For the longest time, I've simply ignored experience in terms of keeping tracks of levels for my players. We level up when it feels appropriate.
Ironically, I only care about experience in level-less systems where you can basically spend XP as you get it on upgrades and abilities. But then again, in those games they're usually more about set amounts of XP earned per session.
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
I just plot out monster battles and reward experience such that when my players reach a story appropriate point to level, well look gee they just hit the exact amount of experience to level up.
Yeah seriously we had a character essentially be worthless for an entire combat last session because he was stuck in some stuff that for some reason granted disadvantage to attack rolls and he was a warlock so all he really had was EB and welp.
"I rolled a 20! Crit! ......oh and a 5, so I guess nevermind."
There's a Star Wars miniatures game from years back that some friends and I tried out last year, as one of them had collected a considerable number of them off eBay.
During the encounter, which was set on Endor, anyone firing into and out of a forested area essentially had disadvantage. Literally; roll 2d20, choose the lowest result.
We literally spent like an hour mostly whiffing at each other, because staying in the forest's loving embrace was just too powerful for the Rebels, and once they were in place they hopped out and violated everything in a frontal assault.
It was the most aggravating game we played that day, and an experience I never want to have again.
And now back to catching up on the thread...
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
Roll damage twice would be a neat effect to add to a magic weapon.
What about "roll twice for damage, keep highest when attacking with disadvantage"? Now when you get past the roadblock of actually connecting, you're less likely to just plink them for a point or two?
Sure, this raises questions of "why do I hit harder when attacking with disadvantage than normally or with advantage?", but since the likelihood of hitting is reduced, the odds of actually getting that benefit is lower as well.
Or perhaps "roll once, with an option to roll again, but you have to keep the second result if you do", so if someone manages to hit but gets a 3, they have a shot at doing better. I think I actually like this better; if they roll a 1 or a 2 obviously it's worth it, but when they
Now, this is entirely off the cuff, apologies if it ignores some pertinent points of the flattened math for 5E.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
Roll damage twice would be a neat effect to add to a magic weapon.
What about "roll twice for damage, keep highest when attacking with disadvantage"? Now when you get past the roadblock of actually connecting, you're less likely to just plink them for a point or two?
Sure, this raises questions of "why do I hit harder when attacking with disadvantage than normally or with advantage?", but since the likelihood of hitting is reduced, the odds of actually getting that benefit is lower as well.
Or perhaps "roll once, with an option to roll again, but you have to keep the second result if you do", so if someone manages to hit but gets a 3, they have a shot at doing better. I think I actually like this better; if they roll a 1 or a 2 obviously it's worth it, but when they
Now, this is entirely off the cuff, apologies if it ignores some pertinent points of the flattened math for 5E.
There's no math that can't be beaten down with a good enough story!
GNU Terry Pratchett
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
The answer to any "how" questions regarding magic items is simple:
A
Wizard
Did
It
*micdrop*
Apropos nothing, my next warforged type PC will be named Awdi.
Hoard of the Dragon Queen literally uses this as an explanation at one point.
Something like 20% of the monster in the MM are awdi by RAW.
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
So my players treated me to the DMG last night. I was actually kind of moved. Paging through it, some of the customization options in part 3 have got my gears spinning, and going over the monster math, it's not as bad as I was previously led to believe. I think I can make it work.
For starters, I might include Aasimir as a playable race. In addition, I'd like to create a playable race that has an inherent +2 to Wisdom, since no starter race has that. I think I might make an Owl race that has +2 Wisdom, +1 Strength, darkvision, and can cast fly once a day after level 5.
I want Druids and Clerics to have more options, and I think those two will round out things nicely for them. It's boring if everyone who wants to play a Cleric is a Hill Dwarf.
Over the span of 1 to 20, it's an average of ±3.3. If you look at it just over the "normal" range of values you need to succeed, i.e. 6 to 14, it's about ±4.4.
Also, if you're talking about combat rolls, wouldn't crits make advantage a little more useful on high target numbers than the equivalent lows?
I figure I could take a bear.
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
edited December 2014
Of course I can't find the chart now that I'm looking for it, but advantage or disadvantage ends up shifting your % chance to hit a target DC up or down (depending on if it's Adv or Dis). I believe if you needed to roll a 10, advantage worked out to a +5 bonus to your roll, and disadvantage was -5. As your goal number got higher or lower, the bonus was less pronounced, since those numbers were already harder/easier to hit, and rolling another die didn't change your chance that much. For example, if you need to roll a 20 to pass a check, rolling 2d20 and taking the higher doesn't improve your chances THAT markedly (from ~5% to ~9.75%), whereas if you only need a 10, I believe it shifts your chances of hitting from 50% to 75%.
Play around on anydice.com to see some of the percentages.
Since the CR system is the dog's breakfast, I'm assuming that you are not even bothering with XP and just having the party level up at story-appropriate times?
Correct. I have roughly determined they should level up for each pearl they acquire or know the full fate of. I don't build encounters using wizards encounter building rules and I usually pick a monster of a cr I like stat wise, then adjust it power and similar wise. Once again, I would be really curious what cr my Okemera actually ends up being, noting that I think its lair powers would increase the cr by a minimum of 1 (but who really knows frankly).
All I know is it perfectly challenged, without overwhelming a level 4 party of 5.
My players are bizarrely insistent that I do XP by the book (they are also fascistic managers of their own inventories -- go figure). So I feel obligated to go through the motions of eyeballing a CR on custom monsters for the sake of rewarding XP.
My game is actually entirely open world, with some regions being significantly more dangerous than others. I thought long and hard about this before I did it, but I believe it's going to work well and free sailing is an essential aspect of a piracy campaign. It is all about how I communicate this to the players...
so I just bought the dmg, and on 139, it says anyone who can read can use a scroll. this is consistent with the phb but I thought the free rules might have contradicted this.
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Under the entry for spell scroll under magic items, it says the spell needs to be on your class list to use a scroll. So the book is not internally consistent.
Aren't there scrolls that aren't spell scrolls, though? I seem to remember reading about a scroll of protection. So it might be that anybody that can read can use scrolls, the item type, but in order to use spell scrolls, the specific item, you have to be able to read and have the spell on your class list. Don't have the book with me, so I could be wrong.
So apparently our new campaign is going to feature a fair amount of ship-based combat.
newDM consulted the new DMG for guidance and optional rules on ship-based combat.
...one paragraph later...he'll be largely creating a new system, which is sort of a skill challenge system? I wasn't there so I'm not 100% certain but it didn't sound super exciting to be honest.
I kind of want to take firearms in the opposite direction from realism and just go full bore into having them just be really advanced magic weapons.
Laser pistol? Blue ones are firing Ray of Frosts, red ones Scorching Ray.
Sniper Rifle? Telekinesis or Bigby's Flicking Finger accelerating a small rock or sling bullet.
Rocket launcher? Uses Magic Missiles as ammunition.
Funny, Rifts has an entire class of magic just for doing this. It's called Techno Wizardry, and that's precisely how their gear works. Enchant item (weapon, armour, gear, whatever) with wires and gems and whatnot, generally rendering it non-functional for its original purpose, but improving it with magic to be more powerful/effective, at least in the hands of someone capable of using it (people/beings with magical or psychic talents only, which has advantages in that a 'mundane' person can't use your gear against you).
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
So apparently our new campaign is going to feature a fair amount of ship-based combat.
newDM consulted the new DMG for guidance and optional rules on ship-based combat.
...one paragraph later...he'll be largely creating a new system, which is sort of a skill challenge system? I wasn't there so I'm not 100% certain but it didn't sound super exciting to be honest.
I feel that 4E has been the best edition by miles for making your own stuff. The rules were beautifully consistent and once they fixed the higher level maths, it was easy and immensely fun to create your own interesting, fun monsters that integrated into the game with minimal effort. Their failure to replicate this success is my biggest disappointment by a long distance with 5E.
I've only looked at the PHB so far and frankly the biggest problem with 5e to me right now is that they clearly went with the broken the high level maths again.
I also don't like how so many martial classes have nothing to do every turn. But such is the bitching over 4e being "too videogamey"
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
Yes. It is like they unlearned things they figured out in 4E - often deliberately I feel. For example, they should be well aware that the value of winning initiative and doing enough damage to drop a PC has the highest value early on (between the often noted lethal levels of 5E, 1-3), plateaus between about levels 6-11 or so and then starts to dive as PCs become ever more resilient to this after level 12. For example, a tarpit of wolves is really hard for many monsters to deal with beyond flailing at wolves that the party doesn't give a shit about if they die or not.
Values for defense and offense shouldn't scale the same between tiers or levels of play. Early on, a monster with a very high offense should get shunted into higher CR - because that is literally what it means when you can kill a low level PC trivially. The oft-mentioned Centaur should have more value assigned to its CR from offense and less consideration given to its low AC and poor saves. This is because someone needs to think about that Centaur (or one of them in an encounter) rolling a natural 20 for initiative and the PCs rolling under - because that right there means 1/4 characters is almost certain to be knocked unconscious or then very easily die.
Likewise, once you get to level 10+ defenses should matter more (grindy fights are not fun!) but offense shouldn't be worth as much. This means you should be able to put more offensive tools - like a swiss army knife - on higher level monsters than lower level ones. Their tools should match the PCs they face - not being decided solely on making one set of easy to work out maths, that doesn't produce consistent results outside of a handful of levels it actually works. Oh boy, doesn't this sound very familiar everyone?
I don't have a good answer to this right now because I don't have the DMG (even though I accidentally discovered I am getting it for Christmas, which really does make some mixed feelings!), but I am certain that the CR system is broken because nobody at Wizards figured out things they learned years ago from 3.5 and 4E. A good example is 4E, just look at how much extra damage monsters packed post-MM3 at every tier of play. Monsters gained tools and powers to deal with PCs who were much better equipped in terms of items, powers and so on (from years of splat books). That 5E even before splat books is out is broken at both ends (low and mid highish level play) is probably one of the worst signs for this edition.
I am hoping that Wizards just figures out this was broken and by the time I get my players to level 10+ they have some kind of workable solution. Or alternatively I've done it myself. Heaven forbid, I can't expect to pay wizards and have them do it for me if I want to continue running this edition.
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
So can I get an experienced DM's take on something? What do you do when you accidentally TPK your players? I have an encounter coming up which I'm hesitant to pilot the monsters competently in. My players' party of five level 4 PCs (Cleric, Warlock, Wizard, Fighter/Rogue, and Monk) will be going up against an Oathbreaker and various undead minions. The Oathbreaker himself has a high potential for burst damage, with Divine Favor and Divine Smite (and realistically he has no reason not to Smite on every hit, since he is a nemesis to the PCs) bringing his average damage per round to about 22-25.
So can I get an experienced DM's take on something? What do you do when you accidentally TPK your players? I have an encounter coming up which I'm hesitant to pilot the monsters competently in. My players' party of five level 4 PCs (Cleric, Warlock, Wizard, Fighter/Rogue, and Monk) will be going up against an Oathbreaker and various undead minions. The Oathbreaker himself has a high potential for burst damage, with Divine Favor and Divine Smite (and realistically he has no reason not to Smite on every hit, since he is a nemesis to the PCs) bringing his average damage per round to about 22-25.
Heroes make wonderful sacrifices. Course, you need to leave them alive for the sacrifice to be proper. Requires some cockiness (and I'm not sure of 5ths rules on not killing folks you're hitting) but might be appropriate.
There is always the Deus Ex button where something else shows up and screws things up. While yes, having Gandalf pop in with Giant Eagles would be cheesey as shit it can be done correctly. First off I would make sure it isn't somebody who is favorable to the PCs, it can be a third party which provides the chance to get out or if it's a full on rescue they damn well expect something in return.
Finally, not being a TPK doesn't mean a lack of consequences. If the party fails at something make sure something bad happens and actually hits them. This depends heavily on the story you've built up but it could be the death of a favorite NPC, a blow to their reputation, a loss of a beloved item....just something. 13th Age (of course...) has the concept of a "Campaign Defeat" where the PC's failed that really centers around this.
Give the Oathbreaker an alternative goal. Yes, it's entirely possible he just wants to kill the PCs, but maybe he wants something else more. Barring that, maybe he wants to kill the PCs, but has orders that take precedence. So if he sacrifices this other goal to kill the PCs, it will cost him too much to be worth revenge right now.
If that's out, give the rest of team monster a reason not to be completely aligned with the Oathbreaker. Maybe they're using him for something else. So as soon as the fight is clearly in their favor, the monsters bail for that alternative goal.
In short, give your bad guys a reason to be fighting the PCs other than wanting to kill them. Give them a goal that the PCs are standing in the way of. Killing the PCs is not the only way to achieve the goal, and if the other goal is important enough, then killing the PCs can actually become more trouble than its worth.
Does 5e have anything to mitigate the fact that at level 10 you're going to have a primary save of +8 or +9 and 4 weak saves of -1 to +2?
Some classes pick up additional saves (Champion Fighters, Monks, Paladins), and there is the Resilient Feat. A lot of casters take Resilient (Constitution) for Concentration.
So the answer is, basically, everyone who isn't a Monk, or Paladin takes Resilient instead of taking +stats? I figured that was what it was, but i was hoping there was some other answer. Because its the exact same problem that 4e had with all the +save feats except even worse since the total differential is even larger, and you have to take more of them.
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Well, you could stand NEXT to a Paladin. It's a 10 ft Aura (30 ft at high levels).
So can I get an experienced DM's take on something? What do you do when you accidentally TPK your players? I have an encounter coming up which I'm hesitant to pilot the monsters competently in. My players' party of five level 4 PCs (Cleric, Warlock, Wizard, Fighter/Rogue, and Monk) will be going up against an Oathbreaker and various undead minions. The Oathbreaker himself has a high potential for burst damage, with Divine Favor and Divine Smite (and realistically he has no reason not to Smite on every hit, since he is a nemesis to the PCs) bringing his average damage per round to about 22-25.
Is he a nemesis to the PC's or are the PC's a nemesis to him? Who is to say that the baddie doesn't see the NPC's as a nuisance?
Generally you can play such an encounter two ways: Either the baddie spares them or something saves them from the baddie.
For the first, you've got easy options in "i've got better things to do" or "I'm keeping you alive to send a message" options. The latter works better the more players died in the encounter. These tend to be the better options because it reinforces the
For the second you've got a lot of problems. Who is saving them and why? Why are they important enough to be saved? Does the person saving them have enough power to fix the problem so why aren't they helping? Generally for this you want to use a neutral power that the baddie doesn't want to deal with. One that I like, in particular is a Dragon. Dragons are a pain to deal with and will fight but mainly just want to scrounge for all your shiny shit. Nemesis doesn't want to deal with a dragon, dragon doesn't care about killing you, so long as you don't fight over your shit. Players live to fight another day, defeated but able to continue the good fight
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
The current plan is that the Oathbreaker is in an ancient family tomb raising an army of undead minions, and the PCs are out to stop him. My safety valve for the encounter is the head of the family being reanimated, but not controlled, and fighting off the Oathbreaker long enough for the PCs to escape. Then he goes back to rest (being dead).
I'd rather the PCs fight the head of the family, who I had planned to be a Wight riding a flying Nightmare, spouting Southern-isms (his name is Beauregard Derryen), but as it is he can arrive halfway through the fight, save the PCs from the Oathbreaker (if needed), and then fight the PCs (if they're still up for it).
So the answer is, basically, everyone who isn't a Monk, or Paladin takes Resilient instead of taking +stats? I figured that was what it was, but i was hoping there was some other answer. Because its the exact same problem that 4e had with all the +save feats except even worse since the total differential is even larger, and you have to take more of them.
Except you can only take Resilient once.
Basically play a half-elf Ranger. Wis is one of your good stats, and Half-elfs have advantage on most Wis saves, so that arguably becomes a good save. You get Strength and Dex from your class, and take Resilient Constitution, for two good saves and one basically good save. Strength is (I've heard) the most common of the off-saves (though mostly to prevent being knocked prone), and then you only suck at Cha and Int saves which should almost never come up.
Posts
Ironically, I only care about experience in level-less systems where you can basically spend XP as you get it on upgrades and abilities. But then again, in those games they're usually more about set amounts of XP earned per session.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
There's a Star Wars miniatures game from years back that some friends and I tried out last year, as one of them had collected a considerable number of them off eBay.
During the encounter, which was set on Endor, anyone firing into and out of a forested area essentially had disadvantage. Literally; roll 2d20, choose the lowest result.
We literally spent like an hour mostly whiffing at each other, because staying in the forest's loving embrace was just too powerful for the Rebels, and once they were in place they hopped out and violated everything in a frontal assault.
It was the most aggravating game we played that day, and an experience I never want to have again.
And now back to catching up on the thread...
What about "roll twice for damage, keep highest when attacking with disadvantage"? Now when you get past the roadblock of actually connecting, you're less likely to just plink them for a point or two?
Sure, this raises questions of "why do I hit harder when attacking with disadvantage than normally or with advantage?", but since the likelihood of hitting is reduced, the odds of actually getting that benefit is lower as well.
Or perhaps "roll once, with an option to roll again, but you have to keep the second result if you do", so if someone manages to hit but gets a 3, they have a shot at doing better. I think I actually like this better; if they roll a 1 or a 2 obviously it's worth it, but when they
Now, this is entirely off the cuff, apologies if it ignores some pertinent points of the flattened math for 5E.
There's no math that can't be beaten down with a good enough story!
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Wizard
Did
It
*micdrop*
Apropos nothing, my next warforged type PC will be named Awdi.
Why can't I awesome this post twice?
Hoard of the Dragon Queen literally uses this as an explanation at one point.
Something like 20% of the monster in the MM are awdi by RAW.
For starters, I might include Aasimir as a playable race. In addition, I'd like to create a playable race that has an inherent +2 to Wisdom, since no starter race has that. I think I might make an Owl race that has +2 Wisdom, +1 Strength, darkvision, and can cast fly once a day after level 5.
I want Druids and Clerics to have more options, and I think those two will round out things nicely for them. It's boring if everyone who wants to play a Cleric is a Hill Dwarf.
Diablo 3 - ArtfulDodger#1572
Minecraft - ArtfulDodger42
Yup. The answer is...it's complicated!
It averages out to something like +4.4 but it continually shifts in value depending on the target number.
It did remind me that it is most useful around target die roll of 11, being worth a +5 there.
Play around on anydice.com to see some of the percentages.
E: Found it
Correct. I have roughly determined they should level up for each pearl they acquire or know the full fate of. I don't build encounters using wizards encounter building rules and I usually pick a monster of a cr I like stat wise, then adjust it power and similar wise. Once again, I would be really curious what cr my Okemera actually ends up being, noting that I think its lair powers would increase the cr by a minimum of 1 (but who really knows frankly).
All I know is it perfectly challenged, without overwhelming a level 4 party of 5.
My game is actually entirely open world, with some regions being significantly more dangerous than others. I thought long and hard about this before I did it, but I believe it's going to work well and free sailing is an essential aspect of a piracy campaign. It is all about how I communicate this to the players...
newDM consulted the new DMG for guidance and optional rules on ship-based combat.
...one paragraph later...he'll be largely creating a new system, which is sort of a skill challenge system? I wasn't there so I'm not 100% certain but it didn't sound super exciting to be honest.
Funny, Rifts has an entire class of magic just for doing this. It's called Techno Wizardry, and that's precisely how their gear works. Enchant item (weapon, armour, gear, whatever) with wires and gems and whatnot, generally rendering it non-functional for its original purpose, but improving it with magic to be more powerful/effective, at least in the hands of someone capable of using it (people/beings with magical or psychic talents only, which has advantages in that a 'mundane' person can't use your gear against you).
I have been writing my own for a while now.
I've only looked at the PHB so far and frankly the biggest problem with 5e to me right now is that they clearly went with the broken the high level maths again.
I also don't like how so many martial classes have nothing to do every turn. But such is the bitching over 4e being "too videogamey"
Values for defense and offense shouldn't scale the same between tiers or levels of play. Early on, a monster with a very high offense should get shunted into higher CR - because that is literally what it means when you can kill a low level PC trivially. The oft-mentioned Centaur should have more value assigned to its CR from offense and less consideration given to its low AC and poor saves. This is because someone needs to think about that Centaur (or one of them in an encounter) rolling a natural 20 for initiative and the PCs rolling under - because that right there means 1/4 characters is almost certain to be knocked unconscious or then very easily die.
Likewise, once you get to level 10+ defenses should matter more (grindy fights are not fun!) but offense shouldn't be worth as much. This means you should be able to put more offensive tools - like a swiss army knife - on higher level monsters than lower level ones. Their tools should match the PCs they face - not being decided solely on making one set of easy to work out maths, that doesn't produce consistent results outside of a handful of levels it actually works. Oh boy, doesn't this sound very familiar everyone?
I don't have a good answer to this right now because I don't have the DMG (even though I accidentally discovered I am getting it for Christmas, which really does make some mixed feelings!), but I am certain that the CR system is broken because nobody at Wizards figured out things they learned years ago from 3.5 and 4E. A good example is 4E, just look at how much extra damage monsters packed post-MM3 at every tier of play. Monsters gained tools and powers to deal with PCs who were much better equipped in terms of items, powers and so on (from years of splat books). That 5E even before splat books is out is broken at both ends (low and mid highish level play) is probably one of the worst signs for this edition.
I am hoping that Wizards just figures out this was broken and by the time I get my players to level 10+ they have some kind of workable solution. Or alternatively I've done it myself. Heaven forbid, I can't expect to pay wizards and have them do it for me if I want to continue running this edition.
Heroes make wonderful sacrifices. Course, you need to leave them alive for the sacrifice to be proper. Requires some cockiness (and I'm not sure of 5ths rules on not killing folks you're hitting) but might be appropriate.
There is always the Deus Ex button where something else shows up and screws things up. While yes, having Gandalf pop in with Giant Eagles would be cheesey as shit it can be done correctly. First off I would make sure it isn't somebody who is favorable to the PCs, it can be a third party which provides the chance to get out or if it's a full on rescue they damn well expect something in return.
Finally, not being a TPK doesn't mean a lack of consequences. If the party fails at something make sure something bad happens and actually hits them. This depends heavily on the story you've built up but it could be the death of a favorite NPC, a blow to their reputation, a loss of a beloved item....just something. 13th Age (of course...) has the concept of a "Campaign Defeat" where the PC's failed that really centers around this.
If that's out, give the rest of team monster a reason not to be completely aligned with the Oathbreaker. Maybe they're using him for something else. So as soon as the fight is clearly in their favor, the monsters bail for that alternative goal.
In short, give your bad guys a reason to be fighting the PCs other than wanting to kill them. Give them a goal that the PCs are standing in the way of. Killing the PCs is not the only way to achieve the goal, and if the other goal is important enough, then killing the PCs can actually become more trouble than its worth.
Some classes pick up additional saves (Champion Fighters, Monks, Paladins), and there is the Resilient Feat. A lot of casters take Resilient (Constitution) for Concentration.
Is he a nemesis to the PC's or are the PC's a nemesis to him? Who is to say that the baddie doesn't see the NPC's as a nuisance?
Generally you can play such an encounter two ways: Either the baddie spares them or something saves them from the baddie.
For the first, you've got easy options in "i've got better things to do" or "I'm keeping you alive to send a message" options. The latter works better the more players died in the encounter. These tend to be the better options because it reinforces the
For the second you've got a lot of problems. Who is saving them and why? Why are they important enough to be saved? Does the person saving them have enough power to fix the problem so why aren't they helping? Generally for this you want to use a neutral power that the baddie doesn't want to deal with. One that I like, in particular is a Dragon. Dragons are a pain to deal with and will fight but mainly just want to scrounge for all your shiny shit. Nemesis doesn't want to deal with a dragon, dragon doesn't care about killing you, so long as you don't fight over your shit. Players live to fight another day, defeated but able to continue the good fight
I'd rather the PCs fight the head of the family, who I had planned to be a Wight riding a flying Nightmare, spouting Southern-isms (his name is Beauregard Derryen), but as it is he can arrive halfway through the fight, save the PCs from the Oathbreaker (if needed), and then fight the PCs (if they're still up for it).
Except you can only take Resilient once.
Basically play a half-elf Ranger. Wis is one of your good stats, and Half-elfs have advantage on most Wis saves, so that arguably becomes a good save. You get Strength and Dex from your class, and take Resilient Constitution, for two good saves and one basically good save. Strength is (I've heard) the most common of the off-saves (though mostly to prevent being knocked prone), and then you only suck at Cha and Int saves which should almost never come up.
The guy who herds cats likely has an easier time doing his job.