DM Help Balancing and Running an "Epic" (for me) and complex encounter?

[Jenck]

If you play Aquenti, Bear, Varis, Zangeon, or Boddyknock and are on the Frozen Plains: Please stop reading!

=================================================================

I have a number of questions about running my next session. How to prepare and build a well balanced encounter with so many moving parts. The party is 5 level 8 PCs, but with various allies they are a party of 21 PCs and NPCs. The party needs an artifact that a White Dragon has in it's hoard.

They are:

• a Level 8 Lore Bard
• a Level 8 Wild Magic Sorcerer
• a Level 8 Devotion Paladin
• a Level 8 Bear Totem Barbarian
• a Level 8 Moon Druid

They have 2 long time NPC allies:

• a Level 4 Life Cleric
• a Guard NPC

And recently acquired additional allies from a Barbarian Tribe who are ready for the battle

• 3 NPC Berserkers
• 3 NPC Tribal Warriors
• 1 NPC Berserker with bumped up stats, 90 HP, and rage

They also have an allied party traveling with them (but which they don't really trust) which may help out some in the fight too:

• an NPC Necromancer
• an NPC Cult Fanatic (apprentice)
• 3 NPC Thugs

I realize that is a huge party to take on an Adult White Dragon. The White Dragon has some allied Winter Wolves that help it hunt and with whom he sort of "shares" the entrance areas of his cave, so they will defend their home and help the White Dragon. I need to determine how many Winter Wolves should be involved.

Since the party did well convincing some of the Barbarian Tribe members to help them fight the dragon, I want that to be meaningful and make the fight easier, but I would like this to be challenging (Hard?) but not Deadly.

And the Necromancer party will mostly hang back but contribute a bit. They mostly want to get access to the artifact but not risk their lives to get it. I predict some of the Tribal Warriors and Thugs will go down during the fight.

So...my questions are:

1. How do I create a balanced encounter? I'm using Kobold Fight Club [http://kobold.club/fight/#/encounter-builder]. If I ONLY include the main party (5 PCs and the two long time NPC allies), that is a Medium encounter with an Adult White Dragon. But as I start to add Winter Wolves, it gets Deadly after only 2.
2. I'm not sure how to account for the Berserker, Tribal Warrior, Necromancer, and other allies on Kobold Fight Club. What level should they be? In other words, is there a reliable CR to PC level conversion?
3. When running it, how do I manage 21(!) party and ally turns each round? That seems like it will take forever and be boring and tedious! (Someone elsewhere on Reddit suggested I have the Berserkers and Tribal Warriors off fighting the Winter Wolves in a separate, abstracted combat, but I'm not sure how to do that. And I would like the PCs face some Winter Wolves because I've been foreshadowing them for many sessions).
4. If I make the White Dragon Ancient, then it gets much harder to defeat (obviously)... But maybe easier to make it challenging? I just have no idea how the players are going to approach the fight. If they are going to keep the Necromancer party out of the fight, or insist they participate, or have the Berserkers fight the wolves or help the party, etc.

 

[robus]

One question: how skillful are your players?

One suggestion: have the NPCs run interference with the wolves while the PCs take on the dragon, but even still they’ll probably cake walk it unless the dragon has room to maneuver.

 

[iserith]

I would take the NPCs off the table and instead do this: If a PC takes damage, the player can choose to have an NPC ally take the damage instead. The NPC ally immediately dies. Then I would just throw the dragon and wolves at them. This makes for a fun game of involving the players in deciding which of the NPCs takes the fall for them which in my experience is good for both drama and laughs. If you let the players choose, they will tend to choose the NPCs they like the least first which means you have a built in way to raise the stakes as they work their way up that list into the more favored NPCs. Alternatively, you could make a small deck of index cards and choose which NPC buys the farm randomly when a player opts to have the NPC take the damage instead.

First, the encounter starts off with a strong wind. Ranged weapon attacks are now at disadvantage and flying creatures without the aid of magic have to land at the end of their turns or fall. I'd throw a good 5 to 7 winter wolves at the party. But they aren't slugging it out with the PCs - they're playing it safe, moving in fast, breathing on PCs. Or going in for a quick attack at advantage from pack tactics, and then darting away. Trying to lure the PCs away from each other so they can pick off a weaker PC. If I'm feeling particularly bold, I might have them grapple a PC and drag them away to break the party up a bit.

While this is going on, I'd take advantage of the white dragon's burrow ability by having it dig through the snow, pop up, and blast the party with its cold breath (when it's available) before burrowing back underground again. It chills beneath the snow and waits for the breath to recharge or bursts out to claw and bite if it senses a golden opportunity to take someone down. Mostly I would keep it out of sight except to harass the party as the PCs deal with the winter wolves.

Once the wolves are dispatched, the dragon comes out to play, but not before the wind dies down, a chill fog rolls in, and the snow begins to fall. Visibility is limited to 50 feet - everything beyond that is heavily obscured. Now the dragon breathes on them when it's available. When it's not, it darts out of the driving snow to use its bite or tail attack, never getting within 5 feet of a PC if possible. It focuses on the weakest PCs first or, if applicable, the PCs with the most diamonds. When it gets to half its hit points, its primal and vengeful nature takes over and it goes after the PC who has done it the most harm, heedless of danger to itself, fighting to the death.

I think with this setup, you won't have to worry about managing the NPCs (but still get to involve them in a fun and epic way). And you'll provide a cinematic and rewarding challenge for the players with some fun change-ups in the environment and action.

 

[Jenck]

The players are four 16 year olds and one 21 year old with several years playing in my campaigns. Some of them are skillful, strategic players (especially the Druid and the Sorcerer), some less so. But they always surprise me with their tactics and choices.

And I may have provided them with too many magic items over the campaign, but at least some are more utility than combat oriented (i.e. cloak of the bat, a spyglass that does a modified clairvoyance spell, a handy haversack, immovable rod, modified bracers of defense, horn of blasting, mace of smiting, a couple other things).

I am also concerned about it being too easy for them, even if it is just the party vs. the dragon and everyone else is occupied with Winter Wolves.

They are probably going to fight the dragon in his lair, which has a lot of tunnels and several large ice caverns with plenty of room for him to fly around or hang out on ledges. So he can swoop down when his breath weapon recharges, do his lair actions (freezing fog, falling ice shards, create a wall of ice), and attack when necessary.

 

[Quartz]

Does the dragon have a fear ability? That could send some running. But mostly I think you should narrate the parts in which the PCs are not involved. Have the NPCs take care of the wolves - the barbarians are likely quite used to winter wolves - while the PCs take care of the dragon.

If the dragon can fly and the PCs cannot then the dragon can disengage at will. Making the dragon flee may be sufficient success.