Guards / Soldiers for different CR's - CR 2 needed now

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Hello,

I'm trying to flesh out the proper military of a town and would like some CR1 and CR2 soldiers. Being a new DM I'm not entirely sure how strong to make them. My party should be 5 strong and a mix of Level 1 and Level 2. The military should be a bit stronger than the party should engage at this point but not impossible.

If any of you all have a link or advice it would be greatly appreciated.

[Unoriginal]

Hello,

I'm trying to flesh out the proper military of a town and would like some CR1 and CR2 soldiers. Being a new DM I'm not entirely sure how strong to make them. My party should be 5 strong and a mix of Level 1 and Level 2. The military should be a bit stronger than the party should engage at this point but not impossible.

If any of you all have a link or advice it would be greatly appreciated.

5e usually assumes most humanoid soldiers are Guard NPCs (CR 1/8), with Scouts (CR 1/2) as support and a percentage of Veterans (CR 3) (whose stats also often represent officiers), with Nobles, Knights, Tribal Warriors, Archers, Bersekers, etc in the mix.

That being said, for a CR 2 soldier you could the stats for Bandit Captain and give them a soldier's equipment. For a level 1, you could touch up a CR 3 NPC statblock to make them weaker or take a low CR and make them a bit tougher.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Dead last page of the manual! Thanks for the tips.

[PhoenixPhyre]

5e usually assumes most humanoid soldiers are Guard NPCs (CR 1/8), with Scouts (CR 1/2) as support and a percentage of Veterans (CR 3) (whose stats also often represent officiers), with Nobles, Knights, Tribal Warriors, Archers, Bersekers, etc in the mix.

That being said, for a CR 2 soldier you could the stats for Bandit Captain and give them a soldier's equipment. For a level 1, you could touch up a CR 3 NPC statblock to make them weaker or take a low CR and make them a bit tougher.

I agree with the first paragraph. Don't bother making guards at each CR, it's not worth it.

If you're going to make custom monsters, know that the MM drastically undershoots the DMG's guidance for health. From my investigation of the MM, it seems that CR 2 monsters tend to have ~47 HP (rather than the 86-100 the DMG suggests). Basically, CR 2 has a defensive CR of about 1/4 (and an offensive CR of about 4 to compensate). ACs and DCs tend to be pretty close to trend.

CR 3s have on average 59 HP (for a defensive CR of ~0.5 due to abnormally high ACs) and offensive CRs ~ 6 (5.5 average).

I think that's to keep things interesting and avoiding long slogs of combat.

[Talamare]

Small Company

Shield Brother - AC 16 (Chain Shirt + Shield) - ~30 HP - +4 1d6+1 (Spear + Shield)
-- Phalanx Shield - Gains +1 AC for every Phalanx Shield within 5ft

Spear Brother - AC13 (Hide) - ~20 HP - +4 1d10+1 (Pike)
-- Phalanx Spear - Gains +1 to hit and +1 damage for every Phalanx Shield within 5ft, ignores Phalanx Shield users for LoS.

Captain - AC14 (Ring Mail) - ~25 HP - +5 1d8+2 (Long Sword)
-- Phalanx Orders
----- As a Reaction may grant to resistance to an damage type to all Phalanx characters within 20 ft
----- As an Action allows upto 3 characters to immediately make an attack

[PhoenixPhyre]

Small Company

Shield Brother - AC 16 (Chain Shirt + Shield) - ~30 HP - +4 1d6+1 (Spear + Shield)
-- Phalanx Shield - Gains +1 AC for every Phalanx Shield within 5ft

Spear Brother - AC13 (Hide) - ~20 HP - +4 1d10+1 (Pike)
-- Phalanx Spear - Gains +1 to hit and +1 damage for every Phalanx Shield within 5ft, ignores Phalanx Shield users for LoS.

Captain - AC14 (Ring Mail) - ~25 HP - +5 1d8+2 (Long Sword)
-- Phalanx Orders
----- As a Reaction may grant to resistance to an damage type to all Phalanx characters within 20 ft
----- As an Action allows upto 3 characters to immediately make an attack

I'm not fond of fiddly stacking modifiers that have to be recalculated every round as things die. They're really not common in this edition, for good reason.

[Talamare]

I'm not fond of fiddly stacking modifiers that have to be recalculated every round as things die. They're really not common in this edition, for good reason.

It's not really a burden on the players, just the DM needs to keep track.

So it's not a big deal

[Requilac]

Small Company

Shield Brother - AC 16 (Chain Shirt + Shield) - ~30 HP - +4 1d6+1 (Spear + Shield)
-- Phalanx Shield - Gains +1 AC for every Phalanx Shield within 5ft

Spear Brother - AC13 (Hide) - ~20 HP - +4 1d10+1 (Pike)
-- Phalanx Spear - Gains +1 to hit and +1 damage for every Phalanx Shield within 5ft, ignores Phalanx Shield users for LoS.

Captain - AC14 (Ring Mail) - ~25 HP - +5 1d8+2 (Long Sword)
-- Phalanx Orders
----- As a Reaction may grant to resistance to an damage type to all Phalanx characters within 20 ft
----- As an Action allows upto 3 characters to immediately make an attack

Never use the phalanx position in D&D, at least for 5e. It was amazing in real life warfare , but real life warfare did not involve wizards. Wizards that could launch fireballs, fog clouds and ice knifes. There are so many different ways to deal AoE damage in D&D that a phalanx company could be absolutely smoked in a matter of a few rounds. Bunching up in tight groups was good a strategy when magic is not involved, but clustering like that in D&D is a death wish.

[Talamare]

Never use the phalanx position in D&D, at least for 5e. It was amazing in real life warfare , but real life warfare did not involve wizards. Wizards that could launch fireballs, fog clouds and ice knifes. There are so many different ways to deal AoE damage in D&D that a phalanx company could be absolutely smoked in a matter of a few rounds. Bunching up in tight groups was good a strategy when magic is not involved, but clustering like that in D&D is a death wish.

I realized, Which is why Captain can grant resistance to the group.

You could kill the Captain first, which is just good tactics.

[guachi]

CR 2 is roughly equal to a 5th level PC. CR1 is level 3 or 4.

You'll see CR 2 NPCs and humanoids with level 3 spells or 2 attacks (and a potential third offhand attack like the Bandit Captain).

[Coidzor]

Small Company

Shield Brother - AC 16 (Chain Shirt + Shield) - ~30 HP - +4 1d6+1 (Spear + Shield)
-- Phalanx Shield - Gains +1 AC for every Phalanx Shield within 5ft

I'd say go more with reactions to impose disadvantage to attack adjacent allies. Maybe give Advantage on saves as a reaction, too.


Spear Brother - AC13 (Hide) - ~20 HP - +4 1d10+1 (Pike)
-- Phalanx Spear - Gains +1 to hit and +1 damage for every Phalanx Shield within 5ft, ignores Phalanx Shield users for LoS.

I'd probably just go with giving them a Bless-like effect and that members of their unit don't give enemies soft cover. Maybe Advantage when adjacent to a Shield Boy and a Pike Boy.


Captain - AC14 (Ring Mail) - ~25 HP - +5 1d8+2 (Long Sword)
-- Phalanx Orders
----- As a Reaction may grant to resistance to an damage type to all Phalanx characters within 20 ft
----- As an Action allows upto 3 characters to immediately make an attack

An archery variant might be interesting to give a volley AoE with a Recharge 5-6 or similar.

Another idea might be for the Captain to add their proficiency bonus to the saving throws of their formation vs. AoEs or allow them to use the captain's proficiency bonus in place of their own. Possibly something in conjunction with the shield boys to get the formation to have something like Evasion.

A 10-15' aura effect of some sort might be interesting as well.