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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 6056258" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>[MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION] Wow! More stat blocks for me <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> You shouldn't have.</p><p></p><p>While I appreciate it, in this particular case I'm not convinced it's a time saver. While I wouldn't have to track HP & regeneration for *as many* trolls, the total HP the PCs would need to get thru actually increases. Here's how: A troll has 120 HP. Three trolls (the # I believe is represented in your swarm stat block) have 360 HP altogether. The troll swarm has 264 HP...but in actuality because it resists half melee/ranged damage (the main damage modes for my party), it has twice that, so about 520 HP.</p><p></p><p>That alone tells me any time savings at the table that I get from not having to track *as many* HP/regenerations, I am going to lose to a bag of HP. I suspect the net gain is zero.</p><p></p><p>But my objection goes deeper than just that. I would be ad-libbing quite a bit to run this swarm as I would definitely use multiple troll miniatures/tokens at the table and would want them to be able to move independently and "give the appearance of being discrete monsters" by each getting an attack. So that means I'd need to radically redesign an elite which would feel more like a hydra than anything else I can think of. And there's the matter of determining when the discrete "parts" (individual miniatures) of the troll swarm would be killed....there's really nothing you can do in monster design that would make sense here, it would need to be entirely ad-libbed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 6056258, member: 20323"] [MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION] Wow! More stat blocks for me :) You shouldn't have. While I appreciate it, in this particular case I'm not convinced it's a time saver. While I wouldn't have to track HP & regeneration for *as many* trolls, the total HP the PCs would need to get thru actually increases. Here's how: A troll has 120 HP. Three trolls (the # I believe is represented in your swarm stat block) have 360 HP altogether. The troll swarm has 264 HP...but in actuality because it resists half melee/ranged damage (the main damage modes for my party), it has twice that, so about 520 HP. That alone tells me any time savings at the table that I get from not having to track *as many* HP/regenerations, I am going to lose to a bag of HP. I suspect the net gain is zero. But my objection goes deeper than just that. I would be ad-libbing quite a bit to run this swarm as I would definitely use multiple troll miniatures/tokens at the table and would want them to be able to move independently and "give the appearance of being discrete monsters" by each getting an attack. So that means I'd need to radically redesign an elite which would feel more like a hydra than anything else I can think of. And there's the matter of determining when the discrete "parts" (individual miniatures) of the troll swarm would be killed....there's really nothing you can do in monster design that would make sense here, it would need to be entirely ad-libbed. [/QUOTE]
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