Alright, so I am currently writing a homebrew campaign, and I want to double check some difficulty questions so that I don't kill everyone minute one.
Quick spoiler alert for anyone on here who might be a friend of mine, if "The Desert Campaign" sounds overly familiar to you, then you should stop reading now!
So! Here's the rundown.
- 1st level party of 4
- Following combats take place day one, back to back, during a town raid:
- CR 2, one creature
- CR 3, two creatures
- CR 3, two creatures
- CR 1/2, one creature
However! While I realize that these seem insane, there are some mitigating factors as well.
- Party will find healing items after the first and second encounters.
- An unseen entity in the background is aiding the party. This will quietly penalize every enemy's attack rolls, AC, and saves by -2.
With the additional factors, it's hard to tell if this will kill everyone or not. So I'm hoping for outside perspective. Due to the story I've written, I'm well and truly locked into my creature choices, but I can reduce numbers.
Not knowing specifics it's hard to say. There's no problem with the CR 2 monster encounter or the CR 1/2 encounter. Two CR 3 creatures tend to be the equivalent of a CR 5 encounter. Two of those in a row would probably eliminate a party.
Now, that might be reduced by aid from an NPC or healing. But remember an Ogre - a CR 3 Monster - can easily knock out or kill a 1st level PC with one blow.
This is all situational on the monsters, the pcs, how clever the PCs are, the situation, etc. But I would look at reducing one or both of the CR3 creature encounters - one alone would be an epic battle to end the raid.
I've found that at low levels s#!& can happen and there are no guarantees. For example, in my current game one CR 1/2 zombie knocked my character to zero HP in the first attack of the first round of combat because I opened the door not expecting it to be there.
I would honestly recommend taking a nerfbat to the first one or two encounters so that you can get a feel for your party's abilities. Move the CR 1/2 to the first encounter maybe. That way they can see how easy or hard the others need to be.
I think the CR is split between the two creatures, so it's not a CR 5.
It really depends on what you're using and what your party has at its disposal. Compare 2 Gnolls vs 2 Ghouls vs 2 Half-Fiend Orcs. The Gnolls would be a challenging encounter, but defeatable. Against the Ghouls, the party is one DC Fort save away from potential disaster. Against the Orcs, it's probable that one party member will drop/die per hit (or that Color Spray will immediately end the encounter).
So... "It just depends," is really the best answer I can give you.
I think the CR is split between the two creatures, so it's not a CR 5.
Ah, I see what you're saying. I may have misread the original post.
I think two creatures for a single CR 3 encounter is more reasonable, but - as a previous poster stated, it depends on the creatures.
To clarify, the creatures are gnolls, a gnoll flind, and hyenas. And yes, "CR 3, two creatures" means that there are two creatures with a combined CR of 3.
The actual party is yet to exist. So I can't really say if the party is well fitted to the scenario. But I'm trying to design something that will be equally challenging to most party comps.
Party will be a 15 point buy when it is made.
The Gamemastering chapter in the Core Rulebook says that for a 1st level party of 4, a CR 1/2 encounter is easy, a CR 1 encounter is average, a CR 2 enounter is challenging, a CR 3 encounter is hard, and a CR 4 encounter is epic. Epic risks a TPK. Hard could yield a TPK if the dice hate the party.
(Take this with a grain of salt against seasoned players. This week my players at 15th level defeated a CR 23 foe with ten CR 9 minions. Their teamwork was amazing.)
Two CR 3 encounters back to back are harder than two CR 3 encounters with a rest and recovery period inbetween. Yet both are a lot easier than if the two CR 3 encounters were combined into one CR 5 encounter. A CR 5 encounter has a strong chance of killing a party member.
To answer how much harder, we would need to know the party composition and its combat methods. In most well-organized parties, if one party member is badly hurt after the first CR 3 encounter, he can fall back and drink a healing potion while the rest of the party protects him from the second CR 3 encounter. In a badly-organized party, that injured character would be vulnerable and might not have a healing potion.
Plan on altering the 2nd CR 3 encounter on the fly based on seeing how well the party works together.
Where will the party find healing items after the first and second encounters? If the healing items are on the bodies of the dead gnolls and the next wave of enemies goes not give the party time to search the bodies, then those healing items are out of reach. If the party does have a spare minute to search wherever the healing items are, then they can rest and recover during that minute, too.
If an unseen entity in the background is aiding the party and penalizing every enemy's attack rolls, AC, and saves by -2, that lowers the CR of the enemy. You could still give them full experience for the encounter out of generosity (and to prevent revealing the secret ally), but plan the difficulty based on the altered CR.
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Following combats take place day one, back to back, during a town raid
Depending on your overall design, the biggest danger in all of this is this. See, it's one thing when a party is in control, and can use things like... planning... or... preparation... in order to manage combats. Typical players looking to roleplay heroes are going to be stressed by an overall raid scenario. On top of "defeat bad guys", there's going to be inefficiency as "protect innocents" becomes a priority.
For instance, you might casually mention a gnoll has a torch, and the party could turn the whole encounter sideways trying to prevent that torch from being used to burn down the (presumed) village. I've seen this sort of thing happen a lot. Because the situation is chaotic, players don't FEEL they have the time to do things smart. Worse, they may interpret what is smart very differently from what you do.
I would recommend having a plan for sequential encounters, but shed them as needed. Don't define how many total gnolls are present... just express that "you see two right now, but there are clearly more running around".
Also, you should consider discounting the usefulness of your "invisible benefactor", for a couple reasons. Emotionally, it's usually best to let the PCs be the heroes. But more importantly, mathematically at 1st level it isn't the right answer. -2 to all rolls won't change a lucky crit from destroying a PC in one shot. Basically, all you're doing is making each roll 10% less likely to be fatal. That doesn't REALLY reduce the danger of the encounter.
The opening of Rise of the Runelords would be a good place to look at what this sort of thing could look like, balanced.
Good luck.
They should be fine. Gnolls are weak for CR1 and the hyena is only a problem if it gets surprise. The Flind is potentially dangerous if it crits with Power Attack but is otherwise unremarkable. The gnolls and flind are all humanoid so are susceptible to the most common SoS spells at 1st level, viz Color Spray, Sleep, Command and Daze. They have no special abilities bar trip.
The PCs might well get unlucky and a PC might die, but even that's unlikely as no individual monster is likely to drop one from +ve hp to to near -Con in a single hit.
The Flind has AC20 which could be an issue, barring the right spell.
To clarify, the creatures are gnolls, a gnoll flind, and hyenas. And yes, "CR 3, two creatures" means that there are two creatures with a combined CR of 3.
Hmm, gnolls' damage is swingy: The 1d8 spear might be ok, but x3 crits are quite dangerous at level 1. A flind is limited to x2 crits, but 1d8+6 means 14 points at max, potentially oneshotting pretty much any one level 1 PC. Finally hyenas don't do that much damage, but a successful trip quickly means no escape.
Consider the young template or the degenerate creature template. They allow you to stick with the creatures and add even more of them, in favor of a less swingy fight.
I would suggest replacing the x3 crit weapons with x2 crit ones. Also, consider not using power attack. 3d8+18 is almost a guaranteed kill of any full health 1st lvl PC.
That's what I was thinking as well. I've already switched up some armor already (the gnolls blend in with the crowds-don't ask-so it makes sense to wear lighter armor that can hide under clothes) so ACs aren't out of reach for level ones.