trentonjoe
Explorer
So last night I ran a "deadly encounter". It was pretty close....
Bad guys:
Vampire Spawn (CR 5)
Wyvern (CR 6) Reskinned as a spider, fly speed became a "jump" speed, poison stinger decreased ineffectiveness after the first hit (played more like a CR 4)
Swarm of Snakes (CR 2)
Good Guys (all 6th level):
Cleric- War Priest
Ranger- Archer
Arcane Trickster (With mobility and two weapons)
Barbarian- Frenzied Berserker
The group was down a couple resources as this was the third combat of the day but had recently completed a short rest.
The barbarian was grabbed by the vampire and the two of them duke it out for a 4 or 5 rounds. At the end of the battle he had 7 (out of 65) hit points. The barbarian refused to give up his attacks to break the grapple and fought the vampire the entire time while "in a headlock".
The Arcane trickster tried to Tasha's Hideous Laughter the vampire (it passed), and then ran all around combat attacking here, there and everywhere without taking AoO. He didn't have a magic weapon so he was doing half damage to the vampire and knew it. The spider jumped on him once or twice. He was able to 1/2 that damage. He was at 9 hit points at the end and praying the spider didn't come after him.
The ranger sat in the back and shot arrows. The cleric Magic Weaponed his bow so he was doing full damage to the vampire. He used the -5 to hit +10 damage feat a few times to do some serious damage. Along with colossal slayer and hunters mark, he was dishing out 20ish (2d8+1d6+ 4+10) a hit. The spider got to him late, and him down to 14 hit points at the end.
The war cleric buffed, healed and occupied the swarm. She didn't turn on purpose and didn't take much damage.
The vampire regenerated or healed from the bite about 50% of it's hit points during the fight. The vampire was very close to dropping the barbarian.
I had the wyvern/spider run away when the vampire fell. It still had 90ish hit points. It probably could have dropped a party member or two.
In conclusion:
The fight was above "Deadly" status (6600 xp vs 5600 xp)
If I had the monsters focus fire, they would have killed the barbarian without a doubt.
If the the vampire had failed its save, the party would have down much better. If it would have had to make multiple saves vs spells that cause actions to be lost (Hold Person, Tasha's, etc), it would have failed and the party would certainly have had the upper hand.
Bad guys:
Vampire Spawn (CR 5)
Wyvern (CR 6) Reskinned as a spider, fly speed became a "jump" speed, poison stinger decreased ineffectiveness after the first hit (played more like a CR 4)
Swarm of Snakes (CR 2)
Good Guys (all 6th level):
Cleric- War Priest
Ranger- Archer
Arcane Trickster (With mobility and two weapons)
Barbarian- Frenzied Berserker
The group was down a couple resources as this was the third combat of the day but had recently completed a short rest.
The barbarian was grabbed by the vampire and the two of them duke it out for a 4 or 5 rounds. At the end of the battle he had 7 (out of 65) hit points. The barbarian refused to give up his attacks to break the grapple and fought the vampire the entire time while "in a headlock".
The Arcane trickster tried to Tasha's Hideous Laughter the vampire (it passed), and then ran all around combat attacking here, there and everywhere without taking AoO. He didn't have a magic weapon so he was doing half damage to the vampire and knew it. The spider jumped on him once or twice. He was able to 1/2 that damage. He was at 9 hit points at the end and praying the spider didn't come after him.
The ranger sat in the back and shot arrows. The cleric Magic Weaponed his bow so he was doing full damage to the vampire. He used the -5 to hit +10 damage feat a few times to do some serious damage. Along with colossal slayer and hunters mark, he was dishing out 20ish (2d8+1d6+ 4+10) a hit. The spider got to him late, and him down to 14 hit points at the end.
The war cleric buffed, healed and occupied the swarm. She didn't turn on purpose and didn't take much damage.
The vampire regenerated or healed from the bite about 50% of it's hit points during the fight. The vampire was very close to dropping the barbarian.
I had the wyvern/spider run away when the vampire fell. It still had 90ish hit points. It probably could have dropped a party member or two.
In conclusion:
The fight was above "Deadly" status (6600 xp vs 5600 xp)
If I had the monsters focus fire, they would have killed the barbarian without a doubt.
If the the vampire had failed its save, the party would have down much better. If it would have had to make multiple saves vs spells that cause actions to be lost (Hold Person, Tasha's, etc), it would have failed and the party would certainly have had the upper hand.
