Be VERY careful using Intellect Devourers as a "low level encounter." Even a single intellect devourer can result in an almost instant TPK with only a couple of bad rolls.
Also, be careful with Rot Grubs. I've lost characters to both in the first session. Intellect devourer was a bad roll after a stupid decision (made intentionally, OOC) but the rot grubs killed me in one round for not standing far enough away while someone messed with an item.
yeah my party ran into one at level 2 (they were meant to be level 1 but I let them level early) and one of my players had his brain devoured but luckily my campaign is set in a city with a lot of powerful people so they found someone to cast greater restoration.
One of the more memorable, opening story arcs I once did for my campaign was using kobolds that were worshipping a dragon (as kobolds do), making the party believe that is what they were eventually facing. Some of the players were freaking out that they'll have to fight a dragon at level 1-3, some assumed this was some dragoin wyrmling... In the end it turned out that it was just a plain lizardfolk shaman who used simple magic and persuasion to convince the kobolds he WAS an actual dragon to have his own minions :D I still remember the reveal when the build up was that a dragon was about to enter and when the true became apparent, some of my players spat a bit of unpleasant words (in a joking manner of course - they loved the twist ^^').
Tips on Gibbering outhers: I've always assumed the gibbering mouthers are essentially like parrots, and are imitating things they have heard previous victims say; similar to the way The Predator said "over here.", or "do you want some candy." If a character passes their save against the gibbering, have them realize that one of the random things said was actually a clue to the quest.
@@jessegd6306 right but then you throw in there (with a WIS or INt check of course), "According to the map there's a secret door under the tapestry." Then the players are like wait, secret door? tapestry? where's that. Lo and behold later, they see a tapestry and wonder...
Someone said level 1-3 of dnd is survival horror and I really like to lean into that. Designing encounters where it makes more sense for the low level party to try strategem rather than a straight fight, using npcs to their advantage, or even fleeing the encounter rather than fighting through it
I'm planning something like this for my first DM campaign, watching local kids dash out into shallow water, kill a single tapeworm pest that's praying on the local oyster crop and then dashing back to land with the body to trade in for a copper. If the players don't leave enough travelling speed to get back, they'll get swarmed by a few, resulting in the rest of the team needing to dash in and help them. If all goes well, maybe I'll throw in a local kids first time that gets it wrong and needs to be saved. Just need to create a monster now. Will probably re skin something With a poison/grapple ability and give it a swimming speed
Take any monster at all (almost), turn it undead, then cut off bits until what's left is the level you need - giant --> giant's undead hand; dragon --> dragon skull, neck, one lower arm and hand plus a lot of connecting sinew; owlbear --> owlbear missing a foot it chewed off to get out of a trap.
But they are only CR 3. Or do you mean that Wizards of the Coast still hasn't figured out how to give monsters meaningful CRs, after more than 20 years?
@@rogerwilco2 Yeah, Intellect Devourers are CR 3 in the sense that they aren't great in a straight fight. They should be something like power 3 and possible consequences 10.
Intellect Devourer stat blocks are unimpressive, for sure. The problem is their unique abilities which, with only a couple of bad rolls, can result in an almost instant TPK, especially since those bad rolls are reliant on an ability which the vast majority of players use as a dump stat in 5e. Intellect Devourer snatches your third level Totem of the Bear barbarian with a crit-fishing GWM build? The now-effectively-dead Barbarian (huzzah, low level save or die!) proceeds to kill the whole party, resistant to everything they throw at it. Even at much higher levels, these things can still generate a TPK in the right circumstances just by being present.
@@rogerwilco2 CR is already meaningful if you use it for it's intended purpose: keeping in mind how much damage the creature can do per turn, and how many hitpoints they have. CR is not meant to be a "This creature is CR 3 so you can blindly plug in this creature into an encounter for a lvl3 party" kind of tool. You will still need to read the full statblock, think beforehand about whether the encounter needs to be combat or not in the first place, if it is combat is it an fight to get away, a fight for resources that both groups need, or is it a fight to defeat the enemy, and you have to think on whether your party can deal with the negative consequences, other than damage, things like poison, sickness, mind control or petrification. How would wizards of the coast ever express in a single number that the danger of a monster is in how sudden they appear, or in how big the group of monsters is compared to the party? CR wasn't ever meant to express all of these things and more. CR is just an estimate for damage, hitpoints and EXP calculation, and that is exactly what it is based on. How you use a monster, what kind of danger it should pose and what kind of encounter you build is what makes an encounter deadly or not.
I think I just had a great idea for a HIGH level encounter using Ogre Howdahs. The Stomping Fortress. A herd of dozens of Ogre Howdahs, with several larger specimens sporting large, elaborate fortifications on their backs. When threatened, they get into formation, pull out tower shields, and become a full-on fortress in their own right. The smaller humanoids spread bridges between the fortifications for ease of movement, and to make it easier to bolster the outer ranks. The real kicker here, is that they're coordinated enough to move around using loud verbal commands. Play it like this: The Howdahs get one turn in initiative, and their "riders" get a turn as well. On the Howdahs turn, their next move has to be announced at the end of the turn as a verbal command. This allows the Howdahs to be a massive and unique threat, while giving your players time to react. Their riders allow for a more active threat that can keep up with the players, harassing them and not letting them get comfortable with the Howdahs slow, predictable charges.
Only throw Intellect Devourers at a party under 4th level if you expect somebody to die... They have caused disasters for the party every time I've used them, even at 8th level
@@kamikeserpentail3778 Some people like to play with almost no threat to their characters. As a result, if anything moderately dangerous shows up, they aren't prepared to deal with it.
For my games. I tend to use Giant Wasps which are reflavored goblin stat blocks. It isn't a hard sell for the players to hate or outright exterminate Wasps. (I was inspired by Fable: The Lost Chapters).
My players are now scarred from too many gibbering mouthers. It doesn't matter if they are level 3 or level 10, if they hear something that might be a gibbering mouther, they will be noping out of there as fast as possible.
My first campaign as a player, the DM (first campaign as a DM) tossed a Shadow at us, looking primarily at the CR. My low strength character almost died. Be very careful with anything that has an ability to kill a player character without reducing them to 0 HP first.
Then of course you can mix and match Kobolds and Goblins and bandits with other creatures.... (Kobolds in the service of a dragon might have some loyal guard drakes if their lord is feeling generous... and they can use them as mounts... a Kobold Dragonshield mounted on a Guard Drake can make for a pretty mean combo...) Or giant Vultures carrying around some Kobolds(They both have pack tactics so having Kobold riding on them would let both mount, passengers, and rider to benefit.... That and some of these creatures could also be used in traps by the above.... (Kobolds in a swamp? Sure they might have some pits full of Quippers to throw you into...)
@@RedSunUnderParadise Meanwhile in my game: The players sell a bound and unconscious Black Dragon wyrmling to an Illathid while in the black Market area of the Sewers.... (Gotta love it when the players chose to do things that can become problems for them later on down the line in the campaign...)
@@minnion2871 Based. My group does that too. A lot. Not just illithids, sometimes we sell dragons to Gith and Warforged and perpetuate their wars for profit. Best part? The paladin(Ambition or Conquest played by either me or my brother) are the ones doing the haggling.
the main villains are trying to dummon aboleth, so i wanted to include some abberations in the campaign. i had so much fun in describing a sewer with a gibbering mouther in it that my player almost fell into. I describe that the stone had contorted into something fleshy. and once i describe the actual mouther, he was so freaked out
Great suggestions, the tip about using the same stats with different descriptions is really handy when you have experienced players. One I used a while back was Vargouille. I had the party go out to rescue some nobles, but when they got to the bandit hideout, the bandits were all dead, the nobles unconscious. On the way back to town, all of the nobles' heads twist off in horrific fashion and the Vargouille attack the party. Even the veteran players didn't see it coming.
Be wary of scourges- they are the 1/8 CR level because of their health. They do a sizable amount of damage with their auto hit, with surprisingly good AC, in numbers they can wipe low level parties. They can easily be countered with sleep spell.
1. excellent work. Great content Good Script. 2. Really like your art style throughout your videos. 3. The only way this would be better: include the Monster name and book/page number - but really this was excellent, so don't worry about that.
The side campaign I ran to give my DM a break revolved around a Druid that went mad. Rats, ravens, giant rats, beefed up deer I home brewed as "great stags," wolves and dire wolves, dire bears that were just low CR dinosaurs I reskinned, and even awakened shrubs and trees. The party loved it after session after session of goblins and bandits in our main campaign. Sadly I TPKd them due to bad choices on both sides of the table (don't trust CR with level three players..) so I've been working on the next chapter of the story with them arriving in the Shadowfell and dealing with trying to get home. Zombies, skeletons, shadows, and the like will all be a whole new flavor for them. Of course, the Druid will still be pushing against the hamlet they started in and getting stronger while they're gone, so I'll have to nerf the Archdruid stats a lot less. Breaking away from the tired CR < 2 monsters is fun.
Wonderful video! I'm trying to run a campaign with a lot of aberrations, but the players start at level 3 so I had trouble finding interesting and balanced monsters to work with. Thanks for helping me create encounters with this video!
A great collection of low level creatures and I love the line art. I particularly love the Pegasus, horses are notoriously difficult to draw yet your Pegasus was dynamic and powerful, fantastic thanks !
I love this, gonna have to try some of these out to surprise my players. I did a low level one shot where the final boss of the players investigating a trade route blockage ended up being a "Wolf In Sheep's Clothing" that was threatening to choke the forest the trade route ran through of any life. (google it, its a fun and bizarre classic monster that sadly did get updated to 5th edition)
If my knowledge of history serves me this day, the tale of the brave knights fighting an evil bunny is a perfect example of this. Though they required the use of an artifact called the Holy Hand Grenade or something akin. Oh well, they fought bravely. Those fools
Technically, the Death Burst effect is different for the various kinds of Mephits. Mud Mephits, for instance, can restrain creatures on death, while Magma Mephits deal fire damage. It varies. Mephits also have a bunch of breath weapons, that have various offensive or debuff effects. As such, they can fill a number of different roles in a fight. Useful both in groups on their own, or as minions for other creatures. The main downside to this is their low save DC, meaning individual Mephits are unlikely to make their breath weapons stick against all but low level parties. Which is why they're often found in large numbers. Sooner or later, the PCs will fail some saves.
Super helpful as I planning my first one shot and I was looking for something that is not a goblin or kobold for a couple of random encounters. Still have a Kobold pair but their part of a skill challenge (silvery barbs) and unlikely to be an actual threat unless the players attack them.
One of the things that 5e should have kept from 4e was the obvious monster role tags (skirmisher, artillery, etc) to let DMs build really fun tactical encounters just at a glance.
Quicklings are a lot of fun. They hit hard and go down fast, so the tide can turn rapidly in either direction. I recommend having some Schrödinger's Quicklings that can enter the battle if things go shockingly smoothly, or have some retreat with their ungodly movement speed if the players are having a rough time.
Very useful video. I'm definitely adding your channel to my gaming help links. As for low level encounters, I've been reskinning monsters and adding a passive ability or weaker version of an attack from a larger monster. A low level construct or goblin becomes a broken or unfinished golem for example. It keeps the new players unsure and surprises old players with different stats.
I actually had a really fun experience with reskinning monsters a couple times. When I was running an MTG themed campaign, I actually re-skinned some lesser used creatures (of my own repertoire since I don't often get to run adventures anymore) as Eldrazzi. I had used a wyvern, slaads, and I believe a hydra, but described them as strange, otherworldly abominations
My favorite is a group of corrupt tax collectors who've decided to set up a toll booth. Low level players often find the 10% of coin or 20GP, whichever is greater, plus surprise fees for carrying weapons at the ready to be a bit too much. If they pay up, they'll get a letter of permission for carrying the weapons, signed by the officer and with the real seal (which they don't need). If they fight... well, you've just slain the King's Men. Not sure if they are humanoids or fiends.
Troglodytes are my favourite, especially in caves. Because they have stench that poisons those of low constitution, it's fun to use to build up to a trog encounter.
Brilliant I am putting together a campaign for a bunch of beginners (my daughters mates) and wanted to give them classic fantasy whilst enjoying it myself ... fresh eyes on a mass on monsters can make it an exercise I take no "over used" monsters and stick to this list.
In 5e I still beleive the most underrated low cp monster is wolves. Pounce+ pact tactics =a nasty combo. And can be encountered anywhere really in the wilderness, simple mindset just hunt the prey or defend den
So after talking to friends and family, I found out that a lot of them would be interested in playing... but all of us are bloody fvcking beginners. I decided to DM and rather than starting with a whole campaign, I thought about a one shot to slowly get them used to character making, the mechanics and role playing with low stakes (trying themselves out and not necessarily committing to a character). So now I'm researching and these low-level monsters are quite a help. I think I might use a fey to get them introduced to "When will you learn, THAT YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES".
Undead: Similar to Spectres, Allip are a crazy good CR 5, that are resistant to most forms of damage, immune to the rest, and immune to most, if not, all conditions. They also have the twist of disrupting the party with its Howling Babble and Whispers of Compulsion, before the party can see it.
First lowlevel Monster I ever used was crawling claws. Also rats: Swarm of rats, giant rats, dire rats, wererats,... And for a wildernis adventure I used the same rats and told the players they encountered beavers.
My first encounter was avatar of death... I regret not screening deck of many cards ahead of time before i had a bandit steal a deck from the arch mage of the local college
Aberrations: The Nothic is only CR 2, is unnerving to look at, and can insidiously learn a character's secrets. With a +5 to Stealth, it should be able to hit one character with its Rotting Gaze, during the surprise round, before bounding off down a hallway.
I made an encounter where there's two Bandits controlling two giant rats and if they manage to knock out the bandits before the rats the rats will run off
Great video, 1 suggestion though, despite the subtitles that come with the video if you decide to make a similar video it would be great to put down the name for each monster for people who aren't familiar with these creatures and newer DMs specifically.
In an old 3.5 game I played the DM converted the 2e quickling to 3.5, had it ruled it was invisible and impossible to target so long as it was moving, and it ran around beating the crap out of us (low damage but impossible to avoid or attack back). Only way to defeat it was by creating difficult terrain and using AOEs, was a fun and terrifying fight, but would've been totally screwed if we didn't catch on sooner. Lil bugger was targeting the wizard and almost dropped him before we figured out what was going on.
actually had swarms of stirges knock out a lvl 7 monk, because he was the only alive creature in range, the other players near him being undead creatures so they only focused on him...
I find reskinning or nerfing encounters to be more fun. Take an enemy and reskin and tweak them. Nerf them or buff them if u have to. I’m currently making a fresh campaign and within the first 2-3 sessions I plan on having them face a mini boss that’s just a reskinned hill giant. I turned it into a titanic skeleton under ice resurrected by a ritual. Plan on having them fall down and be cushioned by snow putting them in a new boss arena. Nerfed the giant pretty hard because they might not be level 4 by the time they get there lmao
You could have done with writing the creatures name next to them as your microphone semi cuts out at the start of a sentence. Other then that, very useful 👌
An easy way to reskin a low level monster is to change the gear and tactics. Swap the weapons and armor out and you have a whole new enemy, even if it has the same base stats.
For my campaigns I tend to lean towards monsters more like Remorhaz. It's pretty low CR of 11 puts it easy on a party of level 1-2 although it still requires some thought due to the 3D6 damage taken whenever hit by a melee attack or within 5ft of the monster. It's bite attack deals 6D10 + 7 Piercing and 3D6 Fire averaging around 50, a bit above average but nothing in the TPK range.
Be careful ! Some of those monster are designed as high level minions. They have low CR but are not meant for low level players, they are designed to fight alongside other monsters against high level players. The Shadow, the Intellect Devourer, and many others will have a high chance to kill one or more low level PC before going down. Do not use those monsters if you don't want a PC to die in that encounter ! Always double check the actions of the monster, try to imagine a round of attacks. For exemple the Orc against a level 1 character. It can do up to 15 damage on a regular attack and 27 damage on a crit, with an average of 9 and 16. So on the first round, he will take down a PC with a low chance of killing it on the spot. That's normal, the Orc is a mid level minion, not a low level monster.
Just want to say stright up, rot grub swarms are just cruel to send at your players! And the whole cr 1/2 is just way off in my opinion hahah Thank you for the video by the way. Subscribed!
They used to be worse, their bite did no damage points, but had a numbing effect, so the player had to make either a INT or CON, I can't remember which, check to even notice the presence of the grubs, although back then if the fire missed as long as the rot grub entered from an arm or leg the player had a couple of turns before it was too deep. Although, they can also be killed by anything capable of a Cure Disease effect, so hopefully the healer has a spell ready to fly.
Well it is like... Our druid likes to summon poisonous snakes, as their CR rating is 1/8 they do 2d4 poison each, and she can summon a lot of them. So one time she summons them against some sorcerer urds. So our damn had them find the snakes and mostly succumb to them. But if I had been damn I would have them take it to the air and just burn them with any aoes they had. The snakes have like to health. CR doesn't really mean anything
Grey oozes are just mean. I was running Dragon of Icespire Peak and someone recommended swapping out the Ochre Jelly for Grey Ooze. I looked at the stats, saw the lower CR, but then the weapon ruining ability... Nah, ochre jelly for my players it is.
Don't use Shadows too freely! A person with it's Strength reduced to 0 DIES IMMEDIATELY! A few hits by some Shadows can turn the tide in an instant, and potentially cause a TPK.
I'm genuinely afraid my amateur 1st lvl party will die in a tavern fight against drunk unnamed npc before even getting to one of these amazing creatures😃
The players encounter a small child in the road crying over the body of his dead dog. As the party deals with this, the boy suddenly transforms into a giant spider. FIGHT! During the fight, another spider appears from behind the party. AMBUSH! Once the fight is over they notice the dog is still alive. Wait... it's not an injured dog! It's a shapeshifted druid who was trying to ambush the party to rob their dead bodies. It really sets up expectations that the DM is a devious SOB
Be VERY careful using Intellect Devourers as a "low level encounter." Even a single intellect devourer can result in an almost instant TPK with only a couple of bad rolls.
Also, be careful with Rot Grubs. I've lost characters to both in the first session. Intellect devourer was a bad roll after a stupid decision (made intentionally, OOC) but the rot grubs killed me in one round for not standing far enough away while someone messed with an item.
My first level party used sleep and ran.
I found this s*** out the hard way 2 weeks ago
yeah my party ran into one at level 2 (they were meant to be level 1 but I let them level early) and one of my players had his brain devoured but luckily my campaign is set in a city with a lot of powerful people so they found someone to cast greater restoration.
Just like a Shadow.
One of the more memorable, opening story arcs I once did for my campaign was using kobolds that were worshipping a dragon (as kobolds do), making the party believe that is what they were eventually facing. Some of the players were freaking out that they'll have to fight a dragon at level 1-3, some assumed this was some dragoin wyrmling...
In the end it turned out that it was just a plain lizardfolk shaman who used simple magic and persuasion to convince the kobolds he WAS an actual dragon to have his own minions :D I still remember the reveal when the build up was that a dragon was about to enter and when the true became apparent, some of my players spat a bit of unpleasant words (in a joking manner of course - they loved the twist ^^').
Tips on Gibbering outhers: I've always assumed the gibbering mouthers are essentially like parrots, and are imitating things they have heard previous victims say; similar to the way The Predator said "over here.", or "do you want some candy." If a character passes their save against the gibbering, have them realize that one of the random things said was actually a clue to the quest.
Imitating things their previous victims say? "What's that noise? Where are you?! Help-HELP! Save me-Save me-Save me-Save me-"
@@jessegd6306 right but then you throw in there (with a WIS or INt check of course), "According to the map there's a secret door under the tapestry." Then the players are like wait, secret door? tapestry? where's that. Lo and behold later, they see a tapestry and wonder...
@@jessegd6306
Doctor Who style "hey, who turned off the lights?". I very much appreciate that idea.
That's a great idea.
I just stole this idea. You the man!
Someone said level 1-3 of dnd is survival horror and I really like to lean into that. Designing encounters where it makes more sense for the low level party to try strategem rather than a straight fight, using npcs to their advantage, or even fleeing the encounter rather than fighting through it
I'm planning something like this for my first DM campaign, watching local kids dash out into shallow water, kill a single tapeworm pest that's praying on the local oyster crop and then dashing back to land with the body to trade in for a copper. If the players don't leave enough travelling speed to get back, they'll get swarmed by a few, resulting in the rest of the team needing to dash in and help them.
If all goes well, maybe I'll throw in a local kids first time that gets it wrong and needs to be saved. Just need to create a monster now. Will probably re skin something With a poison/grapple ability and give it a swimming speed
Take any monster at all (almost), turn it undead, then cut off bits until what's left is the level you need - giant --> giant's undead hand; dragon --> dragon skull, neck, one lower arm and hand plus a lot of connecting sinew; owlbear --> owlbear missing a foot it chewed off to get out of a trap.
Zombie or skeleton wildlife works too.
Monstrosity: That which strikes fear into the most heavily armored of fighters, the Rust Monster.
1:24 **DO NOT** use intellect devourers on a low level party, unless your intent is to do a full TPK
But they are only CR 3.
Or do you mean that Wizards of the Coast still hasn't figured out how to give monsters meaningful CRs, after more than 20 years?
@@rogerwilco2 Yeah, Intellect Devourers are CR 3 in the sense that they aren't great in a straight fight. They should be something like power 3 and possible consequences 10.
Two intellect devourers nearly killed the warlock in the party I DM for.... He was level 9
Intellect Devourer stat blocks are unimpressive, for sure. The problem is their unique abilities which, with only a couple of bad rolls, can result in an almost instant TPK, especially since those bad rolls are reliant on an ability which the vast majority of players use as a dump stat in 5e. Intellect Devourer snatches your third level Totem of the Bear barbarian with a crit-fishing GWM build? The now-effectively-dead Barbarian (huzzah, low level save or die!) proceeds to kill the whole party, resistant to everything they throw at it.
Even at much higher levels, these things can still generate a TPK in the right circumstances just by being present.
@@rogerwilco2 CR is already meaningful if you use it for it's intended purpose: keeping in mind how much damage the creature can do per turn, and how many hitpoints they have. CR is not meant to be a "This creature is CR 3 so you can blindly plug in this creature into an encounter for a lvl3 party" kind of tool. You will still need to read the full statblock, think beforehand about whether the encounter needs to be combat or not in the first place, if it is combat is it an fight to get away, a fight for resources that both groups need, or is it a fight to defeat the enemy, and you have to think on whether your party can deal with the negative consequences, other than damage, things like poison, sickness, mind control or petrification. How would wizards of the coast ever express in a single number that the danger of a monster is in how sudden they appear, or in how big the group of monsters is compared to the party?
CR wasn't ever meant to express all of these things and more. CR is just an estimate for damage, hitpoints and EXP calculation, and that is exactly what it is based on. How you use a monster, what kind of danger it should pose and what kind of encounter you build is what makes an encounter deadly or not.
I think I just had a great idea for a HIGH level encounter using Ogre Howdahs.
The Stomping Fortress. A herd of dozens of Ogre Howdahs, with several larger specimens sporting large, elaborate fortifications on their backs. When threatened, they get into formation, pull out tower shields, and become a full-on fortress in their own right. The smaller humanoids spread bridges between the fortifications for ease of movement, and to make it easier to bolster the outer ranks.
The real kicker here, is that they're coordinated enough to move around using loud verbal commands. Play it like this: The Howdahs get one turn in initiative, and their "riders" get a turn as well. On the Howdahs turn, their next move has to be announced at the end of the turn as a verbal command.
This allows the Howdahs to be a massive and unique threat, while giving your players time to react. Their riders allow for a more active threat that can keep up with the players, harassing them and not letting them get comfortable with the Howdahs slow, predictable charges.
Only throw Intellect Devourers at a party under 4th level if you expect somebody to die... They have caused disasters for the party every time I've used them, even at 8th level
I don't see how a single one could cause trouble for an 8th level party, if they use any sort of care.
Intellect devourers are disaters
@@kamikeserpentail3778 Some people like to play with almost no threat to their characters. As a result, if anything moderately dangerous shows up, they aren't prepared to deal with it.
For my games. I tend to use Giant Wasps which are reflavored goblin stat blocks.
It isn't a hard sell for the players to hate or outright exterminate Wasps. (I was inspired by Fable: The Lost Chapters).
Isn’t there already a giant wasp creature?
Somehow I instantly knew what you were making an homage to.
There's plenty of inspiration to be gained from Fable series, great choice
Hero, your health is low! Do you have any potions or food?
@@FiksIIanzO I didn't, but I was still immediately invested in the idea of killing wasps.
Reskinning is a lot of fun, especially when you tweak the creature. Like changing a movement speed from climb to burrow, or vice versa.
I LOVE using gibbering mouthers! So much fun to describe and play!!
My players are now scarred from too many gibbering mouthers. It doesn't matter if they are level 3 or level 10, if they hear something that might be a gibbering mouther, they will be noping out of there as fast as possible.
@@yodal_ They can be brutal. Especially if your party doesn't have enough ranged classes.
I didn't know I needed to see an Intellect Devourer in boots, but it was much appreciated.
My first campaign as a player, the DM (first campaign as a DM) tossed a Shadow at us, looking primarily at the CR. My low strength character almost died. Be very careful with anything that has an ability to kill a player character without reducing them to 0 HP first.
The more I read the comments on here, the more I appreciate pf2e's monster level system. Coming up with a raiding party is such a joy!
Its eazy to kill your players, its hard to ALMOST kill your players
Thanks for making this! Note: "gibbering" is like the word "gibberish", pronounced with a 'j' sound at the start: JIB-bur-ing.
Then of course you can mix and match Kobolds and Goblins and bandits with other creatures.... (Kobolds in the service of a dragon might have some loyal guard drakes if their lord is feeling generous... and they can use them as mounts... a Kobold Dragonshield mounted on a Guard Drake can make for a pretty mean combo...)
Or giant Vultures carrying around some Kobolds(They both have pack tactics so having Kobold riding on them would let both mount, passengers, and rider to benefit....
That and some of these creatures could also be used in traps by the above.... (Kobolds in a swamp? Sure they might have some pits full of Quippers to throw you into...)
"Kobold dragonshield on a guard drake" Well I know what I'm doing.
Meanwhile my Dragons:
Release the Intellect devourers.
That's how I got banned from DMing.
@@RedSunUnderParadise Meanwhile in my game: The players sell a bound and unconscious Black Dragon wyrmling to an Illathid while in the black Market area of the Sewers.... (Gotta love it when the players chose to do things that can become problems for them later on down the line in the campaign...)
@@minnion2871
Based. My group does that too. A lot. Not just illithids, sometimes we sell dragons to Gith and Warforged and perpetuate their wars for profit. Best part? The paladin(Ambition or Conquest played by either me or my brother) are the ones doing the haggling.
Gnolls are fantastic enemies and vastly underrated imo
the main villains are trying to dummon aboleth, so i wanted to include some abberations in the campaign. i had so much fun in describing a sewer with a gibbering mouther in it that my player almost fell into. I describe that the stone had contorted into something fleshy. and once i describe the actual mouther, he was so freaked out
Great suggestions, the tip about using the same stats with different descriptions is really handy when you have experienced players.
One I used a while back was Vargouille. I had the party go out to rescue some nobles, but when they got to the bandit hideout, the bandits were all dead, the nobles unconscious. On the way back to town, all of the nobles' heads twist off in horrific fashion and the Vargouille attack the party.
Even the veteran players didn't see it coming.
*yoink*
Very cool video! Will be sure to use some of these for my homegame.
Be wary of scourges- they are the 1/8 CR level because of their health. They do a sizable amount of damage with their auto hit, with surprisingly good AC, in numbers they can wipe low level parties.
They can easily be countered with sleep spell.
1. excellent work. Great content Good Script.
2. Really like your art style throughout your videos.
3. The only way this would be better: include the Monster name and book/page number - but really this was excellent, so don't worry about that.
The side campaign I ran to give my DM a break revolved around a Druid that went mad. Rats, ravens, giant rats, beefed up deer I home brewed as "great stags," wolves and dire wolves, dire bears that were just low CR dinosaurs I reskinned, and even awakened shrubs and trees.
The party loved it after session after session of goblins and bandits in our main campaign. Sadly I TPKd them due to bad choices on both sides of the table (don't trust CR with level three players..) so I've been working on the next chapter of the story with them arriving in the Shadowfell and dealing with trying to get home. Zombies, skeletons, shadows, and the like will all be a whole new flavor for them. Of course, the Druid will still be pushing against the hamlet they started in and getting stronger while they're gone, so I'll have to nerf the Archdruid stats a lot less.
Breaking away from the tired CR < 2 monsters is fun.
Wonderful video! I'm trying to run a campaign with a lot of aberrations, but the players start at level 3 so I had trouble finding interesting and balanced monsters to work with. Thanks for helping me create encounters with this video!
Iron Cobras are no joke. That random poison effect is bonkers.
9:48 as a cat owner i can confirm, they are just litle devils in disguise and i love em for it
A great collection of low level creatures and I love the line art. I particularly love the Pegasus, horses are notoriously difficult to draw yet your Pegasus was dynamic and powerful, fantastic thanks !
Nothic's are cool lads too. Gets some character backstory out in thr open with mind reading
I love this, gonna have to try some of these out to surprise my players. I did a low level one shot where the final boss of the players investigating a trade route blockage ended up being a "Wolf In Sheep's Clothing" that was threatening to choke the forest the trade route ran through of any life. (google it, its a fun and bizarre classic monster that sadly did get updated to 5th edition)
If my knowledge of history serves me this day, the tale of the brave knights fighting an evil bunny is a perfect example of this. Though they required the use of an artifact called the Holy Hand Grenade or something akin. Oh well, they fought bravely. Those fools
Technically, the Death Burst effect is different for the various kinds of Mephits. Mud Mephits, for instance, can restrain creatures on death, while Magma Mephits deal fire damage. It varies.
Mephits also have a bunch of breath weapons, that have various offensive or debuff effects. As such, they can fill a number of different roles in a fight. Useful both in groups on their own, or as minions for other creatures.
The main downside to this is their low save DC, meaning individual Mephits are unlikely to make their breath weapons stick against all but low level parties. Which is why they're often found in large numbers. Sooner or later, the PCs will fail some saves.
These are some of the best dnd'n videos out there. As a long time player I love how you break down and explain subjects for EVERYONE
It would be great if there was Super Bunny and Holy Hand Grenade in DnD.
No reason there can't be. Don't let your dreams be dreams!
Super helpful as I planning my first one shot and I was looking for something that is not a goblin or kobold for a couple of random encounters.
Still have a Kobold pair but their part of a skill challenge (silvery barbs) and unlikely to be an actual threat unless the players attack them.
One of the things that 5e should have kept from 4e was the obvious monster role tags (skirmisher, artillery, etc) to let DMs build really fun tactical encounters just at a glance.
Quicklings are a lot of fun. They hit hard and go down fast, so the tide can turn rapidly in either direction. I recommend having some Schrödinger's Quicklings that can enter the battle if things go shockingly smoothly, or have some retreat with their ungodly movement speed if the players are having a rough time.
Very useful video. I'm definitely adding your channel to my gaming help links.
As for low level encounters, I've been reskinning monsters and adding a passive ability or weaker version of an attack from a larger monster. A low level construct or goblin becomes a broken or unfinished golem for example. It keeps the new players unsure and surprises old players with different stats.
I actually had a really fun experience with reskinning monsters a couple times.
When I was running an MTG themed campaign, I actually re-skinned some lesser used creatures (of my own repertoire since I don't often get to run adventures anymore) as Eldrazzi. I had used a wyvern, slaads, and I believe a hydra, but described them as strange, otherworldly abominations
My favorite is a group of corrupt tax collectors who've decided to set up a toll booth. Low level players often find the 10% of coin or 20GP, whichever is greater, plus surprise fees for carrying weapons at the ready to be a bit too much. If they pay up, they'll get a letter of permission for carrying the weapons, signed by the officer and with the real seal (which they don't need). If they fight... well, you've just slain the King's Men. Not sure if they are humanoids or fiends.
They're taxmen, always fiends
Troglodytes are my favourite, especially in caves. Because they have stench that poisons those of low constitution, it's fun to use to build up to a trog encounter.
Terrific video. Those sketches!
mischievous, not mischievious; 'comprises', not 'is comprised of'
Please kill me. All best.
My two favorite low level abberition is the Gazer and Choker
Brilliant I am putting together a campaign for a bunch of beginners (my daughters mates) and wanted to give them classic fantasy whilst enjoying it myself ... fresh eyes on a mass on monsters can make it an exercise I take no "over used" monsters and stick to this list.
I like wolves, but that's because I like to run campaigns where you can feel the wild world and the act of traveling actually feels like an adventure
In 5e I still beleive the most underrated low cp monster is wolves. Pounce+ pact tactics =a nasty combo. And can be encountered anywhere really in the wilderness, simple mindset just hunt the prey or defend den
So after talking to friends and family, I found out that a lot of them would be interested in playing... but all of us are bloody fvcking beginners. I decided to DM and rather than starting with a whole campaign, I thought about a one shot to slowly get them used to character making, the mechanics and role playing with low stakes (trying themselves out and not necessarily committing to a character). So now I'm researching and these low-level monsters are quite a help. I think I might use a fey to get them introduced to "When will you learn, THAT YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES".
I'm gonna be totally honest, I came here only for the funny pictures. The advice is just a nice bonus.
Undead: Similar to Spectres, Allip are a crazy good CR 5, that are resistant to most forms of damage, immune to the rest, and immune to most, if not, all conditions.
They also have the twist of disrupting the party with its Howling Babble and Whispers of Compulsion, before the party can see it.
First lowlevel Monster I ever used was crawling claws.
Also rats: Swarm of rats, giant rats, dire rats, wererats,... And for a wildernis adventure I used the same rats and told the players they encountered beavers.
My first encounter was avatar of death...
I regret not screening deck of many cards ahead of time before i had a bandit steal a deck from the arch mage of the local college
The fact they're apparently not called "slaadpoles" is a crime against language.
Aberrations: The Nothic is only CR 2, is unnerving to look at, and can insidiously learn a character's secrets.
With a +5 to Stealth, it should be able to hit one character with its Rotting Gaze, during the surprise round, before bounding off down a hallway.
Yesss, love gnolls. Less in modern editions were they are inherently evil instead of more rational mercenaries, but still love me some doggies
I need a full version of "I'm a Lich, I'm a boss."
Since I like to write Horror Campaigns, I'd especially like to work with the ones that induce fear and terror. Along with the undead.
Goblins can incite fear and terror if used correctly.
Unless you mean the actual fear condition
I made an encounter where there's two Bandits controlling two giant rats and if they manage to knock out the bandits before the rats the rats will run off
8:25 I'm getting Hisoka vibes from this. All I could think was "Bungee gum has the properties of rubber and gum"
Gah thank you for this. Almost wish they had organized the monsters by rating its overwhelming to sort through
Great video, 1 suggestion though, despite the subtitles that come with the video if you decide to make a similar video it would be great to put down the name for each monster for people who aren't familiar with these creatures and newer DMs specifically.
In an old 3.5 game I played the DM converted the 2e quickling to 3.5, had it ruled it was invisible and impossible to target so long as it was moving, and it ran around beating the crap out of us (low damage but impossible to avoid or attack back). Only way to defeat it was by creating difficult terrain and using AOEs, was a fun and terrifying fight, but would've been totally screwed if we didn't catch on sooner. Lil bugger was targeting the wizard and almost dropped him before we figured out what was going on.
Boggles seem like a lot of fun to run. They're bouncy, slimy, sticky, tricky and looking to have some fun
0:44 alright I'll subscribe 😎
Haha, I said the exact same thing at 2:03
Straight up amazing work! Keep it up :D
I really enjoyed this video and think it gives a lot of good ideas for even reskinning common adventures.
Incredible video! Love your content so far
Thanks a ton!
I'd have loved to see Star Spawn in the aberration section. Easily my favorite aberrations.
Call of Cthulhu D20 was made for 3rd Edition.
@@dubuyajay9964 ?
actually had swarms of stirges knock out a lvl 7 monk, because he was the only alive creature in range, the other players near him being undead creatures so they only focused on him...
I love to take these low level monsters and buff them to be interesting even in later levels
I find reskinning or nerfing encounters to be more fun. Take an enemy and reskin and tweak them. Nerf them or buff them if u have to. I’m currently making a fresh campaign and within the first 2-3 sessions I plan on having them face a mini boss that’s just a reskinned hill giant. I turned it into a titanic skeleton under ice resurrected by a ritual. Plan on having them fall down and be cushioned by snow putting them in a new boss arena. Nerfed the giant pretty hard because they might not be level 4 by the time they get there lmao
In a campaign a number of years back, I decided goblins were too cliché, so I had the starting town be attacked by merfolk.
I’ve never ran an encounter without an ooze
I actually just started a new campaign where they fought two gibbering mouthers that were a science experiment
You need more subscribers this is a good Channel and has been helpful
Thank you! Share us with your friends if you can!
Ikea Gölem. Brilliant.
Screaming Devilkin are pretty good early level monsters. Despite the name, they are Fey.
You could have done with writing the creatures name next to them as your microphone semi cuts out at the start of a sentence. Other then that, very useful 👌
An easy way to reskin a low level monster is to change the gear and tactics. Swap the weapons and armor out and you have a whole new enemy, even if it has the same base stats.
For my campaigns I tend to lean towards monsters more like Remorhaz. It's pretty low CR of 11 puts it easy on a party of level 1-2 although it still requires some thought due to the 3D6 damage taken whenever hit by a melee attack or within 5ft of the monster. It's bite attack deals 6D10 + 7 Piercing and 3D6 Fire averaging around 50, a bit above average but nothing in the TPK range.
This is a wonderful resource can you please do this for Pathfinder 2e?
This is amazing video!
Be careful ! Some of those monster are designed as high level minions. They have low CR but are not meant for low level players, they are designed to fight alongside other monsters against high level players. The Shadow, the Intellect Devourer, and many others will have a high chance to kill one or more low level PC before going down.
Do not use those monsters if you don't want a PC to die in that encounter !
Always double check the actions of the monster, try to imagine a round of attacks. For exemple the Orc against a level 1 character. It can do up to 15 damage on a regular attack and 27 damage on a crit, with an average of 9 and 16. So on the first round, he will take down a PC with a low chance of killing it on the spot. That's normal, the Orc is a mid level minion, not a low level monster.
i like using large bugs (like around the size of a german shepard)
cool video interesting alternatives I wish the names had been displayed on screen had trouble googling their names that i couldn't spell lol
We always add the closed captions- they should be there that way. But noted!
Gotta whip out those xvarts instead of just goblins :D
Just want to say stright up, rot grub swarms are just cruel to send at your players! And the whole cr 1/2 is just way off in my opinion hahah Thank you for the video by the way. Subscribed!
They used to be worse, their bite did no damage points, but had a numbing effect, so the player had to make either a INT or CON, I can't remember which, check to even notice the presence of the grubs, although back then if the fire missed as long as the rot grub entered from an arm or leg the player had a couple of turns before it was too deep. Although, they can also be killed by anything capable of a Cure Disease effect, so hopefully the healer has a spell ready to fly.
Well it is like... Our druid likes to summon poisonous snakes, as their CR rating is 1/8 they do 2d4 poison each, and she can summon a lot of them.
So one time she summons them against some sorcerer urds.
So our damn had them find the snakes and mostly succumb to them.
But if I had been damn I would have them take it to the air and just burn them with any aoes they had.
The snakes have like to health.
CR doesn't really mean anything
Grey oozes are just mean. I was running Dragon of Icespire Peak and someone recommended swapping out the Ochre Jelly for Grey Ooze. I looked at the stats, saw the lower CR, but then the weapon ruining ability... Nah, ochre jelly for my players it is.
4:48 it's Noh!
Video: "mephits are a combination of...... "
Me: muppets? 🤔
this is such a good video and great content
Great video
Don't use Shadows too freely! A person with it's Strength reduced to 0 DIES IMMEDIATELY! A few hits by some Shadows can turn the tide in an instant, and potentially cause a TPK.
I'm genuinely afraid my amateur 1st lvl party will die in a tavern fight against drunk unnamed npc before even getting to one of these amazing creatures😃
4:18 they all be talking about blahaj, but the real shit in ikea is the gölem
This is an awesome channel!
Running the tortle package they went up against geonids at level 1. An hour of hellish combat later I resolved to never trust cr again
That Mouse is going to shank that cat
The players encounter a small child in the road crying over the body of his dead dog. As the party deals with this, the boy suddenly transforms into a giant spider. FIGHT! During the fight, another spider appears from behind the party. AMBUSH! Once the fight is over they notice the dog is still alive. Wait... it's not an injured dog! It's a shapeshifted druid who was trying to ambush the party to rob their dead bodies.
It really sets up expectations that the DM is a devious SOB
add some fun: add levels to goblins and make their first appearance at about PC lvl 4.
I run Epic 6 just for this sort of thing.