D&D 4E 4e to 5e Balhannoth Conversion

[ghabrel]

[MENTION=6776887]Tormyr[/MENTION]

In 5e some monsters kind of top out at a certain CR because they physically cannot do more damage with the "normal" damage mechanics (i.e. large creatures do 2 dice of damage, gargantuan do 4). There isn't anything stopping you from using more dice of damage, and there are examples of that, but that is how many of the 5e creatures work.

Size determines the number of damage dice used? Really? I'm looking at the section of the DMG concerning creating your own stat blocks (~pg275) and it doesn't really seem to imply that anywhere I'm looking.

If you still go for the higher level campaign, is there a story reason why you only have 1 creature versus a small pack of CR 10 creatures? The simpler creatures will be faster and easier to run while causing chaos on the player side.

The adventurers are delving into the secret maze of tunnels beneath the city to rescue the sister of one of their party members, unaware that they are walking directly into a trap. Unbeknownst to the adventurer carrying it, the magic of the speaking stone the kidnappers left behind has been twisted to serve their needs and their needs alone. While they can enable two-way communication if they so desire, their stone defaults to not capture sound. The stone the adventurer carries, however, can never be disabled, meaning the other stone is constantly letting the kidnappers know everything the party is doing. In addition, it constantly emits an imperceptible whine. Normally, this sound would only attract the attention of dogs, but the adventurer's stone has been specifically attuned to pick up this tone and gently bring it back to the audible spectrum. As the two stones near one another, the kidnapper's stone will start with a soft, low hum, its volume and pitch rising as the distance between the stones diminishes, reaching an ear-splitting screech as the party enters the now abandoned lair of the cult behind the kidnapping. Once one of the adventurers grab the second stone, it falls deathly silent. Moments later, the party hears an immense splash as the balhannoth raised and domesticated by the cult responds to its cue, ready to hunt...

Alright, put simply: I've been planning this campaign for a long time, since 4e was the edition of the day, in fact, which is why I have refused to even consider using another monster. And it's always been a solo monster. While it's only been recently that I've actually considered the possibility of it being a TPK, it has always been intended to <bleep> the players' entire day up. It's not supposed to be "nice".

Have you run a campaign with 10 players before? My experience has been that even at 8 players combat...becomes...slow. Although I guess having half the players stunned because of teleportation would speed things up again (I haven't looked closely at the later versions to see if that changed), but how are you planning on handling giving everyone time to shine the rest of the time? I am interested in hearing your ideas.

Well, back in the early days (aka glory days [read: only days; it's been a while]), I started with a group of 6 (even though the adventure stated 5 max). A little later I'm pretty sure I ended up going to 8, but don't quote me. Regardless, that was before I really got a handle on how to manage a game, so I don't know how accurate that frame of reference is on how well I'll do now. Really, it can probably be a huge success, a dismal failure, or anywhere in between.
[MENTION=59848]Hawk Diesel[/MENTION]

Have you considered perhaps breaking the group into two smaller groups? You may want to consider recruiting one of these people in your group as a co-DM and running parallel adventuring groups. They could take place in the same world, and maybe you could even coordinate how the actions of one group might affect the other. You might even have everyone a part of the same adventuring guild, and each session the whole team regroups based on the needs of the mission, allowing the two groups to get mixed up every so often. If no one else wants to volunteer to be your co-DM, you could attempt to have a revolving DM where each of them takes turns being the co-DM with you, giving everyone a chance to play while also providing everyone the chance to have a smaller group with more potential for "screen time."

I've kind of considered it, but thing is, I want this to be a very story driven game, so I am loathe to give out anything that even remotely approaches being a spoiler. Plus, I have the organization of a squirrel, and have only written like 3% of the story that's in my head, so handing it off to someone else is more than slightly complicated. Also, on the splitting the group point, I don't know, something just rubs me the wrong way. I feel like the balance is precarious but stable at 10, and I don't know how to retain that stability when splitting it into two 5s.
[MENTION=6776887]Tormyr[/MENTION]

So here is my take on a CR 10 Balhannoth, based heavily on the 3.5 Balhannoth from Monster Manual IV. It would be a medium encounter for 4 level 10 PCs, 5 level 8 PCs, 6 level 6 PCs, and hard for 7 level 4 PCs. Adding more PCs makes the encounter easier, but you really cannot go below level 4 or 5 PCs fighting this monster because it does enough damage in a round to knock a level 5 fighter with 16 CON unconscious. So at that point you can have two instead of 1. That makes a medium encounter for 4 level 16 PCs, 5 level 14 PCs, 6 level 12 PCs, 7 level 10 PCs, 8 level 8 PCs, 9 level 6 PCs, or 10 level 5 PCs. These numbers are using my spreadsheet that smooths out the encounter difficulty multipliers between the number of PCs and monsters in the DMG and extrapolates out to 10 PCs. That being said, encounter building numbers at 10 PCs are really shaky, and the encounter could go either way easily.

If you were to change this to level 14 PCs, this would potentially require 2 CR 21 balhannoths to make a medium encounter or 3 to make a Deadly encounter. 10 PCs really throws a wrench in what a DM might expect out of an encounter. It also makes the encounter really long.

If a DM were to make this into a CR 21 or so monster, there are few easy ways to get most of the way there.
* Make it a gargantuan version. All the damage dice change to 4dX instead of 2dX.
* Bump hp and natural AC.
* Give it 3 uses of legendary resistance (each is worth 90 hp for a CR 21 creature) and 3 legendary actions that can be used for attacks.

Balhannoth

Large aberration, chaotic neutral
Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 195 (17d10 + 102)
Speed 50 ft., climb 50 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
28 (+9)	17 (+3)	23 (+6)	3 (-4)	12 (+1)	8 (-1)

Saving Throws Wis +5
Skills Perception +5, Stealth +8
Condition Immunities blinded
Senses blindsight 20 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages –
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
Dweomersight. A balhannoth is blind, but it hunts through detection of magic. It detects creatures casting spells, carrying magic items, or otherwise using magic, and it can see everything within the range of magical effects, including its own dimensional lock. This functions as a selective, 120-foot radius blindsight.

Dimensional Lock. Everything within a 20-foot radius from the balhannoth is unable to travel between the current plane and another plane.

Antimagic Grapple. A balhannoth that has grappled a creature suppresses the creature’s magical items and effects and keeps the creature from being able to cast spells. The balhannoth suppresses magic items that it wears or holds.

Camouflage. A balhannoth’s skin color changes to match its surroundings. It has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.

Spider Climb. A balhannoth can travel on vertical surfaces and the ceiling without an ability check.


Actions

Multiattack. The balhannoth makes two slam attacks and a bite attack.

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d6 + 9) bludgeoning damage and if the target is a creature it must succeed at a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be grappled and suffer an additional 4 (1d8) bludgeoning damage as the tentacle constricts on the creature.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d4 + 9) piercing damage.

I like your version, seems pretty well rounded. Of course, me being me, I'm thinking bigger...

I guess I really am thinking of something unique. Not just any ol' balhannoth, not even an ancient balhannoth, but a balhannoth raised devouring the flesh of shapechangers and bathed in the dark, magical energies of Vecna himself!

OK, maybe not that far, but a truly legendary balhannoth.

I'll post again when I have a new stat block. I think it'll be good...

 

[ghabrel]

Alright, so, I have a new stat block.

But...

...I think the only thing I did was make it more OP...

Balhannoth
Gargantuan Aberration CR 23 (50,000 XP) in lair
AC 19 HP 550 (19d20 + 168) Spd. 20’
-----Attributes-----
Str 29 (+9) Dex 21 (+5) Con 24 (+7)
Int 8 (-1) Wis 19 (+4) Cha 3 (-4)
-----Abilities-----
Saving Throws Wis +11, Cha +3
Skills Insight +11, Perception +11, Stealth +12
Senses blindsight 20 ft. (blind beyond this), passive Perception 21
Conditional Immunities Blinded
Damage Resistances Psychic
Damage Vulnerabilities Thunder
Languages Deepspeech
Armor Natural
Proficiency +7
-----Special Abilities-----
Antimagic Grapple When a creature is grappled by one of the balhannoth’s tentacles, the balhannoth suppresses the creature’s magic items and effects in addition to rendering it incapable of casting spells.
Camouflage The balhannoth’s skin changes color to blend in to its surroundings, granting it advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
Dweomersight The balhannoth is blind, but it hunts through detection of magic. It detects creatures casting spells, carrying magic items, or otherwise using magic, and it can see everything within the range of magical effects, including its own dimensional lock. This functions as a selective, 120-foot radius blindsight.
Dimensional Lock Everything within 20 feet of the balhannoth is bound to its current plane, and is unable to travel to another plane by any means.
Flailing Tentacles The balhannoth has eight tentacles, each of which acts on its own initiative but uses the balhannoth’s ability scores and has access to the slam, swipe, and throw attacks. If attacked directly, they have an AC of 17 and 118 (7d10 + 24) HP. If reduced to 0 HP, a tentacle is severed or otherwise neutralized. Damage done to the tentacles never applies to the balhannoth. A neutralized tentacle takes a full day and a long rest to regenerate, and cannot be used until then. Area of effect attacks and spells only hit the body of the balhannoth itself, and do not affect any of the tentacles. The balhannoth has a tendency to attempt to flee from fights in which four or more of its tentacles have been neutralized.
Keen Hearing The balhannoth has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) tests that involve hearing.
Labyrinthine Recall The balhannoth can perfectly recall any path that it has travelled.
Opportunist The balhannoth (and its tentacles) deal an extra 1d8 damage against targets they have advantage on attack rolls against.
Spider Climb The balhannoth can climb across any surface, even upside down, at its full speed without the need for any ability checks.
-----Actions-----
Bite (Melee): +18, 5’, one target.
Hit: The balhannoth brings a creature grappled by one of its tentacles to its mouth and bites down, dealing 28 (3d12 + 9) piercing damage.
Slam (Melee): +18, 20’, one target.
Only usable by tentacles. The tentacle must have a creature grappled to make this attack.
Hit: The tentacle bashes the grappled creature against against the target, dealing 18 (2d8 + 9) bludgeoning damage to both if the target is a creature, or 22 (3d8 + 9) bludgeoning damage to the grappled creature if the target is a hard object or surface (OAC 15+). If the target is a creature, the grappled creature remains grappled, and the target must pass a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is an object, resolve a damage 38 hit against it if it is plausibly destructible, and the grappled creature remains grappled and must pass a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the tentacle’s next turn.
Swipe (Melee): +18, 20’, one target.
Only usable by tentacles.
Hit: The target takes 13 (1d8 + 9) bludgeoning damage, and must pass a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw or be grappled the tentacle and take an additional 2 (1d4) bludgeoning damage from it constricting around them. On its turn, the target may spend its action to try to pass a DC 20 Strength test to escape the grapple.
Throw (Ranged): +18, 30/60’, one target.
Only usable by tentacles. The tentacle must have a creature grappled to make this attack.
Hit: The tentacle flings its grappled creature at the target. If the target is a creature, the attack deals 20 (2d10 + 9) bludgeoning damage to both and knocks them prone. The previously grappled creature lands in a space adjacent to the target, and both creatures must pass a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the tentacle’s next turn. If the target is a hard object or surface (OAC 15+), the previously grappled creature takes 25 (3d10 + 9) bludgeoning damage and the object takes a 44 damage hit if it is plausibly destructible. The previously grappled creature lands prone in an adjacent space and must pass a DC 20 Constitution saving throw or be knocked unconscious for 1d3 rounds. The creature may repeat this saving throw on each of its turns, regaining consciousness if successful, or another adventurer may use the Help action to bring the creature back to consciousness.
Miss: The tentacle flings its grappled creature within 15 feet of the target, knocking it prone but dealing no damage.
Whipping Tentacles (Melee): +18, 20’, all targets within range.
Hit: The targets take 13 (1d8 + 9) bludgeoning damage, and the balhannoth slides the targets to any other space within the area of effect.
-----Legendary Actions-----
The balhannoth can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. The balhannoth regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Tentacle Burst The balhannoth makes a whipping tentacles attack.
Constrict (Costs 2 Actions) The balhannoth deals 20 (2d10 + 9) bludgeoning damage to each creature it has grappled.
Reality Shift (Costs 3 Actions) The balhannoth may teleport up to 50 feet. Any enemies adjacent to it before it teleports are stunned until the end of the balhannoth’s next turn unless they pass a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw, and the balhannoth and its tentacles automatically gain advantage on attack rolls against enemies it teleports adjacent to until the end of the balhannoth’s next turn.
-----Lair-----
Balhannoths lair in subterranean tunnels, caves, and chasms, both natural and constructed. The darker, the damper, all the better. High ceilings are also major attractions to balhannoths, as they allow them to secretly stalk their prey easier.
These lairs are quite often secluded and ill-traveled, but fortunately for balhannoths, they can easily go long periods without eating. Instead of leaving their lairs to actively hunt down prey, balhannoths tend to conserve their energy and wait for prey to stumble into their lair, relying on their exceptional hearing to catch the distant echoes of unwary footsteps.
Most desirable for a balhannoth in its lair is winding and interconnected passages. The balhannoth itself can navigate these confusing corridors with ease, but it is not uncommon for its prey to lose enough time backtracking and traveling in circles for the balhannoth to get them right where it wants them.
-----Lair Actions-----
On initiative count 20 (losing all ties), the balhannoth takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects:
-The tunnels and chambers within a 300-foot radius of the balhannoth quickly fill with a thick fog that heavily obscures everything more than 5 feet away. The fog dissipates at initiative count 20 on the following round.
-A stone tunnel or doorway within 20 feet of the balhannoth seals itself, preventing its usage as a passageway. The barrier that is formed may be broken with a DC 24 Strength test. The balhannoth may only form three barriers in this way at a time; attempting to create a fourth causes the oldest to revert to its original form. These barriers revert to their original forms over 5d4 hours if the balhannoth is slain, but otherwise remain in place.
-----Regional Effects-----
Reality around the balhannoth’s lair seems to warp and distort from the creature’s mere presence, which manifests in the following ways:
-Starting 300 feet away from the balhannoth’s location, stone passageways and cavities begin to expand beyond their normal size, eventually reaching eight times their normal size at 60 feet from the balhannoth (these distances are always measured from normal dimensions, meaning traveling to a balhannoth that is measured as being 60 feet away would require 480 feet of actual movement). This increase in volume creates an extradimensional effect, in that two parallel passageways may normally be separated by only 5 feet of stone, but when exposed to the full force of this effect, there is still a barrier between each of the now enlarged tunnels.
-Echoes within the same subterranean stone superstructure as the balhannoth persist far longer and travel much further than they would naturally. They are detectable from up to four times the distance at which they normally would be.
-The tunnels of the balhannoth’s lair seem to double back on themselves and twist in ways that baffle the mind. Any creature attempting to use an Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Insight, Perception, or Survival) test to navigate the balhannoth’s lair, determine their location within it, or recall from which direction they have come do so with disadvantage.
If the balhannoth is slain, these effects fade over 5d6 hours. The body of the balhannoth begins to evaporate into magical smoke 1d4 minutes after it is slain, the process completing after 1d6 hours.