Dan Chernozub
First Post
Recently back to DnD. I've last played/dmed 3e over a decade ago. So far I'm loving 5e. I'm running a homebrew campaign.
We are using the 3 main books only, to keep it simple. Players are a mix of total newbies to DnD and moderately experienced guys (though everyone has experience with other TRPG - mostlyoWoD).
In this thread, I'm asking questions about encounter design, CRs, party composition and all the various things about DM-ing that are dependent on the system. I'm learning together with my players and I'm trying to learn more so that we all have a better game.
Having some trouble with CR Balance - I often can't fit the DMG suggested 6-8 encounters in an adventuring day (the campaign is more of an open-world exploration, rather than a dungeon crawl). This results with party defeating fewer, harder encounters by burning through their resources aggressively.
PC's just hit level 4 and are closing on a Lizardfolk Cult/Tribe who a serving a Red Dragon. Before the Dragon, there should be a weaker BBEG. I usually don't use monsters directly out of the book, but tweak them a bit, if anything to surprise the players who have read the MM or faced those monsters in other games. I'm using monster creation in DMG and so far it served me well.
So, with a BBEG-junior in mind, I start looking for references and I see the Half-Red Dragon Veteran, CR5.
But looking at his stats I don't get how is he CR5:
Half-Red Dragon Veteran
CR5, but has AC 18, 65 HP, and attacks for 15 DPR with +5 attack bonus. He also has a breath attack for 48 DPR once in 3 rounds with DC 15 save. So his average DPR is 26. He hasn't got any notable abilities beyond that - I don't think blindsight, darkvision and fire resistance warrant a CR increase.
Overall he has an offensive CR of 4 and the defensive CR between 2 and 3. Overall being probably a solid CR 3 monster.
1. Am I doing something wrong with the math? I really don't think that the stats given are appropriate for CR5. Am I wrong? - Settled. The version of the H-RDV that I was looking at is indeed weaker than CR5.
2. I am looking for a draconic ancestry BBEG for 5 adventurers of 4th level.
I do not expect him to be encountered alone, I'm expecting a boss fight on his grounds, with a few mooks and 1-2 supporting divine spellcasters.
I'm considering to give him a couple of magic items, boosting his melee DPR to 22 & a better bonus with a magic sword, and to boost his defensive CR to 19 AC with +1armor and HP to 90 with extra HD. What do you think?
3. I would like to have feedback on my character creation rules. I was bored at the idea of the optimized stat distribution, so I went for an "in a row" rolling method. But I also wanted my players to have some flexibility in picking what they play, so I've allowed them to roll three times and pick any stat line they liked most. How do you think this affected the overall strength of the starting party? What will be the long-term results? So far, as I see it it means that they have high overall stats, but often don't have their secondary stats in an optimal state (Con and Dex mostly).
The method in one line: 4d6dl, in a row, three times. Pick your preferred stat line.
4+. More questions down the thread.
Any feedback is welсome.
We are using the 3 main books only, to keep it simple. Players are a mix of total newbies to DnD and moderately experienced guys (though everyone has experience with other TRPG - mostlyoWoD).
In this thread, I'm asking questions about encounter design, CRs, party composition and all the various things about DM-ing that are dependent on the system. I'm learning together with my players and I'm trying to learn more so that we all have a better game.
Having some trouble with CR Balance - I often can't fit the DMG suggested 6-8 encounters in an adventuring day (the campaign is more of an open-world exploration, rather than a dungeon crawl). This results with party defeating fewer, harder encounters by burning through their resources aggressively.
PC's just hit level 4 and are closing on a Lizardfolk Cult/Tribe who a serving a Red Dragon. Before the Dragon, there should be a weaker BBEG. I usually don't use monsters directly out of the book, but tweak them a bit, if anything to surprise the players who have read the MM or faced those monsters in other games. I'm using monster creation in DMG and so far it served me well.
So, with a BBEG-junior in mind, I start looking for references and I see the Half-Red Dragon Veteran, CR5.
But looking at his stats I don't get how is he CR5:
Half-Red Dragon Veteran
CR5, but has AC 18, 65 HP, and attacks for 15 DPR with +5 attack bonus. He also has a breath attack for 48 DPR once in 3 rounds with DC 15 save. So his average DPR is 26. He hasn't got any notable abilities beyond that - I don't think blindsight, darkvision and fire resistance warrant a CR increase.
Overall he has an offensive CR of 4 and the defensive CR between 2 and 3. Overall being probably a solid CR 3 monster.
1. Am I doing something wrong with the math? I really don't think that the stats given are appropriate for CR5. Am I wrong? - Settled. The version of the H-RDV that I was looking at is indeed weaker than CR5.
2. I am looking for a draconic ancestry BBEG for 5 adventurers of 4th level.
I do not expect him to be encountered alone, I'm expecting a boss fight on his grounds, with a few mooks and 1-2 supporting divine spellcasters.
I'm considering to give him a couple of magic items, boosting his melee DPR to 22 & a better bonus with a magic sword, and to boost his defensive CR to 19 AC with +1armor and HP to 90 with extra HD. What do you think?
3. I would like to have feedback on my character creation rules. I was bored at the idea of the optimized stat distribution, so I went for an "in a row" rolling method. But I also wanted my players to have some flexibility in picking what they play, so I've allowed them to roll three times and pick any stat line they liked most. How do you think this affected the overall strength of the starting party? What will be the long-term results? So far, as I see it it means that they have high overall stats, but often don't have their secondary stats in an optimal state (Con and Dex mostly).
The method in one line: 4d6dl, in a row, three times. Pick your preferred stat line.
4+. More questions down the thread.
Any feedback is welсome.
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