DM Advice: How to run a rival party

[SyntheticHuman]

Hello! In my home campaign, I've been slowly building up the introduction of a rival adventuring party full of evil opposite characters ( ̶s̶t̶o̶l̶e̶n̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ inspired by the Linear Guild from OOTS) and right now I'm representing them as a group of PC characters of the same level. Unfortunately, I have realized a problem with this approach: on average, they all have less health and deal more damage than you'd expect for a large encounter of that level. Is there anything I should do to mitigate this, or will it be okay because of their numbers? Also, on a less important note, how much XP should I award for this?

[Unoriginal]

Hello! In my home campaign, I've been slowly building up the introduction of a rival adventuring party full of evil opposite characters ( ̶s̶t̶o̶l̶e̶n̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ inspired by the Linear Guild from OOTS) and right now I'm representing them as a group of PC characters of the same level. Unfortunately, I have realized a problem with this approach: on average, they all have less health and deal more damage than you'd expect for a large encounter of that level. Is there anything I should do to mitigate this, or will it be okay because of their numbers? Also, on a less important note, how much XP should I award for this?

My advice is to re-work the NPCs. I personally wouldn't use PC classes as more than inspirations, precisely because of the "low HP, high damage" issue, plus the fact there are a lot of PC things that clutters the page when used as an NPC.

You can go over each page and delete all what won't be useful for an NPC, then make it into a simpler-to-use statblock.

For the HP, I would adjust them so that they'd match similar monsters of around the threat level you want those NPCs to be. Same with the damage.

For the XPs, well, you can treat each individual as (PC lvl/4) = CR, and calculate how much a group of creatures of that CR is worth in XP.

[JNAProductions]

I'll echo Unoriginal-don't build them as PCs, build them as NPCs with inspiration from the PC classes.

You can make them a bit glass cannony, but don't go too far in that direction, or it'll just come down to who wins initiative in a fight.

For XP, if you use it, just figure out what their CR is and use that value. I personally don't bother with XP anymore, just using milestone leveling, but to each their own.

[SyntheticHuman]

Makes sense- I think I'll keep the original character sheets as references for what abilities they should have, but I'll use my favorite stat block generator for their actual stats. Thanks!

[da newt]

I'll echo what the others have said - bad guys are normally designed differently than PCs - more HP, less damage, less complex, etc. but I'll add that maybe if you do want this to be a straight up 50-50 encounter of equals ... if this is your goal, then build PCs and have at it with the full realization that 5 Players w/ PCs vs 1 DM with 5 PCs gives the DM party an advantage (if they want to go all out for a TPK or other story beat) as the DM can coordinate perfectly between their PCs.

[Amnestic]

Let 'em be full level. Let 'em be deadly. If they're rivals then they won't focus a single character down, they'll split their attention to match their opposites, so the likelihood of a 100->0% burst in one turn? Pretty unlikely. It's okay for some enemies to be glass cannons, as long as it's not the standard.

[Skrum]

Check out Volo's Guide to Monsters. In the very back there are NPC versions of PC's at various CR's. They are massively simplified compared to the base class, but have enough of the core elements to be recognizable.

You can do this manually too of course - make a generic stat block for a CR of what you think is good, and then pick 1-2 signature abilities that will serve to represent the class. Give a fighter maneuvers, a rogue sneak attack and uncanny dodge, a barbarian rage and reckless attack, etc.

[False God]

Parties are tricky things, since synergies and solid play can really allow a group to punch up.

I wouldn't nerf them at all. I would keep them exactly as you built them, let them level up, maybe not.

But always put more fanfare into introducing them. Your party needs to know these guys are special, and not be worried that they are "appropriate level challenges". You can demonstrate this on having your party come across the NPC party fighting some other baddies, or the wreckage thereafter to communicate that they more powerful than what your group is expecting.

I run PC-built NPCs all the time, generally speaking they're more challenging, but they also require the DM to play them smarter to really give off the feel that these are effectively another group of PCs, not some random foes.

[SyntheticHuman]

The buildup has already been going well. I've had them slowly encounter most of them, and a lot of them have ties with their backstories. I've got it set up for them to finally encounter them at the end of a dungeon. I've now got simplified versions with higher HP and lower damage, and the originals just in case.

[CTurbo]

I like making "PCs" and using them as villains, but it can be difficult to manage and balance. You'll probably want to keep them a level or 2 higher than the PCs and/or give them all the Tough feat.

I've found it to be easier to create 2 main "PC" enemies and then use generic disposable Champion Fighters as the extra muscle. The 2 main characters will be a few levels higher than the party and the Champions will be a level or two lower.

I recommend making sure your villains have a way to escape if they're getting whooped assuming you want them as recurring characters.