D&D 5E Is this encounter too difficult?

[Sacrosanct]

I will admit my limitations with higher level play in 5e. Does this encounter seem too difficult? Not hard enough? It's designed for a party of level 14-15, with a good chance they will have had a long rest before entering the portal to this lair. Pardon the wall of text.

The Master Plotter’s Lair

The Master Plotter had chosen an abandoned mine to be used as their base of operations. They closed up the access tunnel so no unwelcome surprises would just wander in unannounced. Years prior, the mine was flooded after an underground aquifer was tapped into.

There are three ways in which one can gain entry into the Master Plotter’s lair: the magical portal from the Barrow, the Fey Circle, or clearing the rocks and debris from the tunnel. Due to the progression of the adventure, the most likely of these to be used by the party is the portal from the Barrow. The other entries will be described in more detail below.

With the exception of the magical portal in area 1, the area in this lair is dimly lit with heavy shadows all around. Area 1 glows brightly in red light. The pit itself descends into the darkness beyond most vision, finally ending in a pool of water 200 feet below. The water itself is only 20 feet deep, and is fed by underground passageways from a much larger aquifer. The water can mitigate falling damage, but only slightly. Any creature falling from the top level of the pit (areas 1 through 3) will suffer 15d6 points of bludgeoning damage, and any creature falling from the lower level (areas 4 and 5) will suffer 10d6 points of bludgeoning damage.

The walls of the pit are rough-hewn and can be climbed by succeeding on a DC 10 Athletics check each turn. Failure means the creature falls. The upper third of the pit, including the numbered areas, has walls covered with carved eyes of varying sizes and shapes. Many of these stone eyes will blink and follow the moving creatures they detect.


Master Plotter Lair Actions

The Master Plotter gains certain lair actions while they are not incapacitated and while they remain in their lair. The lair actions can occur anywhere within the lair. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), The Master Plotter takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects. They can't use the same effect two rounds in a row:

• One of the eyes along the walls or ceiling emits a cone of dim purple light in a 60 ft. cone. This cone reveals any hidden or invisible creature within the area of effect.
• Any eye detaches from the wall. Use the Eyeling stat for this creature. Up to six eyelings can be active at any time.
• A 5 ft. section of the bridge or wooden planks breaks free.
• A 5 ft. radius area is overcome by violent shaking. Any creature within this area of effect must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be shifted 5ft in a random direction and fall prone.
• A gust of wind rushes upward out of the darkness, extinguishing any non-magical flame and dispersing any vapor, cloud, or smoke in the lair.

The Master Plotter Tactics

Unless the party has been exceptionally stealthy, chances are that the Master Plotter is aware of them, either from telepathic communications with Emile, or from the eyes in the barrow. If they have had at least five minutes to prepare, they will be accompanied by six eyelings and will have any magical precautions and defenses up, preferring to stay hidden in the shadows at area 3, where they will wait for the party to enter the fragile wooden pathway before launching an attack. This attack will be with the goal of sending the PCs to their deaths deep within the pit.

Once combat is fully engaged, they will try to remain as mobile as possible, using hit and run tactics on the party. If reduced to zero or fewer hit points, or if pushed into the pit where they fall into darkness, they will undergo a transformation and shift to their second form (a large sized singular floating eye).

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Can I suggest an action for the M.P ?

Stolen Sight: As a action the M.P steal the sight of a creature it can see within 60 ft and makes it its own. The creature must make a CHA save or is blinded until the effect ends or after 1 minute has passed. The creature can try the save again at the end of each of their turn. While the creature is blinded, the M.P can see and cast spells as if it was in the character space instead of its own.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Can I suggest an action for the M.P ?

Stolen Sight: As a action the M.P steal the sight of a creature it can see within 60 ft and makes it its own. The creature must make a CHA save or is blinded until the effect ends or after 1 minute has passed. The creature can try the save again at the end of each of their turn. While the creature is blinded, the M.P can see and cast spells as if it was in the character space instead of its own.

That's a great idea!

 

[abirdcall]

We don't know how many PCs there are. 6 are roughly twice as powerful as 4 so this is very important information.

It's extremely hard to balance an encounter for a 1 encounter/long rest day. Which is why the game isn't designed for it.

A CR 12 encounter followed by a CR 14 encounter is not going to challenge a level 14 party. The CR 1/2 creatures don't count for increasing the difficulty. Looks like an interesting start to an adventuring day but not a climactic one.

 

[abirdcall]

Looking at the 1st form I'm not sure of the calculation but I wouldn't call that CR 12 by glancing at it.

117hp with 15AC is going down in 1 round.

A level 15 fighter with a +2 weapon only misses on a 1 or 2.

6 attacks with the action surge, maybe 1 more with a bonus action.

If they are dueling then their attacks do 1d8+5+2+2 = 13.5

13.5 * 6 = 81.

A Battlemaster has 6 d10 superiority dice. If they spent all of them that is 33 dmg.

It would not be uncommon for a 15th level Fighter to single handedly take it out in 1 round by spending their short rest resources. It has strong defenses against spellcasters but is essentially defenseless against martial attackers.

 

[Flamestrike]

Agree with the others on here. It's much too weak for 14th/ 15th level PCs.

It's 2 Easy encounters back to back.

So effectively it's two of these in a row:

Easy. An easy encounter doesn’t tax the characters’ resources or put them in serious peril. They might lose a few hit points, but victory is pretty much guaranteed.

Building Combat Encounters

D&D Beyond - Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition Tools, Rules, Races, Classes, Items, Spells, Monsters, and More

www.dndbeyond.com

Also bear in mind CR 12 then a CR 14 is barely 1/4 of an Adventuring day for PCs of that level, so they will nova the crap out of it.

They would destroy this encounter without breaking a sweat, likely inside of a few rounds.

---------------

Suggestions:

A single encounter of CR 20 is a 'Hard encounter' (not even Deadly) for PCs of 15th level, and even then it's only 1/3 of the expected XP for that adventuring day.

Increase your creatures AC, HP, DPR, saves etc to a CR 20 (first form), and then a CR 22 for its secondary form and then it's more of a credible threat.

The forms as they are have far too low of an AC, and far too few HP, and dont do enough damage, and dont pose any threat to those PCs.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Looking at the 1st form I'm not sure of the calculation but I wouldn't call that CR 12 by glancing at it.

117hp with 15AC is going down in 1 round.

A level 15 fighter with a +2 weapon only misses on a 1 or 2.

6 attacks with the action surge, maybe 1 more with a bonus action.

If they are dueling then their attacks do 1d8+5+2+2 = 13.5

13.5 * 6 = 81.

A Battlemaster has 6 d10 superiority dice. If they spent all of them that is 33 dmg.

It would not be uncommon for a 15th level Fighter to single handedly take it out in 1 round by spending their short rest resources. It has strong defenses against spellcasters but is essentially defenseless against martial attackers.

Take the entire encounter in context. The environment for example.

 

[Flamestrike]

Take the entire encounter in context. The environment for example.

It would get streamrolled mate. The encounter needs to be taken into context of the Adventuring day (its's the only encounter, effectively 2 easy encounters in a row).

Form 1 has 15 AC (at best) and 120 HP. One turn from a Sharpshooter Fighter (action surge, 6 attacks, 1d8+15 damage, precise shot to land them all, or menacing strike to bump the damage by an extra +d10), and it's dead.

A Paladin nova smiting it, and then a Rogue finishing it off and it's also dead.

And that's inside half a round.

And the Casters havent even acted yet.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

There was a CR 24-ish monster with an eye theme in Eberron: Rising from the Last War. I think it could be a good inspiration.

 

[Flamestrike]

You need to remember, when looking at its stats, its effectiverely fighting this:

The PCs:
Medium humanoid, LJ (Leeroy Jenkins) alignment
HP: 500
AC: 20
Saves, +10 to all.
Condition immunities: All (see below)

Special: The PCs get 5 turns every round; at Initiative counts 20, 16, 12, 6 and 4. On each of these turns select one of the following actions. Once an action has been used, the PCs cant use it again till the same initiative count on the next round:

1) Fight! The PCs make 6 ranged attacks at +10, dealing 1d8+1d10+15 (25) damage on each attack that hits. Once the PCs have used this action, the number of attacks drops to 3 in subsequent rounds.
2) Wizard stuff: Pick any spell of 8th level or lower that appears on the Wizard spell list. The PCs cast this spell, ignoring concentration.
3) Holy wrath: Pick any spell of 8th level or lower that appears on the Cleric spell list. The PCs cast this spell, ignoring concentration.
4) Sneaky stab: The PCs makes a single melee attack with advantage at +10. If successful the attack deals 4d8+8d6+7 (50) damage.
5) Smite! The PCs make 2 melee attacks at +10, dealing 6d8+5 (35) damage on each hit. The PCs then cast greenflame blade as a bonus action, hitting at +10 and dealing 8d8+5 (40) damage on a hit.

For every 100 points of damage done to the PCs, they lose one of those extra turns (determined at random) and one of those actions (determined at random) until they receive any magical healing. In addition if the PCs fail a save that would have made them incapacitated or stunned, they lose one action (and turn) for a single round as well.

Magic weapons: The PCs weapons are magical.

That's what your NPC monster is effectively fighting.