I'm about to start the first session of a big campaign tomorrow night. I have three experienced players and one newbie and I've got a big opener planned. The way things will most likely go in the first session will involve a lot of small fights without a short or long rest between them. The party is starting off at level 3. I am going to be forcing them into one CR 2.5 encounter at the start of the campaign which they should win fairly easily but be worn down a bit afterward.
This level 5 wizard is planned to be a sort of "mini-boss" encounter to slow them down in a chase (that is, if they even chose to participate in the chase at all). So he's not meant to be a huge challenge, but I don't want them to blow through him either. My questions are as follows.
- What CR is this wizard?
- Should I make him stronger or weaker?
The Wizard:
Race: Breton (homebrew race for the campaign. Stats very similar to full-blood elf in the base game)
Level: 5
Ability Scores:
STR: 9
DEX: 13
CON: 14
INT: 18
WIS: 12
CHA: 10
Saving throw modifiers:
STR: -1
DEX: 1
CON: 2
INT: 7
WIS: 4
CHA: 0
Health: 30 (8+(4d6+8)) (he will buff himself with false life)
AC: 11 (no armor) 14 (with mage armor)
Spells:
Cantrips: Fire bolt, acid splash
Level 1: Mage armor, false life, ray of sickness, magic missile
Level 2: Magic weapon, shatter
Level 3: Counterspell, lightning bolt
Attack: Melee: 4 to hit. 1d4+1 (dagger)
Spell attack: +7 to hit; spell save DC of 15
Feats:
Natural Ward: Damage taken from magic spells is reduced by 1d6 with a minimum of 1.
Grim Harvest
The reason I'm finding this hard to figure out instead of just using the calculation formula in the book is because of two things:
- His damage output will change drastically based on what point of the battle it is and how many spell slots he has.
- His Natural Ward feat potentially makes him far tankier than his stats imply because half the party relies on magic damage.