I a few weeks ago went against a Mimic and we had some difficulties killing it! In fact it actually escaped! We here 8 level 1 characters and one of my friends was on exactly 1 HP!!! And on the Encounters on d and d beyond it says "Easy" Is it only me or is it harder than "Easy"?
A Mimic has AC 12 and 58 HP, so it shouldn't be too difficult to hit, but will take a while to take down - although 8 characters each attacking once shouldn't take too long.
The problem with the early levels is that they're very swingy and therefore inherently unpredictable on an individual level. If an attack lands, it really, really hurts. Looking at the Mimic, the average hit is 11 damage, which is enough to one-hit-KO the caster types and severely injure even the toughest of PCs. It just has to manage to land the blows, which it can with a bit of luck.
The major problem is that at L1, you have next to no health. Even with 8 characters, if the luck of the roll goes against you, I can see a Mimic causing major issues. Most monsters will. The good news is that after a few levels, PCs can start tanking hits so even if monsters land a few extra hits or the PCs miss a few, they can cope and make it through the encounter. At low levels, they just don't have that buffer. They either steamroll or slaughter, with little scope for in between.
Technically, yes, that encounter was "easy", but L1 encounters are too swingy to think of any encounter with a hostile as "easy". The DM has to really keep an eye on things and stay at the top of his game to ensure that the encounters are hard but fair. I've fudged more than a few "fails" for the monsters to save the butts of the part. Just how the game is, I'm afraid.
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I a few weeks ago went against a Mimic and we had some difficulties killing it! In fact it actually escaped! We here 8 level 1 characters and one of my friends was on exactly 1 HP!!! And on the Encounters on d and d beyond it says "Easy" Is it only me or is it harder than "Easy"?
At first level the lack of HP is always an issue.
A Mimic has AC 12 and 58 HP, so it shouldn't be too difficult to hit, but will take a while to take down - although 8 characters each attacking once shouldn't take too long.
The problem with the early levels is that they're very swingy and therefore inherently unpredictable on an individual level. If an attack lands, it really, really hurts. Looking at the Mimic, the average hit is 11 damage, which is enough to one-hit-KO the caster types and severely injure even the toughest of PCs. It just has to manage to land the blows, which it can with a bit of luck.
The major problem is that at L1, you have next to no health. Even with 8 characters, if the luck of the roll goes against you, I can see a Mimic causing major issues. Most monsters will. The good news is that after a few levels, PCs can start tanking hits so even if monsters land a few extra hits or the PCs miss a few, they can cope and make it through the encounter. At low levels, they just don't have that buffer. They either steamroll or slaughter, with little scope for in between.
Technically, yes, that encounter was "easy", but L1 encounters are too swingy to think of any encounter with a hostile as "easy". The DM has to really keep an eye on things and stay at the top of his game to ensure that the encounters are hard but fair. I've fudged more than a few "fails" for the monsters to save the butts of the part. Just how the game is, I'm afraid.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.