Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Throwing ideas, seeing what sticks (and what stinks)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6795878" data-attributes="member: 996"><p>A 5th level party can still be hit by 1st-level monsters. A little early to be aggregating things, IMHO. Now, 15th level party, sure, stat out some Goblin swarms... There are third-level standard-issue Goblins. An ambush on favorable terrain with a Goblin Hexer leading with (the aptly named) Vexing Cloud, enough melee types to engage the whole party, and a comparable number of minions at range - well w/in exp budget and pretty darn annoying for a 5th level party. No re-statting or other special prep required.</p><p></p><p>A 5th level AD&D fighter can attack goblins 5/round, and a stray Sleep spell can mop up 4-16 of 'em (anything beefier will insta-kill every goblin in it's area), so it'd need to be a lot of goblins to get dicey. Contrast that with minions the fighter cleaves 2 at a time (and can still miss), and which can survive fireballs when the wizard craps out on some of his attack rolls. </p><p></p><p>Maybe goblins and a 5th level party were a bad example. </p><p></p><p>I've done the 0 hp swarms spawning minions thing (or even minion spawning from and re-entering swarms on other triggers), it's very appropriate ('realistic' even) and a little added fun. </p><p></p><p>I've done a lot of re-statting to bring higher and lower level monsters into line with PC level, and it's both easy and works very well. But, lately, I've tossed out the odd much-lower or higher level monster and run through it, and it's not as unplayable as you might think. The latter I'd provide some alternate way of ending the combat (one side or the other fleeing or 'losing interest' or whatever, or converting it to a skill challenge), but it didn't always prove necessary. The former were excessively easy, but not as excessively slow to play out as I feared, and gave the PCs the traditional sense of having really advanced in the intervening levels.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6795878, member: 996"] A 5th level party can still be hit by 1st-level monsters. A little early to be aggregating things, IMHO. Now, 15th level party, sure, stat out some Goblin swarms... There are third-level standard-issue Goblins. An ambush on favorable terrain with a Goblin Hexer leading with (the aptly named) Vexing Cloud, enough melee types to engage the whole party, and a comparable number of minions at range - well w/in exp budget and pretty darn annoying for a 5th level party. No re-statting or other special prep required. A 5th level AD&D fighter can attack goblins 5/round, and a stray Sleep spell can mop up 4-16 of 'em (anything beefier will insta-kill every goblin in it's area), so it'd need to be a lot of goblins to get dicey. Contrast that with minions the fighter cleaves 2 at a time (and can still miss), and which can survive fireballs when the wizard craps out on some of his attack rolls. Maybe goblins and a 5th level party were a bad example. I've done the 0 hp swarms spawning minions thing (or even minion spawning from and re-entering swarms on other triggers), it's very appropriate ('realistic' even) and a little added fun. I've done a lot of re-statting to bring higher and lower level monsters into line with PC level, and it's both easy and works very well. But, lately, I've tossed out the odd much-lower or higher level monster and run through it, and it's not as unplayable as you might think. The latter I'd provide some alternate way of ending the combat (one side or the other fleeing or 'losing interest' or whatever, or converting it to a skill challenge), but it didn't always prove necessary. The former were excessively easy, but not as excessively slow to play out as I feared, and gave the PCs the traditional sense of having really advanced in the intervening levels. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Throwing ideas, seeing what sticks (and what stinks)
Top