D&D 5E 11th Lvl Wizard and Cleric OK to Take On Two Banshees?

[Uta-napishti]

Run it! If they PCs are downed, the Banshees have no interest in killing them. They glide on. They need respect for their torment, and witnesses to spread their story far and wide. It will teach the PCs not to split the party anyway And if they resist the wails, it should be an easy encounter -- 11th level PCs are brutally strong.

 

[Quickleaf]

Just like the title says, the party split up and now they're looking at a 2v2 fight against a couple of Banshees (CR5). All the numbers say that they should be ok but I'm worried about them failing their saves on the Banshee's wail, thus dropping them immediately to 0 hp.

Yes, they were rash in splitting up but the player's are having a blast so I'd really love not to kill them because of a save or suck ability, but the banshees are both close relatives of theirs that they must kill in order to free their souls.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any help!

To make it fun – as opposed to just dice rolls – I suggest leaning into the "close relatives" bit and away from the "they must be killed to free their souls."

Instead I'd maybe come up with one or two ways the PCs can free their souls without combat, roll with whatever other ideas the players come up with, and reserve the banshee's screams for when the PCs make a bad decision / fail a check / roleplay something that antagonizes the banshees.

I think that might hit your theme better & may be more enjoyable for the players.

 

[pontinyc]

Thanks so much for all of the tremendously helpful input, everyone! It's truly appreciated. Seems like we'll be able to run it without needing to modify the encounter. This is all incredibly helpful!

 

[Clint_L]

As someone who almost TPKed a level 7 party of five with a single banshee and some unlucky rolls (four of five failed), this is indeed an encounter that the players should be cautious with, despite out levelling the banshees. If they aren't being cautious...well, setbacks make the game fun!

 

[TiQuinn]

Don't forget about Inspiration. Sounds like a perfect time to use it.

 

[Hriston]

Are they fresh? If so, they should be fine. It's only slightly over a third of their adventuring day adjusted XP budget.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

Firmly in the category of "probably easy but possibly swingy". As for the chance of the PCs dying? If they CHOSE to split up, then show no mercy. The game suffers badly from a loss of dramatic potential if there are no stakes. Without consequences, choices won't feel meaningful and victories won't feel like an accomplishment.

Just try to make the process of creating new characters as painless as possible if they fall. Unless the team has the wherewithal for resurrections - and by that level they probably should.

 

[FrogReaver]

Firmly in the category of "probably easy but possibly swingy". As for the chance of the PCs dying? If they CHOSE to split up, then show no mercy. The game suffers badly from a loss of dramatic potential if there are no stakes. Without consequences, choices won't feel meaningful and victories won't feel like an accomplishment.

Just try to make the process of creating new characters as painless as possible if they fall. Unless the team has the wherewithal for resurrections - and by that level they probably should.

On splitting up the party I’m of a different mind. DMs typically prepare encounters based on the full party all being present. Thus the reason the prepared encounters are of a particular strength is mere contrivance, or perhaps a better observation is that encounter strength is a gamist consideration.

As such, IMO, making a much to difficult encounter for half the party is the same as making a much too difficult encounter for the whole party. If you wouldn’t do it in the first instance then you shouldn’t do it in the other IMO.

 

[MarkB]

On splitting up the party I’m of a different mind. DMs typically prepare encounters based on the full party all being present. Thus the reason the prepared encounters are of a particular strength is mere contrivance, or perhaps a better observation is that encounter strength is a gamist consideration.

As such, IMO, making a much to difficult encounter for half the party is the same as making a much too difficult encounter for the whole party. If you wouldn’t do it in the first instance then you shouldn’t do it in the other IMO.

That doesn't seem right. The party should still have reason to feel nervous of splitting up.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

I would say two Banshees are too weak for two lv 11s but that wail can easily turn this into a tpk. Closest my current party got to one was also two banshees, and that was four lv 12 adventurers and three sidekicks.