Ok so I will start this off by saying I don't like 4th edition, but they do have some ideas that I think need to be at least looked at, and one of these is the idea of lesser versions of the creatures. Although not the way they have done it with a different name and the sarificial 1 hit point and all that. But as a optional rules or guidelines for the DM to use to add a touch of the overpowering encounter, without really overpowering the party.
I was wondering if some of you might be of the same opinion on this topic. But I have always felt that they tried too hard to balance the creatures to the party in such a way that it almost always seemed stale. This is mostly because you knew the rules had the DM place in 5 gnolls because that was all your party should handle, and a sixth one would be too much. So if you wanted to run your 4th level players through a lair of orcs, you ether had to make it a really small lair or really spread out the creatures. But how often do you find that kind of a lair in the fantasy books that we all wanted our adventures to be like? Hardly ever, they are almost always huge and packed with creatures.
Let’s take for instance if you look at things like Tolkien did, he knew that the individual orc or even two orcs were never much of a threat. He knew that it was the massive orc horde that was a danger to everyone. Think about what a shame it would have been if Tolkien had to follow the encounter chart in the DMG when setting some of those scenes.
The mines of Moria; Ok so let’s say that Gandolf and Aragorn have to be at high levels, maybe say 14th and 10th, and Boromir, Gimli and Legolas are at pretty decent levels, we’ll say 7th each. But the hobbits are all low, 2nd level at best, so you can figure that the party level was only around 6th level. (14+10+7+7+7+2+2+2+2=53÷9=5.9) So then he would look at the chart and see he could throw around 20 goblins at them, but how many would he have to leave out for that cave troll in the movie. Come to think of it I don’t think that he took any out and it looked like a lot more than 20 goblins.
Then there is Boromir’s defense of Merry and Pippen; Just where did he think that a couple of dozen Uruk-hai against Boromir was a balanced fight? That encounter was geared more towards a 7th level party of four Boromirs.
And just what level were the men of Rohan that they had an encounter with 10,000 Urik-hai? Even with Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, and King Theodin in the party, that encounter was way too high for the party. (Ok on this one I’ll give in. Tolkien meant to kill the party on this one.)
Now this may seem like Tolkien was the ultimate killer DM, but really what it meant was that he understood that not all monsters are standard. Some trolls are weaker than others, not all goblins are the same, etc. This is something that unfortunately Wizards of all people has figured out with 4th edition. The idea of using monster roles is great for DMs who want to give these sweeping battles without killing the party, giving them the hordes of goblins to hack their way through.
This idea isn’t by any means new though. Over the years I have experimented with the idea, only to have players argue that I couldn’t do that because it went against the rules, made the encounters too hard, or that just sounds dumb. (As a side note I think it is funny that many of these same players like that feature in 4th edition. But I digress.) So now that it has been proven to many of these doubting players I have given some of the players I know that want to stay with 3.5 some encounters where I used the following monster roles guidelines and they have really enjoyed them. So I was interested in what you thought about them, and if you thought it might be at least a rules option you might include.
Monster Roles
When creating an encounter according to the 3.5 rules a DM can find themselves to be quite limited. While the using the Challenger Rating rules to balance an encounter to the party’s level is very helpful in setting up a balanced encounter, there are times that the DM wants to have an encounter that seems totally overwhelming, yet isn’t. This is where the rules are flawed because the resulting number of creatures that the party faces with always be too low to make the encounter seem overwhelming, unless you decide to use another weaker monster to fill in the numbers. But if you do that then what would be the point of using that monster to begin with? How would that make sense if your orc lair was full of kobolds that they used for cannon fodder?
This is in part because the creature’s CR is established on the idea of only one standard creature for that CR or one more advanced with a higher CR. So if your party of six 3rd level characters has an party level of 4 then you can only face 6 monsters with a ½ CR, or less if one of the creatures is advanced in any way. This doesn’t offer much in the way of an action packed or nail biting encounter without having to dress up the location or something else to make it exciting.
Now I have seen the pathfinder encounter table and I must say that I like that it gives numbers for different levels of encounter difficulty. That offers the DM a chance to give the party a variety of challenging encounters. But even then you can’t really create the overwhelming experience that you find in great fantasy stories. Let’s use pathfinder’s encounter charts and I’ll show you something of what I mean. Say that I want to create a challenging encounter with orcs for the 4th level party above, but I want to give it a bit of the overwhelming flavor. So looking at pathfinder’s chart we see that we can use 8 to 10 ors for the encounter. I want to make one of the orcs a cleric and perhaps give them a bugbear to really give the fighters a challenger.
Example; Your 4 level party comes across the orc raiders attacking a small farm and they find the following;
1 orc 2nd level cleric (counts as two monsters)
1 bugbear (counts as two monsters)
6 orc warriors (counts as one each)
8 monsters total. (Taking up 10 slots)
It really doesn’t amount to much of a raiding party. But if you adopt a variation of the 4th edition rules for Monster Roles with lesser versions of the orcs, then you can create a much more exciting and action packed encounter that isn’t over powering for the party. Take the example above and use the monster roles guidelines below and adjust the encounter so that it might look like this;
1 orc 2nd level cleric (counts as two monsters)
1 bugbear soldier (counts as two monsters)
1 orc soldier (counts as one monster)
1 orc brute (counts as one monster)
4 orc archers (counts as two monsters)
8 orc minions (counts as two monsters)
16 monsters total (taking up 10 slots)
Now that is a bit more like a dangerous raiding party. You could even make it two bugbears by using two bugbear skirmishers instead of a soldier. So using the guidelines below you can adjust your monsters for your encounter to give you a more realistic and memorable encounter, but still not totally overwhelming the party.
It should be noted that some creatures should not have lesser versions. Among these are most vermin. This is because it really isn’t necessary to create a lesser version of say a giant spider when you can just use a large or huge spider. The same goes for scorpions, beetles, etc. Any creature that has different sizes available doesn’t need these guidelines because it has already been done for the DM. Also along that thought is dragons, who have a description for their different ages.
Constructs and elements also don’t follow these guidelines. These creatures are created or summoned through magic or by ritual or some other means. And because of the powers or steps that are involved in their creation is very specific the out come is almost always very similar creatures. For example; the steps to make one flesh golem is the same as the steps to make any other one. Neither process would produce two smaller golems instead of one regular golem. So in that instance the standard rules apply.
Minions:
The lowest and weakest of their kind, Minions represent the cannon fodder of their tribe. Only monsters with a challenger rating of 3 or less can have Minions among their ranks. It takes 4 minions to equal one standard monster of its type. These are the monsters that your heroes wade through with relative ease.
Minions are roughly ¼ the full hit points of the creature’s hit die, not including any bonuses. Example; a bugbear has a 3d8+3 hit dice, but a bugbear Minion would only have 6 hit points. (3d8=24 ÷ 4 = 6.) You would only use the 3d8, and not the +3.
Minions are also weaker, -4 points to strength, -2 to saves, and have a combat bonus of 2 less than a standard monster, as well as a lower damage result. Minions only use standard melee weapons and cannot choose weapons from the martial melee weapons lists and can never score a critical hit. If the creature has natural weapons then lower the damage down by two damage dice; such as a 1d4 instead of a 1d8. The same should be done with any poison or special attacks. They are also less armored, 2 points lower than the standard either because of cheaper armor or weaker natural armor.
Skirmishers:
Slightly weaker than the standard monsters, yet better than Minions, Skirmishers are good for cheap decent troops or weaker offspring for solo creatures. More of a challenge than minions but it still takes 2 skirmishers to equal 1 normal creature. Skirmishers can be used as ambushers or sneak attackers for a tribe.
With ½ the full hit points of the creatures hit dice, not including any bonus points. So an orc Skirmisher would only have 4 hit points. (1d8 ÷ 2 = 4, don’t add the +1) Like Minions, Skirmishers are weaker as well, -2 points to strength, -1 to saves, and a combat bonus of 1 less than the standard. Skirmishers generally use standard melee weapons and usually do not choose weapons from the martial melee weapons lists. But there is a 20% chance that they may have martial melee weapons. If the creature has natural weapons then lower the damage down to the next damage dice; such as a 1d6 instead of a 1d8. The same should be done with any poison or special attacks. Skirmishers are also less armored, 1 point lower than the standard either because of cheaper armor or weaker natural armor.
Archers:
Also slightly weaker than the standard monsters, yet better than minions, Archers are the range attack of the tribe. More of a challenge than Minions but like the Skirmisher it still takes 2 Archers to equal 1 normal creature.
With ½ the full hit points of the creatures hit dice, not including any bonus points. So an orc Archer would only have 4 hit points. (1d8 ÷ 2 = 4, don’t add the +1) Like minions, Archers are weaker as well, -2 points to strength, -1 to saves, and Dexterity giving them a combat bonus of 1 less than the standard. Archers generally use standard ranged weapons and always use standard melee weapons and usually do not choose weapons from the martial melee weapons lists. But there is a 20% chance that they may have martial ranged weapons. If the creature has natural weapons then lower the damage down to the next damage dice; such as a 1d6 instead of a 1d8. The same should be done with any poison or special attacks. They are also less armored, 1 point lower than the standard either because of cheaper armor or weaker natural armor. Archers never carry shields so they also loose any shield bonuses to armor class.
Standard Creatures or Soldiers and Warriors:
The standard creature is just that, he or she counts as one whole creature in the encounter. These are the parents when dealing with the lairs of solo creatures and their offspring. They are the lone creatures or some of the best of the tribe.
With ¾ the full hit points plus any bonuses. Example; a bugbear has a 3d8+3 hit dice, so a bugbear Warrior would have 21 hit points. (3d8=24 X 75% = 18 + 3 bonus =21.) Other than the hit points Standard creatures are exactly as you see them in the book. They have all the stats and abilities as you see in the listed creature.
Brutes and Bullies:
The brutes and bullies are the hard hitters of the standard creature. They trudge into the battle to deal damage and to take it. Still only counting as one whole creature in an encounter, Brutes and Bullies are just slightly better, than an ordinary creature. They can be used to give the party a little more challenge without using an elite creature, but they should not be a standard in your dungeon. Brutes and Bullies should only amount to 10 to 15 percent of the times you wish to use a whole creature.
A Brute or Bully has the full hit points allowed by the hit dice of a creature. Plus they have a +2 to their constitution, so they gain a +1 to their hit points for each hit die. Example; a Bugbear Brute has 30 hit points (3d8+3 = 27 +3 for 3 hit dice = 30 total). So they can take more damage in a fight. Brutes and Bullies are usually melee fighters and generally choose two handed weapons and can choose from both the standard and martial lists. They have a +2 to their strength which gives them a +1 to hit and damage as well. But they care little for finesse in battle and are a little slower and bulkier then the standard creature so they suffer a -2 to their armor class if they have a shield and -3 to their armor class if they don’t carry a shield.
Advanced Creatures:
Of course not all creatures are standard or less than standard creatures, some are better than others. These are the advanced versions of the monster, either because of the recommended advancements in the creature’s description, such as adding a hit dice or two, or through class levels like a gnoll cleric. Advanced versions of monsters add excitement and danger to an encounter but they shouldn’t be used too often. These are the upper ranks of a band or community of monsters. They are the leaders or the most feared of a tribe of goblins, or the bugbear war chief, or the feared troll barbarian that stalks the Redwater Moors.
Frequency:
While the idea of using weaker versions of monsters in an encounter all the time to add excitement might appeal to some, it should be used in moderation and with some sense to it. Obviously a tribe of orc minions is a horrible thought to a village because it can be four times bigger than an army of standard orcs, even though it would not last long because of the lack of strong leaders to guide them.
A good rule of thumb is that for every two groups of Minions, Skirmishers, or Archers, or any combination of them, that you have one Standard Creature or Brute to lead them. So in the orc raiding party mentioned above, the standard orc could be in charge of the 4 archers, while the brute is leading the 8 minions.
Going beyond the encounter: You can also carry this idea beyond the individual encounter, and bring it into the creature’s lair itself. If you use the guidelines below, you can create a lair that could rival the largest of your favorite fantasy novel monster cities while still following the suggested number of creatures that the rules give for that monster.
For every ten standard creatures or combination that equals that in a single encounter, it is a good idea to have one advanced creature in the mix to act as an overall leader to the group. You can use the highest level character table in the DM’s guide to determine the number and types of character class monsters in a monster community.
For a tribe or clan of creatures that are above a challenge rating of 3, only 30% of the maximum number allowed can be Skirmishers or Archers. These should be half of each. For example if a creature has a maximum of 18 in a clan then 5 (30%) of those can be made into 10 lesser versions. Out of those 5 are Archers and 5 are Skirmishers. Out of the remaining 13 (18-5=13) only 2 (13x15% = 1.95 round up to 2) will be bullies. The remaining can be used as standard or advanced creatures.
When you are setting up a community of creatures that are a challenger rating of 2 and lower and you want to determine how many of the monster can be one of the lower roles you can follow this guide line. Take the listed number of creatures found in a community and times it by 60%. This is the number of monsters that can be of lower rank. 40% of these are Minions, 30% are Skirmishers, and 30% are Archers. Of the 40% out of the original number, 15% are bullies.
So a community of goblins can have up to 300 goblins as listed in the 3.5 Monster Manual. Or it can look like this;
300 goblins to begin with.
102 Standard monsters (40% of 300 = 120 x 85% = 102)
18 Bullies (40% of 300 = 120 x 15% = 18)
108 Skirmishers (60% of 300 = 180 x 30% = 54 x 2* = 108)
108 Archers (60% of 300 = 180 x 30% = 54 x 2* = 108)
288 Minions (60% of 300 = 180 x 40% = 72 x 4** = 288)
624 Total standard and lesser goblin males.
Add to this.
624 Females (100% of the males as in the MM.)
312 Young (50% of the males as in the MM.)
1560 Total goblins.
Making it a goblin community equal to a small town. And with this you can figure your highest level goblins that have classes just like you would for a regular community. And add in mercenaries and other creatures that work with the goblins, and before you know it you have enough of a monstrous community to fill your own version of the Mines of Moria.
Ok gang, I didn't realize how long I have been at this post. Sorry to make it so long. I would really like to read what some of you out there think of this idea though. Take care all and have fun gaming. And Happy Easter to anyone that celebrates it.