One trope of D&D and Fantasy altogether is that the major villain which must be fought is often a spellcaster.
The "final boss" is an archmage, a high priest, the head warlock, or some such.
The 5th edition MM follows this idea. NPCs given for casters is the Archmage at CR 12. Noncasters top out at 8 for the assassin and 5 on the gladiator.
So I wondered how the "arch-warrior" or "weaponmaster" equal in threat of an archmage would be in 5th edition.
ABILITY SCORES
If you look at the archmage, its scores are STR 10, DEX 14, CON 12, INT 20, WIS 15, CHA 16.
Those scores are high. You can swap them around to make a pretty good warrior.
STR 20, DEX 16, CON 15, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 12
These scores are respectable. It makes him or her favor a javelin but the bow shot would not be bad either.
HIT POINTS
At CR 12, the archmage has a measly 99 HP due to its 18 HD and CON 12. This is pathetic compared to the expect 236-250 HP. However it always has mind blank and stoneskin on. Even if you multiply its HP by both multipliers, you don't scape 200 HP.
The "weaponmaster" would have 117 HP at its current state. Even if you simply steal Second Wind from the fighter, it's only 1d10+18 HP extra HP. There is still about 100 HP to make up. Plenty of ways to do it.
SKILLS, SAVE AND LANGAUGES
So the archmage has proficiency in 2 saving throws. And expertise in 2 skills. And six languages. Oooookay,
I guess you can copy those and rearrange them.
Saving throws: Str+9, Con +6
TRAITS
The archmage has magic resistance because... reasons. They're magic. It does make up for the HP a bit. It aslo gets spellcasting as a 18th level wizard minus the subclass stuff and Arcane Recovery.
If you make the weaponmaster get the features of a subclassless fighter that'
For Fighting style, Defense works well with plate armor and puts it at 19, 2 higher that the expected AC.
You could lazy up, throw the DM a bone, and turn Indomitable into proficiency with 3 more saves.
DAMAGE
Oh boy. The archmage gets it's damage from it's 3 cone's of cold. It needs to catch 6 target between the 3 castings to hit the damage expectation. Swapping spells or casting at higher slot would make the damage threshold easier.
Not for damage, the DMG expects 75-80 damage. It says use the average of its best 3 turns of damage. For a 18th fighter equivalent that's 5 Attack actions (3 regular, 2 surge) of 3 attacks. That's ~60 damage with a greatsword, ~48 with a longsword, ~43 with javelins, and ~35 with a lowbow. A simple 1d6 bonus damage per hit or ~15-20 bonus damage a round fixes the issue. This can be done many ways via monster traits, poison, or magic weapons.
Of course you can say "screw the fighter template" and just give the weaponmaster 4 attacks an action. Problem solved. With a greatsword, it hits like a truck.
OVERALL
Creating a nonmagical, weapons-based humanoid equal to the game's assumption for an archmage is possible. The biggest obstacle is HP. 5th edition humaniods are squishy. The second but much easier obstacle is damage.
Fixing health on a humaniod without magic is hard due to the varying amount and types of belief at each table.
As for damage, that's just based on what the DM feels like.
Your thooughs on my insights?
The "final boss" is an archmage, a high priest, the head warlock, or some such.
The 5th edition MM follows this idea. NPCs given for casters is the Archmage at CR 12. Noncasters top out at 8 for the assassin and 5 on the gladiator.
So I wondered how the "arch-warrior" or "weaponmaster" equal in threat of an archmage would be in 5th edition.
ABILITY SCORES
If you look at the archmage, its scores are STR 10, DEX 14, CON 12, INT 20, WIS 15, CHA 16.
Those scores are high. You can swap them around to make a pretty good warrior.
STR 20, DEX 16, CON 15, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 12
These scores are respectable. It makes him or her favor a javelin but the bow shot would not be bad either.
HIT POINTS
At CR 12, the archmage has a measly 99 HP due to its 18 HD and CON 12. This is pathetic compared to the expect 236-250 HP. However it always has mind blank and stoneskin on. Even if you multiply its HP by both multipliers, you don't scape 200 HP.
The "weaponmaster" would have 117 HP at its current state. Even if you simply steal Second Wind from the fighter, it's only 1d10+18 HP extra HP. There is still about 100 HP to make up. Plenty of ways to do it.
- Give it magic armor the grants the same resistances and immunties that the archmage gets from mind blank and stoneskin.
- Give it 100 more HP from an item
- Give it ~ 15 more Hit Die.
- Give it about ~100 temporary HP
- Grant it ~20 THP when it hits with a weapon attack (personal favorite)
SKILLS, SAVE AND LANGAUGES
So the archmage has proficiency in 2 saving throws. And expertise in 2 skills. And six languages. Oooookay,
I guess you can copy those and rearrange them.
Saving throws: Str+9, Con +6
TRAITS
The archmage has magic resistance because... reasons. They're magic. It does make up for the HP a bit. It aslo gets spellcasting as a 18th level wizard minus the subclass stuff and Arcane Recovery.
If you make the weaponmaster get the features of a subclassless fighter that'
- Fighting Style
- Second Wind (1d10+18 HP)
- Action Surge (two times)
- Extra Attack 3
- Indomitable (three times)
For Fighting style, Defense works well with plate armor and puts it at 19, 2 higher that the expected AC.
You could lazy up, throw the DM a bone, and turn Indomitable into proficiency with 3 more saves.
DAMAGE
Oh boy. The archmage gets it's damage from it's 3 cone's of cold. It needs to catch 6 target between the 3 castings to hit the damage expectation. Swapping spells or casting at higher slot would make the damage threshold easier.
Not for damage, the DMG expects 75-80 damage. It says use the average of its best 3 turns of damage. For a 18th fighter equivalent that's 5 Attack actions (3 regular, 2 surge) of 3 attacks. That's ~60 damage with a greatsword, ~48 with a longsword, ~43 with javelins, and ~35 with a lowbow. A simple 1d6 bonus damage per hit or ~15-20 bonus damage a round fixes the issue. This can be done many ways via monster traits, poison, or magic weapons.
Of course you can say "screw the fighter template" and just give the weaponmaster 4 attacks an action. Problem solved. With a greatsword, it hits like a truck.
OVERALL
Creating a nonmagical, weapons-based humanoid equal to the game's assumption for an archmage is possible. The biggest obstacle is HP. 5th edition humaniods are squishy. The second but much easier obstacle is damage.
Fixing health on a humaniod without magic is hard due to the varying amount and types of belief at each table.
As for damage, that's just based on what the DM feels like.
Your thooughs on my insights?
