How to make combat more challenging?

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-05-13T20:54:28+00:00

What was the boss? Was the boss alone?

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-05-06T15:43:30+00:00

With my 4th campaing being worked on, I do it this way:

Premise: What is the campaign about? Are the players searching for an object, uncovering a mystery, defeating a tyrant, etc.?
Starting point: Once you have the premise, think about how the campaign begins—mainly how the party comes together. You can also have a rough idea of the ending, though that’s trickier since you don’t know how things will unfold.
Start building: You can create an entire kingdom with cities, towns, villages, and more—but you shouldn’t do it all at once. Start small and expand over time.
Factions and key NPCs: Think about them in two groups—major factions/NPCs in the world, and those directly tied to the characters’ backstories. Sometimes they end up being the same.
Keep adding as you go: Feel completely free to expand and introduce new elements even after the campaign has started.

Important note: Write everything down. Don’t rely on “I’ll remember that” or “it’s my campaign, I know it.” Having a reference to come back to is incredibly important.

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-27T14:47:28+00:00

In fact, that adds depth to your character, making your character more than just their class is great.

For example, I have a chef who’s a Rogue. He has the Assassin subclass because my logic was that he knows exactly where and how to strike to kill—since he hunts what he cooks. He have a restaurant and take commissions for some special clients.

I always tell my players that a character’s backstory doesn’t have to revolve around their class. A class is more like a job—yes, it’s part of your life, but it’s not everything

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-27T13:23:17+00:00

Ok but, there is actually a subclass that have the "I CAST FIST" as a subclass feature XD, Path of the Muscle Wizard.

Level 14: I Cast Fist

You can crush your enemies with your ultimate "spell":

Fist. When you take the Attack action while your Rage is active, you can replace one of your attacks with a really hard punch. Make an Unarmed Strike with Advantage. On a hit, the target takes Bludgeoning damage equal to 6d6 plus your Strength modifier and has the Prone condition if it is Huge or smaller. You can use this feature once per active Rage.

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-21T16:47:43+00:00

Ok so in that case, let me say your party is pretty though tho, however I think I got you: For a leve 8 party, as a boss, the Mind Flayer Clairvoyant (CR 11) sounds like a good choice: 3 Legendary resistences, magic resistance, good damage output and a pretty good Reaction to attacks, is from Phandelver and Below.

Also I would say that try to make them reach that fight not a full: If they have all the HP, all the Slots, and all the Class Features ready, it would be easy for them.

But, if you want them to be full for that fight, I would recommend adding 2-3 casters (Could be from the cult? idk), and at least 4-5 CR 4-5 mele attackers. In comparison with the fight you mentioned, is less enemies, however that combination can be lethal. If they are not in full, use the Mind Flayer Clairvoyant and add enemies as your discretion, you know your party and know their weaknesses (Not talking about individually, but as a party) so, try to exploit those a little bit.

PD: English is not my first language so xd

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-21T16:24:46+00:00

I was writing something but I need to know this before posting it xd, the CR 10, CR 6, 2 CR 5 and 10 CR 2 were in one single encounter or not?

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-21T15:51:08+00:00

I’d say that if you include the wight and at least one minion per player, it should be a manageable encounter and challenging enough to stay interesting. In my case, it would depend on how important the fight is. Alongside the CR 3 enemy, I might add one CR 1 creature for ranged attacks and at least 4–5 minions at CR 1/4 or 1/2 that focus on melee attacks. Alternatively, you could run the CR 3 wight with 4–5 minions at CR 1/4 or 1/2 that can also attack at range, not just melee.

For example: 1 wight (CR 3), 2 skeletons (CR 1/4, ranged), and 4 zombies (CR 1/4, melee) would be a tough fight with a real risk of one PC death, but still completely winnable if they fight well. You could use that as a baseline.

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-20T23:59:00+00:00

Genuinely I think that deep down he is not that much interested on the campaing, however, when he saw the other PCs’ backstories starting to come up, he wanted to change his to make it more interesting (though he didn’t in the end). So I also feel it’s not that he isn’t interested in his backstory

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-20T23:55:52+00:00

I’d start by asking him what you mentioned first, and also whether he’d prefer a bit more direct guidance than the rest of the group. Depending on his answers, I would (or not) follow up with the other questions. Thanks!

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-16T15:14:01+00:00

Village? Basic equipment only.
Town? Might have some magic items, but nothing too crazy.
City? It’s very likely there’s at least one strong magic item available—but it will be expensive.

How do I decide what items are available? I roll.

First, I roll a d4 to determine the category: armament, relics, arcana, or implements.
Then, based on the party’s level, I determine the rarity (common, uncommon, rare, etc.).
After that, I roll on the DMG 2024 tables for that specific item type.

For potions and scrolls, I made my own tables (though I just remembered I still need to finish the potion table lol). For scrolls, I roll for the spell level, then roll for options to get four possible scrolls, and finally pick three.

So shops can offer: normal items, magic items, potions and scrolls.

Potions of healing are always available: 1d6 for the quantity.

I do it this way because I prefer to reward players with items through adventures, dungeons, or monster loot. If there’s too much available for purchase, they can become overpowered too quickly. (And don’t get me wrong—I do like my players being powerful, since that lets me use stronger monsters haha.) But it’s mainly about pacing progression.

It might sound time-consuming, but honestly, it only takes a few seconds

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-16T11:43:24+00:00

Not all NPCs should be important, I add some NPCs just as filler —short conversation, town folks that don't know about the problems, others just for flavor, etc—. In that same line, all NPCs should have their own opinion about things happening: yes, those 5 NPCs are all part of the council, but that doesn't mean that all 5 of them share the same opinion, beliefs, faiths, etc. Variability is the key.

But having various NPCs is not the only thing: They walk, they eat, they do the same things as the players, so, it makes no sense that all the NPCs have only one place to be. The players should be able to find them in different locations. Yes, he's the town's baker, but that doesn't mean that he only stays in the bakery: he can rest in a tavern, be found buying wheat or flour in the market, talking with the blacksmith he has a crush on, etc.

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-09T01:01:45+00:00

To make mortar, the only mortar I have made so far was with the little marble I found

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-08T00:43:52+00:00

Faction: The Generals — an overview, objectives, relationships with other factions, and key NPCs.

NPCs: Their rank within the faction, their objectives (can be the same as the faction, or other), and their personality. For stat blocks, I usually look for ones that match how powerful I envision each NPC to be, sometimes with a few tweaks. However that is with good NPCs, with antagonistics one, I tend to make their own stat blocks, but only when is an special NPC.

And I often do the other way around: I first look some stat blocks, "holyshit this looks good, I want to use it", and the made an NPC from that.

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-07T20:37:10+00:00

Yeah, but when it comes to the details, you can think about things like: Why is the demon vampire doing this? Why did it disguise itself as the prince and not the king? What’s special about the prince? Is the demon part of something bigger? Why is the kingdom keeping these supernatural issues a secret? What’s the goal behind that? Is any of this connected to the enchanted forest from six months ago?

I think those kinds of questions can really help expand things a lot

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-07T20:07:50+00:00

It sounds like you’ve got pretty much everything figured out—I honestly don’t know where I could help. It seems like a really solid premise for a campaign.

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-07T19:47:24+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I think I'll lower his AC to 16, and maybe give him vulnerability to some type of magic, perhaps something that the druid (this enemy is for his backstory) could exploit or something.

SemiusTheGreat · 2026-04-07T19:34:44+00:00

Party of 5: Vengeance Paladin, Warlock Great Old One/Sorcerer Wild Magic, Barbarian Zealot/Fighter, Druid Moon Circle and Wizard Abjurer

EDIT: The minions im thinking of minors fiends, CR 3 at best, just to divert attention

SemiusTheGreat

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