Quick easy solution class lvls. 5 goblins ohh this is easy. 2 lvl 5 golbin barbs, a lvl 5 goblin wizard, and 2 lvl 5 goblin clerics. Suddenly not the kind of encounter to take lightly.
Example first encounter in the entire game players rolled hier initiative and cast 2 sleep spells then one shoted the 5 goblins. Second encounter went the same way except this time I think the mobs got 4 total attacks. Short rest warlock gets 2 more sleeps shuts down half of each of the next 2 encounters. Short rest repeat for the next 2 encounters.
Throw the CR guidelines to the wind, but provide the PCs with an escape route if all goes south?
My players were level 5 I think. They amazed me by fighting a bunch of goblins just to reach a Remorhaz, which they then proceeded to skewer (though it got in a few good licks).
A fully grown Remorhaz, mind you. Not the baby one the adventure suggests.
Solo, a creature probably needs to be either triple CR the party level or party level plus 10. (I say either or since my experience is still limited to the single-digit party levels, and while 5x3=15 I'm not sure the "rule" holds for 10x3=30... ;-)
How was the Warlock casting two sleeps at 1st level? They only get 1/ short rest at 1st level. This makes the party at least 2nd level. Assuming 5 x 2nd level PCs, you have an xp budget of:
Easy: 250 XP
Medium: 500 XP
Hard: 750 XP
Deadly: 1000 XP
Meaning the following are expected [medium-hard] encounters for that party:
1 Bearded devil (700xp)
1 Orog and 2 mastiff pets (1000xp)
2 sets of Animated armor (600xp)
4 Thugs (800xp)
1 Hobgoblin and 5 Goblins (900xp)
1 Bugbear and 2 hobgoblins (800xp)
1 Half ogre and 5 grimlocks (900xp)
4 twig blights, 2 needle blights, 1 vine blight (750xp)
2 Dire wolves (600xp)
1 Displacer beast (700xp)
Run them through the adventure again, with any six of those [appropriate] encounters thrown at them. He'd be lucky to shut down any more than a handfull of mooks, and even then only if they're all bunched up together. Most of those encounters feature critters with 30 odd HP and he'd be very lucky to knock even one of them down with 5d8, particularly once a few mooks get put to sleep.
Also, as soon as the critters are in melee range, he's screwed. Even with a party of elves, they still drain and weaken the spell (even if they arent actually affected).
Im not sure youre designing encounters or xp budgeting correctly for a second level party.
Its been about a year since then I'm probably remembering the number of sleeps wrong considering how much that spell pissed me off for the first month. I play on roll20 unless the map had ridiculously large rooms most the time you can hit 3 goblins with a 20 foot aoe. Between him shutting down 2-3 and the dragonborn paladin tanking the biggest part of what's left. The encounters were super quick. The third session they were level two and things got a little easier but I had to use reinforcement waves to make the bard even feel the need to use healing spells. Now I've learned the amount they can take and every encounter is deadly on that chart but still works out perfect for them.
At 1st level, its a great spell. Hes a warlock, armed with 2 sleeps per short rest, and youre throwing waves of low HP mooks at him in a confined environment?
- Split your encounters up
- Use sleep resistant foes (undead like zombies, skeletons, a ghoul or two and deadly shadows are a favorite - animated armor and swords are also at this CR)
- Use high hit point foes. Thugs are CR 1/2 and they have 30 odd HP. Insert a 'goblin thug' (same stats as a regular thug).
- Restrict his ability to short rest. Throw an encounter at the party as they rest. Time limit your adventures.
Try any combination of the above instead of dialing up the encounters. Otherwise youll throw in a deadly encounter of sleep resistant foes, get a few bad rolls and it'll be game over for the party.
There is no such thing as a CR 2 fight mate. Individual mosnter CRs are simply around to tell you the amount of xp the creature is worth, and so you can gauge the lethality of the monster (you generally dont want to throw the PCs up against a monster more than 1 CR above their level. 2 CRs above extremely rarely, and almost never more than 2 CRs above the party level if you expect them to fight it and win).
Encounters in 5E are built and rated for difficulty according to the xp budget for the encounter.
For 3 x 1st level PCs:
Easy: 75 XP
Medium: 150 XP
Hard: 225 XP
Deadly: 300 XP
You want to be using the medium - hard threshold (so your encounters should be from 150 - 299xp for this party).
The following are appropriate threats [medium to hard] for this party:
5 cultists
1 Thug and 2 bandits
4 Kobolds and 1 winged kobold
1 Bugbear
2 Orcs
3 Goblins
1 Hippogriff
1 dire wolf
1 Half Ogre
1 Acolyte and 4 tribal warriors
CR 2 monsters are worth 450 xp (making them a 'deadly' encounter, in addition to being over the recommended CR for the party). They incude such common things as an Ogre (59 hp, melee attack +6 dealing 2d8+4 damage) and an Ankheg (39 hp, +5 bite, 3d6+3 damage and grapple DC 13 plus a 3d6 acid spray line effect).
One of those critters alone create a very good chance of a TPK for a party of three 1st level PCs.
If you routinely throw 5 NPCs of the same power at 3 PCs of equal power, you should be getting TPKs all the time. Youre also encouraging nova tactics, buffing full casters, barbarians and paladins and totally nerfing fighters, monks and warlocks.
I dont want to sound critical of your campaign, but if youre only doing 2 encounters per day, you should consider toning them down to the 'medium - hard' level and using the longer rest variant instead.
While I appreciate your advice we've been playing for about 9 months with the difficulty turned up and that balanced everything perfectly. Now when I start a new game in a setting appropriate for those enemies I will probably consider trying some of those. And I do do things like that I was the one talking about using class levels on my monsters. Which is my preference to explain why some are clearly better then others of the same type. If it is intelligent it probably has class levels. Even if its just ont or two.
No. Thanks for the unwanted critique though. It worked fine last night. I nearly killed my party twice. I'm fine with "nearly killed". Anything less than what I did and they will walk though my campaign like it was a picnic in a field of flowers.
