D&D 5E Crowd source request: a CR 4 Necromancer

[brehobit]

Hi folks,
I've been working on a few monsters for a short D&D game I'm going to run and I'm struggling with the big baddy. Anyone willing to help with suggestions for a 5e Necromancer that has a CR of 4? Context would be a final showdown with him, a few lair actions, and a fair number of standard Zombies and Skeletons and maybe another CR 3 creature (if there are enough players it's needed). PCs will be level 3.

This is going to be for a bunch of kids (ages 10-14 or so). I'd like the fight to be interesting. So cool effects would be great...

 

[Leatherhead]

Chill Touch is really thematic. Not being able to heal wounds will send some people into a panic. Therefore here is a gimmick.

The necromancer has a few still beating hearts glowing on stakes high up on the walls of the room. Each heart acts as an agent that concentrates on a spell which is cursing the PC's. Each time a particular PC takes damage, the heart beats faster and glows, the PC's wound glows the same color (so they can easily find out which heart belongs to whom), and the PC finds out they cannot heal their wound until the heart is destroyed. For added nastiness, make the heart impose disadvantage while it glows. And if you are sadistic: make it so each heart used to belong to someone the PC's used to know

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=12032]brehobit[/MENTION] Worked this up quickly, so the balance is only eye-balled, and you'd need to choose spells. But it's a good template to work off of.

Necromancer
Medium humanoid, chaotic evil
Armor Class 13 (leather)
Hit Points 52 (8d8+16)
Speed 30 ft
STR 8 (-1) DEX 14 (+2) CON 14 (+2) INT 16 (+3) WIS 10 (+0) CHA 10 (+0)
Saving Throws Int +5, Wis +2
Damage Resistance necrotic
Condition Immunities hit point maximum can’t be reduced
Senses passive perception 10
Languages none
Challenge 4 (200 XP)

Traits
Necromancer’s Aura. The necromancer has an aura extending 30 feet around him that turns all bright light to dim light and is spooky. Undead in the aura have advantage on all saving throws. Living creatures have disadvantage on saving throws against fear.
Spellcasting. Casts spells as a 6th level wizards. Choose spells: 4 cantrips, 4/3/3

Actions
Rod of Skull Mob. Melee or ranged weapon attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. or ranged 30 ft.; Hit: 13 (3d6+3) bludgeoning damage and the target is knocked prone and grappled by biting skulls (escape DC 13). A creature who ends their turn grappled by the skulls suffers 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.

Reactions
Deathly Transference. So long as the necromancer is not suffering a condition, when an attack hits him, he may transfer the attack to an undead creature he commands within 5 feet of him.

Lair Actions

• Life Siphon. All living creatures in the necromancer’s aura must make a DC 13 Constitution or Wisdom saving throw (whichever is better), or reduce their maximum hit points by 3 (1d6). For every living creature that fails its save, the necromancer can heal an undead creature in his aura by 3 hit points.
• Illusion of Undeath. An illusion descends over all living creatures in the necromancer’s aura, making them appear to be undead (of the type the necromancer has fighting for him). A character who tries speaking under the effects of the illusion sounds like an unintelligible zombie. Characters can’t identify each other unless they take a bonus action DC 13 Intelligence check to see thru the illusion, allowing them to understand the other characters. Thus, for example, attacking “a zombie” might risk attacking one of their companions.
• Riddling Skulls. Several of the skulls around the necromancer’s lair pose a riddle. Any enemy of the necromancer who ends their turn without answering the riddle suffers 1 psychic damage. Once a creature answers the riddle, this damage stops accruing.

 

[brehobit]

Very very nice. Thanks!

I think I may move the damage on the Rod down a bit (a crit would average out at 24 damage would drop most 3rd level characters from full and could easily be a insta-dead if they were damaged) Maybe 2d8+3?

Lair action 2 is probably a bit tough. Perhaps only hit one creature or give them all a DC 13 CHR save to avoid being effected and limit it to having to use another lair action before reusing that one? But I really like it. Nice.

Lair action 3 is fun. Not sure I'll use it (thematically seems off for what I want to do) but I will find a place to do that.

Wow, I didn't expect anything this cool. Makes my other monsters (which I'm fairly proud of) look fairly basic. It's a problem I can cope with.

Would you mind if I make some changes and add this to the monster database? I'll credit you and link to this thread.

Thanks again!!

 

[brehobit]

The necromancer has a few still beating hearts glowing on stakes high up on the walls of the room. Each heart acts as an agent that concentrates on a spell which is cursing the PC's. Each time a particular PC takes damage, the heart beats faster and glows, the PC's wound glows the same color (so they can easily find out which heart belongs to whom), and the PC finds out they cannot heal their wound until the heart is destroyed. For added nastiness, make the heart impose disadvantage while it glows. And if you are sadistic: make it so each heart used to belong to someone the PC's used to know

Nice idea. I think I'll use parts of this too! Though I may move that to a different fight given how cool Quickleaf's stuff is and I don't want too many things happening at once...

 

[steeldragons]

Hmmm. Necromancer, you say?...Ok, I'll take a swing. Following Quickleaf's 6th level caster (assuming this to be the proper translation to a CR4 foe), I'm going to try ot incorporate the Neromancer abilities of a 6th level caster, as presented for PC necromancers...I know, I know. NPCs don't follow the same rules...but when an NPC has a direct PC analogue, they should be comparable, imo.

Necromancer
Medium any humanoid, any evil alignment
AC: 12 (15 with mage armor)
HP: 42 (6d6 +6)
Speed: 30'
Ability Scores: Str:9(-1), Dex:14(+2), Con:12(+1), Int:17(+3), Wis:12(+1), Cha:9(-1)
Saves: Int. +6, Wis. +4
Skills: Arcana +6, Religion +6
Passive Perception: 11
Languages: any 4 languages
Challenge: 4 (however much XP that should be)

Traits
Spellcasting: The CR4 Necromancer is a 6th level caster. Int. is your spell ability. Spell Save DC 14; Spell Attack: +6 to hit.
The Necromancer knows the following spells:
Cantrips (4, at will): Blade Ward, Chill Touch, Light, Ray of Frost
1st level (4 slots): Detect Magic, False Life, Mage Armor, Thunderwave
2nd level (3 slots): Darkness, Misty Step, Ray of Enfeeblement
3rd level (3 slots): Animate Dead, Counterspell, Fireball, Stinking Cloud*
*note that undead will not be effected by/within a Stinking Cloud.

Undead Entourage: The Necromancer has 3 Zombies and 3 Skeletons, per the PHB. All undead servants are +6 to their HP maximum and +3 to all weapon damage.

Actions:
Spell Use
or
Staff of the Styx: Melee Weapon Attack: Those struck by the Necromancer's staff must make a Wis. save DC 14 or suffer the effects of the Dissonant Whispers spell (3d6 psychic damage & immediate reaction to flee away from the Necromancer at top speed). On a successful save, the damage is halved and the target need not move away. Hit: 3 (d6) bludegoning + 9 (3d6) psychic damage.
or
Dagger: Melee or Ranged Weapon: +5 to hit, reach 5' or 20'/60' range, 1 target, Hit: 4 (d4+2) piercing damage

Reactions:
Grim Harvest: If the Necromancer kills a creature with a spell, the Necromancer regains 2 X spell level HP.

Lair Actions:
Undead Thralls: You can animate any dead bodies you can see. These newly created undead are under the Necromancer's control, following verbal and mental commands. They can also, in this single action, reanimate any of their existing thralls form their entourage who have fallen, but not undead that has been "destroyed" by a cleric or paladin.
Aura of Gloom: Creatures within the area perceive a dimming of light, hazy shadows and chilling mists as waves of hopelessness wash through their psyche. Necromancer can use a lair action to effect an area of 60' radius. All creatures within this area must make a Cha. save, DC 14. Creatures that fail the save have disadvantage on their attack until the end of the necromancer's next turn.

 

[Remathilis]

Here's the one I whipped up for my campaign. He's a drow elf.

CHALITHRA THE NECROMANCER
Medium humanoid (elf), lawful evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 31* (6d8)
Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
9 (-1) 16 (+3) 11 (+0) 17 (+3) 12 (+1) 12 (+1)
Saving Throws Int +5, Wis +3
Skills Arcana +5, Religion +5
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 11
Languages Common, Draconic, Elvish, Undercommon
Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)
Grim Harvest. Once per turn when Chalithra kills one or more creatures with a spell of 1st level or higher, he regains hit points equal to twice the spell’s level, or three times its level if the spell belongs to the School of Necromancy.
Fey Ancestry. Chalithra has advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put him to sleep.
Sunlight Sensitivity. Chalithra has disadvantage on attack rolls when he or his target is in sunlight.
Innate Spellcasting. Chalithra can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
• At will: dancing lights
• 1/day each: darkness, faerie fire (save DC 12)
Spellcasting. Chalithra is a 5th-level spellcaster that uses Intelligence as its spellcasting ability (spell save DC 13; +5 to hit with spell attacks). Chalithra knows the following spells from the wizard's spell list:
• Cantrips (at will): chill touch, light, mage hand, ray of frost
• 1st Level (4 slots): false life*, magic missile, ray of sickness
• 2nd Level (3 slots): cloud of daggers, flaming sphere, misty step
• 3rd Level (2 Slots): animate dead, lightning bolt
* Chalithra already casts false life before combat.
ACTIONS
Quarterstaff. Melee Weapon Attack: +1 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d8 - 1) bludgeoning damage.

 

[Quickleaf]

Very very nice. Thanks!

You're welcome. The versions by other posters above are definitely worth a look too!

Reflecting on the age group of the kids (10-14), I *might* remove the part of the Aura that imposes disadvantage on saves vs. fear because IME kids hate being told "you're afraid" and not being able to decide whether they're afraid or not for themselves.

I think I may move the damage on the Rod down a bit (a crit would average out at 24 damage would drop most 3rd level characters from full and could easily be a insta-dead if they were damaged) Maybe 2d8+3?

Good point. I tend to design monsters a bit tougher cause I'm used to experienced players and large groups. 2d8+3 seems reasonable. Bear in mind that the DMG's damage guidelines for a CR 4 monster are 27-32, so if you want his single-target damage to be low for a CR 4, then you need to give him really good multi-target damage with spell selection and/or up his defenses.

Speaking generally, when you use a monster of a CR greater than the PCs' level - particularly during the first tier of play (levels 1-4) - you are going to notice that the monsters often hit really hard and can potentially one-shot a PC. This is by apparently be design, and at higher levels this diminishes. So bear that in mind with your decision to use a CR 4 monster for a gang of kids with 3rd level PCs!

Lair action 2 is probably a bit tough. Perhaps only hit one creature or give them all a DC 13 CHR save to avoid being effected and limit it to having to use another lair action before reusing that one? But I really like it. Nice.

If you want to use it, it probably should to effect multiple PCs. The whole point of it is to have trouble figuring out who is a zombie and who is not! If it's just one PC it *might* be too easy to deduce.
About the lair action limit about not being able to use the same action consecutively, that's assumed in ALL the lair actions in the MM I think, so I just assumed that same here without spelling it out.

Lair action 3 is fun. Not sure I'll use it (thematically seems off for what I want to do) but I will find a place to do that.

Yeah, probably better not as a lair action, but as a dungeon room.

Would you mind if I make some changes and add this to the monster database? I'll credit you and link to this thread.

Feel free