D&D 5E Keep on the Borderlands - OOC (Filled UP)
Group 1:
Tassarion to finish the round.
Already 24 dmg to the thing and it may be prone to boot.
Everyone:
As these were to be fun test campaigns a question for all out there.
Given an average CR (lvl equal to party STR), are one big creature encounters more challenging than a bunch of smaller monsters to you as a player. I know there are a bunch of factors in how you would play it, but I thinking overall, have you found overwhelming numbers more or less of a challenge than say the big bady with a bunch of attacks.
This encounter could have easily been a group of harpies, and I wonder now if that wouldn't have been a bit more of a challenge, especially with the day about to end and the group at full strength.
Tassarion to finish the round.
Already 24 dmg to the thing and it may be prone to boot.
Everyone:
As these were to be fun test campaigns a question for all out there.
Given an average CR (lvl equal to party STR), are one big creature encounters more challenging than a bunch of smaller monsters to you as a player. I know there are a bunch of factors in how you would play it, but I thinking overall, have you found overwhelming numbers more or less of a challenge than say the big bady with a bunch of attacks.
This encounter could have easily been a group of harpies, and I wonder now if that wouldn't have been a bit more of a challenge, especially with the day about to end and the group at full strength.
A group is almost always harder than a single baddie, because of the Action Economy. We go five or six times to his one. So unless that one can kill us in one hit, one baddie isn't that bad.
My opinion, if you're going to make it one baddie, make it a powerhouse. Make us use tactics to bring it down, not "we all run in and attack'. Because A, that's boring, and B, taking down something ten CR's above us is freaking epic.
My opinion, if you're going to make it one baddie, make it a powerhouse. Make us use tactics to bring it down, not "we all run in and attack'. Because A, that's boring, and B, taking down something ten CR's above us is freaking epic.
Radaceus
Adventurer
that would be Group 2!
I agree, and echo, with tglassy on all points.
also, I took into account difficult terrain for my movement ( i contemplated asking you but i didn't want to interrupt immersion, and I felt (read: meta) that it should be ...swamp= difficult), as that is a factor to make a single BBEG encounter challenging for a party. It's part of our toolkit as DMs and we must use them (< I know I learn this lesson all to often lol)
I am on my 4th campaign for 5e as DM since 2014, and I've learned that single mob single attack gets eaten alive, even if my PCs dont work cohesively they still have upper hand with numbers, so i often ramp up the CR on single mob encounters ( if they are to be challenging...nto all encounters need ot be challenging , nor do they need to be melee...but that is another discussion for the 6 or 7 per long rest...). Sometimes its just adding terrain and view obstructions, often i variant spell casting into the creature if able. That being said, I still incorporate the easy and medium encounters into the mix. It's fun when the suspect some random non threatening creature is an illusion or something more to it.
Flip side, to many enemies becomes bulky, especially at levels 5+ since your melees are now into the 2 attacks per round. 20+ kobolds are difficult maintain (I do keep enemies on a single initiative, but i will give each type of enemy its own, so that helps when rolling 20+ attacks ), but certainly challenging when utilized as per Tucker's scenario. I imagine that miniature management can be trickier in PbP?
And on the aside, you know we all thought it was a shambling mound, that could have been an interesting scenario as well if we had befriended it, though looking at their ecology I am not sure they are befriend-able
I agree, and echo, with tglassy on all points.
also, I took into account difficult terrain for my movement ( i contemplated asking you but i didn't want to interrupt immersion, and I felt (read: meta) that it should be ...swamp= difficult), as that is a factor to make a single BBEG encounter challenging for a party. It's part of our toolkit as DMs and we must use them (< I know I learn this lesson all to often lol)
I am on my 4th campaign for 5e as DM since 2014, and I've learned that single mob single attack gets eaten alive, even if my PCs dont work cohesively they still have upper hand with numbers, so i often ramp up the CR on single mob encounters ( if they are to be challenging...nto all encounters need ot be challenging , nor do they need to be melee...but that is another discussion for the 6 or 7 per long rest...). Sometimes its just adding terrain and view obstructions, often i variant spell casting into the creature if able. That being said, I still incorporate the easy and medium encounters into the mix. It's fun when the suspect some random non threatening creature is an illusion or something more to it.
Flip side, to many enemies becomes bulky, especially at levels 5+ since your melees are now into the 2 attacks per round. 20+ kobolds are difficult maintain (I do keep enemies on a single initiative, but i will give each type of enemy its own, so that helps when rolling 20+ attacks ), but certainly challenging when utilized as per Tucker's scenario. I imagine that miniature management can be trickier in PbP?
And on the aside, you know we all thought it was a shambling mound, that could have been an interesting scenario as well if we had befriended it, though looking at their ecology I am not sure they are befriend-able
Charwoman Gene
Adventurer
And while all this happened group 1 talked to a farmer.
Group 2: My fault good catch, I need something more than a number and when the real adventures begin I shall indeed have a better title for the threads and groups.
Thanks for the feedback I have been playing D&D a while, but 5e only 14 months. I remember back in the day when are 2e group faught a bunch of orcs and goblins 20+ the combat was extensive, then we'd fight a solo giant and it took half as long and was half as exciting.
I don't know the intelligence of a shambling mound, but am not above tweaking the rules should Ungar had charmed it and Lorelei beguiled it with her beauty, haha
Thanks for the feedback I have been playing D&D a while, but 5e only 14 months. I remember back in the day when are 2e group faught a bunch of orcs and goblins 20+ the combat was extensive, then we'd fight a solo giant and it took half as long and was half as exciting.
I don't know the intelligence of a shambling mound, but am not above tweaking the rules should Ungar had charmed it and Lorelei beguiled it with her beauty, haha
jmucchiello
Hero
Curious, are players reading the IC of both groups? Should they? I haven't looked at the IC for the other group as I figured we might role play "So what happened to you" in the "base" IC.
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