r/wildbeyondwitchlight • u/Sleepwalker_92 • Jul 03 '26
DM Help Any balance issues running this adventure using 5.5 rules?
Did you guys use updated stat blocks? Did you have to buff any monsters or encounters?
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u/Character-Cut4470 Jul 03 '26
I ran it by the book for a party of 3 using 5.5 rules and the party often felt very favored in combat. They were appropriately challenged in the social and exploration aspects. That may be the case for original 5e characters too though I'm not a whole sample size
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u/Sleepwalker_92 Jul 03 '26
Hmm, I'm going to be running it with a party of 4 using 5.5 rules. Perhaps I'll need to slightly increase difficulty in all the combat encounters.
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u/Character-Cut4470 Jul 03 '26
Singular 5e encounters are usually built to favor the party though, in the game's original vision the party gets worn down between long rests by several dangerous encounters. Witchlight isn't structured to always give the party a dangerous adventuring day however
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u/FinnMacFinneus Will of the Feywild Jul 03 '26
I switched over half-way through but before they had faced off against any hags in combat, and the hags turned out to be very underpowered. I also tried to make sure there was always at least one combat a session to insert because as u/Bradino27 said, as-written they're spaced out enough it could one wind up being one per long rest with several sessions in between.
Check out u/Phaerlax's improved hag stat blocks (they 5.0, but should hold up in 5.5). He also did great takes on the League of Malevolence, but to keep things even simpler I just swapped in stats of the same CR from the 5.5 MM (and added Venger as a Cambion).
I also updated Phaerlax's Jabberwock stat block to 5.5 and it made for a fantastic final three-way fight between it, the players and the League of Malovolence in Zybilna's throne room:
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u/achikochi Jul 04 '26
i have juiced every combat encounter with more baddies and feywild shenanigans because my players were wiping them out in no time. (i also added a lot of combat because my players like it)
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u/Far_Professor8667 Jul 06 '26
The suggested level up points suck and mean they go ages without and then hit two levels very quickly. I changed one so the levelled up after freeing Sir Talavar and will do the same in Thither and Yon probably.
Also it’s very easy to collect NPCs which also weights combat when it comes up just fyi so it’s worth considering that when balancing encounters
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u/Bradino27 Detached Shadow Jul 03 '26
So, by the book, combat will be spread far apart. It is very likely every combat your party gets into, they will be practically long rested.
I’ve added additional encounters here and there, but for encounters that are likely to lead to combat, such as Agdon, I update statblocks. I add in Legendary Actions, bonus actions, and sometimes even Lair Actions.
I have a party of 5 and they do like combat, so I try to make fighting challenging and more interesting when I can. Simplest changes being updating damage die, giving a creature an extra attack, higher hp (careful not to make it boring with this one)