D&D 5E (2014) Best way to balance an encounter against a level 10 5 player party?

aco175 · 2026-03-15T13:12:14+0000

I might allow the summoned grells to be placed anywhere in 60ft instead of just come in next to the Mind Flayer. This add more randomness and the players will need to shift tactics if one pops in next to a caster or other PC in the back.

Stalker0 · 2026-03-15T15:53:31+0000

I also think starting the mind flayer in the fog is the way to go, he has 44 hp and no secondary protections I have seen. He’s mincemeat against a 10th level party…that little bit of acid regen is a speed bump (in general most regen rates in 5e are far too low to meaningfully change a fight unless the regen is very high or you have a large number of regenerating creatures. The fog is far better protection

For the grell I would shift it to a recharge 50% rather than a 50% to use. The main difference is you guarantee a grell on turn 1. Turn 1 of a fight is incredibly important to set the tone…whether the grell shows up or not could have a big swing, bigger than you might suspect. So guarantee it on round 1 then you can go more variable.

Clint_L · 2026-03-15T22:49:10+0000

What is the "to hit" roll on that ballista? It could be a big factor in the battle, but not if it depends on a goblin's low "to hit" modifier.

For that matter, one thing I'd worry about is that all of your melee combatants except the champion have very low chances to hit, so the party might quickly figure out to ignore them, including opportunity attacks, and swarm the casters. I mean, they'll likely do that anyway, but right now I don't think they'll pay much of a price.

Jaiken · 2026-03-16T01:24:17+0000

Clint_L said:
What is the "to hit" roll on that ballista? It could be a big factor in the battle, but not if it depends on a goblin's low "to hit" modifier.

It has a +6 to hit.

Clint_L said:
For that matter, one thing I'd worry about is that all of your melee combatants except the champion have very low chances to hit, so the party might quickly figure out to ignore them, including opportunity attacks, and swarm the casters. I mean, they'll likely do that anyway, but right now I don't think they'll pay much of a price.

So I should add another enemy like an Assassin?

Stalker0 · 2026-03-16T05:33:22+0000

Jaiken said:
It has a +6 to hit.

So I should add another enemy like an Assassin?

I think he's suggesting more of a crowd controller. Like give that champion the sentinel feat so he can hold up some of the party members moving around him that kind of thing.