D&D 5E (2024) High Level 5.5E: Building Encounter Chains

[Reynard]

Tonight, the PCs must deal with Mama Yaga (arch hag) who has consumed the mind of Princling Heath (the last scion of the royal line), and her Chained Ones.

Difficulty: the Usurper's demiplane lair is literally in the princling's heart and if they kill him they lose their chance to ambush the Usurper. If they defeat Mama Yaga, the prince is released. Until then he is a deadly combatant.

 

[Reynard]

The battle against Mama Yaga and her Chained Ones continues tonight. The PCs are feeling low on resources and overwhelmed by the Chained Ones' AoE attacks. They currently have the Prince banished to a demiplane to keep him safe, but Mama Yaga is gunning for the sorcerer that did that in order to break his concentration*.

What happens if the party falls to Mama Yaga? That makes their final battle against the Usurper more of a "No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die," scenario.

*death breaks concentration.

 

[Reynard]

They defeated Mama Yaga! After a tough fight, and using their last Wish (from the Deck of Many Things) to batch heal the party, they were able to bring her down. They discovered that the Usurper actually has his demiplane lair INSIDE the heart of the Princeling (who is now mad). They were able to leverage allies they had gained in the earlier time of the campaign to find clerics who could basically put the Princeling into a state of torpor -- the keep the Usurper from seeing through his eyes -- so they could rest.

As an aside, they granted the great wyrm his freedom and promised to send him to a plane of his choice. He decided on Avernus, to try and wrest control from Tiamat and become Lord of All Wyrms. But the party betrayed him -- after he became a "willing target" of the spell, they sent him to Bitopia where his existence will certainly be a challenge...

Unfortunately we have to wait 3 weeks to play out the final battle with the Usurper, because schedules. But on the upside, it gives me 3 weeks to design a fitting climax to a long campaign.

 

[Reynard]

For those interested: we played the final session of my Usurper campaign tonight. I decided I wanted to see what the combat looked like using the rules as written. And it was -- underwhelming. Using the D&D 2024 encounter math, the BBEG and minions lasted 2.5 rounds. I knew this was likely, but I wanted to test to be sure. Even so, the PCs were victorious and more importantly (to me and most of the players) we actually finished a long running (18 months) campaign.

I won't likely be running a new D&D campaign* anytime soon, and especially not 2025/5.5E, but it was fun nonetheless.

*I am currently running another campaign for by millenial bro newbies, so that will be ongoing. But otherwise I am good with 5E. All set.

 

[Quartz]

If everyone had fun then it was a success. The short fight indicates their successful preparation and planning.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

For those interested: we played the final session of my Usurper campaign tonight. I decided I wanted to see what the combat looked like using the rules as written. And it was -- underwhelming. Using the D&D 2024 encounter math, the BBEG and minions lasted 2.5 rounds. I knew this was likely, but I wanted to test to be sure. Even so, the PCs were victorious and more importantly (to me and most of the players) we actually finished a long running (18 months) campaign.

I won't likely be running a new D&D campaign* anytime soon, and especially not 2025/5.5E, but it was fun nonetheless.

*I am currently running another campaign for by millenial bro newbies, so that will be ongoing. But otherwise I am good with 5E. All set.

I think this encounter worked as designed. In my experience most encounters built within the guidelines last between 3 and 4 rounds.

 

[Tigris]

I think this encounter worked as designed. In my experience most encounters built within the guidelines last between 3 and 4 rounds.

I would say that is also the goal. People want fast combats.