D&D 5E Warlock of the Archfey CR 4???

[Xeviat]

Hi everyone. I'm going through Volo's Guide for some NPC monsters for a new game I'm starting, and I noticed something odd.

The Warlock of the Archfey is CR 4. Running it through the DMG calculator, it has a defensive CR of 1/4 and an offensive CR of 3, which means it's CR should be 1. Most of it's spells are passive or control things, so they're hard to gauge. But ... the Warlock of the Archfey also has conjure fey.

Conjure Fey allows you to summon a CR 6. A CR 4 can summon a CR 6 ... this is just odd. Yes, if the PCs figure out what's going on, they could tag the Warlock with attacks and make it lose concentration. Then it goes hostile toward the group that summoned it ... maybe the PCs can get it on their side at that point.

But this seems odd.

How would you run this?

 

[Dualazi]

How would I run this? With probably with a fey/beast bruiser type summon while the warlock kites and controls the PCs. This seems like the obvious intent behind the design, and conveniently enough the annis hag also in Volos is just the right CR and design for this. Also, even if you break concentration there's no assurance the fey will turn on the warlock. It could happen, but it's not a given.

More to the point though, it does seem off. It has incredibly low HP at 49, and arbitrarily receives conjure fey for no discernible reason outside of theming. On the flipside, it's also evidently an 11th level caster, which means its eldtrich blast can deal 3d10, and has at least 3 potential escape mechanisms (misty escape, misty step, dimension door), so it'll have very lopsided performance based on how much of the PC group is melee or ranged.

Overall, it falls into a weird scenario I think where it'd be incredibly dangerous to parties level 4 or below, and not very dangerous at all to those above, since multiple attacks and level 3 spells stand a reasonable chances of burning it down before it can accomplish much. It's also possible it was a gaff and meant to be conjure woodland beings, which is still incredibly strong but at least less of a jarring CR difference.

 

[mellored]

It's a glass cannon. Strong offense (including the summon), weak defense. Makes a nice contrast to the usual brute.

The thing I would say is how frail the warlock looks. Make it obvious that he can he taken down easily, if you can get to him.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

It is funny how much one powerful spell can change the CR. When I was building higher level celestials for Dave's epic monster thread, the temptation to add on meteor swarm was high (celestials raining destruction down on the heathen is a good image), but it totally overwhelmed the CR's I was going for.

In this case, I think mellored's glass cannon is probably by design. Fey (and thus feylocks) are supposed to be sneaky, and it seems like one of the reasons to be sneaky is to not take beatings (better for the other guy to do that). Not to mention it is karma for the sneaky guy to be in serious trouble when he gets caught.

 

[Xeviat]

But it's a glass cannon itself, but it summons a stronger ally. I could just put the hag in the fight and it would be "harder" than if I put in the Warlock?

I removed it. I recalculated it's CR as if it knew Shatter, since maxed sleep and hold monster will really mess up the party in a group fight. I assumed that the conjure fey was coming from an invocation, so I gave it agonizing blast for a bit more attack power.

It actually brought its CR down to 3.


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[Tormyr]

It is all about the conjure fey spell. Something like the annis hag works well for the fey.

Round 1 - cast conjure fey; fey does 40 damage*
Round 2 - cast 3 beams of eldritch blast for 16.5 damage; fey does 40 damage
Round 3 - cast 3 beams of eldritch blast for 16.5 damage; fey does 40 damage
*taken from CR table for CR6 creature

overall CR is 3.6 which rounds up to four.

Round 3 could also be a 13d8 sleep which does 58.5 "damage."

This causes the CR to be a little above 4 which rounds down to 4.

If the warlock loses concentration, the fey sticks around and is hostile to the warlock, but the warlock goes invisible and teleports 60 feet away. This leaves the party to deal with the annis hag.

What I like about this is that it is one of the first "official" examples of what a conjuration does to a creature's CR.

 

[Xeviat]

What I like about this is that it is one of the first "official" examples of what a conjuration does to a creature's CR.

Raises it to be lower than the CR of the thing you're summoning?


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[Tormyr]

Raises it to be lower than the CR of the thing you're summoning?


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True, it is weird, but so is conjuration magic. I don't have a good explanation for it, but that is the only way I can come up with CR 4. The idea must be to put the danger warning into the CR of the summoning creature. It could also be factoring in the chance that the summoned creature actually sees and turns on the summoner.

Without it, the warlock is a CR 2. (1.6 rounded up or 2.1 rounded down with sleep).

I would need to look at how the MM handles devils to see what they use and how it might affect the CR. It will definitely take a bit more study to try to understand.

 

[Zardnaar]

Spellcasters are out of whack. Flameskulls are cr 4 can use fireball , CR 12 npcs are level 18 casters.

They usually don't have good spell lists but meteor swarms are for level 10+pcs and raw you can encounter CR+7 or so ss a deadly encounter.

With 5E saves being meh npc spellcasters are often a lot bore dangerous than brute types.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Spellcasters are out of whack. Flameskulls are cr 4 can use fireball , CR 12 npcs are level 18 casters.

They usually don't have good spell lists but meteor swarms are for level 10+pcs and raw you can encounter CR+7 or so ss a deadly encounter.

With 5E saves being meh npc spellcasters are often a lot bore dangerous than brute types.

It's important to keep in mind that most of those creatures have such low up that a party can potentially kill them before they even get a turn. Classic glass cannon.