More Sahuagin Monsters

[JNAProductions]

Spoiler: Sahuagin Baron, CR 3

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Sahuagin Baron
Large Humanoid (Sahuagin), Lawful Evil

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Armor Class 15 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points 85 (10d10+30)
Speed 35', Swim 50'

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Strength	Dexterity	Constitution	Intelligence	Wisdom	Charisma
18 (+4)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)	14 (+2)	14 (+2)	12 (+1)

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Skills Perception +6, Athletics +6
Senses Darkvision 120', Passive Perception 16
Languages Sahuagin, Common
Challenge 3

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Blood Frenzy
A Baron has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all their HP.

Limited Amphibiousness
A Baron can breath both air and water, but they need to be submerged in water at least once every eight hours or suffocate.

Shark Telepathy
A Baron can telepathically command sharks, out to 300'.

Actions

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Extra Attack
The Baron makes up to two attack actions, from Spear, Claw, and other attack options.

Spear Melee or Thrown Weapon Attack:
+6 to-hit, reach 10' or range 30'/90', one target. Hit: 2d6+4 piercing damage, or 2d8+4 piercing damage if wielded in at least two hands.

Claw Melee Weapon Attack:
+6 to-hit, reach 10', one target. Hit: 2d4+4 slashing damage, and the target is grappled and pulled adjacent.

Bonus Actions

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Feed Melee Weapon Attack:
+6 to-hit, reach 5', one creature grappled by the Baron. Hit: 2d6+4 piercing damage, and the Baron regains the same amount of HP as damage dealt.

Spoiler: Sahuagin Priest, CR 2

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Sahuagin Priest
Medium Humanoid (Sahuagin), Lawful Evil

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Armor Class 13 (Natural Armor)
Hit Points 65 (10d8+20)
Speed 30', Swim 40'

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Strength	Dexterity	Constitution	Intelligence	Wisdom	Charisma
12 (+1)	12 (+1)	14 (+2)	10 (0)	12 (+1)	16 (+3)

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Skills Perception +5
Senses Darkvision 120', Passive Perception 15
Languages Sahuagin, Common
Challenge 2

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Blood Frenzy
A Priest has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all their HP.

Limited Amphibiousness
A Priest can breath both air and water, but they need to be submerged in water at least once every six hours or suffocate.

Shark Telepathy
A Priest can telepathically command sharks, out to 180'.

Actions

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Staff Melee Weapon Attack:
+3 to-hit, reach 5', one target. Hit: 1d6+1 bludgeoning damage.

Bite Melee Weapon Attack:
+3 to-hit, reach 5', one target. Hit: 1d4+1 piercing damage.

Claw Melee Weapon Attack:
+3 to-hit, reach 5', one target. Hit: 1d4+1 slashing damage.

Embolden (1/Rest) 2nd Level Spell [V, S]
The Priest empowers nearby allies. All friendly sahuagin and sharks within 15' gain advantage on the next save they make before the end of the Priest's next turn. Furthermore, against any target they strike with advantage, they roll an extra die of weapon damage.
This ability lasts for up to one minute, or until Concentration is broken.

Consume Cantrip [S, M]
+5 to-hit, range 120', one creature. Hit: 1d8 piercing damage, and phantom fangs bite into the creature until the end of the Priest's next turn. While being bitten, the creature's move speed is halved.

[sandmote]

Embolden (1/Rest) 2nd Level Spell [V, S]
The Priest empowers nearby allies. All friendly sahuagin and sharks within 15' gain advantage on the next save they make before the end of the Priest's next turn. Furthermore, against any target they strike with advantage, they roll an extra die of weapon damage.
This ability lasts for up to one minute, or until Concentration is broken.

Assuming this affects itself and two allies with d6 damage dice, CR 2 seems reasonable.

The Baron, on the other hand seems miscalculated. First, 18 Strength on a creature intended to be <CR 5 would be an attack bonus of +6. Which is good, because the increase from +6 to +7 is enough to increases the Baron's offensive CR by 1, and making the correction brings the Baron's total CR down to 3...before we account for Blood Frenzy or the part where its Feed attack allows it to regain HP. I get a total CR of 5 or 6 depending on what you want to do with the proficiency modifier (ie. whether you use a +6 or +7 attack bonus).

[JNAProductions]

Ah flip. I used the basic numbers, but forgot to apply the abilities to CR.

I don’t want it above CR 4, so I’ll nerf the Prof to +2, at a minimum.
Note that I don’t hew to “CR X has +Y Prof bonus,” I assign proficiency as I feel appropriate and keep it consistent for the monster.

[brian 333]

Are you creating monsters to fill specific roles in your campaign, or are you more generally filling in members of a sahaugin society?

[JNAProductions]

Are you creating monsters to fill specific roles in your campaign, or are you more generally filling in members of a sahaugin society?

Yes. Though in the game, the battle has already passed-then again, these types of creatures will probably show up again. So critique still welcome!

[Twelvetrees]

This ended up being more advice than critique, but I think it'll still be helpful.


Baron CR

Defensive CR
Feed allows the Baron to regain around 11 hit points each round, so that's about 33 extra hit points. Effective total hit points of 116 and an AC of 15 means that the Defensive CR is 4.

Offensive CR
Blood Frenzy means we treat effective attack bonus as 4 higher, so +10. Average damage output per round is 31. Offensive CR is 6.

Final CR
5. I'm not sure what changes you made after sandmote's assessment, but the Baron's CR is still higher than it sounds like you want it to be. Dropping down to 9d10+27 hit dice would reduce total hit points to 77 and push the Defensive CR down to 3. On the Offensive CR side, the easiest fix would be to drop Extra Attack. That would reduce the average damage output to 20 or 22 and the Offensive CR to 3 or 4. The final CR would then be 3.



Priest CR

Defensive CR
65 hit points and AC 13 put it solidly in the CR 1/2 range.

Offensive CR
Blood Frenzy means we treat effective attack bonus as 4 higher, so +9 with Consume. sandmote's guess of Embolden empowering the Priest and two allies seems reasonable, so that's a 3d6 damage attack, effectively. 4.5 damage each round otherwise. So, 19.5 damage over three rounds comes to 6 damage a round. Looks like Offensive CR is 3, to me.

Final CR
1 or 2, so what you've got seem accurate to me.



Strategy Thoughts

Tactically, I'd expect Barons to use a hit-and-run strategy, especially in the water. Pop up, grab a PC, and drag them away with their quick swim speed. Feed would allow them to weather the attacks of one PC with ease.

Priests are in a rather more interesting spot. They don't want to be anywhere near melee, but Embolden means they want to be close to allies. I think they would ideally start a fight close to their allies to use Embolden, but after that, they'd probably back off to snipe with Consume.

[JNAProductions]

Note that the Baron's Bite can only be used on a Grappled target.

And thank you for the input. :)

[brian 333]

I have always portrayed sahaugin as highly regimented militaristic societies which suppress individuality in favor of a structured hierarchy. Each member is as nearly identical to its peers as possible. Innovation, creativity, and any thought which does not conform to accepted dogma is ruthlessly eliminated.

I have had ideas I've never used about sehaugin adventuring groups, escaped rebels, and slaves.

[Twelvetrees]

Note that the Baron's Bite can only be used on a Grappled target.

5e's somewhat silly monster monster CR calculations assume all attacks hit.

Even if that wasn't the case, I was still figuring that it was incredibly likely for a Claw attack to hit, which would enable Feed.

And thank you for the input. :)

Hope it helps!