Time for a battle report on how the Snow Goons worked during an encounter. Final version of the monster build is below in the graphic.
Storyline is that the adventuring party is trapped in a snow globe under control of a wizard. The party is lost and disoriented at first, but they know they are looking for the Winter Goblin to find a way out.
As they party is making is way through a snowstorm, following the distant sound of jingling bells (yes, this was a twisted Christmas theme adventure), they spot the five figures on the hill. One of the party members had a high passive perception, and I rolled low for the snow goons, so their early discovery was unexpected. The party was only slightly disarmed to discern that the figures were actually snowmen. However, snowmen and other such mundane items seem out of place to this group, so they did not let their guard down much. The game group happens to be a bunch of Dr Who fans, so they immediately guessed "These are some sort of evil snowmen like in Dr Who are they?" Of course, my image for the initiative card used the Dr Who snowmen, but they were not the inspiration. When the party came within activation range of the constructs "Roll Initiative."
Despite the snowy environment, the Snow Goons stealth did not come into play during the fight. The players also all rolled high initiative and got to attack first. There were six characters (all third level) in the adventuring party, but only five snow goons, so the monsters were at a disadvantage. The group also had a dragonborn with fire breath as well as a warlock with firebolt and scorching ray, so the fire damage did a number on the monsters fairly quickly. (I did not know what characters would be in the game when I crafted the encounter). The multiple attacks by the snow goons surprised the party, but the damage was not significant enough to create any sort of concern despite all the hits. The party did not mass fires, instead choosing to conduct one-on-one attacks on each of the snow goons. The snow movement of the snow goons made it difficult to gang up on any one party member who did a good job of spreading out. As a result of the tactic, the snow goons did not get a chance to use their cursed snow feature. One snow goon was defeated early, but the only snow goon to attempt to cannibalize the fallen snow goon had to do so next to a great weapon fighter who dished out lots of damage quickly. The wounded snow good did get to add an extra attack, but was only able to get off one extra attack before being slain by the fighter. The other snow goons, too far away to use the cursed snow feature to heal, were engaged in one-on-one fights and were too slow to escape their opponents. They each fell within a round of each other.
The snow goons work best as a pack, and the pack should outnumber the target party. So I probably did not have enough snow goons in the fight in the first place. Their stealth did not come into play either. As the encounter occurred in an open field, the snow good could not take advantage of their camouflage and were at a severe disadvantage against other range attackers. The snow goons range attack is too short to be a threat to the players with any sort of bow. So I would probably place the snow goon in the ruins of an old castle or a topiary maze (a' la The Shinning).
Nevertheless, the group thought it was a fun encounter. They loved the miniatures. They loved the cursed snow power that replicated the Calvin and Hobbes Snow Goons (which they recognized as soon as it happened).
