First time DM CR trouble

[Jellyburd]

Hey all, im developing a horror themed one shot for my first time DMing. The PCs are a party of 4 at level 5.
All players are experienced except for one. I myself have played as a player but never as DM.
Can I get some tips for my encounters?

Encounter 1: 3 zombies, small encounter, more to set mood as the zombies will be NPCs they met the day before. short or long rest
Encounter 2: as they get closer to their destination they will be ambushed at night by 5 ghouls
finish long rest, recover
Encounter 3: beginning of dungeon, Ghast + 2 ghouls
Encounter 4: Night Hag + 2 zombies

Does this seem like alot? We will have about 5 hours to complete
They will start in town, but I will make it very apparent as to what the plot is. (NPC dies)
Thanks

EDIT: Quick feedback already thanks. Maybe some more plot might help? The quick and dirty of the plot is that the party arrives at the town and discovers it is in the midst of a plague. Upon investigation they discover it is actually a guy in town that made a pact with a hag. Before engulfing a vial of poison he admits he poisons them, but only because the hag has his daughter. Once poisoned she visits them in their sleep offering a cure. They seek her out and obviously get tortured and eaten. The mans dying words are that saving his daughter will save the town (a gem on his daughters necklace combined with the hags eye will be used as part of the cure). Hence why the party seeks out the hag.

[Tanarii]

Party thresholds are Easy 1000, Medium 2000, Hard 3000, Deadly 4400.
Adventuring Day is 14000.

1) 3 zombies = 300 XP. Inconsistental. They could handle 8 as an Easy encounter.
2) 5 Ghouls = 1000 XP. Easy encounter.
Long Rest) at the is point they haven't even done enough to need a Short Rest.
3) Ghast + 2 Ghouls = 1700 XP. Easy encounter.
4) Night Hag + 2 Zombies = 3800 XP in theory, but given that the zombies are inconsequential it's more like 2000 (1800 + 200). So medium encounter.

It'll be a cakewalk. That's not to say don't do it, if that's what you want.

Edit:
If you don't want a cakewalk but still want four total encounters, have 2 Medium encounters outside the dungeon, and 2 Deadly inside. With a short rest after the outside encounters, and a short rest between each one in the dungeon.

Edit2: I'm kinda working under the assumption you've read the encounter building guidelines in the DMG, and have access to the Monster Manual. If you haven't read the guidelines, you can find them in the DM basic rules here:
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
If you don't have a Monster Manual I'm not really sure what to say on that front.

[Tiadoppler]

*snip... it's like he's saying what we're all thinking!*

Yeah, there's no need for a long rest. I'd be tempted to combine the first two encounters into an expanding battleground:

First you encounter the first three zombies, then the noise from destroying them starts to attract more zombies from inside the other buildings and ghouls from the cemetery over several rounds.

Within the cemetery, there's 2 ghasts and 2 ghouls that seem to be bound to guard a crypt/tomb.

Within the crypt/tomb there's a Night Hag, with a ghast and a couple zombies for seasoning.


5th level characters have a big bump in power over 4th level. Do they have magic weapons? The Night Hag has a whole lot of resistances that could be challenging if they don't have silvered/magic weapons. Do you know the classes of your party?

[Tanarii]

I know some people swear by the kobold fight club online encounter builder, if you want to play around with one of those instead of figure it out from the DMG & monster manual & crunch a bunch of numbers manually.

[Jellyburd]

1) 3 zombies = 300 XP. Inconsistental. They could handle 8 as an Easy encounter.


I just want to show the NPCs they met at the beginning of the story as undead, but I could just as easily show them being eaten to increase monster count and difficulty I suppose.

[Saiga]

Or make them zombies that use the mummy statblock, for more challenge

[Tanarii]

I just want to show the NPCs they met at the beginning of the story as undead, but I could just as easily show them being eaten to increase monster count and difficulty I suppose.
In that case keep the three zombies and don't count it in your encounter planning. And increase the other three to Deadly difficulty each, and space them far enough apart the PCs can short rest after each one.

Based off what you had:
2) a pack of 9 Ghouls = 4500 XP, Deadly difficulty
Short rest
3) 2 Ghasts + 5 Ghouls = 4750 XP, deadly difficulty
short rest
4) Night Hag + 3 Ghouls = 4800 XP, deadly difficulty

Total XP for the adventuring day 14200

If you're worried about overwhelming them, you can take it easy and knock a Ghoul off each one for the first two.

Edit: the disadvantage to setting up the encounters this way with more creatures to up the difficulty is it puts more overhead on your turns controlling the enemies. Since you're new to DMing that might slow things down. Otoh it's only three kinds of enemies for you to familiarize yourself with the stat blocks.

[Malifice]

Hey all, im developing a horror themed one shot for my first time DMing. The PCs are a party of 4 at level 5.
All players are experienced except for one. I myself have played as a player but never as DM.
Can I get some tips for my encounters?

Encounter 1: 3 zombies, small encounter, more to set mood as the zombies will be NPCs they met the day before. short or long rest
Encounter 2: as they get closer to their destination they will be ambushed at night by 5 ghouls
finish long rest, recover
Encounter 3: beginning of dungeon, Ghast + 2 ghouls
Encounter 4: Night Hag + 2 zombies

4 x 5th level PC will wipe the floor with those encounters. Particularly with your rest pacing outlined above.

I would make it:

[Plot; evil Necromancer BBEG is capturing NPCs to sacrifice them to perform a foul ritual that grants him Lich-dom! He has been sending undead minions out to nearby areas to capture NPCs and bring them to the dungeon]

Encounter 1) 1 x Ogre zombie, and 6 x normal zombies. I would dress the Ogre zombie up in rusted chain mail (AC 16) for a slightly increased threat. Id also increase the Zombies strength to 17, and slam damage to 1d8 (+5 to hit, 1d8+3 damage) also, and add 1 HD to each zombie (30 HP each). At an eyeball that makes them CR 1/2 each.

Including a brute type to go with your mooks spices up the encounter, and lets the PCs prioritize targets.

This is a tough encounter, but they should be fine. I note that they will have time to short rest afterwards (but not to long rest, due to you springing encounter 2 on them as they long rest.

Have the Undead attack a farmstead the PCs are walking past. After dealing with the Undead, 'Old farmer Jack' explains that this has been going on for the past few days in the area, and he suspects that the Undead are coming from 'the old Crypts to the North, about a half days ride from here. Its a place of fell magic, and foul necromancy; be warned if thats where you intend to travel!'

Have old Farmer Jack pop a few shots off from his Crossbow from the barn windows to help out the PCs if things start turning against them.

[SHORT REST and PCs travel to the Crypt]

Encounter 2) Nighttime as they rest. They are attacked by 5 x Ghouls and 1 x Ghast. Add in the ghast for a 'leader' type to accompany the ghouls. Give the Ghast the ability to grant 'pack tactics' to all ghouls within 30' of the Ghast (in addition to his normal turn defiance aura) and increase his Con by +4 granting him 16 extra HP (for a total of 52). Improve Dex of the ghouls and ghast by +2, giving them all +1 to AC from Dex, and proficiency in stealth (they're sneaky ghouls) for Stealth +5. Assume a Stealth check result of 10 (total check result of 15) and give the PC on watch a DC 15 Perception check to avoid being surprised as the Ghouls sneak into the PCs camp.

This is a tough fight again, but the PCs will be getting a long rest afterwards, so can nova pretty safely.

[LONG REST]

Encounter 3) At the entrance to the Crypt of Doom. 6 x skeletons and 1 x Skeleton warrior [He wears a breastplate for AC 17, has 50 HP, has multi-attack [2], Strength 16, a greatsword for +5, 2d6+3 damage. His CR is 2].

The Skeletons are dragging five captured and frightened prisoners into the dungeon. If rescued, they explain that they were dragged out of their homes last night by the Skeletons and brought to the dungeon. One sobbing female NPC tells the PCs that the Skeletons were accompanied by a mysterious 'black cloaked and creepy' human when they attacked, and he mentioned something about needing them to enact a ritual.. a ritual scheduled to occur this very night at midnight!

The creepy man mentioned 'needing the blood of innocents' to complete the ritual, and took her 2 children with him separately. She thinks he's intending on sacrificing the kids at midnight, and implores the PCs to save them before the undead and the creepy guy kills them. She offers a family heirloom (that the undead had no interest in) as a reward if the PCs can help; a beautifully sculpted platinum ring of elven design (a ring of protection +1) that she still wears (as a wedding ring) if they help her.

[This encounter is important to set up the 'Doom Clock' for the PCs, and to police the adventuring day to come]

Encounter 4) In alcoves inside a hallway in the dungeon, guarding passage forward. 2 x Wights with greatswords and Strength 16 (+5 to hit). They wear breastplates (AC 16).

Encounter 5) 1 x Wraith and 2 x Spectres. Guarding a magic fountain.

[The Wraiths and Spectres are guarding a magical fountain, that (once per day), if drunk from gives the benefit of a Short Rest instantly. If they're really hurting from life drain attacks, you can at your discretion also have the fountain restore their Max HP drain from those attacks.]

Encounter 6) Guard room before BBEG. More skeletons or Ghouls (your choice). The point of this encounter is to weaken them before:

Encounter 7) BEEG. 1 X Ogre Zombie (as above), 4 x Zombies (as above) and 1 x Mage (the BBEG Necromancer) preparing for the ritual (the children are present and in a cage). Replace his spellcasting trait with:

Spellcasting: The BBEG is a 7th-level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). The BBEG has the following Wizard Spells prepared:

• Cantrips (at will): Fire Bolt, Toll the dead, Mage Hand
• 1st level (4 slots): Detect Magic, Mage Armor, Ray of Sickness, Shield
• 2nd level (3 slots): Mirror Image, Ray of enfeeblement
• 3rd level (2 slots): Counterspell, Animate dead, Bestow Curse, Vampiric touch
• 4th level (1 slot): Blight

And also grant him the 'turn resistance' aura of Ghouls (undead have advantage on saves within 30' of him vs turning).

His CR is 5.

Add treasure to taste. A CR 6 Hoard is about right.

--------------------------------

The above is a quickie only, and it presumes at least one PC has access to a magic weapon, and the PCs are reasonably experienced and balanced in capabilities.

[Jellyburd]

In that case keep the three zombies and don't count it in your encounter planning. And increase the other three to Deadly difficulty each, and space them far enough apart the PCs can short rest after each one.

Based off what you had:
2) a pack of 9 Ghouls = 4500 XP, Deadly difficulty
Short rest
3) 2 Ghasts + 5 Ghouls = 4750 XP, deadly difficulty
short rest
4) Night Hag + 3 Ghouls = 4800 XP, deadly difficulty

Total XP for the adventuring day 14200

If you're worried about overwhelming them, you can take it easy and knock a Ghoul off each one for the first two.

Edit: the disadvantage to setting up the encounters this way with more creatures to up the difficulty is it puts more overhead on your turns controlling the enemies. Since you're new to DMing that might slow things down. Otoh it's only three kinds of enemies for you to familiarize yourself with the stat blocks.

Any suggestions as to alternative/additional creatures? I wanna keep the theme and the creatures mentioned, but dont want it to get repetitive.

[Malifice]

Any suggestions as to alternative/additional creatures? I wanna keep the theme and the creatures mentioned, but dont want it to get repetitive.

See my post above.

[Tanarii]

Any suggestions as to alternative/additional creatures? I wanna keep the theme and the creatures mentioned, but dont want it to get repetitive.Specters can replace Ghouls, and Ogre Zombie can replace Ghasts, for equal CR swaps.

Use donjon to browse monsters for ideas. If you set type to Undead you can get just undead.

https://donjon.bin.sh/5e/monsters/

[dreast]

https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/Encounter_Building.pdf

Alternative UA encounter building tables. These are quite good as a starting point for a medium encounter... a reasonable deadly encounter would be to treat your party as being 50% bigger. If you want a legendary creature + minions you can just split the party into two “groups” of players to mix and match the tables.

[Throne12]

You said it's a horror game. Zombies arnt scary. You need black eye's children that cast illusion spells and have fear effects. Your using a hag to. And there is a lot of lore with hags and children. Throw in fog everywhere roll dice if front of players to get them thinking something is about to happen. But nothing is with that roll. Have illusions pop out at them let them attack then to find out it just a illusion.

But if your set on zombies make there bites infect the pc's. But show them that it happens so they know about. Have ghouls stun someone and discrabe how the undead are ratting that person alive.


Undead in 5e are just to tame.

[Armored Walrus]

The plot is solid and direct enough for a one shot.

The encounters you have will be very easy if you give them that many rests. But I've read your post twice now and still not really sure what advice you're looking for? You ask "does that sound like a lot? We have 5 hours to complete" I'm not sure if you're asking about whether you have enough material to cover your session time (which can be very party dependent, but if your party goes straight for the fights, then the encounters you have are easy enough that they'll blow through your one shot in probably two hours at the most), or if you're worried that you have "a lot" of challenge.

Horror in D&D can be tricky, too. Don't really just on monster selection to provide horror. You're going to have to do that with your descriptions, ambient music (if you use any), tone of voice, and narrative. The mechanics of D&D just don't translate to a feeling of horror. (it's hard to be horrified while you count squares, figure out the best place to drop your fireball, etc.)

If you're just trying to gauge difficulty level, I'd say err on the side of making it harder. It's a one-shot. If they all die and the village is doomed, that's not a terrible ending, and it removes the temptation to volunteer to keep this story going as a full time campaign. ;)

Edit: I'll second the Kobold Fight Club. It's much easier than doing encounter math by hand, let's you sort by creature type, CR, terrain, and filter by source book.

[Jellyburd]

maybe Dark instead of horror would have been a better description

[Throne12]

Remember if it too little always add more zombies.

[Armored Walrus]

maybe Dark instead of horror would have been a better description

Still not sure what advice you seek though ;)

[Jellyburd]

Yeah, there's no need for a long rest. I'd be tempted to combine the first two encounters into an expanding battleground:

5th level characters have a big bump in power over 4th level. Do they have magic weapons? The Night Hag has a whole lot of resistances that could be challenging if they don't have silvered/magic weapons. Do you know the classes of your party?

Not really, One has expressed interest in trying a spellcaster of some sort, the new player wants to be a bard (Which may be tough and not a strong pick for this campaign, but im not going to discourage him), and the most seasoned player (regularly our DM) said he'd be the healer (Paladin or Cleric), the fourth is undecided.

As far as equipment I offered starting equipment + 500 gold

[Jellyburd]

Still not sure what advice you seek though ;)

It started out as advice for my encounters, as far as them taking up a lot of time or being too easy etc..but evolved to general advice on the one shot. I want it to be challenging, but well rounded enough for the new player to experience different things, we have plans later so it can only last 5 hours.

Outline:
NPC interactions, in town plot development etc.
travel, possibility of exhaustion
Encounter 1: 7 ghouls, possibly an 8th depending on if they track down the body of an NPC. rated hard - short rest if they ask for it.
travel til nightfall
encounter 2-ambushed: Shadow, 2 Specters, 4 ghouls, 1 ghast. rated hard - long rest
skill challenge (crossing a swamp) to access ruin.
Encounter 3: 1 ghast, 3 ghouls. rated medium, this will be almost immediately before encounter 4 (they'll go to the next room and solve a small puzzle to open stairway) 4. rated medium -short rest if they ask for it (may throw in an extra ghoul here if they linger with the stairs open)
Encounter 4: night hag, 2 ghouls. rated deadly
return to town, create cure, session over.

There are occasional traps sprinkled throughout as well.

[Armored Walrus]

That looks solid to me. You might be pushing it to get through that many fights in 5 hours, but it depends on your table and how fast they make decisions.

[Gardakan]

The best way to get in touch with the CR is to throw at them encounters that keeps getting a bit tougher. Start with a few mobs, then add maybe a higher value target (one with enough hp to not be blown in one hit or just to be a signifiant threat). Then you'll see how you can build your encounters.

The whole CR system means that the 1/8, 1/4 and 1/2 units are relatively mortal at low levels while being nothing else then fodders when your adventurers reach some point. If you think that an encounter is too tough or too easy, do not fear adding hps or 1st level spell (like Entangle, Faerie Fire, spells that debuff them).

You can easily fall in the ''DM vs player'' mindset, but do not fear giving them challenge. From a player perspective, you want to get challenged up to a point where death could happen and it wouldn't be surprising. If the threath of dying wasn't part of Dungeons and Dragons, there would be no point at keeping tracks of hp and conditions over your actual ability to fight.

[Jellyburd]

Thanks everyone for the tips/suggestions/advice, its been incredibly helpful.
Im running this saturday, I'll let you know how it goes!!

[Jellyburd]

Hey all,
I'm sure you all were dying to know how this ended ;)
really glad I took everyones advice and upped the number of creatures. Even with the increased challenge they still destroyed EVERYTHING. Especially since the sorcerer got wild magic that let him cast spells as a bonus action and then blindly shot a disguised night hag (NAT 20) that was the final big baddy.
thanks again for all your help everyone. It went well enough to where we are going to transition into a long term game, continuing from where the one shot left off.