Wait... This doesn't seem balanced

[TheLordWinter]

Ok so I'm testing encounters for my upcoming 4e demo with pregen characters and its undead based. So I chose to have level 5 Vampire Spawn Minions. 63 xp each. IN one room (12 sq x 12 sq) the PC's will come across 6 this is a 378 xp encounter making it fair for the limit... apparently. Only Vampire Spawn gain a +2 Bonus to Damage for every one there is, yes thats a +12 for each of them. Now yes they only have 10 hp. But in one turn the pregenrated fighter could end up very... dead, how is this balanced. Will more of these things come up in the 4e mm and will my party survive do you think. They will all be new to 4e but not to D&D.

Of course naturally. I want to keep the encounter as it'll be fun.

An important thing I haven't seen noted here is that as the DM you've got a lot of control of *how* the encounter is laid out. Vampire Spawn are very dangerous - over flat ground. What is the room like? Is it an empty 12x12? Fill it with a bunch of open sarcofagi. Fill it with chunks of debris. Make it tough for the vampires to get a full surround on someone. By blocking things off, I think you'll give your players a fine fighting chance.

 

[Rechan]

I am going to play test it by my self, see how it goes as I know I can throw 2 level 6 monsters at them and they can beat it though its a hard encounter.

Read this thread where someone all ready did.

 

[TheLordWinter]

Read this thread where someone all ready did.

A rather different encounter. In that one it's pretty much one gnoll against three PCs. In this one it's a vampire per PC, so it'll probably be a bit harder to split up actions. Also, barring the Cleric who can instantly kill any one it hits with Lance of Faith, the Vampire Minions may require two or more shots to take down. While the gnolls required several shots a piece, you could pile on things like conditions and buffs against them.

 

[Spatula]

PHB Lite 5th Level Minion is worth 63xp.

/facepalm
The PHB lite is not official. We know the XP value for one minion, and it's level 1. Now it's possible that minions have 1/4 the xp value of a normal monster, and that's a reasonable speculation, but it remains speculation. You can't create a pattern out of one data point.

So "is this balanced?" What does it matter? You're using old monster stats, of a monster classification we know very little about, using a guesstimate XP value to design the encounter. Whether your test encounter is balanced or not has no bearing on anything beyond the test encounter.

 

[ShadowyFigure]

ok. the test went well id go into more detail but there is not much point. In short, clerics are mean vs undead.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

ok. the test went well id go into more detail but there is not much point. In short, clerics are mean vs undead.

Hehe...
Now we'd need Warlord write-up and see if the encounter will still work out well.
I suppose it might get a little more difficult, but I still believe that the PCs can handle it...

 

[Stalker0]

ok. the test went well id go into more detail but there is not much point. In short, clerics are mean vs undead.

I'm guessing one turn undead mopped the floor with them?

 

[Xethreau]

Ummm....

Are you talking about the Vampire Spawn? The Level 6 Brute Minion?

4e Heroic Enemies says that Mr. Vampire Spawn is worth 150 EXP. If you ARE talking about that creature, well, there is your answer.

 

[ShadowyFigure]

Are you talking about the Vampire Spawn? The Level 6 Brute Minion?

4e Heroic Enemies says that Mr. Vampire Spawn is worth 150 EXP. If you ARE talking about that creature, well, there is your answer.

4e Heroic Enemies???

I'm guessing one turn undead mopped the floor with them?

Yup. Annihilated them. Of course the fighter, wizard and ranger helped to. But go to the cleric and he finished the four that were left.

 

[Xethreau]

Not sure where on ENWorld I found it, but I did find it here. I attached it for simplicity's sake.