Well, my group of players and I have decided to drop the Hoard of the Dragon Queen module, as it was getting pretty stale for us. So, they have decided to have me move on to homebrew. This week in homebrew, I am having the players fend off an ambush, and if they get far enough, explore some ruins.
The party whom is level 5 -
- Human College of Valor Bard - Dual Wield Hand Crossbows, and Spells
- Half-Orc Berzerker Barbarian - Greatweapon
- Mountain Dwarf Totem of the Bear Barbarian - Greatweapon
- Half-Elf Fiend Patron, Pact of the Tome Warlock - Spells, and Hexes
- Wild Elf Moon Druid - Spells, and Shapeshifting
- Changeling Way of the Shaow Monk - Hand-to-hand
The party will be riding in a carriage. The party members will be a distracted, talking, traveling, etc...
There will be an evil cleric in the road, along with a necromancer.
This will alert them to something strange is up.
Before they go to investigate, for a surprised round an assassin will bust in through the window of the carriage, sneak attack critical the biggest, baddest dude he can see with his Assassinate feature, and then use his Bonus Action to Disengage out of the carriage. This will start combat, which the party will face these 6 opponents, who will be level 5 with one level 6 leader -
- Hill Dwarf Oath of Vengeance Paladin - Sword & Board, and Heals
- Half-Orc Oathbreaker Paladin - Greatweapon, and Smites
- Human Death Doman Cleric - Mace & Shield, and Hexes
- Human Assassin Rogue - Dual Wield Short Swords
- Human Necromancer Wizard - Summon Undead
- Wild Elf Arch Fey Patron, Pact of the Tome Warlock - Cantrips
The reason the party is being attacked, in the earlier part of Hoard of the Dragon Queen the party was especially cruel to the cultists, torturing, maiming, and other such unspeakable acts to them. Carrying some of that over into my own homebrew, their reputation follows them, and they are being attacked by other, darker, more devoted cultists.
Who do you think will win? Black Sinigath (the evil cultists)? Or the party?
Always good to try in past story elements, good job! As far as who will win, toss up at this point since we don't know the level of the other party compared to the level 5 PCs. Sounds like a fun fight either way and I hope no one in your group reads the boards and meta games it 
That assasinate might put a hurting on someone in the carriage, thats for sure!
EthanSental wrote:
Slit518 wrote:
The assassin in the MM is pretty vicious when used properly. In my experience, though, they go down pretty quickly if they get pinned down without allies. But for an opening salvo, it doesn’t get much better.
A few things you need to consider if you are going to do (if I read this correctly) a PC group vs. NPC build-like-PC group fight.
First, if all else were even the PCs are likely to lose if the characters are built the same way. 5 characters built to be complimentary by one person are always going to be better than 5 made by dissipirate minds that don't get to see what the others are doing. Furthermore, 5 characters whose actions are determined by a single mind are going to be better coordinated and more effective than 5 whose actions are each being determined by a different person.
Also, so long as there are burnable dailies-- there is no reason for the NPCs to hold back on these, the PCs might be more hesitate to use them. That is a pretty big advantage.
Moreover, you are giving at least one of the NPCs a surprise attack which already swings things in favor of the NPCs further.
So just realize that unless you do something dumb, you are likely going to kill at least one of your PCs and the remainder are likely to need a long rest by the time it is over. But you might just end this with a TPK and maybe kill your play group. I mean, if we decide to have the DM do original adventures rather than published ones and the first thing he does is toss the PCs in a fight they have a higher chance of losing than winning, I am not sure I want that guy DMing any more.
And you want this to be because the PCs were acting particularly evil and sadistic? It doesn't really connect very well.
I agree with Hebitsuikaza - instead of having that whole group attack the carriage, have the Assassin and one Paladin jump it, then retreat and try to draw the party into an ambush (where everybody else is waiting for them). Maybe the PCs can catch / beat up the twosome, but more likely they take some lumps and back off. I would definitely back off and start planning once I discovered the ambush - especially if I discovered it the hard way.
This provides you with an exciting plot hook: when is that assassin and his friends going to show their face again? Can we learn enough about them to get the jump on them for a change?
When attacking the carriage have the driver killed with a missile weapon and the carriage set aflame with a fire bomb. The horses panic and take off at high speed. The party then can sit inside the carriage and burn, or jump out. Jumping out causes some falling damage. If they fail a dex check they are also crushed under the carriage wheels. Finally rule that the majority of their equipment (unless) stated being grabbed is still inside the burning carriage and lost. At this point attack.
Well, update on the game. The assassin jumped in through the window, rolled an attack at Advantage, got a Sneak Attack Critical, which allowed me 8d6 + 4 damage. Surprisingly the Barbarian only took 26 damage out of his 75 HP (at level 5). And as the Assassin's Bonus Action, he Disengaged out of the cart, then combat started.
Needless to say, after seeing the might of the Assassin (or his lucky strike), the party targeted him immediately. At one point the Assassin drank a potion of Cure Wounds 4d4+4, which I rolled all 4s on, my players got a kick out of that one.
A zone of silence was cast over the cart so the players inside couldn't cast spells, therefore they had to run out.
The Monk ran up to the cleric, broke his concentration, but not before taking 29 damage from a weapon charged with channeled energy.
All-in-all, the party only had one partial casualty. The monk went unconcious after suffing massive damage and another normal attack. The NPCs were dropping 1 after the other, in fact 2 players didn't even get hurt the whole encounter.
They really enjoyed that combat. They later had to fight a Wyvern which they got to the ground and just stomped a mudhole right in it.
Next time, the good guys are sending a party at them.
5 level 6 characters, and 1 level 7 leader.
They enjoyed this last session, and they enjoyed the challenge of the "cultists enforcers". So let's find out how well they do after the King sends men after them for robbing the treasury of Greenerst under the guise of the Govenor. They will probably stomp a mudhole in that too... 
I'm kinda thinking that not knowing the budget for the enemy, I don't really care. Who will win? Whoever you decide will win, but how much you bank one side up.
I think I'd prefer to see one PC vs one NPC instead - makes it clear that if your NPC loses, you as GM have lost that battle, instead of playing a bunch of NPC's and it seeming like only the NPC's lost (if they do).
Too much room for a GM to act as if he was 'just running the game' and didn't lose himself when he's running six NPC's and each player is only running one PC. Too impersonal.
Dual-Wielding hand crossbows has no in game benefit. It actually prevents you from reloading either crossbow. 
And there is no surprise round.
Surprised is a condition some party members or enemies may be effected by in the first round of combat. Initiative is still rolled before anyone does anything, and beating the enemy's initiative will change how you can act in the first round. Such as having access to reactions, or the Barbarian getting a turn as normal with a class feature.
Assassin jumping in through the window is hilarious and a great idea though. What kind of Carriage has a window that big?
Noon wrote:
They will eventually have the option to fight in a tournament, which will have 1 on 1 fights.
Noon wrote:
Slit518 wrote:
Slit518 wrote:
BRJN wrote: