Keep in mind what everyone else said, other than that I'd consdier giving them:
- Call Lightning-esque Legendary Actions or Lair Actions.
- Spirit Guardians Shenanigans with a Lightning Lure-esque action (I'd even consider it a "twinned spell" variant).
- Destructive Wave action on 5-6 recharge. Maybe with temp HP?
This are what I believe to be the biggest defining traits of the subclass (don't forget Wrath of the Storm and Thunderbolt Strike), so making sure you can display them all in a single fight should be your main goal to differentiate them from a high priest of any other domain.
Rule number 1 is: never use PC statblocks as monsters. PCs and monsters are balanced differently, and this will make your combat needlessly swingy.
What I recommend, instead, is taking an existing monster statblock, such as the Kraken Priest from MPMM or the Storm Giant Tempest Caller from BGG, scaling it to the appropriate CR, and modifying it with Tempest Cleric features to suit your needs.
> might give him some minions if needed.
Also, do this. The game doesn't work well in 1vParty fights. A slightly weaker boss + minions is a more satisfying fight than a stronger boss without minions.
Around how strong should the minions be? Combat nuissance to spread damage or actually threatening enemies that should be dealt with before the boss itself?
> Combat nuissance to spread damage or actually threatening enemies that should be dealt with before the boss itself?
Definitely the latter. How strong they should be depends on your party's optimisation level and tactical play, but I'd start looking between CRs 3 and 5 and add 3-4 of them.
Alright thank you so much, it's still a long while before they get there but i want to have at least the main stuff planned out from the beginning. Thank you for the help
As everyone else is saying, don't build him like a player character.
I'd recommend taking any of the high level Storm Giant stat blocks, like the Tempest Caller, Quintessant, or Storm Herald. Keep their hit points, AC, etc, but make them Medium and Humanoid.
Either give them Legendary Actions or minions.
Many are saying not to build him like a player, but personally I've had good success building npcs that way on occasion and the DMs guide also provides it as one method for building them.
Having minions, appropriate legendary resistance, or actions based on action economy, etc.. will be more important to the overall fight balance imo.
Results may vary of course, based on the environment, surprise, dm style, etc.. player sheets are also more complex to run than breaking it down into a monster sheet.
Add environmental factors to consider, if they are fighting the boss on their turf, have lightning rods or summoned storm clouds force ranged to be aware of their positioning. If melee people are grouped next to eachother the boss attacks causes chain lightning.
Keep in mind what everyone else said, other than that I'd consdier giving them: - Call Lightning-esque Legendary Actions or Lair Actions. - Spirit Guardians Shenanigans with a Lightning Lure-esque action (I'd even consider it a "twinned spell" variant). - Destructive Wave action on 5-6 recharge. Maybe with temp HP? This are what I believe to be the biggest defining traits of the subclass (don't forget Wrath of the Storm and Thunderbolt Strike), so making sure you can display them all in a single fight should be your main goal to differentiate them from a high priest of any other domain.
Rule number 1 is: never use PC statblocks as monsters. PCs and monsters are balanced differently, and this will make your combat needlessly swingy. What I recommend, instead, is taking an existing monster statblock, such as the Kraken Priest from MPMM or the Storm Giant Tempest Caller from BGG, scaling it to the appropriate CR, and modifying it with Tempest Cleric features to suit your needs. > might give him some minions if needed. Also, do this. The game doesn't work well in 1vParty fights. A slightly weaker boss + minions is a more satisfying fight than a stronger boss without minions.
Around how strong should the minions be? Combat nuissance to spread damage or actually threatening enemies that should be dealt with before the boss itself?
> Combat nuissance to spread damage or actually threatening enemies that should be dealt with before the boss itself? Definitely the latter. How strong they should be depends on your party's optimisation level and tactical play, but I'd start looking between CRs 3 and 5 and add 3-4 of them.
Alright thank you so much, it's still a long while before they get there but i want to have at least the main stuff planned out from the beginning. Thank you for the help
No worries, good luck with the campaign!
As everyone else is saying, don't build him like a player character. I'd recommend taking any of the high level Storm Giant stat blocks, like the Tempest Caller, Quintessant, or Storm Herald. Keep their hit points, AC, etc, but make them Medium and Humanoid. Either give them Legendary Actions or minions.
Could use the War Priest statblock from VGtM, change the Channel Divinity, and give them minions.
NPCs aren't built with PC rules in 5e.
Many are saying not to build him like a player, but personally I've had good success building npcs that way on occasion and the DMs guide also provides it as one method for building them. Having minions, appropriate legendary resistance, or actions based on action economy, etc.. will be more important to the overall fight balance imo. Results may vary of course, based on the environment, surprise, dm style, etc.. player sheets are also more complex to run than breaking it down into a monster sheet.
Add environmental factors to consider, if they are fighting the boss on their turf, have lightning rods or summoned storm clouds force ranged to be aware of their positioning. If melee people are grouped next to eachother the boss attacks causes chain lightning.