Combat Encounter Planned may be too difficult

[HisDirkness]

I'm a first time DM, so I'm still getting used to modulating encounters in terms of difficulty. The CR system hasn't been too useful as the party has blown through most of the combat scenarios I've set up, however I think the one I have prepared next will kill them.

Last session ended with them finding a long dead necromancers quarters in some ruins. He is now a revenant and has been waiting for someone he deems worthy to bequeath his spell book to and continue his research. He challenged them, summoned two Wights and a zombie ogre. That's where we ended the session. Since it was late, we called it a night there, but that means it's too late to change what they're fighting. I'm wondering if I need to nerf the baddies.

The party consists of 4 level 3 players: A brute fighter, a sharpshooter fighter, a storm sorcerer, and a necromancy wizard(this quest is specifically for the wizard).

Any thoughts or am I over analyzing. Just concerned of a TPK.

[djreynolds]

Yes, it could be deadly.

You could have the zombie ogre at 75%, the party could find scrolls of protection from good or evil.

The wizard could cast that spell, even cast this on the brute.

[Lunali]

If it's an encounter with two wights and a zombie ogre, it should be fine. If it's those three plus a revenant, it'll be a problem.

Assuming you mean the first set, just make sure you avoid reducing their max hp to 0. If the zombie is succeeding too many con saves just fudge it and kill it off.

[DarkKnightJin]

If it's an encounter with two wights and a zombie ogre, it should be fine. If it's those three plus a revenant, it'll be a problem.

Assuming you mean the first set, just make sure you avoid reducing their max hp to 0. If the zombie is succeeding too many con saves just fudge it and kill it off.

I second this. Unless you roll everything in the open, you can just go "And the Ogre Zombie is down! Good job, guys!". Even if it actually nat 20'd its 5 Con save to not die..

[Jcp1195]

You could simply have the Revenant not fight them. Maybe it’s testing them to see if they deserve to fight him later. Have him become Intangible/Unreachable for the battle then when all is said done have him Deus Ex Machina is way out. Or a nice Dimension door would work.

Also, a nice rule of thumb for future encounters, I personally have a rule of encounters not exceeding a total Challenge Rating of the Party’s Level added together +1.

For example: you have 4 level 3 players, so the max you should be throwing at them per encounter is 13 CR worth of creatures. Obviously there’s a few deadly outliers to this rule but they’re easy enough to spot and avoid.

Anyway, if you were to follow that rule, excluding the Revenant your party’s looking at a 8 CR fight that fits pretty nicely. Not to hard, not too easy. Just make sure, like the others said, if your Zombies roll too good, maybe fluff the results.

Edit: Or, since this is a Homebrew campaign, maybe apply some logic that isn’t quite there via RAW. As an example, If a Half-Orc Barbarian took a Maul and beat a Zombie so badly that they crushed every bone it it’s body to dust, it makes a fair amount of sense that it wouldn’t get back up.