D&D 5E Starter Set: Except 7

[Hussar]

That's a pretty stat block - easy to read, very easy to find everything.

But, I'm a little surprised that the lack of flavour text has not been commented on. I mean, I have no idea what a Nothic looks like. It used to be a wizard, but, now it's an aberration. That's it. Considering the massive negative reaction 4e got for being sparse with flavour text, I'm wondering how this version fares.

 

[LFK]

All these monsters are Challenge 2 (450 xp) and all average 12-13 damage for their basic melee attack, 10-11 for ranged.

They do a lot of damage relative to 2nd level PC hit points.

The pregen fighter is only going to have 15-24 HP at 2nd level, though her AC of 17 keeps her fairly safe from the Nothic and Ooze (the Ogre's beefy +6 evens the odds considerably).

The cleric has 15-22 HP at 2nd level with an even better 18 AC. Slightly harder to hit, but these monsters really don't need to connect very often to lay in some serious hurt, easily doing 50-100% damage.

For less tanky characters odds are even worse. A rogue's only going to have an AC of 15-ish, and Wizards, Warlocks, Druids, and Sorcerers are likely to have 14 or less. With +4 to +6 they've all got pretty even-to-good odds for hitting the non-heavy characters. Even assuming everyone takes a 14 in their Con you're still looking at 11-16 (avg 13) HP for the d6 classes and 13-20 (avg. 16) for the d8s. That means all of these drop an average d6 character to 0 in one hit on an average roll, and an average d8 character on a slightly above average roll. But unless your character is a weakling child it's unlikely that they'll kill your character in one swing (though that follow up can easily pass the massive damage threshold.)

Given how much higher the monster hit points are I think it's pretty fair to say that a Level 2 party isn't likely to be facing more than one of any of these at a time. 4 Ogres would easily live long enough to murder the entire party.

With that in mind I'm almost certain that Challenge # is basically the absolute lower limit of where the monster goes from being "almost certainly lethal" to "only mostly lethal."

 

[GSHamster]

But, I'm a little surprised that the lack of flavour text has not been commented on. I mean, I have no idea what a Nothic looks like. It used to be a wizard, but, now it's an aberration. That's it. Considering the massive negative reaction 4e got for being sparse with flavour text, I'm wondering how this version fares.

This is the starter set, right? They're probably trying to save as much space as possible. There will probably be a description in the adventure itself where the Nothics are encountered.

But yeah, I have no idea what the Nothic looks like either.

 

[MerricB]

This is the starter set, right? They're probably trying to save as much space as possible. There will probably be a description in the adventure itself where the Nothics are encountered.

But yeah, I have no idea what the Nothic looks like either.

Don't worry... it knows what you look like!

Cheers!

 

[LFK]

That's a pretty stat block - easy to read, very easy to find everything.

But, I'm a little surprised that the lack of flavour text has not been commented on. I mean, I have no idea what a Nothic looks like. It used to be a wizard, but, now it's an aberration. That's it. Considering the massive negative reaction 4e got for being sparse with flavour text, I'm wondering how this version fares.

I kinda expect that the starter set is going to be sparse on monster fluff, especially since the bestiary is basically a bonus set of monsters that don't appear in the adventure proper, included to make the set more useful.

That said, I didn't dislike the 4e fluff density for monsters, so I'm probably the wrong person to ask, and would probably not be unhappy if the MM was this sparse on fluff in order to jam in 500+ monsters.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Hmm. Ogre only has 5 ft reach... that's new from previous editions right?

According to d20srd.org, the ogre does indeed, have a 10 foot reach. So, it's different from 3.x, at least. Can't speak for 4e.

I have always envisioned Ogres swinging a big-a club around with a wide reach.

Is it possible that reach is now a factor of size, and that all Large creatures have a reach of 10' (unless stated otherwise)? [or a feature of giants?]

[hmm. On two minute's reflection, this seems less likely.]

 

[DMZ2112]

Don't worry... it knows what you look like!

Cheers!

...

Nope.

Nope nope nope.

 

[Ichneumon]

All these monsters are Challenge 2 (450 xp) and all average 12-13 damage for their basic melee attack, 10-11 for ranged.
...
With that in mind I'm almost certain that Challenge # is basically the absolute lower limit of where the monster goes from being "almost certainly lethal" to "only mostly lethal."

I have a suspicion that Challenge Rating might actually range from 1-10, and that monsters are suitable for parties whose level is double their CR.

 

[LFK]

I have a suspicion that Challenge Rating might actually range from 1-10, and that monsters are suitable for parties whose level is double their CR.

Eeeehhhhh.... I'm not sure about that. I mean, if C5 really means "suitable for 10th level parties" why not just make it C10?

I think the C½ creatures are a special case to accommodate 1st level. If we look at my threshold hypothesis C½ really just indicates monsters that a 1st level party is going to be fighting multiples of by default. Like let's say Orcs are C½ (100 xp) and Goblins are C½ (50 xp): both are suitable for a level 1 party to face in small groups, but orcs should be used in fewer numbers than goblins. Then let's say a hobgoblin or a gnoll is a C1 (200xp) creature. A level 1 party shouldn't be squaring off against more than one at a time, and a hobgoblin + 4 goblins would actually be a Very Hard encounter. A C2 Ogre is an inappropriate challenge (it does enough damage over its average combat lifespan to easily murder multiple PCs), and a Very Hard encounter all on its own.

C½, then, would only exist so that there's a C# lower than the lowest party level. Once you're level 2 the lower-than-party-level C#s start piling up, so there's no shortage of goons to send in clusters of various sizes.

That makes this, basically, a reworking of the 3e CR system, of a sort. Just ideally without the assumption of a party of 4 underpinning the math, and with C#s that accurately reflect the reality of the monster difficulty. (CR was needlessly obtuse to calculate, but the real nail in the coffin was the fact that more often than not the numbers were just plain wrong.)

I'm kinda extrapolating this from their stated goals, that they want the "number of DM options to grow, never shrink." My reading of that is that the platonic ideal is that the party is by and large always facing off against groups of creatures their C# and lower, by and large using quantity rather than level to adjust the challenge. So the C# isn't the "this is when an Ogre is an ideal challenge" but instead "this is the earliest Ogres should show up."

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I, for one, don't like the formatting. It's irritating that attacks are in their own small paragraph each, but not clearly labelled besides being under the heading Actions. Seems I'll be missing the 4e symbols...