D&D 5E Three level 7 PCs vs a Roc in an open field...

[Lucas Blackstone]

Maybe my PHB is worded differently. The last line of the Trip Attack entry says " You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you knock the target prone. " That didn't seem to be poor writing in my eyes. But sometimes they do change wording on stuff.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

If you want the battle to be survivable, you might consider adjusting the roc a bit.

1) Maybe the roc doesn't "feel" like using both attacks every round for some reason. Maybe it only attacks with it's talon until it manages to grab a PC, then flies up in the air with them and then only chooses to use its bite attack. If it takes too much damage in a round afterward, maybe it drops the held PC. With only 1 attack per round, this might be painful but survivable.

2) As others mentioned, if you don't like the idea of a gargantuan creature being easily stunned or don't want the thing stunned for balance reasons you're free to make it immune. But you might also merely choose to give it advantage on saves versus stunning - with a +9 base save it's unlikely to fail many even from a flurry. And still gives the monk a chance to give the party a moment of safety.

3) The thing doesn't necessarily need to fight to the death. Maybe it decides to pursue a less troublesome meal after taking 30-50% of its hit points.

4) Rocs have animal-level intelligence. Let it fall for decoys or some other similar trick if the PCs think of it.

 

[Anakzar]

I agree with the OP on the stunning thing. However I would allow full stunning if the roc put its head close enough for the monk to hit. IF its attacking only with talons then bird talons are built to take abuse being covered with scales and having little meat and the body and head would be too far away to hit(can monks stun with ranged weapons?). I would instead call that talon that the monk stunned "numbed" so that it can't use it for the duration of the stun, this might mean it drops what its holding and can't attack with it. Also would have trouble landing and taking off on it...

 

[CTurbo]

I like the idea of numbing a talon instead of a stunning the whole bird.

As mentioned before, this will never be an all out fight to the death. The Roc would hit and run only, and only use it's beak on an already grappled PC and only when the PC tries to break the grapple. I would also make it flee if it takes too much damage... probably around half.

 

[hastur_nz]

Curse of Strahd features a Roc in Tsolenka Pass, which is aimed at 8th level PC's, however it's not intended to be a TPK the Roc just wants something to eat. My players encountered it as they were leaving the Amber Temple, and from what little I remember it was pretty rough in that the Roc is at a massive advantage due to high speed flight, even when your party has spell casters. I think our combat only lasted a round or two, where the players inflicted decent damage but I managed to grab a PC and fly off with him; he was a Warlock, with Armour of Agathys up, so I ruled that when the Roc took enough damage, it dropped the PC and flew away. So the Roc escaped without a meal, and that PC was lost in the snowy slopes (to be found by one of Strahd's minions, lol).

In general, a single flying monster vs a group of PC's, in theory the monster has a massive advantage, but it all depends on exactly what kind of setup the players can contrive to even the odds, because as soon as a few of them get a chance to unload, it's a single monster which easily dies very quickly. Even a few bow shots, at range, can make a big difference, as well as readied melee actions if they get a chance.

For example recently I had a red dragon vs my PC's, their hobgoblin archer allies, and some prisoners the dragon didn't want escaping - the players convinced the dragon to fly into the danger zone, and despite two breath weapons and trying to fly off, they killed it in about two rounds from ranged attacks and a nice sleep spell to finish it off, not even a single PC was dropped. It could have gone the other way, if the dragon hadn't been so annoyed that it made a bad judgement call.

Three PC's vs a Roc, I could see the PC's unloading with ranged attacks and doing a bit of damage for a round or two, taking cover near each other, readying strikes for if the Roc comes in to attack... The Roc will have most of its HP, so will fly in and grab a PC and get hammered in return, before it flies off - can it survive? Probably yes, and can it survive the escape? Probably yes. So most likely, the Roc gets a single PC, but is not stupid enough to try a second time. Maybe the PC's can do enough to stop it escaping with a PC before it gives up trying, maybe the players will avoid combat altogether (if they are mostly melee types, they should try). It's a risk - personally I'd try and make sure there are clear options other than just combat.

 

[hastur_nz]

p.s. I think nerfing the Roc and/or the Monk's Stunning Strike is a terribly bad idea, especially if it's just to try and make a single encounter more balanced. As a player, I'd argue that the Monk's Stunning Strike is supposed to 'always work', unless the creature is immune to stunning, because it's like the Vulcan nerve pinch, or whatever - it shouldn't matter how big the target is. If I found the Roc was quite different from what's in the MM, I'd expect my DM to give some sort of clue before hand, not just spring it on me suddenly. Just change the encounter.

 

[CTurbo]

I got an idea that instead of the Roc flying away with one or more of the PCs and then dropping them to their death, which honestly would not be necessary considering how small the PCs are, it could take them back to it's nest to feed it's young which could be reskinned Giant Eagles. They could find some good loot left over in the nest from previous meals, and then have to figure out how to get down before mama Roc comes back.