D&D 5E Banshee is Nasty!

[YourSwordIsMine]

A cleric with Sacred Flame is the zombie-finisher. With their horrible Dex saves, the cleric can focus on the ones who won't stay down and generally finish off one per round.

I play a Cleric of Life in my groups current campaign. Sacred Flame would be great if the DM (who makes all rolls in the open) would stop making his Dex saves... I nearly died (for a second time) because I couldn't finish off a zombie and it moved and slammed me to 0hps... Luckily the rest of the party was able to kill it before it knelt and feasted on my brains...

I must admit, we kind of live in fear of Zombies if I cant turn them on the initial round of combat... They have torn us up for the first 3 levels so far... The only thing more deadly we've encountered so far has been Insect Swarms... My Clerics first death was to a crit from a Swarm... 8d4 is a death sentence...

 

[Kalshane]

I play a Cleric of Life in my groups current campaign. Sacred Flame would be great if the DM (who makes all rolls in the open) would stop making his Dex saves... I nearly died (for a second time) because I couldn't finish off a zombie and it moved and slammed me to 0hps... Luckily the rest of the party was able to kill it before it knelt and feasted on my brains...

I must admit, we kind of live in fear of Zombies if I cant turn them on the initial round of combat... They have torn us up for the first 3 levels so far... The only thing more deadly we've encountered so far has been Insect Swarms... My Clerics first death was to a crit from a Swarm... 8d4 is a death sentence...

Ouch. Ok, I'll rephrase. "Zombies with their terrible Reflex saves SHOULD be easily dispatched with Sacred Flame, if your DM isn't blessed by the Dice Gods."

 

[Tanaka Chris]

I don't get it
Is the Banshee a CR15 creature?

How does a party of 5 6th level players take one out then?
I thought the CR rating meant 4 15th level adventurers could take it out?
Or is it 4 15th level players would mop the floor with her?

 

[DaveDash]

I don't get it
Is the Banshee a CR15 creature?

How does a party of 5 6th level players take one out then?
I thought the CR rating meant 4 15th level adventurers could take it out?
Or is it 4 15th level players would mop the floor with her?

The Banshee I made is an upgrade on the official version which is CR4 I think. My group was Level 13 when they came across her.

 

[evilbob]

They moped up the remaining zombies,

I imagine the PCs walking around like teenagers, complaining to the zombies about how hard their lives are, and otherwise just feeling depressed until the zombies actually died from it.

Or perhaps they drove a Vespa around, running over all the zombies?!?

Ok, ok, but on-topic: you're not kidding. I first saw the banshee when I was looking it up for one of the published adventures. They were wise to not even include the stat block in the writeup, because fighting it means pretty much death for at least one or two PCs in a low level group.

 

[Mercule]

I just read the thread title as "Banshees Are Tasty". Not good.

 

[jrowland]

But, wow, Banshee is NASTY.

True Dat

 

[iserith]

I like to imagine that the threat of particular monsters, especially those with what amount to death effects, are intended to be adequately telegraphed by the DM prior to the encounter. So if I'm going to have the threat of a banshee in my game, I'm going to leave clues around that the players can potentially use to even the odds if they're perceptive and smart about it e.g. local legends, hills that permanently echo the banshee's wail when the wind blows just so, a crazed traveler on the road who looked upon the banshee's visage and is so terrified as to be insane now, etc.

Done well, this raises the tension, provides opportunities for dramatic irony, and allows for players to make plans that increase their odds of survival and victory.