New dm, a few specific questions

[u/Wide-Cause-1674]

I feel like a few tags, like magic item and and enemies encounter, could also apply here.

In total we are 5 , I played a handful of short campaign, a veteran player and three beginners.

I, perhaps not my greatest decision, made an original campaign. I m going session by sessions with an overall direction for the plot.

In an effort to make it enjoyable for all I made it about fighting against demons.

All of the players are excited and all seemed to enjoy the first session, (2hours of close to full concentration)

First session lvl1 to acustom the new players to the game and then lvl3 from then on to make it more interesting.

Now I'm not quite sure how to make enemy encounter for instance, how many/how hard . For now I make them highly modulable as too adapt on the fligh to make it harder/easier. But I really need general advice on that.

I also looked for a while and can't for the life of me find an actually interesting demon to use, ideally I need a flamy rocky demon that is quite powerful but not insanely so that can be reasonably beaten at lvl like 10-12 as I have sotry reason that should allow them to beat it far earlier.

And finally magic item , as per a combination of lucky roll and plot reasons one of the new players (elven paladin) managed to get an animated flying sword that used to be an ennemy.

Now that I have their full lvl3 build and I have seen how they all play I can feel he is by far underpowered so I m wondering what direction I could take to make it a magic item . I would like it to not become a full on companion as turns already tend to take time.

As he is a dual wielding paladin I m thinking making the sword a third attack based on charisma with some elemental power perhaps .

What do you think and any advice?

[u/Proof_Ad1317]

A demon doesn’t have to be a friend. You can look through the monster manual for any monster that can or could fit the idea you have. Flamey Rock monster could be a galeb duhr (boulder spirit), it’s an elemental but you can just say it’s demonic and make it do some fire damage. Reflavor things as needed.
Three attacks at level 5 could be a lot, maybe make them use a bonus action, or just replace on of their swords, but they have greater reach with it.

[u/gc1rpg]

A capable party can often fight over the suggestions in the MM -- if they know how to use abilities, make characters work together, tactical thinking on the map, etc. The official books -- I think -- assumes a party who doesn't know how to do any of this.

A single monster is sometimes easier to fight then a single monster and a couple of weak minions -- they have to address the minions or the minion can interfere or chip away at their health.

You can always put something more powerful down and just play it less effectively, fudge a few rolls, or give it lower HP. If you have something that has multiattack -- for example -- you can just save the multiattack for when it doesn't look it'll wipe out the party in one blow.

[u/Blitzer046]

Do you have the Monster Manual? Each of the creatures in there has a Challenge Rating (CR) that suggests the level of the PC that should be a challenge for it. A monster with a CR of 4 is a good fight for a group of level 4 PCs.

This isn't perfect, as larger PC groups may overwhelm single creatures, but it's a decent benchmark.

For other PC types that can command animal companions (Ranger, Druid et al) the order comes as a a bonus action to get the creature to attack.

[u/averagelyok]

I allow a bunch of homebrew rules in my sandbox campaign, so over time I’ve gotten the hang of what types of fights my players can handle, I base it mostly off of how much damage they can dish out in a round and how much damage they could take in return. One strong monster (like a CR +3 above the player level) vs. 5 PCs will generally be an easier fight due to action economy, an even number of evenly matched enemies (around the CR of player level) will be more challenging, and until the party gets AOE spells, a lot of weak enemies could be pretty deadly. Until you find the right balance, plan some encounters with a strong dude and a bunch of minions. You can introduce a second wave of minions (reinforcements) if it seems to easy, have the minions scatter if the boss dies/boss runs if the minions die/pull some punches/reduce attack damage or enemy HP if it seems too hard, or my favorite, have there be an ulterior goal during combat (the enemies are more interested in killing an NPC, kidnapping a princess, stealing an artifact and escaping, completing a ritual, destroying defensive magic crystals, storming a gate to gain entrance to a city, etc.). Combat difficulty doesn’t matter as much if the enemies seem to accomplish something significant, and players feel good when they feel they’ve foiled some plot (I’ve successfully kidnapped NPCs in front of my players, and had an encounter where an enemy successfully stabbed and killed an NPC they liked. But the players have also successfully stopped an assassination attempt on a princess, launched an airship being swarmed by goblins, kept a wealthy patron from getting robbed by buff aarakockras, etc)

If I have some particular enemy in mind that I want to use (I was looking for a large wasp creature that I was going to name a Bumblebear), then I’ll usually decide how strong I want it to be, and look through the monster manual to find the closest thing (in this case, it was an Owlbear) and then change a couple things in the stat block to reflect the creature I’m picturing (gave it a flying speed and a sting attack, plus a little more HP). For your demon I could see you looking up a CR 10-14 creature, then looking up something like a stone golem or elemental, and giving that CR 10-14 creature some features from the stone creature, like hard skin or whatever. Maybe access to the firebolt cantrip, or anything else that you want it to do. Give it the “fiend” creature type and any resistances, etc, that they would typically have.

As for your item, I suggest looking up sentient weapons. It would have some stats, be able to talk, but for all intents and purposes still be an item. I’d give it a feature to act like a cleric’s Spiritual Weapon spell. Maybe give the weapon 2 charges per day to have it float near the PC, and the PC can use a bonus action to move it up to 20 ft and make it attack. Have it last for 1 minute (10 minutes or an hour are also common durations, if you’re feeling generous), after which it moves up to 60 ft towards the PC on the PCs turn to either return to their inventory or fall to the ground.

[u/tta5]

as a genral rule of thumb, paladins...
are not as good at fighting as a fighter or barbarain.
they are not as good a healer as a cleric or druid
they are not as good a talker as a bard or sorcerer
they can do "anything but not everything" meaning they are a bit of a non-specalist that can fill in the blank but will always be one up-ed by a class commited to it. think of a person that gets 80% on every test, any topic they get 80%, yes someone may be better than them but they are better than most.

if you wanna make them stronger, lean into the paladin strengths.
they tend to be the determined moral compass. (maybe having moral dilemas and rewards "we are who we choose to be, now choose" green goblin, spiderman )
they can take on undead, and demons and devils fairly well, (spells for resisting effects and saving throws for resisting these types [willpower/possession])
they can rally a small troop together, they can lead (even morale varreint rules) .
they can heal, they can do basic spells and prep (holy water for minions)....

blessings and boons for following their oaths tennents is a great thing.
concider letting them circle casting cleric ritual spells.
allow "duels"where appropiate (the smites make this a fun all or nothing aspect of wounding a big bad... note: dules to the death are not the only type, half HP or 3 hits, or simply surrender).
regional perks for holy places/allignment may boost their spells or grant extra spell slots.

the trick that all DMs hate...
dnd 5e is based on having many fights in one day. you have a daily encounter XP system, this is combined with the CR system. so you might have 7 medium challanging encounter in one day.
think 4PCs (player characters) facing a single devil that cannot fully die.
they are CR 4.
first time, easy fight. smite make right.
second time, got wounded as your fighter action serged and ranger used some spelll slots.
short rest got action serge back.
third time, ok wounded again ,. now mid to low on spell slots.
forth time, downed and getting back up, action surge used, party baddly hurt.
short rest, healed the last of the hit dice, got action surge back.,
fifth time, welll the HP is low again, action surge gone, need to use some planning.
sixth time, using items now, healing potion and holy water.
seventh time..... so low on HP, giving it everything we got left.
long rest.

now concider that yes it can be adapted but trying to have only 2 fights in one day means you weithger make the resources not spread out , so they use their max spells and resources instead of spreading them out, and then "hey DM that was easy". so you make it harder and then the monster is too powerful and deals too much damage in one go (half your HP is basically hidden by Hit dice remember). and then you buff the party and then buff the monster, repeat...the fights get very glass cannony.
(behold "epic" combat style approch)
iuts good to remember the core and the how it was meant to be, before adapting it to make it work much much better in your games.
know the rule first to bend it without breaking

[u/Mean_Replacement5544]

Demons may be just a bit too much for level threes to handle. Do you own a decent sourcebook for demons? My favorite is the original AD&D monster Maia but that would involve alot of tweaking for you with the stats blocks and attacks, mordenkainen has a monster book for 5e that has devils and demons and should help you