I am looking for some ideas for fights that are in the level 1-4 range and are more awesome than the usual 'goblins attack'. Any good stories or ideas?
Well that depends on how the goblins attack. I played in a group that managed to bluff our way deep into a goblin stronghold, before anyone noticed we weren't really tied. Then every goblin in the fortress started rushing in while their leader rode his mighty geko through combat. It was fairly intense.
I do recall a fight with some thugs and their alchemist leader who were kidnapping someone from an inn. They lit one room on fire as a distraction. They tried to ride off on horseback and the group illusionist made a silent image wall at the end of the ally, one of them didnt buy it but the others stopped or at least their horses did.
But those were awesome because of how they played out, not necessarily because they were inherently cool.
Even common threats can be interesting if they take place in a interesting location. A dynamic environment can make a meh combat into something Awesome. The other question is are you looking for something that is sort of in the middle of things, an intro to something bigger, or the end of a larger setup. That can also make a difference of how big you want to go.
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Well, just looking at the CR 1 and less monsters:
Kobolds, Drow, Goblins, Orcs, Duergar, Merfolk, Skeletons, Dire Rats, Fire Beetles, Giant Centipedes, Hobgoblins, Stirges, Tengu, Tieflings, Zombies, Small Elementals, Ghouls, Giant Frogs, Giant Spiders, Gnolls, Goblin Dogs, Homonculi, Hyenas, Horses, Lizardfolk, Spider Swarms, Svirfneblin, Troglodytes, Venomous Snakes, Wolves,
So, looking at that, my immediate idea is a group of some Humanoid (Lizrdfolk, Goblins, Gnolls, whatever) maybe plus their associated animals, led by a third level cleric who summons a Small Elemental with Summon Monster 2 (lasts 3 minutes, more than enough).
Or combine creatures in strange ways (Drow plus their Troglodyte slaves plus a Spider Swarm they've somehow gained control over), or creatures with class levels (add a Sorcerer and a Bard to a group Kobolds and watch the fun), and you can make almost anything fun.
And that's not even including the CR 2-4 creatures, everything from Ogres to lions to mimics and minotaurs.
I ran a game a few years ago for a few new players and 2 more experienced players. A village they were in started having sightings of odd creatures around town and the surounding area.
Stuff like large humming bird with a stinger, ants the size of a large dog with grasshopper leggs with jump attacks, an owl with a scorpions tail, and a flying constrictor snake to name a few.
The story behind the weirdness was a goblin sorcerer that had a wand of polymorphing that he got his hands on and was having a blast with it.
It turned out to be pretty fun for a low level game.
-Flea
You could have a traveler who was a witness in a murder case be captured by slavers and sold to duergar and tracking him down. you could have encounters along the way. I have not run this yet but I sort of want to now after thinking about it.
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Multi-layered fights are always the best, in my opinion...
Party encounters some mooks outside the "dungeon," and proceed to lay the smack down.
Preferably, one or two of the NPC's makes it to an alarm system (or flees into the dungeon area) and alerts its bosses.
Now, the PC's have to contend with the unknown factor of what is in that keep/cave/tunnel, who the mooks just warned, and how long until the bad guys come out.
Traps + Environmental hazards + low-level critters is awesome, too.
Party enters a "dungeon" and finds a room with a tilting floor trap. No big deal, right? Just balance your way across and get out the door.
Oops, when you open the exit door, portcullises shut off access, and fire jets start shooting out of the walls, perhaps at random.
To get out, the PCs must destroy the portcullis, find the hidden release switch below the tilting floor, and contend with the fire jets as well as the vipers in the pit down below.
Mix things up, switch critters around a bit, and always try to keep the PCs guessing, and you'll find more cinematic & interesting fights soon enough.
Use ledges, gaps and several planes for your fights.
It really allows more numerous foes an advantage and makes it less likely that the party just grinds everything in two rounds.
It also inspires for heroics, like standing jumps from one ledge to the other and such.
Remember to have the baddies have both melee, ranged and reach weapons in a decent mix. Don't be afraid to throw in a few tower shields too, being moved around as needed by their minders.
Glitterdust and Grease are low level and really annoying. Using them on the players is fun.
Many players are also focused on certain weapons and forget to carry backups or are simply so greedy they pack light. - Disarm.
Infiltrating their camp to steal their stuff is also good. - And if not possible, then harassing them to disrupt rest as much as possible.
Stuff stolen should of course re-appear somewhere in the lair. Well. If you are nice. - Be careful not to railroad stealing, if they can defend against it, let them. The mere attempt will keep them forever more on their toes. :-)
I once put a group of level 2 characters through a well defended and thoroughly booby-trapped kobold lair. They still talk about that experience today, four years later as one of the most awesome campaigns ever.
The lair was mostly just standard kobolds, but also included a couple of kobolds with class levels, some nasty giant insects and some custom creatures of my own creation. I used all sorts of tricks and techniques to harass and wear down the party.
I could challenge a party of level six characters with that same lair. Sometimes it's not what kind of monster you use as much as it's about how you approach the encounters. Simple plain vanilla kobolds can terrorize a party if you plan it properly.
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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Awesome fights take advantage of several different elements.
I am sure I will miss a couple, so here are the most common elements: the monster, terrain, pacing, and hazards.
Not all of these will be in every fight, and having all of them does not make a fight awesome. Most fights will only have a couple of these impacting the fight as a whole. For example, most fights have monsters with a little difficult terrain and none of the other two elements.
Lets take a look at each of these quickly and then I will give a couple examples of the elements working together.
Monsters: This the most recognizable element. These are the people and beasts the PCs will battle. Out of all the elements though, these are by far the most complex, as the stat blocks have the most statistics to consider when crafting a custom foe.
Terrain: This is the environment the fight takes place in. Most of the time, people think of the terrain as a flat horizontal surface. However, this is not always the case. The walls, ceiling, and permanent solid features can all add to the challenge of the fight. For example, if the fight takes place in a tavern, adding a stair case, a balcony, a stage, a bar, or paper thin walls can all give the players and foes more to work with and consider. Also, having movable parts in the terrain can make the fight more challenging. Tables, chairs, giant wood casks of alcohol (to either destroy or roll around,) and even innocent bystanders can all be part of a interactive terrain.
Pacing: This is the rate of the fight. Most fights will have the same feel in terms of pacing, and most of the time the players have just as much control of the pacing as the GM. However, if you want to speed things up or slow things down you can do a couple things. Having a time limit or giving the players incentive to not kill the target are both great ways to manipulate the pacing. A time limit can be from a hazard (i.e. fire,) an unwanted situation (i.e. the city guard is on their way,) or something unforeseen (i.e. the bad guy's get away car arrives.)
Hazards: These are anything that can harm or hamper the party. Traps, fire, on going spell effects, and dangerous terrain all up the challenge of the fight. Be creative in thinking about these, but not overly complex. In this case, simple is better. Terrain and Hazards work together and sometime share specific parts of the combat. For example, giant spider webs can be considered both, as the spider can use them to move around and above the PCs, while the PCs could be slowed and hampered by the webs if they don't properly deal with them. Weather and other things that have a very limited effect on the party also fall under this element.
Here are some good examples of how these can work well together.
One fight was an opening fight for the entire campaign. It happened in a tavern where the walls were constantly re-papered by blank, white, wall paper. The patrons would then draw on the walls. There was a bar that ran the length of one side, with shelves of alcohol behind it. Tables and chairs crowded the floor and there was a stair case opposite the only door to the tavern.
The party was in the back of the tavern, as far from the door as they could be. As the party was discussing one of the more interesting drawing on the wall (a map, a name, a meeting place and a time, all drawn by a gnome) a group of elves ran in and launched a fireball into the tavern. Without any warning at all. The place caught fire, and the elves started cutting down patrons, while the party scrambled to act. One of them had the mind to cut the map off the wall before it caught fire, another grabbed the gnome that had drawn the map. The remaining party members engaged the elves.
Most of the fight was spent avoiding fire while forcing the elves to deal with it. One of the elves, in attempt to escape the flames, dived behind the bar. A PC then smashed all of the glass alcohol bottles behind the bar and tossed a tindertwig at the poor man. In the end, the tavern was engulfed, and the smoke was becoming too much to handle, so the barbarian of the group smashed a hole in the wall and the party escaped.
Another great (and this time quick) example would be a fight that happened in a small gatehouse that was between two drawbridges. Both of the draw bridges were in shambles, and the gatehouse was surrounded by water. It was dark and raining. The monsters were aquatic zombies. It became clear to the PCs that they were not going to be able to stand their ground and so there was a race to move to higher ground before they were overrun. The zombies appeared at rate of 1d3 a round, and would have been more then the party could handle had they not became creative in the crossing of the second drawbridge.
In short, the awesome battles have to do with more then just a monster. They have to do with several different elements. Also keep in mind that an awesome fight doesn't have to be one where the PCs defeat every foe. Sometimes an awesome, memorable fight is one where they barely escaped with their lives. It is in sum of the parts where the challenge is found, not in the individual elements.
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Don't recall the name of this Dungeon magazine adventure, but it involved stopping an arsonist in a lumber town made of, appropriately, wood. Having to find the bad guy, put out fires, save lives in burning buildings, and navigate the town all within a period of hours that the arsonist said it would all go down struck me as one of the better "fights" ever that our low-level party had.
A + to Caleb for describing the elements of what made that particular adventure awesome.
With lower level parties, there's going to be less options for use of abilities to solve encounters, so ensure that you encourage cleverness with your setup. Could be bridges, terrain, barriers, intervening events, even weather such as a tornado or hurricane approaching. One of my favorite battlefields was from the 1st lvl Dungeon adventure "Mad God's Key" with a chase across a very crowded city dock. Drawing it on a map was a chore, but worth it when the group contemplated how to catch their target, whether to push through a crowd, leap from boat to boat, swim, throw something, yell for help, etc.
You want something they wont see coming? Hound arcons sent to destroy a village the pcs are hired to protect or to kill a baby that will grow to be a evil tyrant.
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I have really come to love some of the low level critters from the bestiary as well as the bestiary 2.
The various Gremlins be it pugwampi's or Jinkin are an interesting variation. especially with the Pugwampi's being almost small versions of the Gnolls and that Gnolls will at time allow them to hang out on the outskirts of their camps. Throw in hyenas, were hyenas and flinds, you can have several interesting encounters.
Vegepygmy's are different as well, giving them an interesting play in large cave systems with loads of strange vegetation molds and slimes.
Pech's are also an interesting race. Korred's could be fun in a fey region, animated hair can be a fun descriptor when in the middle of a fight.
Any critter done right with a good and interesting way in which they are encountered can be very fun.