Help a fellow DM out. So I've got this player in my 5th edition game, Character name Jun. He's a 11th level Tempest cleric / Open hand monk multiclass (5/6 level split respectively) and he basically dominates the party with his speed and massive amount of DPS. He's got stupid good stats and the cleric spells don't help either.
The current BBEG of the campaign is tied closely to his backstory, and I basically want to make him tailored to fuck Jun up specifically. (The rest of the party will be otherwise preoccupied so they're not an issue)
Since It will come down to a 1v1 fight with the monk, how should I build him for maximum effectiveness?
Xavier Evans
Cut his hands off.
Brody Clark
I thought about some kind of permanent debuff.. BBEG is a complete asshole like that, but the player of the monk would probably bitch up a storm
Aaron Adams
Because he built his character well. And is playing intelligently you honestly think that giving him a permanent debuff just for that is a good thing? If you're going to challenge him make it fair, don't just throw bullshit at you players. Also cutting his hands off is retarded, unless he can get them back somehow. Taking away his hands away would seem like a petulant DM removing player agency.
Jaxson Foster
The BBEG has good hp and saves. The game isn't designed for 1v1; the player should get curbstomped by any decent solo
Jaxon Thomas
The BBEG is immune to the last type of attack used on him. So if he punches, he's now immune to punches. If he uses magic, he's immune to that school of magic.
No matter how powerful he maybe, he'll have to constantly alter his style to even hurt the guy. Throw in regen on the BBEG if you want to be even more cruel
Brayden Peterson
I was thinking of stealing the ranger's multi attack defense, not quite making him completely immune, but after the first attack his AC gets a nice +4 buff for the rest of the turn.
Blake Sanchez
I wouldn't take away his hands unless he did something utterly retarded and deserved it. And yeah, he did build his character pretty well. He's gathered a good number of feats that supplement his abilities too.
Dylan Bennett
The thing is, the BBEG isn't some typical lich or overlord, its just a noble with a particularly violent history with the monk. The fight is intended to be cinematic, the rest of the party will be dealing with his guards while the monk takes him on alone.
Daniel Hill
>He's got stupid good stats
And that's why my gaming always use point buy.
youtube.com/watch?v=UJWn6CD7PVg Guy in this video makes some really good points about not rolling for stats.
As for your BBEG. I would give him some legendary actions and multiple reactions.
Gavin Ross
Step 1: be a better GM
there, you're done.
What you're probably going to do is continue to be a petulant manchild mad that the player is beating up your monsters, when that's the whole point.
Nathan Thompson
Sorry, how the fuck did you think making all this about one character was a good idea?
Kevin Reyes
thats guy its stupid sorry: "the problem is that if i roll well, they can take human variant" wtf mate? i never let the op human variant. Also the best feat you can take with a rogue is luck, a rogue without luck is a dead rogue.
Jordan Roberts
what is your player exact build: Feats, and stats, magic items. I find really weird that a monk can dominate encounters.
Josiah Kelly
I don''t think it's fair to build encounters that target a specific characters weaknes but It's fine to build a BBEG that counters a player imo. If the BBEG was smart, and had history wiith the character, he would be prepared.
I'd say give the BBEG a ring of lightning resist and spiked armor/armor of agathys. Pad his HP and the monk will kill himself
Brandon Brown
Maybe he has short arcs? Tailoring a couple sessions around a particular PC at a time can help flesh out characters, and create bonds in the party as they help each other.
Christopher Jones
you made a mistake in play 5th edition. tell him he's being a tryhard fag or just up the difficulty and hope that the party doesn't get blown the fuck out
Cameron White
There is an inherent problem with powergaming in D&D (3.P is notorious for this). One player knows how to build a character that just outshines the rest. This causes them to take all the lime light, make encounters boring, and sap the fun from the other players. If the DM ups the difficulty then he runs the risk of making the rest of the party feel inferior. If he trys to buff the other players to get them to the powergamer's level then the powergamer feels alienated.
Theres no safe way out once it has started. As sacrilegious as it may be to some I try to make the entire party of equal value, so they can all feel like they all contribute (even if for some it's out of combat).
Carson Reed
We just finished a 6 month campaign and are currently doing short mini-campaigns to flesh out characters more. Its the monk's turn, and he seeks vengeance against one guy in particular.
Easton Ross
What sort of stats does the monk have, did you let the players roll for stats? Because hitting people in the weak save works pretty good. Don't feel bad about doing it because if you don't players will just stack up on AC and act unkillable.
Sebastian Sanchez
Every player is (unfortunately) in powergame territory. We have a fucking blender of a champion-fighter half-orc who prioritized two weapon fighting with dual warhammers, a heavy stealth ranger/rogue built to one-shot small things with advantage on shots, and a tank of a paladin with 21 AC and a good dps. Surprisingly well balanced.
Jack Allen
The monks stats are as follows: STR: 15, +2 DEX: 16, +3 CON: 16, +3 INT: 16, +3 WIS: 18, +4 CHA: 15, +2
I let players roll stats but force them to keep the first roll unless they're clearly destined to be useless. I think he probably moved a few of them up from +2 to +3 with ability improvements.
Noah Phillips
lol I already custom build encounters because the challenge rating stopped working when they hit level 5. They know the game too well, one of the bastards has memorized half the monster manual, and they metagame too often.
Jacob Hall
He's not a beefcake bbeg, he's more a shane the shy type guy, who keeps his bases covered.
Logan Howard
Stats. In terms of feats, he's taken the Mobile feat, but nothing else so far. He uses every cleric spell and switches them out constantly during long rests to better fit the next challenge. He's Tempest cleric level 6, and open hand monk level 5.
Charles Cook
lol, had bad dm's before? because it sounds like you got some stories to tell.
Jose Gonzalez
I defiantly will try this next time we roll up characters
Landon Martinez
i think he's saying that characters that roll really good or really poorly can be detrimental to the game. a character with great stats can hog the spotlight, and a character with poor stats won't get a chance to shine.
Ethan Jenkins
While not everyone was as lucky with stats as the monks' player, they're all really clever and have built pretty effective characters.
Gabriel Stewart
>I let players roll stats You brought this on yourself m8
Adam Bennett
I mean, at level 11, while he doesn't have any weaknesses, he doesn't really have any strengths either. A +3 modifier is something a level 1 can have.
I have no idea how he's dealing damage, because monk is on the low end as far as martials go, only beating rogues.
What spells does he throw out? I could see bless being good, but a lot of them just take his action, which means he deals low damage that turn.
Gavin Phillips
This I like rolling stats a lot, but I thought it went without saying that if you were going to do that you had to put barriers in place (like, minimum of net +X, maximum of net +X) It completely boggles my mind that some people let players roll and use absolutely anything
Kayden Rogers
He abuses the hell out of the spirit guardians spell, and has a magic quarterstaff that does lightning damage in addition to bludgeoning. (reward from an earlier quest.)
Angel Jones
I allow it because we all enjoy the slight high of waiting for that one fucker to roll four 1's. Because he's keeping that shit.
Luis James
>He's a 11th level Tempest cleric / Open hand monk multiclass (5/6 level split respectively)
How is this a good build AT ALL?
Ethan Lee
OP here, feel free to continue mocking me / giving suggestions, I'll be back in a bit - have a game to run.
Xavier Cox
"BBEG" is more than a mini-boss of a few sessions. OP doesn't actually mean BBEG.
Hudson Butler
No, been a GM for a long time and seen a lot of other GM's do nothing more than piss themselves and their players off.
Ryan Cooper
How much more damage does the quarterstaff deal? Because he can only attack with it twice a turn. Monks don't get to use a monk weapon on their bonus action attacks from martial arts, those are unarmed only.
I'll go ahead and assume it's 1d8 extra lightning. So you've got a monk that can deal 4d8+2xDex once per turn, and then 3d8 if an enemy fails its save.
Are you having him roll concentration checks every time he gets hit when he has spirit guardians up? It's a concentration spell, so he has to.
It just isn't a lot of damage when you compare it to, say, the revised ranger, or even a fighter, with the sharpshooter feat, and the archery (and close quarters shooting) fighting style(s), so I'm not seeing the issue.
If it's really an issue, just send some enemies that can counterspell or dispel magic at them, poof, spirit guardians is gone.