D&D 5E Favourite Low Level Monsters
Lol yep. Had a few players drop at the start of LMoP.
Li Shenron
Legend
I always go with the classics...
- wild animals (wolves, bears, tigers, giant rats, giant snakes, giant spiders... depends on the environment)
- bandits/pirates (greedy but not suicidal), goblins (coward and mischievous), orcs (brutal and chaotic), hobgoblins (expert and regimented)
- skeletons and zombies (particularly when I don't want to have to explain the ecology of the locale)
- giants and ogres (as solos at low levels)
In the past I have been particularly fond of using undead, but they have become so ubiquitous that I feel I would like to remove them from the stories for a few years, in the attempt at making them feel more "scary" again. I mean, if I would ever meet an ogre or other monster IRL I would be scared, but if I would ever meet something that should be dead and instead it's not... I would be a lot more scared! They are just wrong. But they have been so overused in fantasy by now, that people just don't even think about the issue anymore
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- wild animals (wolves, bears, tigers, giant rats, giant snakes, giant spiders... depends on the environment)
- bandits/pirates (greedy but not suicidal), goblins (coward and mischievous), orcs (brutal and chaotic), hobgoblins (expert and regimented)
- skeletons and zombies (particularly when I don't want to have to explain the ecology of the locale)
- giants and ogres (as solos at low levels)
In the past I have been particularly fond of using undead, but they have become so ubiquitous that I feel I would like to remove them from the stories for a few years, in the attempt at making them feel more "scary" again. I mean, if I would ever meet an ogre or other monster IRL I would be scared, but if I would ever meet something that should be dead and instead it's not... I would be a lot more scared! They are just wrong. But they have been so overused in fantasy by now, that people just don't even think about the issue anymore
.
AtomicPope
Hero
Hobgoblins - Archers, Warriors, high AC, Martial Advantage means more damage, and Leadership acts like "Bless" allowing low-CR troops to hit reliably.
In our current campaign the DM made sure we ran out of higher level spells, and they entered in groups of 10. and then we faced a Hobgoblin war party: 50 Hobgoblins, 3 Worgs, and 2 Warlords riding Worgs. In a low-magic type of setting these types of battles are epic. It was like the Battle of the Hornburg (Battle for Helm's Deep). We were being swarmed with warriors and me without all of my spell slots meant it was a meat grinder. They entered the board as in two groups of twelve, then one more each turn thereafter making it impossible to kill them with one giant fireball or cone of cold. The Warlords gave everyone +1D4 to attack. The Worgs were dragging us to the ground and for a boot party. Those of us who remained standing were shot a dozen times.
In our current campaign the DM made sure we ran out of higher level spells, and they entered in groups of 10. and then we faced a Hobgoblin war party: 50 Hobgoblins, 3 Worgs, and 2 Warlords riding Worgs. In a low-magic type of setting these types of battles are epic. It was like the Battle of the Hornburg (Battle for Helm's Deep). We were being swarmed with warriors and me without all of my spell slots meant it was a meat grinder. They entered the board as in two groups of twelve, then one more each turn thereafter making it impossible to kill them with one giant fireball or cone of cold. The Warlords gave everyone +1D4 to attack. The Worgs were dragging us to the ground and for a boot party. Those of us who remained standing were shot a dozen times.
A later post in Gobelure's thread details how to account for the XP issue: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...fix-it/page3&p=6405378&viewfull=1#post6405378
