OK, so, I'm building a villain for my campaign, designed to be faced by a party of 5 first-level characters. I decided to make the villain level 5, because, although he is extremely out of their league, he is a leader of a small tribe, and thus needs to be a solid level, imho. I'm sure the cronnies wil hold off the party long enough for him to realise the battle is near-loss and flee through the nearby cellar of the tavern he's held up in. Therefore, I have made these stats:

How about a ring of protection +1 and/or a cloak of resistance +1?

OK, so, I'm building a villain for my campaign, designed to be faced by a party of 5 first-level characters. I decided to make the villain level 5, because, although he is extremely out of their league, he is a leader of a small tribe, and thus needs to be a solid level, imho. I'm sure the cronnies wil hold off the party long enough for him to realise the battle is near-loss and flee through the nearby cellar of the tavern he's held up in. Therefore, I have made these stats: [snip]

Hmm.... You're probably right about the whole level thing. Maybe I should drop a level in each class.

The main reason I gave him a high level is because I have another, kinda of mini boss - a goblin adept - he's supposed to be bossing around. I placed him Level 4, CR 2, so I felt he needed to be higher than him. I'll probably drop a level from each.

Cheers to all. I may well have to go with just the Periapt then, and a few potions.

The party itself will consist of a Fighter, Paladin, Rogue, Cleric and Wizard, all lvl 1 to begin with. They will need to fight through the following groups before they encounter this guy, who comes with 2x Orc Barbarians (that fight may seem a little in the villain's favour, but, that's when things can turn really interesting...) :

1x Orc Barbarian, with 3x Orc Warriors (Barbarian may not be fought, waits to flee to tell Guthul Eyebleeder of the party)
3x Goblin Warriors (Involved in a farm siege)
1x Goblin Dogtrainer (Expert) and 2x Dogs.
3x Goblin Warrior and Rav the Underserver (Adept 3)

They will then return to the city. The lack of XP is the problem I'm having here. Even after all this, a party of 5 will not earn much...

Also, here is the next, 4th level Guthul Eyebleeder:

Guthul Eyebleeder
Orc Barbarian 2/Cleric 2
CE Medium humanoid (orc)
Init +5; Sense Darkvision 60ft.; Listen +4, Spot +4
Language Common, Goblin, Orc
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AC 16 (+1 Dex, +4 Chain Shirt, +1 Deflection), touch 12, flat-footed 15; Uncanny Dodge
hp 34 (4HD)
Fort +7, Ref +1, Will +5
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Speed 40ft.
Melee Spear +8 (1d8+4, x3)
Space 5ft., Reach 5ft.
Base Atk +3, Grp +6
Atk Options Rage 1/day, Rebuke Undead 2/day, Spells
Combat Gear 2 Potions of Cure Light Wounds, Potion of Barksin +4
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 2nd, Spell DC - 12 + Spell Level)
1 - Doom, Obscuring Mist, Spiritual Weapon*, Summon Monster I
0 - Detect Magic, Read Magic, Resistance (2)
* - Domain Spell; Domains Evil, War
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Abilites Str 16, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8
Feats Improved Initiative, Toughness, Weapon Focus (Spear)
Skills Climb +6, Concentration +5, Jump +6, Speak Language (Goblin), Survival +4
Possessions +1 Spear, Chain Shirt, Silver Holy Symbol, Ring of Protection +1, 74gp

Guthal eyeblleder will be dead in 1 round.- his AC is a little low - figure the thiefs going to get a sneak attack off with bow- 10 damage ( and eyebleeder will have a hard time casting) cleric casts command on one of the barbarians, mage casts orb of fire at eyebleeder 4 damage fighter engages barbarian, paladin goes to fight eyebleeder and he's dead.the barbarians are both dead next round. worst case- the fighter or Paladin drops if the barbarians win init. if bloodeye wins init he casts MS1 and gets a wolf- not a big threat or spititual weapon- on the mage.

give bloodeye another level of barbarian so he can live one more round ( and scare the crap out of the party) or boost his hp by 7

now that looks scary :)

remember- you can always fudge a roll if he is too tough

now that looks scary :)

remember- you can always fudge a roll if he is too tough

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Ah... the Holy & Blessed DM screen....

screw the +1 spear/ +1 ring of prot.  Just go with a Luck blade with 1 wish, and come up with some fun wish... J/K, the 2 +1 items sound good.  (Probelly what i would do).