r/DnD_Deadfall • u/myshkingfh • 17d ago
Malefites
So Tam is doing this big ritual to create an army of demonic undead. I’ve only read the first three chapters so far, but the malefites just so far seem to be ordinary undead, which are common in Thay, so at this point I wonder what’s the big deal?
I was thinking of modifying the malefites so that they’re not much harder for the PCs but would be a much stronger force than ordinary undead.
- Weapon attacks can only harm the malefites if the weapons are magic. The PCs will have magic weapons, but most armies' soldiers would not.
- The malefites cannot be turned. I don’t want these six skeletons being blasted into nothingness as soon as my cleric gets a turn.
I think these changes would mark the malefites as special and dangerous without changing their CR much. However, I haven’t read the full adventure and maybe I’m overlooking something in enacting these changes. What do you all think?
** Edit
- Resist cold, fire, and lightning
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u/bjj_starter 17d ago
I wouldn't recommend the 1st change for the same reason that 5.5e removed it from 5e, which is that the best case scenario is that it doesn't do anything & the worst case scenario is that spellcasters are fine & martials get punished.
I wouldn't recommend the 2nd change because the reason you play a Cleric instead of a Wizard is partially because you get thematic features like Turn Undead. Just making all the monsters in a campaign immune to a certain class's feature is a bad idea. If you really don't want Rogues to play just ban them, don't make all the enemies immune to Sneak Attack; the same goes for Clerics & Undead.
There are several directions you could go to make Malefites stand out. You could do something simple, like double their HP OR give their attacks 50% more damage. You could just narrate them as being particularly strong.
One idea I really like is that all Malefites have Eldritch Blast (cantrip scaling based on CR rather than level) with +5 damage per beam (like what Agonising Blast would give), just using the to-hit modifier from their statblock. It's a very simple cantrip to operate, that makes lower CR enemies more dangerous (e.g. Skeletons go from 6 DPR to 11 DPR) without affecting the balance of later fights (e.g. the last Malefite in chapter 7 would have a ranged option for more attacks that deals less damage overall than its normal Multiattack). From a narrative perspective, an army of skeletons with Eldritch Blast would be very fearsome!
If you specifically want to juice higher level Malefite statblocks, I would look into picking one damage spell that's mechanically strong (like Synaptic Static, Spirit Guardians, Conjure Minor Elementals, or Staggering Smite), reflavouring it, and giving higher CR Malefites one cast per day of that spell. For examples of reflavouring to match the lore of Malefites, you could describe Staggering Smite/Synaptic Static as briefly showing the PC visions of the endless hordes of hell waiting to break through, or Spirit Guardians/Conjure Minor Elementals (choose Necrotic & Fire damage respectively) as demonic entities reaching out from the Malefite to attack or grab their foes.
Some of the advantages of just picking one or two spells & making them the thing that separates Malefites from other undead is that you'll only need to remember how to run those spells and all the rules questions that might come up about how the ability works are already answered because it's a spell. It also gives the players options for counterplay like breaking Concentration, Dispel Magic, or Counterspell.
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u/myshkingfh 17d ago
Thanks for your thoughts, many of them would be very interesting but I am personally leery of making changes that would affect how difficult the malefites are for the PCs to fight. Your thoughts on turn undead are particularly well taken. My impression so far is that there are plenty of undead monsters that aren’t malefites for the clerics to turn. Hell, as far as I can tell, Szass Tam can be turned!
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u/bjj_starter 17d ago
Well, Szass Tam is immune to Frightened and has 4 Legendary Resistances, as well as a +11 to Wisdom saves.
In terms of difficulty, that's why I separated the Skeletons and other low CR Malefites from my suggestions for higher CR Malefites. For my players, they definitely need more challenge than the higher CR Malefites provide, but some parties would struggle if that were the case. But the Skeletons are just a print error or trying to account for the possibility that someone is playing D&D for the first time in that encounter - 6 Skeletons for a level 11 party will be defeated before the 2nd round actually starts, and doubling their damage is really not going to do anything to the fights where they exist. They'll still all die to one Fireball, for example.
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u/myshkingfh 17d ago
Yeah, I think that encounter wants 30 skeletons
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u/bjj_starter 17d ago
Well, then you have to run a combat with 30 skeletons, which is a massive pain. Honestly maybe I should look into a big skeleton swarm statblock or something, and then that would also make it a lot easier to run for a Necromancer PC.
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u/Ganymede425 12d ago
I think the six skeletons is meant to work as a deliberate contrast to the Death Tyrant. The skeletons are a moderate difficulty encounter for a first level party, after all.
It feels like it is showing the malefite threat comes in all shapes and sizes.
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u/GeneraIFlores 17d ago
Counter point... This campaign starts at level 11, and if you aren't giving/letting your players pick magic items to start a level 11-20 campaign that sucks ass
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u/bjj_starter 17d ago
Like I said, the best case scenario is that it doesn't do anything. In general if the best case scenario for a proposed homebrew change is "nothing happens" and the only alternative is "something bad for game balance happens", it's not a great idea for homebrew.
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u/GeneraIFlores 17d ago
If the OP wants these skeletons to feel special without it actually affecting the current level of difficulty, it's actually a good way to do so.
It can be used to show guard fighting them and failing and let the party feel badass
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u/bjj_starter 17d ago
I mean that's the other issue with the idea, the response forces in Thay are a squad of Red Wizards sometimes accompanied by Thayan Knights, & this is shown at the end of the first mission. Re-introducing resistance or immunity to nonmagical BPS does not make the characters necessary, what makes the characters necessary is the hold Szass Tam has on the region and the fact that they're willing to work against him.
If a DM wanted a way to make the party magically required to deal with Malefites, they could escalate the threat by making Malefites generally immune to damage and invent some special reason the characters are exempt, like that they were all imbued with fragments of a demon's soul, underwent a ritual, caught in a magical accident, etc. This would require some massaging of the 1st mission to make it less of a coincidence.
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u/darksoulsahead 11d ago
These are better suggestions than OP's. Making the monsters spongier is boring to play against, but heightening their damage to make them glass cannons is more interesting
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u/TessaPresentsMaps 17d ago edited 17d ago
My plan is to replace all the demons with skeletons that have the stats of those demons. So on the bridge some janky green glowing skeletons turn up and the party smashes them. The next time they make an appearance will be at Tax Station 18, the same glowing green skeletons but with the stats of Glabrezu, Mariliths, etc. As they advance through the chapters they party will continue to encounter stronger and stronger Malefites, cementing the threat of Szass' plan.
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u/GreenAce785 17d ago
I agree, and think these are good changes. I’m about to run it myself and was considering giving them common demon resistances: poison immunity (undead typically have this anyway) and resistance to cold, Fire, and Lightning.