I have set up a roleplay heavy oneshot and I would like there to be one combat encounter with a single monster that offers a challenge without taking too long. My five players are somewhat experienced and their level one characters are fairly balanced. Within the context of the story, I would like the monster to be nature themed.
With all of this information, a monster that I found that may be suitable is an Awakened Tree. It has a low AC, a decent amount of HP, and can deal a threatening amount of damage.
My problem with the Tree is that it is kinda boring and I am not sure how suitable it is to play against for five players; is it too strong or too weak? The encounter calculator qualifies it as "hard", but I am not sure how well that applies to my players.
Any suggestions for monsters in a similar vein as this? Suggestions for how to play to monster to make it more interesting?
ps- I want the monster to appear to be controlled by npc A, but is actually controlled by npc B in order to make npc A look guilty
Most level 1 characters will have less than 12 hitpoints...you might want to consider a weaker creature than the tree, given that it 1) resists two of the three martial damage types and 2) can deal 14 avg damage with its attack. That means that any hit will likely take a player out, and most level 1 PCs will have trouble damaging it significantly.
I would recommend something like an animated armor. The DPS is more manageable at 5 avg per hit (two hits per turn) which gives it the potential to knock out a player without it likely occurring every hit, it has a higher AC but lower hitpoints which should scale, and you can always bump it to max HP (54) for a larger challenge. Alternately, you could make it invulnerable, and make it more puzzle like where they have to find a way to shut it down (using its antimagic susceptability) by luring it to a certain area or fixing a magic item while others hold off its attacks.
As a construct it makes sense to be controlled by an NPC.
With two attacks it can potentially drop a PC per turn, making it scary, but since each individual attack is not likely to you can spread the attacks around to keep the PCs up longer.
While it has resistance to nonmagical weapon attacks, it’s AC is low (11), which means the PCs will hit most of the time, but it’ll take a lot of hits to kill it.* Plus, it’ll still be vulnerable to spell attacks.
It has immunity to most conditions, which will prevent the party from waffle stomping it after a single well placed spell.
It has cool abilities that impose conditions, which can often make a fight feel more challenging than it really is, but it’s mostly the frightened condition which isn’t too punishing, the save DCs are low which means the PCs will pass them most of the time but the threat will still be there to make them nervous, and the ability that can actually cause a more punishing condition doesn’t need to be used if it’ll cause the party a serious problem.
*That often makes players feel like their characters are mighty because they can land blow after blow but the thing just won’t die. The hat way, when they finally kill it they get a Huzzah moment. If a monster has high AC and lower HP/no resistance, players often get frustrated at all the whiffing and then when the thing drops after only a few hits the victory can feel hollow.
A single goblin can be a major annoyance, in the right terrain. A few levels of something stealthy - shoot, move, hide as a bonus action. Give them some sort of reason why they must capture her alive. Like, only the goblin rogue Red Rascal knows where the X of Y is hidden.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
I know I’m a little late to the party but I just had to say it… Just a straight up brown bear. slaying a bear is an age old mythic trope, especially in parts of the world where bears are a part of their mythos. It would also be pretty simple for one and PC to control it and make it look like another one is controlling it because of a first level spell known as animal friendship.
you could even make this a bear from a certain part of the woods that a druid or ranger knows very well and a rival ranger or druid has charmed this creature making it seem like the first NPC doesn’t know what they’re talking about because the creature was dangerous, or perhaps purposely set the beast upon the adventurers or town or wherever you are.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Always a good one, and easy to use. Especially for low level.
The party, hanging out at a tavern, having just arrived in town, drying off from the rain - when suddenly a figure bursts through the door, frantic. He cries out for help, but the other patrons look away - and only you seem to lock eyes with him, so he quickly runs to you pulling on your shirt saying he needs your help. Something at the farm has gone terribly wrong - and his daughter has vanished in the cornfield.
Party, ideally, agrees to go out and investigate (using a young daughter gone missing should pull at their heart strings) - and as they head into the cornfield, they can tell there's something very wrong here... an odd feeling washes over there.
Play up the horror theme where they keep hearing things moving in the cornfield.
Eventually, they hear a little girl crying - and track her down to a open area in the cornfield, where she's crying, sitting in front of the scarecrow.
The Scarecrow doesn't do anything - unless the party attacks - until they approach the girl.
Then the scarecrow springs into action - getting one round of a surprise attack.
Then combat starts.
With the scarecrow defeated, a black gem falls from its chest. Picking it up, there's a great sense of evil.
Taking it back to the farmer (along with the rescued girl), the party inquires about the gem (ideally).
Old man says an old woman came by and gave it to him - said it would help keep the crows and thieves away.
The old woman, the party, later - will come to learn was a hag.
I like using oozes like an ochre jelly or grey ooze; while they can do some serious harm if they hit someone, they are slow, tend to have low initiative rolls and AC, and can be dealt with by using good tactics.
Late to the part but in my campaign the players are lvl 2 but are new and the builds aren’t that good but they had fun fighting a creature called a nothic it’s really fun and has some half evil half nature kinda vibe like he has natural armour, claws for attack and also an eye witch he can attack with. He also doesn’t speak but relies on telepathic communication which is really cool highly suggest it:
In my opinion, the best monster depends on the situation and what you want to achieve with it.
For example, if you want a monster that at level 1 will put them in serious trouble, you could use a Cockatrice. Or a Scarecrow (these are just two examples of difficult, but killable, monsters for a lvl 1 party).
However, I think you should also take the situation into account. For example, if that monster is going to be found in an abandoned farmhouse, the obvious choice is the Scarecrow. Instead, if this monster is defending a caern, you could use a Shadow (these are also perfect if you want to drag the party down to their next rest, making them really suffer to overcome their next challenges).
My advice is to find a monster that works well with the campaign setting, and the situation.
How about combining iconarising's and IamSposta's ideas: combine animated armor and a scarecrow. After doing x amount of damage to the animated armor, its shell breaks away becoming a scarecrow.
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I have set up a roleplay heavy oneshot and I would like there to be one combat encounter with a single monster that offers a challenge without taking too long. My five players are somewhat experienced and their level one characters are fairly balanced. Within the context of the story, I would like the monster to be nature themed.
With all of this information, a monster that I found that may be suitable is an Awakened Tree. It has a low AC, a decent amount of HP, and can deal a threatening amount of damage.
My problem with the Tree is that it is kinda boring and I am not sure how suitable it is to play against for five players; is it too strong or too weak? The encounter calculator qualifies it as "hard", but I am not sure how well that applies to my players.
Any suggestions for monsters in a similar vein as this? Suggestions for how to play to monster to make it more interesting?
ps- I want the monster to appear to be controlled by npc A, but is actually controlled by npc B in order to make npc A look guilty
Most level 1 characters will have less than 12 hitpoints...you might want to consider a weaker creature than the tree, given that it 1) resists two of the three martial damage types and 2) can deal 14 avg damage with its attack. That means that any hit will likely take a player out, and most level 1 PCs will have trouble damaging it significantly.
I would recommend something like an animated armor. The DPS is more manageable at 5 avg per hit (two hits per turn) which gives it the potential to knock out a player without it likely occurring every hit, it has a higher AC but lower hitpoints which should scale, and you can always bump it to max HP (54) for a larger challenge. Alternately, you could make it invulnerable, and make it more puzzle like where they have to find a way to shut it down (using its antimagic susceptability) by luring it to a certain area or fixing a magic item while others hold off its attacks.
I might recommend a scarecrow for a few reasons:
*That often makes players feel like their characters are mighty because they can land blow after blow but the thing just won’t die. The hat way, when they finally kill it they get a Huzzah moment. If a monster has high AC and lower HP/no resistance, players often get frustrated at all the whiffing and then when the thing drops after only a few hits the victory can feel hollow.
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Thank you so much for the response. Yeah, I suppose it is a bit too strong, I'll look into that.
Wow thank you for the detailed response. This seems right up my alley for my needs, I think I might use this.
Though a little boring, something such as a Bugbear or a Gnoll can also work.
[REDACTED]
A single goblin can be a major annoyance, in the right terrain. A few levels of something stealthy - shoot, move, hide as a bonus action. Give them some sort of reason why they must capture her alive. Like, only the goblin rogue Red Rascal knows where the X of Y is hidden.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
I’m interested in how the encounter went. So… how’d it go?
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I know I’m a little late to the party but I just had to say it… Just a straight up brown bear. slaying a bear is an age old mythic trope, especially in parts of the world where bears are a part of their mythos. It would also be pretty simple for one and PC to control it and make it look like another one is controlling it because of a first level spell known as animal friendship.
you could even make this a bear from a certain part of the woods that a druid or ranger knows very well and a rival ranger or druid has charmed this creature making it seem like the first NPC doesn’t know what they’re talking about because the creature was dangerous, or perhaps purposely set the beast upon the adventurers or town or wherever you are.
hope you had fun!
Unfortunately, I still am trying to get everyone scheduled. My friends' schedules just do not line up at all :(
Ahh, the perpetual curse of the DM: Scheduling.
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And this is why we play by post =)
/cry
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Always a good one, and easy to use. Especially for low level.
The party, hanging out at a tavern, having just arrived in town, drying off from the rain - when suddenly a figure bursts through the door, frantic. He cries out for help, but the other patrons look away - and only you seem to lock eyes with him, so he quickly runs to you pulling on your shirt saying he needs your help. Something at the farm has gone terribly wrong - and his daughter has vanished in the cornfield.
Party, ideally, agrees to go out and investigate (using a young daughter gone missing should pull at their heart strings) - and as they head into the cornfield, they can tell there's something very wrong here... an odd feeling washes over there.
Play up the horror theme where they keep hearing things moving in the cornfield.
Eventually, they hear a little girl crying - and track her down to a open area in the cornfield, where she's crying, sitting in front of the scarecrow.
The Scarecrow doesn't do anything - unless the party attacks - until they approach the girl.
Then the scarecrow springs into action - getting one round of a surprise attack.
Then combat starts.
With the scarecrow defeated, a black gem falls from its chest. Picking it up, there's a great sense of evil.
Taking it back to the farmer (along with the rescued girl), the party inquires about the gem (ideally).
Old man says an old woman came by and gave it to him - said it would help keep the crows and thieves away.
The old woman, the party, later - will come to learn was a hag.
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Total newbie here, but I noticed my level 1 players loved battling a wolf. It was goblin controlled if I remember correctly.
I like using oozes like an ochre jelly or grey ooze; while they can do some serious harm if they hit someone, they are slow, tend to have low initiative rolls and AC, and can be dealt with by using good tactics.
All generalizations are false.
Late to the part but in my campaign the players are lvl 2 but are new and the builds aren’t that good but they had fun fighting a creature called a nothic it’s really fun and has some half evil half nature kinda vibe like he has natural armour, claws for attack and also an eye witch he can attack with. He also doesn’t speak but relies on telepathic communication which is really cool highly suggest it:
In my opinion, the best monster depends on the situation and what you want to achieve with it.
For example, if you want a monster that at level 1 will put them in serious trouble, you could use a Cockatrice. Or a Scarecrow (these are just two examples of difficult, but killable, monsters for a lvl 1 party).
However, I think you should also take the situation into account. For example, if that monster is going to be found in an abandoned farmhouse, the obvious choice is the Scarecrow. Instead, if this monster is defending a caern, you could use a Shadow (these are also perfect if you want to drag the party down to their next rest, making them really suffer to overcome their next challenges).
My advice is to find a monster that works well with the campaign setting, and the situation.
How about combining iconarising's and IamSposta's ideas: combine animated armor and a scarecrow. After doing x amount of damage to the animated armor, its shell breaks away becoming a scarecrow.