My First 5e Custom Encounter

[Bjarkmundur]

This is my first original encounter for 5e. I'd love your help to flesh it out.

My party invaded the study of our kingdom's Tyrant, and found a map leading to a dungeon which supposedly has an item of great power. My group decided it would be best to get the item first, before the Tyrant could get his hands on it.

The Tyrant realises what we've done and sends a group of mercineries to intercept us.

Mercinery point of view:


We just got a mission to intercept another group, and retrieve an item from a dungeon. The other group is after the item as well. We've just got to the entrance of the dungeon, and it looks as the other group was ahead of us, and has already entered. We debate whether we should simply wait until they return with the item, and ambush them. They'll most likely be tired and beat, so it'll be like taking candy from a baby. While we're discussing this, the group we're supposed to intercept comes up from behind us. Apparently they went home and slept after their first day of exploring the dungeon, and are now on their way to finish the job.*

Enemies:

HP are just guidelines, I'll extend the enemy's life if necessary. This encounter is meant as "Tactics 101" for my group of new players. Up to this point they've been against beasts and undeads, so fighting against a group that's this aggressive and tactical is a completely new experience for them.
If an enemy's lifetime is extended beyond his max HP, it wont change the outcome: that enemy will be defeated.

Rogue
AC: 13
HP: 24
Multiattack:
+4 vs AC, 4 and 2 damage, respectively, +2 bonus damage with sneak attack
Disengage as a bonus action.

Barbarian
AC: 13
HP: 36
Greataxe: +4 vs AC, 12 damage
Reckless feature

Cleric
AC: 15 with shield
HP: 24
Mace: +4 vs AC, 4 dmg
Spells: Bless, Silence, Sanctuary

Archer
AC: 11
HP: 12
Longbow: +4 vs AC, 4 damage
Bonus to stealth

Tactics
The Barbarian and Rogue will engage the front line in melee, the rogue using his Disengage to avoid hard-hitting enemies.
The Cleric will cast bless at the start of the fight, and will keep back while concentrating.
The archer will attempt to hide and shoot from cover.

When the first spell slot has been expended by the party the cleric casts silence to prevent any further spellcasting.

When the Barbarian is about to go down the cleric delays his turn to cast sanctuary just after the Barbarian has attacked

Counter-tactics
Get a surprise round.
Focus the Barbarian down, you have advantage to hit him.
Break the Cleric's concentration.
Don't let the Archer get off free shots.
Deal with a silencing effect.

How it actually went:
My group instantly focused the barbarian, and killed him in 3 turns. They got a surprise round which turned the tide in their favor in just a single turn.
After the barbarian was down they made quick work of the remaining mercaneries.
There were a couple of really cool and really fun moments. I'll maybe make a post about them later.
My group had a lot of fun and found the encounter be just the right amount of threatening.
One player got reduced to 0hp.
I completely forgot to add the bonus objective or alternate goal of the encounter.


What to do better
A single guiding bolt or cure Wounds from the cleric would've made him much more of a threat, or give him some ridiculous "everyone in my party deals double damage while I'm alive".
The Archer and the rogue did their job as intended, chip damage and had annoying mobility.
Never put Al your eggs in the same basket is the general take away

[J-H]

What level is your party?

Some of the damage numbers look a bit low (Rogue 1d6+3 average 5, then 1d6 average 3 for offhand; sneak damage average 3.5 per dice = 3).
Archer 1d8+3 average 6.5, not 4 damage.
AC looks low for a DEX character for both Rogue & Archer, should be at least 14 (light armor, dex+3).

Rogue can't disengage if he makes his second attack.

Bless is going to be huge for the merc party...definitely get it going early! Sacred Flame takes a bonus action for the Cleric. I am AFB, but I think Spiritual Weapon doesn't take concentration.

If there's some terrain around, have them make use of it - use a boulder to guard a flank, have the archer climb up into a tree, etc. Give them a couple of common magical items, maybe healing potions or the like.

[Bjarkmundur]

We are level 3.

Thanks for your suggestions :)

[Man_Over_Game]

This is all very well done! Nice work!

Make sure to implement things that provide situational tactics based on the environment. Scatter a TON of random cover and Difficult Terrain. It doesn't have to be complicated. Maybe there's a bunch of mud that is getting through the dungeon walls that got on the floor, or maybe there's a bunch of debris from prior residents. Random structural pillars or obelisks are scattered around to take cover behind. Actively avoid making the battle area pristine.

[Bjarkmundur]

Add depris and random objects all over the place. Have some places for archer to hide. Gotcha

Usually I like having some kind of secondary goal for the enemy, something that feels like a timer, or otherwise diverts the party's attention.

Think about the scene in Mask of Zorro where the fuse is burning, and there are alos a bunch of bad guys.

Do you think this is not needed in this scenario, or something that should be implemented?
Is one source of conflict enough to make this fight engaging? Is it enough to have it "just a fight" ?

Or is the "arhcer hides, cleric concentrates, barbarians smashes" already a huge step up form "you are attacked by four identical goblins"

Edit: Is there anything the cleric can do that isn't damage and adds something to the encounter, since he had an action he can use whilst concentrating?

[Man_Over_Game]

Add depris and random objects all over the place. Have some places for archer to hide. Gotcha

Usually I like having some kind of secondary goal for the enemy, something that feels like a timer, or otherwise diverts the party's attention.

Think about the scene in Mask of Zorro where the fuse is burning, and there are alos a bunch of bad guys.

Do you think this is not needed in this scenario, or something that should be implemented?
Is one source of conflict enough to make this fight engaging? Is it enough to have it "just a fight" ?

Or is the "arhcer hides, cleric concentrates, barbarians smashes" already a huge step up form "you are attacked by four identical goblins"

The Mercenaries could be forced into attacking the players using some kind of magical explosive device around their neck or something. If they don't kill the players within a certain time limit, the chokers release a Stinkcloud effect.

Or maybe the Mercenaries tamper with the magical artifact into some kind of summoning effect. If the players can't retrieve the item in time, the ritual finishes and the players lose their chance to get the magical item.

[Bjarkmundur]

Ooooooo, that's an interesting thought.

The bad guys can have some device or scroll from the tyrant himself, something that "guarantees ther demise".

Thats pretty bloody perfect!

[Bjarkmundur]

Oh, didn't know you were online, edited my post, don't know if you saw it.

So, in regards to adding something to the ecounter. I could give them a "amulet of Revivify" which allows them to get back up after the encounter, and we could meet with them again! Recurring villains! Yay


Wait, where are the bodies?

The silence effect could be from the Tyrant, it would be very thematical.


The tyrant is a sorcerer who took the throne by force, and implemented anti-magic laws to make sure no one could oppose him

I love the idea of them setting up a device at the start of the encounter, and the players have to stop it from going off. The item in question is stíl unrecovered. This encounter also serves as a "time passes in the outside world when you take a long rest". So when my group decides to leave the dungeon, and come back the day after, these guys will be waiting.

[Man_Over_Game]

Oh, didn't know you were online, edited my post, don't know if you saw it.

So, in regards to adding something to the ecounter. I could give them a "amulet of Revivify" which allows them to get back up after the encounter, and we could meet with them again! Recurring villains! Yay



The silence effect could be from the Tyrant, it would be very thematical.


The tyrant is a sorcerer who took the throne by force, and implemented anti-magic laws to make sure no one could oppose him

You should check out the Wheel of Time series. The BBEG sounds like he has similar plans to yours:
The BBEG, a powerful magician, corrupted magic so that anyone who uses it has to use his power as a filter or the magic drives you completely insane. Like, rotting your mind, kill your family, summon a thunderstorm on your city levels of insanity with frequent use.

This ensures two things:

1: The most ruthless casters have no choice but to join him.
2: The weak or liable casters kill themselves and those around them, creating a stigma against casters across the land, which also causes casters to become outcasts who have no support but the BBEG.

It's pretty friggin' brilliant, until Rand says "Screw you", and goes for option #3.

[J-H]

You could also have the rogue, or the cleric, use some of the mundane consumable items: Caltrops, ball bearings, etc.

I houserule that ball bearings need a suitable surface to work (they are useless on mud or soft ground), but caltrops work anywhere.

[Bjarkmundur]

Should I add the "resistance to weapon damage" to the barbarian as a small nod to the players if they know the Barbarian level 1 features (and reduce the HP accordingly ".

Does it add a layer of strategy to try and focus the Barb with magical attacks, or is the effect minimal?

[Man_Over_Game]

Should I add the "resistance to weapon damage" to the barbarian as a small nod to the players if they know the Barbarian level 1 features (and reduce the HP accordingly ".

Does it add a layer of strategy to try and focus the Barb with magical attacks, or is the effect minimal?

50% damage reduction isn't minimal, the problem is that there isn't many good solutions for it as a low level party, and it sets the precedence that metagaming will work in the player's favor. I think it's a good idea to give the Barbarian an ability that sets it apart, but I also think it's a bad idea to base that off of preconceived notions that the players would get out of the narrative of the game. It gives off the idea that you're rewarding players to look up monsters out-of-character rather than in-character.

If you want to mix it up, you can give the Barbarian some kind of Reckless Attack feature. Like making it so that he has Advantage to attack anything adjacent to him or anything that has attacked him, but he is effectively Blinded to see any other creatures (which includes a creature's ability to attack him). That is, he completely is unaware of you until you make your presence known to him, and so the players can take Advantage of that (see what I did there?) at the cost of him beating the crap out of you soon after.

Then I'd just bump his HP up a little, maybe by 5 points or something.

[Bjarkmundur]

Alright, session is this Saturday. Need to do some final touches.

I still, have no idea what the secondary (time bomb) goal for this encounter might be. Nothing really fits what the mercs are doing. But I know a secondary goal would be so much fun, and really help this encounter flow.

I also had the idea of the mercs having the contract in their pocket, and the PC group might use it for an interesting social encounter. We can go and meet with the Tyrants messenger. I can write it in that he has not seen the mercs before and will use a secret phrase to identify them.
This way we can meet with the messenger, which opens a lot of fun possibilities.

I just need that little bit of oomph for middle and end section of this encounter. Any ideas?

[Man_Over_Game]

Alright, session is this Saturday. Need to do some final touches.

I still, have no idea what the secondary (time bomb) goal for this encounter might be. Nothing really fits what the mercs are doing. But I know a secondary goal would be so much fun, and really help this encounter flow.

I also had the idea of the mercs having the contract in their pocket, and the PC group might use it for an interesting social encounter. We can go and meet with the Tyrants messenger. I can write it in that he has not seen the mercs before and will use a secret phrase to identify them.
This way we can meet with the messenger, which opens a lot of fun possibilities.

I just need that little bit of oomph for middle and end section of this encounter. Any ideas?

The Rogue hits the biggest guy in the party with a poison. The party member must make a Constitution DC of 10 at the end of each of their turns or take 1 Exhaustion. This lasts for an hour. Remember that Exhaustion 3 means the character takes Disadvantage on Saving Throws, so while it'll probably take more than 3 rounds for Disadvantage to start taking effect, they probably wouldn't want to risk it. The Rogue has an antidote on his person.

[Bjarkmundur]

The Rogue hits the biggest guy in the party with a poison. The party member must make a Constitution DC of 10 at the end of each of their turns or take 1 Exhaustion. This lasts for an hour. Remember that Exhaustion 3 means the character takes Disadvantage on Saving Throws, so while it'll probably take more than 3 rounds for Disadvantage to start taking effect, they probably wouldn't want to risk it. The Rogue has an antidote on his person.

Thank you! I can definitely work with that to give some sense of urgency to the encounter. Is there any way to turn it into a secondary objective. Something that needs to be done during the combat that isn't the combat?

[Man_Over_Game]

Thank you! I can definitely work with that to give some sense of urgency to the encounter. Is there any way to turn it into a secondary objective. Something that needs to be done during the combat that isn't the combat?

Nothing really comes to mind.

You could have it so that instead of one of the characters being poisoned, it could be that the Mercenaries have some random NPC who's wounded, Dying, and is currently Grappled by one of them as a human shield. The NPC is providing cover, and prevents any AoE attacks from being used as effectively. When the other members of the Mercenaries are being attacked despite the hostage, the hostage is tossed aside and starts making Death saving throws. Death Saving Throws roughly equal death around turn 5, so feel free to give them +1 to their Death Saving Throws if you feel like it.