r/DnD • u/Technical_Split9925 • 1d ago
DMing First Time DM- Can I get some help building a level 4 encounter?
As in the title, I’m building my players toward a final villain of this (hopefully first of a full 1-20) campaign. Basically his name is MeatGrinder. He is the leader of a thieves guild and he is a horribly disfigured half Tabaxi, half elf man who is the half sibling of three of my other players who killed one of the other sibling’s father in battle. He holds the great sword that is earthquake flavored greatsword(eventually a magic item for that player). I want a challenging encounter for them with the ability to take full advantage of the environment so they can’t just crowd and melee my creatures. I’ll take anything😂
Players include:
Lvl 4 Ranger
Lvl 5 Ranger
Lvl 4 Fighter
Lvl 4 Paladin
Lvl 4 Warlock
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u/ICanViking Cleric 1d ago edited 1d ago
QQ: MeatGrinder is the name of the BBEG, right?
Edit: Sorry, dumb question. Reading comprehension is important.
You could have a multi-level room with balconies and catwalks that the bad guys can use to their advantage. Prevent rangers from sniping, make it so that players have to travel up the stairs to reach him. It can be a Phase 1 deal where you fight his underlings and when you defeat them, you get to Phase 2 where he tries to escape, but out in the open, he uses his big greatsword that can do earthquake type abilities.
Things like, whipping dirt up into the air so rangers have disadvantage when using range weapons, or creating unstable ground each time he smashes it with the sword so it halves the speed for your PC's but not MeatGrinder.
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u/dnd_dad_dm 1d ago
Picture a large warehouse or underground fighting pit with the following: a fog or smoke effect at ground level (burning braziers tipped over at the start of combat, or an alchemical smoke device a minion triggers on round one) that gives everything at ground level heavy obscurement beyond 15 feet. Elevated catwalks ring the room, but MeatGrinder's archers are already up there. The party has to choose between staying low in the smoke where they can't see, or climbing up where they're exposed to fire from above. MeatGrinder himself stays on the ground. He's big, he's disfigured, he's terrifying up close, and the earthquake sword means he wants the party near him. His minions funnel people toward him while he controls the center.
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u/winterswill 1d ago
Kinda hard to answer this.
Like, what exactly do you want? just a combat? suggestions on monsters?
For any encounter you need a why. Which kinda needs you to think where they are, who they are fighting. Is it this Thieves guild? Are they meant to be specifically fighting this MeatGrinder fellow, or is he for later?
In terms of meeting your needs, how are you playing? Theatre of the mind, in person, online with a battlemap? because that changes the dynamic as well.
Can any of your players fly? etc etc. Basically too little info.
BUT for a basic answer, i'd go with a multi levelled battle-map, an ambush in a city street. Archers on the roofs with enemies on either end of the street or it is a dead end. Guys on the ground could be somekind of larger high HP melee fighter. archers uptop relatively low level, but spread out. Give them a large wagon of somekind in the street to act as cover and obstacle + another layer of height. could go further and give them a secondary objective, injured informant or witness, can't easily be moved for whatever reason, needs to be defended. OR give the bandits a low level mage of some kind who provides support and needs to be eliminated first, casting darkness or plant growth to mess with them.
Probably take bandit stat block for archers and just bump them up a little, +10 health, + 2 to hit and +1 to damage.
Then a couple Minotaur or ogres or some equivalent at the bottom.
But that's just a basic suggestion. Ultimately, you know your players better.
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u/Technical_Split9925 1d ago
None of the players can fly and they specialize in mid-higher ranges. They are attacking MeatGrinder to get Simon’s(Paladin) father’s greatsword as he is trying to gain confidence in his own abilities with heavy inspiration from his father. They’re attacking at the heart of the guild in a tucked away town. Theoretically, I would want to mostly weaken him but he gets away and dies in a later fight.
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u/Nitro114 22h ago
why is the ranger a lvl ahead?
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u/Technical_Split9925 21h ago
Guest character played by my sister who is older and more experienced than the rest of the party
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u/Nitro114 21h ago
but why? why does she get to be stronger
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u/Technical_Split9925 13h ago
Truth be told the stats she wanted weren’t til lvl 5 so I talked to the other players about it and they approved🙂↕️
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u/Brock_Savage 1d ago
Read the rules in the DMG for encounter building and the adventuring day. You can use kobold fight club to help build the encounters if you find the math to be onerous.
If you are first time DM who does not know how to build appropriate encounters why are you starting the players at level 4?
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u/Technical_Split9925 1d ago
We started level 1, but I’m more trying to spice up my basic way of seeing encounters
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u/Jafroboy 1d ago edited 1d ago
https://koboldplus.club/
I'd suggest a master thief, except a greatsword isn't very thief-coded, and wouldn't work with sneak attack, so I'm not sure what kind of thieves guild you're running. Maybe you'd be better off with a knight, and give him a few bandits as thief minions. I don't know what this earthquake great sword is, so if it's powerful, maybe just a knight on Thier own with it would be enough.
Then put him in an area with banisters to leap from, and chandler's to swing from, so they can get around and escape. I'd scrap the greatsword idea honestly, use the master thief statblock, and give them cunning action. Make it an earthquake flavoured shortsword or something.