D&D 5E [SPOILERS] Princes of the Apocalypse encounters and magic items

[Zelc]

Yea, looks like the mini-dungeon has enough monsters to get players to Level 2, or close to it. They might be fine if you let them level up right before hitting Oreioth.

Still, does anyone know why he has 6d8 HP? Shouldn't he have 6d6 as a Wizard? I might drop his HP down to 21 by reducing his Constitution to 9 and giving him 6d6 HD. Low-level characters might be able to blitz him down.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Yea, looks like the mini-dungeon has enough monsters to get players to Level 2, or close to it. They might be fine if you let them level up right before hitting Oreioth.

Still, does anyone know why he has 6d8 HP? Shouldn't he have 6d6 as a Wizard? I might drop his HP down to 21 by reducing his Constitution to 9 and giving him 6d6 HD. Low-level characters might be able to blitz him down.

I believe it's because all "monsters" have HD based upon their size. Medium creatures have d8s for hit dice. The game does not create NPCs using PC rules, but rather the monster rules.

 

[Tormyr]

Yea, looks like the mini-dungeon has enough monsters to get players to Level 2, or close to it. They might be fine if you let them level up right before hitting Oreioth.

Still, does anyone know why he has 6d8 HP? Shouldn't he have 6d6 as a Wizard? I might drop his HP down to 21 by reducing his Constitution to 9 and giving him 6d6 HD. Low-level characters might be able to blitz him down.

Aside from what [MENTION=7006]DEFCON 1[/MENTION] said about monster size and hit dice, monsters are built by selecting a desired hp and using the correct hit dice (d8s in this case) to get there. The hit dice are there for those who want to roll HP instead of take the average.

 

[Zelc]

Ran some numbers real fast. A party probably averages around 21.8 damage at level 1 or 2, not counting Action Surge.

Oreioth's level 3 spell slots deal 18 (Ray of Sickness), 14 (Magic Missiles), or 10.5 (Vampiric Touch). His level 2 spell slots deal 13.5 (Ray of Sickness) or 10.5 (Magic Missiles) damage. At level 2, player HP is probably 20, 17, or 14, so players should be able to survive one attack and kill Oreioth in 2 rounds. At level 1 it's really tough on the good guys because Level 2 Magic Missiles probably 1-shots them.

In any case I might still reduce his HP a bit to 6d6+12 = 33.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Ran some numbers real fast. A party probably averages around 21.8 damage at level 1 or 2, not counting Action Surge.

Oreioth's level 3 spell slots deal 18 (Ray of Sickness), 14 (Magic Missiles), or 10.5 (Vampiric Touch). His level 2 spell slots deal 13.5 (Ray of Sickness) or 10.5 (Magic Missiles) damage. At level 2, player HP is probably 20, 17, or 14, so players should be able to survive one attack and kill Oreioth in 2 rounds. At level 1 it's really tough on the good guys because Level 2 Magic Missiles probably 1-shots them.

In any case I might still reduce his HP a bit to 6d6+12 = 33.

But let's also not forget that just because someone gets 1-shotted doesn't mean it's the end, since that character also has likely 3 to 5 rounds before actually dying due to all the Death saves they need to roll. And while I can't speak for your party specifically, many times parties are going to have one to three characters with Cure Wounds or Healing Word at their disposal. So while a character might get 1-shotted by the mage... later in that same round that PC gets brought back up to like 4 to 8 HP from a healing spell that gets cast on him. Then throw in the potential for a Rogue that stealths into the room first to get a sneak attack off and knock a bunch of HP off the mage at the top, or any other potential tactics... you really can't say for certain that just because the mini-boss is a Level 6 that it's going to be a TPK.

I mean, at the end of the day if you want to drop the HP regardless just to make sure a Level 1 party won't get dropped, then best of luck to you. My only recommendation is to just not rely on out-of-game "combat math" running-of-the-numbers to try and predict what is going to happen... because more often than not little of what you guesstimate is going to end up being right. There are just way too many variables in the game.

 

[phitio]

Oh, I'm just using this guy in my campaign. I love to take these marginal characters and create stories that branches and connect and add flavour and humour to the storytelling.
The party encountered him when they were level 10.
In my story he was just forced by a evil and more powerful boss to function as a smokescreen, while using the inner parts of his lair.
I created a backstory for him: his demeanor is justified by a mental illness and also added in some misunderstandings that created a weird bond between him and one of the party members.
The story was meant to create some funny interactions in the session, but unexpectedly it grew almost on its own. Now this character is still alive, under custody in the cellar of a temple, while the party is trying to extort a ransom from his family.
I really don't know where it will go, but it has been a ton of fun till now.

Have a nice day