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So I may be setting my PC's up to have an opportunity to enter into a martial tournament sometime in the future of the homebrew I'm running and I'm a little curious if anyone had any experience doing so.
I want to build some neat NPC's for some of the party to fight and I'm curious what CR I should build them at. Let's assume my PC's are going to be about level 8; would I be setting them up for quick losses if I build 8th level (CR7) opponents for them to face? Since an 8th level enemy should be an average fight for a whole 7th level party it seems like setting that against one level 8 PC is destined for trouble.
On the other hand, it seems odd to place opponents with way lower class levels against the players since I do want it to be challenging (the reward for winning will be significant.)
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
So I may be setting my PC's up to have an opportunity to enter into a martial tournament sometime in the future of the homebrew I'm running and I'm a little curious if anyone had any experience doing so.
I want to build some neat NPC's for some of the party to fight and I'm curious what CR I should build them at. Let's assume my PC's are going to be about level 8; would I be setting them up for quick losses if I build 8th level (CR7) opponents for them to face? Since an 8th level enemy should be an average fight for a whole 7th level party it seems like setting that against one level 8 PC is destined for trouble.
On the other hand, it seems odd to place opponents with way lower class levels against the players since I do want it to be challenging (the reward for winning will be significant.)
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Yeah, wrong forum. Whatever.
Remember that the PCs are expected to win, so an "average" fight is actually pretty easy. A couple of the front-liners will probably take a few hit points of damage, the spell-casters may burn a spell or two, but that's about it. Remember that you're supposed to be able to handle several "average" fights in a row and still walk out of the dungeon alive.
An 8th level character should be an exactly fair fight against an 8th level character [with PC wealth] due to symmetry. Someone pointed out on another thread that that wording may be misleading. It means, literally, that you don't know who's going to win. I should be willing to take either end of a bet that the PC will win.
So if this is a death match, you're risking a 50/50 chance of killing someone's PC. Are you willing to do that?
If it's not a death match -- if they're using merciful weapons or something like that -- then the PC is less likely to die, but also is likely to be at a disadvantage, because she can't use her favorite tactics and toys. Which doesn't actually bother me, especially if, as you say, the reward for winning is substantial.
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Oh, it definitely won't be a battle to the death (at least not without some sort of cheating. I'm playing with some story ideas for a match the PC's may watch but not be involved in. But that's neither here nor there..) I'll probably fluff it with some sort of "the arena itself is enchanted so you only take non-lethal damage" since the capitol city it takes place in is benevolent (mostly..) and wouldn't be hosting blood sports.