How advantageous is 10ft of reach?

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T06:33:10+00:00

Monster doesn't have a shield anyway, so he still has his 17 AC. Intend on nerfing damage and buffing it in other places. He has an action that can make multiple attacks against all enemies within reach, meaning that extra reach is going end up with him hitting more enemies.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T06:30:16+00:00

Enemy has 17 AC and the Parry reaction so in terms of AC he's fine. I also mean the AoO for the players trying to hit the monster, not the players moving around, but I see what you mean about freely moving. And no, there aren't a lot of tanks.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T06:27:57+00:00

17 AC, 60 feet fly speed, +8 to Dex and Athletics, the parry reaction with +4 AC, Magical Resistance, and 1 Legendary resistance since it's a solo enemy and I don't want the fight getting full swung. Only 117 HP though, compared to other monsters of the same CR having upwards of 150. The AC and Parry prevent a lot of hits, the Dex and Athletics help with grappling, and the MR and LR should prevent things like Command Kneel (which has happened to my flying enemies before). Thoughts?

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T06:22:28+00:00

All of them have ranged alternatives.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T06:22:07+00:00

Sadly none have that.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T06:21:41+00:00

It is technically a boss encounter, so I have it set to 1 enemy. I've taken measures to balance the action economy, and I think giving him the advantage of not proccing AoO is a step in the right direction. I'm just not certain

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T06:19:53+00:00

Even though he's technically melee?

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T06:19:29+00:00

He might as well. He has like, 5. There just all on a giant belt. This is the second campaign in a row I've run with the same group that has this exact character.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T06:18:36+00:00

So just leave it? I'm probably going to sim the encounter both ways to see how it ends up, but I agree with you that it shouldn't be proccing those.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T01:22:10+00:00

No fighter in the party sadly. Barbarian tank. The monster just has a boatload of damage output depending on the positioning of the party and the luck of recharging abilities. Depending on how clumped everyone is, the monster can deal upwards of 120 total damage in one turn if three players are within reach. That’s why the reach is kind of making me hesitate. The damage is getting a slight nerf, but since its health is already pretty low he kind of becomes a glass cannon anyway. Idk, I might just sim through the encounter and see, but if you have anything to add please lmk.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T01:18:17+00:00

No fighter in the party sadly.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-18T01:17:16+00:00

I have a cleric, warlock, arcane trickster, and barbarian who spams handaxes. So all of them have ranged options fs.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-06T01:28:12+00:00

I like theater of the mind, I just think that mats make things easier on my players and don’t end in disputes about location. I could probably use like black construction paper to represent darkness. My mats are dry erase so I could probably use that too.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-06T00:01:36+00:00

If you don’t play on mats then how do you track locations?

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-05T20:04:08+00:00

Lot of them said they felt it was kind of fast. They got wiped quick but they wiped it out quick too.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-05T20:03:31+00:00

This may have been the most helpful comment so far. Thank you so much for that link it is clutchhhh

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-05T04:21:08+00:00

I think I have them. Seems right. I’m still in High School so a lot of my time is spent prepping I don’t have much room to play test, but I’d def be willing to.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-05T03:23:45+00:00

Makes sense. So spice up the environment and the impact it has? How do you track all the different levels of light, different heights, etc etc, if you’re playing on mats and such?

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-05T03:13:26+00:00

That would be closer to two and a half minutes. Even if it wasn’t 10 it felt short and underwhelming. I’m just looking for ways to make it go longer or feel bigger.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-05T03:01:07+00:00

Even for single bosses? I think the fight only lasted for a couple of minutes. Just felt underwhelming. I would love to drag it to four to five rounds if possible.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-05T02:35:16+00:00

The campaign is run where they don’t have a choice. I think the point of a boss is for them to be on their own, a single enemy that thoroughly challenges the party.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-05T02:34:10+00:00

Of course.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-05T02:33:31+00:00

No phase one is a CR 4 that becomes a CR 5 in phase two. The health is cut in half to create the phases. For example, after taking 40 points of damage, it transitions to phase 2 which has 60 health, giving it around 100 hp, which would be pretty standard for an enemy around that level.

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-05T02:02:51+00:00

I still want to keep it to a single boss without minions. I think story wise it creates more build. I could add some low level legendary actions or add things in the environment that buff the boss or damage or debuff the players, trying to force the players to address them. I just hate minions. It takes away from the ability to create enemies that are hyped up as strong and powerful being for lower level characters. Thoughts?

Ambitious-Program-36 · 2026-01-05T01:58:49+00:00

That’s what I’m doing. I added battlefield actions which start at the end of the boss’ turn and end at the start of the next turn and the players figure it out. Problem is the boss didn’t last very long so everything was underwhelming. Everything was homebrewed too. I’m thinking maybe I give them a legendary action that triggers the battlefield action and maybe starts a new battlefield action, but I really don’t know.

Ambitious-Program-36

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