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Jack
Jack
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Only playtesting will tell for sure

For complex creatures with unusual abilities, we can't use simple formulas or automated tools to determine an approximate CR. It isn't simple to determine one just by looking at the stat block either.

With that said, there are still a few things I can point out that you may want to keep an eye on during testing, as they may be a source of problems (or not).

Unkillable could cause some issues

Now, this heavily depends on the setting of the campaign. If killing this creature is the main focus of an ongoing quest, for instance, you may assume that at least one person in the group, or a nearby NPC, knows how to do this ritual, and has the materials needed for it.

But if that's not the case, and you need to fall back to the Religion check, then you may have some issues. As I understand it, this check is only done once per character. And if everyone fails it... Well, you're screwed. The best the group could do is run away while the Wendigo is recovering.

Note that this could be the expected result  : having the group struggle with an unkillable foe, which they can temporarily incapacitate in order to gain a little bit more time for running away from it.

Blood Frenzy will pretty much always be in play

Advantage on melee attacks is quite strong, especially since it's your creature's main damage output. Now, it has the condition that it needs the opponent to have taken at least a little bit of damage, but in practice this condition will likely never be an issue, except maybe on turn one.

The reason is, the Wendigo has plenty of ways to deal at least a tiny bit of damage  :

  • The lair action Freezing fog allows for guaranteed cold damage to every creature in a 20ft area. If used at the start of the fight, there's a good chance that most, if not all the group takes damage from it.

  • Cold Aura also deals guaranteed cold damage, this time to creatures within 10ft of the Wendigo.

  • On top of its quite high speed (50ft + climb 50ft), the Wendigo can also use the AgressiveAggressive bonus action to practically double its speed, in order to get into melee range. This both allows it to attack, and to use Cold Aura to make sure the target doesn't stay at full health.

  • The legendary action Move allows the creature to further take advantage of Cold Aura (this time while even ignoring attacks of opportunity, which means even more mobility). Because legendary actions are taken at the end of another creature's turn, it can even move up a creature who's about to take its turn, to make sure it gets damaged by the aura.

  • Even flying creatures are not safe from Cold Aura, since the other lair action, Whirling Wind, will force them down and into the creature's range (although magical flight is unaffected by this last point, it is likely to be the target of the other lair action).

All those elements combined make for a very high chance that your party will rarely ever be at full health during the fight, meaning your creature will almost always have advantage on its attacks.

Intended or not, this should be taken into account when calculating the CR of the creature, as this is potentially a huge increase in damage.

Only playtesting will tell for sure

For complex creatures with unusual abilities, we can't use simple formulas or automated tools to determine an approximate CR. It isn't simple to determine one just by looking at the stat block either.

With that said, there are still a few things I can point out that you may want to keep an eye on during testing, as they may be a source of problems (or not).

Unkillable could cause some issues

Now, this heavily depends on the setting of the campaign. If killing this creature is the main focus of an ongoing quest, for instance, you may assume that at least one person in the group, or a nearby NPC, knows how to do this ritual, and has the materials needed for it.

But if that's not the case, and you need to fall back to the Religion check, then you may have some issues. As I understand it, this check is only done once per character. And if everyone fails it... Well, you're screwed. The best the group could do is run away while the Wendigo is recovering.

Note that this could be the expected result  : having the group struggle with an unkillable foe, which they can temporarily incapacitate in order to gain a little bit more time for running away from it.

Blood Frenzy will pretty much always be in play

Advantage on melee attacks is quite strong, especially since it's your creature's main damage output. Now, it has the condition that it needs the opponent to have taken at least a little bit of damage, but in practice this condition will likely never be an issue, except maybe on turn one.

The reason is, the Wendigo has plenty of ways to deal at least a tiny bit of damage  :

  • The lair action Freezing fog allows for guaranteed cold damage to every creature in a 20ft area. If used at the start of the fight, there's a good chance that most, if not all the group takes damage from it.

  • Cold Aura also deals guaranteed cold damage, this time to creatures within 10ft of the Wendigo.

  • On top of its quite high speed (50ft + climb 50ft), the Wendigo can also use the Agressive bonus action to practically double its speed, in order to get into melee range. This both allows it to attack, and to use Cold Aura to make sure the target doesn't stay at full health.

  • The legendary action Move allows the creature to further take advantage of Cold Aura (this time while even ignoring attacks of opportunity, which means even more mobility). Because legendary actions are taken at the end of another creature's turn, it can even move up a creature who's about to take its turn, to make sure it gets damaged by the aura.

  • Even flying creatures are not safe from Cold Aura, since the other lair action, Whirling Wind, will force them down and into the creature's range (although magical flight is unaffected by this last point, it is likely to be the target of the other lair action).

All those elements combined make for a very high chance that your party will rarely ever be at full health during the fight, meaning your creature will almost always have advantage on its attacks.

Intended or not, this should be taken into account when calculating the CR of the creature, as this is potentially a huge increase in damage.

Only playtesting will tell for sure

For complex creatures with unusual abilities, we can't use simple formulas or automated tools to determine an approximate CR. It isn't simple to determine one just by looking at the stat block either.

With that said, there are still a few things I can point out that you may want to keep an eye on during testing, as they may be a source of problems (or not).

Unkillable could cause some issues

Now, this heavily depends on the setting of the campaign. If killing this creature is the main focus of an ongoing quest, for instance, you may assume that at least one person in the group, or a nearby NPC, knows how to do this ritual, and has the materials needed for it.

But if that's not the case, and you need to fall back to the Religion check, then you may have some issues. As I understand it, this check is only done once per character. And if everyone fails it... Well, you're screwed. The best the group could do is run away while the Wendigo is recovering.

Note that this could be the expected result: having the group struggle with an unkillable foe, which they can temporarily incapacitate in order to gain a little bit more time for running away from it.

Blood Frenzy will pretty much always be in play

Advantage on melee attacks is quite strong, especially since it's your creature's main damage output. Now, it has the condition that it needs the opponent to have taken at least a little bit of damage, but in practice this condition will likely never be an issue, except maybe on turn one.

The reason is, the Wendigo has plenty of ways to deal at least a tiny bit of damage:

  • The lair action Freezing fog allows for guaranteed cold damage to every creature in a 20ft area. If used at the start of the fight, there's a good chance that most, if not all the group takes damage from it.

  • Cold Aura also deals guaranteed cold damage, this time to creatures within 10ft of the Wendigo.

  • On top of its quite high speed (50ft + climb 50ft), the Wendigo can also use the Aggressive bonus action to practically double its speed, in order to get into melee range. This both allows it to attack, and to use Cold Aura to make sure the target doesn't stay at full health.

  • The legendary action Move allows the creature to further take advantage of Cold Aura (this time while even ignoring attacks of opportunity, which means even more mobility). Because legendary actions are taken at the end of another creature's turn, it can even move up a creature who's about to take its turn, to make sure it gets damaged by the aura.

  • Even flying creatures are not safe from Cold Aura, since the other lair action, Whirling Wind, will force them down and into the creature's range (although magical flight is unaffected by this last point, it is likely to be the target of the other lair action).

All those elements combined make for a very high chance that your party will rarely ever be at full health during the fight, meaning your creature will almost always have advantage on its attacks.

Intended or not, this should be taken into account when calculating the CR of the creature, as this is potentially a huge increase in damage.

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Matthieu
Matthieu
  • 9.8k
  • 2
  • 19
  • 71

Only playtesting will tell for sure

For complex creatures with unusual abilities, we can't use simple formulas or automated tools to determine an approximate CR. It isn't simple to determine one just by looking at the stat block either.

With that said, there are still a few things I can point out that you may want to keep an eye on during testing, as they may be a source of problems (or not).

Unkillable could cause some issues

Now, this heavily depends on the setting of the campaign. If killing this creature is the main focus of an ongoing quest, for instance, you may assume that at least one person in the group, or a nearby NPC, knows how to do this ritual, and has the materials needed for it.

But if that's not the case, and you need to fall back to the Religion check, then you may have some issues. As I understand it, this check is only done once per character. And if everyone fails it... Well, you're screwed. The best the group could do is run away while the Wendigo is recovering.

Note that this could be the expected result : having the group struggle with an unkillable foe, which they can temporarily incapacitate in order to gain a little bit more time for running away from it.

Blood Frenzy will pretty much always be in play

Advantage on melee attacks is quite strong, especially since it's your creature's main damage output. Now, it has the condition that it needs the opponent to have taken at least a little bit of damage, but in practice this condition will likely never be an issue, except maybe on turn one.

The reason is, the Wendigo has plenty of ways to deal at least a tiny bit of damage :

  • The lair action Freezing fog allows for guaranteed cold damage to every creature in a 20ft area. If used at the start of the fight, there's a good chance that most, if not all the group takes damage from it.

  • Cold Aura also deals guaranteed cold damage, this time to creatures within 10ft of the Wendigo.

  • On top of its quite high speed (50ft + climb 50ft), the Wendigo can also use the Agressive bonus action to practically double its speed, in order to get into melee range. This both allows it to attack, and to use Cold Aura to make sure the target doesn't stay at full health.

  • The legendary action Move allows the creature to further take advantage of Cold Aura (this time while even ignoring attacks of opportunity, which means even more mobility). Because legendary actions are taken at the end of another creature's turn, it can even move up a creature who's about to take its turn, to make sure it gets damaged by the aura.

  • Even flying creatures are not safe from Cold Aura, since the other lair action, Whirling Wind, will force them down and into the creature's range (although magical flight is unaffected by this last point, it is likely to be the target of the other lair action).

All those elements combined make for a very high chance that your party will rarely ever be at full health during the fight, meaning your creature will almost always have advantage on its attacks.

Intended or not, this should be taken into account when calculating the CR of the creature, as this is potentially a huge increase in damage.