Now that the monsters are leaving the "suitable for a level 1 party" range, their powers start to grow more unique and varied. These are some of the guys that, with a little reskin, can be dropped into any SOP marauding orc tribe or undead shambling horde. I'll offer reskinning suggestions at the end of each entry.
Devourer Initiate
This monster is all kinds of fun, mostly because if you can sit him behind cover and roll a stealth check to hide again, you can simply announce to the players that they now (seemingly inexplicably) grant Combat Advantage or are now more susceptible to the undead brute's attacks. Be sure to play up cover and concealment in this encounter and have lots of shadowy corners, some with movement that turn out to be harmless rats, and some with Devourer Initiates in them. These guys work great as ringleaders or minor necromancers to harass a party, and are Artillery that also act like leader-controllers. Comboing them with skirmishers makes for a lethal encounter due to their CA-granting at-will.
Devourer Initiates are in Dragon Magazine 371, the article about Acererak.
Angry Mob
Angry Mobs are a good way to spice up the average city encounter. Say the party's just got in to town, with a bunch of low-level items to pawn off. But they've gained the eye of the king's vizier, who secretly summons a big nasty monster or two in the middle of the market district to take out the party. Now while they're fighting the monster, they have to simultaneously use Acrobatics/Athletics/cover to stay out of the way of a rampaging Angry Mob. This monster is best represented by a clear plastic cel moved around on the battle mat, since it doesn't have the same way of moving as a normal gargantuan creature. This also encourages the party to describe their "subdual damage" hits, since it's likely they don't want to actually kill the Angry Mob, simply disperse it. You could easily have the Mob break up when it hits bloodied, or allow skill checks of Intimidate/Diplomacy to deal damage as if they were attacks. But if you reskin this as Orc cannon fodder being forced into marching as a line of spearmen, this is a great, brutal monster that actually acts more like terrain, since the orc leaders (full monsters) are free to move about in it, while the party has to either step out and use ranged attacks or find some other way to break up the Mob. Again, as "spearman cannon fodder" the idea of the mob breaking in two or shrinking when bloodied offers a tangible reward for players dealing with the threat. Angry Mobs are in Dragon Magazine Annual 1.
Wraith
Good ol' Wraiths! Wraiths are a great add-on to any fight, assuming you set it up right. Keep in mind their movement speed of "Fly 6 (hover), Phasing" and abuse both of those. Wraiths are completely insane negative-energy beings, but they aren't mindless. If you set up an encounter in, say, an old library, now you have rows of musty bookshelves that create blocking terrain the wraiths can pass through without difficulty (and pass back through to end line-of-effect), and wraiths are more than happy to fly up out of combat (and stealth into some shadows in the ceiling) to regenerate for a turn or two before entering combat, and because of their "insubstantial" attribute, they basically have paragon-tier regeneration. Be sure to give the players ample opportunity to get around these wraith tactics, such as Athletics to domino-topple the bookshelves, making it all difficult terrain instead of rows of blocking. Between their weakening attack, Insubstantial, Regeneration and their ability to leave combat, Wraiths can be a bit of a slog, so you do want to offer the party some in-arena ways to counteract them. It could be something like an Arcana/Religion check to notice a particularly holy book that the wizard could then spend minor actions wrapping pages of around the Ranger's arrows to make them deal Radiant damage, or a cistern of Holy Water nearby, but if the party has a battle/pacifist cleric with no Turn Undead for some reason, know that Wraiths can be incredibly annoying. They're also in the Monster Manual.
Zombie of Iuz
Located in the obsure RPGA: Return to the Moathouse module, the Zombie of Iuz is just a well-put together minion. They tend to bunch up around whatever's closest, grabbing and imposing attack/defense penalties, thus making future grabs easier, and if the wizard lights up the gang around the defender, they have a final "kiss off" explosion for a little necrotic damage. They're far more compelling foes that normal shamblers, because they have three powers that all work well together and give a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' effect. They also can make skirmishing PCs like Rogues very, very unhappy, but they give the defender something to do (go over and defend the rogue), so they're interactive. Comboing them with some sort of lurker that attacks the party's controller can make for an absolutely brutal fight, with no ranged crowd control options to shake off Zombies of Iuz.
Showing posts with label DM Guide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DM Guide. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Friday, October 16, 2009
Level 4 Terrors
Continuing the trip through Heroic tier, it’s the enemies of Level 4 that can harass your party. These are the monsters that are the highest that should reasonably threaten a level 1 party, so I’ve included a pair of “boss” type monsters in this article
Cavern Choker
These lurkers are oldies but goodies. They’ve been around a while, and are as robust as ever. They’re basically the monster version of defenders, able to suck up a party member who will have a tough go of things if he isn’t trained in Athletics or Acrobatics, since the Choker applies an inherent penalty to escape, and his Body Shield ability can keep the other characters from knocking him away once he’s latched on.
His actual attacks aren’t that scary, damage-wise, but Ongoing 1d8+3 and restrained isn’t anything to sneeze at. At the beginning of the encounter, these guys should probably roll Stealth against the party’s passive perception and only scramble out to snatch a delicious-looking adventurer in the second or third round. You can safely add a Choker as the “sixth member” of basically any other encounter; they don’t really work or socialize with non-Chokers, but they’re opportunistic enough to follow around goblins and pick off an enemy for themselves. Cavern Chokers appear on page 42 of Monster Manual 1, and in most low-level Wizards’ nightmares.
Visejaw Crocodile
With a big ol’ smile like he sports, you’d think he’d be nicer. Crocs are a great verisimilitude creature that aren’t fantastical or magical, but can be plenty terrifying just the same. If there’s a river or lake that needs crossing (or a wizened sage’s hut in the swamp), Visejaws can make an interesting encounter. They’re soldiers, and will stay in their square doing a death roll on a grabbed foe (Clamping Jaws in the book, but you should definitely play up the raw power of a giant crocodile with their real-world habits), but can easily shift into the role of Lurker, with their outstanding Stealth score. Similar to the Choker above, they make a great “latecomer to the fun,” but they have no problem starting in plain sight, as long as there’s a few feet of muck they can make a move action and Stealth check at the end of it.
They can’t really be paired with other tasty (to a croc) creatures like Bullywugs, but a group of undead or Myconids would certainly be appropriate. Take advantage of their swim speed and aquatic combat rules to give the croc an edge, and also let a tactical opponent get the crocodile on land where a striker can tear it apart. Visejaw Crocodiles appear on page 45 of Monster Manual 1.
Barghest Savager
These guys are neat. They’re smart (for goblinoids) and have several tricks up their sleeves, or paws depending. They stand in for werewolves if you need some level-appropriate shapeshifters for your campaign’s theme, they’re likely to banter with the party as they attack, with condescending trash-talk while they swing around an axe,and then switch into their wolf form to try and strike fear into the party. Their recharging Super-Nimble-Strike attack is powerful, but their “Power Feed” is what takes the cake.
The Barghest, if he sees a cool At-Will or Encounter power from the party (or a unique ally), can replicate it once (and the power’s reliable), and the idea of a worg throwing a Magic Missile or dropping a Drow’s Faerie Fire should entertain you. Mixed in with your normal goblin hordes, Barghests become the ringleaders or mob bosses of pretty much any bandit group. A Barghest, by nature of his cunning and supremacy over his goblinoid kin, could easily be a miniboss-type antagonist, running away and leaving his men to the party’s mercy to raise another strike force – or team with a higher-powered group of Duergar or Ettercaps or what have you and lead them back to the party and their riches. Barghest Savagers are on page 20 of Monster Manual 2.
Brain in a Broken Jar
Despite first appearing in d20 Modern’s Menace Manual, the trusty undead brain in a jar escaped to a good game, and shows up in 4th Edition on page 140 of Open Grave. The great thing is a Brain in a Jar can either be a really sinister, unsettling enemy, or a hilarious joke machine, depending on the style of campaign you’re running. The jar is described as faulty or failing, and its occupant has gone quite insane, though whether that’s Futurama-style goofy flying brains or sadistic, Lovecraftian-cultist crazy is up to you. They’re controllers with flight, invisibility and mind control, and are one of the lowest-level monsters that feature the dominated condition. Take advantage of their hover modifier and float a Brain in a Broken Jar 2-4 squares above the party (use an adjacent d6 on the battlemat to keep track of elevation), and let the rogue make an Acrobatics check to wall-jump (or get an assist from the fighter) to stab at it for a memorable, cinematic fight. The Brain in a Broken Jar usually has a servant with hands to manipulate its admixtures, experiments and tomes, so think about throwing in an elite brute along with some cannon fodder skeletons when designing the climactic battle with “the wizard too poor or unskilled to perform a lich ritual.”
Cavern Choker
These lurkers are oldies but goodies. They’ve been around a while, and are as robust as ever. They’re basically the monster version of defenders, able to suck up a party member who will have a tough go of things if he isn’t trained in Athletics or Acrobatics, since the Choker applies an inherent penalty to escape, and his Body Shield ability can keep the other characters from knocking him away once he’s latched on.
His actual attacks aren’t that scary, damage-wise, but Ongoing 1d8+3 and restrained isn’t anything to sneeze at. At the beginning of the encounter, these guys should probably roll Stealth against the party’s passive perception and only scramble out to snatch a delicious-looking adventurer in the second or third round. You can safely add a Choker as the “sixth member” of basically any other encounter; they don’t really work or socialize with non-Chokers, but they’re opportunistic enough to follow around goblins and pick off an enemy for themselves. Cavern Chokers appear on page 42 of Monster Manual 1, and in most low-level Wizards’ nightmares.
Visejaw Crocodile
With a big ol’ smile like he sports, you’d think he’d be nicer. Crocs are a great verisimilitude creature that aren’t fantastical or magical, but can be plenty terrifying just the same. If there’s a river or lake that needs crossing (or a wizened sage’s hut in the swamp), Visejaws can make an interesting encounter. They’re soldiers, and will stay in their square doing a death roll on a grabbed foe (Clamping Jaws in the book, but you should definitely play up the raw power of a giant crocodile with their real-world habits), but can easily shift into the role of Lurker, with their outstanding Stealth score. Similar to the Choker above, they make a great “latecomer to the fun,” but they have no problem starting in plain sight, as long as there’s a few feet of muck they can make a move action and Stealth check at the end of it.
They can’t really be paired with other tasty (to a croc) creatures like Bullywugs, but a group of undead or Myconids would certainly be appropriate. Take advantage of their swim speed and aquatic combat rules to give the croc an edge, and also let a tactical opponent get the crocodile on land where a striker can tear it apart. Visejaw Crocodiles appear on page 45 of Monster Manual 1.
Barghest Savager
These guys are neat. They’re smart (for goblinoids) and have several tricks up their sleeves, or paws depending. They stand in for werewolves if you need some level-appropriate shapeshifters for your campaign’s theme, they’re likely to banter with the party as they attack, with condescending trash-talk while they swing around an axe,and then switch into their wolf form to try and strike fear into the party. Their recharging Super-Nimble-Strike attack is powerful, but their “Power Feed” is what takes the cake.
The Barghest, if he sees a cool At-Will or Encounter power from the party (or a unique ally), can replicate it once (and the power’s reliable), and the idea of a worg throwing a Magic Missile or dropping a Drow’s Faerie Fire should entertain you. Mixed in with your normal goblin hordes, Barghests become the ringleaders or mob bosses of pretty much any bandit group. A Barghest, by nature of his cunning and supremacy over his goblinoid kin, could easily be a miniboss-type antagonist, running away and leaving his men to the party’s mercy to raise another strike force – or team with a higher-powered group of Duergar or Ettercaps or what have you and lead them back to the party and their riches. Barghest Savagers are on page 20 of Monster Manual 2.
Brain in a Broken Jar
Despite first appearing in d20 Modern’s Menace Manual, the trusty undead brain in a jar escaped to a good game, and shows up in 4th Edition on page 140 of Open Grave. The great thing is a Brain in a Jar can either be a really sinister, unsettling enemy, or a hilarious joke machine, depending on the style of campaign you’re running. The jar is described as faulty or failing, and its occupant has gone quite insane, though whether that’s Futurama-style goofy flying brains or sadistic, Lovecraftian-cultist crazy is up to you. They’re controllers with flight, invisibility and mind control, and are one of the lowest-level monsters that feature the dominated condition. Take advantage of their hover modifier and float a Brain in a Broken Jar 2-4 squares above the party (use an adjacent d6 on the battlemat to keep track of elevation), and let the rogue make an Acrobatics check to wall-jump (or get an assist from the fighter) to stab at it for a memorable, cinematic fight. The Brain in a Broken Jar usually has a servant with hands to manipulate its admixtures, experiments and tomes, so think about throwing in an elite brute along with some cannon fodder skeletons when designing the climactic battle with “the wizard too poor or unskilled to perform a lich ritual.”
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Monster Spotlight: Level 3 Terrors
I have to come up with a new naming convention besides "Level X Terrors", but regardless, let's go over some of the scariest level 3 monsters in the game that don't see as much use as the standard goblins, orcs, and gnolls.
Gnome Arcanist
The Gnome Arcanist is a very devious controller that resides on page 134 of the Monster Manual. The reason this monster is so cool is that he has a lot of abilities to get away from melee attackers, even fighters who are very hard to escape from once they mark you.
The attack you are probably going to use with them most is Scintillating Bolt, which deals 1d6+4 radiant damage and causes the target to become dazed until they make a save. They also get a minor action ranged attack that slides a target one square. Make use of this every turn if possible sliding targets back that may be able to reach you on the following turn. If targets do close into melee the Gnome Arcanist can use Illusory Terrain, a close blast 5 that hits only enemies and slows them (save ends). If that doesn't make it easy enough to get away, they can teleport 5 squares as a move action once per encounter, and if they do get hit they turn invisible until they attack or until the end of its next turn.
If you can draw a melee character into chasing after you then you can have a lot of fun with this monster, running about the room, slowing and dazing your would be killers and teleporting or becoming invisible if need be. If you want to make a really memorable bad guy consider combining this guy with a Warlock or Wizard template, and play up his trickster nature with a bit of roleplaying. This would definitely be the kind of villain that taunts your players while he fights them.
Shadowhunter Bat
Darkness is a really under-utilized element for most DMs and can be a great obstacle for PCs to overcome during certain encounters. On low levels one of the best options is the Shadowhunter Bat. It deals 1d6+4 damage, but that rises to 1d6+10 if they are in dim light or darkness, and they get a +2 to their attack rolls for it as well. They have perception +7 as a skill, so they might actually notice a rogue attempting to sneak up on them, and they can fly at speed 8, darting out of your melee character's reach, causing them to ready actions in order to really hit them in most cases.
They also get flyby attack, which they can do as often as they want. It allows them to move 8 squares and make an attack at any point during the movement. The bat doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when moving away from the target of the attack. Combine this with their stealth +10 and you can have a very deadly surprise round set up for your PCs.
Shadowhunter Bats are on page 27 of the Monster Manual.
Young Brown Dragon
The first solo monster I have used here is indeed a dragon, but probably not the most used variety. The Young Brown Dragon is a very challenging encounter for most groups, but it is definitely more memorable than the other young dragons, and has cooler abilities to make the fight more fun for you as well. You can find the monster's stat block on page 168 of the Draconomicon.
First off is the dragon's mobility. He has an 8 speed, plus he can fly at 6 speed and burrow at 6 speed. Definitely try to make use of all of these if you really want the players to remember the fight. Don't just have him sit in the middle of the room blasting away with his breath weapon. His basic attack is either his bite, or his claw attack, both of which are reach and vs. AC, though the bite does 1d8+4 where as the claw only deals 1d6+4. The Dragon also has double attack though, allowing him to make two claw attacks with a single standard action, and the dragon also deals 1d6 extra damage if he has combat advantage.
My favorite ability the dragon has is Sand Spray. Its an immediate reaction that is triggered by an enemy attacking him with a ranged attack. It deals 1d6+1 damage and blinds them until the end of the dragon's next turn. Being blinded also means that he has combat advantage, so this would be a perfect time for the dragon to burrow or fly over to the target and deal a lot of damage to him.
The Brown Dragon's breath weapon is a little different from most others. It is a close blast 5 that remains in place until the end of the dragon's next turn. Any creature that starts its turn adjacent to the area or that moves through the area takes 5 damage and it blocks line of sight for all creatures except the dragon. As with most dragons he automatically recharges and uses it when bloodied. You can use this line of sight block to stealth and become hidden, gaining combat advantage for surprise attack.
Also like most other dragons, the Young Brown Dragon has Frightful Presence, which stuns enemies in close burst 5. Even after the stun wears off, it leaves an aftereffect that gives its targets -2 to attacks until they save. Using this ability early in an encounter will help keep your dragon alive and dealing damage for as long as possible.
The Brown Dragon also has a move action attack called Sandd Cloud. It turns into a cloud of sand and can move a number of squares up to its speed, including moving through enemy's squares. When it does so it deals 1d6+4 damage and blinds any creature who's space it enters. The blind is also save ends. So as you can see its plenty easy to get combat advantage and deal a lot of extra damage with this beast.
The key to this fight is to make sure to roll your recharges for abilities, and to use Sand Cloud and Sand Spray as often as possible, then taking advantage of the combat advantage once you have it. With a monster this sneaky and resourceful, you might consider not using its action point right away, waiting until it has combat advantage so it can pounce on a target with 4 claw attacks, each with combat advantage.
Gnome Arcanist
The Gnome Arcanist is a very devious controller that resides on page 134 of the Monster Manual. The reason this monster is so cool is that he has a lot of abilities to get away from melee attackers, even fighters who are very hard to escape from once they mark you.
The attack you are probably going to use with them most is Scintillating Bolt, which deals 1d6+4 radiant damage and causes the target to become dazed until they make a save. They also get a minor action ranged attack that slides a target one square. Make use of this every turn if possible sliding targets back that may be able to reach you on the following turn. If targets do close into melee the Gnome Arcanist can use Illusory Terrain, a close blast 5 that hits only enemies and slows them (save ends). If that doesn't make it easy enough to get away, they can teleport 5 squares as a move action once per encounter, and if they do get hit they turn invisible until they attack or until the end of its next turn.
If you can draw a melee character into chasing after you then you can have a lot of fun with this monster, running about the room, slowing and dazing your would be killers and teleporting or becoming invisible if need be. If you want to make a really memorable bad guy consider combining this guy with a Warlock or Wizard template, and play up his trickster nature with a bit of roleplaying. This would definitely be the kind of villain that taunts your players while he fights them.
Shadowhunter Bat
Darkness is a really under-utilized element for most DMs and can be a great obstacle for PCs to overcome during certain encounters. On low levels one of the best options is the Shadowhunter Bat. It deals 1d6+4 damage, but that rises to 1d6+10 if they are in dim light or darkness, and they get a +2 to their attack rolls for it as well. They have perception +7 as a skill, so they might actually notice a rogue attempting to sneak up on them, and they can fly at speed 8, darting out of your melee character's reach, causing them to ready actions in order to really hit them in most cases.
They also get flyby attack, which they can do as often as they want. It allows them to move 8 squares and make an attack at any point during the movement. The bat doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when moving away from the target of the attack. Combine this with their stealth +10 and you can have a very deadly surprise round set up for your PCs.
Shadowhunter Bats are on page 27 of the Monster Manual.
Young Brown Dragon
The first solo monster I have used here is indeed a dragon, but probably not the most used variety. The Young Brown Dragon is a very challenging encounter for most groups, but it is definitely more memorable than the other young dragons, and has cooler abilities to make the fight more fun for you as well. You can find the monster's stat block on page 168 of the Draconomicon.
First off is the dragon's mobility. He has an 8 speed, plus he can fly at 6 speed and burrow at 6 speed. Definitely try to make use of all of these if you really want the players to remember the fight. Don't just have him sit in the middle of the room blasting away with his breath weapon. His basic attack is either his bite, or his claw attack, both of which are reach and vs. AC, though the bite does 1d8+4 where as the claw only deals 1d6+4. The Dragon also has double attack though, allowing him to make two claw attacks with a single standard action, and the dragon also deals 1d6 extra damage if he has combat advantage.
My favorite ability the dragon has is Sand Spray. Its an immediate reaction that is triggered by an enemy attacking him with a ranged attack. It deals 1d6+1 damage and blinds them until the end of the dragon's next turn. Being blinded also means that he has combat advantage, so this would be a perfect time for the dragon to burrow or fly over to the target and deal a lot of damage to him.
The Brown Dragon's breath weapon is a little different from most others. It is a close blast 5 that remains in place until the end of the dragon's next turn. Any creature that starts its turn adjacent to the area or that moves through the area takes 5 damage and it blocks line of sight for all creatures except the dragon. As with most dragons he automatically recharges and uses it when bloodied. You can use this line of sight block to stealth and become hidden, gaining combat advantage for surprise attack.
Also like most other dragons, the Young Brown Dragon has Frightful Presence, which stuns enemies in close burst 5. Even after the stun wears off, it leaves an aftereffect that gives its targets -2 to attacks until they save. Using this ability early in an encounter will help keep your dragon alive and dealing damage for as long as possible.
The Brown Dragon also has a move action attack called Sandd Cloud. It turns into a cloud of sand and can move a number of squares up to its speed, including moving through enemy's squares. When it does so it deals 1d6+4 damage and blinds any creature who's space it enters. The blind is also save ends. So as you can see its plenty easy to get combat advantage and deal a lot of extra damage with this beast.
The key to this fight is to make sure to roll your recharges for abilities, and to use Sand Cloud and Sand Spray as often as possible, then taking advantage of the combat advantage once you have it. With a monster this sneaky and resourceful, you might consider not using its action point right away, waiting until it has combat advantage so it can pounce on a target with 4 claw attacks, each with combat advantage.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monster Spotlight:: Level 2 Terrors
While I continue to work on the Druid article I thought I would do a sequel to my Level 1 Terrors article and show you some monsters that are just one level higher but equally fun to use against players, especially those who already have a decent grasp on the game.
Hyena
Hyenas are fun to use and work well as pets of whatever the real villains of an adventure are whether they be goblins, kobolds, or bandits. They can be found on page 166 of the Monster Manual and are not particularly scary by themselves but using just a few of them along with some other skirmishers or lurkers can yield dangerous results.
Hyenas only deal 1d6+3 damage normally, but they deal an extra 1d6 if the enemy is adjacent to two or more of the hyena's allies, which is not too hard to accomplish, especially if you want to add some minions to the encounter. The real scary part of this monster is their Harrier ability which means that if Hyenas are adjacent to an enemy, all other enemies have combat advantage against them for their sneak attacks. If you throw in some other monsters who get extra dice or have better effects (Kobold Slyblades, on page 169 of the Monster Manual for instance), you can make a reasonably scary encounter.
My personal recommendation for a tough encounter is to use two of the hyenas, find two other lurkers or skirmishers who benefit from combat advantage, and then eight minions of some kind. Make sure the area you put these monsters in is of medium size. Too small and the group's controller will be able to trivialize the entirety of the minions and too large and you won't be able to take advantage of the Hyena's bonuses.
Greenspawn Sneak
Speaking of cool Lurkers, the Greenspawn Sneak is a great monster if you can put them in the right circumstances. They're a Lurker that can attack from both range and melee, and can be rough on a beginner group especially if they're not used to the stealth rules. Greenspawn Sneaks can be found in the Draconomicon 1 on page 218.
Greenspawn Sneaks can deal 1d8+3 in melee or 2d4 from range, each is an at-will basic attack. They also get to deal an extra 1d6 damage if they have combat advantage. The really great ability they have is Arboreal Hunter though. Because of it, if a Greenspawn Sneak starts its turn with cover, it also has total concealment against non-adjacent enemies, which allows them to use Stealth and become hidden, gaining combat advantage. They make a great monster to use hit and run style tactics with, and can be a memorable low level enemy without being too deadly.
While they have a melee attack, you probably want to favor ranged attacks with them so that they can make use of Arboreal Hunter. Make sure to build the encounter with this in mind, giving them plenty of hiding spots to gain cover with. You also want to give the sneaks melee support of some kind. For a thematically appropriate encounter use the Brownspawn Marauders on the same page. The Marauders can blind ranged party members before closing to melee, forcing your party's melee characters to make a tough decision: stay and defend their blinded allies while taking the damage from the sneaks or rush ahead to close in on the sneaks but leave their allies vulnerable to the marauders.
Halfling Stout
Found on page 152 of the Monster Manual Halfling Stouts may very well be my favorite minion period. Halflings may not seem like there's much opportunity for use as a monster, but they can easily be members of a bandit group or mercenaries hired to thwart your party.
The reason that I like Halfling Stouts so much is that they have a ranged attack, which is pretty rare for minions, and that they have Second Chance. This means that even if you hit this minion, there's a chance they could cause you to miss with Second Chance, effectively making you hit them twice to kill them. And if the enemy closes to melee they have a little bit more room to maneuver since they get +2 AC against opportunity attacks.
Regardless, don't just use Halfling Stouts. Mix up the encounter with some soldiers or brutes, and perhaps even a controller. If its a mercenary group you can find decent monsters under the Human, Elf, and Dragonborn sections of the Monstrous Manual and get a really ragtag group of enemies. Add Orcs or Goblins if you want to make the band seem a bit more savage.
Hyena
Hyenas are fun to use and work well as pets of whatever the real villains of an adventure are whether they be goblins, kobolds, or bandits. They can be found on page 166 of the Monster Manual and are not particularly scary by themselves but using just a few of them along with some other skirmishers or lurkers can yield dangerous results.
Hyenas only deal 1d6+3 damage normally, but they deal an extra 1d6 if the enemy is adjacent to two or more of the hyena's allies, which is not too hard to accomplish, especially if you want to add some minions to the encounter. The real scary part of this monster is their Harrier ability which means that if Hyenas are adjacent to an enemy, all other enemies have combat advantage against them for their sneak attacks. If you throw in some other monsters who get extra dice or have better effects (Kobold Slyblades, on page 169 of the Monster Manual for instance), you can make a reasonably scary encounter.
My personal recommendation for a tough encounter is to use two of the hyenas, find two other lurkers or skirmishers who benefit from combat advantage, and then eight minions of some kind. Make sure the area you put these monsters in is of medium size. Too small and the group's controller will be able to trivialize the entirety of the minions and too large and you won't be able to take advantage of the Hyena's bonuses.
Greenspawn Sneak
Speaking of cool Lurkers, the Greenspawn Sneak is a great monster if you can put them in the right circumstances. They're a Lurker that can attack from both range and melee, and can be rough on a beginner group especially if they're not used to the stealth rules. Greenspawn Sneaks can be found in the Draconomicon 1 on page 218.
Greenspawn Sneaks can deal 1d8+3 in melee or 2d4 from range, each is an at-will basic attack. They also get to deal an extra 1d6 damage if they have combat advantage. The really great ability they have is Arboreal Hunter though. Because of it, if a Greenspawn Sneak starts its turn with cover, it also has total concealment against non-adjacent enemies, which allows them to use Stealth and become hidden, gaining combat advantage. They make a great monster to use hit and run style tactics with, and can be a memorable low level enemy without being too deadly.
While they have a melee attack, you probably want to favor ranged attacks with them so that they can make use of Arboreal Hunter. Make sure to build the encounter with this in mind, giving them plenty of hiding spots to gain cover with. You also want to give the sneaks melee support of some kind. For a thematically appropriate encounter use the Brownspawn Marauders on the same page. The Marauders can blind ranged party members before closing to melee, forcing your party's melee characters to make a tough decision: stay and defend their blinded allies while taking the damage from the sneaks or rush ahead to close in on the sneaks but leave their allies vulnerable to the marauders.
Halfling Stout
Found on page 152 of the Monster Manual Halfling Stouts may very well be my favorite minion period. Halflings may not seem like there's much opportunity for use as a monster, but they can easily be members of a bandit group or mercenaries hired to thwart your party.
The reason that I like Halfling Stouts so much is that they have a ranged attack, which is pretty rare for minions, and that they have Second Chance. This means that even if you hit this minion, there's a chance they could cause you to miss with Second Chance, effectively making you hit them twice to kill them. And if the enemy closes to melee they have a little bit more room to maneuver since they get +2 AC against opportunity attacks.
Regardless, don't just use Halfling Stouts. Mix up the encounter with some soldiers or brutes, and perhaps even a controller. If its a mercenary group you can find decent monsters under the Human, Elf, and Dragonborn sections of the Monstrous Manual and get a really ragtag group of enemies. Add Orcs or Goblins if you want to make the band seem a bit more savage.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Monster Spotlight: Level 1 Terrors
Player's Handbook 2 has come out and released such a flood of new player options into the game that many of your players are going to want to start new characters. What I'm hoping to give you in this article is a few level one monsters that are interesting alternatives to the standard kobolds and goblins, that will either be more challenging to an already tactically minded party, or at least more interesting to players who have seen that before.
The Monster Manual is difficult to read front to back, and now there are several other books with monsters in them too, so it is hard to know which monsters are challenging and fun to play as the DM and which monsters are on the opposite end of the scale if you haven't looked at it too deeply. Once a week I will highlight a few monsters that I think are fun additions to encounters and point them out here and give possible strategies for them as well. Since so many people are going to be starting new campaigns right now, I figured that starting with the lowest level monsters there are would be a good choice.
Gibberling Bunch
Gibberling Bunches are level one brutes, and can be found on page 257 of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide but they are easy to import into any setting. Flavor-wise they are nocturnal creatures that either live in the Underdark or burrow into the ground during the day and then hunt in large packs at night.
Mechanics-wise the first thing you'll notice is that this monster is a swarm. If you are unfamiliar with swarms, the way they generally work is that they take half damage from melee and ranged attacks, and they have a vulnerability to close and area attacks. This is nice because its one way to make your controllers feel useful without using minions, even if it will frustrate you melee characters a little. Swarms also get to make basic melee attacks against adjacent creatures at the start of those creature's turns.
In addition Gibberling Bunches have an aura which gives their enemies a -1 penalty to all defenses if they are within 10 squares. Their basic attack is +4 against AC and it deals 3d4+2 damage, but you can lower the damage by 2d4 to knock the enemy prone. In addition they have an at-will attack against fortitude with the same +4 bonus that also knocks prone. Knocking your enemies prone is pretty much what these guys do.
Other than those attacks they have two passive abilities, one of which allows the Gibberling Bunch to make opportunity attacks against adjacent creatures who stand from prone and the other passive simply allows them to deal an extra 2d4 damage against prone targets.
That's a lot of different abilities, so lets put them together into a strategy in case it isn't immediately recognizable. The Gibberling Bunch gets its free swarm attacks, so you immediately want to put it in melee against as many targets as possible, a charge attack against a target works pretty good for this usually. Next on the agenda is knocking enemies prone. If you can knock somebody prone with your initial charge attack, at the beginning of their turn you get to make a free attack for a total of 5d4+2 damage. This is a lot on level 1 and if you have a tactically minded group, this encounter will challenge them just based on this. After you make that free attack you can then attack them when they try to stand up from prone, and should you hit, knock them prone again, causing them to use their standards to get back to their feet.
The Gibberling Bunches do have weaknesses. They only have +4 on their attacks which isn't wonderful, and characters with high ACs and decent Fortitudes will be able to avoid getting knocked prone by them very much as will dwarven characters. They also have really really low defenses but this is actually good because even the melee characters will consistently hit them, since nothing makes a player feel lame like repeatedly missing. However, even with these weaknesses I think I should put a disclaimer on this monster. I would honestly say that this monster is probably the hardest level 1 that is currently in the game. Don't make your party fight more than a few of them and don't enclose them in a small place with them because it will kill your players in a pretty unfair way. I recommend using these guys for an "ambush on the road at night" type scenario, where the players can spread them out and not get massacred by them. These also aren't a good monster for players who are just learning the game. The number of extra attacks they get will confuse new players, and make it feel like the game is stacked against them.
Fire Beetles
Found on page 30 of the Monster Manual, the Fire Beetle is another level 1 brute. They are pretty much just what the name suggests: beetles that breathe fire. I recommend using them as pets of whatever kind of monsters run the dungeon your party is exploring or possibly as parasites who took over a certain room and are closed in there, but be careful putting these guys in enclosed spaces.
Probably not the most stand-out interesting creature in the low level bracket of the monster manual at first glance, but this monster packs a punch. Their bite attack is nothing special but their breath fire hits a close blast 3 for 3d6 fire damage and it recharges on a 5 or 6. This monster has the same tactical requirements as the Gibberling Bunch, in that the players will need to keep them spread out to succeed, but it isn't a swarm so it doesn't take half damage. However the beetles do have 10 fire resistance, so don't be afraid of having them breathe on each other.
I think Fire Beetles really shine amidst other types of creatures. I once used them as the pets of a kobold boss I had made and it worked as a fairly memorable encounter even if it was a bit on the difficult side. These can be a good creature to use against new players to teach them the value of obstacles in the terrain. Building the encounter in a room where they can use columns and walls to prevent anyone from being caught in two fire breath attacks or something similar. You could also have them fight near a well or watering hole so that particularly creative players could retreat to the water if they became too injured.
Stormclaw Scorpion
This one is a soldier, not a brute, and as such has higher defenses. They are man-sized scorpions with claws that crackle with electricity and venomous stingers which makes them pretty memorable if you build them into a good encounter. It might even be cool to catch the players in between a clash between a den of Stormclaw Scorpions and Fire Beetles, but the scorpions work well in almost any context.
The scorpions have 32 hit points, and decent defenses for a level 1 monster. They have two main attacks, one is a grab attack. Once the enemy is grabbed by the Scorpion it takes 5 lightning damage a turn until it escapes, and it can then attack the grabbed creature with its other main attack, its sting. The sting attacks fortitude, deals 1d4+3 damage, an ongoing 5 poison damage and immobilizes the creature (save ends both). This means that it is imperative to escape the grab for a player as soon as possible to avoid taking 10 damage each turn. This isn't a huge obstacle for a fighter, but for a caster it becomes treacherous. You can make an encounter with these that will quickly emphasize to your defender the importance of marking creatures so that your casters do not get carried off by scorpions.
Before you brand me as a murderous DM though, I want to point out a unique opportunity that you have with creatures that grab. If you have a player playing an Eladrin, or who has some kind of teleport power, you can make them feel good about their character here. The time your wizard was grabbed by a scorpion and he teleported away to leave the creature bewildered while he blasted it with a ray of frost will be a memorable moment, particularly for characters new to the game. Try to give your players some of these moments where they can be really proud of their characters for more than just dealing damage.
Wisp Wraith
I love undead creatures, so I couldn't do this post without one. I was kind of limited in my options, but this is actually a pretty cool creature. You can find them on page 192 of Open Grave. They are level 1 minions, which means don't be shy about putting a lot of them in an encounter. Flavor-wise they are basically wraiths that failed to come into being correctly, but feel free to improvise them into whatever kind of ghosts or guardians you'd like them to be.
Minions die as long as you hit them, so controllers will shine against these creatures, as will clerics with turn undead. These wraiths are by no means really powerful, but they have a few abilities which can make them interesting to fight, which is better. They slow with their attacks, can shift their full movement speed and are phasing which means they can walk through solid objects. If you don't take advantage of the phasing with the encounter setup there is almost no point.
My suggestion is to include them in a room with lots of obstacles and sub-walls for them to walk through, perhaps a library with tall shelves. Have them come out of the walls themselves when the players approach an item they're searching for or the door to the next chamber. Use them to hit and run, darting through a wall to attack a target and then slinking away through another wall when they next act. If your players start chasing after them, it'll make the encounter even better.
That's it for my first DM article. Again, feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading.
The Monster Manual is difficult to read front to back, and now there are several other books with monsters in them too, so it is hard to know which monsters are challenging and fun to play as the DM and which monsters are on the opposite end of the scale if you haven't looked at it too deeply. Once a week I will highlight a few monsters that I think are fun additions to encounters and point them out here and give possible strategies for them as well. Since so many people are going to be starting new campaigns right now, I figured that starting with the lowest level monsters there are would be a good choice.
Gibberling Bunch
Gibberling Bunches are level one brutes, and can be found on page 257 of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide but they are easy to import into any setting. Flavor-wise they are nocturnal creatures that either live in the Underdark or burrow into the ground during the day and then hunt in large packs at night.
Mechanics-wise the first thing you'll notice is that this monster is a swarm. If you are unfamiliar with swarms, the way they generally work is that they take half damage from melee and ranged attacks, and they have a vulnerability to close and area attacks. This is nice because its one way to make your controllers feel useful without using minions, even if it will frustrate you melee characters a little. Swarms also get to make basic melee attacks against adjacent creatures at the start of those creature's turns.
In addition Gibberling Bunches have an aura which gives their enemies a -1 penalty to all defenses if they are within 10 squares. Their basic attack is +4 against AC and it deals 3d4+2 damage, but you can lower the damage by 2d4 to knock the enemy prone. In addition they have an at-will attack against fortitude with the same +4 bonus that also knocks prone. Knocking your enemies prone is pretty much what these guys do.
Other than those attacks they have two passive abilities, one of which allows the Gibberling Bunch to make opportunity attacks against adjacent creatures who stand from prone and the other passive simply allows them to deal an extra 2d4 damage against prone targets.
That's a lot of different abilities, so lets put them together into a strategy in case it isn't immediately recognizable. The Gibberling Bunch gets its free swarm attacks, so you immediately want to put it in melee against as many targets as possible, a charge attack against a target works pretty good for this usually. Next on the agenda is knocking enemies prone. If you can knock somebody prone with your initial charge attack, at the beginning of their turn you get to make a free attack for a total of 5d4+2 damage. This is a lot on level 1 and if you have a tactically minded group, this encounter will challenge them just based on this. After you make that free attack you can then attack them when they try to stand up from prone, and should you hit, knock them prone again, causing them to use their standards to get back to their feet.
The Gibberling Bunches do have weaknesses. They only have +4 on their attacks which isn't wonderful, and characters with high ACs and decent Fortitudes will be able to avoid getting knocked prone by them very much as will dwarven characters. They also have really really low defenses but this is actually good because even the melee characters will consistently hit them, since nothing makes a player feel lame like repeatedly missing. However, even with these weaknesses I think I should put a disclaimer on this monster. I would honestly say that this monster is probably the hardest level 1 that is currently in the game. Don't make your party fight more than a few of them and don't enclose them in a small place with them because it will kill your players in a pretty unfair way. I recommend using these guys for an "ambush on the road at night" type scenario, where the players can spread them out and not get massacred by them. These also aren't a good monster for players who are just learning the game. The number of extra attacks they get will confuse new players, and make it feel like the game is stacked against them.
Fire Beetles
Found on page 30 of the Monster Manual, the Fire Beetle is another level 1 brute. They are pretty much just what the name suggests: beetles that breathe fire. I recommend using them as pets of whatever kind of monsters run the dungeon your party is exploring or possibly as parasites who took over a certain room and are closed in there, but be careful putting these guys in enclosed spaces.
Probably not the most stand-out interesting creature in the low level bracket of the monster manual at first glance, but this monster packs a punch. Their bite attack is nothing special but their breath fire hits a close blast 3 for 3d6 fire damage and it recharges on a 5 or 6. This monster has the same tactical requirements as the Gibberling Bunch, in that the players will need to keep them spread out to succeed, but it isn't a swarm so it doesn't take half damage. However the beetles do have 10 fire resistance, so don't be afraid of having them breathe on each other.
I think Fire Beetles really shine amidst other types of creatures. I once used them as the pets of a kobold boss I had made and it worked as a fairly memorable encounter even if it was a bit on the difficult side. These can be a good creature to use against new players to teach them the value of obstacles in the terrain. Building the encounter in a room where they can use columns and walls to prevent anyone from being caught in two fire breath attacks or something similar. You could also have them fight near a well or watering hole so that particularly creative players could retreat to the water if they became too injured.
Stormclaw Scorpion
This one is a soldier, not a brute, and as such has higher defenses. They are man-sized scorpions with claws that crackle with electricity and venomous stingers which makes them pretty memorable if you build them into a good encounter. It might even be cool to catch the players in between a clash between a den of Stormclaw Scorpions and Fire Beetles, but the scorpions work well in almost any context.
The scorpions have 32 hit points, and decent defenses for a level 1 monster. They have two main attacks, one is a grab attack. Once the enemy is grabbed by the Scorpion it takes 5 lightning damage a turn until it escapes, and it can then attack the grabbed creature with its other main attack, its sting. The sting attacks fortitude, deals 1d4+3 damage, an ongoing 5 poison damage and immobilizes the creature (save ends both). This means that it is imperative to escape the grab for a player as soon as possible to avoid taking 10 damage each turn. This isn't a huge obstacle for a fighter, but for a caster it becomes treacherous. You can make an encounter with these that will quickly emphasize to your defender the importance of marking creatures so that your casters do not get carried off by scorpions.
Before you brand me as a murderous DM though, I want to point out a unique opportunity that you have with creatures that grab. If you have a player playing an Eladrin, or who has some kind of teleport power, you can make them feel good about their character here. The time your wizard was grabbed by a scorpion and he teleported away to leave the creature bewildered while he blasted it with a ray of frost will be a memorable moment, particularly for characters new to the game. Try to give your players some of these moments where they can be really proud of their characters for more than just dealing damage.
Wisp Wraith
I love undead creatures, so I couldn't do this post without one. I was kind of limited in my options, but this is actually a pretty cool creature. You can find them on page 192 of Open Grave. They are level 1 minions, which means don't be shy about putting a lot of them in an encounter. Flavor-wise they are basically wraiths that failed to come into being correctly, but feel free to improvise them into whatever kind of ghosts or guardians you'd like them to be.
Minions die as long as you hit them, so controllers will shine against these creatures, as will clerics with turn undead. These wraiths are by no means really powerful, but they have a few abilities which can make them interesting to fight, which is better. They slow with their attacks, can shift their full movement speed and are phasing which means they can walk through solid objects. If you don't take advantage of the phasing with the encounter setup there is almost no point.
My suggestion is to include them in a room with lots of obstacles and sub-walls for them to walk through, perhaps a library with tall shelves. Have them come out of the walls themselves when the players approach an item they're searching for or the door to the next chamber. Use them to hit and run, darting through a wall to attack a target and then slinking away through another wall when they next act. If your players start chasing after them, it'll make the encounter even better.
That's it for my first DM article. Again, feedback is appreciated. Thanks for reading.
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