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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next What CR would this creature (The Valkyrie) be?



Protato
2018-03-26, 11:27 PM
In a game I'm running, I plan for there to be high-power boss enemies that appear and attack the party at key plot moments. So far I've only got one, the Valkyrie, made. However, I'm not very adept at homebrewing monsters and I'm wondering what a good level to throw this at my party might be.

The Valkyrie

AC18
HP 160
30ft. speed

18 Str/14 Dex/Con 16/Int 14/Wis 16/Chr 16
Saves: 5 Str/2 Dex/6 Con/2 Int/3 Wis/3 Chr.
Skills:5 Arcana, 7 Athletics, 5 Perception, 5 Religion

Weak to Necrotic, resistant to Radiant.
Darkvision 60ft., Passive Perception 15
Immune to Charm, Fear, Sleep, Poison

Two attacks, War Magic (Cantrip bonus action after attacks), Wings of Radiance (gain 30ft. fly speed, do an extra 5 Radiant damage per attack for a minute), bonus action disengage up to 10ft movement.

Psychopomp Bardiche, 2d10+3 Slashing and 1d6 +2 Radiant damage, +7 to hit, 10ft. reach
Longbow: 2d6 + 2 Piercing, +4 to hit

Chr is casting modifier.
Level 3 Spellcaster, Save DC of 16.

Cantrips: Light, Sacred Flame, Thaumaturgy, Word of Radiance
L1 Spells: Shield, Shield of Faith, Guiding Bolt, 3 slots.
L2 Spells: Branding Smite, 2 slots.

Flashy
2018-03-27, 10:31 PM
I make it CR 7, but other people might have other opinions.

Defensive CR: 8

160 HP is right on the cusp of CR 6/7. Appropriate AC for either of those is 15 and you increase defensive CR by one for every +2 AC. You don't factor in saving throw proficiencies until a monster has three, and I only counted two (Str and Con). No other significant defensive features. Since the monster has an HP total that's smack dab on the edge of two ratings, a couple uncounted saving throw bonuses, and that extra floating +1 AC I prefer to round up to CR 8 instead of 7.

Offensive CR: 6

Average DPR is calculated from two psychopomp bardiche attacks with Wings of Radiance active plus a single sacred flame. The statblock doesn't say what level caster the Valkyrie is (which should be included, along with attack bonus and saving throw DC) but based on spell slots I'm guessing a 3rd level caster.

So it's 2*(2d10+8)+1d8, or 43. If you do an average over three rounds with two branding smites instead of sacred flames this goes up to 44.

44 is the very top of offensive CR 6. The expected attack bonus for CR 6 is +6 and a difference of +1 doesn't change the calculation. I don't see anything else that impacts the offensive CR calculation.

Average CR: 7

You could argue that I should have treated it as having a fly speed since it has Wings of Radiance but I'm sort of dubious that Wings of Radiance really counts for that purpose. If it had the Fly spell it wouldn't factor into defensive CR and I'm deeply unconvinced that a 1 min/long rest flying speed is really worth +2 AC here. Worst comes to worst bump it up to CR 8 but that doesn't feel correct to me.

Protato
2018-03-28, 12:02 AM
Thanks for the feedback! I also forgot to mention that the Bardiche has 10ft. reach and not 5ft. for what it's worth. I also decided to put in an ability that allows for disengages out to 10ft. on a bonus action on their turn.

Ninja_Prawn
2018-03-29, 11:50 AM
I'm inclined to allow for it triggering Wings of Radiance before combat starts and then casting shield every round, which pushes the DCR up to 11.

It also looks like you've made some mistakes with the weapon numbers. The bardiche should be 2d10+4, and the longbow should be +5 to hit. Not sure why you've gone for 2d6; a longbow is usually 1d8; but whatever. It doesn't affect the CR. And I think Flashy's missed the 1d6+2 radiant damage rider on the bardiche and failed to account for sacred flame being 2d8 due to the CR being above 5, which means the DPR is actually 2(15+5+5)+9 = 59 @+7. So OCR goes up to 9.

Overall, I'd rate it CR 10, assuming it can make the best use of its abilities. That means the prof. bonus goes up to +4, further cementing it as a mid-range monster.

I'd also note that the Tome of Beasts has a CR 11 Valkyrie in it. You'd probably be best just using that...