I'm new as I said before and running through the starter compaign as DM and PC to get the feel for things. I'm on chapter 2 and these fungus are just so easy to defeat. They don't have a good chance to hit us and I have a party of 3 so once they attack we know it's there and all attack it until the next one reveals itself with a missed attack and we easily slay that one too without being hit.
I don't think the VF is intended to be a big nasty monster. After all, it's only CR 1/4. So if you fight one... then another... then another... it's nothing.
Consider that their attack has a 10' reach, and that the VF are indistinguishable from ordinary fungus until they attack. So the party is exploring a dungeon, or cave, or wherever, and there's a passageway that's about 20' wide and quite a ways long. You describe the look and feel of the place, you describe the dank musty smell, you describe the humidity hanging in the stale air, you describe the veritable crowd of big fungi throughout the long tunnel, you describe the little insects crawling along the walls, etc etc etc. So the party starts to move down this passageway, shouldering their way through fungi as big as they are (or in some cases bigger!) Let the party get a good 30' or so down that passage, and THEN all the VF's attack! All at once! They all have a 10' reach, and they all make as many as 4 attacks per turn! And the party has to push past dozens of them to get out in either direction! And it's difficult terrain, so they're moving at half speed. So each party member will be targeted by more than a dozen attacks before they get out of that tunnel. Sure, maybe only 2 or 3 of those hits land. So sure, each party member only takes 2d8 or 3d8 damage. No big deal.
But it's not about the math. It's about the mood. VF are not a BBEG. They're a mood setter. You put them there not to challenge the players, but to unnerve them. The point is to show the players that everything in this place wants to kill you. Even the things that don't look like anything. You're in hostile territory and you can never let your guard down, not even to rest.
They are very slow, have a -5 to initiative, are easy to hit, and are a CR 1/4. Their greatest benefits are they get two attacks per turn and have a 10' reach.
Yes, they are very easy to defeat.
Until you encounter a necrohulk. Then it all goes to hell.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Where is it stated they get multiple attacks? I see nothing on their stats card in the book with starter kit saying they can attack more than once. Also I the book says they only attack if they are discovered and that we only discover one at a time in this scenario. We stumbled upon one and it attacked us and we are unsure where the others are and after the round the next round starts with another one attacking us. They're blending in with other fungi in the cave.
Edit: I see now, I didn't notice before it saying multi attack
I just noticed I was looking at the old 2014 stat block (which says they get 1d4 attacks per turn), whereas the 2024 stat block apparently says they get 2 attacks per turn. Sorry. I haven't read through all the new stuff yet.
Just as a heads up, the CR system basically works like this: add the CRs of the monsters in an encounter together. Whatever the total is, that the level of a 5 player party that would find the encounter a medium difficulty fight, in the context of fighting 6-8 times a day.
So, really, the DM could well be throwing four of these guys (they're CR 1/4) at a time at the party six times in a day, and not worry about killing them. That's why you're finding it too easy. I haven't looked at Dragons of Stormwreck Isle (I'm assuming that's the Starter Set you mean) to see if you're misunderstanding how the encounter(s) is set up, but either they're supposed to attack as a group, or the adventure is just going easy on them to allow them to acclimatise to combat. If it's getting so easy it's boring for the players and you feel confident, feel free to group them together so they're dealing with swarms of them rather than one at a time.
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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.
It's definitely going on easy on the players. We encounter 3 zombies right from the start and the story says if we walk away they won't follow. I also might have misunderstood the fungus encounter and maybe they were supposed to attack right after the first fungus attacked. My reading comprehension isn't great I took the instructions to mean that the others stay hidden until we get to close to them. The fungus even has an ability where it remains hidden unless you can roll a I think 18 DC. Which my rogue actually managed to do revealing its location so we could attack it. But also it's DnD, it's up for interpretation and you can make the story how you want.
While I like anziofaro’s idea for having them wait until the middle of a hallway, I’d say their 1 int means they aren’t likely to have the capacity to plan and coordinate like that. But I absolutely agree about them helping set a mood.
But, as others have said, these aren’t meant to be very dangerous. You might use them in conjunction with other monsters, I could see them following in the wake of a cartoon crawler, for example, or some zombies. But their other use is just as an early in the day encounter to drain some resources. Maybe they take some hit points, which then maybe uses some healing spells or potions or hit dice, maybe the party doesn’t want to deal with them, so the wizard just fireballs the area. In any case, they force the party to use something now so it has less when the bigger fight comes.
I am not familiar with the campaign, but not all encounters need to be a life-or-death struggle. Creepy living fungus sets the tone; it underlines that the party is in a hostile, supernatural environment.
In my campaigns, I like to include several scenes that are low- or no-threat. They provide ways to interact with and learn about the setting and contribute to the exploration part of the game. They also help blur the mental separation between combat and the rest of D&D, which can lead to more creative resolution of problems (as opposed to just killing everything). Especially if you use those scenes to give out information that is useful later, it can get the players more engaged.
I'm new as I said before and running through the starter compaign as DM and PC to get the feel for things. I'm on chapter 2 and these fungus are just so easy to defeat. They don't have a good chance to hit us and I have a party of 3 so once they attack we know it's there and all attack it until the next one reveals itself with a missed attack and we easily slay that one too without being hit.
I don't think the VF is intended to be a big nasty monster. After all, it's only CR 1/4. So if you fight one... then another... then another... it's nothing.
Consider that their attack has a 10' reach, and that the VF are indistinguishable from ordinary fungus until they attack. So the party is exploring a dungeon, or cave, or wherever, and there's a passageway that's about 20' wide and quite a ways long. You describe the look and feel of the place, you describe the dank musty smell, you describe the humidity hanging in the stale air, you describe the veritable crowd of big fungi throughout the long tunnel, you describe the little insects crawling along the walls, etc etc etc. So the party starts to move down this passageway, shouldering their way through fungi as big as they are (or in some cases bigger!) Let the party get a good 30' or so down that passage, and THEN all the VF's attack! All at once! They all have a 10' reach, and they all make as many as 4 attacks per turn! And the party has to push past dozens of them to get out in either direction! And it's difficult terrain, so they're moving at half speed. So each party member will be targeted by more than a dozen attacks before they get out of that tunnel. Sure, maybe only 2 or 3 of those hits land. So sure, each party member only takes 2d8 or 3d8 damage. No big deal.
But it's not about the math. It's about the mood. VF are not a BBEG. They're a mood setter. You put them there not to challenge the players, but to unnerve them. The point is to show the players that everything in this place wants to kill you. Even the things that don't look like anything. You're in hostile territory and you can never let your guard down, not even to rest.
That's the role the VF play.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Tayn of Darkwood. Human Life Cleric. Lvl 10.
They are very slow, have a -5 to initiative, are easy to hit, and are a CR 1/4. Their greatest benefits are they get two attacks per turn and have a 10' reach.
Yes, they are very easy to defeat.
Until you encounter a necrohulk. Then it all goes to hell.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
The other guy said 4 attacks per turn and yet the manual in the starter set doesn't say anything at all about them getting multiple attacks.
Edit: I overlooked the mutliattack, nevermind.
Where is it stated they get multiple attacks? I see nothing on their stats card in the book with starter kit saying they can attack more than once. Also I the book says they only attack if they are discovered and that we only discover one at a time in this scenario. We stumbled upon one and it attacked us and we are unsure where the others are and after the round the next round starts with another one attacking us. They're blending in with other fungi in the cave.
Edit: I see now, I didn't notice before it saying multi attack
I just noticed I was looking at the old 2014 stat block (which says they get 1d4 attacks per turn), whereas the 2024 stat block apparently says they get 2 attacks per turn. Sorry. I haven't read through all the new stuff yet.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Tayn of Darkwood. Human Life Cleric. Lvl 10.
Just as a heads up, the CR system basically works like this: add the CRs of the monsters in an encounter together. Whatever the total is, that the level of a 5 player party that would find the encounter a medium difficulty fight, in the context of fighting 6-8 times a day.
So, really, the DM could well be throwing four of these guys (they're CR 1/4) at a time at the party six times in a day, and not worry about killing them. That's why you're finding it too easy. I haven't looked at Dragons of Stormwreck Isle (I'm assuming that's the Starter Set you mean) to see if you're misunderstanding how the encounter(s) is set up, but either they're supposed to attack as a group, or the adventure is just going easy on them to allow them to acclimatise to combat. If it's getting so easy it's boring for the players and you feel confident, feel free to group them together so they're dealing with swarms of them rather than one at a time.
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.
It's definitely going on easy on the players. We encounter 3 zombies right from the start and the story says if we walk away they won't follow. I also might have misunderstood the fungus encounter and maybe they were supposed to attack right after the first fungus attacked. My reading comprehension isn't great I took the instructions to mean that the others stay hidden until we get to close to them. The fungus even has an ability where it remains hidden unless you can roll a I think 18 DC. Which my rogue actually managed to do revealing its location so we could attack it. But also it's DnD, it's up for interpretation and you can make the story how you want.
You're not the only one with this opinion, I also found it very easy to kill.
While I like anziofaro’s idea for having them wait until the middle of a hallway, I’d say their 1 int means they aren’t likely to have the capacity to plan and coordinate like that. But I absolutely agree about them helping set a mood.
But, as others have said, these aren’t meant to be very dangerous. You might use them in conjunction with other monsters, I could see them following in the wake of a cartoon crawler, for example, or some zombies.
But their other use is just as an early in the day encounter to drain some resources. Maybe they take some hit points, which then maybe uses some healing spells or potions or hit dice, maybe the party doesn’t want to deal with them, so the wizard just fireballs the area. In any case, they force the party to use something now so it has less when the bigger fight comes.
I am not familiar with the campaign, but not all encounters need to be a life-or-death struggle. Creepy living fungus sets the tone; it underlines that the party is in a hostile, supernatural environment.
In my campaigns, I like to include several scenes that are low- or no-threat. They provide ways to interact with and learn about the setting and contribute to the exploration part of the game. They also help blur the mental separation between combat and the rest of D&D, which can lead to more creative resolution of problems (as opposed to just killing everything). Especially if you use those scenes to give out information that is useful later, it can get the players more engaged.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm