D&D 5E Need some opinions on an Encounter

[WarpedAcorn]

My players have finished our previous homebrew campaign recently and are about to start up the next one. I have a reputation of a "Killer DM" because I use subtle tricks to make the players think they are in more danger than they are. I specifically wanted everyone to live through the first campaign, but I want this next one of be legit deadly.

That being said, my players all have very powerful characters. I let them roll for stats the way I used to in 3rd Edition, so everyone has VERY high stats (I refer to them as Hero stats). I also gave out a lot of magical items, including defensive items, so everyone has a magic weapon and the minimum AC is the Sorcerer at 18. The players themselves are all level 7 and party comp is Barbarian-Totem, Fighter-EK, Sorceress-Dragon, and one guy is changing to a Monk. For reference, one of their last encounters was against a Paladin 6/Warlock 3 (build via player rules) who constantly had x2 Vrocks out (throughout the encounter they killed 5 total Vrocks and eventually the Warlockadin). So it was a pretty tough encounter, and they did it with 2 characters dropping to 0 and 1 guy dieing due to being thrown into the Abyss (instakill with the caveat of him coming back if he made a deal with the Pit Fiend they encountered earlier).

So...the next session is mainly going to be some housekeeping and downtime activities, but I wanted to provide the option for an encounter in the form of a Bounty mission. Monsters have taken over an important bridge that is disrupting commerce and the city is offering a reward. The encounter will include x1 Oni, x2 Hill Giants, x2 Ogres. The monsters will have terrain advantage in the form of the Guard Towers stationed on either end of the bridge. This is intended as a 1-Encounter of the Day and I might hint at that, but this is also something I am OK with the players retreating from because my goal is to make a statement, "things are going to get tougher". This is also an encounter where the player will have to choose to fight because the Oni just wants to bargain for passage across the bridge.

My question to the community is, should I tweek this encounter? Are these enemies WAY too tough for the players, or would you recommend sprinkling some more enemies in there?

(Just a note, writing it out here makes me feel much better with the encounter as I planned it. Especially writing out that the intention is to have a difficult encounter that is not supposed to be winnable right now)

 

[aco175]

It sounds like your PCs are a bit more powerful than regular parties. I would add more archers to the other side of the bridge and maybe some low-level goons to add fodder to the fight. There seems like a bunch of brute-types for straight up fighting, but missing some caster/ archer types except for the oni. Maybe even add a sneak-thief that can go invisible a few times to go attack rear line casters and such.

 

[iserith]

As far as difficulty goes, I would say this is Deadly by the numbers but probably Hard or Medium considering the increased stats and plethora of magic items. The terrain advantage might bump that back up to Deadly, but it's unclear how much that will affect anything other than the PCs not being able to close the distance quickly and having to deal with boulders, javelins, and spells.

"Deadly," of course, doesn't necessarily imply that any character will actually die provided the players make decent decisions and aren't rolling too badly.

 

[WarpedAcorn]

It sounds like your PCs are a bit more powerful than regular parties. I would add more archers to the other side of the bridge and maybe some low-level goons to add fodder to the fight. There seems like a bunch of brute-types for straight up fighting, but missing some caster/ archer types except for the oni. Maybe even add a sneak-thief that can go invisible a few times to go attack rear line casters and such.

The idea is for the Oni to be the "face" on the ground who can Cone of Cold and then escape if things get ugly via Invisibility or Gaseous Form. The Hill Giants are on top of the Guard Towers and will hurl stones (parts of the tower) so they will start with cover and then remove it as they tear down the tower tossing boulders. The Ogres are just running interference.

But yes, maybe add some other race likes Goblins to shoot arrows. They will probably miss, but I bet I can bait a Fireball or two with them. =)

 

[pogre]

You are right, this encounter should take your players to the edge of their resources. If they do not roll well they will have to retreat. But, it also sounds like that is the kind of encounter you want.

 

[goatmeal]

I like the idea, my only question is how do you react to the PCs choices if they don't win? What if they spend the next three sessions trying to beat it? What if they recruit an army? Doesn't sound like this encounter is integral to your campaign, but that doesn't mean the players won't treat it that way.

 

[WarpedAcorn]

I like the idea, my only question is how do you react to the PCs choices if they don't win? What if they spend the next three sessions trying to beat it? What if they recruit an army? Doesn't sound like this encounter is integral to your campaign, but that doesn't mean the players won't treat it that way.

So it turns out after taking down 2 of the Ogres they players decided to retreat. They initially were VERY cautious on the approach and most stuck to the treeline for cover to use their bows or lob Fireballs. It helped that the Oni went 3rd on Initiative and tagged 3 of them with Cone of Cold right off the bat. After about 3-4 rounds of combat they decided to retreat.

We ended the session there, but they were already brainstorming ways to come back and attack the Bridge. Honestly the fight was just *barely* out of their reach and to be perfectly honest, well within their ability to defeat if they use a little creativity. Earlier in the session they were getting their ego's stroked for being big heroes and talking about how they were going to liberate the bridge, so part of the after fight discussion was how they didn't want to go back to the Trading Post they were just at lest they suffer critical embarrassment. So I don't think they will walk away from this one, but like I said...I think they can take it in Round 2 with a little bit of strategy.

 

[goatmeal]

Cool, sounds like it worked then. Will the Oni have time to recruit more reinforcements to replace the fallen Ogres before they come back?

 

[transtemporal]

Monsters have taken over an important bridge that is disrupting commerce and the city is offering a reward. The encounter will include x1 Oni, x2 Hill Giants, x2 Ogres.

If this is nearby a city, why do they even need adventurers? Just send out an army. The adventurers themselves are probably wondering the same thing. A city that needs adventurers every time they have an oopsie is advertising it's weakness to other kingdoms/cities.

Anyway, no I wouldn't change the encounter. I would maybe examine why these humanoids are so desperate to have their heads snicked off though.

 

[WarpedAcorn]

If this is nearby a city, why do they even need adventurers? Just send out an army. The adventurers themselves are probably wondering the same thing. A city that needs adventurers every time they have an oopsie is advertising it's weakness to other kingdoms/cities.

Anyway, no I wouldn't change the encounter. I would maybe examine why these humanoids are so desperate to have their heads snicked off though.

This is a good point, and there is a reason for it. The finale of the last campaign involved the capital city in this country being attacked by a Shadow army. The players fought their way through the city (modified Mass Combat ruling that was really fun for the table) and were able to confront the BBG. At the end of it all, the city had suffered major losses for both the City Guard and the Army.

The beginning of this new campaign has begun with a reduced presence of City Guard. Also, in a show of strength, the Army has been dispatched to retake an old Fortress on the border of the Kingdom this one is at War with (more of a Cold War). This leaves the majority of the Kingdom with a much lower authoritative presence and is going to lead to a number of other issues in the Campaign. However, because of their increased Renown and success in defeating the BBG previously, the Players were offered the Bounty on the Bridge Monsters before it went public (they currently have 3 more days before it is publicly posted).