Interesting, what other games did these not-so-new newbs actually start with?
oWoD, mostly.
CR is not an exact science. Given that your party is facing fewer encounters/day, and given what you know of their player-skill, party mix, and general effectiveness, you should feel free to buff the monster as much as seems necessary to bring it up to snuff, without boosting the exp its worth.
Agreed, that is why I was asking to compare H-RDV with other CR5 creatures. I don't yet have enough experience with creatures above CR3 to adapt them to my players on my own.
Think about magic items is PCs pick 'em up and that puts them ahead of the curve, of course. The helper support casters are a better idea. An item that acts as magical only for the BBEG, or that's diametrically opposed to the party in some way, so they'll consider destroying it a 'win,' could work - again, depends on your party's attitude...
Well, players love magic items and I'd say the killing the BBEG should net them some reward. And again, I don't usually present them with boring +2 Noname weapons. What they have so far is a +1 dagger which makes no sound when attacking and a Shield, which casts Silence when used to block an attack (double-edged sword for a party with quite a few spellcasters - but has it uses). They come from the same set - and the PCs are yet to figure out how to trigger the Shield Silence voluntarily (without enemies attacking).
I don't think a +0 to hit/+1d6 fire damage Flametongue longsword or a Gem of Brightness would bring characters too far ahead.
If your party was dishing out high DPR and not facing any character deaths at 1st level, you have to expect them to be really hitting it out of the park by 5th. 5e characters start out pretty modest and rather fragile at 1st, and come into their own as they pick up sub-classes, their first ASI at 4th, and Extra Attack & 3rd level spells at 5th.
Well, they are much less modest when the 3e 1st levels. Level 3 is really fast to achieve, and I liked it. Level 4 was longer and felt well-earned. They haven't shown me what they choose for ASI/feats.
Using magic items to perk up a lagging PC is a valid tool - I haven't had to it break out, yet, as I have mostly been running low level and not using items, feats or MCing, at all.
I'm allowing them to start to craft Magic Items at 3 level, but this is more of a side-quest with an unguaranteed result when a "purchase". They are currently working with an allied NPC on Stones of Sending so that they can keep in touch with their base of operations.
I'd be interested to hear more details on what you've run into, the breakdown of the party, etc... ?
Homebrew:
The setting is a mostly human kingdom in a post-magical-apocalypse world. A few centuries back the epic heroes of the world lost to the Really Big Bad Evil Guy, and most of sentient life was eradicated from the material plane. Now the nations of the world are rebuilding themselves and retaking the world for themselves. The party arrives at a small island that was recently re-explored a few hundred nautical miles from its position on the pre-Cataclysm maps. This is mostly an open-world game - there are lots of locations and dungeons to go to and there are several factions operating on the island, most of which are not necessarily hostile.
Party composition:
Big Smart Barbarian - Barbarian with 16 INT and scholar background - a bookworm gone wild while studying the real world.
Does a bit of Tanking and solid DPR with a Greataxe and a Feat.
Light Cleric - the star of the group so far. Was very efficient using his Domain Features, both offensively and defensively. IMO not so efficient with his spells so far,
Valor Bard - half-elf, the brunt of support work is on her shoulders, but the player is fine spending her time being useful and not being the centre of attention.
Rouge - the DPR guy, for versatility purposes he picked the AT archetype. The party quickly figured how to provide the SA requirements and 3d6+3 is a lot for low-level monsters.
Diviner Wizard - the only who had issues regarding his usefulness. The reason I found this board (the epic 111-page thread "Do low-level wizards suck in 5e"), however after talking about what does the group need (not more DPR) and adjusting the spell selection by levelling and scrolls, he feels much more useful now.
Challenges so far:
Level 1.They've arrived at a small base on the island. Made friendly contact with the local idealistic CG Commander. They fought some wild monsters like
Giant Crabs and an
Owlbear (The Owlbear could have been easily avoided, but they used terrain to their advantage and killed it quite easily).
Level 2. Saw them in the first encounter with intelligent enemies in form of
Goblin hunting party which they ambushed, but it still was a deadly fight.
Perytons are a recurring enemy on the island. After a hard few fights party has figured out the birds' behaviour and are doing much better against them. They've met and made peace with the Hobgoblin Regiment whose Goblins they fought earlier and even took a "quest" from them to help eradicate the peryton problem. (My Hobgoblins are still ruthless but a really civilized and know better than to fight adventurers when it is not completely necessary).
Level 3. Started burning peryton nests and continued into a long-lost Dwarf Hold. Some
Ooze,
Skeleton Dwarves, a healthy dose of
Riddles and
Traps. The Hold was built to guard the magic trap where the Evil Fire Giant is held and party had to fight a couple of
Azer who came through a portal party activated. The succeeded at protecting the trap but almost died because of not adapting in time to the damage caused in close range by the enemies heat.
Later they were ambushed by a band of Outlaws from a second human fraction on the island. This was the first time they've met an organized group fighting with them - the
Sergeant had Leadership Action and Protection Fighting style, the
Scout had Sneak Attack and
Thugs were using Pack Tactics.
Quite some time is when spent with little combat on travels, exploration, diplomacy and inter-party leadership squabble.
They hit Level 4 after a big fight with a 12-strong Lizardfolk band. Those came in several types - 4 squishy
Lizard Scouts with poison, 6
Lizardfolk, a
lvl3 Divine Caster and a CR3 greatsword-master
Champion. They did a great job stealthily approaching and casting Sleep on the Scouts, which made the rest of encounter much easier, thought they still had a tough time and were almost TPKed at one point. The fight resulted in some difficult prisoner interrogation that brought up the inter-party (RP) leadership issues back. The group is now not sure if their alliance with a local Fey was a right thing or not (LF were making a ritual to destroy her "home"). But whatever the truth is - their relations with the LF are likely beyond repair anyway and there are they headed now they will find out that LF are serving a Red Dragon, so ...
