Bad. Don't try. Don't bother. THe PC's need to figure out their plans and thwart them, while maintaining as much life, and collecting as much treasure, as possible. Recurring toe-to-toe with the big bad gets old. They shouldn't have to until (or very near) the climactic finale.

2. Who is this villain anyway? You want them to be scary? Make the party figure out who is behind this/that horror/atrocity/evil scheme on their own. They should have to hunt and figure things out, all without knowing who their adversary is...THAT'S what's scary and creates tension, "The Unknown."

Obviously, if they've already engaged this guy, then that might not be an option, but you could have him take/play a backseat in future encounters...put one of his tougher/more fightery minions in charge. Play up the wood elf warlock as some other cowardly minion who stays in the rear and runs at the first sign of defeat. Cast a few spells, call up an invocation or two, throw around some [not ideally placed] eldritch blasts, do a little damage...he's testing the waters. Seeing what these pests are really about. Then, *poof* away. When they get to the final showdown and realize:

"YOU'RE behind all of this?! But...But you're just some hedge-mage hack!"
"Am I, indeed? <invocation of crazy death for everyone>"

3. With #2 in mind, Agents. The Big Bad shouldn't be doing anything themselves...or at least not right away. They should have a few moderately to very much tougher "lieutenants" out controlling/directing their mooks and minions. The party very well may come to the conclusion that the[se] second-third-fourth-in-commands are the ultimate mastermind...but they will be mistaken and eventually (if they live long enough) figure that out.

The "Oh $#!t!" moment of revelation on players' faces when they realize the really tough guy they've been hunting/fighting through the campaign world for the better part of a year (or more), maybe lost some of their friends and/or allies before finally taking down, ISN'T the Evil Power behind everything is one of the simple priceless joys of DMing.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=63619]CarlosDosBrickos[/MENTION]

Well, you've got some D&D homework to do over the holidays

I second what's been said about making the villain a REAL threat stats-wise. Using PC classes to make NPCs usually creates monsters with low defense and high offense which will get pounded into the ground by the PCs. So you'll want to come up with a reason to bolster the villain's defense when using PC rules to create him/her. Remember, in the DMG you calculate CR by taking the average of a Defense CR and Offense CR... but if a villain is intended to be encountered solo you need them to have a minimum number of HP to survive 1-2 alpha strike rounds by the PCs.

Regardless of whether your villain is a CR 23 Lich or a CR 1/8 Noble, there are ways you can do the "recurring villain" trope successfully. You'll want to pay attention to 2 things: Opportunities to Interact Without Violence & Keeping the Villain Alive.

Copy/pasting from my 4e DM cheat sheet...

Opportunities to Interact Without Violence

• Comm. device (e.g. letters, sending stone) 
• Social function (e.g. funeral, court)
• Proxy (e.g. henchmen, familiar, hostage) 
• Greater threat (e.g. disaster, nastier villain) 
• Duty/loved one (e.g. oath, sibling)

Keeping the Villain Alive

• A fate worse than death Ambiguous villain
• It was a decoy
• Dire repercussions to killing villain 
• Foolproof escape foreshadowed 
• Indirect confrontation
• Special condition required to kill 
• There was no body... 
• Transformation upon death
• Unknown villain

Assuming you're using the PC creation rules to make this villain (which it sounds like is how you want to do it)...

For your mystical elven sniper I would recommend giving him benefit of the feats (if you haven't already done so) Sharpshooter and Skulker.

I would also give him Expertise in Stealth (several monsters have this).

I'd double his range with bows (justify it as a unique feat, a rare elven subspecies, a magic bow, or boon from his warlock patron).

I'd also do whatever you can to justify bumping up his damage with a bow. High Dex, bracers of archery, an oathbow, etc.

Do your CR calculations, but make his HP higher than normal. If you're one of those 3e players who insists that NPCs and PCs have to follow the same rules and have all the same options available to each other, then figure out some way you can justify this (e.g. Amulet of health, an epic boon granted earlier than 20th level, etc).

Keep those utility/defense spells that you selected, and consider turning one of them into a reaction. Yes, that break the "normal" PC creation rules. Be creative and justify it however you see fit.

What this will do is give you a really scary sniper. Since his alpha strike is so good, he should mostly be gunning for NPC targets and only turn his ire toward the PCs when they interfere. A big part of fighting him should be having to move from cover to cover, crossing a significant distance and dealing with hazards in between. These could be minions, but it would be even more interested if they were hazards (e.g. mobs, traps, poisonous geysers) that he exploits. I'd also have his sniper perch hard to reach, and there you could have a lieutenant monster lurking in wait in the lower levels of the bellowed (or whatever).

Good luck!

 

[Riley37]

What if he tends to engage from long distance, and flee when PCs get close enough to counterattack?

PC parties tend to have huge burst firepower *at close quarters*. Sure, they can close with him, but can they all arrive at the same time? If not, then the first one to arrive is fighting one-on-one. And possibly running into traps; for example, he's sniping from the top of a tower, and he's sabotaged the staircase, because he's planning to escape via a rope hanging down the outside of the tower, or by magic.

"You enter the tower's ground floor. There are caltrops, and a spiral wooden staircase. This floor is illuminated by the light through the doorway, but the stairs up are in darkness. At the top of the stairs, you see a trapdoor to the tower top; it's closed."
"I carefully step around the caltrops, then charge up the stairs, using normal move plus Dash."
"Perception check, at Disadvantage for darkness, DC 15. No? Okay, you move the first 10' at half speed to avoid the caltrops, then you charge up two flights of stairs, then the steps break under your weight. You fall, onto the caltrops. Make a CON saving throw against poison. Yes, you can apply Inspiration, that was wise! Now make a DEX save to avoid falling chunks of staircase, at Disadvantage while prone. No? Meh, it's just 1d4 bludgeoning." This should not kill the PC, but it could add up to maybe half their HP total. The poison on the caltrops could be cheap and weak... it still adds to the question of "how bad will it be, next time".

And then you get the who-knows-what game: how does he know where the PCs are, or will be, to set up an ambush position? Can they predict his next attack? There's a thread about ruthless villain strategy.

With sufficient investigation, the PCs can find the carpenters who had, the previous day, taken a very odd, but very lucrative job. They started at the top of a tower staircase, and, working their way down from the top, sawed halfway through each step of the top 10' of stairs. They were paid in in gold coins with Elvish stamps. Sure, they'd trade one of those coins for a locally-stamped gold coin. Now the PCs have an item handled by the villain. Time to hire a diviner!

 

[Authweight]

If you want a way to increase his hp while staying within the realm of PC builds, you could give him max hp per level. That would give him a little bit more durability.

 

[CarlosDosBrickos]

Many thanks folks, some extremely useful advice and fun ideas.