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Hello all,
I once again need your advice!
I love the 'Real Ghostbusters' episode 39, "Cold Cash & Hot Water", where Peter's dad finds a demon frozen in ice (black ice), it turns out to be a demon that eventually gets lose and causes havoc. I wanted to do something similar to this in my campaign, although our group of 5 heroes are just about to reach level 4. I need some advice on a monster or demon that would be challenging for a group of 5, a creature that revolves around fire or demonic would be awesome. Any ideas? I thought of a Yeti (yes not fire), but it would be too easy to kill with our group.
An Ogre Mage (a type of Oni) make a good choice.
At CR 8 it would be tough for a level 4 party, but with 5 people and it as the only creature, it's very doable.
Brimoraks are fairly close- they are fire focused demons that are CR5. A breath weapon (a 20' line, unlikely to hit more than 1-2) and a bit of fire damage on its attacks. A bit more goaty than intended, but still fine for a generic demon.
The problem is that they are small in size, which is not quite appropriate for this theme. But we can mess with this a bit without making it too horribly ovepowered.
First, lets just assume that we make this medium without any stat changes (but drop the bonuses for being small). Then just add the giant simple template- that would give about the same AC after size bonus/penalties, but more HP and str.
Overall, this would put it at CR 6- about reasonable for a level 4 party of 5. A challenge, yes, but not too far out of their league. Give them some prep time before the fight (easy with the set up- give it a round to melt the ice, and the ice prevents attacks prior to the start of the fight) and they should be fine.
Another suggested change is taking away its sword and giving it two claws. This prevents the AoOs on closing in from hurting too much, and lessens the likelihood of a lucky crit.
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Brimoraks are fairly close- they are fire focused demons that are CR5. A breath weapon (a 20' line, unlikely to hit more than 1-2) and a bit of fire damage on its attacks. A bit more goaty than intended, but still fine for a generic demon.
The problem is that they are small in size, which is not quite appropriate for this theme. But we can mess with this a bit without making it too horribly ovepowered.
First, lets just assume that we make this medium without any other changes (but drop the advantages of being small). Then just add the giant simple template- that would give about the same AC after size bonus/penalties, but more HP and str.
Overall, this would put it at CR 6- about reasonable for a level 4 party of 5. A challenge, yes, but not too far out of their league. Give them some prep time before the fight (easy with the set up- give it a round to melt the ice, and the ice prevents attacks prior to the start of the fight) and they should be fine.
Another suggested change is taking away its sword and giving it two claws. This prevents the AoOs on closing in from hurting too much, and lessens the likelihood of a lucky crit.
Another great idea, thank you!
You could also potentially get the oni mage to work if you made the early stage take long.
This would be 1 round of 'he is going to get out, better put on our buffs', and then 1 round where it is stunned after coming out of the ice, allowing the party to get some hits in.
After that, maybe give is a free action RAWR where it has some aura thing to push the melee character back a bit so it can get a proper start.
Generally, you can soften the difference in CR a bit as long as you give the party an advantage in action economy. Getting an extra couple rounds is a good way to do that.
But I would still be careful when you are working with about 3 or 4 CR above the party's level. It depends on how well optimized the party is.
A solid debuff would be changing how its regeneration works. Instead of Fire or Acid, Cold or Acid.
Meaning its regen is shut down during this fight.